# Tightness



## oliviergus (Apr 27, 2011)

Hello there.

Ive been wondering for a while now, how I can improve my tightness?!

Ive been watching the guitarist in Monuments:


And its extremly tight and accurate. 
Sure the thing is practice pratice and more practice. But what to practice on?
Give me some tips on some exercises please!


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## Devotion (Apr 27, 2011)

I think palmmuting and picking technique as well as your fretting technique all come in to work here, but I think other people could prove me wrong or elaborate on it if it's correct.


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## Mr. Big Noodles (Apr 27, 2011)

Play with other musicians or record yourself to a track.


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## oliviergus (Apr 27, 2011)

Devotion said:


> I think palmmuting and picking technique as well as your fretting technique all come in to work here, but I think other people could prove me wrong or elaborate on it if it's correct.



Yeah, the muting is a tricky one. Especially when it comes to like Monuments - Admit defeat, or Vildhjarta. 

When you have to mute some notes and directly "unmute" it, becuase its a huge difference. Still having problems with that


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## Overtone (Apr 27, 2011)

Do you use a metronome? The key to tightness is being able to play precisely to the tempo... you should work on not just playing quarter notes, eighth notes, 16ths, triplets, sextuplets, and combinations of them, but also just keeping track of the beats, where you are in the measure, upbeats and downbeats, and everything else that has to do with feeling the rhythm. Edit: And really learn to LISTEN to the beat.


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## Scar Symmetry (Apr 27, 2011)

1) Browne is a beast, it's best not to compare yourself to him 

2) Record to a click track. Over and over again.

3) Pick hard.

4) Finger hard.

5) Success.


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## SirMyghin (Apr 27, 2011)

That is cool, looks like he is playing one of Darrens guitars.


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## Overtone (Apr 27, 2011)

Scar Symmetry said:


> 4) Finger hard.



Dunno if you were serious or not but I think that's not a good suggestion for getting tighter. If anything, learn to finger lighter... it keeps your fingers moving to where they need to be.


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## Scar Symmetry (Apr 27, 2011)

Overtone said:


> Dunno if you were serious or not but I think that's not a good suggestion for getting tighter. If anything, learn to finger lighter... it keeps your fingers moving to where they need to be.



Finger hard at first to build up the muscle memory


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## Overtone (Apr 27, 2011)

How does that work? Ideally part of the muscle memory should be a light touch. If you finger hard at the beginning then you will get used to it and you'll have to "undo" that muscle memory to get a lighter touch going. But it is good to play stuff a lot to build your muscle memory, and also to just listen to the song and be able to "sing" the riffs in your head will make you tighter since you've memorized the music properly.


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## Mordacain (Apr 27, 2011)

Overtone said:


> How does that work? Ideally part of the muscle memory should be a light touch. If you finger hard at the beginning then you will get used to it and you'll have to "undo" that muscle memory to get a lighter touch going. But it is good to play stuff a lot to build your muscle memory, and also to just listen to the song and be able to "sing" the riffs in your head will make you tighter since you've memorized the music properly.



Better solution, play hard and soft, that way your muscles will not be locked in either way. You've got to be able to play both hard and soft to be well-rounded IMO anyway.


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## Scar Symmetry (Apr 27, 2011)

You want to build strength in your fingers surely? Chances are if you can't play something it's because the particular muscles required are weak. It's how I figured it anyway, makes sense to me.


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## Kurkkuviipale (Apr 27, 2011)

If this hasn't been mentioned yet, practice slow. You might here this everywhere, but just believe me. It's the key to success.


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## Overtone (Apr 27, 2011)

mordacain and ss, maybe we have different philosophies entirely, but I'll explain my position... basically any energy beyond what's required to fret the note firmly enough that it rings out clearly and evenly is going to waste. Playing hard slows you down, tires your hands, detunes the strings slightly, and doesn't create an efficient range of motion. The ideal is as little movement and pressure as possible. It's like typing on a keyboard... as long as the keys are being pressed every time there's no need for additional strength... bashing the keys harder doesn't add anything. Try it on both your keyboard and on your guitar and you'll probably see what I mean. Muscle strength is important for beginners, but within a few weeks/months you should have it. If someone is having difficulty learning pieces because their hands feel too weak overcompensating won't help... they either need more time, or have some problem in their technique. Playing harder replaces one problem with another...


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## Vidge (Apr 27, 2011)

^Aye, play slow and with the metronome, and then speed it up gradually. Obvious yes, but its repeated over and over for a reason.

Another good point that was brought up is to record yourself. More than likely, the way you think you sound is going to be wrong haha. So listen to yourself recorded, Its a whole different perspective. And you may actually sound better than you thought.


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## Scar Symmetry (Apr 27, 2011)

I'm not going to argue it, I respect your opinion but I'll continue to finger hard as it works for me.


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## The Reverend (Apr 27, 2011)

I have to agree with recording yourself. You'll either sound worse or better than you think you do, and you'll be able to hear what you need to improve. Play along with a click track, as well. 

I like to play scales slow as hell for about an hour, focusing on playing them cleanly, making sure my fret hand is working exactly how I want it to, and making sure that I'm picking/alternate picking exactly how I want to. After doing that for a while, you start to notice how much cleaner you sound. Also, when it comes to playing songs, play them slow as well. Even if it's a song you've written, play it slow, over and over, as perfect (whatever that means to you) as you can. When you go on to play it at full-speed, you'll be pleasantly surprised, I think.


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## Vidge (Apr 27, 2011)

The Reverend said:


> Also, when it comes to playing songs, play them slow as well. Even if it's a song you've written, play it slow, over and over, as perfect (whatever that means to you) as you can. When you go on to play it at full-speed, you'll be pleasantly surprised, I think.


Along those same lines, you can import a song into Audacity and change the speed of the song, literally playing with the song slowly. Very helpful.


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## rug (Apr 27, 2011)

Overtone said:


> mordacain and ss, maybe we have different philosophies entirely, but I'll explain my position... basically any energy beyond what's required to fret the note firmly enough that it rings out clearly and evenly is going to waste. Playing hard slows you down, tires your hands, detunes the strings slightly, and doesn't create an efficient range of motion. The ideal is as little movement and pressure as possible. It's like typing on a keyboard... as long as the keys are being pressed every time there's no need for additional strength... bashing the keys harder doesn't add anything. Try it on both your keyboard and on your guitar and you'll probably see what I mean. Muscle strength is important for beginners, but within a few weeks/months you should have it. If someone is having difficulty learning pieces because their hands feel too weak overcompensating won't help... they either need more time, or have some problem in their technique. Playing harder replaces one problem with another...




I could not agree with this enough. Everything you've typed is dead on.


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## wslead (Apr 28, 2011)

SirMyghin said:


> That is cool, looks like he is playing one of Darrens guitars.


 
This was the first actual production Decibel that Darren had made according to Misha's specifications as far as I remember. That guitar is just a masterpiece. I think the first show that he played with this was the Toronto location on the last tour.


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## Overtone (Apr 29, 2011)

I actually can't emphasize the metronome enough. It's not good enough to just play to songs or backing tracks because the arrangements (ie. basslines, drumming) give you too much information about the beats and measures. If you can subdivide in your head to nothing but a click that is going to make you have tighter rhythm. This metronome is a great practice tool:

Digital Metronome | Electronic Metronome | Korg MA-30

You can set it to for anywhere from 1 beat to seven beats per measure. You can also set it to triplets, eighth notes, sixteenth notes, or shuffle feel. Utilizing those features helps me get more flexible with my sense of rhythm. One of the coolest things is just setting it to one beat per measure and playing in "free time" and creating your own grooves with as many beats per measure as you want, changing it up, etc.


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## StratoJazz (Apr 29, 2011)

I think if you have decent time(can keep a steady pulse) while you play as well as play in the pocket(play in time with the band) you can play like that.


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## Overtone (Apr 29, 2011)

True! Or you know, like Mattias says forget the metronome and stomp your foot! As long as you have some way of keeping good time your playing will benefit. Whatever works for you. Playing with a drummer helped me the most out of anything. Tapping my foot helps me get the feel down in a physical way instead of just a mental way. But the metronome is just the most practical thing for me if I want to be efficient with my time because I have an easier time paying attention to the metronome than my own foot, and I don't have drummers to play w/ all the time.


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## wannabguitarist (Apr 29, 2011)

Scar Symmetry said:


> 4) Finger hard



And Kegels


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## somniumaeternum (Apr 29, 2011)

Record yourself playing to a track, whether click track or basic drum track.

Playing it back you can hear all the issues. 

I think you need to build up a certain drum beat in your head that you follow instead of the metronome (the metronome "tells" you the beat, but you have to feel it). It shows you that you've internalized the beat and can play the rhythm against the beat instead of just "playing back the song as you heard it". This was one of the issues I had /have which became obvious when recording.


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## TimothyLeary (Apr 29, 2011)

Scar Symmetry said:


> You want to build strength in your fingers surely? Chances are if you can't play something it's because the particular muscles required are weak. It's how I figured it anyway, makes sense to me.



I second that. I'm right now trying to improve my fingers muscles, as I noticed how weak my guitar acoustic sound was compared to other players, and after a little while of playing "hard" I noticed some development, specially in speed but also in accuracy. At the same time I practice my legato(holdsworth fan here), and it requires a lot of finger muscle as well.

Give it a try!


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## Scar Symmetry (Apr 29, 2011)

TimothyLeary said:


> I second that. I'm right now trying to improve my fingers muscles, as I noticed how weak my guitar acoustic sound was compared to other players, and after a little while of playing "hard" I noticed some development, specially in speed but also in accuracy. At the same time I practice my legato(holdsworth fan here), and it requires a lot of finger muscle as well.
> 
> Give it a try!



That's exactly what I found too man


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## darren (May 10, 2011)

wslead said:


> This was the first actual production Decibel that Darren had made according to Misha's specifications as far as I remember. That guitar is just a masterpiece. I think the first show that he played with this was the Toronto location on the last tour.



That's actually my own personal Javelin that i put BKP Aftermaths in. I sent it to Misha while i finished up the final details on his guitar, and Browne and Jake spent a fair bit of time playing it. That one is also 27" scale, so it may add to the tightness factor a bit.


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## Solodini (May 11, 2011)

While a bit more advanced, rhythmic modes can also help with tightness as you really need to pay attention to where each beat falls. Start by just playing a simple vamp and then displacing it by a quaver once it's consistently steady. Once this is secure, displace it another quaver et c et c. Once the whole bar has been covered, try displacing only one of the notes through the bar. This will help to coordinate your brain with what you're doing.

Once these have been done, try all of them with smaller increments i.e. semiquavers, triplets et c. 

These sorts of exercises are very useful no matter how good you are. The better you become, the more insane you can make them.

I agree with everything everyone else has said so far but I fall in the camp of playing as lightly as necessary. Anything more than that is wasted energy.
Exercises of efficiency will help with this, boring things like picking a short phrase repeatedly for 5 mins. If you tire out entirely then your technique is probably fatiguing. You can probably find some online sources to do with ergonomics and guitar playing. Relaxation of muscles you're not using is key.

Also, as I suggest to everyone, shift notes of what you're playing to different octaves. Not all of them, just a few. Having to play this way will help to make tightness jump out at you as notes that may other wise be masked by another after it will be left to ring out. This is good to try with a lot of passages you play and write, partly for this reason, partly just so you can see if any of the intervals within work better extended by an octave or more.


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## ishredbanez (May 12, 2011)

Look how lightly he plays that first speed-run, yet it is fluent and clean.


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## Bouvre (May 12, 2011)

from experience, i believe that it comes down to picking technique, using the smallest movements in the fingers and wrist. strumming hard is necessary on some parts, depending on what emphasis you are attempting to put on a riff or rhythm, accenting through picking is a pretty big deal. Paul Gilbert explains alot about this in some of his videos.


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## concertjunkie (May 20, 2011)

Solodini said:


> While a bit more advanced, rhythmic modes can also help with tightness as you really need to pay attention to where each beat falls. Start by just playing a simple vamp and then displacing it by a quaver once it's consistently steady. Once this is secure, displace it another quaver et c et c. Once the whole bar has been covered, try displacing only one of the notes through the bar. This will help to coordinate your brain with what you're doing.
> 
> Once these have been done, try all of them with smaller increments i.e. semiquavers, triplets et c.
> 
> ...




I think I could benefit from some of this info, but would you mind clarifying some of the terms, such as "vamp" and quaver/semiquaver? I would like to try this myself, but until I know exactly what you are saying, I'm lost


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## Solodini (May 21, 2011)

A vamp is just a simple rhythm. When someone's soloing/improvising, you'll often have keys vamping on one chord underneath.

Quaver = 8th note, semiquaver = 16th note, Demisemiquaver = 32nd note
semibreve = whole note, minim = half note, crotchet = quarter note.


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