# How did you get better?



## TaP (Mar 7, 2014)

Yo. I've been making slight progress. Making sure I at least push myself to learn AT least a little more of the songs I'm struggling with. (I'm all over the place, but love practicing Periphery and Bulb tunes, I can't play any to speed, but I notice I'm getting cleaner and faster, slowly).
Anyways.

1) Do you NEED to have a metronome on always as you practice? I do for the most part, but that click shit gets annoying after a while, I'm sorry... 

2) Is playing the same songs getting me anywhere? Repetition, slowing down at parts I'm not clean at. Metronoming parts to gain speed in it, playing along etc. 

3) I read that noodling around isn't good? And that it's not sufficient practice? I noodle around but I write something out of it 90% of the time. Actually 100%, otherwise I just play songs I know. I feel good after it.

So please! Answer those questions, and tell me... what helped YOU?!

(2 years into playing) 

EDIT: I know I asked something similar before but I wanna see what works for you guys too! One guy plays hard things, that's exactly what I'm doing lol. It's the most fun for me too though, so... it's what keeps me playing. I wanna be guitar gawwwwd!


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## J7string (Mar 7, 2014)

I'd advise taking a step back. Jumping into playing songs is about the worst thing you can do. Think of it like reading something, not comprehending what you've just read, and then going to tell somebody about it. You can repeat all you want, but you won't gain much from it.

What I recommend is getting into simple chord progressions and scales. After you've played a scale, break it down on the fretboard. Get to know your fretboard, what notes are where, and how you can get musical with what you've learned. And yes, use a metronome. I know it's bothersome, but it will help develop your timing and accuracy.

There is no instant gratification when it comes to guitar. If you try and sneak around practicing basic things, more complicated playing will bite you pretty hard in the end. But most importantly... you have to have fun, and whoever says noodling around isn't good... Smack them. Everyone noodles around.


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## TaP (Mar 7, 2014)

J7string said:


> I'd advise taking a step back. Jumping into playing songs is about the worst thing you can do. Think of it like reading something, not comprehending what you've just read, and then going to tell somebody about it. You can repeat all you want, but you won't gain much from it.
> 
> What I recommend is getting into simple chord progressions and scales. After you've played a scale, break it down on the fretboard. Get to know your fretboard, what notes are where, and how you can get musical with what you've learned. And yes, use a metronome. I know it's bothersome, but it will help develop your timing and accuracy.
> 
> There is no instant gratification when it comes to guitar. If you try and sneak around practicing basic things, more complicated playing will bite you pretty hard in the end. But most importantly... you have to have fun, and whoever says noodling around isn't good... Smack them. Everyone noodles around.



O_______O. that sounds like a few hundred steps back . the first 6 months of my playing I was learning hella scales, major, minor, melodic minor, harmonic minor, pent minor. i am learning the theory behind it, which some i already know like building triads, CAGED (bare minimum). 

i've been playing things like Deftones, Tool, A Perfect Circle, from the get-go. Periphery is for damn sure too hard for me but i practice it slow, and i can nail some riffs/solos at a decent speed too. but should i then just stop trying that as a whole? go learn easier songs for a while? 

or straight up re-build my raft from bamboo and start doing simple I, IV, V chord progressions like you said?


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## Berserker (Mar 7, 2014)

If your goal is to play other people's songs, playing other people's songs is the way to go. Just break them down in to small sections and learn them slowly.

If you want to become a better musician/songwriter/technical player then playing exercises with a metronome and learning theory and how to apply it can only help.

That being said, there are plenty of successful musicians out there who grew up just playing other people's songs and writing their own without ever really knowing much theory.

All depends on your goals.


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## Der JD (Mar 7, 2014)

I know some of the purists will disagree but...

Instead of a metronome try a drum machine or drum plugin like EZdrummer/Superior Drummer. Set it for a simple groove. I find this considerably more enjoyable than playing to the simple, annoying click of a metronome. 

I agree the metronome is best but if it annoys you to the point that you aren't going to use it, find alternatives. Bottom line: yes, you do need to practice with something that will help you keep time.


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## TeeWX (Mar 7, 2014)

Der JD said:


> I know some of the purists will disagree but...
> 
> Instead of a metronome try a drum machine or drum plugin like EZdrummer/Superior Drummer. Set it for a simple groove. I find this considerably more enjoyable than playing to the simple, annoying click of a metronome.
> 
> I agree the metronome is best but if it annoys you to the point that you aren't going to use it, find alternatives. Bottom line: yes, you do need to practice with something that will help you keep time.



I rarely ever play with a metronome. Drum machine is the way to go. You need to learn to hear different drum beats and improvise to them. Unless you're only playing cover songs. At that point pretty much all composing practice is thrown out the window because it just doesn't matter.


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## viesczy (Mar 7, 2014)

Honestly the way I got better was learning pieces of music for other instruments and then performing along with those pieces of music. Then once I got the piece down, I moved that piece to different positions/strings. 

I had the advantage of moving over from organ after a decade, so by the time my early teens I had a BUNCH of classical music in me (most JS Bach) and I 'knew' the pieces of music, so I then only had to apply them to guitar. I would work both the right and left hand pieces and play along with the recordings. 

Knowing how to read music is invaluable skill to master. 

Derek


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## TaP (Mar 7, 2014)

Thank you all! The drum machines are the greatest thing ever! Idk WHY I just got on them! It's WAAAY more fun than a metronome, I'm done with those lol.

And I'm only using an online one, I do want to learn to program them so I'll be getting EZdrummer!

Also I transcribe lyrics, and voices on guitar... it's fun, and I was going to do trumpet next, a la (right time to use that) Miles Davis. Thanks Derek.


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## Vigaren (Mar 8, 2014)

One thing that you always have to keep in mind is that learning an instrument takes a long time. If one wants to reach a very high level of skill, chops, songwriting, tightness ect you have to spend multiple hours a day for very many years. I started out on guitar 10 years ago, started to play hours every day maybe 5 years ago. I'm still far from my goals! 

IMO its the "journey" of the learning process thats fun, so just dont stress it out. Try to enjoy playing guitar and setting up new goals.

If you want to learn alot fast I would say: play alot, and genres all over the place. Try to learn theory, go see bands live, experiment with loads of different instruments, go play to a metronome, reherse with bands, jam with friends, the list goes on. I think the key to becoming a good musician is being all over the place and trying things out!


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## Poltergeist (Mar 8, 2014)

Vigaren said:


> IMO its the "journey" of the learning process thats fun, so just dont stress it out. Try to enjoy playing guitar and setting up new goals.



That's excellent advice! Once playing guitar becomes frustrating or boring, it feels demotivating, and you kinda are left feeling unfulfilled. That sucks! however, when this happens, try to do something different when any of these frustrations arise. Do what motivates you, and it seems like playing others songs is one of them, although, playing their songs through incorrectly is harming you later down the road. If you start building muscle memory for those songs in your picking and fretting hand you're programming yourself to play it sloppy. So you have to take it slow and in chunks (bars, beats. mins or seconds in the song) and don't progress forward until you nail it.

There are some things that I think are essential to practice in between learning songs and that's: Scales, chords, intervals/note locations on the neck, and assorted techniques. It will only help you process new songs and ideas if you fit time in to practice them a few times out of the week. I also advocate using a drum machine instead of a click. If you have access to an external one or one within your daw; midi is a wonderful tool for guitarist. Drum plugins make practice fun and i have more midi groove on my computer than I know what to do with. So practicing with them makes a variety in your practices and potentials to come up with your own song ideas.


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## sage (Mar 8, 2014)

Metronome doesn't need to be on all the time, but definitely most of the time and any time that you are attempting to get faster. 

Playing songs until they're perfect is going to make you better. Playing songs perfectly over and over and not bothering to learn new stuff because it's more fun to be awesome at what you already know is not going to help.

Noodling around is not sufficient practice, but it is where creative spark happens, for sure. Just make sure that you have a nice balance between disciplined practice and creative noodling.


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## Dayn (Mar 9, 2014)

I just play whatever I want, however that comes with a caveat. Every now and then (not enough to be honest) I practice to a metronome. I just practice slowly to a metronome and slowly build up speed. This is just basic technique building that I do to help refine and consolidate my technique. This isn't for building speed: this is to build your co-ordination between both hands. If you know what to play, then you can play anything at any speed if your hands are co-ordinated.

It doesn't have to be 'tick, tick, tick' to boring scales. Take a song you want to play, get a phrase from it, and just play along to it with a metronome. Apart from being fun, you focus on technique building as well.

That's my approach. Also, just going all-out. Sometimes you'll be surprised what you can pull off if you go beyond your comfort limit and don't give a shit about if it was proper. Of course, that's no replacement for good technique building... but it's fun and helps push you.


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## 80H (Mar 9, 2014)

TaP said:


> Yo. I've been making slight progress. Making sure I at least push myself to learn AT least a little more of the songs I'm struggling with. (I'm all over the place, but love practicing Periphery and Bulb tunes, I can't play any to speed, but I notice I'm getting cleaner and faster, slowly).
> Anyways.
> 
> 1) Do you NEED to have a metronome on always as you practice? I do for the most part, but that click shit gets annoying after a while, I'm sorry...
> ...




Hello  Slight progress could be a sign of all kinds of things, but it is most certainly rooted in your practice routine, which is based on your mentality and the types of habits that form in response~

In other words, it's all in your head.  



1. Do NOT use a metronome for everything. This is the fatalist's idea of perfection: metronomes are good, so they must logically be ever-present. Wrongity wrong wrong wrong f*cking 10,000 guitarists later, wrong. There are things that you cannot practice with a metronome on as successfully as you can with it off. If it is on, and you're not following it, you're only conditioning yourself incorrectly while correctly _suggesting_ to your unconscious mind that you could be timing it well in the future, which, CAN BE DONE *GASP* without the metronome on in the first place. You could just remember and actually work on your timing individually as it's own act of polishing since you will always need to polish that which is beyond your current skill level. 


Metronomes are for your:
A. Sense of Timing
B. Precision & Accuracy in Making, Playing and Performing Music 


That's IT. Some difficult songs don't even have drums for the hardest parts. Shouldn't those guys be practicing with a metronome? Nope, not entirely. Practice is to allow you to play, and if you need to play it without the 'nome, you need to be able to practice without the 'nome.


What you DO need is QUALITY METRONOME TIME. 1 good hour is better than a 30 hour week with sloppy, generalized, mediocre timing because that pushes your skills backwards in a way that has to be undone. Metronome time should be spread between getting yourself calibrated to a consistent, even pulse and getting used to accents, timing, syncopation, etc. If you spend 30 hours not doing that, you are basically sucking with a metronome on unless you're just warming up or having a good noodle. 





2. No. Playing the same things over and over is not making you "better," but it is likely still advancing you. The only things that will make *you* truly better are fundamental, whereas everything else is a skill. If you simply learn skills without understanding the underlying principles, you will be a perpetual baby that always needs spoon-feeding. I still ask questions, but the difference between where I am and where I was is that I now ask the right questions to the right people and answer the rest of them on my own. 


Your goal is confidence as a default, please remember this.


You cannot truly express yourself with your instrument if you are first conflicted by a lack of confidence, and the only way to get that confidence is by knowing and then *becoming* for yourself. You are both the marble and the sculptor, as the quote goes. You are both making an artform and becoming a person that produces an artform, which both are connected and yet still individual. If you want to be better, you can't look to the songs. The songs are the tip of the iceberg. They come from your skills, disciplines, emotions, experiences, intentions, and that's just off the top of my head. 




3. Noodling is the crime of a word associated with improvisation. The people that will tell you to never ever noodle are likely the type of people that insist in coloring inside the lines at every opportunity. This is because severing "noodling" from practice is saying that it has 0-or-worse-than 0 value. It has immense value. Some of the most popular songs you've ever heard of may have very well been formed around some little idea that was noodled up in some guy's head. It's that simple. It is justified by evidence and neglected by personality types. 

I would say more than anything, drop the seriousness around improvising. If you are improvising, just have fun with it. Noodle. But remember that like all other things, your focus and actions in doing the work involved with achieving exactly what you want is tantamount to actually achieving it. So remember what you want out of all this (hello my little fledgling demi-god, keep climbing~) and think, act, and assume you are exactly like the person that will most certainly achieve it. It's all in your head


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## TaP (Mar 9, 2014)

80H said:


> Hello  Slight progress could be a sign of all kinds of things, but it is most certainly rooted in your practice routine, which is based on your mentality and the types of habits that form in response~
> 
> In other words, it's all in your head.
> 
> ...



Damn Sensei... I loved this 

Thank you! Taken everything you wrote in this post into consideration, and applying it! 
& thanks to all of you on sevenstring! Best guitar forums, off top! 

Any more advice, I'll take, but you guys definitely all helped me with answering my Q's, it is much appreciated.


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## MYGFH (Mar 9, 2014)

J7string said:


> There is no instant gratification when it comes to guitar.



^Truer words have never been spoken. My answer: Lessons, man, lessons.
I played off/on for over 10 years and never got past being a sloppy blues player, only knowing a few licks. I have been taking lessons for about a year now, practicing everyday. I have almost unlearned all the bad habits from not having a teacher. Never could get it right watching videos. It physically takes someone point out what I'm doing wrong for me to get it. Good luck, asking questions means you're on the right path!


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## imnotnollynollynolly (Mar 9, 2014)

If you have a guitar in your hands, it's better than not assuming you're not completely dicking around. Best advice I can give you: record yourself. How do you sound? Maybe better than you thought, maybe worse, but you'll know. How's your vibrato? Are you in tune? You might not even realize what is lacking in your playing, that's the beauty of getting better. Every time you think you're getting somewhere, you'll notice something else lacking. Just keep learning and improving, haha. It's much easier to really critique yourself in depth when you're not trying to play at the same time. Besides that, learning other people's songs is good. Playing to a metronome is a good idea, I haven't done it much and I'm starting to notice myself lacking because of it. Record yourself and play it back slow; it should sound clean and in time slow even if it's a blazing fast run for it to really sound perfect and sound like you have *authority*. People try to avoid that, but you can tell if you cut corners. Whatever you play, make sure it sounds perfect and if it doesn't slow it down and analyze what you're doing until you're comfortable. 

Biggest advice too, this is a loooonnnnnnngggg road, playing an instrument. By long I mean infinite. Just try to enjoy the ride and before you know it you'll be impressing yourself... And then realizing how much you have left to learn.


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## thatguyupthere (Mar 12, 2014)

80H said:


> think, act, and assume you are exactly like the person that will most certainly achieve it. It's all in your head



some of the most powerful words i have ever heard. you are a true philosopher of the shred 

seriously thats some Socrates thinking right there


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## meteor685 (Mar 16, 2014)

Good thread =)


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## -The Black Halo- (Mar 16, 2014)

To OP :

1. Not always, I only use it for improving my timings of legatos and sweeps, and at times speed picking
2. Playing the same song gets some licks and ideas to play with installed in your brain. Nothing phenomenal else. It is upto you to add improvisations or employ some similar phrasing ideas in your original compositions
3. Noodling FTW! I would suggest you take atleast a quarter of your time spent in practicing guitar on noodling. Like you said, you can come up with many interesting ideas


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## Rizzo (Mar 17, 2014)

-The Black Halo- said:


> To OP :
> 3. Noodling FTW! I would suggest you take atleast a quarter of your time spent in practicing guitar on noodling. Like you said, you can come up with many interesting ideas


True!
The freshest idea i i came up with so far popped up noodling around a theory concept i had just studied!


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## Cyntex (Mar 17, 2014)

^This.. Great ideas of even songs can come from noodling aroung. That being said, getting better from a technical standpoint which improved my playing was slowing the tempo down and just focusing on being comfortable and relaxed while playing. Minimising the effort in picking helped a great deal . Steve Vai had some good advise about the economy of motion in one of his interviews.


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## ChuckV (Mar 23, 2014)

imnotnollynollynolly said:


> If you have a guitar in your hands, it's better than not assuming you're not completely dicking around. Best advice I can give you: record yourself. How do you sound? Maybe better than you thought, maybe worse, but you'll know.



This is a super important piece of advice. The two ways a guitar player can use technology to their advantage in improving their playing that have stuck out the most for me are: 

1) Recording yourself
2) Writing Things you can't play, then learning them.

Recording yourself is a great way to see your guitar playing objectively, and take a close look at your timing. Many guitar players don't realize what their rhythm playing is like until they do this. 

But another tip that I must suggest, simply because in my own case I feel like it was very important to how I developed, is using whatever tools you can to write musical ideas which are beyond your reach technically. I actually think my generation of guitar players, and the coming generation have a distinct advantage over earlier players; we have things like Guitar Pro, Powertab, Midi Sequencers, Podium, Reason, etc. 

When I was trying to up my game technically, and at the same time was also trying to write the kind of songs I wanted to hear, I found myself writing really difficult passages or sections that I could not play, and would just slow those passages down, and practice them as if I were learning someone else's song. 

Despite how much this way of doing things may seem mechanical and strange, and how unmusical the idea of using a computer to make music may seem, I don't think it is at all. Classical composers used pianos not only as instruments, but as tools, aids to composition which allowed them to hear ideas played back to them. Only the wealthy had access to a piano, and so we can think of the piano as an old piece of music technology, a 'composition aid' if you will. Using Guitar Pro or Reason, or whatever, is no different: you're the one who came up with the music, discovered the melody you programmed, the only thing you don't have is the ability to play it on an instrument... yet. 

I think that this kind of thing really does allow you to organically figure out what kind of guitar player you really are. Yes, it's very important to learn the solos, licks, and methods of others, but what better what to become a better player than to take a sneak peak at what you would play if you were better, with the help of a midi sequencer, recording, or what have you, and then take a close look at what steps you'd have to take to play that.

Another suggestion I have is this; if you do make music using sequencers, then forget about whether or not what you're writing is 'playable'. Forget about your instrument, or the limits of your finger's muscle memorized patterns. If what you've written is objectively unplayable, then figuring out a way for a guitar to play something which serves the same purpose as the unplayable one is a worthwhile challenge.

Just a tip. 

I don't recommend this to everyone, I'm certain some will take issue with this suggestion, or find it unnatural. That's fine by me, I think I can wrap my head around why it might be a bad idea. I still use this method to get better, but at the same time, I am able to play most anything I program into midi simply because of all the kinds of things I did practice which didn't require midi sequencing, things like scales, timing, picking, etc. 

Good luck!


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## Dirtdog (Mar 23, 2014)

We'll you need to find a guy named scratch down at the crossroads at midnight.
All kidding aside. Getting better is kind of subjective. Depends on the time you have to devote to certain areas. The more spread out your practice is the longer it will take you to reach each of the goals. But by focusing on one thing more than the others will get that one focused goal sooner. Than you could throttle back a little and focus on the other goal. 
Learning theory does not have to involve the guitar directly but working on picking or legato does. So maybe take some time while your not at your guitar to work on theory stuff like modes or chord scales etc from a theoretical point of view like saying the scale formulas for the modes and chords for each of the modes etc. We all know people will say do this or do that but be honest with yourself about how much time you have to give to one certain area. Maybe your goal is to write songs more then playing 3000 notes a minute so you will focus on chords and melody more than shredding if it is the shredding you want to do your time will be more spent on fast picking legato etc but be careful not to overdo this area or your writing skills may suffer. Playing with a metro nome will help but also playing stuff without is good too maybe using it only on the one beat to help you gauge if you are keeping time with yourself playing and also to play with a drum machine to be able to lock in on a groove. Trying scat singing a riff and then copy it on your guitar. You can come up with more vocal lines if you do it enough. I know this is long but it's hard to say in five words or less.


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## Adventrooster (Mar 24, 2014)

I've said this before and I'll reiterate: Visualize it. Some of the best practicing for me comes without an instrument even in my hands. I have an hour drive to work, and you will bet your butt the entire time I imagine myself playing every note of whatever song I'm listening to...whether I actually know how or not. When I pick it up later, I'm pleasantly surprised at how much easier it is to learn that specific technique or song. 

To revert back to Mr. Petrucci's words...organize your sessions. I remember struggling to learn "x technique" and it was simply because I would try it for five minutes, not improve, and move onto playing a song. I believe playing a song can really halt your progress. I've been playing "Nothing Else Matters" or whatever song for 15 years, and playing today isn't going to push my skills forward any. 

Tom Hess. I stumbled upon this guy a few months ago and thought he was a douche...but he has some great ideas. He talks about making just ONE note on your guitar SING. Practice making one idea sound good and slowly add to it. It actually helped me improv exponentially. 

I hope this is useful.


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## TaP (Mar 24, 2014)

Great advice everyone, I'm glad this thread hasn't died! I actually do record myself a lot now, because I've been writing a lot recently. 
I've been doing a lot of ear training/learning non-guitar songs by ear and it's been fun, I guess it's what keeps me interested when I fail at Periphery, Elitist, etc.
I've been busting out some grooves to a click recently and find that really fun. I boom-box some riffs and then play them. I notice my playing has gotten a bit tighter, and I'm able to think of a riff and play it easier than before.

Anyways, keep 'em coming. When it comes to technique practice, should I just practice alt picking to a metronome for x amount of minutes? sweeping? legato? I worked on pure upstrokes recently.


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## Kaickul (Mar 25, 2014)

Listening to a lot of different music keeps you motivated, and also set goals, record your own stuff. Nothing more fulfilling than creating your own music and people enjoying it.


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## kchay (Mar 25, 2014)

TaP said:


> Yo. I've been making slight progress. Making sure I at least push myself to learn AT least a little more of the songs I'm struggling with. (I'm all over the place, but love practicing Periphery and Bulb tunes, I can't play any to speed, but I notice I'm getting cleaner and faster, slowly).
> Anyways.
> 
> 1) Do you NEED to have a metronome on always as you practice? I do for the most part, but that click shit gets annoying after a while, I'm sorry...
> ...



I don't personally use a metronome, and I've read of people who don't. I just learn songs that are a lot harder than what I can play at the moment, to try cover them as cleanly as possible. It's really quite tricky, especially once you start videoing and putting audio to video.
Also, I started listening to other stuff, and trying to develop my ear more. Doing other styles and jamming to different types of songs seems to be changing how I improvise, which is cool.


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## TallestFiddle (Mar 25, 2014)

Definitely DO PLAY SONGS, holy crap guitar would be so boring if you weren't playing any songs. You want to practice mechanics and techniques first to warm up (Look up John Petrucci's lessons for ideas), but if you don't play songs after that you're gonna blow your brains out. 

Metronome is a very very useful tool, but its quite abrasive and tedious. 

I use a program called "Amazing Slow Downer" to slow down songs to a tempo I can play, and then slowly increase the speed as I start to learn it better. This way you can always play at your skill level. Even if you have to reduce it to 30%, you're going to be making progress and eventually get to a speed where you've gained a significant technique. This is just like playing with a metronome, and I highly recommend this, you will be playing songs you didn't think you could after some decent time and effort. (There's probably a better program to do this, but I got this and it works so I don't complain)

Some songs I try to learn I have to start at like 70% or even 50% for some solos. I don't have a huge problem with this, because I'm gaining those techniques at the speed that's comfortable for me. Then I can use those techniques when I'm noodling or writing, and use them in my speed.

Ya definitely record yourself, even if it sounds shitty, don't worry, its good practice. You get to see what you're doing wrong and improve it. And if its set to a metronome you're getting good timing practice too.


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## Les (Mar 26, 2014)

This is all great advice here. I only add one thing. Try to keep it fun. Dont wear yourself out, with the mundane practice routine. 

For an example, (use whatever you want for session length): Play 20 mins straight, being disciplined trying to learn one or a few specific things, then, turn off the metronome and jam around, noodle, play a cover, and so on. 20 mins later go back to the regimented practice session or what have you. 

I find that i can "practice" a lot longer this way, and it keeps it light all at the same time. The important thing is, even though your going 20 mins strict to 20 mins goofing around, youve just spent 40 mins straight playing the guitar in your hands. One thing ive always loved about musical instruments, is there is really no way you can not progress as long as your PLAYING the instrument. (i know there are exceptions for bad habits and such)


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## pirate60 (Mar 26, 2014)

TallestFiddle said:


> I use a program called "Amazing Slow Downer" to slow down songs to a tempo I can play, and then slowly increase the speed as I start to learn it better.


 
This is exceptionally good advice. I spent years doing metronome exercises in the hope of developing my technique so I could play the songs that I liked. Very demotivating, and whilst I improved, I wasn't having much fun. About 12 months ago I started learning whole songs and playing them through at a speed (using the Amazing Slow Downer") that was on the edge, but I still had good tone. The result? I was able to get songs up to speed way quicker and was having a bunch more fun doing so.

I learned the first 4 Metallica records this way, and am slowly working through Show No Mercy now. My goal is to have all of the classic "Big 7" thrash albums under my fingers.


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## meteor685 (Apr 1, 2014)

this thread is really helpful


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## molsoncanadian (Apr 1, 2014)

Thought I might chime in here

- Little bit of history, played in a high school percussion section, and jazz band as the drummer, picked up a little bit of theory, but never took it as seriously as I (now) wish I had

- Picked up a guitar about 4 years later and fell in love instantly. Instead of really taking the time to learn fundamental things, I jumped straight into playing VOM, Periphery, Animals ect ect. I could play these tunes half decently at speed, but they were sloppy. I just kept telling myself no matter what, Ill practice this stuff until I can play it.

- Fast forward 3 years from then and I find myself constantly going back to address really simple issues that I shouldnt have had, had I taken the time to really learn the fundamentals. I am mainly talking about proper picking/fretting hand position, picking from the wrist, and avoiding any tension while playing. While it sucks to go back and constantly chase resolve with these issues, I do believe that going in guns hot made me a better player than most friends I started with. A couple friends I play with stuck to maiden for the most part, and needless to say I feel like I have progressed significantly further than they have as a result of what I chose to play.

- Long story short, I without a doubt believe %100 do yourself a favour and make sure you can do the simplest of things with ease (no tension) and good technique and timing. If this means going back to 90BPM and playing 16th notes for 5 minutes at a time do it. I learned that actually focusing on the simple stuff opens the gateway for more advanced playing. Additionally, and this is just my opinion..... Pick and fvcking hard song (yet reasonable), and stick with it. Open guitar pro and break it down section for section and play it at a speed that doesnt interrupt your ability to cleanly execute passages, lines, legato runs ect ect... 

- One last thing, I know people think practicing something like a picking excersize to a metronome seems cumbersome and boring, however, if you keep it in mind that you WILL benefit from it, it becomes addicting. Sometimes I like to slow things down and practice a riff for a couple days, and then play it up to speed, and I am always suprised at what it does for my technique.

- Fast forward to now and I am working on mostly Dream Theatre tunes, but upon examining solo's I exposed a myriad of weaknesses, which in my opinion is not only good, but exciting. Knowing your issues and resolving them is great.

Just my 2 cents.


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## meteor685 (Apr 3, 2014)

molsoncanadian said:


> Thought I might chime in here
> 
> - Little bit of history, played in a high school percussion section, and jazz band as the drummer, picked up a little bit of theory, but never took it as seriously as I (now) wish I had
> 
> ...



same story for me cept it was played for 2 years, then quit a year in a half, then started bak 3-4 months ago.

ya i agree, it is better to stick to things until their done, cuz other thing will get easier

Currently learnin this and it is reallllllly HARD to get rite, but it has made other songs(that focus on lead) easier just by transcribin the tapping licks haha.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=57--LRvGgKQ


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## HoneyNut (Apr 4, 2014)

molsoncanadian said:


> - One last thing, I know people think practicing something like a picking excersize to a metronome seems cumbersome and boring, however, if you keep it in mind that you WILL benefit from it, it becomes addicting. Sometimes I like to slow things down and practice a riff for a couple days, and then play it up to speed, and I am always suprised at what it does for my technique.
> 
> Just my 2 cents.



Molsoncanadian is absolutely right about using the metronome to improve your technique. It does get addictive! You will notice your improvements and they will be very gratifying.


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