#1

Don't Be Dumb

in PB Guitarstudio FORUMS Sun Jun 17, 2012 9:48 pm
by jvieira72 • 21 Posts

I took the day off of work today because I needed some R&R and got in some good guitar practice. I was watching some videos and reading some material as well and made a major discovery. I'm a dumb ass. For over 20 years I've been using the wrong motion to do pull offs and as you can imagine my pull offs are terrible. I've been doing a weird pull that tends to go up and off the string and the result is a very weak sound and inefficient motion. When I first started playing I don't think I ever was taught or took the time to learn how to pull off properly. I think I just imitated what I saw which is how I learned vibrato which worked out, but I think vibrato is an easier skill. So I learned the actual proper motion today and had this kind of enlightened moment and also thought, oh wow that's a lot easier than my shitty technique lol. So I thought I'd share. Don't be dumb like me. If something sounds bad and ineffective, it's wrong and you should make it a priority to find out how to make it right.


Last edited Sun Jun 17, 2012 10:16 pm | Scroll up

#2

RE: Don't Be Dumb

in PB Guitarstudio FORUMS Mon Jun 18, 2012 12:22 am
by nickjacquet (deleted)
avatar

Firstly, Hello mr new guy to PB forums! In response to your post, I'd like to start by recomending that you take all of what I am about to say w/ a grain of salt b/c I have less than 3 years under my belt so you are in all probability, at a much more advanced level than I am. Your post perked my ears up specifically u mentioned pull-off problems... (my desire to become really boss @ legado is second only to my pipe-dream to become a better alternate picker than John Petrucci one day)....During my 2.5-ish years of guitaring thusfar...I must admit that the time I invest in alt picking seems to be subject to MUCH greater diminishing returns a.k.a. exponentially slower gains/hour than the time I have spent working on legado)...I therefore suspect that Legado will be my technical niche 10+ years from now (If I ever find one). I am posting this response b/c I had a similar realization to the one you described about a year ago. At that moment, I realized that I wanted/needed to subject my left hand to as many different tuplet legado permutations as possible...Even if it meant that I would limit myself only to intervals of diatonic 2 & 3rds...heres are a few examples in-case you need a jump-start...For Simplicities sake...I started out by limiting myself to the various diatonic ostinato legatto permutations that can be pulled from the following two string scale fragment boxes

|-0-|-0-|---|-0-|
|-0-|-0-|---|-0-|

|-0-|---|-0-|-0-| <-----I found this box to be a personal favorite...so i'll cite examples from this box
|-0-|-0-|---|-0-|

|-0-|---|-0-|-0-|
|-0-|---|-0-|-0-|

then when I felt comfy I added the following boxes which added a tiny bit of stretching (suddenly I had to play a bit out of position)

|-0-|---|-0-|---|-0-|
|-0-|---|-0-|---|-0-|

|---|-0-|-0-|---|-0-|
|-0-|---|-0-|---|-0-|


I view these two string shapes as blocks from the video game Tetris that stack up on each other on up the neck of the fretboard...Say you are in B maj (tho is doesnt really matter which key you first learn these shapes in) here are some of the legado permutations from one of the boxes above

|-0-|---|-0-|-0-| <----this one
|-0-|-0-|---|-0-|


In this box can be found many legado Building blocks that can be put together to make triplet, sextuplet, nonatuplet, or god-forbid duo-decatuplet (12note/beat) permutations (also no reason that you cannot make quintuplet/septuplet/octuplet/deca or undeca-tuplet sequeces w/ these)...Yes sir, @ first it did feel really retarded to sit there picking the same three note trills for hours on end....But eventually I found that I liked to spontaneously string sequences of such fragments randomly together when soloing...So it fixed many of the pull-off problems that I had and helped me pull out specific sequences that I decided I wanted to become master-of one day from of the vast ocean of scale sequences that are out there

As I said I would, here are some examples where 1 pick attack corresponds to a trill multiple of 3....But there is no reason you cannot also try 4-1 correspondances 5-1....6-1.....ect (x to y correspondences) where y is 1 Picking stroke and X is the # of notes you are playing that beat.

E|----------|-4h6h7|-7p6p4-|----------|-7p4h6-|----------|
B|-4h5h7-|---------|----------|-7p5p4-|----------|-7p4h5-|
G|---------------------------------------------------------------|
D|---------------------------------------------------------------|
A|---------------------------------------------------------------|
E|---------------------------------------------------------------|

I apologize in advance for the long post...If you find some ideas from it great...and if not...then whatever.


Last edited Mon Jun 18, 2012 12:32 am | Scroll up

#3

RE: Don't Be Dumb

in PB Guitarstudio FORUMS Mon Jun 18, 2012 1:52 am
by jvieira72 • 21 Posts

Hey thanks for the response. You've been playing for a lot less time than I have, but I have no doubt that your knowledge and skills are beyond me. I've largely been a hobbyist and the stuff I've played has been along the lines of Albert, B.B. and Freddie King, SRV, Lonnie Mack, etc... When I first started I tried to play stuff like Metallica and a lot of 80's rock, but only riffing never the lead stuff. So as you can imagine I've never really had much call for legato, so I didn't put much effort or interest into developing the necessary technique. Now I'm interested in getting into stuff like Brian Setzer and some other Rockabillly players as well as some funk but I want to have more ability and better technique than where I'm at. I know a lot of guys mention Buckethead and a lot of other fast and technical players and while I respect it and even listen to a few of the technical players, most of it just isn't to my musical taste. I appreciate the material you've posted though and I'll give it a try although I don't think I'm ready for it. Right now I'm doing a lot of trills trying to strengthen my fingers and trying to fix my technique, since I've been playing the motion incorrectly. So my accuracy, clarity and speed are quite bad. I just want to be able to play clean and have functional speed, fast enough to change positions and stay fluid. Thanks again for your response and posting the practice material. I appreciate it and I'll give it a try.

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