Fast(er) (blues) licks...struggling

Kinioo

Hi All,
I have been currently learning some guitar solos (mainly AC / DC stuff and some 'lighter' blues etc.) - generally have been doing quite well - I am quite happy with the overall progress,but I am really struggling with faster licks/scale runs.

What I mean is something like triplets using three strings...I know it is (probably) due to my (lack of)technique/fingers coordination/speed combined with picking speed etc. - but the question is how do you practice to prepare yourself/body/fingers to play similar licks quicker/smoothly ??

a) practicing fingers dexterity / speed with chromatic exercises (with metronome) ?
b) practicing licks from the solo you are currently learning on, and on, and on (with metronome etc.) - this is what I do... ?
c) anything else ??

I am getting bored doing spider exercises - prefer learning something cool --> i.e. songs/riffs/solos I like  

FYI, no I dont want to be a bedroom-shredmaster, just want to play some tasty blues licks

Chris

DLM

Can you post an example lick that you're struggling with? Or an example of a solo you wanna play?

Spider and chromatic exercises aren't going to get you good at the sort of blues licks I think you mean...  

Kinioo

Back in black solo for example bars: 6th, and then triplets pentatonic scale at 12th-15th fret bar 9th.
C.

AxeInsight

DLM said:

Can you post an example lick that you're struggling with? Or an example of a solo you wanna play?

Spider and chromatic exercises aren't going to get you good at the sort of blues licks I think you mean...  

Yes, my advice would be to play your pentatonic/blues scales up and down until you've got them down, and then change it up, a way to break down the monotony of training is to play things differently when you practice your scales, skip a note, skip a string, play your scale diagonally (in octaves) or more vertically, etc.

From your ability to play these kind of things will arise the ability to play more random note groupings that may or may not be  close to the licks you want to learn.

Learning the licks and the solos you like is the next step, but can be done simultaneously.

As far as sheer mechanical picking speed is concerned, I don't think you need to train that specifically (although I could be wrong, it all depends on what you want to play). Don't be bogged down by mechanics and allow yourself the time to get better, the speed will come with the mastery of your instrument.

Let me know if you have questions, or if what I said doesn't make sense. I'm still not that great at expressing myself in english when it gets complex.

Max

Kinioo

Thanks Max,

You have been helpful (every little helps)!

Yeah, I have been practicing pentatonic scales, however I enjoy 'practicing' it playing / learning some licks/solos from tunes I like, which are based on blues/pentatonic scales ?

But you might be correct, maybe I should get back to 'basics' and do few runs in different positions up & down the fretboard ?

Can you think of any easier (but still tasty) blues solos with some good licks based on pentatonic scales I can look at ??

Chris 

PS.

I have also been practicing solo form Paranoid (I know its simple but I have to start somewhere), and I got the half of it no probs but then, again was struggling with few last bars, when it gets to faster licks @ about 12-15 fret....I had been learning it for few days then I had a break - didnt touch my guitar over last weekend, then got back to it yesterday and guess what...I played it all - from start to finish. Obviously starting first at 60% but after few runs I was able to play it at full speed !!!

C.

AxeInsight

Well usually when you hear a blues solo, most of the notes in it will be comprised in the pentatonic scale, or its blues brother ( @DLM you can bring the pelican back).

More seriously, learning these scales will help you visualize what's happening in the solos you try to learn, so by all means, train them. But I don't think you necessarily need to search for other "easier" solos or licks to play, if there's a lick you like but that is out of your reach (for now), try to learn it anyway. Maybe it'll take some time to get down, but it's ok. At the end of the day, if you don't push yourself you won't progress (or veeery slowly). Shoot for the stars, it works pretty good.

Also, congrats for nailing the paranoid solo! Sometimes it does help to get away from the guitar for a day ot 2 if you're trying to learn something but can't. Keep it in mind if you get frustrated by this kind of situation in the future

Max

Kinioo

Thanks Max,
C.

DLM

AxeInsight said:

the pentatonic scale, or its blues brother ( @DLM you can bring the pelican back).

@AxeInsight Here you go, Max!

http://movieboozer.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/05/pelican-i-see-what-you-did-there.jpg

Chris: Part of practicing "correctly" (better: efficiently) is allowing your brain to sort the stuff out after you've put the guitar down (note my technical scientific language).

Getting enough sleep, taking breaks, doing lots of short practice sessions in a day rather than one long one every few days. All this stuff helps, as you saw with the Paranoid solo.

For now, I'd not worry so much about building picking speed. That can come later, if you get into that sort of thing. There certainly are blues players with speedy all-picked licks (e.g. Johnny Winter), but the playing you've referenced so far has been more hammer-on and pull-off based, so do that first.

Play those pentatonic scale positions using hammers and pulls, twiddle around with them. I can see runs in the Back In Black solo that are just that.

Kinioo

Thank you Alex for that.
Yeah, they (angus' solos) are full of H/P plus bends...im not quote good at bends... Not due to not bending stings to correct tone but due to touching other strings with my finger when releasing the bend down (so the other string rings - it might be also due to right hand not muting unused strings correctly). C. 

DLM

Ah! I think my biological stepdad can help with that bending!

AxeInsight

Kinioo said:

Thank you Alex for that.
Yeah, they (angus' solos) are full of H/P plus bends...im not quote good at bends... Not due to not bending stings to correct tone but due to touching other strings with my finger when releasing the bend down (so the other string rings - it might be also due to right hand not muting unused strings correctly). C. 

Sounds to me like you need a teacher rather than little bits of advice, it looks like you have a lot of problems to fix
Do you know if there's one close to you ?

Other than that, DLM dropped a lot of truth bombs, (maybe he's the teacher you need )

Just kidding, I don't know if he's a teacher, but this pelican always makes me laugh

DLM

@Kinioo Err. I'm not Alex, btw. D is for Dominic, but I've always been DLM in this community.

@AxeInsight No, I'm not a guitar teacher.  

Kinioo

Apologies Dominic and thanks anyway

Chris

DLM

It's all good!

Sort the bending as a priority, if you wanna play blues, you'll need it, and it's only worth doing right. Sounds terrible otherwise. Uncle Ben (vid above) will sort you out.

AxeInsight

DLM said:

@AxeInsight No, I'm not a guitar teacher.  

Oh ok, I am tho But I only teach online. I would agree that you should sort the bending first, it'll make your blues playing 10 times tastier (at least).

Max

HAL9000

Kinioo said:

...just want to play some tasty blues licks

Get yourself The Best of Peter Green’s Fleetwood Mac. Has pretty much all of Peter Green’s best bits and has some seriously tasty licks. Shows that phrasing and leaving spaces is more important than speed when it comes to tastiness. Mixes up the minor and major pentatonics quite a bit which will give you more options when it comes to building licks.
——-
Here’s Warren Haynes with some great bluesy licks (Pretty much all Bb major pentatonic with the odd 'extra' note just now and then). Again, phrasing is everything...
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=81lIga4eLfI