I have a lot of experience with things of this nature, so to me it’s just a routine. If I know that I’m likely going to swap out the pickups anyway, it just makes sense to do everything while I’m in there. I have a new ibanez parts caster of sorts I just pieced together from a 450 body and 470 neck I had laying around. I’m going to have to do fret work on it including full leveling. I might post the steps here for curious minds.
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For sure would be interested in seeing the fret work !
Finally got round to doing the descending versions and sort of being able to play them, but not very well really, I’m using pull-offs alot on the trills but trying not to on the straight 3NPS parts.
E Phrygian version
Here is the Phrygian version which has a nice rhythm change in the middle to break it up.
https://www.soundslice.com/slices/xHNMc/
Note, the picking notation and pull-offs on the tab is what I think I am doing but might not be 100% matching the video, and yeh it’s weird, but I suddenly found doing the 3NPS 3 note bits with U D U worked better for me, being a USXer.
However, you will want to do it how you like it, and I wouldn’t be surprised if @Fossegrim and @Pepepicks66 can alternate pick the whole thing.
G Mixo/ F Lydian Version
I’m not sure whether to call this Mixo or Lydian or even natural minor but it ends on a G and it’s G mixo so maybe that ?
This is completely the same notes as the Erotic Nightmares descent but with more trills and again I can’t play my version all picked, but I can just about play the Vai version on a good day.
https://www.soundslice.com/slices/z-cMc/
Video
Here is a video of me trying to play them.
- Phrygian version is directly at the start.
- Mixo version is approx 4.00.
- In between I went off on a tangent and tried to play the Bad Horsie solo again among some other things.
Believe it or not, this is my picking on a good day !.
Sorry the sound isn’t very loud I had it turned down for the neighbours.
NOTE: @WhammyStarScream , you may notice, I still can’t do pinch harmonics lol. I got better using your angled pick method but sometimes I just can’t do it fast enough and correctly.
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It is pretty hard to hear since your volume is down quite a bit. And your pinch harmonic technique is fine, you likely just need a bit more thumb flesh in there, and to line it up better with where the natural harmonics are in that area of the guitar not all spots will be winners, other wise that’s pretty much it.
Won’t be able to today but maybe tomorrow!
Thanks I’ve always had problems with PHs and long ago developed a bad jerky motion when I try to do them.
Watching my picking hand it looks very out of control compared to yours, my motions seem much more pronounced than they should be and not efficient at all so I need to work on that I guess.
With pick harmonics? No way! The more exaggerated and outta control the better I say. I really dig in for rhythm playing too. I think the thing is that since this is a lead guitar heavy site, we often don’t get to see the other side of this.
Sorry I didn’t explain myself very well it was late, I meant my picking in general is out of control.
@SlyVai Ahhh, gotcha, well that’s something that will come with some time and just playing around. Since you stopped playing for a while, you just need to get into the swing of it again. For me, I’ve gone through bouts of not playing, and it always feels like I’m starting over when I finally do pick up the guitar. Truth be told also, I’m not sure I completely fall in line with this whole tremolo picking approach that dominates the site either. I see the reasoning behind it, but I think being able to be comfortable and controlled is just as important if not more important, and the two things aren’t necessarily congruent. Who cares if the more exact and comfortable motion is not also the fastest motion you can muster. At the end of the day your trying to make music, and speed doesn’t equal music. Like I said before, that’s something an athlete worries about.
Also I think you’re too worried about sounding good for us. If you were to play those examples slower, but perfectly, it would be just as impressive, and gets the point across.
My understanding of the tremolo approach is that it’s for 2 main groups of people:
- Those who aren’t fast at all and need to actually feel what ‘fast’ is
- People like myself, who have better (picking) chops than someone like Slash, but less picking chops than someone like Yngwie. In this case, tremolo will help give the sense of the smoothness required to play at the more elite speeds.
Besides that, it’s sort of a litmus test to see if a motion has inefficiency in it all. An efficient motion can be slowed down but an inefficient one will have a clear speed limit. The tried and true “play it slow and work it up” fails because most of the people in the 2 categories I mentioned will probably not be using an efficient motion when they are far beneath the goal tempo. If they’ve done the tremolo test though, they’ll always have a reference point while they’re playing. “Does this speed feel as comfortable as that tremolo motion I found?”. If they’ve never done the test, they won’t have a reference.
People who can already cleanly play 6’s at 120 bpm and beyond probably won’t get a ton of benefit from the tremolo mentality because they already have a motion that’s pretty efficient. It my not be the same one that they can tremolo with the fastest and that’s fine.
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@joebegly one thing I’m starting to see in all this, is with those two points or conditions you brought up, or the purpose behind them and all this, may be getting lost in translation to some. This can be very personalized, and I think some are viewing it at face value as a means to an end. For example, Yngwie does X, if I do X just like Yngwie, I will start playing and gaining chops like Yngwie. (There has been a few recent posts that have sort of followed this logic).
Hi @Fossegrim,
yeh I understand what you’re saying but I’ve always picked this way, with my wrist flailing about.
I’ve been playing again since January, maybe March seriously playing lead, but I’m just back at the same place I was where I left off years ago so I’m sort of thinking I can’t change it. I’ve tried but nothing else seems natural. I’ll keep trying anyway can’t get any worse 
until my hand locks up completely cos of the arthritis that is.
@SlyVai your picking hand looks fine. Have you tried some of the smaller changes or things to make things more ergonomic for yourself? I notice you pick closer to the neck pickup, have you experimented with moving it more towards the middle? How about pick type? Do you use a pointier pick or just a normal? How about pick thickness? These are very small things I know, but sometimes those small things can be game changers.
@Fossegrim, Yes mate all good suggestions and yeh I’ve tried them all.
Picking position
Picking closer to the neck is a bad habit that I tend to do if I’m sitting with the Strat. On my V or LP I don’t do it. I find that anchoring on the bridge helps me just I tend to stray towards the neck a lot.
Pick thickness and Point
I used to use thinner 0.7 or 0.8 normal rounded picks and when I restarted this year I experimented with thicker 1.2 to 1.5 and I found it helped for fast picking. I switched to Jazz III then with a pointier tip and I also use Ibanez pointy tip ones too now.
@SlyVai I would try to force yourself with the strat. It will likely give you a bit more stability. I know I sometimes have a bit of trouble with that red strat because of how the adjustment screws protrude from the saddles.
The celluloid ibanez picks tend not to last too long I find, have you tried the ultex flow’s
I haven’t tried the Ultex flows no,they looked too thick to me but are they worth a try ?
Of course there’s the old problem of the volume knob in a stupid postion on the Strat which is way annoying when trying to anchor on the bridge.
They come in all the same thicknesses as everything Dunlop makes, and they don’t catch the string as much as the nylon jazz iii do. I usually use for the 1mm ones.
Ok I’ll give them a try thanks.