speed kills

[GuitaRR]

has anybody watched the instructional video by michael angelo called speed kills? if you have, how is it? and what do you guys think of his technique? a friend of mine just played one song for me and he seems pretty good...

[graypianoflying]

It's pretty good. His technique is amazing and if you practice the exercises you will improve. Like most technique videos (and most instructional material in general), you'll get out of it what you put in.

The cool thing about it is that he also shows some of his ambidextrous stuff with his double neck guitar and some of his other tricks.

[Crossroads]

I have Speed Kills, but I stopped using it fairly quickly after getting Paul Gilbert’s DVD Intense Rock 1&2.

That’s not because there’s anything wrong with Speed Kills, it’s fine as far as far as it goes, but it doesn’t go very far.

Paul Gilbert’s DVD covers almost exactly the same material as Batio, but there’s a lot more of it, it’s more directly related to useable licks, and imho Paul is a much better presenter (Batio’s presentation is clear enough, but he’s rather “odd” … Paul Gilbert really is a very good teacher indeed).

Personally, if I wanted the best exercises to practice fast picking then I’d definitely get Paul Gilberts DVD rather than either Speed Kills 1&2 or Petrucci’s Rock Discipline. :)

Ian.

[graypianoflying]

Personally, if I wanted the best exercises to practice fast picking then I’d definitely get Paul Gilberts DVD rather than either Speed Kills 1&2 or Petrucci’s Rock Discipline. :)


Agreed.

[Crossroads]

Good…I always prefer agreeing with people :) .

One other thing though – I notice GuitarR has another thread asking about sweep picking, and I ought to say Paul Gilbert's DVD mainly concentrates on alternate picking…the section on sweep picking is very small in comparison.

Actually there’s some nice sweep exercises & good explanation on that Danny Gill DVD that I often recommend (on the 2nd DVD I think, but ask me if interested & I’ll check), apart from the sweep stuff that also has lots on basic theory (chords, keys, scales) plus plenty on other techniques inc. alternate picking, economy picking, tapping, harmonics, ie all in context of soloing so it has lots of nice licks illustrating scales, keys & progressions.

Ian.

[Darkman]

Paul Gilbert’s DVD covers almost exactly the same material as Batio, but there’s a lot more of it, it’s more directly related to useable licks, and imho Paul is a much better .That's something I noticed about Batios video. The licks are great for learning techniques, but in my opinion they are tricky to place in your own solos. I tried to place the patterns in pentatonic scales, but they don't sound quite right. Maybe I just conjured up some weird mode without realising it (I didn't learn many modes and don't like them to be honest).
Anyway since reading this thread I am getting my hands on Gilberts instructional stuff and I'll see what I find.

[GuitaRR]

Thanks for the help guys...I just got the PG dvd at the record store...will give it a watch soon.

[Darkman]

I've started on the Gilbert DVDs. I think I prefer his licks to Batios simply because they're more pentatonic sounding. Though one thing I notice is Gilbert doesn't tell you how to count out the licks like Batio does. For example how do you count out Gilberts first 6 note lick? It doesn't sound 123 223, so it must be 16th? This is unclear to me.

[EricV]

The first lick from his "Intense Rock" video?
Depending on the tempo, I either count that as 8th note triplets or sixtuplets...
Hope this helps
Eric

[Darkman]

Thanks for that, I'll try that count (once I decipher what it is heh). Now I've given Gilberts first licks a good go I can already see a big improvement for me. It was a surprise, but I could play Gilberts stuff much faster in a shorter time than Batios. It may be to do with Batios "unfamiliar" note selections. Gilberts are simple scale-wise so far.

But now I've picked up some speed I'm noticing some nasty string noise. It's taking some time to identify exactly where it's coming from since it only occurs during fast picking..... Guess I'll have to slow down again and re-position to get better damping.

It's all fun isn't it :)

[LaughingSkull]

It's all fun isn't it :)

That is why we do it.:)

[TMV]

Thanks for that, I'll try that count (once I decipher what it is heh). Now I've given Gilberts first licks a good go I can already see a big improvement for me. It was a surprise, but I could play Gilberts stuff much faster in a shorter time than Batios. It may be to do with Batios "unfamiliar" note selections. Gilberts are simple scale-wise so far.

But now I've picked up some speed I'm noticing some nasty string noise. It's taking some time to identify exactly where it's coming from since it only occurs during fast picking..... Guess I'll have to slow down again and re-position to get better damping.

It's all fun isn't it :)

This is something that has taken me some time to figure out. I noticed that the string noises can be caused by some different problem's. One is that the string's are too close to the pick-ups and another is that your volume on your guitar is too high. So you have to dial back the volume on your guitar and up the volume on your amp. Another problem I have noticed recently is that when you keep your finger's and your pick on the string's too long, that too will cause some noise through the pick-ups as well.