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Ultimate Guitarists

I wouldn't say I'm a finger-style guitarist, but I can play in that style on a couple of songs, namely "To Bid you Farewell" and "Silent Lucidity". I'm still not very good at it, though.
 
Well I can't really play anything finger style besides "All Laid Back and Stuff" By Andy Mckee and I can't even play the whole song. /hangs head in shame.

So how many people are self taught guitarist or have teachers? And does anyone watch instructional videos to help their playing?
 
Username: LightningAlex
Reason for joining: Guitar is my life!
What is your preferred genre to play in: Heavy metal, hard rock, blues, classical

I don't really know much about acoustic guitars, but I believe that the hardest music you can play on them is Spanish flamenco music. So if one is able to play that, I consider them very talented.
Oh yeah, my favorite guitarist is Randy Rhoads. His music is very... well, I lack the words to describe it. The way he infused classical elements into heavy metal is just amazing!

CarefulWetPaint said:
And does anyone watch instructional videos to help their playing?
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I do. There's a company called Licklibrary who sell instructional DVD's - their instructors are very talented guitarists, they teach everything note by note. Learning by watching them is a lot easier than learning with tabs. Also, they teach everything exactly how it was originally played in the studio. Tabs usually have some mistakes in them.
 
Welcome to the club Lightning!

How long have you been playing the guitar for if its your whole life? Also yay for metal \m/.
Flamenco is pretty amazing I have to agree with you there.

Oh that's interesting! Do they make good instructional videos? How much do they cost? And what kind of songs and such do they teach?
 
Thanks guys for the welcome :) I really appreciate it.
I've been playing for only 2 & a half years, but that's because I lacked the equipment but I've always wanted to learn how to play.

One DVD by Licklibrary costs about $25, and they teach anything you can imagine. Not only do they teach songs, but they also teach you how to play in the style of some famous guitarist - Malmsteen, Rhoads, Blackmore, Synyster Gates, Paul Gilbert, Steve Vai and many many others.
 
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LightningAlex said:
Thanks guys for the welcome :) I really appreciate it.
I've been playing for only 2 & a half years, but that's because I lacked the equipment but I've always wanted to learn how to play.

One DVD by Licklibrary costs about $25, and they teach anything you can imagine. Not only do they teach songs, but they also teach you how to play in the style of some famous guitarist - Malmsteen, Rhoads, Blackmore, Synyster Gates, Paul Gilbert, Steve Vai and many many others.
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Oh thats really cool! Is that how you have learnt how to play the guitar? Do they do like personalized lesson's if you request like a song or two? That'd be really cool. It seems like a really good idea indeed, and really sounsd like it'd help with learning guitar but how many songs/lessons are on one DVD?

Also what kind of guitar do you own?
 
Licklibrary isn't how I've learned to play the guitar, although they do have the ultimate beginner's DVD. Sadly, they don't do personal requests. They have a forum on their website with a "Suggestion" section, though. They do either 5 or 7 songs per DVD. They have a lot of trailers for their DVD's on YouTube, so check them out.

As for the guitar I own, it's, well, a very cheap copy of a fender strat. When played, it sounds like a malfunctioning ambulance... and it has only 21 frets! But I'll get a new one in 2 months or so...
 
CarefulWetPaint said:
I have heard that song before and thought it was cool then, still the same feeling! It really sounds cool another good fingerstylist from candy rat is Antoine Dufour, you should check out his song "Scratch" its pretty amazing xD.

Who here is actually a finger stylist? I am personally so hopeless at it its embarrassing to pick up an acoustic guitar. :|
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Just looked at Scratch. That's ridiculous. I wish I could play like that. If you like that percussive style, John Butler and Newton Faulkner are worth checking out.

I tend to play with my fingers. I'm nothing special, but I tend to play almost everything with my fingers. Unless it's all strumming, then I use a pick to save wearing out my fingernails. Or it it's heavily muted, because of the angle you have to hold your hand.

I've just found that playing everything in Full-step-down makes it SOO much easier to sing along.
 
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Oh howd you learn then Alex? Are you self taught or do you have a teacher that helps you out? Also don't worry my guitars are cheap ones as well and only have 21 frets.
I do like John Butler, being Australian and all I've listened to his music a lot and watched him live a couple of times.

Personally I rarely play with my fingers as Im just not that good at finger picking and much prefer using a pick, plus a pick suits my style better. What thickness of picks do you guys prefer?

Why does it make it easier? Is your voice suited to lower keys or..?

Also recently my guitars bridge popped out heaps. Anyone know what this happened? I have a feeling the strings somehow got incredibly tight as it happened on the guitar that I keep in standard tuning but I have no idea how. The bridge was pulled out about 2 cm's which was rather odd. Does anyone have any idea how this could have happened? Its the standard kind of low end whammy bridge if that helps any.
 
I like to play with a 1.5 - 2mm pick. The largest my strings are now are on the Parker and those are 11s. I like a nice attack sound on the strings, but not too harsh because I'd like to solo as well. That's why that size is usually good for me.

Sound like a Floyd Rose bridge. If it is, those things are REALLY annoying to fix. Did it just pop out randomly? Or did you tighten the strings, because that's usually what causes those bridges to pull up.
 
Humidity will affect the tuning of the guitar, but only so slightly to make your guitar a little flat. Unless you're in an extremely high temp. I don't think it will cause your bridge to pop out. It could be the spring holding the bridge down. Does the bridge go down when you tune down your strings? If not, that'd be really weird.
 
CarefulWetPaint said:
Oh howd you learn then Alex? Are you self taught or do you have a teacher that helps you out?
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Sorry I haven't replied earlier, I didn't see the post :\ Yeah, I had a teacher for the first 3 months, who just taught me the basics. The rest I learned by myself.

And I'm sorry, but I can't really help you with the bridge.

Also, I have a question for all of you - which scales do you usually use when improvising a solo? When I learn a song with a really hard solo, I usually improvise it while playing the song, before I practice the actual solo out in full speed. When improvising, I usually use the pentatonic scale, blues scale, natural minor scale (Also called aeolian) and arpeggios.
 
Yeah its really weird, I didnt think humidity would change it as much as it was changed so that confused me even more! Ugh Ill just ignore it a put new strings on her and hope for the best.
The bridge went back down when the strings snapped and I loosened them. It was really weird, I should have checked the tuning before doing that to see if they had tightened heaps.

Oh I don't really improvise solo's that much, I'm not very good so I just play around the area that it sounds the actual solo is coming from with a rather unorthodox approach in an attempt to kinda mimic the sound I hear. Im such an awful player :'(
 
Well I don't think you should say that about yourself. If you're, however, not satisfied yourself with your skills, how about you start learning a few easy solos? The Pirate of the Caribbean theme isn't hard at all (Tab of the month currently), so that's a good start.
 
Well I'll learn Pirates over the weekend and put up a cover but is anyone interested in doing it or should I change the tab now?

And I don't have trouble learning solo's I just have trouble improvising them :P If I have notes to follow its much much easier for me then making it up as I go. :S

New Topic time as well!

What is your most embarrassing moment relating to guitar playing? (Example would be perhaps messing up a live performance or a string snapping at a live performance etc.)
 
I think the only thing that was bad was when I was off beat during the chorus, I was singing at the same time as well, so it was a little weird and I had to end it early. But that was pretty much it.
 
I had a really embarrassing moment while playing the guitar:
I performed a song with the school band, and right before the performance, our vocalists tells us to play the second chorus twice. And I asked her a million times if she's sure about that, she'd always reply with "Yes, play the second chorus twice". There's a solo right after the second chorus. So we come to the second chorus, I played it once, and, of course, instead of playing the solo, I started playing the second chorus a second time... but our vocalist FORGOT that she wants to sing the second chorus twice. The drum and bass is same in the chorus and the solo that follows afterwards, so basically it looked like I forgot to play the solo...
 
pmarckoue said:
Today in Heavy Metal news, Johnathan Davis Believes that "Dubstep is the new Electronic Metal."

Here is the link for more details: https://www.ultimate-guitar.com/new...avis_dubstep_is_the_new_electronic_metal.html
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Lol what? I dont understand.. Is he comparing dubstep to metal? Teh hell? Sure they are two of my favourite genres but they are not the same! I guess they are both heavier versions of the genre's but still..

Though I guess if you look at metal in comparison to rock and dubstep in comparison to say electro dance I guess I can kinda understand this..

What do you guys think of this?
 
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