Shred Tips?

Warren · 2011-07-20T11:13:52+00:00

I'm trying to build my speed and fluidity up so that I've got more tools in my trick bag to colour up my playing. Ideally, I'd like to be at a Thomas Blug,...

Shred Tips?

Squonk

Warren wrote: I didn't know about Thomas Blug's book, I'll definitely check it out. He's probably still my favourite overall player, and I love the tone he gets from his Strat.

He is a great player, I have a Guitarist DVD where he give some lessons and tips. He continually switches between pickups and alters that tone and volume knobs as well.'
If you haven't seen it I can bring it along sometime. Also has a Tommy Emmanuel Lesson that's darn right ridiculous for human beings

George-Engelbrecht

To return to the initial question and to add value to some reading this in future.

1) A way to improve legato is by doing it on a clean setting without distortion and more difficult - doing it with the Guitar unplugged. This will force your left hand to make consistent sounding hammer on's and pull off's - try it for a couple of days and see how it improves.

With wide 3 note per string stretches - try widening it even more, make the challenge more challenging and see how much easier the ""narrower"" stretch feels. This is not the holy grail but it helped me a lot with this problem.

Kalcium

A thing I've been struggling with is how firmly to hold the pick...Up until now, I've been holding the pick fairly loosely, like it would wiggle a bit as I pick a string (Ie go up a bit as I pick down before it actually picks...). I now hold it firmly such that it doesnt move as I pick the string which I think is correct now, but what I want to know is whether you should let it wiggle a bit went sweep picking and strumming chords or whether you should still hold it firmly and just hit the strings less?

arjunmenon

Kalcium wrote: A thing I've been struggling with is how firmly to hold the pick...Up until now, I've been holding the pick fairly loosely, like it would wiggle a bit as I pick a string (Ie go up a bit as I pick down before it actually picks...). I now hold it firmly such that it doesnt move as I pick the string which I think is correct now, but what I want to know is whether you should let it wiggle a bit went sweep picking and strumming chords or whether you should still hold it firmly and just hit the strings less?

Hey Kal, i'm no expert. What works for me is limiting the exposure of the plectrum. So if you expose a bigger area of the plectrum, for sweep picking etc you're going to have to grip the pick harder which leads to finger fatigue (especially the muscle between the thumb & index). But if you choke up on the plectrum, it should be much easier on your picking hand in terms of speed and finger fatigue.
And then, when you want to do the strummy bits, you could relax the picking hand wrist and maybe expose a bit more of the plectrum.

Hope this helps.

Clint-Green

Arjun Menon wrote:
Kalcium wrote: A thing I've been struggling with is how firmly to hold the pick...Up until now, I've been holding the pick fairly loosely, like it would wiggle a bit as I pick a string (Ie go up a bit as I pick down before it actually picks...). I now hold it firmly such that it doesnt move as I pick the string which I think is correct now, but what I want to know is whether you should let it wiggle a bit went sweep picking and strumming chords or whether you should still hold it firmly and just hit the strings less?
Hey Kal, i'm no expert. What works for me is limiting the exposure of the plectrum. So if you expose a bigger area of the plectrum, for sweep picking etc you're going to have to grip the pick harder which leads to finger fatigue (especially the muscle between the thumb & index). But if you choke up on the plectrum, it should be much easier on your picking hand in terms of speed and finger fatigue.
And then, when you want to do the strummy bits, you could relax the picking hand wrist and maybe expose a bit more of the plectrum.

Hope this helps.

+1!!! This is the reason why I switched to using those tiny Jazz III picks. They took a few days to get comfortable with but now after about 6 months of using them, a normal-sized pick feels huge and clunky. I highly recommend the Dunlop Tortex Jazz III's, they don't get as slippery as the nylon ones when your hands get sweaty and also don't wear as quickly. They also have the Maxgrip ones but I find those to be horribly uncomfortable - YMMV. Either way, my point is, give the smaller Jazz 3 picks a try, I am sure they will solve your problem!

Kalcium

Arjun Menon wrote:
Kalcium wrote: A thing I've been struggling with is how firmly to hold the pick...Up until now, I've been holding the pick fairly loosely, like it would wiggle a bit as I pick a string (Ie go up a bit as I pick down before it actually picks...). I now hold it firmly such that it doesnt move as I pick the string which I think is correct now, but what I want to know is whether you should let it wiggle a bit went sweep picking and strumming chords or whether you should still hold it firmly and just hit the strings less?
Hey Kal, i'm no expert. What works for me is limiting the exposure of the plectrum. So if you expose a bigger area of the plectrum, for sweep picking etc you're going to have to grip the pick harder which leads to finger fatigue (especially the muscle between the thumb & index). But if you choke up on the plectrum, it should be much easier on your picking hand in terms of speed and finger fatigue.
And then, when you want to do the strummy bits, you could relax the picking hand wrist and maybe expose a bit more of the plectrum.

Hope this helps.

It kiiinda does but im still unsure...Cause now that im holding the pick firmer I meant that I am exposing less to stop it flopping around a bit, which I find works well for alternate picking, but when I try sweep with it like that it feels as though its hitting the strings too hard and so i naturally relax my grip slightly to let the pick go with the motion, so as I sweep from 6 ->1 the tip faces up to me, and as I sweep from 1-> 6 the tip faces the floor, some people online have said thats the way to go but im not too sure how correct they might be. I get that with practise you could probably get less contact with the strings as u sweep in order to make it smooth and fluid but surely then to sweep fast you'd be brushing the strings so lightly it'd hardly even come through?

Malkav

The pick should be firm, whether sweeping or alternate picking, your fingers should only be concentrating on keeping the pick locked and firm, your wrist should be doing all the rest.

Also +90000 on the Jazz IIIs, I personally favour the 2mm Ultex Jazz III ?

ZarK

The red Jazz III XL's are also a great choice if you need 1 pick for shredding, strumming and everything in-between. (At the moment I prefer the tone of red Jazz III's to the blacks as well...) They give me the same speed as the smaller III's (exactly the same tips) but offer more feel for strumming and other techniques imo and I prefer their tone at this stage. The smaller III's forces you to be a little more precise with your picking hand though... What worked for me was moving from standard shaped Tortex pics to the small Jazz III's for a few months to get my right hand precision in check, after which I moved up to the Jazz III XL's... Personally the pics that allows me to play at the highest speed are the small Dunlop 3mm Stubbies, but I strongly dislike the tone they produce...

arjunmenon

petrucci wrote: Shred tip: practice 10 hours in a row, every single day!

? Goes without saying.

IceCreamMan

petrucci wrote: Shred tip: practice 10 hours in a row, every single day!

this from petrucci so it must be true

DonovanB

Arjun Menon wrote:
petrucci wrote: Shred tip: practice 10 hours in a row, every single day!
? Goes without saying.

But where do you get the other guitarists from to form this row?

arjunmenon

Donovan Banks wrote:
Arjun Menon wrote:
petrucci wrote: Shred tip: practice 10 hours in a row, every single day!
? Goes without saying.
But where do you get the other guitarists from to form this row?

Well, Don, i don't think he meant guitarists. The solution (or row) might be at the nearest bank, traffic department or home affairs office.
Unless he meant practising in a fight ???

DonovanB

Arjun all your options could end up with a fight in the line anyway

ruvann

Clint Green wrote:
+1!!! This is the reason why I switched to using those tiny Jazz III picks. They took a few days to get comfortable with but now after about 6 months of using them, a normal-sized pick feels huge and clunky. I highly recommend the Dunlop Tortex Jazz III's, they don't get as slippery as the nylon ones when your hands get sweaty and also don't wear as quickly. They also have the Maxgrip ones but I find those to be horribly uncomfortable - YMMV. Either way, my point is, give the smaller Jazz 3 picks a try, I am sure they will solve your problem!

Switching to Jazz IIIs was the best decision ever!
I used to absolutely despise them but one day I just thought to myself to give them a go... Peer pressure hehe
I was frustrated with all the bad tone I was getting with the bigger plectrums.
Note articulation improved so much. So much more defined, pronounced and a lot more attack. Getting rid of everything that frustrated me about the bigger plectrums with the huge tips, especially all that scratchiness that you get before the string is actually played.

One thing i do recommend to try out with the Jazz IIIs.
Take some P100 or maybe even lower P value sandpaper and get to work on the plectrum on both sides.
That's if you don't have those grippy ones.
Everyone might nor dig it but it really works for me. Gives a lot of grip!

eric-vaxxine

A friend of mine from way back...

www.shaunbaxter.com

eric-vaxxine

Here is a Shredload...and there is a song in there as well,
it is really important not to forget that the song is truly
important.

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