Best Songs to Learn for Developing Technique

dkenin

Inspired
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
 
If you're going to take the route of specifically looking for songs to develop a specific technique, the first step is to define what you want to develop. Sweeping? check out any prog band (Dragonforce, Angra, etc...) Phrasing? Santana. Shred? Pettruci, Rusty Cooley, Satch, Vai...

IMO, this is one of the worst ways to learn technique. I bashed my head against that method for almost a decade before realizing it's the absolute best way to make sure you spend loads of time on single techniques instead of learning multiple at a time. The far better way is to examine the songs you like and learn them. Examine those songs and find out what you like about them, then replicate that to the slightest nuance. That will teach you vibrato, phrasing, picking, etc... all at once. Instead of focusing on the techniques, focus on recreating the sound you hear. We're musicians, the masters of sound, not robots with an encyclopedia of flawless techniques. Think about the difference between a poet and a person with a huge vocabulary. It's extremely difficult to go from the latter to the former, but a poet who concentrates on expressing and evoking emotion will eventually develop a huge vocabulary.
 
If you're going to take the route of specifically looking for songs to develop a specific technique, the first step is to define what you want to develop. Sweeping? check out any prog band (Dragonforce, Angra, etc...) Phrasing? Santana. Shred? Pettruci, Rusty Cooley, Satch, Vai...

IMO, this is one of the worst ways to learn technique. I bashed my head against that method for almost a decade before realizing it's the absolute best way to make sure you spend loads of time on single techniques instead of learning multiple at a time. The far better way is to examine the songs you like and learn them. Examine those songs and find out what you like about them, then replicate that to the slightest nuance. That will teach you vibrato, phrasing, picking, etc... all at once. Instead of focusing on the techniques, focus on recreating the sound you hear. We're musicians, the masters of sound, not robots with an encyclopedia of flawless techniques. Think about the difference between a poet and a person with a huge vocabulary. It's extremely difficult to go from the latter to the former, but a poet who concentrates on expressing and evoking emotion will eventually develop a huge vocabulary.

So yes, I do a lot of the things you guys are saying with regard to focusing on technique, but as a supplement, I would really enjoy some songs that focus on particular techniques. Don't ask me about genre, I play in a chicken pickin' country band, I shred at home and listen to metal, and play clean pop songs in another band. I guess the techniques that I would focus on would be melodic but shreddy. (For example, Glasgow Kiss by Petrucci helped me out tremendously with cleanliness and phrasing) I actuallly learned an Angra song to work on "string skipping arps" that I found of an old Kiko Instructional DVD.

So I guess in terms of overall chops (Petrucci)

I really like the 80's hair metallers too - Reb Beach, Nuno Bettencourt, Vito Bratta, Stephen Lynch, Brad Gillis
 
If you're going to take the route of specifically looking for songs to develop a specific technique, the first step is to define what you want to develop. Sweeping? check out any prog band (Dragonforce, Angra, etc...) Phrasing? Santana. Shred? Pettruci, Rusty Cooley, Satch, Vai...

IMO, this is one of the worst ways to learn technique. I bashed my head against that method for almost a decade before realizing it's the absolute best way to make sure you spend loads of time on single techniques instead of learning multiple at a time. The far better way is to examine the songs you like and learn them. Examine those songs and find out what you like about them, then replicate that to the slightest nuance. That will teach you vibrato, phrasing, picking, etc... all at once. Instead of focusing on the techniques, focus on recreating the sound you hear. We're musicians, the masters of sound, not robots with an encyclopedia of flawless techniques. Think about the difference between a poet and a person with a huge vocabulary. It's extremely difficult to go from the latter to the former, but a poet who concentrates on expressing and evoking emotion will eventually develop a huge vocabulary.

That was explained beautifully. Couldn't have said it better.
 
Melodic and shreddy? Check out the new AAL album "The Joy of Motion". One of the best albums of 2014, IMO.

 
i personally feel like technique can only be honed through focused practice, with a metronome....songs are where you learn to apply the skills you've acquired. But hey, if a song makes you work a technique until you nail it, more power to you.

the problem i've seen from people using songs is they have a harder time expanding that technique into other musical situations...
 
Find a song you want to be able play but can't and then figure out the techniques needed to be able to play it properly.
 
Scarified - Racer X = string skipping, string skipping arpeggios, sweep picking, tapping, alternate picking... covers most the bases besides double stops and chickin pickin ;)
 
+1 on Scarified - Racer X or technical difficulties for the same reasons. I still warm up with parts of those songs. You cant get much better with technique than Paul Gilbert.
 
Toughest question ever.

I would not try to emulate a style but listen to everything you can. Blues, Rock, Metal, Jazz, Reggae, etc.

One thing too that nobody mentioned is record yourself playing over backing tracks. Play really slowly, and with purpose. Break the monotony of the same licks you know you can play in your sleep. Just play. Savor the mistakes and learn from them, but listen to what you're playing closely.

Play to TV commercials. It's really hard. It forces you to pick up the key quickly and try to come up with something musical in 30 seconds. Not easy.

Pick a style to play and play it all day (2 hours). Legato a la Satriani, Bending a la Santana, Smoking fast Prog a la Petrucci, Swing a la Reinhardt. Do something different each time or you will get into another rut.

Play with a clean channel only for awhile. Do nothing but comping for a while and try to play chords only, but in a melodic way. Pick a piece of music you love and totally reinvent it by playing it in a different style altogether.

Most of all, have fun and be YOU.
 
Not quite what the OP was asking, but for myself when I feel my chunky rhythm playing is getting sloppy I pull out some (early) Metallica. I originally learned tight palm muted chugga rhythm guitar from my Puppets and Justice TAB books, and that is still a go to to brush up on. On the other hand whenever I feel my lead playing is getting stuck in a rut of noodling up and down scales, I pull out the Floyd to remind myself about phrasing and good taste.

As has been mentioned, Petrucci is always good for a technique workout. Recently I have been eying off an analysis of Extreme's Pornografitti for a bit of guitar playing flash :)
 
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
 
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