Metal??

[Mikeman9412@gma]

Hey guys, I'm interested in learning some metal :o LOL never thought i'd say that, but anyway... Where should I start?? I play alot of Blues, Jazz and Classic rock and I wanted to try metal so i get a full range of styles...

When I say metal I mean like the broad general topic, I also like Steve Vai, If that classifies as some what metal??? lol Yeah i sound pretty clueless but I'm just curious!! Thanks!

Yeah side note I'm mostly wondering about Steve Vai, I'm wondering how I should get started learning that kind of stuff?

So what should I start practicing?

Is there any theory I should pay attention to?

Any techniques I should learn?

How can I practice playing fast?
(When I try either my hand picks to slow and my fingers are far gone or my fingers don't move fast enough :) )

What makes up those metal riffs?

Whats the theory behind metal??

What do you guys use when you play your solos?

Thanks!!!!!

[All_¥our_Bass]

What kind of metal?
Thrash(slayer), Death(Suffocation), Black(Dimmu Borgir), Doom(Black Sabbath)?

[JazzMick]

Metal is too broad a description now days. To me it simply means distortion.

Advice. If you hear something you like... learn it. No need to spend hours doing technical exercises, all that will do is make you good at exercises. Unless it is for the purpose of simply warming up your hands before you tackle a difficult piece.

There is nothing really theoretically exciting about vai or satch or any of that avant garde metalish stuff. Its mostly pretty diatonic or modal. From what I used to listen to anyway.

I spose knowing your harmonic minor scales well would be advantageous.

Techniques to work on would be sweep picking and that fast rhythmic chugga chugga downstroke power chord sound :p Depending on what you want to play.

Q- "how can i practice playing fast? "
A- You practice playing fast !

Pick something and work at it until you have it down. Remember to start slow and gradually increase tempo as you feel comfortable. Don't rush to play fast for the sake of it though.

Enjoy~

[Mikeman9412@gma]

Wow, I have up really late when I wrote this :) But yeah I'll try to clear this up,. I'm wondering about a more Steve Vai kind of sound if you can call that somewhat metal? I didn't really mean like metal metal like screaming vocals, I just meant like lots of distortion but like what Steve Vai plays! Thnaks!

[All_¥our_Bass]

I think he's more of a progressive rock guy, but I'm not here to argue about genre labels.

He's really good, but he's not really metal. :D

[Mikeman9412@gma]

Oh! Ok, Well anyway, Replace metal in my post with "Steve Vai" and thats more what I'm looking for! LOL

[V72]

I'm gonna have fun writing this out :cool:

A lot of metal I listen to is usually very fast paced. The metal I listen to requires crazy coordination and endurance of your picking hand, for rhythm stuff at least. You wanna be able to gallop pick (As I like to call it, but it can also be called triplets).
Thunderhorse by Dethklok, the intro makes great use of galloping picking. (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=stdqPT8LvTg)

Get your alternate picking down. It's an essential for playing fast. It will help you unlock the ability to nail some crazy rythm riffs that you might be hearing in your head.

Clarity is a huge obstacle. When playing with distortion it's very important not to hear your extra buzzes or the accidental note. Mistakes seem to be very very emphasized with distortion so being able to play cleanly is a must.

Build up your speed. This means sit down with a metronome and get your hands synced. I actually have a video (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CCgg1KNxUI4) on this (apologies, I get nervous talking in front of the camera:o) with basic metronome exercises. You aren't limited to the finger patterns, so don't get the idea you can get fast by doing just a basic exercise. The main thing is to focus on picking every single note cleanly while staying in time with the metronome.

And for tone wise, metal in my opinion at least, should sound very determined and confident. So if you use a thin pick, ditch it and get a heavy. Right now I use custom Jazz IIIs. They let my hand move freely and still get the hard sound I'm after.

[Madaxeman]

I don't like generic labels either, and especially these days "metal" doesn't mean much.
By switching to "Steve Vai" the game changes.

First step, to play like Steve Vai, you really need to get the fundamentals down cold. Know the entire guitar and theory like the back of your hand.

To just play Steve Vai songs, get a TAB book that is very accurate, and start learning his songs.
Vai is a very, very technical player that also puts himself completely into his playing emotionally. The guy played with Frank Zappa when he was just 20!

To sound like Vai, even with the exact same gear, nobody would sound like him. Sound comes from the person playing more than anything else.

Also, Vai is very expressive by making the guitar sound like human words and phrases, which takes a lot of time and practice by itself. The only way to really do this is to say phrases like "Hello" and mimicing the vowel sounds with a tremelo (Vai's signature Ibanez can do pitch up and down, many do not go up, or are limited how much they raise the pitch).

[Mikeman9412@gma]

Tabs?? Do they have any sheet music books? I think Steve Vai would like that better :) He went to Berklee

[walternewton]

You might want to read the lessons he's posted on his website (http://www.vai.com/littleblackdots.html)...

[Madaxeman]

Tabs?? Do they have any sheet music books? I think Steve Vai would like that better :) He went to Berklee



Mr. Vai, I am sure, would appreciate someone dedicating themselves to accurately transcribe his music (like he did for Frank Zappa, ultimately landing him a spot with Zappa)...
I am sure if someone could nail one of Vai's songs (whether it be by TAB, by ear, or by a transcribed piece of sheet music) it would be impressive, and Vai may appreciate it more if it wasn't an exact copy, but something that reflected the person's playing style as well.
I have read and heard many interviews by Steve Vai, and the emotional expression coming from a player makes an impact with him, regardless of technical ability.

QUOTE from Vai: "While a thorough understanding of all these basic theory points is very useful, it's not a necessity, because music is an art form. No one has the right to say, "Our noise is better than their noise". It's totally relative. "

[fingerpikingood]

you learn to play fast by starting slow and increasing in increments. you don't learn to play fast as a first step. it's something you can just set out to do.

it's kind of like being a 2 year old and asking. "ok how do i learn to beat hussein bolt?"

he's been playing guitar for a long time. you can do alot of what he does just by experimenting with the key scale and pentatonic.

there are limited numbers of notes that generally work in a tune. it's that he knows which notes he "can" play. he just knows what all the notes can sound like in certain situations. he knows all their sounds. from playing alot. it's the order and timing he plays them in. not knowing which ones he can play at a given time. because truly at any given time you can play all of them.

so step one, no matter what, is to get real comfortable with the major scale and pentatonic. then figuring out what he does becomes simple.

except for he goes superspeed.

the idea is to get yourself to a point where whatever you imagine you can play. you can imagine whatever you hear. so you want to be at a point where you could transcribe instantly.

this is why transcribing is a good excercise.

once you've done that you can play every style.

but then the tricky part. is, "but how did he come up with all that?" because he is not playing stuff he read in a book. not following some kind of rules of theory that tell him to play what you hear him play. he devises it. that's the tricky part.

right? how do you draw a face? well a circle with two small ones for eyes and one for nose and then crescent for mouth right? but think of all the ways you can draw a face.

all the artists of the world drawing faces, and the creativity of one over the other sets him appart.

it is not because he knows face drawing theory. it is because he devised something special. and having mastered drawing was able to produce it as an image. now there are techniques you can learn to draw, smudging, drawing with your pencil on the side, different hardness of pencils. all sorts of stuff. but nothing that will tell you how to devise great artwork.

so you start by mastering the techniques, and by studying what others have done. and then you devise stuff on your own. but you see, in drawing, it seems obvious there is not theory. technique yes. in gutiar also there are techniques for certain sounds. fingertapping or what have you. but basically in drawing, to study you just copy stuff others have done. and you do this by looking at it and copying it.

in music you listen to it and copy it. same thing.

but there's also a bunch of theory you can learn that is all useful but gives the illusion that it is the key for devising. whereas it is not.

start with major scale pattern and pentatonic. transcribe, ear out, as much as you can. start simply, with slower things.

play a steve vai tune. find the key. play the key over it. listen to him and mimik him in some licks in rhythms. hit pause and rewind to copy a specific part that's not too hard. then play more with major scale and pentatonic.

you can ask a thousand questions. and my answers will almost always be the same.

major scale pentatonic scale. transcribe, practice. this is for soloing. you should also learn your chords and fretboard though.

[Mikeman9412@gma]

Yeah, I like that quote, But the theory helps, I mean I'm sure his vast knowledge of theory helps him with the guitar!

[fingerpikingood]

it helped him know his way around. but where he choses to go is all him.

[Madaxeman]

Yeah, I like that quote, But the theory helps, I mean I'm sure his vast knowledge of theory helps him with the guitar!


Exactly! (which I mentioned before the quote:rolleyes:)
Like learning a new language and only knowing a few words or phrases, it makes it much harder to communicate what you want to.

While it isn't necessary, as Vai says, why limit yourself?

His article "U.R. That!" on the littleblackdots link on his website is really insightful. (link in this thread by walternewton)

[Mikeman9412@gma]

Yeah, He really adds himself into his music, I don't think anyone can really replicate his playing, But what my question is, is like what does he use? Like most players have a mode or something they play in a lot that gives a basic sound

Example

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yw74sDWPH7U

Skip to around 2:00+, Whats he using there? That crazy fast thing, and like I've tried to play fast just up and down on Aeolian for example, but I can never get that classic metal/shred/Steve Vai sounding thing! lol Any ideas?

[rafapak]

I strongly recommend Troy stetina's books, especially " speed mechanics for lead guitar. check those books on the internet

regards
rafal

Hey guys, I'm interested in learning some metal :o LOL never thought i'd say that, but anyway... Where should I start?? I play alot of Blues, Jazz and Classic rock and I wanted to try metal so i get a full range of styles...

When I say metal I mean like the broad general topic, I also like Steve Vai, If that classifies as some what metal??? lol Yeah i sound pretty clueless but I'm just curious!! Thanks!

Yeah side note I'm mostly wondering about Steve Vai, I'm wondering how I should get started learning that kind of stuff?

So what should I start practicing?

Is there any theory I should pay attention to?

Any techniques I should learn?

How can I practice playing fast?
(When I try either my hand picks to slow and my fingers are far gone or my fingers don't move fast enough :) )

What makes up those metal riffs?

Whats the theory behind metal??

What do you guys use when you play your solos?

Thanks!!!!!