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GMC Forum > Discussion Boards > VINTAGE GMC > Community Activities and Tutorials > Ask an Instructor > More instructors > Muris Varajic > Practicing (Muris)
Déjà vu
Hey Muris! I just watched a few videos of yours on youtube, and you have inspired me to re-practice my shredding again! I have a few questions about practicing, and a few about gear, etc.

I feel the picks I'm using now (Dunlop Tortex SHARP picks) are a little bit tough to work with on high strings when picking. When I pick on lower strings they seem fine, when I pick on the higher strings it just sounds and feels "off". I am picking the lower strings with about the same "force" I am hitting the higher strings. The motion of my picking is sometimes from my fingers, but mainly from my wrist.

What kind of picks do you currently use? Are they round, or sharp?

When it comes to practicing I feel that I sometimes learn a solo and I can play each lick separately, but when I play it all at once I usually start missing notes and play sloppy. I'm pretty sure the answer is practicing slow, but I was wondering if there was anything else I should do to help solve that problem.

When you improv it seems very flawless. I know that you know your licks and scales, but how can you think so quickly and guess what lick will sound best after the one you just played? How can you play it without messing up?

Thanks Muris! I hope to tackle your "Fusion Lessons" soon wink.gif.
Muris Varajic
Hi. smile.gif

As for the picks,I use some pretty ordinary shaped picks,
nothing too sharp or too rounded.
But what I'm aim for is more thick pick,1.5mm and above,
that gives me pretty good attack on the strings.
Plus I always play from the wrist and never from fingers
which is also very important imo,
playing from fingers limits you a lot I would say.

Now about playing and eventually practicing.
To connect all licks you learned together into one
needs good concentration first of all.
Sometimes our technique is good enough
but our mind is not ready for the task,I felt that many times.
So it's mainly about having clear and straight head,no extra thoughts when playing.
Of course you can always think of nice and sunny beach when playing
some more simple stuff or when you have random jam
but for more advance stuff you should be 100% focused,no doubt there.
Second is the technique,to be able to execute those licks nicely.
The more time you spend with your instrument
the better technique you'll have,there is no other rule.

And about improvisation,it is knowing of scales and licks as you said
but it's also about some kind of creativity.
You can have very large lick library and know tons of scales
but if you use them without enough creativity
they'll all sound washed somehow.
Best thing to monitor yourself is to record few improvisations
and listen to them very objectively,
see what you're missing there,is it too much shred and less melody.
Then record another takes with trying to fix those problems.

And the most important thing,
music is very flexible matter,it changes its shape all the time,
even when we are listening to same piece few times
we get different impression sometimes,right?
My point is,never be satisfied with your playing or improvising,
each take you make is just another smaller rock in the great mountain,
always seek for more and never look back,
that's what I can say to you from what I've experienced so far.

Hope this helps a bit. smile.gif
Déjà vu
Thanks Muris! I've saved your response, and added your advice to my "playing routine"... What's an easy program to make backing tracks with? What do you use?

Thanks again! It makes sense that most of my problems may just be how my mind interprets the scales played. I shall play slow and I shall spend less time on technique, but more on actually "Jamming". biggrin.gif

What angle to you pick strings at? Do you curl your thumb and index (like Paul Gilbert), or do you pick more like Yngwie? I know when using a pick, it can be quite "touchy" depending on where and how you hit the string...
Muris Varajic
I use Steinberg SX3 for the backings
tho you can use many others,like Logic,Cakewalk,ProTools etc.

As for the pick angle,you can actually see it here.

Cheers. smile.gif
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