Hello fellow CtCer's

Introduce Yourself
#1

Hello everyone,

I’m Wayne from Ireland. I have been playing guitar for almost 30 years, christ that’s a long time. I played in a few bands in my late teens and early twenties. And for a few years work and travel took over and I didn’t play at all.

Raised on a steady diet of AC/DC, Thin Lizzy, and Rory Gallagher my early guitar years were very rock orientated. I started listening to Megadeth, Metallica, Iron Maiden and of course Satch, Vai, YJM, and the great SRV. Despite hours in the old woodshed I never reached the technical goals I set for myself. I had a few lessons over the years but I am mostly self taught. I have a reasonably knowledge of music theory and can happily play most scales and modes.

My biggest issue is alternate picking! I constantly get trapped when moving from one string to another with an upstroke. I now realise that DWPS is probably the answer to my problem. So far I have really enjoyed the lessons, worked through the Pick Slanting Primer and now starting on Volcano.

Technically I want to get my alternate picking up to the 160 - 180 bpm range, 16th notes. I reckon at that level I should be able to tackle most of the songs I want to play as well as the awesome Moto Perpetuo (Paganini). Musically I would love to lash out a gut wrenching rendition of Still got the blues (Gary Moore). I will keep you posted on my progress.

Take care all and the best of luck on your CtC journey.

Wayne

4 Likes
#2

Welcome
That fast lick in Still got the Blues simply magical.

1 Like
#3

Welcome @wayne74, looks like you are in the right place :smiley:

I think it’s important to emphasize that “picking technique” is really a collection of mechanical problems that may not have a unique solution. I personally have licks that I can play easily at the speeds you mention, others that I struggle to alternate pick at 130bpm or so.

I think the best thing to do is pick (ha!) something you want to learn and then make a technique critique video about it whenever you get stuck on something. I’ll attach two of our most common recommendations to get started in your picking journey, let us know if you have any questions :slight_smile:

#4

Yeah Thegent, it’s a class piece of music!

#5

Thanks Tommo,

I certainly think I am in the right place. Looking at the quality and detail of the lessons here I don’t think I can go too far wrong.

That’s an interesting and surprising observation you make regarding picking speed. Thinking about it now you are probably on to something. I am surprised that you struggle with some lick around 130!? I’ve seen some of your clips on here and your picking technique looks very well developed. I was always of the opinion that once you had developed a reasonable level of technique you could deploy it at will. Anyway back to the wood shed!

Happy picking!

Wayne

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#6

Thank you! I think it looked that way because… I was showing licks and picking patterns that I have learned well :slight_smile:

So, for example you’ll see me get good results on Vinnie Moore / Paul Gilbert - style runs that are based on 3-note-per-string scales, and that typically feature several notes per string (with a few exceptions). I.e. the 80s rock stuff :smiley:

But at my current stage of development you won’t see me play Molly Tuttle tunes like this one, which requires a bunch of one-note-per string arpeggios. Completely different sets of challenges / mechanical requirements:

Often we make the analogy that guitar technique is like a collection of languages. I am (or we all are!) good at some of them and not so good at others. And even within one language there are words / phrases that I can use more comfortably than others.

Cheesy closing sentence: it’s basically a journey that never ends but that we should try to enjoy :sweat_smile: :sweat_smile: :sweat_smile:

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#7

So true @tommo, we’ll said. I always thought if could just pick fast that most of my limitations would disappear…nope. Still though…zooming around the fretboard is hella fun.

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#8

Thanks Tommo, I’ve been looking for a cheesy line all day! Nice brother!

Molly is pretty awesome. I like the analogy of guitar technique being like a language. Food for thought.