For all the instruction material, such as the down stroke stuff, gallop rhythms, pedal point riffs, etc., each example progresses in difficulty. This is to help people ease into more and more challenging things.
And, no need to start playing anything at the same speed I do. Work things up at your own pace! That’s what I have my students do, and what I do for my own practice.
There is no correct speed to play these things at.
Now, if you plan on playing along to the etudes, that changes things. But, after getting the tabs for it, and the backing tracks, slow it down to whatever you need it to be to help out
Don’t worry. If I’ve been anything since I started again playing, it’s careful lol
That said, I have a couple of questions about some variations, or extensions, on the gallop concept, and you are one of the few who could actually answer this!!
There’s a thing I’ve always done in my riffing that I’ll call the “twitch-cuatro/cinco-gallop”. It’s basically the same idea as a normal gallop but instead of 2 16ths, it’s 16th-triplets or 32nd notes in groups of 4, 5, or in rare occasions, 6-8. At slower tempos, like in the 100-120bpm range, I believe it’s called a burst. But once the tempos hit 150+, it becomes a twitch because there’s no other way for me, or most of mere mortals to pull it off. Sort of like old Dave Lombardo fills. But since you have the ability to hit 300, what would your approach be? Are you using the same technique for those “bursts”? Or do they become “twitches”?
The reason I’m asking is because once I got the hang of how to approach Troy’s lessons and seminars, I was able to use some of that information to help me figure out what caused me to have to retire to being with. The starting point for my injuries was from that same concept of the “twitch” but instead of a beat or 2, it would go on for an entire section of a song. For instance, at about the :15 of the link below.
It’s a 20 year old demo, but at that time, that section was fine for me to play. But live, my drummer would push it so far beyond it, that I kind of had to “invent” a motion on the fly to hit that speed. And that involved damn near full body tension. Whatever muscles are used to play guitar, they were flexed. After a couple years of that, my whole guitar playing system shut down. I didn’t realize it until it caught up with me. I’m hyper-aware now lol
Now to the actual question… Since you can hit tempos even beyond that, is any of what you’re doing using a twitch of any kind? Did it in the past? I’ve been sticking with the comfortable 190 and I wouldn’t mind a bit of a boost in that number, if only to feel even more relaxed at that same 190.
Also, good stuff so far. I’ve been enjoying the seminar vids!
Some people might say what I do looks like a twitching motion. One student said it looks like a controlled spasm. Some of that is discussed in the Obsidian course. I also make a video about it:
When I move that fast it’s still under control. When I move my fastest I absolutely warm up for it. If I don’t, my elbow gets rather upset with me. I’ve never pushed things to a point of getting in trouble though.
I STRONGLY recommend following metronome work the same way I do it. Ease into it, and slowly push yourself towards faster and faster tempos to make sure things stay in control, and that you’re not overdoing it.
Very glad you’ve been enjoying the seminar videos!
I’m not sure I have the biceps for this @milehighshred but excited to work through the material! Not a big genre fan (something about the screaming vocals) but I am very interested to learn the nuances that separate the styles (so I can sound like I am ‘in the know’ in an unexpected extreme metal conversation … ) and have a feeling that practicing at these speeds will make hard rock solos feel much slower by comparison. Let’s rawk!
Thankfully the speed picking mainly comes from the triceps and brachioradialis
Yeah, the vocals can be a bit much for a lot of people. I used to hate that stuff! Even now, I’m fairly picky when it comes to extreme metal vocals. There’s a lot of vocals I still don’t like.
There are so many bands out now that you could probably think of your favorite aspects of music and find one with all the perfect parts for you lol If that’s not an app in development, it should be. I’d get a huge kick out of it
The 2nd part of your post is what I’m most wanting to get out of the seminar. A bit of a speed cushion in a manner of speaking. Nothing I’m writing these days is faster than 190 and that’s only 1 tune. Most of it overs in the 150-170 range. But I’d be willing to crank newer stuff up a notch if I can do it safely!
Hahaha, thanks John. I played college football and lifted obsessively and did not end up with guns like yours. Maybe studying extreme metal was what I needed all along! I ended up with glam metal biceps …
Not sure if this is the right place to ask but is @milehighshred using dsx during the string changing lesson? Only asking because my main picking motion produces dsx and string changing has always been a pain. It looked like he was to my eyes, which gives me a small sense of hope that this is something I can finally conquer.
The experts may correct me, but John’s main motion seems to be DSX, however during the string changing lesson he does not use the downstroke to switch strings.
John gives some nice advice on what to focus on. The switching strings lesson has 6 small etudes that build up in difficulty.
Yup! DSX for a lot of stuff, and for my fastest playing I have no choice but to use DSX. I just mute things well enough that I can swipe through strings and keep things sounding good.
Using the motions I do was never built on any real conscious decision, I just kept trying things until it I was able to play what I wanted while I did countless hours of metronome work.
