It can be useful to forget about the actual notes and begin with tapping out the rhythms, yes. Then add the actual notes later. But be sure to master the tapping rhythm first. I think Reb has some nice videos on how he does stuff, if people want to look it up. He's a thougthtful guitar player, although I personally didn't care for all of his results.

Yeah just look up "Reb Beach two handed tapping" on youtube and he demonstrates it in a much clearer way.

Yes, I agree. It's a lengthy video, and he really goes into the actual mechanics of tapping, making sure other strings are muted, slowing things down so you can hear exactly what is happening, etc.

It's good stuff.

Anyone into non-metal guitar playing ? I used to play classical guitar more than I ate or slept, but very little of that now, regrettably. Also play a lot of finger-picking stuff like Dire Straits/Mark Knopfler, and a whole bunch of Taylor Swift songs

Hey, I've been playing guitar for around 6 months and am trying to learn Megadeth - In my Darkest Hour.

I've been trying to find some accurate tabs but finding it difficult. Any idea where I can find an accurate tab?

Thx ppl!

We have so much to discuss...

Nice, I'm trying to learn the full version of Sultans Of Swing now, the second solo is giving me problems, especially since I'm learning off the Alchemy/Alchemist(?) live DVD version, Knopfler goes apeshit on some of the fills between the verses. Also, it took me longer to properly play the intro off Money For Nothing than the entirety of Fucked With A Knife, couldn't properly get the timing of the former.

I have been trying to bring dissonance into my faster playing (thrash, hardcore) without having to do open (non palm-muted) notes that I let ring out. I know theres a lot of bands like DsO and Blut Aus Nord who use dissonance regularly but mostly in a open note fasion or in lengthy held chords. I am still in the early stages of experimentation and would be grateful for some tips or suggestions on songs to play or useful scales/excersises. Thanks

nvm

http://abysslord.com/megadeth/tabs/sfsgsw/sfsgsw.html

The guy who makes these Megadeth tabs does a good job, however, I use his tabs a guide and don't exactly play what he has note for note, because there are still some errors. If you want to play it perfectly note for note, I recommend downloading the "Amazing Slow Downer." You can slow down the song to 20% speed, and adjust the pitch if necessary, in order to figure out by ear what is really being played. You can download it for free, but not the full version. The free version will only play the first quarter or three minutes of the song, but there are easy ways to get around this without buying the full version, even though the restrictions will still be in place.

So I acquired this guitar, but has a little something wrong with. The string at the bridge was off, but when I go to turn the screw to loosen it to move the string, the screw comes out but doesn't loosen the grip on the screw. The rest of the screws are fine...

http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/82 ... 12455.jpg/

Is it possible to somehow fix/get that part replaced or does the entire thing have to be replaced?

I'm a big fan of my Peavey Vypyr 15 watt amp, but I joined a Blackened Death Metal band last week so I need something bigger. Does anyone know if the Vypyr(or a similar model) comes in half-stack form?

I suck at guitar. What can I do to get better? I've been playing for 4 years btw.

Some details would be great. What would you like to work on?

Question for all guitar players here; what amp do you use? I've got a 30 watt marshall amp but it sounds quite digital. I want a better one but have no idea what to buy really. Planning on playing every metal subgenre basically except for extreme metal.

At riffing?

Play different rythms to a metronome in a speed that you are a hundred percent comfortable with and try to keep your movements as small, relaxed and precise as possible. Increase the speeds slooooowly, when you start to strain stop and go back a step and keep at that speed for some time more.

Solos?

I don´t fucking know haha, play scales or something

I use a Randall RX120RH, it doesn´t sound as good as a quality all tube amp but it´s cheap and reliable.

Get lessons. You'll get better and faster than doing it by yourself.

If you like to develop technical skill, learn some scales, alternate picking, and some arpeggio sweeps.

If you are impatient, then train your ears first by playing a song ENTIRELY: a good one would be "Am I Evil?," I learned it by ear in 1 day (minus the first half of the real solo halfway through the song, lol).

Just jam! Play what you feel like! I learned by playing dark stuff in the key of E Harmonic Minor and D Harmonic Minor.
My other friend trained by playing Blink-182. He knows like, 30 songs by them on guitar. He likes happy, uplifting material.

If anything, start with music theory. That is the foundation of music, creativity, and jamming to whatever the fuck you want, all-in-one.

I have ENGL Screamer, 50w. It sounds truly amazing, and suprisingly not at all like a poor mans version of the big ENGL heads. The sound is difficult to describe. It's quite vitriolic even with lower distortion, and chugs have a certain power to them you'll probably not hear outside ENGL amps. You can't really get that thick, rich and incredibly heavy sound you hear in lots of Swedish death metal for example, or Suffocation (not with my guitar at least). I'd say it's more suited for black and thrash than death metal.

These songs were recorded using an ENGL Screamer (but an incredibly cheap microphone, so the sound here will give but a vague impression of the tone):
http://www.hitlantis.com/#/illusions-dead

i used to have this problem, but i forced myself to start playing with my thumb higher on the neck. you have to, if you bend your wrist that much, it strains the tendons, then you get pain. when i play just straight open chords or anything down on the neck, my thumb actually curls over top the guitar. the lowest my thumb ever goes, is a little middle of the neck...
just try gradually raising your thumb. it'll help in the long run.

hope this helps, and good luck.

I love Engl. I have two *very* early twin heads. The pots need a good cleaning or replacement. But for a good long time, Engl was where my tone was at.

I think the nearest dealer to me is in Chicago.

Right now I'm just using a practice amp. It's a Vox VT 80+. I played around with all the modeling modes, and concluded that they are largely nonsense. But running it in manual mode is just fine for practicing. I think you can get a decent practice amp from a number of companies these days. If you are going to get more serious about your tone, it's time to set aside some quality time and really work out some of the more expensive heads/rack mounted gear.

Tone is a very personal thing. Before I drop thousands of dollars on something, I'm going to want to know it's the right thing *for me*. Not something that my friends say is good. But something I know really fits what I want.

Yes, I have been playing the classical guitar for about seven years now. I try to play all of my guitars the same amount, although because I can't put all my practicing into one instrument, sometimes I don't get the results I want from one or the other.

i'm very big into bluegrass and general appalachian style guitar. (i'm from kentucky, makes perfect sense.) first instrument i learned how to play was banjo, so when i started playing guitar it was easy to finger pick.

I've had the most rad clean funk-esque rock jams occasionally. C-standard makes funk rock riffs sound massive. Other than that I occasionally indulge in long, bluesy, chilled out clean guitar solos just for the sake of it.

Guys... I came here to tell you i'm going to buy a Schecter Hellraiser C-7 FR... I'm excited as hell.!! Love that guitar, I've heard that Jeff Loomis played it for some time before he got his signature. And this is my first 7 string, any advice, the floyd rose is really THAT problematic as i've heard? It takes too long before I get used to the thicker fretboard?

I'm finally going to be able to play some Nevermore, Born of Osiris (New album songs), Cloudkicker and other of my fav bands that use 7 strings

Floyd Rose is not problematic if it's good quality. With a decent floating trem you'll spend much less time tuning your guitar, although the extra time it takes to change the strings will make up for that difference, and the fact that when you do have to tune it properly, it takes much longer. Unless you like popping your guitar into a drop tuning every now and then or otherwise change your tunings, it's not problematic at all. Just make sure it's not a cheap licensed Floyd Rose copy, since those tend to have problems.

Thanks for the feedback, on the guitar specifications says it is a "Floyd Rose Original Tremolo" so I believe I'm no having problems with that, I'm looking forward to stay in standard tuning, but, i'll be changing that for covers A# D# G# C# F# A# D# for Nevermore and G D G C F A D for some Djenty bands

If you don't mind the extra work of changing tunings, it will be fine. You won't be able to change tunings mid-set, however. It's not completely peculiar to Floyd Rose guitars to slowly revert back to the original tuning, but in Floyd Roses the problem is much more pronounced.

Sorry for my ignorance, but, what is "Tunings mid-set"? I probably know, but can figure out a proper translation to it... I came with something like "Parte Media de los afinadores" but that doesn't make a lot of sense to me

Could you please explain me a bit? So I can understand better.

Btw, Sorry for my english I'm still learning (M-A Forums helps me a lot, all these conversations makes me understand english a little bit more every day )

I'll explain in Spanish, that'll save you guys some trouble:

Se refiere a que teniendo un floyd rose, podés cambiar la afinación instantáneamente; si estás en el medio de un show (a eso se refiere con mid-set, suelen decirle set a los recitales cuando uno está tocando) no tenés que andar reafinando ni cambiando de guitarra, lo hacés en un segundo.

Pero como dijeron arriba, si no vas a comprar un floyd rose de calidad profesional, ni te gastes porque te va a dar más problemas que otra cosa.

I'll answer in Spanish as well:

Muchas Gracias garthmargengi! Ya entendi completamente como es la cosa.! Y si al parecer el Floyd es de calidad profesional asi que no espero tener tantos problemas con eso, no puedo esperar por tener la guitarra, mi primera 7 cuerdas.! Y cualquier cosa he oido que si se tiene muchos problemas con el Floyd se puede mandar a bloquear cierto?

Anyways, Thanks a lot garthmargengi

Sorry if I was unclear. By mid-set I meant in the middle of a live performance (ie. set).

Yeah, I got it now, thanks for all your help man, really apreciate it.

Glad to be able to help, don't worry about the floyd issue, it seems like the one that guitar has is really good, so you shouldn't have any problems, and yeah, it still can be blocked if you don't want to use it.

Anyone here who has inclination for plucking rather than strumming? I have a weakness for that.

I'm working on plucking nowadays as it's said to build dexterity more than strumming. What's your opinion on this?

i use drop c, b,a#, and a

I always play in standard on a 6 string. So yeah I'm kind of old school that way. Though I do use drop d once in a while, and in my current progressive metal band the singer's been wanting me to play in D standard but I'm not really wanting to.

I need some recommendations for strings. I use C standard on Ibanez RG1570, a superstrat with mediocre stock pickups. The pickups have a very muddy tone in spite of the fact that it's supposed to be a superstrat - more like a mudstrat. I can get a good tone out of my ENGL 50w combo when I put enough treble and lead presence. Anyhow, I'm looking for strings with clear, bright tone, and that are durable enough. I have now D'Addario 12-60. While I found the brand's 10-46 to be quite good (when I used E-standard), I'm rather disappointed with these.

I just started playing guitar.I bought an Epiphone Les Paul Special I.
The problem is that some strings on frets 1-5 make very annoying extra buzzing sounds.Anyone knows an easy way to stop that ?