I need serious help Options

[wegotcontact]

hey guys, first of all kris ur doin a great job, masterclass vids are great, esp the slash ones as he is the man.

So heres the problem, i've been playing guitar for about 14 yrs, i know, i should be a rock god by now. Altho i've done things all the wrong way but hey who hasn't. I started by just learnin tab, playin solos etc then chords.

Its only been the last 3yrs or so that i started to do exercises, learning the pentantonic scales, using them to help me gain speed and accuracy and also obviously to play my own solos.

i try and practice 2hrs a day, thats just jammin, exercises and generally having fun.

So ur all asking, well chris what is the problem? the problem is i'm an average guitarist. I think i have a gd speed in my left hand fingers, but i seem to have no coordination with my right hand picking. It drives me nuts, i think i'm holdin the pick right, i think i'm doing evrything ok but i just can't speed pick.
Then to rub salt into the wound i watch the jam with jimmy, and its like ahhhhhhhhhhh, i've nearly been playing twice as long as this little guys age.

So please, can u guys help me out, give me advice etc... maybe kirs, u could post me ur right hand

cheers
chris
:oops: :oops: :oops:

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[Khaos]

The only suggestion I can give you is practice. If your right hands sloppy with picking, try picking practices, alternative (sorry, sp) picking, just to help you gain momentum.

I've been playing about 7 months and i'm already a lot better than some of the kids that play for years, mainly because I try to practice 4-6 hours a day. I still wish I was as good as Kris, or Jimmy though

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[DanielM]

as kristofer says in one of his videos, just evaluate your own performance and question what things you need to improve on.

P.S keep away from power chords >:< these are tools for fools.

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[Kristofer Dahl]

wegotcontact: Welcome to GMC!

Unless you are holding the pick completely twisted, there is no "wrong pick holding".

As some have pointed out, hard practice is the solution to most questions.

However, you might also want to slow things down a little and focus on minimising left- and right-hand movements. Once you see some results (could take a while!), try speeing it up. This should hopefully result in a speed increase.

Good luck!

as kristofer says in one of his videos, just evaluate your own performance and question what things you need to improve on.

Hey, here is someone who's done his homework, couldn't have said it better myself!

cheers

Kris

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[redsoxfan92490]

i dont know much about techniques, but i do know a couple of bad habits when it coems to holding picks. When i first picked up a guitar and played the Pent. sclaes for my teacher, he noticed that i held my pick at about a 45 degree angle. It was crooked. Also i didn't alternate my picking. When i corrected those to things i was able to pick much faster and smoother.

I assume you alternate your picking, but make sure the pick is straight up with the strings. In other words, make sure the pick makes a 90 degree angle when held next to a string.

Another bad way to hold a pick is with your fist. One of my friends would make a fist, stick the pick between his curled up pointer finger and thumb, and try to pick that way. It didnt really work. His scales sounded terrible because he couldnt even palm mute.

Yeah, so make sure the pick is straight with string and your not "fisting" the pick

Hope that helps

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[MFC]

I'm a lousy newbie but I just want to say that the ONE THING that keeps me up all night running simple scales and stuff and keeps me going is (besides my motivation of course)

1. The fingers can be programmed, by slow learning (as pointed out above I think).

I have far to less experience to judge how anybody plays but the knowledge of slow learning makes it all clear to me, and I understand when Kristofer says that playing guitar is something anybody (with ten fingers) can do.

The way I know that fingers can be "programmed" is simply the fact that others has done it and the fact that I managed to learn typing 4-500 characters per minute on the keyboard without looking and it took some serious time to learn. I know that comparing a keyboard with limited buttons on it with a fretboard with at least 6 strings is somewhat pathetic in some ways but at the same way it makes sence. Time solves all problems. :-)

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[lezenko]

Well ive always thought of it like this...

Sync + Co-Ordination

Now you've obviously heared of hand eye co-ordination.... well in guitaring its similar

I call it left & right hand co-ordination.

Making sure you left hand is in sync with your right...

Start off slow and then slowly build speed up, and if you mess up go slow again (think of it as having sex )



Ive played guitar for about, a year and a half and im pleased with my progress and even my friends and family are impressed. If you need any help, give me a shout

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[Kristofer Dahl]

Very good/interesting comments in this thread!

Just one thing - after having tudied how many different guitarists hold their pick. I can just say that some guitarists (an example is Marty Fiedman) holds their pick in a way that would make it completely impossible for me to even play Smoke on Water.

Pick hold is very personal - listen to what others say, and then form your own judgement on what will work for you...

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[lezenko]

Thats a good point kris.... for example

Ive started alternate picking for a while....just normally with the pick straight...now i figure that with a stiff pick, accuracy is brilliant...

But, if i have to do some absoloutly hardcord shredding or "tremolo" style picking.....i hold it at a slant and as always let my wrist do all the work

and that leads me to another thing, when you play, all the movement should come from your rist! never anywhere else unless your chicken-picken

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[wegotcontact]

well guys and kris, thx for the replys,so what ur basically saying is play slow until ur perfect at it, then speed up very gradually. To be honest i think i've being doin that but will perserve.

Just one question, do u just have tiny amount of the pick showin outta ur
fingers??

thx
chris

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[lezenko]

Ill be truthfull with you.... i dont think it matters mate (on how much of the pick you use). Just use what you normally would.... the most important thing about playing guitar as a whole is that your comfortable.

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[Jeff]

For simple practice of scales, I just use how much pick is comfortable for me. When I practice scales, I generally use about the same amount of pick consistantly. That's because it's repetition, memorization and speed building. I always use the metronome and run one scale up and down until I can't take it anymore. Then I don't play for one day and do it all over again a day later. You will build speed in no time.

When I play in bands, I use all kinds of different pick positions depending on the song. I use a standard Fender heavy pick but I almost always strike the strings with a different area of the pick depending on the sound and feel that I want.

I use a tremendous amount of artificial harmonics so I expose less of the pick to get more of the finger flesh I need to touch the strings. If I want a more mellow sound I will strike the string at an angle with the "rounded" corners of the pick or I may sweep down with more of the pick exposed. So I think what it comes down to is that there really is no "correct" way to hold the pick because there are too many variables to deal with depending on what you want to do.

Hey - Knopfler doesn't even use one!

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