I hereby dedicate this thread to that most melodic and sweet sounding of scales...I'll be uploading some of the chromatic petrucciesque stuff I've been experimenting with...As soon as I can get it just a wee bit faster!!! My original interest in this scale dealt with the fact that it could use all four fingers without stretching necessary because I had been scratching my head trying to figure out stuff that my left hand can do to eat up Sarod flutters without hitting any note more than once.

(ie 1-1 corespondance btw the two hands)

In the mean time:

Phrases like the guys @ 4:30 seem like the perfect vessels for eating up flutter.

Sigh...Imagine what Petrucci could do if he knew about the magic of sarod...then he could go around pulling FrakHs and playing shit like Mchlaughlin and Pebber (-:

Petrucci very clearly doesn't need "The Magic of Sarod".

noone who knows how magical sarod is would say such things

+1 to joels comment

I'm going to just go ahead and completely ignore any notion that sarod is magic, I can see you weren't being entirely serious there. For the style of guitar playing John Petrucci plays, his technique suits him very well. With his current technique, Petrucci gets a very strong attack and is able to mute strings effortlessly. When you're on a rig like his and charged with the task of controlling the amount gain being pumped through his guitar signal, the need for a good muting technique becomes apparent. Can Petrucci get the same results out of sarod? I don't know. Probably. Probably not. The important thing is that he already found a means to an end.

Hmmmmm....NOw lets seee.....Why does it NOT surprise me that if there existed some ancient string intrument technique that had the power of a couple thousand years of tradition behind it, that really is the holy grail of effortless and blisterinng fast picking technique, that has already in modern times proven itself to be as such through the precious hands of Mcglaughlin/Pebber/Frakh/Buckethead ect; that two modern day virtuossos such as Gambale and Petrucci who are clearly obsessed with perfercting their right hand technique, would be "curious" about it/// Come to think about it, it doesnt surprise me in the least...Rather I think it only stands to reason...Furthermore...I would also add that anyone who has ecountered the jumping bean hybrid sarod enigma of the pick getting itself caught in the middle of a string and has glimpsed the magical things that ensue when this happens...would never again want to have to rely on any lesser form of picking...because at that point you no longer have to tell your right hand what too do...It just folllows the left hand effortlessly and happens to whack each note as you trill them and what not...That is guitar paradise/valhala/nirvana/elysium or whatever you call it. When you have descovered such a stacatto, the guitar is your oyster...and everything about playing it becomes so much easier/proficient/exhilirating...

Yes, everyone on the PB forum is also better at guitar than rapper Lil Wayne.

Today just keeps on getting better and better!

If you care to understand my point of view: I'm not knocking on sarod in any degree at all. The benefits that sarod offers should (and do) cause an interest. It's a legit technique to learn. But at the end of the day you have to look at all technique objectively. Saying that a certain technique is picking Nirvana then entertaining the thought that one's entire harmonic and melodic identity can change with said technique is highly irrational and completely missing the point of said technique to begin with. Sarod is a technique. Every technique has its pros and cons. Sarod is not exempt. Sarod has its pros and cons. Paul Gilbert, John Petrucci, Yngwie Malmsteen, Guthrie Govan, Michael Romeo, Steve Morse, Steve Vai, and Shawn Lane all are all relying on a "lesser form of picking"?! That is downright insulting. Holding that viewpoint will make you suck at guitar.

Agreed with Mr Medina. There's different approaches to achieving good picking, but in my experience, every fast picker I've known, all they have in common is they practiced LOTS and LOTS of hours. This was before the Internet-age, so they had little to go on besides what felt right that them. To that point, the folks mentioned by Joel have no single unison picking style. No universal solution. I think you could pick any thinkable way and putting in just enough hours to it, you'll get very good doing it. Or you could pay attention to what offers the least resistance and best sound, get to that point, and then pick hours and hours of it. In my humble opinion, Sarod is a picking technique and it comes with a sound of its own, but it's in no way a magic bullet to becoming a fast picker. I think all picking techniques is a sound, and how fast you end up picking depends on how many hours the genetic lottery requires you to put into it, including Sarod-picking. I'm 100% certain there's superfast alternate pickers with whatever technique they've chosen that couldn't get fast at Sarod. More importantly, at the end of the day, there's more to music than technique and playing fast.

Not rejecting any techniques and putting in hours of practice is a powerful alchemy.

When the ladies in this forum encounter the video that soon to be posted and its 32nd notes at 100 BPM for Chromatic Scales using sarod that has taken me about 6 days to work up to...they will certainly find something to knock it for...but deep down inside...they will wish that had the patience to purchase such a picking technique so they could let it rip.

I claim hoyl grail!

Quote: pebberbrown wrote in post #15

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You guys all do whatever you want. Anyone who has practiced SAROD for the aforementioned hours on end will KNOW how it feels compared to alternate and wrist picking and arm picking. For endless years now, the ones who always "argue" about it are always the ones who have never put in the practice time and have never developed any fluidity with it, so therefore must argue about it and try to make some kind of point that they KNOW all about it and are qualified to judge.

Its not a well known technique among the guitarist world - let alone the hordes of self-taught crummy opinionated wannabe armchair quarterbacks who think they all know whats up. Indian musicians practice a technique for 20 years before they consider it mastered. Most electric rock guitarists in North America dont have that kind of attention span, therefore feel the need to reject something they are unable to accomplish. No one is claiming a holy grail - just an offering to the world of an ancient technique adapted to the electric so people can try it and use it in their arsenal of techniques. Its not easy to do for quite a long time - which is why so many give up on it - because they cant do it immediately, so then they become "judges" of it.

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Your reasoning can be applied to any technique really. Gonna slightly modify Pebber's view to prove this: Anyone who is on the road to mastery for any technique and has practiced it for the aforementioned hours on end will KNOW how it feels like compared to other techniques. For endless years now, the ones who always "argue" about any technique are always the ones who have never put in the practice time and have never developed any fluidity with it, so therefore must argue about it and try to make some kind of point that they KNOW all about it and are qualified to judge.

When you factor in the hoard of very proficient technical guitarists out there, all using different techniques, it's important to know that they got there from countless hours of practice. Sarod didn't make you into a fast picker. Practicing Sarod for a countless amount of time made you a fast picker. Alternate picking didn't make Shawn Lane a fast picker. Practicing alternate picking for a countless amount of time made him a fast picker. Sarod is no holy grail. Practice is the holy grail.

Its late am still attempting in here goes.
Left hand may look funny. Blessed with two little fingers.

Hi guys,

Here is my attempt of the chromatic scale (shifting the pinky and moving up to the 12th fret). I noticed the shifts are a little jerky, especially on the low strings and up the neck, and I tense my hand as I get tired. I'm doing 7 notes per beat. Need to improve accuracy there too. Any feedback would be most appreciated.

Case, that looks really good. If I was to offer you any advice it would be to REALLY accent the 1 in each group of 7. Exaggerating the accent when practicing will really help to hammer home the sound of 7s and will pay-off when you apply them musically. Keep it up!

"Practice is the holy grail."


Without a doubt.

Hi guys,

Thanks for the feedback! dlraben, I'll follow your advice and will post another video soon. I will have to do the same with 5s and other less common timings. Scottulus, any ideas for a chromatic scale challenge? Because of work, I was away from the forum for a few weeks when you guys were doing the challenges, but I think they were a great idea ;)

Its an attempt at the first finger shift using the connect tone technique at 190bpm quarter notes.Using scalpel picking.

Suppose I better learn how to hybrid pick it. Hmmm finger rolls

over and out