I love to play thrash metal, but my wrist just sometimes doesn't have the juice to make it through some songs, especially when it comes to down picking, i've been playing for about 4-5 years and i'm fed up with it, it bugs the hell out of me, and i was wondering maybe if someone had some tips to help besides 'practice makes perfect'.

And feel free to post any other tips or tricks you have that you think could help other players.

A lot of thrash bands pulse in 4s, i saw a nile clip where they said they pulse in 8s because its easier for your wrist. you might wanna try something like that with songs that are too brutal for your picking hand and maybe later pulse in 4s if you feel like the song needs it.

i sometimes have the same problem when constant down picking and string skipping is used its very frustrating

I did read a column in a magazine by dave mustaine and he said when you down pick really fast its good to ball up your fingers kinda like a wierd fist as apposed to fanning them out which would mean more inersia would be used, it helped a lot surprisingly.

yeh, i can actually see how that works, and ive tryed it, itdoes work surprisingly well but looks rally weird yes

Most of us have that problem. But I find it much harder to alternate pick multiple strings. So I practice a lot, you can rarely see me without my guitar. I'm getting better at playing thrash, yay

try to move your wrist and elbow together. it also depends on how you get the pick in hand.

Written by Varegan on 24.12.2007 at 20:55

try to move your wrist and elbow together. it also depends on how you get the pick in hand.

Picking from your elbow can supposedly fuck your arm up pretty bad, plus i cant imagine it being very accurate when dealing with more than 2 strings. Id personally advise against that.

Written by Too many fail. on 24.12.2007 at 23:08

Written by Varegan on 24.12.2007 at 20:55

try to move your wrist and elbow together. it also depends on how you get the pick in hand.

Picking from your elbow can supposedly fuck your arm up pretty bad, plus i cant imagine it being very accurate when dealing with more than 2 strings. Id personally advise against that.

Yeah, I always heard people saying opposite, to play from your wrist not from elbow... I do it both ways, I dont have the habbit, but you get tired easier when playing from elbow, thats what I know..

I's important to warm upp and stretch your arms,fingers, shoulders and back before playing and stretch after playing! i use the stretch and warm up exersises that John Petrucci uses in his Rock dissipline lesson dvd.
You should also check that u use the right tecnick, and that means not use the albow only wrist!

And to all of you! the Metronome is a great tool!!! always practice with a metronome!

When i practice i play without distorzion
it's harder but result is better

I've got a question: if i crank up the gain on the amp big time while using a (granted, poor) guitar with a humbucker pickup i still won't hear the buzz that comes out of those crappy single coils?

Is it possible you are playing with tensed up muscles? It's counter-intuitive, but try doing it with as much relaxation in your muscles as you can and still play. I've seen this in action. In my old band one guitarist was playing the galloping rhythm throughout a song and couldn't do it without running out of steam. We could see that he was stiff from the tips of his fingers all the way up his arm. The lead guitarist tried to tell him to relax, but he insisted it was an endurance problem. So to prove it we played the tune again with the lead playing the rhythm part. He made it through the song without trouble and you could easily see he was much more relaxed in his strumming arm/hand. It was more like 20% endurance and 80% technique.

I am a noob in guitar playing, and I like playing with a 0.8-1 mm pick because it helps me get really nice and heavy sounds but it is difficult to play one 2 or more stings with it (to me anyway) or playing fast. It is good for slow songs and more of a rythm playing, can anyone give me tips on how to make several string playing?

Here's a tip: As vatro said, practice without distortion, and the first time you practice anything, play it at 1/8 speed and slowly speed it up once you perfect it at slower speeds.

This takes awhile, but helps develop good technique.

Also, alternate pick! At first it will sound messy(from string noise) but eventually you'll clean your playing up!

@Berfones, I don't understand your question, but try using thinker picks. maybe 1.5mm jazz picks.

http://www.suncreekmusic.com/product_info.php/products_id/1679

These are what I use. They work great for me.

Great tip is to play everything even if you don't like, because playng diffrent styles of music is going to get you expirience and knowledge.But to answer this i usualy take vieos and shows of my favorite bands and look how they play so that i can "copy them" and upgrade my playing.

Written by [user id=36807] on 31.12.2008 at 08:15

Also, alternate pick! At first it will sound messy(from string noise) but eventually you'll clean your playing up!

hell yeah. that is pretty much the way to go when playing thrash/fast heavy metal that's borderline between being possible to downpick it and tremolo(alternate) pick.

downpick = limited by how much speed your arm can take. if you play blues you'll survive.

alternate picking = the only way to NOT fuck up your wrist when playing riffs like Judas Priest's Eat Me Alive, Jawbreaker(main riffs), Iron Maiden's Fear of the Dark(verse riff), Manowar's Return of the Warlord(main riff), Megadeth's Tornado of Souls(i've seen Mustaine downpicking the verse riff at about a 10% faster tempo-which is really fucking fast, and singing at the same time... if you wanna impersonate him fine by me but don't expect to not get tired in about 30 seconds, that and you can hurt your finger by ramming it against the first string accidentally, it's not that painful most of the times but it can de-focus you)

it's pretty much like this: you can play any riff that is on one string with alternate picking, but there's always gonna be something way too fast for you to downpick it like the first riff of Judas Priest - Rapid Fire or Volbeat - Find That Soul... try downpicking that stuff, fucking waste of calories lol



oh and another tip for beginners just starting out. DO NOT learn instant ultra-shredding exercises by heart, or if you do, make sure you balance it with learning enough full cover songs and stuff like that. think about it this way:

-you learn 100 exercises that get you incredible speed and you can shred like Yngwie for one minute straight.
-you learn 100 full songs to play.

think of the guy who broke the guitar speed world record, but doesn't get worldwide recognition. where does he fall in? first category obviously, did it do him much good? other than a mention in the world records page, that got him jack shit because he doesn't play music, he masturbates.

now think of Angus Young, who is technically a totally mediocre player, but is among the most widely respected guitar players in the world. where does he fall in? that's right, in the second category because he plays music.

and think of Yngwie, who is the world's first and greatest guitar virtuoso, he did both, and now is at the same level of world recognition(even higher by guitar player's standards) as Angus.

the question you should ask yourself is, "who do i wanna become like? the guy who broke the guitar speed record, Angus or Yngwie?"

I'm just going to bring up a couple of points that I've found to be good advice in the 3 or 4 years that I've been playing.

This is mainly for those starting out and although this basic advice isn't anything special - it's often overlooked and ignored.

Alternate picking - Minor movements from the elbow and arm can be used when necessary but the majority of the picking and hence precision should come from the wrist which should remain relaxed at all times. Obviously, the more you practice, the more you will be able to do with less force and effort.

Positioning the picking hand - What works for your friend or your favourite guitarist may not be ideal for you. The key is to experiment and see what works best for you. Whether it's floating your hand while picking or anchoring it. Try different methods and see what works best for you. Just remember that if it's uncomfortable or painful then you're doing it wrong!

Start slow - Starting slow is important as it helps you focus on precision and playing a certain piece or song cleanly. Attempting to play fast early on can form bad habits and can result in you becoming a sloppy guitarist and I'm sure you don't want that.

Also, if you have an acoustic guitar you should play often as the string action will require you to press harder to get the notes to sound, hence strengthening your fretting hand.

Another tip i want to give to players is DO NOT take the brand placebo! do not disregard the lower brands, don't forget the guitar industry is a business after all so the guys at Gibson, Jackson, Marshall(only the amps, the pedals aren't overpriced), Celestion, Squier, Boss(the single most overrated manufacturer in the world), Ehx, MXR, Seymour Duncan, DiMarzio, EMG, Lollar(how the fuck can a pickup cost 200$ is beyond me), DR and of course Fender(these are the ones i can tell from the top of my head, i'm sure there's quite a few more) are happily raking in tons of cash due to countless players buying their stuff like crazy, specializing in marketing and capitalizing on the money of the suckers people they turn into tone/brand maniacs.

also look into lesser known brands like GFS, Kramer, Xaviere, Behringer(not the guitars though, they suck), Hamer, Agile, Hohner, Greg Bennett, Hagstrom, Vintage, Aria etc.. they are both trying to make better products for the money to get better sales and you don't have to pay for some bullshit marketing/promotional stunt or a shitty ad when you buy gear from them.
as for amps, i played Marshall JCM2000's, and yeah they sound awesome but they are still overpriced as hell and you can get a good(even similar) tone to that with a good modeling amp, effects, pickups etc. which will set you back for way less than 4000 dollars.

furthermore, from the moment you get a decent guitar that doesn't have bad frets or goes out of tune instantly, spending more on gear isn't a guarantee for becoming a better guitarist. so few people realize what i said in this post it's almost depressing

I know practice makes perfect, and I do practice, but it seems or at least for me, I've reached a level we're I can't speed up my fret hand anymore. Any tips or good exercises you guys could pass on?

Metronome! Metronome! Metronome! If you aren't already using it, you must. Start slow, and when you can play something comfortably without mistakes, strain, or stress, bump the metronome up about 10 bpm. When you hit your limit, take it back down to where you last were and play it. Do this regularly. Speed is something that takes time and dedication and a strong work ethic. That said, it's really good when you take a day off from playing, here and there. Sounds like blasphemy, and even though it will be a pain when you start again, after the first hour, you'll be back to normal and refreshed. Take a look at athletes and body builders, when they work out, they never work the same muscle groups two days in a row.

Another, more productive way is to get a slow down program, then put in a song you want to learn, and again, slowly speed it up as us play along. That'll be more rewarding, and one should never pursue speed for speed's sake. It should always be a byproduct of practicing accuracy and sound. It takes time, but you'll be a better player.

There are other ways too that help, if I get some time, I will try to write them later.


go here for an online metronome [url]www.metronomeonline.com[/url]

Written by Forged Soul on 23.03.2010 at 00:59

Metronome! Metronome! Metronome! If you aren't already using it, you must. Start slow, and when you can play something comfortably without mistakes, strain, or stress, bump the metronome up about 10 bpm. When you hit your limit, take it back down to where you last were and play it. Do this regularly. Speed is something that takes time and dedication and a strong work ethic. That said, it's really good when you take a day off from playing, here and there. Sounds like blasphemy, and even though it will be a pain when you start again, after the first hour, you'll be back to normal and refreshed. Take a look at athletes and body builders, when they work out, they never work the same muscle groups two days in a row.

Another, more productive way is to get a slow down program, then put in a song you want to learn, and again, slowly speed it up as us play along. That'll be more rewarding, and one should never pursue speed for speed's sake. It should always be a byproduct of practicing accuracy and sound. It takes time, but you'll be a better player.

There are other ways too that help, if I get some time, I will try to write them later.


go here for an online metronome [url]www.metronomeonline.com[/url]

whenever i learn solo's, i play it through media player at the slowest pace it can go, and play along. when i perfect it and practice a few times, i speed it up to the next level.

Written by Forged Soul on 23.03.2010 at 00:59

Metronome! Metronome! Metronome! If you aren't already using it, you must. Start slow, and when you can play something comfortably without mistakes, strain, or stress, bump the metronome up about 10 bpm. When you hit your limit, take it back down to where you last were and play it. Do this regularly. Speed is something that takes time and dedication and a strong work ethic. That said, it's really good when you take a day off from playing, here and there. Sounds like blasphemy, and even though it will be a pain when you start again, after the first hour, you'll be back to normal and refreshed. Take a look at athletes and body builders, when they work out, they never work the same muscle groups two days in a row.

Another, more productive way is to get a slow down program, then put in a song you want to learn, and again, slowly speed it up as us play along. That'll be more rewarding, and one should never pursue speed for speed's sake. It should always be a byproduct of practicing accuracy and sound. It takes time, but you'll be a better player.

There are other ways too that help, if I get some time, I will try to write them later.


go here for an online metronome [url]www.metronomeonline.com[/url]

Alright man I have Guitar Pro so I gonna give it a shoot. Thanks, by the way, very good advice