Hey guys,
We have a mixed bag of guitar players here so I anticipate different answers. I enjoy working on my technique but sometimes exercises get stale, so I was wondering what were some songs that you guys suggest in order to build my technique and for it to be enjoyable?
Technique is a broad term, so if you want to say (song) by (artist) really helped with my (technique) that would be the best.
Some obvious techniques are alternative picking, economy picking, sweep picking, vibrato, legato, tapping, etc.
Thanks and looking forward to your suggestions!
Dave
Everyone seems to be missing the crucial obvious question: what's the level of stuff that you CAN play right now? Because if you're still struggling to play an A minor pentatonic scale in 5th position, 8th notes at 120 bpm right now, there's not a lot of sense in diving into Scarified or anything like it.
If you're already somewhat up to speed (get it?), here's a selection of technically challenging tunes that are (well, for me) also fun to play once you get them down (not that I've 100% conquered all of them yet):
Alt picking:
- Technical Difficulties - Racer X: Not a lot of Sweepy stuff going on, but just pure unadulterated alternate picking mania, the string skipping in the main riff makes this challenging, but man does it rock once you have it down. Some nice pentatonic runs in the solo. My personal difficulty rating: 7,5 out of 10
- Eugene's Trick Bag - Steve Vai (with a little help from Nicolo Paganini): Alternate picking arpeggios up and down the neck in the first part. Real cool for learning some good arpeggio shapes and a beautiful composition in its own right. second part gives you some cool 2- and 3-string alt picking sequences. End part gives you a flashy run ending with a 5 semitone bend off the 24st fret. Proceed with caution. - Difficulty rating: 8,5 out of 10
- Rondo Alla Turca - Mozart -
Joscho Stephan - RONDO ALLA TURKA - YouTube This is about the speed you're aiming for. Bonus points for using a Macaferri guitar. Seriously, if you can play it cleanly on an electric with distortion at that speed, you're good to go as far as alt picking goes... difficulty rating: 7 out of 10
- Tumeni Notes - Again, alt picking arpeggios on three strings. Take it very slowly and watch what happens to your pick as you change from one string to another. Don't give in to the temptation to sweep this (it doesn't even work well). difficulty rating: 9 out of 10
Sweep Picking:
Jason Becker - Serrana
Jason Becker Serrana Arpeggios Tutorial - YouTube - difficulty rating: 9 out of 10
Symphony X - Smoke and Mirrors (Intro)
Symphony X ---Smoke And Mirrors---(cover) - YouTube difficulty rating: 8 out of 10
Tapping:
Two words: Reb Beach
Reb Beach playing Black Magic - YouTube
Reb Beach - Two Handed Tapping - YouTube
Hope this helps a bit.
so long
Andreas aka Ace