So about 6 months ago I bought the MAB starlicks for 9.99. I still can barely do the warm ups. Ha. Should I honestly quit? Anyone else this bad love this instrument this much? When I bought it I just wanted to support him and I was hoping for some nice warm up exercises, I do t think I could ever play the main stuff.
From what I saw in your post history, you’ve been playing rhythm guitar for 20+ years and lead not no much, right? You basically started maybe a year ago?
I’ve always felt humbled playing guitar, I never had a natural proficiency for it and progress seems to always be glacial, especially if you don’t find some kind of personal practice methodology that works for you. I felt like I just sucked the first couple years of playing; I’ve probably wanted to quit trying “shred” stuff a few times, just because it seemed so daunting.
I don’t think that feeling is uncommon, just try to keep note of all the progress you’ve made (even if it doesn’t feel like much) and keep at it!
Yea that’s me. I plan to keep working on it. But it really is like climbing Mount Everest
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Hey!
Try practicing with someone, to a slow metronome. There might be something getting in the way. Either technique or why not, but it might be worth having someone taking a look, in realtime, at your technique. Maybe there is the just one thing that’s just not right and correcting that might be a game changer.
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Why start lead playing with MAB? He’s not really a great intro to lead techniques. It’s like starting at level 10.
I like Gambale’s Chop Builder. It’s not easy, but it’s a more progressive training system.
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Thanks I will check this out. I just follow MAB because I like him and he does have a lot of great knowledge for beginners. He is definitely at level 10 though.
Hey @Jarrodpimentals, I had a look at your technique thread from July, and it seems you have a very good DSX motion already.
So a good starting point for you would be to work on licks and riffs that only change strings after downstrokes.
Example:
E-------------------------------------5-7-8-10~
B----------------------5-7-8-5-7-8--------------
G--------4-5-7-4-5-7----------------------------
D-4-5-7-----------------------------------------
The “warmups” in MAB’s video have all sorts of different string changes, so they are more of an end point than a starting point… no wonder they feel challenging 
@tommo I’m actuslly a little better at alternate picking. I am just not good at USX Yet. I am working on it though So I will go with your recommendation. but I am faster with alternate. Dsx is non existent currently. Descending is awful. I’m best at 3 per string ascending. And worst at 2 per string descending. I’m working on it! I appreciate this whole forum and system. I hope I said all that correctly.
USX and DSX are both alternate picking scenarios/schemes. One just works better ending on a down versus up depending on the your pick slant pronated forearm vs supinated forearm when changing strings. How is the alternate picking on one string? just remember smaller is not always better when you execute the pick stroke.
Ok I mean alternating string changes. 3 notes per string ascending all the way is easiest for me. So each string is alternating up and down strokes to start with. If I do 4 notes per string I still hit strings on string changes and I miss strings too. I don’t find dsx or usx easier at all with 2/4/6 notes per string.
well when your doing it turn your forearm slightly outward towards the pinky side or towards the thumb side so one side is lifted slightly off the bridge and the other is resting on it and see if that helps. then use the side that is on the bridge as a sort of fulcrum point if you use more wrist for alternate. If your leaning on the pinky side even notes per string are your friend and if your on your thumb side odds are best starting then switch to even meaning 123 first string then 2,4,6 note groups on following sets. if its odds on every string set then you have to rotate into the change.
FWIW I have both USX and DSX motions working, however I have noticed having practice descending almost as much as I did ascending. It doesn’t male sense in a way…but that’s how it has gone. Note to future self: practice a variety of licks once you have an efficient motion.
Wut, instead of navel gazing? The hell kind of advice is this…
Over the last year, MAB ‘Star Licks’ & ‘Speed Kills’ have been the foundation of my practising. I can’t play at anywhere near his speed (and maybe never will be able to) but I have got faster and can play with more accuracy so they are helping a lot. The warm-ups are very important to me because I find my hands seem to be quite stiff until I’ve played for about 10mins so I think that these warm-ups will help with flexibility as I get older.
As with many teachers, Michael stresses the importance of being able to play the exercises slowly at first before moving up the speed. He’s also said that when he was starting out he would sometimes play the same exercise/riff over and over a 1000 times to try and master it - I don’t know if I have quite the same level of dedication but I think that his level of playing is something to aim for and his lessons are well worth following.
As to whether he is indeed 100% human or part-alien/machine I’m not so sure.
This 1000 times things really makes me think I’m just not that into guitar. There is no way I could ever do 1-2-3-4 1000 times in a row. I’d sooner quit.
I would take that with a huge grain of salt / hyperbole. I’m guessing he didn’t mean all at once, and if you take a short ubiquitous repetitive riff like the triplet Paul Gilbert one as an example, most people will repeat that pattern, say, 8 times in a row? 4 times per practice session? If you practice 5 times a week, you’d clear 1000 reps in a little over 6 weeks and I’m pretty sure I lowballed that estimate.
Point is, don’t get discouraged. Just look forward to and cherish the milestones.
Hey, thanks for this, an amazing resource. 
So I’m revisiting this rather than make a new post. Shortly after I posted this I did notice a gain in my playing. I’ve been doing hammer on exercises that I saw on YouTube way back from Steve stine. I remember when I first saw it I couldn’t do it because of my carpal tunnel. So now recently I’ve found exercises to ease my carpal tunnel, I’ve been able to to finally gain muscle strength and muscle memory for that kind of picking stuff. This was basically why I could never shred licks, the wiggling of my fingers fires up my CT so fast that I couldn’t ever do any lasting practice with scales and licks. Now that the CT is under control I’ve been building the muscles in my hand and arm up with playing more and now the long warmup scales in MAB star licks are playable for me. I thought it was my brain that couldn’t do it but I See now that it was hand fatigue, I’d get halfway through and my accuracy would drop off dramatically. I still credit this forum and Troy for my gains (not Steve stine) because this new knowledge of the picking Universe gives me hope for my playing. Thanks to everyone for the help so far.
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This is a pretty funny statement. MAB himself tells a story about filming that video. He says the video director came up to him and joked that they should call the video “20 Licks Nobody Can Play”. So yeah, nobody can play any of the licks on that tape.
If you are new to picking motion, the first order of business is making sure you have a motion that’s working, and is easy and fast. Our best advice for this is the new update we put up recently, which even includes a case study of a total beginner trying to learn to do the tremolo:
Our two most recent uploads on our YouTube channel come from this update, and will give you a sense of some common problems to avoid, and also how to test your hand speed with simple objects you can find around the house:
