Belastbar wrote:
FLIPPITYFLOOP wrote:
Wait, are you suggesting that OP just strums all the strings while muting those that aren't supposed to ring out? For a riff like this, you will DEFINITELY hear chucking alongside the notes, especially if amplified by the compression of the distortion. You also won't get proper articulation on the notes you're playing since you're using a brushing strum technique as opposed to the precise and hard-edged proper tremolo picking, so it will still sound different.
Hitting all the strings is not necessary, but what I would suggest is hitting the A and the D string to play the single note on the D string, and hitting the E and A strings to play the single note on the A string. This way, OP can work around the hardest part in the picking, which is going from 16th note tremolo picking to hitting a single note on another string, sometimes even having to skip a string.
Sorry, but I don't really like this idea. This is the kind of riff that requires precision in the picking hand for the notes to have the right articulation you're aiming for, and doing that semi-strum as you're implying poses some potential problems.
Firstly, you're going to need just the right amount of dampening in the fretting hand so that the string is properly muted, but also not too much or else you'll accidentally fret the note and play a chord. Normally this isn't an issue, but you also have to do this at pretty high speed as well as transition in and out of this sort of positioning frequently in between single notes. Not impossible, but will pose a new challenge when the approach in itself is a way to work around the problem, rather than address it directly.
Secondly, while 'Killing In The Name' is indeed an example of the technique/style you're talking about, keep in mind that in that song, Tom Morello isn't playing NEARLY as fast as Terrance Hobbs here and that plays a factor to how the strings will react when you do that strum. 16th notes at 215bpm is 860 notes per minute, and at that speed you'll need a rather thick, stiff pick to have tight response from the string (and less pick flex), and a thicker pick going for that semi-strum in the middle of tremolo picking at that speed will very likely hit that muted string very aggressively (much moreso than Tom Morello in Killing In The Name, whom I would suspect is playing something thinner with more give that lends itself well to funk rhythm guitar chucking).
That tough attack on the string will increase the difficulty of maintaining muting, and even if you do, the articulation on the ringing note won't be as sharp as what is being aimed for. It will sound bubbly, and I'm also not convinced that the muted string wouldn't cause noise in the process.
When I'm with my students, the only time I choose to work around things is if there's a real physical inhibition, or if we're allowing slop in the playing for the purpose of focusing only on developing a very specific technique (such as moving the 2 hands at the same time for beginners). Otherwise it's important to address problems directly. Just my own philosophy.
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An exercise I've done myself and have had my students do, is to practice the picking hand only (mute the strings with the fretting hand, and pick the muted strings). Of course you still need to put both hands together later (it's not a magic trick), but what this does is help you focus on the specific picking motions needed to play the lick/riff without getting distracted by the fretting hand, which makes it easier to spot potential flaws in how your hand is moving (or get more clear on how the hand needs to move to do it).
I would also combine this with speed bursts. Aside from the lead notes at the tail end of the riff, it's a repeating sequence of a single hit on the A or D string (8th note), followed by 6 hits on the low E (16ths). I would drill a single repetition of this at a time, to a metronome. Do it until that single rep is clean (practice starting from both the A and D strings), then do 2 reps back to back. Then 2 reps where the starting point alternates, then go for 3. This is a mixture of both endurance and precision practicing.
Luckily, you only need 3 reps before the lead notes at the tail end of the riff come in, so from there you can add those in. You may also need to practice going from the 3rd rep into the lead notes, to focus specifically on that transition. Keep in mind that this is still picking hand only; you can try adding the fretting hand back in along the way.
Keep in mind though that this method will only get you so far if the technique itself needs tweaking, because as someone else alluded to earlier - poor or lazy technique will fall apart at extreme speeds and will have you frequently experiencing plateaus until properly dealt with. It sucks, believe me, I've been there more than once, but you when you deal with it, you're glad you did. But we can't know for sure if OP's technique is an issue unless we see a video of them playing. So let's see a video!