stairway to heaven solo

[vanhalen]

Hi, I'm learning the Stairway to Heaven solo and i need some help. I would like to ask if strict alternate picking is best to use? I don't think at all about my right hand but ive noticed i pick something between alternate and economy picking. But this has raised a problem, since its my right hand that has problems playing fast enough and not my left. The solo is in 90bpm but i cant play it faster than 80.

One more thing, if you are strict alternate picking, should you skip one stroke with the right hand if one pull-of is involved? I mean:

--8-7-8-7-8p7-8
if you start with a down stroke on the 8th fret, should you play the last eight with up or down stroke?

thanks

[Unhorizon]

Regarding your last question, I would end on an up stroke, considering it would just be easier than to have to do 2 downstrokes in a row, even with the pulloff in between... but I think its up to you. I like to keep strict AP no matter what.

[Leviathon]

Led Zeppelin was featured in one of the guitar magazines. I kept meaning to pick it up and didn't. They had all the songs in their that you would want to play with detailed tablature. I looked through real quick and I believe they showed, if I'm not mistaken, how to pick each not the way Page did....

[mjo]

I do love Zeppelin and jimmy.......but,
It seems there would be a couple ways to approach playing his guitar parts. You could do it with proper technique or the way jimmy did , with all feeling................and for that, he is one of my all time favorites !

[forgottenking2]

Exactly what lick/sectior are you reffering to? There's a lot of blues based licks in that solo and sometimes is better to play those with a little different approach than "strict" anything (at least it seems to work better for me that way) Let me know what is it that's giving you problems and I'll try to give you a hand there (if I can't the other guys here sure will be able to).

Regards,

[Spin 2513]

Hey Van ,

When you practice ,try picking your A minor pentatonic pattern at the 5 th fret , with Hammer ons , and Pull offs.

When you descend start with an Up (^) Stroke and pull off ,
then go to the next string , and start with a Down( v) stroke and Pull off , then on to the next two notes .

Pentatonics ,you can do 2 notes per string , so you can get an Alternate picking, Hammer on Pull off , thing happening with them ,pritty easily .

I know that solo note for note , as most old guys, like me, do .... so if you have a question about a lick, just post it , in Power tab , or describe , where it is in the solo .

[Milo]

maybe it is easier to play two downstrokes because your right hand wont go faster or slower, it will have the same motion, so it wont get confusing on some way

[vanhalen]

thanks guys...
i changed my right-hand movement on some part of the solo and ive managed to speed it up a little.. i can almost play it in 90 but i have some trouble with the part that is repetive - only three notes (i love that part btw), but i think the only thing i can do is just to practise.