My Attempt At Far Beyond The Sun - Following Troys Courses

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#1

Hi All,

I am still relatively new to the forum but have been studying CtC and particularly the Yngwie and EJ seminars for the past ~6 months.

I’ve been playing guitar for about 15 years but didn’t progress too much for the past 5 years, however during COVID i decided to dedicate myself to my picking technique and the frustrations and challenges which caused me to put the guitar down for quite a while after the rookie gains started to run out.

By no means is this perfect but a huge thank-you to Troy and the team for the seminars who i give a lot of the credit to for me being able to breakthrough that wall and make leaps and bounds improvement in my technique. Of course, as a guitarist i am never satisfied and always want to improve but just wanted to share my progress after 6 months of consistent studying and practice. Feel free to check out some of my other covers too to see the technique improvement, however Far Beyond the Sun is a different beast which i am proud to say i can play.

In terms of the technique i am pretty much fully committed to the USX/DWPS approach with a wrist motion mechanic and mastering that. I find it natural and comfortable, and although the economy picking/sweeping took me a while to get used to after always alternate picking, the results are far more consistent and i quite enjoy the sound of it.

P.S Its only the first half of the song - will finish the rest of it one day but the first half is definitely my favourite and where i put all my energy thus far.

Looking forward to hearing your thoughts and feedback :slight_smile:

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#2

Cool! Also cool to see how your USX approach looks so different from mine, but essentially are the same in terms of notes picked and pulled off.

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#3

Yeah i’ve found that really interesting too - at first i thought i was doing it wrong cause my technique didn’t look identical to Troy’s or others using USX, but what i found was the way i mute i use both the inside of my palm and the karate chop portion depending on the passage i’m playing. You’re right though, same combinations of picking sequences and escape hatches. For me i got to the point where as long long as the technique and motion works and is reliable, who really cares what it looks like

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#4

Excellent playing @araptis94! I’d say you’ve got the hardest part done!

The only constructive criticism I’d offer is on the “easier” slower, melodic parts. I think there might be some bent/vibrato notes that are just slightly sharp. Also, earlier in the track, the thematic parts (i.e. 00:05, 00:31etc) I think there might be some “rushing” happening. I find myself doing that a lot too, hard habit to break. I always start phrases just a hair early when I check what’s happening in my DAW. It takes a lot of will power to not do this lol! Malmsteen tends, if anything, to lay back and be a little late.

But hey, the technical fast parts are really great! As I said “the hard part” is done :slight_smile: Great work and great to hear another success story!

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#5

Thanks for the feedback Joe !

Totally agree with you - to be totally honest i had some intonation issues when i recorded this which i have since solved and i think that also played a part in some of the sharp notes.

The rushing as well i definitely caught myself doing when i know there is a challenging run coming up. I think mentally you’re so concerned about being too slow you over compensate.

Thanks again for the feedback and your input - very much appreciated :slight_smile:

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