Help improving speed and accuracy

[outlawten5]

Thanks.

[Cliff]

On a related note:
Thank you gentlemen for making me put my attention more towards techinique, still got a long way to go, but even I can't ignore that I've improved over the past few months

Sweet! I've just realized I've spent too much time on technique and not enough on music. So be sure and strike a balance.

[RR2772]

There always comes a time when playing SM ex is not enough.

The way I practise is to do the ex 1-24 as much I want to at different speeds or where I am currently at. What it does for me is to warm up my left hand so that is why I do SM first but then I try other stuff that is more musical sounding like Yngwie or Satriani. Another benefit is that is a lot easier to learn other stuff if you have warmed up with SM.

Again ex 25 should not be the only ex in SM to practise and 132 bpm is enough. If you skip to much in SM you do not get the optimal results of it so start at ex one and move slowly, accurate and cleanly forward each practise day! With some months under your belt you will improve not getting stuck like nearly all buyers of SM.

[RR2772]

Hey Cliff and everyone else who is fans of this thread.

I hope this place is not dead yet but this is the first post in 2014 hopefully not the last. No signs of you Cliff on the Pebber Brown forum.

Far beyond the sun is sounding a lot better and my Dean Markley signature I-20 head has gotten some new ECC83 tubes which I have never changed in the lifetime I have had that amp. It even predates my Stratocaster by a year or so. I have done a lot of practise on the small mechanics in that Yngwie tune and I seem to play faster but accurately too and I go from very slow and up. I am getting used to my thumb behind the neck too.

The SM ex are not played very much but the benefits of 1-24 are there and I have not moved on to 25 + yet. Yngwie is a bit more interesting.

How is it going with you?

[Cliff]

Nothing too exciting to report. I had a long vacation over Christmas and played a lot every day. I really noticed the benefit. Since going back to work, I had a week without playing at all, and this week I've trying to play a little bit every evening. I really felt 'rusty' after not playing for a week. I still warm up with exercises 1-5, and I've been working on the picking exercises 51-56. I've found string noise with these is a real problem, so I'm playing them very slow and trying to get the notes to ring out clearly without any unwanted noise going on.

[Cliff]

I've just recorded this, and am pretty happy with it. It's a descending sequence in Em, Yngwie-style. It's quite a challenge, since it involves position shifts, and inside and outside picking.

I've been practicing it for the last week, getting early each morning to drill it. Today I spent all day on it, finally working up to this speed (144pbm). It's way faster than I've been able to play before. I know it's not perfect - I can hear some notes that aren't properly articulated, and there's too much string noise - but I think it's a bit of a milestone for me.

Let me know what you think.

[RR2772]

What can I say? It sounds like it's going in the right direction. The only sort of struggle is more like come on get it right this time. I base that on the other takes of the video. Other than that how does it sound played legato at that speed? You have be used to the higher speeds in order to play them correctly with ease. This goes for slow stuff too. Take Far beyond the sun for instance. That one is becoming quite a habit as play all the time or what I have down of it. Yes I do plan a video of my progress. My only problem is my 4 finger movement on my left hand. I can play the spider ex from Pebber kind of well but going to other stuff brings that movemt back instantly. It is doing the job exellent well it just looks like it does when you are trying to improve.

The best comment must be that you do have good musical taste and it does come out slowly

[Cliff]

Thanks for the comment!

[RR2772]

As for a video my progress on that Yngwie tune is going forward to make it sound good but as for the sound my Strat needs a tonal upgrade. It is not an excuse but a fact. Playing straight through and into my Marshall 2104 combo on high I could tell the brightnes and treble was to harsh and ice picky.

Some studies into that went into why and found that the volume, tone pots to be at the wrong specs aka 500k hum instead of 250K single coil.

On low and cleaner it is fine but on gain not so nice. So therefore I am changing the pots and other stuff to make it sound better.

Playing it on RR2772 could be the answer and I try but if it is to see if my skills are really going the Yngway so to speak then I would rather wait a little but yes it does sound more fluid by now including the sweep picking licks (3-4 so far).

I am at ex 40 in SM (first time ever!) as I got bored with the legato ex but I have gone through ever ex a lot. My picking hand for alternate strokes are at 160-170 bpm steady and relaxed. It helps that the basic thrash riffs like early Metallica or Slayer were some I tried to play back in the '90s as it did not take a long time with the metronome to get it to be a steady habit for the 160 + tempo's.

How is going for you?

[Cliff]

I'm busy moving, so my copy of Stetina is packed away. Remind which one exercise is 40? At any rate, sounds like you're making very good progress.

For me, I'm busy relocating, quitting my job, saying goodbye to friends, etc, so I haven't been practicing so much recently. Mostly I'm working on an ascending and descending Am scale sequence, with lots of string switching going on. I have it pretty clean at 120bpm, and up to 132 on a good day, but I'm not entirely happy with the clarity here. I'd been concentrating on getting the picking right for the string switching, and noticed (again!) that my left-hand was getting too weak, so now I try and practice some of Stetina's legato every day as a warm-up, plus some ladder exercises. Occasionally trills too.

[javert]

Hey Cliff! New job? Where are you moving? I was hoping to grab a beer with you in the fall as I'm planning a trip to Monterey.

[RR2772]

Thank you. My skills improves every time I turn on the Boss DB60 and follow. The day after I do not have to warm up much since the legato ex 1-13 really helps the lefthand doing its job. Ex 39-40 is leading with an up stroke for the next string.

You have to keep at those legato ex as your lefthand will slow things down if you do not.

I do the trills as well to keep them up to speed 160 bpm to make sure they will be there. Anything for the movement of the lefthand fingers actually.

Are you leaving SF? Or just the Bay area? What job are you getting?

[Cliff]

Hey guys, yep I'm leaving the Bay Area for Seattle. I'm joining Pixar's RenderMan team which, for reasons not entirely clear to me, is located away from the rest of Pixar.

Javert - sorry about the beer, but let me know if you're ever in the Seattle area - it'd be great to catch up!

Cliff

[javert]

Congratulations on the new job then! I will definitely let you know if I'm in the area.

[Cliff]

Guess it's been a while since I posted here. Just an update to show where I'm at, and how my amp sounds with the treble boosted as you suggested: