I can't stop econo-picking!

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Anomaly Design

Anomaly Design

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AAahhhhh! Whenever I pick up a guitar I can't stop econo-picking! I have 5 guitars, washburn 332 (mini, lots of fun), jackson soloist 2, 71' gibson sg standard, '65 Guild Starfire, and a Ventura acoustic. No matter which I pick up I just start shredding out of control and sweeping. I constantly blast through A or B pentatonic minor with some chromatics thrown in, E minor or F harmonic minor (METAL!!!!!) Does anyone else have this same tendency? Does anyone tend to program their brain to play with a different style? DOES ANYONE KNOW ANY TIPS ON HOW TO SLOW DOWN?

Damn Yngwie to hell!
 
yeah man.

my fingers fart out blues licks when my brain isn't looking all the time...

it means you've run out of creativity.
 
FALKEN said:
it means you've run out of creativity.
Click to expand...


No, it means you are not paying attention.

Find some songs you like, or solos, or whatever, and transcribe them. Pat Metheny is good, because his playing will challenge you technically without being overly technical. Mike Stern is just shredding using bebop scales so I would avoid him, but you might try Mike Scofield.

Or transcribe other instrumentalists. You can never go wrong transcribing Miles Davis, or Monk.

For Blues, go back to the old masters, like Muddy or Howling' Wolf.

Or if you REALLY want to challenge yourself with something new, learn a Leo Kottke piece. That doesn't even use a pick, and his shit will fuck with your brain.


Light

"Cowards can never be moral."
M.K. Gandhi
 
Learn how to play bluegrass, surf or rock-a-billy.

Either of the three are marginally less annoying than shredding and are more useful when you are having a hootenanny.
 
shred on brother

i have that problem too and i just think MAN I RULE!!!
 
Light said:
No, it means you are not paying attention.

Find some songs you like, or solos, or whatever, and transcribe them
Click to expand...

I'm not very good at transcribing through listening/reading notes, it usually takes a real long time. Do you know any sites with transcriptions for the artists you named?
 
Anomaly Design said:
I'm not very good at transcribing through listening/reading notes, it usually takes a real long time. Do you know any sites with transcriptions for the artists you named?
Click to expand...

I don't want to put words in anyone's mouth, but I think part of the "challenging yourself" that Light was referring to involves actually transcribing the parts for yourself. You will learn alot more that way than by reading already transcribed music or tab.
 
Put all the emotion you got into one note, played 8 times in a blues song......
 
scrubs said:
I don't want to put words in anyone's mouth, but I think part of the "challenging yourself" that Light was referring to involves actually transcribing the parts for yourself. You will learn alot more that way than by reading already transcribed music or tab.
Click to expand...


Yup. You'll learn a lot more that way too.


Light

"Cowards can never be moral."
M.K. Gandhi
 
dude did no one notice that he said MIKE SCOFIELD??? booooooo!!!!

JOHN SCOFIELD will blow your mind. check out "AGOGO" for some of the most groovin, incredible ideas over a one chord vamp. seriously. DO IT RIGHT NOW!!!!!!!!!!!!
 
There are more techniques to learn.

Try Leanny Breau for some nice ideas on how to do techincally amazing stuff that isn't fast.

Fast players bore me tbh - if I want to hear fast scales and arpeggios I'll go listen to some Phillip Glass where they have a purpose.
In rock music it's mostly all bluster and no substance, so I think slowing down is the right idea. Shredding is great to impress teenagers, but it's not very emotionally forceful.
 
Anomaly Design said:
DOES ANYONE KNOW ANY TIPS ON HOW TO SLOW DOWN?
Click to expand...

Ummm...why don't you try just not playing so fast? Play slow enough that you can actually clearly hear the defined tone of each and every note instead of hearing the combined mush of way too many notes.

Horror of horros, you could try turning the distortion off and actually playing clean! It is amazing how fast playing clean will humble your average shredder. They normally get away with sloppiness solely because the sound is so distorted you can't even tell they missed a note, or that their timing was off. Playing clean is kinda like what I imagine standing naked at a city intersection would feel like. No way to hide anything you don't feel comfortable with, so you have two options. Improve, or get comfortable with the way things are.
 
wesley tanner said:
dude did no one notice that he said MIKE SCOFIELD??? booooooo!!!!

JOHN SCOFIELD will blow your mind. check out "AGOGO" for some of the most groovin, incredible ideas over a one chord vamp. seriously. DO IT RIGHT NOW!!!!!!!!!!!!
Click to expand...


Woops.

My bad.

I haven't listened to much of that stuff since my first few years a Berklee.


Light

"Cowards can never be moral."
M.K. Gandhi
 
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