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[Grishnak]

Well, its kind of easy, and kind of hard at the same time. The easiest way to figure out really tricky parts is to get a program that you can slow the tempo down without shifting the pitch. I use Sony Acid for that. Another trick is to hit chords that you think are close, and just try to figure out some root notes, and after you have a few of the notes, you play around without the song to try to get it, once you think you have it you try it with the song. Do individual notes rather than trying to play the actual rhythms right from the start, especially with fast stuff.

Figuring out songs really involves a lot of rewinding/looping specific sections over and over till you can nail it. It takes a while, unless its the most basic of songs.

Fast stuff in generally isnt really as hard as it looks (with the exception of stuff like Lash by Lash from Spawn of possession, which I cannot play more than the first 30 seconds of to save my life), once you get in the groove. That song in particular is just a standard 0 000 rhythm as a pedal note, with a gallop between, like this:

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

Code: [Select]

E||--------------------------------------------------------|
B||--------------------------------------------------------|
G||--------------------------------------------------------|
D||--------------------------------------------------------|
A||------------7---------8----------5h-7h-8------------7---|
E||--0--0-0-0-----0-0-0-----0-0-0-----------0--0-0-0-------|


The thing that makes it look really intimidating is the 215 bpm tempo.

Surprisingly, that song doesnt even tire my pick arm out at all, I could play that song probably 10 times back to back before getting tired.

[atomicwinter]

Yea I play, been playing for only a month seriously, but my guitar has been gathering dust for a year. Mostly Black Metal, but only simple stuff.. I can't do all that highly technical crap.

[Supermikhail]

Well, its kind of easy, and kind of hard at the same time. The easiest way to figure out really tricky parts is to get a program that you can slow the tempo down without shifting the pitch. I use Sony Acid for that. Another trick is to hit chords that you think are close, and just try to figure out some root notes, and after you have a few of the notes, you play around without the song to try to get it, once you think you have it you try it with the song. Do individual notes rather than trying to play the actual rhythms right from the start, especially with fast stuff.

Figuring out songs really involves a lot of rewinding/looping specific sections over and over till you can nail it. It takes a while, unless its the most basic of songs.

Fast stuff in generally isnt really as hard as it looks (with the exception of stuff like Lash by Lash from Spawn of possession, which I cannot play more than the first 30 seconds of to save my life), once you get in the groove. That song in particular is just a standard 0 000 rhythm as a pedal note, with a gallop between, like this:

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

Code: [Select]

E||--------------------------------------------------------|
B||--------------------------------------------------------|
G||--------------------------------------------------------|
D||--------------------------------------------------------|
A||------------7---------8----------5h-7h-8------------7---|
E||--0--0-0-0-----0-0-0-----0-0-0-----------0--0-0-0-------|


The thing that makes it look really intimidating is the 215 bpm tempo.

Surprisingly, that song doesnt even tire my pick arm out at all, I could play that song probably 10 times back to back before getting tired.

How naive of me to have thought that there's time in the life of every musician when s/he can reproduce any song by ear. Mozart!

[Grishnak]

Alternatively! You can use tabs. If you want to go that route, you can use a program called Guitar Pro and/or Powertab.  Both of these programs have the songs tabbed out for you and allow you to listen to the song in midi format while looking at the notes.

Guitar Pro allows you to slow the song down or speed it up. It also has a looping function with a speed trainer, which is really useful on extremely complex parts or solos. The way the speed trainer works, is you can highligh a specific section of the song, or the entire song, and click the loop button, then you can have it raise the tempo a certain percentage on each repeat of the looped section. You can set the starting and ending tempo, and the tempo increase per loop.  It also has a built in electronic tuner, if you do not already have on.

The downside of Guitar Pro is you have to pay for it, where as Powertab is free. Guitar Pro tabs are usually a little bit less accurate on the guitar parts compared to Powertabs, but Powertab has less features that make learning songs easy, like the looping and slowing down features.

There really isnt much to tell about Powertab, but I recommend that you get both, so you can compare tabs of the same song and edit accordingly if you feel like it.

Another really awesome program to help build your guitar skills is a little program called Guitar Speed Trainer. You start off by building a "speed profile" where you play certain types of guitar techniques at increasing tempos and you tell the program how easy or difficult it is for you on, I think, 7 different aspects of playing. After you build the profile, you can do the exercises that have you work on specific aspects at a time. Each exercise starts off really easy and gets progressively more difficult till you can barely play it, and then it slows back down again.  I havent used it in a while, but when I did use it, I noticed improvement in my pick hand speed and accuracy, and finger dexterity.

Guitar Pro:
http://www.guitar-pro.com/en/index.php

Powertab:
http://www.power-tab.net/guitar.php

Guitar Speed Trainer:
http://www.guitarspeed.com/

One stop site for all of your tab needs:
http://www.ultimate-guitar.com/

All three of these programs are very helpful to learning songs and playing better.

Sorry I assumed you meant to figure it out by ear.

[Supermikhail]

Of those programs, I didn't know only of the Guitar Speed Trainer. And that's kind of useless, as I still can't afford any of the payed ones (well, in Russian rubles the prices translate into quadruple digits, and that's kind of, not cheap, although at least that's not Finale).

Well, I guess I should get off my arse and pick up my guitar training. The past few months haven't been very good to it, with blipping broken fingernails and blisters... On that note, I'd like to ask an experienced player - how much of your repertoire you go through on your typical day. I've been learning classical guitar by a book and for a while tried to go through all of the previous material when I played. And with these breaks, I don't know if I should go back and relearn all the stuff that has gotten rusty.

[fqllve]

TuxGuitar reads power tab and guitar pro tabs and has a Windows version.

It's free.

I've been learning classical guitar by a book and for a while tried to go through all of the previous material when I played. And with these breaks, I don't know if I should go back and relearn all the stuff that has gotten rusty.

Which book?

I wouldn't worry too much about going back though. Use some of the old material as a warm-up, you'll be back in the swing of things in a day or two. Unless you're trying to learn to sight-read too, then yeah you'll probably want to go back over everything.

[Grishnak]

Well, I guess I should get off my arse and pick up my guitar training. The past few months haven't been very good to it, with blipping broken fingernails and blisters... On that note, I'd like to ask an experienced player - how much of your repertoire you go through on your typical day. I've been learning classical guitar by a book and for a while tried to go through all of the previous material when I played. And with these breaks, I don't know if I should go back and relearn all the stuff that has gotten rusty.

I usually play everything that I know, atleast a few times a day when I play. I also do not tend to relearn stuff that I have forgotten, unless it was really fun to play. I always like to progress and move further, and constantly challenge myself.  I try new styles and attempt stuff that I couldnt play in previous months, and even if its still really hard I sit down and try as hard as I can.  As far as techniques, like tapping and sweeping, I practice them as much as I can, sometimes I will sit and play the same sweeps over and over for atleast an hour. If you feel you are getting rusty on specific techniques, then you should, for sure, go back and get fluent with them again. Individual songs dont matter so much, unless they are challenging. You should always be trying to progress.

[Supermikhail]

TuxGuitar reads power tab and guitar pro tabs and has a Windows version.

It's free.

I've been learning classical guitar by a book and for a while tried to go through all of the previous material when I played. And with these breaks, I don't know if I should go back and relearn all the stuff that has gotten rusty.

Which book?

I wouldn't worry too much about going back though. Use some of the old material as a warm-up, you'll be back in the swing of things in a day or two. Unless you're trying to learn to sight-read too, then yeah you'll probably want to go back over everything.

Yeah, I use TuxGuitar for midi-ing. More importantly, though, it has a Linux version.

Russian book. I don't think it's useful here, but for the curious, Катанский и Катанский "Школа Игры На Шестиструнной Гитаре".

Er. Sight-read? It means read by notes, right? I do that already, although with variable success.

Well, I guess I should get off my arse and pick up my guitar training. The past few months haven't been very good to it, with blipping broken fingernails and blisters... On that note, I'd like to ask an experienced player - how much of your repertoire you go through on your typical day. I've been learning classical guitar by a book and for a while tried to go through all of the previous material when I played. And with these breaks, I don't know if I should go back and relearn all the stuff that has gotten rusty.

I usually play everything that I know, atleast a few times a day when I play. I also do not tend to relearn stuff that I have forgotten, unless it was really fun to play. I always like to progress and move further, and constantly challenge myself.  I try new styles and attempt stuff that I couldnt play in previous months, and even if its still really hard I sit down and try as hard as I can.  As far as techniques, like tapping and sweeping, I practice them as much as I can, sometimes I will sit and play the same sweeps over and over for atleast an hour. If you feel you are getting rusty on specific techniques, then you should, for sure, go back and get fluent with them again. Individual songs dont matter so much, unless they are challenging. You should always be trying to progress.

It's that, my immediate repertoire has always been lacking. That is, without extensive preparation I wouldn't be able to play more than maybe half-a-dozen full pieces from memory, and I constantly worry that I'm weird and my long and short-term memories don't connect. Yeah, and those pieces wouldn't come close in length to the stuff that you play.

[Keita]

Wow, just watched my friend play the whole of Meshuggahs Catch 33. Watching him made my fingers hurt!

[Grishnak]

It's that, my immediate repertoire has always been lacking. That is, without extensive preparation I wouldn't be able to play more than maybe half-a-dozen full pieces from memory, and I constantly worry that I'm weird and my long and short-term memories don't connect. Yeah, and those pieces wouldn't come close in length to the stuff that you play.

Ive noticed that I have problems remembering songs that I dont enjoy, or I dont really 'care' about, where songs that I WANTED to learn, I remember for a very long time. Also, having listened to the songs that I do learn so many times, for so long really helps as well. Although, memorizing Black Rose Immortal has proven to be tough and I am only really able to memorize the first 10 minutes of both guitars.

Another factor is, how long have you been playing? I dont remember seeing how long you have been playing for. It took me quite some time to memorize longer songs, and more of them. The first few years of me playing I could only memorize about half of most songs, or if they were easy, all of it. After about 4 or 5 years I was able to memorize entire songs, and for a while there I memorized entire albums, my favorite being Diablous in Musica from Slayer.

The best advice I can give you, is try to learn a song you really enjoy, something by your favorite band. Practice the crap out of it all day, then sleep on it. The next day try to play it and see if you have most of it memorized, even if its sloppy. Just try one song you really enjoy at a time rather than just stuff from your classical book. See if that helps your memorization.

[Supermikhail]

the first 10 minutes of both guitars.

ARRGGHH!!11

I've been playing (with two month-long breaks) for... Let's see, I first laid my hands on a guitar in the summer of 2005... Does that make it 5 years already?...

Yeah. I suck. Although, in retrospect, for the first 3 years I didn't have any patience, and only went through a song once a day, and it didn't get me very far. Also, mostly played by piano sheet notes, because that's the only way I knew how to get the notes for my favourite pieces (including the Lord of the Rings soundtrack).

To think of it, none of my favourite pieces are too guitar-friendly. Or solo classical guitar friendly. Although I've tried arranging stuff during the last year.

In short, a lonely classical person in the world of Black Metal.

[fqllve]

Haha, I feel you. Most of the classical pieces I want to play don't have guitar arrangements, and I'm sure not ready to make them myself yet.

So I've been working on a lot of folk fingerstyle stuff on the side. With every song I learn my free stroke gets tighter. Doesn't really do much for your rest stroke or left hand though. Plus, I have songs to play that people will actually know.

[Grishnak]

Well, not playing a bunch and taking 2 month long breaks at a time make it hard to memorize stuff, but it is possible to play classical stuff on the guitar. I used to know a few beethoven songs on guitar,(The 5th, Fur Elise) although its pretty difficult. Aside from putting aside at least an hour every day to play, I dont know what else I can suggest. If I dont practice songs on a regular basis, I tend to forget them as well so you really arent alone.

[Supermikhail]

"2 month long breaks" as in "two breaks one month each". One was at the end of my second year, I think, because I'm an easily depressed person, or maybe because I realised that I hadn't gotten much for my time... or maybe because I was realising that I was becoming a jack-of-all-trades and master of none, and this might be the end of me.

I guess this fits better into life advice, though.

[Grishnak]

Well, guitar is difficult to get good at. It took me a long time to start getting truly good. All you really need is dedication and the will power to master your instrument. Just give it time, play as much as you can and you will get there.