[Jongpil Yun]

Wow. I am at the same time, much worse and much better than I thought I was.

My playing is cleaner than I thought, and my vibrato is better than I thought, but man am I inconsistent.

Looks like I need a lot more basic practice.

[7 Dying Trees]

Recording yourself play, with no delay, reverb, just fdry, and then listening back to it really does show up a lot of holes. It's a good way to practice. In fact, try double tracking things and getting them spot on with each other to a steady drum beat. Oh, and for the rythm parts do tyhat while digging in as well to get the best possible sound. Harder than you think!

[7 Dying Trees]

By a rythm track, pick something a bit challenging as well. Thrashy stuff is good for pick control and getting the stops right (as is fear factory stuff) and death metal tremelo picking (one note for every kick) is good for making your arm fall off. And remember to not pick like a pussy or you'll get nothing out of it. It's surprising how putting a bit of grit and power into the picking makes the sound.

Lead wise, well, just keep recording, practicing and listen back to it. Again, digging in with the pick will do wonders for the tone as well.

[distressed_romeo]

^^^^What he said.

Recording yourself playing over chord changes is another great way of evaluating your playing level.

[stubhead]

In a lot of ways you really can't hear yourself totally when you're concentrating on playing - most every good guitarist tapes a certain amount of their practicing, beside using a metronome it's the only other way to really get objective, I think. You sure do learn a lot.

Wayne Krantz says in "An Improvisor's OS":

Get one of those cheap little desktop cassette recorders, the kind with forward and reverse cueing. Minidisc recorders, DAT recorders or anything else with potentially fragile transport mechanisms are not recommended for this exercise because they burn out quickly. The desktops cost around $30 and last about a year.

I'm personally fond of those little four-track cassette recorders, Fostex and Tascam both make one for under $100. You can make multitrack stuff and they're easy to use. I've burnt up four or five of them in 20+ years, but so what - beside being good for your playing & making you a far better musician, it's a lot of fun to make something.

[Drew]

It's a humbling experience, isn't it? You learn a LOT about your playing when you start recording yourself, and you'll begin to hear licks you overuse or things that you don't quite nail or things that aren't very clean, or predicable patterns in the way you phrase. And, identifying these things is the first step towards fixing them.

[noodles]

Originally Posted by 7 Dying Trees

By a rythm track, pick something a bit challenging as well. Thrashy stuff is good for pick control and getting the stops right (as is fear factory stuff) and death metal tremelo picking (one note for every kick) is good for making your arm fall off. And remember to not pick like a pussy or you'll get nothing out of it. It's surprising how putting a bit of grit and power into the picking makes the sound.

Lead wise, well, just keep recording, practicing and listen back to it. Again, digging in with the pick will do wonders for the tone as well.

QFT.

[Jongpil Yun]

One of the things I've noticed is that I'll totally nail a lick, then the next one, but the transition between them is sort of sloppy. I have the muscle memory of that particular pattern itself, but not really having anything before or after it.

Also, I do way too many sextuplet descending runs that are like 321 321 432 432 543 543. Sort of as an overcompensation I almost never do straight 16ths it seems...