Greetings! I’m new to the forum but not new to CTC. I would say that I have been working on lead playing for about 10 years now. Not that I didn’t play lead in bands, etc, but I have intently worked on my lead playing, taking lessons from the likes of Greg Howe and Bruce Bouillet, and searching YouTube, etc.
I have found that frustration is a good thing. It means you are digging, searching, and striving for greatness. We all have greatness in us! You just have to find the key to unluck it. It seems we all strive for the end result or breakthrough, and I’m surely guilty of this, but what is more important is the journey itself. I have been working on a particular Doug Aldrich lick, which he says he was influenced by Gary Moore, for about 6 years now. Six long years of struggling and striving for just one lick.
It’s at about 2:35!
After all of this time, I can play it on a good day 100-110 bpm. He is playing it at about 120-130 in the video I think. Can you imagine? Six long years and I still can’t play it at that speed without loosing my timing or sloppiness. But I have seen improvement along the way. Where I once would start at 60 bpm on the metronome and work my way up, I know start at 90 bpm on some days. Most days I start at 80 bpm.
There is a couple of Eric Johnson lick that Troy does (I can’t remember which video it is in) that I have been working on since the last time I was a member of CTC. At first it was slow going because there is a lot of movement. As of late, I have gotten it much faster, but still not at the speed that Troy plays them.
I can only speak for myself, but logging in the hours, working on technique at slow speeds and gradually picking up the pace, is what sets us apart from the average. And remember, this is as much athletic, as it is intellectual. In other words, it takes brains, as well as brawn! And there is a psychological aspect that you have to throw in the mix. There is so much beneath the surface of being a great lead guitar player.
And if you are like me, you have to overcome injuries on top of that. I’m a right handed guitar player. About 20 years ago, I fell on my left side, breaking three ribs and hitting my elbow on a concrete sidewalk, damaging the Ulnar nerve, which controls the ring and pinkie fingers. Then, to compound it even more, three years ago I completely tore the bicep tendon off of the radius bone of my right arm. It was surgically repaired and good as new. I played two gigs with a torn bicep, and five weeks after surgery, I played another gig. In both injuries, I had to overcome numbness in my arms and fingers. Fear of never playing again was never an option!
Through all of this, here is what I know: guitarists such as Eric Johnson or Yngwie Malmstein, or even Troy (and this is not meant to be an offensive statement) are just men, like you and me. The fact that they are at the level of playing that you and I desire means only one thing! The have logged in 1000s of hours, probably tens of thousands, of hard work, practice, ear training, developing technique, etc.
I’m 56 years old! I’ve played guitar for almost 40 years. I’ve been to Musician’s Institute for a year. But the most valuable thing that has improved my playing is sitting down with a metronome and hashing it out. The only battle you and I have is with ourselves. And since in practice you are not trying to impress anyone like on stage, practice at slow speeds and focus on technique, playing cleanly and with authority. This teaches your brain to play things correctly. Speed will come! And as Troy says, use “chunking”…it works!
OK, enough for now! Good luck!
