Also, i've actually found some tabs on youtube o_o
There's been two threads (but way back in 2005) and i wanted something more updated, so i was wondering if anyone had a good site/search engine they use to locate tabs.
Or you could just post your favorite song/tab in this thread.
2) Backing Music
I asked my friend how to get good at guitar and he told me to just play songs i like(hence the tabs question) and just mess around with scales.
I was wondering if anyone had instrumentals similar to this: [url blocked] -fun to play along too
3) What kind of guitar/amp should i buy?
I'm just practicing with a cheap acoustic and I've been meaning to get an amp and guitar for a while now. I guess price range 200-500, electric.
4) Any tips?
The whole point of doing all this is to practice and sound better, so any help would be appreciated.
well, as for the gear with that style, you should look into jackson and ibanez electric guitars. they have a nice scale of prices for their gear. especially ibanez, they have nice guitars for like 200 USD.
as for the amp, 300 USD will not get you a good tube amp, so go for quality solid state, i would highly recommend Roland Cube amps ( 15, 30 or 60W versions, depending on how much you own) or hybrid amps (those have tubes in the preamp) like Peavey TransTube amps or VOX VT series.
Thanks. Have any advice for vibrato? I do this thing where i use my finger to make like... mini- bends, back and forth, which actually sounds a lot better than when i try normal vibrato ( like on a cello ).
There's no real meaning in "working on getting stuff clean, i can play fast enough.". Fast = meaningless if it's not clean. Get a metronome and go reaaaaaly slow at first and go slowly your way up. If it's not played clean, it's not played right. If you can't play it correctly slow, there's no way it will be clean (and I mean the "really clean" sound) at a faster speed. And go really basic at first. I started playing chromatics again really slowly but 100% correctly (or as close as I could get to that).
It can be frustrating at first, but for me after a while I really enjoyed (and still am enjoying) the process cause this is what helped me more than anything and I made heaps of improvement. It's very unlikely you've got all the basics mastered. In my opinion, someone who has mastered the basics is an awesome guitar player, but unfortunately it's too easy to get caught up in your excitement and anticipation and think you're past that and start going more complex, even though you know it's not sounding as good as it should.
And why are you still looking for tabs nowadays? Never heard of Guitar Pro? You can find pretty accurate transcriptions of most popular (and not only) songs for GP and it's really anything anyone could ask for to work on his own. In my experience you can never run out of things you want to learn how to play. Also, if you can't find accurate guitar pro tabs (rare, but happens) you can always search to download pdfs of the official books with transcriptions of the bands you like (it's not that hard with some basic google skills).
There's no real meaning in "working on getting stuff clean, i can play fast enough.". Fast = meaningless if it's not clean. Get a metronome and go reaaaaaly slow at first and go slowly your way up. If it's not played clean, it's not played right. If you can't play it correctly slow, there's no way it will be clean (and I mean the "really clean" sound) at a faster speed. And go really basic at first. I started playing chromatics again really slowly but 100% correctly (or as close as I could get to that).
yeah playing fast without it being clean is meaningless that's what i basically said , i thought. Guess i need to take English again I also do what you've described by starting slow and going faster when it's clean. its weird on guitar though, idk how to get a note clean in general Like, in orchestra u can vibrato the note, but on guitar it doesn't sound as distinct(unless u bend it)
In my opinion, someone who has mastered the basics is an awesome guitar player, but unfortunately it's too easy to get caught up in your excitement and anticipation and think you're past that and start going more complex, even though you know it's not sounding as good as it should.
All I meant was that you said "I can play fast, I just need to play it clean". Then you can't really play fast If you didn't mean it like this, just scratch that, didn't mean to offend you or anything
For tabs, I've just downloaded from torrents a pack with a collection of a few thousand tabs (should be easy to find with a simple torrent search). I rarely recall having to go search anywhere else for a tab, and that was just at the first few sites that appeared at google for "guitar pro tabs". It just happened this was never a problem for me, but I suppose it also has to do with the songs you're looking for, maybe it's hard to find new songs of less popular bands.
Vibrato in electric guitar is different from classical instruments. In electric you do an "up and down" motion, in classical you do "left and right". It's not the same.
I'm not sure how it is in cello, but I'm guessing it's similar to classical guitar (which is where what I said applies).
Also, make note that in classical guitar your left hand fingers are supposed to be vertical to the neck, whereas in electrical they're supposed to be at an angle (as if kind of pointing towards you) to achieve optimal clarity. Hope this makes sense..
Similar to the KillrBuckeye site, another one with high-quality tabs (mostly metal tabs though, like Killr) is musicman1066: http://www.freewebs.com/musicman1066/
Also if you weren't aware, both of them have YouTube channels and play the covers extremely well.
I also use a program called Guitar Pro, and download Guitar Pro tabs for it (you can also find them on 911tabs). You're more likely to find higher quality (more accurate) tabs by downloading the Guitar Pro version of it. It basically is like having a tablature book in front of you, but it also plays the song for your while you watch the tablature go by on the screen. You can repeat certain portions of the song that give you trouble by putting it on loop, and you can even slow down music up to 75% (playing the song, or part of the song at 25% of the original speed without affecting the pitch)! Highly recommended for any serious guitar player.
2) Backing Music
Guitar Pro is your best bet here. Although playing along with a metronome is "okay", some songs really should be played with the band in the background. I use the metronome most often with my exercises (practicing picking different rhythms using chords, as well as practicing lead guitar with scales and solos).
Something else you can do is buy a mid-level multi-effects pedal - they inevitably will include a customizable drum machine (you can alter the type of drum rhythm used, it's speed, and it's volume on mine).
3) What kind of guitar/amp should i buy?
I highly recommend trying out guitars before you buy them. And I also don't recommend buying a guitar less than $200. Different guitars have different feels to them, so I won't recommend anything specific.
4) Any tips?
Setup a basic practice regimen that you can stick to. Even if it only ends up being a total of 15 minutes 3 or 4 times a week, it's better than 1 day playing for hours straight. Some ideas for things to concentrate on while practicing:
* Ear Training. There's a variety of ways to practice this. I prefer getting my guitar in tune, hearing what each string sounds like when in tune, then loosening all the strings except the low E and tuning to that. Verify with an actual tuner before moving onto the next string.
* Chord Training. Learn the basic open chords (major and minor - then later on practice other chords), and focus on having all the notes come out cleanly, as well as smoothly and efficiently moving from one chord to the next.
* Rhythm Training. Put the metronome at a moderate tempo, and practice different rhythms of quarter notes, eighth notes, and sixteenth notes using the chords you know.
* Lead Training. Buy a book that details the different positions each scale can be played in, and practice playing them along with a metronome.
A great free site for basic, intermediate, and advanced guitar lessons is Justinguitar.com: http://www.justinguitar.com/
Also, make note that in classical guitar your left hand fingers are supposed to be vertical to the neck, whereas in electrical they're supposed to be at an angle (as if kind of pointing towards you) to achieve optimal clarity. Hope this makes sense..
makes perfect sense, thanks. I play more classically when im higher on the fret board and "electrically" when im lower strings/frets if that makes sense. Harder to vibrato the way im used to, on lower frets because your wrist is arched like that.
1) As already stated several times, ultimateguitar.com. Alot of the tabs are fairly inaccurate, but if you have a halfway decent ear it should be pretty easy to correct any mistakes you find there.
3) http://www.rondomusic.com/ More specifically the SX models. I don't know how their guitars are, but their basses are awesome for their price (even the low low ones) so I'd hope that their guitars have similar quality. The amps they sell aren't very good, but if it's just for practice then they should get the job done.
Although I'd recommend looking up craigslist/ebay/garage sales. You probably get 2-3x the quality for the same price by buying used.
4) Find a teacher/tutor or whatever to teach you the basics in terms of proper posture, fingering, etc. Scales and theory you can easily learn yourself, but I've heard a load of stories of people basically having to relearn to play the guitar after realizing their technique is horrible and is holding them back. A session or two with a competent teacher should get you going.
Also as already stated, practice, practice, practice.
4) Find a teacher/tutor or whatever to teach you the basics in terms of proper posture, fingering, etc. Scales and theory you can easily learn yourself, but I've heard a load of stories of people basically having to relearn to play the guitar after realizing their technique is horrible and is holding them back. A session or two with a competent teacher should get you going.
For 300-500 dollars, don't expect to get anything of decent quality in guitar or amp. But if you're just starting off then just buy a cheap but playable guitar and some tiny amp to carry around. I think it's best to just buy a simple guitar and a simple amp with none of that onboard effects shit.
I started off with a cheapo Ibanez and a 20watt solid state Orange amp. Although I've sold my Ibanez to my friend and have almost never played on the little Orange amp since I've gotten my Ampeg V4, the two cheap pieces of equipment was what I taught myself with for a good two years, and even though the Ibanez was a pure piece of shit, I learned how to play with it, and that's all that really matters.
Don't really try to look for sound quality, especially in the lower end guitars. Just find something that feels really comfortable to play; that's arguably the most important thing to look for.
Don't really try to look for sound quality, especially in the lower end guitars. Just find something that feels really comfortable to play; that's arguably the most important thing to look for.
Definitely play your scales slower than the one you showed in that video. The point of learning scales is not to blow through them as quick as possible. Play them slowly, with the right technique (I had to relearn guitar because my fundamentals and technique were off), and GRADUALLY build up in speed. Only do this after playing through the scale multiple times front and back, with alternate picking, and every note ringing out cleanly, and on time with the metronome. That's when you can raise the metronome speed a little. Then repeat the process and you will gradually build up your speed while keeping your technique in good shape.
Some other advice... if you want to use effects pedals, don't buy an individual one. Buy a decent multi-effects pedal instead. A single effects pedal will usually cost you about $60, a mid-level multi-effects pedal will be about twice that much, but offer so much more.
Also, learn some easy songs first. Concentrate on playing it as cleanly as possible, and as close to on rhythm as possible.
In that video you're trying to play very fast. And as you see you're making a lot of mistakes. When I say slow, I had to go back and start playing scales at 100bpm with 1 note per beat. I made sure every note sounded the way it should, every finger pressed at the right spot and had the right angle and every sound came out as a natural progression of the previous one. I still warm up with speeds like that. It helped me improve tons.
It's classical guitar that I got more serious with, but I don't see why this wouldn't apply to acoustic/electric too.
For the vibrato thing, I think you're doing the "electric" one kind of wrong. Can't be sure though, cause the video's quality is not that great. You have to grab the neck, keep a steady hand press hard on the fret and do the up and down motion with the finger. Only the finger should be moving. This is for the electric guitar (I don't have an acoustic here to check it out, but I think it's the same). (The vibrato on classical is kind of the opposite of this. The finger presses hard and its tip stays at the same position while the rest of your hand moves left and right.)
I made sure every note sounded the way it should, every finger pressed at the right spot and had the right angle and every sound came out as a natural progression of the previous one. I still warm up with speeds like that. It helped me improve tons.
should the finger be: Let's say this is a fret [ ] should finger be here [x ] or here [ x] or in the middle [ x ]
I don't know how to angle it, but i'll ask a friend i know that plays guitar to show me. :O
Don't really try to look for sound quality, especially in the lower end guitars. Just find something that feels really comfortable to play; that's arguably the most important thing to look for.
ok thanks.
The main problem with all lower end electric guitars is that their electrical components are really cheap, and the pickups almost always fucking blow ass. Besides, for your first guitar you aren't trying to sound heavenly, you're just trying to learn how to play the instrument and get better at it.
I also completely disagree with the earlier post about multi-effect pedals. I guess to start off it could be okay to buy some cheap, shitty mutli-effect pedal to learn about effects, but single pedals are of better quality and allow much more flexibility and possibilities. If you have friends that play guitar, just ask to borrow some shitty pedals they don't use or something and just play around with that. Effect pedals are fun though, and they get kinda addicting and sometimes make you lost concentration on your actual playing, so just keep that in mind and try to moderate yourself.
Well yes, if you use a cheap shitty multi-effects pedal, what do you think it's going to sound like? Hence, mid-level is recommended.
You should always fret the note as close to the fret as possible [ x] . The only times you don't are with advanced techniques like trying to hit certain harmonics that are inbetween frets.
On March 30 2009 04:11 EscPlan9 wrote: Well yes, if you use a cheap shitty multi-effects pedal, what do you think it's going to sound like? Hence, mid-level is recommended.
You should always fret the note as close to the fret as possible [ x] . The only times you don't are with advanced techniques like trying to hit certain harmonics that are inbetween frets.
I was thinking of how I described the vibrato and actually it's not that accurate. I had in mind that you do it with your 3rd finger. If you're doing it with the 2nd or even worse with the 1st one, the rest of the hand doesn't remain steady at all, so scratch what I said before (also the thickness of the guitar neck plays a role in this). I searched youtube and found a few videos that could help you (and some pretty hilariously bad as well that made me laugh so hard lol).
This is by far the best one I found (only watched part 1 but the 2nd should be equally good as well)
And these too are good too to help you get the idea better
if you've nvr played b4... u do not need 500 bucks to play...
i suggest burrowing the guitar from ur friends or something similar to that. Mots people have guitar in their homes but they nvr use it...
also if u've nvr really played guitar or other string instruments b4, then play acoustic b4 playing electric as it gives u a better basics
as for an amp you can totally buy a practice amp for around 100 bucks (15 watt ones, i really like my Frontman 15R)
also if you buy extra strings i recommend getting ernie ball super slinky types <- those r the standard ones that comes w/ guitar (super slinky) also as for the pick get a medium flex one
but seriously i high recommend u practice like the basic 7 chords and stuff w/ a burrowed guitar from one of ur nicer friends and then see if u want ot get ur own and such because if you do that then if for some reason u decide u do not like it or it's too much commitment u didn't waste any money, also if u do want to continue playing you have much more knowledge about guitars and such in general that u r in a better position to buy the stuff u need
buy a metronome/tuner combo devices also as for the guitar any beginner's should be fine? but i recommend that u buy ur guitar at a store a key thing to check on ur guitar is how ezily the strings become loose u do this by bringing that tuner of ur to the store and tuning one or two strings to their rightful pitch and then on one chord try tugging on it side ways rite and left couple of times and see how much it's out of tune after doing it a couple of times. You should be able to do it rapidly for like about 30 times w/o having it go out of tune (giving i ta nice tug, but not too hard, just about enough to barely touch the string next to it) then u need to check the effect of the other strings on that particular string u r testing (u only need to test one string most of the time, try strumming al lthe strings just randomly up and down couple of tiems and such and then see if the string u r check has gone out of tune or not u should be able to a fair amount of strumming (like 30 min continued?) b4 u start seeing that the string goes out of tune, but usually guitars r so that either they go out of tune really fast or they don't so u won't need to strum in the store for 30 min more like 30 sec-ish
so yeah... gl w/ ur search (also if u strum enough the store owner might get ticked and offer u the guitar at a cheaper price if u just take it out w/ u, haha)
oh try to not buy guitars from those chain stores...
EDIT: oh if u play cello then guitar should be ez for u.. trust me guitars allow so much more rm for error than violin or cello does! so u can probably practice w/a electric rite away... unless u wanna go pro w/ it Also i noe it would seem cool to try out ur cello vibrato skills on the guitar but most of the time u can hardly hear those things... it's really really subtle... that's y they have tremolo arms, but i dont' recommend u get guitars w/ tremolo ones unless u r paying up like at least 500 for just the guitar cus all the cheaper ones suk due to the tremolo arms causing problems w/ strings loosening and such... like i said just burrow the guitar from a friend... it's really not that hard
Tremolo bridges are fine for the most part. The cheap ones suck yeah, but if you don't actually use them, they keep in tune fairly well. Changing strings can be intimidating, but it's nothing hard.
Oh, and if you don't have a large budget, I'd suggest going with Epiphone. (stay away from the explorer line)
I suggest rondo music guitars for cheap but great.. www.rondomusic.net - look at the Agile ones specifically, they are really good (most people like the Agile LPs better than most Epiphones of 3 times the price, myself included)
On March 30 2009 06:10 Murkyith14 wrote: A good place to learn techniques is justinguitar.com Completely free, full lessons. Awesome site.
Yeah, that's a real good site; he has lots of exercises etc.
edit: atm I'm learning this song, and trying the approach to play it really slow at first, meaning about half speed or slower and trying to nail it as good as possible. Works so much better than trying to play really fast from the beginning. Most of the time I have problems finding accurate tabs and I'm not yet good enough to tab a song by ear myself.
Another problem I have is that sometimes I have a hard time to decide which finger to use in a scale or riff that is played very fast : /
Aaaaaaand my sweep picking really sucks, since I've never done it before and it's so hard to learn q_q
fortress iss awesome ^^ they played bloodmeat live at warped tour and everyone was all cheering at the end when they stopped for a little bit and im just like the only waiting for the last part ;o completely unknown band in houston
On March 30 2009 05:14 R3condite wrote: if you've nvr played b4... u do not need 500 bucks to play...
i suggest burrowing the guitar from ur friends or something similar to that. Mots people have guitar in their homes but they nvr use it...
also if u've nvr really played guitar or other string instruments b4, then play acoustic b4 playing electric as it gives u a better basics
as for an amp you can totally buy a practice amp for around 100 bucks (15 watt ones, i really like my Frontman 15R)
also if you buy extra strings i recommend getting ernie ball super slinky types <- those r the standard ones that comes w/ guitar (super slinky) also as for the pick get a medium flex one
but seriously i high recommend u practice like the basic 7 chords and stuff w/ a burrowed guitar from one of ur nicer friends and then see if u want ot get ur own and such because if you do that then if for some reason u decide u do not like it or it's too much commitment u didn't waste any money, also if u do want to continue playing you have much more knowledge about guitars and such in general that u r in a better position to buy the stuff u need
buy a metronome/tuner combo devices also as for the guitar any beginner's should be fine? but i recommend that u buy ur guitar at a store a key thing to check on ur guitar is how ezily the strings become loose u do this by bringing that tuner of ur to the store and tuning one or two strings to their rightful pitch and then on one chord try tugging on it side ways rite and left couple of times and see how much it's out of tune after doing it a couple of times. You should be able to do it rapidly for like about 30 times w/o having it go out of tune (giving i ta nice tug, but not too hard, just about enough to barely touch the string next to it) then u need to check the effect of the other strings on that particular string u r testing (u only need to test one string most of the time, try strumming al lthe strings just randomly up and down couple of tiems and such and then see if the string u r check has gone out of tune or not u should be able to a fair amount of strumming (like 30 min continued?) b4 u start seeing that the string goes out of tune, but usually guitars r so that either they go out of tune really fast or they don't so u won't need to strum in the store for 30 min more like 30 sec-ish
so yeah... gl w/ ur search (also if u strum enough the store owner might get ticked and offer u the guitar at a cheaper price if u just take it out w/ u, haha)
oh try to not buy guitars from those chain stores...
EDIT: oh if u play cello then guitar should be ez for u.. trust me guitars allow so much more rm for error than violin or cello does! so u can probably practice w/a electric rite away... unless u wanna go pro w/ it Also i noe it would seem cool to try out ur cello vibrato skills on the guitar but most of the time u can hardly hear those things... it's really really subtle... that's y they have tremolo arms, but i dont' recommend u get guitars w/ tremolo ones unless u r paying up like at least 500 for just the guitar cus all the cheaper ones suk due to the tremolo arms causing problems w/ strings loosening and such... like i said just burrow the guitar from a friend... it's really not that hard
yeah cello vibrato didn't really show much on guitar, it's actually held completely opposite from how a cello is held vs guitar.
I'll defiinately try out guitars with how fast they detune via chords And i'm starting on acoustic
as for strings , pick, and amp; i can borrow those from my friend ^^ however he won't let me near his jackson or gibson
On March 30 2009 05:47 Skyze wrote: I suggest rondo music guitars for cheap but great.. www.rondomusic.net - look at the Agile ones specifically, they are really good (most people like the Agile LPs better than most Epiphones of 3 times the price, myself included)
Amp.. check out Tech 21 Trademark 30
I didn't see a any Agile LPs in the listing, just a bunch of AL's Not that i know the different between them either way. Thanks for the site though, lots of cheap guitars on there. ( If anyone wants to know prices range fom 60-600$ for electric )
However, i don't think i'll be comfortable buying through the internet.
On March 30 2009 04:56 SchOOl_VicTIm wrote: I was thinking of how I described the vibrato and actually it's not that accurate. I had in mind that you do it with your 3rd finger. If you're doing it with the 2nd or even worse with the 1st one, the rest of the hand doesn't remain steady at all, so scratch what I said before (also the thickness of the guitar neck plays a role in this). I searched youtube and found a few videos that could help you (and some pretty hilariously bad as well that made me laugh so hard lol).
On March 30 2009 05:42 FragKrag wrote: Tremolo bridges are fine for the most part. The cheap ones suck yeah, but if you don't actually use them, they keep in tune fairly well. Changing strings can be intimidating, but it's nothing hard.
Oh, and if you don't have a large budget, I'd suggest going with Epiphone. (stay away from the explorer line)
oh hah. my friend has so much fun with his tremolo bridge. I don't think i'll get one though, not for my first electric anyways. I don't have any issues tuning or changing strings, tuning is just use the 5th harmonic which i've already learned how to hear from cello and i learned how to change strings through a youtube video XD.
1) Tabs? I use the following tab sites, and it looks like you want to play metal as well so you should find these useful.
www.riversofgore.com (all death metal tabs, mostly advanced stuff here. There's also video lessons) http://ultimate-guitar.com/ (largest tab archive on the web, all musical styles, very few advertisements, some good articles/lessons sometimes) www.metaltabs.com (These guys are very legal and formal, and ask bands for permission to put up tabs. There's a few more rare tabs from obscure metal bands on here that aren't anywhere else)
2) Backing Music
Can't help you much on this one. I never used backing tracks that were specifically meant as backing tracks to practice/improv along to. I usually only play along with songs if they're difficult and I can't keep time without hearing the track and they have too many tempo changes to use a metronome.
3) What kind of guitar/amp should i buy?
Whatever you do, do NOT buy a cheap solid state combo amplifier. These are the worst scams ever invented. I'm talking about the 10-30 watt solid state junkers by Marshall, Crate, and Fender that cost under 200 or so. They make some decent ones in the 300-500 range, but the ones targeted toward beginners and kids are absolutely awful. Instead, I'd recommend investing in an amp modeler/multi-effects device. These things basically emulate various famous amplifiers and speaker cabinets, as well as providing you with a collection of guitar effects like reverb, chorus, delay, noise gates, distortion pedals, equalizers, a TUNER and compressor emulations. These little units can cost as little as 50$, they're a gazillion times more flexible than the solid state junkers and sound a ton better as well. They're definitely not as good as the tube amps they're trying to emulate, especially at a low price range, but they're a much better investment than cheap solid state amps. These devices will take a while to learn how to use and tweak optimally, but in the end you'll have a wide variety of sounds at your disposal and will be able to play literally any style you want. You'll be able to use one of these units with either headphones, stereo speakers, desktop speakers, or an amplifier when you can save up for a quality one. Some examples are the digitech rp series, the line 6 POD and toneport series, the behringer v-amp2 series, and the vox tonelab.
For a guitar, make sure you have something with humbuckers as opposed to single coil pickups, since it looks like you're going to want to be a metal player. These humbucker pickups will eliminate some noise, sound better at high gain levels, and are pretty much used universally among high gain rock and metal musicians. Make sure you get a fixed bridge as well, guitars with tremolo bridges at a low budget have horrendous intonation, go out of tune way more often, and are much more difficult to use alternate tunings with, which you'll definitely be doing as a metal player.
Here's my personal recommendation. This is what I WISH I'd started with, but I unfortunately wasted money on horrible stuff that I now know was totally wasteful.
You'll also need some speakers or headphones to use with the POD, but I assume you already have those.
And last thing, thinking ahead to when you graduate from using a modeler for practice and need something that you can gig with, invest in a rack setup as opposed to a combo amp or an amp head+ a cab. They're much more flexible, portable, less maintenance heavy, and personally I think with the right stuff they almost always sound better. You won't need to worry about this for a long time though. 4) Any tips?
Just learning and playing various scales with a metronome really helped me get off the ground and get my right and left hand technique developed. It's a little monotonous, but it doesn't take long of just doing this before you can move on to songs. Judging from some of the stuff in your original post, you're going to have a big hurdle to overcome with right hand technique and tremolo picking, frequently used in metal and hard rock. You might try thicker picks to help you get through this. It took me a hell of a long time to get my tremolo picking chops down, but now I can pretty much play perfect 16th notes at like 350+bpm.
Get a pirated version of guitarpro or buy it like asap. It's a wonderful tool, and most transcribers save their work to guitar pro files you won't be able to open without the program. It's simply an awesome tool for writing and transcribing. It also has MIDI drums, guitars, bass, and several others built in if you want to make your own backing tracks.
justinguitar.com has a lot of good beginner articles, videos, and lessons.
On March 30 2009 05:42 FragKrag wrote: Tremolo bridges are fine for the most part. The cheap ones suck yeah, but if you don't actually use them, they keep in tune fairly well. Changing strings can be intimidating, but it's nothing hard.
Oh, and if you don't have a large budget, I'd suggest going with Epiphone. (stay away from the explorer line)
They're definitely not fine. Even if you don't use the bridge, you still knock your guitar out of tune sooo much more with a trem bridge, even with a high quality one. The intonation is always going to be better with a fixed bridge, and trems also kill a guitar's sustain, which is going to be compounded with the fact that it's going to be used through a cheaper amp/modeler and have a bolt on neck. All of these problems are going to be compounded further if you try to tune low with a trem bridge. I play in B standard with 13-60 gauge strings on my RG120 backup guitar with a trem and I pretty much need to retune every 15 minutes of play. I do hit my strings very very hard though and use 2mm picks though.
Most beginning guitarists usually get a Fender. But you should still go to your local music store and play with the guitar first before you actually buy it.
I have mostly gone to places like Samash and Guitar Center and I am sure you can haggel the original price down to as low as you can go. Those people make commission off of what you buy, and they usually overprice things.
For example
I was planning on buying a 4 drum shield plexiglass at Guitar Center (yes guitar center sells drums things as well) and the guy said he will sell it for $400, then offered $350. My brother's friends sister works at corporate at Guitar Center and said the same thing I wanted to buy, they get it for less then $150. So be sure to haggel everything.
Yeah.... don't get a fender. Fender's mid range and high range guitars are awesome, not so much for metal styles but they're still very very good. Their cheap guitars are absolutely abysmal though, avoid squire, epiphone, etc, all those chinese made guitars are just horrendous. I know it's your first guitar and all, but you can definitely buy a viable backup guitar that will serve you for a good decade or more for under 200, don't squander it on some piece of crap.
www.metaltabs.com (These guys are very legal and formal, and ask bands for permission to put up tabs. There's a few more rare tabs from obscure metal bands on here that aren't anywhere else)
hehe awesome
-0-30 watt solid state junkers by Marshall, Crate, and Fender that cost under 200 -fenders -trem bridges
*what not to get xD*
Get a pirated version of guitarpro or buy it like asap. It's a wonderful tool, and most transcribers save their work to guitar pro files you won't be able to open without the program. It's simply an awesome tool for writing and transcribing. It also has MIDI drums, guitars, bass, and several others built in if you want to make your own backing tracks.
i use Tuxguitar to open powertabs but i'll pirate it o_o
- tried to play the 2nd tab i posted in OP - i was wondering if TL could point out errors and stuff. finger picking this time I was gonna try and do the riff at the end but i kept failing at it T__T so i gave up.
They're definitely not fine. Even if you don't use the bridge, you still knock your guitar out of tune sooo much more with a trem bridge, even with a high quality one. The intonation is always going to be better with a fixed bridge, and trems also kill a guitar's sustain, which is going to be compounded with the fact that it's going to be used through a cheaper amp/modeler and have a bolt on neck. All of these problems are going to be compounded further if you try to tune low with a trem bridge. I play in B standard with 13-60 gauge strings on my RG120 backup guitar with a trem and I pretty much need to retune every 15 minutes of play. I do hit my strings very very hard though and use 2mm picks though.
I guess it depends on the player, since I started off with a really shitty Ibanez start pack guitar with a trem. Every time I used the trem, it went out of tune, but without it, the guitar actually kept its tune very well. I tuned like once every week (e flat). But yeah, they do kill sustain, but bolt on necks don't kill sustain as much as people let on. If Satch can sustain on a bolt-on, so can you (to a lesser degree). I used the 2mm Jazz iii picks.
And considering he's going to spend around 500, it should be an Edge 3. for the most part, Edge 3 seems to be a decent bridge.
nevermind that, I realized that my ibanez doesn't have an edge 3. The guy who I bought it from installed an Edge Pro. >_>
@Heaven
I'd suggest you take it slowly, and get the beats right. I'm not sure about the rhythm and the beats in the song, but it sounded a bit sloppy. Play at a slower speed and make sure you get the rhythm and timing down (along with accuracy), before progressing to a higher speed.
I find that this guitar really suits my needs. Its pretty low action so I can do quite alot with it, even basic shredding and some tapping. Basically, you have to find a guitar that suits your needs, i.e. what you are comfortable with. It took my quite a while to settle with the LP standard so take your time to find one. Don't get low end ones because they are really, really bad. Unless of course you don't plan on playing the guitar for a long time.
A few tips I can give you is knowing how to pick right. You can first learn a few basic scales like the 7 modes and learn to work around with it.
One of the first vital skills to pick up is actually alternate picking. The concept is simple. If you pick a downstroke on the 6th string, you should do an upstroke next. If you want to move up one string, the concept still applies(just incase you don't know, the 6th string is the string that has the lowest sound when you pick it. Moving up means moving down one string on the guitar in reality i.e. 6th-5th string).
So if you were to pick one note on each string and you want to move from the 6th string to the first, it would be D,U,D,U,D,U.
If you are playing more than one note on each string and are moving up the strings, the same concept still applies. The following string/note should always be played in the opposing direction of the previous string/note.
On March 31 2009 11:43 Drowsy wrote: Yeah.... don't get a fender. Fender's mid range and high range guitars are awesome, not so much for metal styles but they're still very very good. Their cheap guitars are absolutely abysmal though, avoid squire, epiphone, etc, all those chinese made guitars are just horrendous. I know it's your first guitar and all, but you can definitely buy a viable backup guitar that will serve you for a good decade or more for under 200, don't squander it on some piece of crap.
Dude, high end Epiphones are great. Its almost comparable to an identical model from Gibson.
One of the first vital skills to pick up is actually alternate picking. The concept is simple. If you pick a downstroke on the 6th string, you should do an upstroke next. If you want to move up one string, the concept still applies(just incase you don't know, the 6th string is the string that has the lowest sound when you pick it. Moving up means moving down one string on the guitar in reality i.e. 6th-5th string).
So if you were to pick one note on each string and you want to move from the 6th string to the first, it would be D,U,D,U,D,U.
i pretty much do this, or at least aim for it, but the problem i have with alternative picking is that the pick likes to go off-center, like to the right of the guitar my friend told me not to hover my right arm over the guitar, so it's hard to reach the middle part naturally
-First thing is that i really couldnt see your right hand (i meant your pick hand) but seems to me that you are taking the pick far away from the tip. To me it works like this + Show Spoiler +
The idea is that the tip goes out about 2/3 mm, dont look at my ugly nail . Pick at 90º with thumb, thumb parallel to guitar. Palm mute with the edge of the hand. Index under pick, bent at 90º in the middle phalange junture. Distal and middle phalanges straight at guitar. Last three fingers straight and barely touching the guitar with the tips.
-Now for the alternate picking i suggest you: Train Mayor scales, from the 1 position to the 7. Always train from the start to end up and down the scale. They are easy and help you learn something about music. Practice 3 minutes per position all around the neck with a metronome (play the scale at position 1 at fret1 the switch to the same postion in fret 3, fret 5 and 7 and go back to fret 1 repeat without stoping). Then you have a 20 minutes rutine to practice alternate picking. Its not too much fun but its damn good at the start. + Show Spoiler +
Position 1 in fret1 (index finger in fret1) Position 2 in fret3 (index finger in fret3) Position 3 in fret5 (index finger in fret5) Position 4 in fret7 (index finger in fret7) Position 5 in fret8 (index finger in fret8) Position 6 in fret10 (index finger in fret10) Position 7 in fret12 (index finger in fret12) They all give you a major C scale (A minor equivalent)
After you can succesfull alternate pick at the speed you want you may want to learn ecopick but i strongly suggest you not to skip alternate picking.
-Then find some sweep picking simple exercises (or pm me if you need), again they are not fun but then you can play pretty much anything, however take some time apart to learn to SP, this is harder that alternate picking because you need more control in the pick hand.
-Last advice: try to play with your fingers less diagonal more like parallel to the frets, at 90º with the neck, and your thumb in the middle back of the neck.
Finally about your questions: Tabs are everywhere, you can always search another source of more reliable original tab books cough*torrent or *cough guitartrade.org *cough. Amp and guitar, idk i cant help you about that just dont buy the first thing you see and make sure if you buy a new guitar it has a professional calibration included, learn about that. And background music? use your own, learn to play with yourself . Good Luck
The idea is that the tip goes out about 2/3 mm, dont look at my ugly nail . Pick at 90º with thumb, thumb parallel to guitar. Palm mute with the edge of the hand. Index under pick, bent at 90º in the middle phalange junture. Distal and middle phalanges straight at guitar. Last three fingers straight and barely touching the guitar with the tips.
wow that is a giant pick
Thanks a lot for the frets ! i get bored really easily playing through them without some music in the background, and the music i make is ._. so hence, backing tracks! basically to keep beat and for fun :O
-Last advice: try to play with your fingers less diagonal more like parallel to the frets, at 90º with the neck, and your thumb in the middle back of the neck.
oh i just kinda let my thumb hang around wherever it likes XD
The idea is that the tip goes out about 2/3 mm, dont look at my ugly nail . Pick at 90º with thumb, thumb parallel to guitar. Palm mute with the edge of the hand. Index under pick, bent at 90º in the middle phalange junture. Distal and middle phalanges straight at guitar. Last three fingers straight and barely touching the guitar with the tips.
wow that is a giant pick
Thanks a lot for the frets ! i get bored really easily playing through them without some music in the background, and the music i make is ._. so hence, backing tracks! basically to keep beat and for fun :O
-Last advice: try to play with your fingers less diagonal more like parallel to the frets, at 90º with the neck, and your thumb in the middle back of the neck.
oh i just kinda let my thumb hang around wherever it likes XD
First thing I noticed as well. I'm a classical guitarist, but i fool around alot on the electric too. Your thumb movement in relation to the neck is just too awkward. It impedes your reach. You're twisting your hand in an unnatural way everytime you forget about your thumb, and the notes don't come out clean.
You want to hit the fret with the tips of your fingers, not with your entire finger.
On the second video, you can see my pick posture (beforehand it wasn't visible) If anyone could tell me what i do wrong while picking or playing, i'll ... be your best friend? :D
guess i'll do a different scale every week i'll be epic as u guitar gosus one dayy D:
On March 31 2009 15:55 EscPlan9 wrote: Heav0n: you HAVE to play it slower. This cannot be repeated enough. SLOWER DAMNIT SLOWER
For an amp go with Line 6 300 dollar amp. best amp ever for learning guitar, plus its really good for heavier stuff. Go for Ibanez guitars and maybe get gauge 11 or 12 strings if you like metal. My advice is make sure to start with mechanics before anything, do not worry about scale theory yet because you wont have the dexterity to play anything anyway. Try to learn correct hand positioning and picking techniques from the beginning, For me i play alot of metal and im just now getting alternate picking down, before i would downstroke mostly which is terrible form.
On March 31 2009 15:55 HeavOnEarth wrote: my friend said you can get like twice as many gigs if u can play/sing not that im doing that anytime soon but do u guys sing while u play ?:O
I started singing while playing like 5-6 years ago. It sounded so awful for a t least 1-2 years, just horrible. Not to mention how hard it is in the beginning to coordinate playing and singing.
By now I would say I sound really decent (of course my technic is awful, no one ever tought me anything) and I would strongly recommend to sing along while playing. People normally get bored after quite some time if you only play that fancy riffs. When you can sing along, they might listen for hours.
However, from your videos it looks like you still have guite some trouble to control your guitar. I believe you need to improve your playing a bit before you can really try to sing along, it might just be too much at once. And I don't wanna pick one you, but what all these guys keep saying is true, you play way too fast, even in your last video. Slow it down a ton, it will pay off.
However, my point is: singing is good, but hard at first
On April 04 2009 03:47 Hypnosis wrote: For an amp go with Line 6 300 dollar amp. best amp ever for learning guitar, plus its really good for heavier stuff. Go for Ibanez guitars and maybe get gauge 11 or 12 strings if you like metal. My advice is make sure to start with mechanics before anything, do not worry about scale theory yet because you wont have the dexterity to play anything anyway. Try to learn correct hand positioning and picking techniques from the beginning, For me i play alot of metal and im just now getting alternate picking down, before i would downstroke mostly which is terrible form.
Practice an hour or more day every single day.
You should not get an Ibanez guitar for under $700. Most of the lower quality GRG and RG are completely horrible. The Edge III can't keep in tune after a few uses, shitty manufacturing, and etc. Ibanez is plagued with a large amount of problems with quality control. On one of my RGs, the locking nut was like 5 mm too far to the right. However, if you have over $700, I'd would DEFINITELY go for an Ibanez. The sexy neck, the higher quality, the Edge Pro/Edge Zero series of trems, and the high gain compatibility make Ibanez pretty fucking awesome.
If you want to sound and look "metal" on a budget, I'd suggest a lower end ESP LTD. Though their higher end isn't worth much (imo), their lower end guitars are pretty damn good when compared with others. Of course, Epiphone is always an option, and the Rondo music guitars don't look half bad at all.
EPT
If you didn't mean it like this, just scratch that, didn't mean to offend you or anything 
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