Alternate Thirds Lesson: Help, Alternate picking "FLOW" |
GMC Forum > Discussion Boards > VINTAGE GMC > Community Activities and Tutorials > Ask an Instructor > More instructors > Muris Varajic > Techniques (Muris)
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Apr 27 2008, 09:07 AM
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Hi Muris,
For the past 2 months, i am only practising your alternate thirds and E Ionian workout lessons. And well, the progress has been slow  (. I am still stuck at the beginning of the lessons. i am following the approach where one tries to master the lesson in phases rather than play the whole lesson at the lowest bpm first. I guess i should change my approach, since its not working and honestly becomes a bit boring. Following are the issues that i am facing:Right Hand: 1. While coming up the scale (from high to low), my upstrokes are not fluent and my right hand is not able to find the "flow" 2. Accidently pick the adjecent strings :/ (especially while coming up) The interesting thing is that if i ONLY practise high to low, it's still better (not really  ). But the problem comes when i go from low to high in a flow AND followed by high to low. i dont know if i am able to explain it correctly. Left Hand: 1. My Pinky has a habit of getting far away from the fretboard when i am playing notes with my first 2 fingers. Even when i am not putting much pressure. Any exercises to fix this? 2. lefthand/right hand sync always messes up around the 1st and 2nd strings. Attached is a rough take of the only boxes that i have learnt so far. Working on joining the boxes. As you can see from the video, a lot of work needs to be done and my progress is very slow. But i would really appreciate if you could help me with the above and also suggest anything else that you see me doing wrong so that i can improve. All this has been especially slow since i had a habit of anchoring the pinky of my picking hand. Curling up the hand has been a challenge and i am still getting used to it. I am more comfortable with anchoring the pinky but the more i practise with curled hand, the better the chances of getting used to this (of course at a cost of slow progress )Thanks in Advance ! p.s - Others who are reading this and have faced the same issues, please feel free to help me out. Thanks.
Attached File(s)
alt_third_left_hand.wmv ( 937.77K )
Number of downloads: 186
alt_third_right_hand.wmv ( 1.02MB )
Number of downloads: 218-------------------- "If the need is deep, you WILL find a way , if it isn't, you'll find some excuse"
Check out my Student Instructor Lesson on Metal Riffing HERE Visit My Youtube Channel |
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Apr 27 2008, 11:26 PM
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Hi Zen.
I just saw your takes and here are my observations. Left hand fingers indeed move too far from the fretboard but it'll be better with more practicing,trust me. Main problem is in picking hand as far as I can see, tho video has small amount frames per second tho. I would use wider movement here,still from the wrist tho. Try to actually feel each note you're picking and the best way to do that is to pick a bit harder,with isn't likely if you do short moves. And please,do not focus yourself only on these 2 or more lessons! Play as many different things as you can,specially rhythm stuff. It might sound a bit odd to hear me saying this, but many rhythmical/groove exercises will improve your picking a lot which will improve your picking abilities for solo licks as well. Try that,keep me updated and good luck!! -------------------- Youtube
MySpace Website Album "Let It Out" on iTunes and CD Baby Check out my video lessons and instructor board! The Pianist tune is progress,check it out! "ok.. it is great.. :P have you myspace? Can i to personalize this for you guy?" |
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Apr 28 2008, 04:31 AM
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Hi Muris,
Thanks a lot for taking out time to help me out. i will take your word for the left hand pinky goin bezerk. Hope i train it so that it sticks close to the fretboard. can you suggest any exercises to fasttrack this? Thanks for pointing out my right hand technique and also suggesting rhythm work Somethin bout my past. i used to play rhythm and do vocals in a local metal band some 7 yrs ago. The rhythm stuff i used to do was mostly Megadeth (she wolf, kill the king, tornado, symphony of dest etc ) and some old school metallica (master of puppets, creeping death etc). I developed a very stiff right hand as most of those riffs required some serious right hand work. And the technique used was ALL DOWNSTROKES :/ .. long story short, i quit playing for a couple of years and wanted to learn it all from scratch this time. I also wanted to focus on soloing, which is why i am sticking to alt pickin exercises. I am staying away from riffs (for the time being) as i get very limited time throughout the week to practise (an hour on weekdays). Granted i wont be able to play the riffs that i used to churn at one point of time but the time limitation and my goal (learning to shred, soloing, improving techniques) makes me move away from it somehow. My quick routine is as following: warm up Em pentatonic scales (5 patterns) - havent learnt to join them yet G major scale (1 pattern ) drill the same pattern up n down, trying to make it cleanAlternate picking (your thirds and single string ionian workout) That takes an hour of my time  My speed has increased as i couldnt even play those lessons at the lowest bpm when i first started 2 months back.Once again, i appreciate your help. Please let me know if you can provide some further tips/ guidance. p.s - i almost fell off the chair while hearing your entry in the guitar idol. MAGNIFICENT !!!! good luck your students are backing you.-------------------- "If the need is deep, you WILL find a way , if it isn't, you'll find some excuse"
Check out my Student Instructor Lesson on Metal Riffing HERE Visit My Youtube Channel |
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May 2 2008, 02:26 PM
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Hello Muris, knock knock
 Did i say somethin wrong ? Apologies if i did.Here are some updates: Had some long sessions and applied your suggestions and voila, it works . Went down a few bpm's though. Will work it up from there. Hitting each note hard and properly now but it's going against the economy of motion a bit, can it hamper speed? Developed an upstroke exercise which is somehow helping with the upward runs. Nothing fancy, i just palm mute the strings and play them e to E upwards hitting each string twice (both upstrokes). sounds crap but i think its doing the trick. Started progressing on your alt pickin + ionian lesson - i think i will learn the whole lesson and then focus on increasing the bpm  Started a bit of legato too. still quite new to me. Found some lessons by "finger independence" which may help my left hand flying pinky Do you think so too? Please critique my routine above if possible. Thanks a lot. Hopefully i have more videos for you in better resolution soon  Zen -------------------- "If the need is deep, you WILL find a way , if it isn't, you'll find some excuse"
Check out my Student Instructor Lesson on Metal Riffing HERE Visit My Youtube Channel |
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May 7 2008, 12:53 PM
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Sorry for waiting Zen
I see the issue,after years of metal riffing (downstrokes only) it must be hard to switch to alternate,I can tell. Just like everything,it needs practicing. I would encourage you to post some video clips of you playing those lessons,that way I could give you more in deep suggestions. And "finger independence" is great serial from my fellow instructor Danilo, that'd help you as well. Let me know how it goes and thumbs up!
-------------------- Youtube
MySpace Website Album "Let It Out" on iTunes and CD Baby Check out my video lessons and instructor board! The Pianist tune is progress,check it out! "ok.. it is great.. :P have you myspace? Can i to personalize this for you guy?" |
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