Question about Troy Stetina's Material....

[Fragger]

Hey Everyone. You know I have heard a great bunch about the effectiveness of this author's works. Speeed Mechanics is by far is more praised work. However, I can't help wondering. What about his other material, especially his metal series, what do they offer and are they any good, or just like millions of tapes and videos on this subject? So please answer the following questions:

1. Who do you think would need to buy the Metal Lead Primer, instead of just buying the part 1? I mean what kind of information does the Primer offer, that is ESSENTIAL to follow part one?

2. Those of you who use ANY of his stuff, could you list your sample routines using his stuff? I was thinking, how you guys make time for that enormous information.

3. Finally, does his lead books ONLY develop technique, or it has enough theory and information to actually boost your feel and effectivness of coming up with material?

I think these should get the thread going, remember to list your views about his OTHER books too, not just SM. Thanks in advance!

[etaeniura]

Re: Question about Troy Stetina\'s Material....

I picked up Speed mechanics and Metal rhythm Vol. 1 a few weeks ago. Troy's material seems to be based on very utilitarian style-information that is not necessary is kept to a minimum, and the important stuff is explained very thoroughly, but simply enough for any idiot to understand. There isn't too much about theory, other than explaining how to find chord positions and playing in the right key. I have had other books that just have so much useless stuff they become boring. I would say you could probably learn more from one of Troy's books than from 2-3 of some of the others out there.

[Fragger]

Re: Question about Troy Stetina\'s Material....

Thanks for your reply. Aside from the useful information, does Troy also explain how to do things too, like on the fretboard? Like in terms of bends and vibratos, does he tell us dos and don'ts? Also personally, how much has his books helped your playing so far? Finally, can you give me a sample of your routine, I wanna get an idea of how people fit in his stuff in their practice. Thanks so much! Are there any other people who used his books?

[fritzreiser]

Re: Question about Troy Stetina\'s Material....

Here is my synopsis of Troy's Methods:

Lead Primer: Definitely for a beginner who has never played. Explains basic rhythm, tablature, hammers, pulls, etc. 2 cool little call and response solos to learn.

Rhythm Vol. 1: Also for a beginner. I think he provides a great foundation for metal rhythm guitar. The entire book is a beginner level book.

Lead 1: Chapter 1 is a review of the stuff in Primer. Chapters 2-4 bring you up to about the intermediate level. Chapters 5 & 6 are definitely intermediate level.

Rhythm 2: Intermediate. He goes into alot more theory in this one as opposed to rhythm 1.

Lead 2: Intermediate - Advanced. Great stuff.

If you are considering his methods, I would also recommend:

Total Rock Guitar: He uses 22 original songs to teach rock guitar. Used as a supplement to his other methods, it is a great way to learn some cool songs.

Hope this helps.

[Fragger]

Re: Question about Troy Stetina\'s Material....

Thank you for your elaborate review of his material. In the Metal lead 1, you mentioned that he actually reviews the stuff from part 1. May I ask you how effective that review is, and would be good enough for a guy who know his tabs, the pull-offs, hammer-ons, slides, scales, and etc? Actually, I would love some teachnique on how to actually DO the pull-offs, I never got it [img]images/icons/grin.gif[/img] .

Finally, would you give me sample of the routine you followed using his books? Thank you!

BTW, I'm thinking of order SM, MR1, ML1, and Total Rock guitar, you think I will be fine, without the primer? Thanks again!

[maddog]

Re: Question about Troy Stetina\'s Material....

Personally I think that SM is a great place to start for players of all abilities. You dont really need to get all of those books if you get speed mechanics. I would buy speed Mechanics and work through it slowly. Then that will give the grounding to play pretty much anything: Speed picking, sweeping etc. When youve got the hang of speed mechanics that will speed up your progress if you decide to get the ML books [img]images/icons/smile.gif[/img]

[Fragger]

Re: Question about Troy Stetina\'s Material....

Thanks for your input bro. Don't you think I would need his other Metal books for rhythm? Also, a lot of people said that SM is not for noobs, while I'm a big noob [img]images/icons/frown.gif[/img] . What do you think? Thanks again!

[YetAnotherOne]

Re: Question about Troy Stetina\'s Material....

Speed Mechanics is IMHO probably the single best place a beginner could start (this based on my own 20 years worth of experience fumbling around with the instrument). The most difficult thing for a beginner is sticking with the instrument long enough to gain a level of mechanical ability that will allow them to play interesting tunes. The first 50 pages or so of SM are dedicated exclusively to building that mechanical ability - if there's a better way to do it I'm not aware of what it might be. You could do a lot worse than to simply start at page 1 of SM and work your way through spending a few days on each set of exercises as time allows then moving on to the next.

[fritzreiser]

Re: Question about Troy Stetina\'s Material....

Originally posted by YetAnotherOne:
Speed Mechanics is IMHO probably the single best place a beginner could start

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">I respectfully disagree with you, Brad. I think SM is a great book for someone at the intermediate level and above. Here's an example why: If you look at his first exercises (for the left hand) in SM, you'll see that he does the hammer-on 1-2-3-4 on all 6 strings, then pull-offs 5-4-3-2 back down the strings. Here's the problem with this first exercise: Troy never really explains how to do the pull-offs on this exercise. Do you place all your fingers on the string and pull off or do you do "just in time" pulling off to each finger? I have never seen Troy give a definite answer to that on his website, and that question has been asked 10,000 times.

For Fragger's situation, he is much better off starting off with Metal Lead 1 & Metal Rhythm 1
and working his way thru them. If he finds that he is working thru Metal Lead 1 at a pretty good clip, then SM would be a good supplement. Speed Mechanics is a great tool to IMPROVE technique and gain speed and accuracy, but should not be used as a Method for learning to play. This, of course, is my HO.

[Fragger]

Re: Question about Troy Stetina\'s Material....

Hey thanks guys. I kinda' agree with you both. SM is clearly not a beginner book, at least when it gets moving. However, what Brad was saying, I think, was that there is much worse that a beginner could do, rather following the SM. I always aimed of using the SM as a subsitute for ML. Then when I was done with that, I would have gone SM to try and finish it off.

You know guys, I appreciate your advice and all. However, don't you think we are going back to SM, as in all Stetina threads [img]images/icons/smile.gif[/img] . I wanted to know if his other material was just as good too. So did you guys use anything other than the SM, if so, how did you like it? Thanks and take care!

[LesPaulCustom]

Re: Question about Troy Stetina\'s Material....

Fragger:

SM is more or less THE guitar technique bible...but Troy has a bunch of other stuff which is equally great.

The ML series are good from a "applying what I've learned technique wise" in a real situation.

He breaks it down prior to the solo any weird "new" techniqes and some speed exercises to bring you up to speed. Each solo contains a bunch of stand alone exercises...and that multiplies and compounds when you play along with Troy or the backing track and you get it.

I have his Signature Series book on Ozzy...and it is great....but the publisher made some mistakes in the translation in a couple parts where it is obviously wrong (No More Tears and Bark at the Moon) but otherwise a great book...with a lot of insight into Randy's playing and also Jake E. Lee and Zakk Wylde.

IMO, Troy Stetina has the best material out there for guitarists, beginner or otherwise.

But, like anything else, you only get out of anything what you put into it. The metronome has helped me out greatly and I also bought a cheap $5 timer from Wal-Mart to time the various exercises....like 1 min for this, 1 min for that etc. which helps organize and focus your practice if you have a limited ammount of dedicated practice time.

Hope this long winded response helps.

[Guest]

Re: Question about Troy Stetina\'s Material....

I'm going through SM and I definitely think it's for intermediate level. Unless you have a LOT of patience and are willing to work with a metronome or drum machine.

I'm a fair to middling guitarist (sad for how long I've played), and it takes me a while to get a new exercise under my belt. Even then, I can't play it at his full speed tempo. But that's not the point. As long as you are playing in time (with a drum machine or metronome), you will progress. And I have definitely done so.

I can't stress the use of the drum machine/metronome strongly enough. Do NOT go through this book without one. Like Troy states, playing to a rhythmn magically frees your fingers since you are now phrasing instead of just playing a sequence of notes. You cross over from the merely mechanical into the realm of music.

Good luck, bro! [img]graemlins/toast.gif[/img]

[diospada]

Re: Question about Troy Stetina\'s Material....

just ordered SM and ML from amazon, can't wait!!

[img]graemlins/headbang.gif[/img]

[chopper45hd]

Re: Question about Troy Stetina\'s Material....

i have been working with SM for a couple of weeks now, and as a beginner, it is worth every cent ya gotta pay for it. i struggled to learn anything for about a yr and couldnt really show any progress for my efforts. a few weeks with sm and even my chords changes are getting faster.
even if you dont work with a metronome to start with,the exercises for finger independance and cyclic patterns and sequence patterns are great.

i also found and am useing left handed guitar the complete method by troy stetina which is great for scales and chords and chord progressions.

fritz,does it matter which way you do it? both ways are pretty cool to learn.

[YetAnotherOne]

Re: Question about Troy Stetina\'s Material....

Originally posted by chopper45hd:
i have been working with SM for a couple of weeks now, and as a beginner, it is worth every cent ya gotta pay for it. i struggled to learn anything for about a yr and couldnt really show any progress for my efforts. a few weeks with sm and even my chords changes are getting faster.
even if you dont work with a metronome to start with,the exercises for finger independance and cyclic patterns and sequence patterns are great.

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">That's pretty much what I was trying to get at above. In my early playing, my main problem was making progress in my mechanical ability to play the instrument quickly enough to allow me to learn a steady stream of new and interesting material. With all due respect to the folks who commented above, I still can't believe there's a more efficient way to gain the mechanical ability that's prerequisite to really playing and really enjoying the instrument. Sure lots of SM is beyond the absolute beginner but lots of it isn't but that's just my $0.02.