Soloing And Downpicking, Fast Solos (Control)/Downpicking Options

[BM]

Hey Muris,
I love all your lessons and seeing how it is your week this week, I figured I would ask you a few questions.

1-My main musical influence is Dave Mustaine of Megadeth. Mostly for riffs but I also find his solos to be incredible. He uses a lot of alternate picking and has amazing control. I was wondering if by looking at 2 solos I will name for you, you could tell me how to learn that style of solo, or be able to play it near perfectly. The solos are: My Last Words and The Mechanix. Thanks

2-My other influence is James Hetfield of Metallica and what amazes me is how at 208 BPM he DOWNPICKS Master of Puppets. I simply can't do it. Would this just be Metronome practice I need?

(I forgot to mention the solo from Ride the Lightning)

Thank you for all your advice

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[Muris Varajic]

Hi and thanks for your kind words.

Let me try to answer second question
because first one is pretty tricky to absorb.
James has incredibly fast and clean downpicking indeed,
to achieve that you really have to spend a lot of time practicing only that.
And I'm not sure if I can advise you to do that
cause you might miss some other stuff like alternate picking etc.
I'm also having troubles to play Master Of Puppets at full speed
simply because I never practiced downpicking that much.
But you will be able to play it if you work enough on that,
practices makes perfect and these are not my words only.
You can practice with metronome or along with the track,
both ways are fine imo.

And about those solos.
Everything you learn how to play should be
going through the same list of checks.
First you learn all the notes for the solo.
Then you play it very slowly to get everything under your hands.
Then you slightly upgrade the tempo as you feel comfortable.
Those are some things I always do, no matter what is it about.
Playing fast at the beginning always leads to some noise and sloppy playing.
Take it slow and watch your steps, also record yourself and listen,
sometimes we don't realize our mistakes while we play
and listening to the recording might reveal many things!

Hope this helps a bit, let me know if you need more assistance.

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[muggenius12]

In addition to practicing solos how muris said, I find that if you practice it slow for awhile, BUT ALREADY HAVE THE CERTAIN TECHNIQUES DOWN IN OTHER AREAS FOUND IN THE SOLO (for instance, if you can alternate pick fast, but can not specifically alternate pick the various picking parts in the solo), then you can also attempt the solos fast, which will lead to a forced musle memory. my main point is if you practice slow and fastm if your technique is good, you will often learn faster. For instance, I learned muris sweep etude relatively quickly because

a) I knew how to sweep pick well already
i learned the notes first, as muris suggested,
and c) i practiced it both slow and fast after getting it under my hands for awhile

In addition to practicing solos how muris said, I find that if you practice it slow for awhile, BUT ALREADY HAVE THE CERTAIN TECHNIQUES DOWN IN OTHER AREAS FOUND IN THE SOLO (for instance, if you can alternate pick fast, but can not specifically alternate pick the various picking parts in the solo), then you can also attempt the solos fast, which will lead to a forced musle memory. my main point is if you practice slow and fastm if your technique is good, you will often learn faster. For instance, I learned muris sweep etude relatively quickly because

a) I knew how to sweep pick well already
i learned the notes first, as muris suggested,
and c) i practiced it both slow and fast after getting it under my hands for awhile

You are at GuitarMasterClass.net

Don't miss today's free lick. Plus all our lessons are packed with free content!

Don't miss today's free blues, jazz & country licks. Plus all our lessons are packed with free content!

[BM]

Hi and thanks for your kind words.

Let me try to answer second question
because first one is pretty tricky to absorb.
James has incredibly fast and clean downpicking indeed,
to achieve that you really have to spend a lot of time practicing only that.
And I'm not sure if I can advise you to do that
cause you might miss some other stuff like alternate picking etc.
I'm also having troubles to play Master Of Puppets at full speed
simply because I never practiced downpicking that much.
But you will be able to play it if you work enough on that,
practices makes perfect and these are not my words only.
You can practice with metronome or along with the track,
both ways are fine imo.

And about those solos.
Everything you learn how to play should be
going through the same list of checks.
First you learn all the notes for the solo.
Then you play it very slowly to get everything under your hands.
Then you slightly upgrade the tempo as you feel comfortable.
Those are some things I always do, no matter what is it about.
Playing fast at the beginning always leads to some noise and sloppy playing.
Take it slow and watch your steps, also record yourself and listen,
sometimes we don't realize our mistakes while we play
and listening to the recording might reveal many things!

Hope this helps a bit, let me know if you need more assistance.

Thanks so much for answering quickly. I am pretty good at speed picking or "machine gun" picking. I don't know any scales but learned a lot of shapes and patterns so even though it looks jumbled I sort of know what I'm doing. Right now though there is one part of ONE solo that I want to learn desperately but I can't seem to nail. The speedy alternate picking part of the Ride The Lightning Metallica solo. Love how it sounds and know the notes, just my hands can't seem to get it. Advice?

P.S.
I am working on an album right now called "Inner Chaos". One of the tracks is called Ghost Road Blues. If you would like to in the future be a part of recording (maybe for the site) I would be honored.

Thanks
Connor L

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