Please critique my playing!

Hello there!

I’ve been a long time fan of CtC. I’ve been playing since I was 13/14 and haven’t really made technical progress since 18, though Troy made me aware of my USX and DSX motions. The Volcano seminar made me able to get more out of the (now conciously used) USX motions. Since then, I’ve been in a loooong rut.

Please don’t hesitate to ask any questions. I’d love to help someone out!

Sorry for the low volume. I can’t make too much guitar noise in my dorm. If you guys want me to upload more, please ask.

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Honestly, sounds really good! I understand you need to keep a low volume for your dorm, but have you tried increasing distortion on the bridge pickup? If so, does your playing become sloppy-sounding? When working with clean tones it can be easy to not hear strings ringing out, flubbed notes, etc… but everything in the video sounded pretty clean as it was.

How about practicing with a metronome? Good method to up your speed.

Other than that, I’m not really seeing any problems (not an expert tho). Vibrato sounded good, good economy. I would try and narrow down some downfalls in your playing, whether its a certain style or solo you want to get down and just focus on those (of course, along with normal practice routines).

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I decided to take some liberties and turn the amp a bit louder. Maybe you can get a better picture of my playing now.

Thanks for the compliments!

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Haha its sounding good, your flying. Like jasper mentioned metronome practice or maybe exploring different techniques like slapping or fingerstyle. Join a band/form a band/create your own musical pieces, theory concepts are always interesting and fun.

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Your technique sounds fantastic, it should be you who critiques our playing :slight_smile:

But more seriously, if you have a specific question - such as “lick XYZ does not feel/sound the way I would like it” - I’m sure there’ll be many people in the Forum who are happy to help!

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Here is my critique:

You should buy the loudest amp you can afford, so you can better share the auditory majesty which you call “yngwie-esque noodling” with your surrounding.

In the unrealistic scenario that somebody should ask you to turn down the volume, call the cops immediately, as that person would clearly be on the wrong side of history and is potentially dangerous for our society.

You should hear the gruesome noise i force down upon my dormitory.

Ok, that being said, it is really very nice of you to drop in an offer help right away. I am going to shamelessly exploit that.
I have to fight the reflex of asking “how di u git so gud?” questions… Ok, how about this:

  • I seem to experience two mental states for chunking. When i play very relaxed it feels like i play “through” every chunk ( at about 200 BPM but unfortunatly i cannot say i am comfortable at that speed). In that state, i do not mentally play every note, i mentally go through chunks, but i am aware that there is one movement going of for every note played. In the other state, the cognitive feeling is like every chunk is “one movement”, producing a certain number of notes, where i conciously only play the first of each chunk. I think the second one produces worse results but is closer to what is described by players like Troy as beneficial.
    I wish people with good technique could give more insight into what is happening mentally when they play through a chunk (though most of that is subconcious, i guess). Which of the two modes comes closest to your feeling during playing? :slight_smile:

K, sorry for the long post, i like reading my own words.

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Don’t worry, ask away.

I experience the same two “mental states” you described. After a certain speed, a lick just feels like a single chunk.

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-8-5-7-8-7-5---------------------------------
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Playing the above lick fast makes me focus on ensuring that every first note of this lick lands on a downstroke (like Troy also explains). When playing this slow, this chunking falls apart because my mind is able to keep up with every single note.

I think Troy is right in that chunking is beneficial for fast guitar playing. But only being able to chunk does not give you the keys to the Lamborghini :slight_smile: . I think your problem is not in your ability to chunk, but possibly something mechanical.

I could better be able to tell what is up with your technique if you provided a video, I think.

Hope this helps

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Thanks for the compliment man. I’d love to write something with someone but I hardly know any other guitar players.