I thought I could gallop pretty fast...

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I've always been proud of my rhythm guitar playing skills, but out of boredom earlier tonight I decided that I'd start learning some new songs. I'd been playing Testament more recently which is a lot of fun, but I decided to pick something a bit more brutal so I popped in Sepultura's Beneath The Remains. I never realized how crazy some of the rhythm work is on a few parts. Beginning of Stronger Than Hate has some galloping at about 260, and Primitive Future has some more at around 250. Looks like I have some more practice ahead of me before I can cleanly keep up. Oddly enough my straight 16th note picking has no problem with that speed, just the galloping.

Other than metronome grinding any other tips for building up more speed? Maybe, perhaps Ace will come in and share some speed secrets rhythm-wise.

[Fragle]

Re: I thought I could gallop pretty fast...

practice iced earth songs LOL.....john schaffer is a MONSTER. way better than hetfield imho - and his tone is leagues above jaymz' [img]/images/graemlins/laugh.gif[/img]

seriously, just keep on practicing. don't push yourself beyond your limits, i.e. stop playing if it starts to hurt.

ah yeah, and did i mention iced earth songs? [img]/images/graemlins/laugh.gif[/img] [img]/images/graemlins/laugh.gif[/img] [img]/images/graemlins/laugh.gif[/img]

[Inearthed]

Re: I thought I could gallop pretty fast...

Yeah... When I first started playing guitar I was really into Iced Earth so I learned a lot of their songs. Still, Iced Earth settles in around 180-200. Cool thing is that those songs are really fun to play.

[shredmonster]

Re: I thought I could gallop pretty fast...

Its like weight lifting - thats how I look at it. Practice and the nerves and twitch muscles will develop (hopefully).

You might also (if you havn't already) try experimenting on your picking technique. For example, sometimes I use mostly my wrist, other times my wrist and elbow and othet times my wrist, elbow and shoulder. This gives you various attacks, speeds and alters the harmonics.

Try experimenting with how close to the bridge your pick lands on the strings. I find when I pick closer to the neck pick up I get a fuller more interesting harmonic content but the strings have a little less tension than nearer to the bridge pup. Also its slower because I can't anchor my palm against the bridge. So the picking tends to be a bit slower than if I pick nearer to the bridge pup.

Sometimes in the same song you pick mostly with the wrist then emphasize an upstroke or downstroke with the the elbow and/or shoulder.

Try starting some passages with an upstroke instead of a downstroke and see what happens.

Work on stacatto technique - concentrate on getting clean and even spaces between pick strokes.

At some point your muscles should relax as opposed to fighting and tensing up. Its this that you are trying to build to and this takes a lot of practice. Once you get to this point you should be able to fly pretty fast.

Oh yeah, picks... I uses a Jazz III. Nice and stiff. If the pick gives to the strings ie. bends as you pick it will slow down your picking techniqe. So don't use a thin or medium pick if you want to maximize your speed.

[Fragle]

Re: I thought I could gallop pretty fast...

i tend to use .88 green tortex picks. works great for me and my style. i used to use the black 1mm nylon picks, but the .88s are brighter and more stiff.
btw, anyone know what kind of picks john schaffer's using?

btw, one should generally pick as close as possible to the bridge. i also used to pick further away from the bridge, but after andy sneap said that he often tells guitar players to pick closer to the bridge i decided to give it a shot, and my tone became SO much better and tighter it's amazing.

[Inearthed]

Re: I thought I could gallop pretty fast...

Yep, I use those Jazz III's as well. Great pick. I'll work on some of the stuff you mentioned. I typically pick from the wrist fairly close to the bridge pickup, at least with more technical rhythm work.

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btw, anyone know what kind of picks john schaffer's using?

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If I remember correctly he uses 2mm picks.

[DSS3]

Re: I thought I could gallop pretty fast...

While I love the precision of Jazz III's, I really hate the tone of them. Compared to my greenie Tortex's, they're dull and muddy, especially on the low strings. Tortex's also have way less of a "schchch" before pick hits on lead runs, specifically when sweeping.

[Newc]

Re: I thought I could gallop pretty fast...

Really? I've found JIIIs to have a more rounded edge than standard pics, and they roll off the string with less scraping noise when used at an angle. Hence the Jazz-functionality they typically represent - more of a percussive attack without the highs you get with standard pics.

[Endrik]

Re: I thought I could gallop pretty fast...

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and his tone is leagues above jaymz' [img]/images/graemlins/laugh.gif[/img]

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[Ace]

Re: I thought I could gallop pretty fast...

My speed secret rythym wise is YEARS of trying to play as fast as I possibly can. I have always tried to push myself with my right hand as far as I could go. When I was starting out about a dozen years ago I was playing a lot of Reign in Blood era Slayer. A few years later I moved on to Krisiun. I also used to do a lot of drum machine grindcore where we would set the beat progressively faster and I would push myself harder and harder to keep up. I've actually pulled muscles in both arms while tracking from playing too fast.

The secret is in developing your "twitch" muscles. Also you need to sort of relax your fingers while retaining their strength. Get rid of the stiffness, keep the strength.

Drum machines and metronomes are good for building meter, and helping you improvise, but for sheer right hand speed drills they can be sort of a crutch. If you set it too low you are not playing to your full potential, if you set it too high you will burn yourself out too fast trying to keep up. I play my fastest when Alex decides to kick it up an notch and double down on all his drum parts. That effectively makes me have to play TWICE as fast. That's where the adrenaline kicks in.

When it comes to gallops and more intricate speed/rythym work, a metronome can be a great tool. Getting locked in to a beat and playing along in unique rythym patterns is a good practice. There is a LOT you can do in a 4/4 beat if you use your imagination. I usually just think of a killer fast rythym pattern in my head and just bash it out on guitar. I am at a point in my playing where I don't really need to sit and overthink what my hands are doing. If I can hear it in my head, I can play it on guitar.

I guess the main point is to relax yet dig in at the same time. Like a Zen Hercules.

[skorb]

Re: I thought I could gallop pretty fast...

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If I can hear it in my head, I can play it on guitar.


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I have just gotten to that point in my development (except for sick shredding stuff), and it is a really great feeling! [img]/images/graemlins/toast.gif[/img]

[Fragle]

Re: I thought I could gallop pretty fast...

yeah, but that can be a quite large IF right there [img]/images/graemlins/laugh.gif[/img] [img]/images/graemlins/laugh.gif[/img] [img]/images/graemlins/laugh.gif[/img]