Home Forums Progress Review Speed Kills x 1000

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    • #11988
      Anonymous
      Inactive

      MAB mentioned he once did one of the first exercises (“the” riff?) one thousand times in a row… ‘and we didn’t want to know how long it took’!

      This is the kind of thing that instantly triggers something maniac in me and so, already a few times, I tried to do each exercise a thousand times before moving to the next. Once, a couple of years ago, I think I got maybe to exercise 10…! But this is something that I always wanted to do, and have some sort of comparison for a before/after status.

      As I switched my picking style earlier this year and am still working on it I thought it would be good to try it again. This time I intend to record each exercise after completion of the 1000 times, and after the whole program, if I get there, then record them all, and check if there was much desired improvement.

      Still I noticed something already… 16ths at 120bpm was always a kind of mental barrier to me. I could be playing eyes shut with a progressive metronome and work gradully, open my eyes when it was getting too much and there… 120bpm! But this time, while not doing a clean job I could hold it somewhat to close to 150 – already missing notes, tripping over myself here and there etc …. you’ll see 🙂

      So here’s Exercise 1 after 1000+ times. I recoded one run for each metronome setting (in 10ths) from 40 to 140. You’ll see as it starts to get uncontrolled and unpolished. Still, I thought it would be go to share with you guys. Sorry about the video quality as I’m also learning a new software for this:

      Any takers to make this journey together? 🙂

    • #11991
      AlleyCatRocker1980s
      Participant

      Love your videos very nice!

      You have a good, feel for Jazz how cool!..:)

      Practicing Guitar

    • #11993
      superblonde
      Keymaster

      Wow congrats! The member of the 1000x club!

      The 1,000x Club – Speed Kills

      The 1,000x Club – Speed Kills

       

      Speed Kills 3 ("Speed Kills 2010") handy index and VLC playlist

       

      Personally as soon as I can get SK3-ex#03 up to 90 BPM cleanly I am recording the challenge. That has been my intention for a while as a goal. At the slow tempo when I first started, it would take way too long in terms of total # of hours. It’s 9 seconds long at 80 BPM. Actually just contemplating such a challenge made me focus more. So it’s a good challenge, really. I’m well beyond having done it 1000x total, just haven’t done it in a single day — only made it not to about halfway (400x) when practicing it for about 1 hour straight. Regardless of the specific riff it seems there is something to be learned by even attempting it.

      It’s a bit nuts, the sheer number of repetitions vs. tempo. Anyone practicing the pentatonic scale with 16th notes ascending then descending, for example, ten reps of that at 60 BPM takes 1 minute. I practiced these around 60-70 BPM on different days this week for up to 75 mins/day and that’s still only 750x total each day. My fingers were limp noodles by then. Speed counts! Well, so does the length of the riff 😮

      This is what I’ve been able to piece together about MAB’s story.. of course the details are for trivia sake, the important thing is simply the focus on doing the playing. In various programs: MAB says it was similar to the ending ascending scale part of Speed Kills 3 ex 3; in other material he says it was this riff but higher up the neck (like 5th fret or so); elsewhere says he practiced this riff (or similar riff) for 12 hours in one day.

      I'm an intermediate student of Metal Method. I play seitannic heavy metal. All Kale Seitan! ♯ ♮ ♭ ø ° Δ ♩ ♪ ♫ ♬
      And on the Seventh Day, Mustaine said: ∇ ⨯ E = - ∂B / ∂t ; and there was Thrash; and it had a ♭3; and it was good.

      • #11997
        Anonymous
        Inactive

        Wow congrats! The member of the 1000x club!

        Hey, Superblonde!
        I’m afraid I’m not .. But don’t push me 🙂 !
        Like you I did it a few hundreds a day – but kept doing it everyday until I hit the mark. This time I must have played exercise 1 close to 2000 times, actually.

        When playing slow I try to polish everything as much as I can. Keep fingers and body relaxed, keep aware as you said, keep left hand fingers low, move the pick not too far away from the strings – I try to internalize the pick movement, when it goes outside or inside the strings. I try to put it to a point where, hopefully, it will be instinctive to play that way.
        Also, I use a progressive metromone. I have it set up in periods of 10 minutes, going from 30 to 140, and when I start to fail I go back again. Here’s the link:
        https://bestdrumtrainer.com/st/#30_170_G_TNS_600_10_64_140_O
        Also found a good Android app for this – it’s from these guys https://www.keuwl.com/Metronome/

        I wish I could have more time in the day and could easilly spend a few hours just trying to perfect things 🙂
        I’ll let you know if I ever manage to do one of these 1000 times in one day!

    • #11996
      Anonymous
      Inactive

      Love your videos very nice!

      You have a good, feel for Jazz how cool!..:)

      Thank you, Alley Cat Rocker! Very kind of you!

    • #12003
      MotleyCrue81
      Participant

      Imagine doing that same exercise at 254 bpm. That’s how fast MAB does it in “No Boundaries”. It’s been kicking my butt. I can pick fast, but at that speed I start to slopify. I’m gonna do a complete technique overhaul. I’m going to only be looking at stuff from S&A and Speed Kills. I’ll be adjusting tempos very gradually, I don’t even want to try to play anything considered fast for like a month. I’m going to get the finely tuned movements embedded in the picking and fretting hand through slow practice, and then just keep working up very slowly.

      Bring hair metal back!

      • #12018
        superblonde
        Keymaster

        254 bpm! Now that’s what I’m talkin’ about! Imagine how quickly you could do 1000x at that speed 😀 Less than 40 minutes nonstop! Okay, I’m just being positive, ha. That speed is.. well you’re a machine.

        I'm an intermediate student of Metal Method. I play seitannic heavy metal. All Kale Seitan! ♯ ♮ ♭ ø ° Δ ♩ ♪ ♫ ♬
        And on the Seventh Day, Mustaine said: ∇ ⨯ E = - ∂B / ∂t ; and there was Thrash; and it had a ♭3; and it was good.

    • #12006
      AlleyCatRocker1980s
      Participant

      Your above Video, is pretty amazing for those of the people new here to Metal Method

      those that may be first timers…Could you please tell us about your Guitars, an what type of Amplication

      that you use!  Also are you a full time Jazz player, or do you play other Music as well?

      In Jazz, those guy’s seem to know a lot of Scales…Do you do a lot of Improvising as well ?

      What other types of Music,are you into.  Also your Playing Technique is pretty amazing!

      What type of practice routines,do you use?  How long you have been playing, an what drew

      you to the Guitar?

      Practicing Guitar

    • #12015
      rorygfan
      Participant

      Keep fingers and body relaxed, keep aware as you said, keep left hand fingers low, move the pick not too far away from the strings – I try to internalize the pick movement, when it goes outside or inside the strings.

      Zen like.  Great way to practice, I wish I could concentrate that length of time.  I read an article quite sometime back about applying only the minimal and slightest pressure necessary to pull the strings into the frets- really focusing like you say on that both conserving energy and preventing injury.  While drilling over and over practicing bending to pitch I find it pretty difficult to relax as you need to use muscles obviously to do this over and over.  My fingers do start to hurt so I quit when that starts, strength will come in time.

    • #12017
      Sarah Spisak
      Keymaster

      You’ll see as it starts to get uncontrolled and unpolished.

       

      Very good work!  Your hands both look fine.  You should be able to increase that upper limit gradually, especially when you are relaxed and rested (not after doing the exercise a zillion times in a row.)  🙂

    • #12019
      superblonde
      Keymaster

      The real benefit of the 1000x attempt seems to be what some others discussed on the forum over various years about long practice sessions. Basically boils down to, doing a marathon session. From my own results I see great benefits of doing a marathon. But it seems not all types of learning are best done as a marathon. Learning a new song from scratch for example seems to be best for me when done in under 20 min segments over several days or split half days (still practiced slow), maybe it’s something about long term vs short term memory. But getting up to a certain tempo with repetitive drills.. that definitely seems best as a marathon.. I am just guessing based on my own practice because I haven’t seen this really talked about much. I haven’t heard MAB talking about this difference anywhere for example. But you know who I think might have a good opinion on this? Pianists – especially classical or bebop jazz. It could be great to track some down and see what they say about this topic.

      I'm an intermediate student of Metal Method. I play seitannic heavy metal. All Kale Seitan! ♯ ♮ ♭ ø ° Δ ♩ ♪ ♫ ♬
      And on the Seventh Day, Mustaine said: ∇ ⨯ E = - ∂B / ∂t ; and there was Thrash; and it had a ♭3; and it was good.

    • #12021
      superblonde
      Keymaster

      Speaking of Speed Kills 3, the ex4 in Speed Kills is just a muscle burner. When I first started I could not sustain more than 2 minutes of it (at 40 BPM). I think now I can do it for 5 minutes nonstop. And I’ve been doing it on and off for a few months now. After a few mins my pinky muscles are so sore than I have to move onto something else. Sore in the sense of that “lactic acid buildup” muscle burning feeling. Ex4 seems to be just punishment. Where’s Will? I wonder what he has to say about that one.

      I'm an intermediate student of Metal Method. I play seitannic heavy metal. All Kale Seitan! ♯ ♮ ♭ ø ° Δ ♩ ♪ ♫ ♬
      And on the Seventh Day, Mustaine said: ∇ ⨯ E = - ∂B / ∂t ; and there was Thrash; and it had a ♭3; and it was good.

    • #12027
      Anonymous
      Inactive

      Your above Video, is pretty amazing for those of the people new here to Metal Method

      those that may be first timers…Could you please tell us about your Guitars, an what type of Amplication

      that you use! Also are you a full time Jazz player, or do you play other Music as well?

      In Jazz, those guy’s seem to know a lot of Scales…Do you do a lot of Improvising as well ?

      What other types of Music,are you into. Also your Playing Technique is pretty amazing!

      What type of practice routines,do you use? How long you have been playing, an what drew

      you to the Guitar?

      AlleyCatRocker, thanks for the kind comments and questions! I?ll have to think about it, the reply should be too long to put it here, but I’ll happily trade notes with you over mail, if you want! 🙂 My address is joaopazguitar@gmail.com.
      Thanks again, Sir!

      • #12049
        AlleyCatRocker1980s
        Participant

        Well no I don’t want to email you, I asked you these questions for a Group Discussion.

        Practicing Guitar

    • #12028
      Anonymous
      Inactive

      Keep fingers and body relaxed, keep aware as you said, keep left hand fingers low, move the pick not too far away from the strings – I try to internalize the pick movement, when it goes outside or inside the strings.

      Zen like. Great way to practice, I wish I could concentrate that length of time. I read an article quite sometime back about applying only the minimal and slightest pressure necessary to pull the strings into the frets- really focusing like you say on that both conserving energy and preventing injury. While drilling over and over practicing bending to pitch I find it pretty difficult to relax as you need to use muscles obviously to do this over and over. My fingers do start to hurt so I quit when that starts, strength will come in time.

      Yep, I call it Tao practice 🙂 But that’s along the same lines, same spirit!
      Also, adding to the technical part, I try to check shoulders, neck and breathing, if they’re relaxed.

      And what I’m currently working on is on holding the pick with a certain degree of firmness (hope I can use this word) while still have my wrist and arm relaxed – or at least that I’m not blocking speed with tension until tension is required.

      Practicing slow and trying to check all of this stuff it doesn’t feel slow at all 🙂

    • #12029
      Anonymous
      Inactive

      Imagine doing that same exercise at 254 bpm. That’s how fast MAB does it in “No Boundaries”. It’s been kicking my butt. I can pick fast, but at that speed I start to slopify. I’m gonna do a complete technique overhaul. I’m going to only be looking at stuff from S&A and Speed Kills. I’ll be adjusting tempos very gradually, I don’t even want to try to play anything considered fast for like a month. I’m going to get the finely tuned movements embedded in the picking and fretting hand through slow practice, and then just keep working up very slowly.

      What I’m discovering (at my humble level) is that there’s a lot more to it than to practice slowly and with a great level of awareness… there are things that you don’t usually think about it, and that people never talk about, and that may (or may not) be crucial to getting our playing to the next level.

      Here’s one example:
      One thing I’m working on now, at very slow tempos, is on a continuous flow of movement of both hands. This may sound silly or obvious, but it isn’t: I found out, in my playing at least, that even at higher tempos my playing is full of micro-stops, like when you fret a not and the finger stops there, even for a tiny fraction of a second, while another finger goes into the next note… I’m exploring with playing things as a whole, a continuous flow of movement. Do a drum roll with your fingers on a table to see what I mean. Also on the right hand I noticed that are tiny moments when the movement actually stops, either when you rest a pick on a string or when you change picking direction, or when you have your mind set on playing a note… in this case when you played that note you kind of reached your goal and your mind may go “ok it’s done” .. so what I’m trying to think when practicing is to play “across” the string and “in the middle” of that movement there’s “contact” with the string and you hear the note 🙂 I love to explore these things and want to believe they help me get better!

    • #12030
      Anonymous
      Inactive

      You’ll see as it starts to get uncontrolled and unpolished.

      Very good work! Your hands both look fine. You should be able to increase that upper limit gradually, especially when you are relaxed and rested (not after doing the exercise a zillion times in a row.) :-)

      Actually doing things a zillion times may be very harmful. I do tell that to my violin students, but sometimes I forget to use that same advice on my guitar playing 🙂 If you’re doing a movement that is defective somewhere, and if you do it 1000 times in a row, it will be hell to correct that later… it would take at least another 1000 times to break the habit, and couple 1000s on top of that to learn things again the correct way ….
      wow, I’m glad we had this chat, Sarah, while I’m still on exercise 1 🙂 !!

    • #12031
      Anonymous
      Inactive

      The real benefit of the 1000x attempt seems to be what some others discussed on the forum over various years about long practice sessions. Basically boils down to, doing a marathon session. From my own results I see great benefits of doing a marathon. But it seems not all types of learning are best done as a marathon. Learning a new song from scratch for example seems to be best for me when done in under 20 min segments over several days or split half days (still practiced slow), maybe it’s something about long term vs short term memory. But getting up to a certain tempo with repetitive drills.. that definitely seems best as a marathon.. I am just guessing based on my own practice because I haven’t seen this really talked about much. I haven’t heard MAB talking about this difference anywhere for example. But you know who I think might have a good opinion on this? Pianists – especially classical or bebop jazz. It could be great to track some down and see what they say about this topic.

      Well, I play/teach violin and study jazz guitar lol. I consider myself a slow guy, I take my time to warm up and get up to speed. There are guys who can pick their instruments and blown away through complex lines with freezing hands. When I was doing my violin studies I noticed that study really began for me just after some 90minutes playing. After that time I’d finally feel my hands (and probably my head) was in place to really start doing work, to solve problems, to advance. So If I’d do, say, 3 x 30min sessions a day I could never get to that point of feeling my practice was compensating.
      In guitar and with time this amount of required preparation time cut down somewhat, but still I need to spend time with things.
      So to cut it short, I believe that we have different stages of performance level that do require continuous time to get there – and when I manage to invest that time I often feel like “wow, I can do this after all!”

    • #12032
      superblonde
      Keymaster

      In honor of your dedication, this thread is now a sticky at the top 😀

      MAB mentioned he once did one of the first exercises (“the” riff?) one thousand times in a row… ‘and we didn’t want to know how long it took’!

      When I first heard this story years ago, I guess I naively thought, “OK, MAB did this one special riff 1,000 times when really young. Then he was great.” I took his lesson too literally and I bet it’s a common naive belief. Like a magic switch for speed had been turned on. It didn’t click for me that he probably continued doing 1000x style practice on multiple exercises for months and years. He has said in interviews that he practiced 10 hrs a day for week(s) before recording a new album (mid 2000’s?).

      So If I’d do, say, 3 x 30min sessions a day I could never get to that point of feeling my practice was compensating.
      In guitar and with time this amount of required preparation time cut down somewhat, but still I need to spend time with things.
      So to cut it short, I believe that we have different stages of performance level that do require continuous time to get there – and when I manage to invest that time I often feel like “wow, I can do this after all!”

      Excellent! I think that is one part of MAB’s story that is missing (for beginners). It’s not just that he did one ‘magic practice riff’ 1000x when he was young. It’s that he developed his own personal practice habits of doing repetitive study on specific things and applied this to everything. Especially on troubleshooting his own technique in an iterative way to ensure his progress forever. Especially when young when his body had lots of growth going on, it could really compound talent, plus he has said, he always was fast.

      One other missing puzzle piece is that MAB I believe grew up with a professional classical pianist in his immediate family. So, he might have latched onto the idea of the importance of repetitive practice due to piano discipline. This might be something in common for the virtuoso guitarists. (A good question for Troy Grady to ask!) As I mentioned elsewhere recently, I found other guitar students locally in general scoff at the idea of disciplined and repetitive practice. Maybe a rock n roll rebellion thing, maybe guitar just attracts and reenforces that kind of attitude. Certainly many blues guys reenforce this belief too (I’ll say, false belief, but that’s just my opinion).

      Maybe if someone gets lucky enough to run into MAB at a signing or clinic or show, y’all can ask him about these points 😀

      I'm an intermediate student of Metal Method. I play seitannic heavy metal. All Kale Seitan! ♯ ♮ ♭ ø ° Δ ♩ ♪ ♫ ♬
      And on the Seventh Day, Mustaine said: ∇ ⨯ E = - ∂B / ∂t ; and there was Thrash; and it had a ♭3; and it was good.

    • #12039
      MotleyCrue81
      Participant

      For most general classic rock and blues, they’re not as technically crazy as MAB shred. You could get away with not practicing hours and hours a day honing in on certain speed techniques to play the normal classic rock and blues stuff. But for shred, extremely disciplined practice is always necessary. It’s the only way to get that good.

      Bring hair metal back!

    • #12045
      Sean
      Participant

      Wow!  So much fantastic  advice from one post. How Awesome! Thanks to all of you for sharing.

      Tell me and I will forget ,show me and I'll remember, involve me and I'll understand

    • #12152
      Anonymous
      Inactive

      Well no I don’t want to email you, I asked you these questions for a Group Discussion.

      Ok! I was just shy of making this thread about myself, but will gladly reply to your questions! So here you go!

      Guitars: These are my favorites of the pack – I’m partial to Ibanez! AS153, AFJ95, AR325, Rocket-Roll (1970s Flying-V) SAS32EX .. but also Fender Telecaster American Special, Fender Jaguar FSR, a couple of The Loar Archtops, Washburn J6, Epiphone Dot Studio, Gibson LPJ 2014.

      Amps: Roland Cube 60, Fender HotRod Deluxe III.

      Jazz: Improvisation, yes! Love it, even though I still have a long way to master it. Scales, oh yes, and arpeggios and chords, and inversions, with all kind of alterations. Here’s an example of a cool/odd sounding arpeggio Ebmin7#5b9 🙂

      Music: I’m into all sorts. I’m a volin teacher (also teach jazz guitar but on a much lesser scale right now) so I have to deal with a lot of Classic. I love everything until the Baroque period, included. Classical properly and Romantic period not so much… then love everything contemporary again! I started playing on post-punk rock bands in the 80s, and loved pretty much everything since then… though today, I’m a little bored with all the indie and dance stuff! About Metal, I read the Guitar Player Magazine through the 80s and so that’s the guys I know better… Vai’s For the Love of God is a true masterpiece in my book!

      Practice and guitar: I started playing guitar at 11 and played until about 30. But never practiced much, was more into composing… my technique was kinda medium with lots of flaws! Then I stopped 15 years during my violin course, and then picked up the guitar in 2009 again specifically for jazz: since then I play everyday, I didn’t miss a day since, and my average must be around 2/2.5 hours a day.. less during weeks and a lot more on weekends! What draw me to the guitar …! Went on a trip with a church group… the guy taking care of us kids had a guitar! I was mesmerized by it…. and managed to turn that trip into a continuous guitar lesson! 😉

      And guess that’s it! Again, I was just trying to keep my profile low when I replied to you before, hope it’s clear! BUT thank you for asking, man!!

    • #12153
      safetyblitz
      Participant

      Guitars: These are my favorites of the pack – I’m partial to Ibanez! AS153, AFJ95, AR325, Rocket-Roll (1970s Flying-V) SAS32EX

      Have you ever had occasion to try the Ibanez AFJ91? That one probably intrigues me the most, but I haven’t yet had the chance to try one hands-on.

    • #12156
      Anonymous
      Inactive

      Guitars: These are my favorites of the pack – I’m partial to Ibanez! AS153, AFJ95, AR325, Rocket-Roll (1970s Flying-V) SAS32EX

      Have you ever had occasion to try the Ibanez AFJ91? That one probably intrigues me the most, but I haven’t yet had the chance to try one hands-on.

      No I hadn’t… I wish 🙂 But supposedly my AFJ95 is the same guitar just with two humbuckers – they belong to the same series, Artcore Expressionist. The tailpiece is also different. The rosewood pickguard is on both, and the rest seems to be the same guitar as well. Judging from mine I’ll tell you it’s an awsome axe. Super value for money.. I can’t find a single flaw in mine 🙂 It’s comfortable, light, great sounding… it’s one of those guitars that you start playing and you immediately forget about the guitar, you know what I mean? You just start playing and the guitar opens the way 🙂 Love it!

       

      And I suppose you know this video… https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2W90kBS3EOo

    • #12194
      Anonymous
      Inactive

      Here’s Nr 2. I’ve been playing with it all week, counting until the first 1000 times and then kept playing … 2000+

      I’m trying to clean it up, experiment various approaches, with and without metronome, string by string, “burstings” etc.

      On the video I’m playing it at 40bpm, 60, 80, 100, 110, 120, 130, 140 – at 130 I began to loose control, but still I’m happy with the 120bpm! My goal is not to achieve everything already at exercise 2, but go through the whole series if I can and then compare them all in the end with one quick go.

    • #12195
      vik
      Participant

      joaopazguitar,

      I wanted to thank you for your posts.

      I learn and am inspired from many of them, please keep it up.

       

    • #12198
      superblonde
      Keymaster

      You know what’s funny. I decided to try 1000x again this morning (Speed Kills 3 ex 3). Set the metronome and amp up, metronome at 80 BPM with a drum beat. At 80 BPM the exercise is 8-9 seconds long (about that..). Anyway 1000x of this exercise takes 150 minutes. I got 64 minutes into doing this exercise (phew!) and my metronome couldn’t take it anymore, it died. Yup my metronome couldn’t last either. And that’s only a little over 400x! Just as well because I’m not sounding very clean today for I dunno what reason. But basically MAB beat my metronome.

      I'm an intermediate student of Metal Method. I play seitannic heavy metal. All Kale Seitan! ♯ ♮ ♭ ø ° Δ ♩ ♪ ♫ ♬
      And on the Seventh Day, Mustaine said: ∇ ⨯ E = - ∂B / ∂t ; and there was Thrash; and it had a ♭3; and it was good.

    • #12200
      Anonymous
      Inactive

      joaopazguitar, I wanted to thank you for your posts. I learn and am inspired from many of them, please keep it up.

      Vik, thank You for the kind words: Believe me, I’m also learning a lot here, with and from the guys 🙂 .. And the lessons!

    • #12201
      Anonymous
      Inactive

      You know what’s funny. I decided to try 1000x again this morning (Speed Kills 3 ex 3). Set the metronome and amp up, metronome at 80 BPM with a drum beat. At 80 BPM the exercise is 8-9 seconds long (about that..). Anyway 1000x of this exercise takes 150 minutes. I got 64 minutes into doing this exercise (phew!) and my metronome couldn’t take it anymore, it died. Yup my metronome couldn’t last either. And that’s only a little over 400x! Just as well because I’m not sounding very clean today for I dunno what reason. But basically MAB beat my metronome.

      You beat your metronome to death 🙂

      Started with Exercise 3 today as well, but managed only to get into 150x. And I though I was doing good … until I read your 400x! 🙂 I’m practicing it at various settings… to start I did with no metronome (or even steady tempo) just checking the moves involved. Then used a progressive metronome a few times and finally a steady one at 120bpm.

      Love these exercises; they’re short and really lots of things to work out carefully!

      BTW, one thing I forgot to mention on your pentatonic video. I found your picking hand really great. When you started (before adding the left hand) it looked pretty acurate to me!

       

      • #12225
        superblonde
        Keymaster

        BTW, one thing I forgot to mention on your pentatonic video. I found your picking hand really great. When you started (before adding the left hand) it looked pretty acurate to me!

        Thanks – one thing is that I seem to have good timing relatively speaking. I think my metronome batteries might be recharged by now but my forearm is toast (+ after practicing 20 songs, which I mention just to be clear that the exercises are only one part of practicing), so 1000x for me will have to wait for another day.

        I'm an intermediate student of Metal Method. I play seitannic heavy metal. All Kale Seitan! ♯ ♮ ♭ ø ° Δ ♩ ♪ ♫ ♬
        And on the Seventh Day, Mustaine said: ∇ ⨯ E = - ∂B / ∂t ; and there was Thrash; and it had a ♭3; and it was good.

    • #12441
      Anonymous
      Inactive

      I’ve been diligently working on Speed Kills 🙂 At this point I realized that the 1000x times figure is really a short one. I’m sure I doubled it with Exercise 1 and 2, will probably hit the triple on Exercise 3.

      I’m doing a lot of other things, other than playing each exercise carefully, like isolating small bits, work on particular string skips, etc. Am working on a “plan” for this and will for sure share it with you guys once it gets sharper.

      Remember MAB speaking about different techniques as the speed builds in? Like when you’re going really fast the movement is a lot more on the forearm and not much on the wrist or fingers (I can’t recall is exact words on this) But what I’m noticing, and that proves his point, is that it gets harder and harder as speed increases, and then there’s a “zone” after which it becomes easier again.. In my case it doesn’t mean is suddenly cleaner and all, but it definitely feels easier.

      120bpm used to be a wall for me. It is still there, somewhat, but it is blurred now. At times I look at the metronome and I’m on the 130s… and keep going, while I manage to still hit a good percentage of notes(!) until it really falls apart closing in to playing 16ths at 150s bpm. There’s a certain feeling … 🙂

      +++

      On another note, I’m transcribing and practing to play up to speed a certain jazz guitar solo… it is built on 8th notes but around 230bpm, with tempo fluctuating a bit what makes it really tough. I’m around 80/85% now… what I’m noticing is that the problem is not so much to be able to play each line at speed, but to endure the whole solo, keeping the motion going forward… while I never did it I guess Surf must feel like this. Be able to play and look ahead and stay on top without compromising the next line and the next.. each line played a few licks at a time isn’t terrible but the whole thing together feels tough as nails!

    • #12454
      superblonde
      Keymaster

      It seems to me there is some kind of endurance thing that is on top of the speed thing. Even in the basic course stage 2 I could do some exercises flawlessly at the goal tempo for a few runs, like a dozen loops. But I couldn’t play whole songs, or do the exercises nonstop to a drum track for an extended time, I’d just get worn out and start making mistakes all over the place – that’s some endurance limitation thing, somehow. I notice by doing nonstop looping on exercises with a metronome it really takes care of this angle. So in that way, trying x1000 is a great exercise to try. Also it’s why I started alternating between learning solo’s all the way thru at slower speeds rather than only getting each little chunk up to 100% then trying to connect the chunks much later into the long solo. There’s something that happens it seems like, about having to link parts together being a skill in itself, plus the endurance aspect. So I kind of alternate exercises- after the parts are up to some reasonable 70% or so, in getting tiny sections up to 100% speed individually, and then doing entire solos thru at slow speeds, to work on both in parallel, then going back to the tiny sections which need the most work, etc.

      There is a spot in Speed Kills 3 where MAB talks about pick motion, how at slower speeds, where there are more nuances in playing, it is one type of motion (fingers holding the pick can move a lot), like typical blues soloing techniques, and at faster speeds, those fingers (thumb and index) start to become more and more rigid, he also has a good visual demo of this. It’s around in between ex6 or ex7 I think. He mentions that this is a clarification of his original older Speed Kills rules about handling the pick in one way only.. I think there’s also a spot – or maybe the same spot- where he talks about speed in relation to pick angle, how faster tempo gradually switches into doing this. Not sure if that’s the same topic you’re thinking of though. It make me want to go rewatch Dan Mumm’s videos to see if he mentions these types of things too.

      I'm an intermediate student of Metal Method. I play seitannic heavy metal. All Kale Seitan! ♯ ♮ ♭ ø ° Δ ♩ ♪ ♫ ♬
      And on the Seventh Day, Mustaine said: ∇ ⨯ E = - ∂B / ∂t ; and there was Thrash; and it had a ♭3; and it was good.

    • #12466
      Anonymous
      Inactive

      Superblonde,

      I think that’s another type of endurance, you mention – so we have three things here, at this point: the speed properly speaking; enduring speed for an extended period and wear out (what you’re saying) and enduring speed for a whole/dense solo, even when you may be fresh (what I mentioned). Cool!

      About the MAB parts, yes I think that’s the section I was referring too, though I don’t remeber that pick angle vs. speed thing – will have to go back and maybe watch it all in one go!

    • #12858
      Anonymous
      Inactive

      So .. after some 3 weeks I’m ready to follow to the next exercise.
      At this point I forgot about the 1000x long ago as I am playing each exercise way more times – and that is not the important part anymore. Actually, playing the whole exercise in one go is probably the last thing I do. I’m trying to dig deep into each little movement required at each exercise and – as mentioned above – will talk about that process once I verify that it is worth talking about 🙂

      But the fact that I was able to include in this video a section at 150bpm, where I can at least “mimic” the exercise, is already a good sign! When I started this in mid January I was at a point where anything above 120 would be just a matter of luck. 120 was always a wall for me (when playing in 16ths) and that sure is starting to feel like past. Still, you may not notice a lot of improvement since I started, but I guess that’s ok, considering a couple of months are nothing and I’m barely beginning with the course. I’m feeling good about it!

      Excuse the lame quality of the video – I didn’t notice the setting when I started recording it. In the video I’m playing at 100, 120, 130 and 150bpm.

    • #12872
      superblonde
      Keymaster

      Awesome! The audio is clear and that’s what counts the most. Watch out, Doug is supposedly secretly working on a newsletter which could change the guidelines of speed. ;-D Have to wait and see.. in your video, at what BPM does the tempo feel like you’re starting to rush to keep up? or do you not have that feeling?

      I'm an intermediate student of Metal Method. I play seitannic heavy metal. All Kale Seitan! ♯ ♮ ♭ ø ° Δ ♩ ♪ ♫ ♬
      And on the Seventh Day, Mustaine said: ∇ ⨯ E = - ∂B / ∂t ; and there was Thrash; and it had a ♭3; and it was good.

    • #12873
      Sean
      Participant

      Joao you have great technique!

      It’s awesome how you introduce a different guitar in each video!

      Tell me and I will forget ,show me and I'll remember, involve me and I'll understand

    • #12874
      MotleyCrue81
      Participant

      It looks like it’s coming along. I’m curious to see a video of the same thing with a lot of distortion. It’s way harder to sound clean with distortion.

      Bring hair metal back!

    • #12876
      Anonymous
      Inactive

      Thanks, guys!

      Awesome! The audio is clear and that’s what counts the most. Watch out, Doug is supposedly secretly working on a newsletter which could change the guidelines of speed. ;-D Have to wait and see.. in your video, at what BPM does the tempo feel like you’re starting to rush to keep up? or do you not have that feeling?

      Superblonde, actually is the opposite, I think… when we start to loose control we tend to run faster than required. I say “we” because I see it happen all the time with my violin kids. Like when you’re walking and you stumble on a rock, and you begin to fall forwards, you always try to run to catch up 🙂 As for when it happens for me, it’s a bit hard to say… maybe around 130bpm, but then it holds a bit shaky until 150bpm, and at 160bpm, when I get there  I’m all over the place 🙂 I think I may hit one good and fail the next three notes!

      Joao you have great technique! It’s awesome how you introduce a different guitar in each video!

      Hi Sean! I saw ROTM playing his LP and decided to try mine (it had been in its case for awhile!) It felt good so here you go!

      It looks like it’s coming along. I’m curious to see a video of the same thing with a lot of distortion. It’s way harder to sound clean with distortion.

      Brett, here you go! 🙂 I’ll have to go back to my 80s stuff and grab my old Alesis Quadraverb GT for that! but in the meantime here’s what I could do, it’s just my Harley Benton Vintage Overdrive (plus a bit of compression, delay and reverb)

      I added a small backing track to the exercise… it was fun if you’re interested! It’s my Android smartphone, with a cool app called Chordbot, connected to my PC via Bluetooth so the sound of the phone comes from the laptop – then everything connected to my mixer and back into the laptop to record.

       

    • #12878
      MotleyCrue81
      Participant

      Still pretty light distortion there, but I forget that you’re a jazz guy! For jazz purposes that must be a heavy tone. Sometimes I forget that peoples’ definitions of high distortion aren’t the same as mine. My definition of a solid distortion is Dimebag Darrel’s tone. Thank you for making that extra video, it’s still pretty clear at your peak there, nice work.  🙂

      Bring hair metal back!

    • #12897
      Anonymous
      Inactive

      Still pretty light distortion there, but I forget that you’re a jazz guy! For jazz purposes that must be a heavy tone. Sometimes I forget that peoples’ definitions of high distortion aren’t the same as mine. My definition of a solid distortion is Dimebag Darrel’s tone. Thank you for making that extra video, it’s still pretty clear at your peak there, nice work. :)

      lol, I know 🙂

      But for the next video I’ll try to get something of a tone on that zone!

      If you want to try one of my sounds, get your strat, neck pu or neck/middle, volume at 8, tone at 4. One cable to amp. Gain at some 40%. Clean channel. Throw in some flatwound 012s and a dunlop jazz III pick 🙂

      But there is some true shredding at jazz, just “unscripted”!

    • #12903
      Sean
      Participant

      Hey Joao, great video as always. Not to sound obtrusive but at the end of your video there were links to other videos of yours so I check them out. Man you are a great jazz player! your videos are really good and you have a good size following -good for you! You should be proud. I really love the sound of that jazz box that you play on the tracks “best friends” and “stormy Monday” I’m sure it’s a full hollow body but what make is it and are you playing out of your Roland it just has a great sound.
      It’s awesome that you are conquering a completely different style very cool.

      Tell me and I will forget ,show me and I'll remember, involve me and I'll understand

    • #12907
      Anonymous
      Inactive

      Hey Joao, great video as always. Not to sound obtrusive but at the end of your video there were links to other videos of yours so I check them out. Man you are a great jazz player! your videos are really good and you have a good size following -good for you! You should be proud. I really love the sound of that jazz box that you play on the tracks “best friends” and “stormy Monday” I’m sure it’s a full hollow body but what make is it and are you playing out of your Roland it just has a great sound. It’s awesome that you are conquering a completely different style very cool.

      Sean, thank you very much and I’m very happy you checked my other videos! 🙂 About that guitar is a full hollow body yes, and probably my best sounding guitar in that genre, though I don’t use it as much these days as it is a 17″ and it’s really big; it’s a 1989 Washburn J-6. It had several models through the years and I believe its out of production now. Their closest model is this one https://www.washburn.com/products/electric/J5TSK.html

      About the amp it’s a Roland Cube 60, and that particular model is very used among jazz guitarists. It was a wonderful sound, it’s light to carry around, strong and quiet!

      As for my interests in Metal just check a thread called “Tone” I just started 🙂 But I always loved the metal guys, before and after Van Halen’s Eruption solo eheh. Thanks again, Sean!

    • #16291
      Anonymous
      Inactive

      Last post on this thread was 3 months and 3 weeks ago.

      But I haven’t skipped a single day of practice towards SK Exercise 4.

      By now I have disassembled and reassembled it many times, trying to figure out each individual technical requirement, and practicing it – individual parts and movements.

      In spite of all this time I’m still discovering new things about what I need to do – and could easily spend another 6 months trying to master it – but I’ll have to let it go and move on to the next, and many things I’m working now I’m sure I’ll meet again with each new exercise.

      My goal is to play it relatively clean, triplets at 210bpm – probably will have to accept considerably less than that.

      For the next two weeks I’ll focus on the things I learned so far and then will record Exercise 4 no matter what.

      Today I checked the picking part. What you see here is me picking a muted string against a metronome at 210bpm. I’m happy, I was tired as hell coming from work today and still it looks great, very clan and even – so maybe that’s a good sign.

      Still…

      This section is a “midway” section. I needed a few bars to synchronize properly. That’s one thing I need to work: to go from zero to full throttle in a snap.

      One other curious thing:

      Since this is triplets, each bar starts in alternate fashion with a down pick and an up pick; but if I start with an up pick (which is technically the same thing in terms of relation with the metronome clicks/beats) I always feel I’m on an up pick run; I can’t adjust (in mindset terms) to just feel each beat individually – I keep feeling it in “groups of beats” which seem to pour always out of the initial up pick movement.

    • #16293
      MotleyCrue81
      Participant

      You can do it Joao. You’ve seen me do 200 bpm triplets in one of my videos.. and I don’t consider myself too skilled, I think you’ve got more than me because you’ve got more consistency with your playing. It’s easy for me to see that you could do that knowing your skill. A lot of times I fart around with 250 bpm triplets. It’s not as clean as desired, but in order to play fast, you gotta go over the limit because eventually you get used to it and then establish a new limit. Im pretty sure I’ve heard Doug and MAB say something like that before. I’m eager to see a progress video. 🙂

      Bring hair metal back!

    • #16296
      Anonymous
      Inactive

      You can do it Joao. You’ve seen me do 200 bpm triplets in one of my videos.. and I don’t consider myself too skilled, I think you’ve got more than me because you’ve got more consistency with your playing. It’s easy for me to see that you could do that knowing your skill. A lot of times I fart around with 250 bpm triplets. It’s not as clean as desired, but in order to play fast, you gotta go over the limit because eventually you get used to it and then establish a new limit. Im pretty sure I’ve heard Doug and MAB say something like that before. I’m eager to see a progress video. :)

      Thanks, Motley, you’re too kind, man. But it will take me many many months before getting close to where you already are 🙂

      Also, I get what you say about pushing the limits to establish new ones. Actually that is exactly the reason why I started with the SK program in the first place. To my music, the kind of tempos I get, etc, I’d like to be able to do some fast but sustained runs (with improvisation in the mix) at .. say… 16ths at 140bpm; that would be triplets at about 187bpm.

      I intend to do the whole SK program, I know next year by this time I’ll still have to finish – I’m not in a hurry… but I know my limitations 🙂 I told you already, I’m a slow guy 🙂 this doesn’t come natural to me in any way, but at the same time I love the challenge!

      About where I am today:

      I can pick a single string in triplets at 210 – very relaxed and accurately. That’s already something I got from SK. I think I may go higher, but 210 that’s where I have now my progressive metronome. But that’s on a single string.

      As soon as string skipping is involved it gets dirty really fast. I can mimic it, but maybe that’s just it. I feel the problem is not that much the string skipping part, but to establish myself quickly and “centered” and “stopped” at the new string. When I say stopped I mean I must reduce the movement of the forearm from the width required to go from one string to the other, to the width required to play just the new string, which is considerably less… not sure if I’m explaining it correctly.

      As for the left hand – SK#4 is all about fingers 431. There’s no 2nd finger there. The hardest part – no surprise there – is the articulation of the 3rd finger after playing the 4th. After a certain speed finger 3 tends to move very much along finger 4 – most probably because of our anatomic condition where these 2 fingers share a common nerve or tendon or whatever that is…. must investigate.

      Finally, other problem as mentioned above is going from zero to desired speed in a snap. If you don’t do it you’ll have to:

      a) slow start —> speed up, to more than the goal speed, in order to catch up with the beat.

      b) fast start —> slow down. also to catch up with the beat.

      This chasing the beat (even if just for a few bars) is terrible IMHO. Because when you catch up you’d have to immediately stay there .. which almost never happens, so you have to speed up and slow down a few times, narrowing the field until you’re there.

      There as metal teacher who talked about “bursting” (Steve…?) and when I heard him talking about it it made a lot of sense to me.

      Anyway, these are the things that I’m working on, while trying to put Exercise 4 together.

      Thanks again, Motley. You’re a cool guy.

    • #16302
      safetyblitz
      Participant

      As soon as string skipping is involved it gets dirty really fast.

      Are you bracing any fingers of your right hand on the pickguard, or is your hand pretty much floating freely? I always found moving from string to string was much more difficult with a floating hand. Just saying that if you aren’t currently bracing, you might find it helps you improve your consistency moving from string to string. (And by bracing, I don’t mean anchoring in a fixed spot necessarily, but using the finger(s) against the pickguard as a kind of freely sliding “depth guage” to help regulate the height of the pick relative to the strings).

    • #16305
      Anonymous
      Inactive

      Are you bracing any fingers of your right hand on the pickguard, or is your hand pretty much floating freely? I always found moving from string to string was much more difficult with a floating hand. Just saying that if you aren’t currently bracing, you might find it helps you improve your consistency moving from string to string. (And by bracing, I don’t mean anchoring in a fixed spot necessarily, but using the finger(s) against the pickguard as a kind of freely sliding “depth guage” to help regulate the height of the pick relative to the strings).

      Hi Safetyblitz, yes, I’m doing exactly as you said (very well) – one or two fingers acting as free sliding depth gauges. And it helps a lot.

      That’s why I had to sell a couple of guitars, because of their curved tops that would make it very hard for me to do that. My Ibanez 335-type with its big pickguard is perfect for that. Teles and Strats work great too.

      I need to spend a lot more time with it, balancing distances when skipping strings – an outside picking requires a wider movement. Those are “micro” distances, but you can tell easily.

      Sometimes, also, I do some tilt adjustments in my hand – they feel so huge but if I look at my hand it’s hardly noticeable 🙂

    • #16306
      safetyblitz
      Participant

      Sometimes, also, I do some tilt adjustments in my hand – they feel so huge but if I look at my hand it’s hardly noticeable

      I notice your picking motion seems largely driven by movement of the elbow. I think the learning curve for training the “micro” movements you are talking about is steeper when the movement is driven by the elbow than with some other approaches, but there are certainly many examples of elite players who make it work. Elbow-driven isn’t my primary approach, but I’ve been experimenting with it recently for some things. One funny thing I find is that for me when I use an elbow-driven movement, “intermediate” speeds are more difficult to control than both “tremolo” type speeds and slow speeds (though depending on the exact requirements of the lick, “tremolo” speeds still have challenges). It seems almost like there’s a beneficial elastic “bounce” to the wrist when that style of movement rises past a certain threshold speed, and the hand seems to “naturally” become a little more well-behaved when the wrist is bouncing in that rhythm.

    • #16308
      Anonymous
      Inactive

      I notice your picking motion seems largely driven by movement of the elbow. I think the learning curve for training the “micro” movements you are talking about is steeper when the movement is driven by the elbow than with some other approaches, but there are certainly many examples of elite players who make it work. Elbow-driven isn’t my primary approach, but I’ve been experimenting with it recently for some things. One funny thing I find is that for me when I use an elbow-driven movement, “intermediate” speeds are more difficult to control than both “tremolo” type speeds and slow speeds (though depending on the exact requirements of the lick, “tremolo” speeds still have challenges). It seems almost like there’s a beneficial elastic “bounce” to the wrist when that style of movement rises past a certain threshold speed, and the hand seems to “naturally” become a little more well-behaved when the wrist is bouncing in that rhythm.

      You’re right about my elbow driven movement. Last Summer I completely changed my right hand technique – making the move to what’s known as “Benson Picking” (George Benson style). It’s an increasingly common picking method among jazz guitarists and many top players totally swear by it. It feels totally awkward at first – it sure did for me, but then after some time it becomes very comfortable. You can tell quickly who uses this technique because of the right hand attacking the string coming in from the side of the high E string.

      In terms of sound (jazz tone) it was amazing for me. Makes it a lot harder to mute strings, it becomes almost impossible with the right hand. It also requires the guitar to be held higher – which I already did, so no problem there.

      I’m not sure if what I’m doing is exactly Benson Picking, and yes too, it makes it harder to work at transient speeds… but that’s not a problem for what I normally play… well delimited runs in 8ths, 16ths, etc. And on the other hand it’s a lot easier (for me, at least) to use multiple hand positions, chords, hybrid picking, etc.

      Tone was the major reason for switching, but I also know I couldn’t produce such a clean graph as the one above with my old picking style.

      Sheryl Bailey is a great example of the Benson picking.

       

    • #16309
      Anonymous
      Inactive

      …one other note about the Benson picking. It solved all my problems when picking on the low E string.

    • #16327
      superblonde
      Keymaster

      Joao did you try SK ex #7 ? That is the big string skipping exercise. It is much harder.. I can only guess that being able to do #7 would mean also getting much better at #4 behind the scenes. I’m not very good at #7 now. I like #4, it is very subtle in how it goes. I still mess it up and wonder if MAB purposely did the repeating part to be especially evil. Comparing #4 to #3, I think #3 is the harder picking exercise but #4 is the harder fretting exercise.

      I think I have changed my penultimate goal based on the discussions over the past year about repetition. I’d like to do SK * 1000 yet rotate through a set of the exercises each in turn, only do each exercise once per round (only allowing for a repeat if there’s a mistaken note), for a total cumulative number of 1000 exercises. (Not 1000 rounds.. that would be insane) Especially because this would mean switching between picking styles for their respective exercises, this would need a lot of focus.

      I'm an intermediate student of Metal Method. I play seitannic heavy metal. All Kale Seitan! ♯ ♮ ♭ ø ° Δ ♩ ♪ ♫ ♬
      And on the Seventh Day, Mustaine said: ∇ ⨯ E = - ∂B / ∂t ; and there was Thrash; and it had a ♭3; and it was good.

    • #16337
      MotleyCrue81
      Participant

      I always rest the side of my hand on the bridge area or have it slightly touching. Haven’t really payed attention to how much I have my fingers touch the pick guard.

      Bring hair metal back!

    • #16346
      Anonymous
      Inactive

      Joao did you try SK ex #7 ? That is the big string skipping exercise. It is much harder.. I can only guess that being able to do #7 would mean also getting much better at #4 behind the scenes. I’m not very good at #7 now. I like #4, it is very subtle in how it goes. I still mess it up and wonder if MAB purposely did the repeating part to be especially evil. Comparing #4 to #3, I think #3 is the harder picking exercise but #4 is the harder fretting exercise. I think I have changed my penultimate goal based on the discussions over the past year about repetition. I’d like to do SK * 1000 yet rotate through a set of the exercises each in turn, only do each exercise once per round (only allowing for a repeat if there’s a mistaken note), for a total cumulative number of 1000 exercises. (Not 1000 rounds.. that would be insane) Especially because this would mean switching between picking styles for their respective exercises, this would need a lot of focus.

      When I first bought SK, I went through some 3/4 of it, but wasn’t really looking at those exercises with a magnifying glass like I am now. Maybe, and year later I tried it again but did maybe just half of it.

      This time I started with the 1000 times in mind. I quickly abandonded the idea…. because it was evident for me that 1000 times was too short 🙂 This exercise 4, during the past 3 months…. I did it easily 10000 times by now. So it’s not really the number of repetitions that counts, as I think we all discussed earlier, but the quality you put into it.

      About Ex7, I remember an exercise with multiple string skips, so perhaps it was nr 7. I’m sure you’re right there, being able to play Nr 7 can only make Nr 4 improve.

      About MABs “evil”, yes too. The repetition is particularly terrible in this case… overall you do 431 six times, with an 134 in the middle. Holding that repetition is a complete challenge and that’s why, I think, after some time, my 3rd finger just wants to go in the flow of the 4th finger.

    • #16549
      Anonymous
      Inactive

      Saying goodbye to Exercise 4.

      I was thinking about staying with it for a few more weeks but I started recording and midway decided it was time.

      Video features 40, 60, 80, 100, 120, 140, 160, 180, 200bpm. Though 160 is not clean up until that point I was feeling good. The last 2 sections were already pushing it, and at times you can hear the pick reaching the new string before the left hand finger.

       

    • #16559
      MotleyCrue81
      Participant

      Are you able to add distortion to that? I’m wondering if you can have all the clean recorded, then run distortion effects over the clean recordings and then play both the clean and distorted runs in the video. Because when anyone starts playing so fast with clean, it never sounds like much, like if MAB played his stuff with a clean tone, it would probably sound like s bunch of weird noise. With the distortion on at the higher bpm, the notes will probably sound more distinct. Then it’ll sound like the shred zone. 🙂

      Bring hair metal back!

      • #16561
        superblonde
        Keymaster

        Hmm, you could re-amp the audio track from the video 😀

        I'm an intermediate student of Metal Method. I play seitannic heavy metal. All Kale Seitan! ♯ ♮ ♭ ø ° Δ ♩ ♪ ♫ ♬
        And on the Seventh Day, Mustaine said: ∇ ⨯ E = - ∂B / ∂t ; and there was Thrash; and it had a ♭3; and it was good.

    • #16560
      superblonde
      Keymaster

      Wow that is a sweet video. I believe one secret to this regimen is, the hardest one to practice is the 40 bpm. It actually gets easier to practice as speed increases (not easier to play but easier to sit there & do it). How does your comfortable speed change across the different guitars? Now I’m going to have to post an SK update too, the peer pressure is overwhelming 😀

      I'm an intermediate student of Metal Method. I play seitannic heavy metal. All Kale Seitan! ♯ ♮ ♭ ø ° Δ ♩ ♪ ♫ ♬
      And on the Seventh Day, Mustaine said: ∇ ⨯ E = - ∂B / ∂t ; and there was Thrash; and it had a ♭3; and it was good.

    • #16565
      Anonymous
      Inactive

      Hi guys, I could try to run the video on my smartphone through the pedal chain and record the audio – will try it out.

      If I have the drive I’ll record some of it again with a different guitar plus distortion.

      Superblonde, I’d avoid switching guitars in a gig (mostly because of the rest area for my right hand’s pinky), but at home, with time to warm up isn’t a big deal. At this point I’m not sure wether it helps or it hurts – but I’m trying to narrow as much as possible the number of guitars I play. I’d love to be one of those guys who played a single guitar for their entire career!

      About 40bpm: I always start at 30 so by the time I get to 40 my perception is that it is “fast”.
      Sometimes I even start at 20, but for that I need to be properly warmed up – true – or won’t be relaxed enough to subdivide it evenly.

      Now I’m looking forward to Ex 5 🙂 ! – and will be great to see your progress videos, too!

    • #16581
      Anonymous
      Inactive

      Here it is, guitar Nr 2 plus (some) distortion. Need to find me a true heavy metal pedal.

      Perhaps you were right, Motley, this one felt a lot easier to record….. or perhaps I was more relaxed since I already had recorded my official submission yesterday 🙂

      …from 20 to 200bpm (edit: just noticed I didn’t include 160bpm in the final clip)

    • #16590
      superblonde
      Keymaster

      The reason I ask about changing to different guitars is because, that research study mentioned by Doug in his Repetition tip, talks about much better improvement if making minor changes to practice regimen, which probably includes switching between guitars every so often. So simply rotating between guitars daily would add up to large improvements over time supposedly. I’ve purposely avoided switching guitars (and buying guitars), so I only have one. Except for my 3/4 scale which I am now going to dig out because of this change-up idea.

      I’ve started practicing the MAB Star Licks stuff a little bit. Those exercises are really cool because many of them are his metal song licks. The SK2010 (aka SK3) is a reboot of the Star Licks, so a lot of the exercises are in common. The Star Licks program is also very entertaining because MAB tends to murder the lick with his whammy bar at the end of each one, hah. Ex2 “Triads” from Star Licks sounds very jazzy to me. I’m not sure why but it does. And the Django exercise is like a huuuge bucket list item for me to get down someday. Not to mention the “Call To Arms” lick too, oh yeaaa. That.. will take a long while..

      If you do Ex 5 are you going to go all the way up the neck with it like suggested when used as a warmup? Or just do it as written?

      I'm an intermediate student of Metal Method. I play seitannic heavy metal. All Kale Seitan! ♯ ♮ ♭ ø ° Δ ♩ ♪ ♫ ♬
      And on the Seventh Day, Mustaine said: ∇ ⨯ E = - ∂B / ∂t ; and there was Thrash; and it had a ♭3; and it was good.

    • #16592
      safetyblitz
      Participant

      I’d love to be one of those guys who played a single guitar for their entire career!

      I’m seriously thinking about getting a Roland divided pickup and the Antares Autotune for guitar pedalboard. In addition to the tuning functionality, it has significant guitar modeling features as well. Not as many models yet as the Line 6 Variax, but I supposed a person could always put a Roland GK-3 on a Variax and have the best state-of-the art guitar modeling from both leading vendors. 😉 I can hear some of the purists grinding their teeth already (not when they hear recordings, of course, but don’t let them see the instrument ;-)). For me the only question would be whether a Variax with a vintage Strat style bridge is acceptable, or if it would be better to go with the Variax model that comes with a Floyd Rose (though I’m not a fan of its body styling). And if you wanted more than one string gauge or winding style, you’d still need a couple more instruments.

    • #16597
      superblonde
      Keymaster

      Ok I added a handy reference as a separate topic. It might help look up the various exercises discussed here, it helps me anyway.  https://guitarlessonforum.com/guitar-forums/topic/speed-kills-3-speed-kills-2010-handy-index-and-vlc-playlist

       

       

      I'm an intermediate student of Metal Method. I play seitannic heavy metal. All Kale Seitan! ♯ ♮ ♭ ø ° Δ ♩ ♪ ♫ ♬
      And on the Seventh Day, Mustaine said: ∇ ⨯ E = - ∂B / ∂t ; and there was Thrash; and it had a ♭3; and it was good.

    • #16602
      Anonymous
      Inactive

      The reason I ask about changing to different guitars is because, that research study mentioned by Doug in his Repetition tip, talks about much better improvement if making minor changes to practice regimen, which probably includes switching between guitars every so often. So simply rotating between guitars daily would add up to large improvements over time supposedly

      I understand the principle you mention, though I don’t think it really applies to switching guitars all the time.

      Here’s what I do about it: I have loads of excel spreadsheets filled with random generators for every thing I need to practice; like, if I’m working scales, the generator will choose for me the scale type, root, the starting string, the right hand technique, etc. So I apply that principle to the material and not to the equipment. Though…. for instance, if I’m composing, in that case YES. A different guitar, a unknown pedal, some unexpected strings, etc, may trigger awesome new ideas!

      If you do Ex 5 are you going to go all the way up the neck with it like suggested when used as a warmup? Or just do it as written?

      Oh, here I change all the time, too. I’ll play at every possible fret and starting string.. I’ll start with down or up picks – though here I’m having second thoughts, now…. at the same time, while variation is crucial, you don’t need to reinvent the wheel at every single exercise 🙂 what one leaves out, the next will probably compensate.

      I’m seriously thinking about getting a Roland divided pickup and the Antares Autotune for guitar pedalboard. In addition to the tuning functionality, it has significant guitar modeling features as well. Not as many models yet as the Line 6 Variax, but I supposed a person could always put a Roland GK-3 on a Variax and have the best state-of-the art guitar modeling from both leading vendors. I can hear some of the purists grinding their teeth already (not when they hear recordings, of course, but don’t let them see the instrument ;-)). For me the only question would be whether a Variax with a vintage Strat style bridge is acceptable, or if it would be better to go with the Variax model that comes with a Floyd Rose (though I’m not a fan of its body styling). And if you wanted more than one string gauge or winding style, you’d still need a couple more instruments.

      This is something absolutely strange to me, in the sense that I never tried that type of gear.. I don’t have a clue about how it feels! In any case I think the guitar would have to have loads of “mojo” for me 🙂 With those guitars do you actually hear the string sound or is it fully converted into digital information? I guess I’m still biased by my MIDI experiences in the 80s lol

    • #16604
      Anonymous
      Inactive

      “PPS”

      I already watched this section of Speed Kills 2010 a few times over the past couple of years – but suddenly, today, it kind of hit a new chord for me. “The technique you use to achieve this is what you want to use as your technique”.

      So why did this, today, sound different to me?

      Because earlier today I was in a hurry, when I recorded the new video of exercise 4 – and when I reached 180bpm I noticed I changed my right hand technique. I used one of the 3 or 4 right hand moves I’ve been working in and out, and today this was the one that allowed me to quickly record 180 and 200.

      If you watch my video you’ll see my right hand changes somewhat on the 2 final speeds. Different than what I did yesterday…. need to investigate it deeper.

    • #16605
      safetyblitz
      Participant

      This is something absolutely strange to me, in the sense that I never tried that type of gear.. I don’t have a clue about how it feels! In any case I think the guitar would have to have loads of “mojo” for me With those guitars do you actually hear the string sound or is it fully converted into digital information? I guess I’m still biased by my MIDI experiences in the 80s lol

      It’s the same type of pickup that is used in “guitar synth” applications, but rather than being discarded and replaced by midi generated sound, the analog signal from each string is being digitally massaged to emulate the timbre of the targeted instrument. The demo below is a little uninspiring presentation-wise, but it’s informative, and has examples of how the models sound. Of course, this sort of modeling approaching doesn’t capture physical feel differences of different bridges, scale lengths, fretboard radius, fret height, etc.

    • #16606
      Anonymous
      Inactive

      Phewwww, need to take some rest now..

      Following MAB’s ideas on Speed Kills about PPS (Potential Picking Speed) I went on a quest to find mine.

      I started at 20bpm (I know, this is crazy) and progressed on 5bpm increments until I reached my max. It took me over an hour(!).

      With the use of Audacity I checked the accuracy of my picking, on a muted string – and came to a great finding:

      My max PPS is not dictated by my ability to pick fast but by my ability to hear it! – above 170bpms I started having real trouble listening and knowing if I was picking slow or fast, or if I was even in sync with the metronome; I knew I was “in the area” but it took me increasingly more time to be able to listen to it and start picking in sync. Until that at 185bpm, 16ths, I gave up.

      The following graphs show successful sections of my picking at 160, 165, 170, 175, 180, 185 – you’ll see that at 185bpm, in the middle of the section I’m going across the beats… I start picking slower and catch up at the end. But that was luck, I guess, as I couldn’t be sure of my ears.

      So, right now, my PPS is 16ths at 185bpm – which translates into triplets at 247bpm

    • #26594
      Anonymous
      Inactive

      One thing I always suspected, and just saw it confirmed, in a sense…
      You need different techniques for different levels of speed.

      https://www.instagram.com/p/BgRTin_hosB/

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