The New Guitarist

A quick metal thrash

2010-11-07T20:26:00.004Z

Here's a piece of music from a Folk Metal band called Skyclad that I grew up listening to. It's quick, loud and easy. For those who aren't into Folk Metal, I wouldn't worry, this particular part isn't at all folky!
Have a listen to the intro here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f8BMsaKt2No

e|-0-0-0---------------------------------------------------------|
B|-5-5-5--0-0-0-0-0---------0-0-0-0-0----------------------------|
G|--------4-4-4-4-4--0-0-0--4-4-4-4-4--0-0-0---------------------|
D|-------------------5-5-5-------------5-5-5--0-0-0--------2-2-2-|
A|--------------------------------------------5-5-5--0-0---2-2-2-|
E|---------------------------------------------------5-5---0-0-0-|

This is played with distortion, though not so much that it obliterates the sound. I have the dial on my Line6 set to 'crunch' for this (below metal).

Playing the 'Tristram Theme' from Diablo

2010-11-07T19:30:00.006Z

An unusual entry, this is a track that was written for the gothic RPG classic 'Diablo'. The game is filled with atmospheric music and this theme is no exception.
I'd describe it as folky, dark and melodic. It's fun to play and relatively suitable for a beginner. I should note that this is a cut down version, as I couldn't find good tabs for the full length version of the song. Still, for practice there is more than anough here!

The song starts out at a very slow pace, which makes it easier to practice without it sounding disjointed. Parts of the song also tend to repeat several times which allows you to play one part over and over until you feel comfortable moving on to the next section. The only technique used in this piece besides strumming and picking is sliding, and the use of it is minimal.

Unfortunately due to issues with the Flash installation on my PC I cannot embed the video for you today, but here is a link until I get things sorted: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q2evIg-aYw8

Here is the tablature for the first part of the song. The original author of these tabs intructs us to 'tap twelve frets above where there is a *'.


E|-0---0---0---0---0---6---0---6-|-0----0*---0---0---0-----------------|
B|-0---4---0---4---0---5---0---5-|-0----0*---4---0---4-----------------|
G|-2---2---2---2---2---3---2---3-|-2--2*-----2---2---2-----------------|
D|-2---1---2---1---3---4---3---4-|-2--2*-----1---2---1-----------------|
A|-0---0---0---0---0-------0-----|-0---------0---0---0-----------------|
E|-------------------------------|-------------------------------------|

The next part is simple enough but can take quite a lot of practice and it's played at a faster pace. Remember that 3/4 means play the strinng at the third fret and then slide down to the fourth. 4\3 means play the fourth, slide up to the third.
This part is played through three times.

3x

E|-----0---------------0----------|------0---------------0-------------|
B|-----0---0---0-------0---0---0--|------0---0---0-------0---0---0-----|
G|---2---2---2---2---2---2---2----|----3---3---3---3---3---3---3-------|
D|-3---------------3--------------|-3/4--------------4-------------4\3-|
A|--------------------------------|------------------------------------|
E|--------------------------------|------------------------------------|

E|---0---------------0------------|------0-------0-----0---0-----------|
B|---0---0---0-------0---0---0----|------0-------0-----0---0-----------|
G|-2---2---2---2---2---2---2------|----3---3---3---3---3---3-----------|
D|---------------3----------------|-3/4------2---------0---0-----------|
A|--------------------------------|------------------------4-----------|
E|--------------------------------|------------------------------------|

There is more, but after having followed the tab it doesn't sound right to me, and I don't like to post anything that I can't verify! This should be enough for a good practice session anyway.

Interlude

2010-09-06T12:41:00.002+01:00

So I haven't updated this blog in a while - and to be honest it's simply been due to a lack of motivation. So if you're just starting out and finding it tough to keep practicing, take heart because you are not alone!
Today is the first time I've sat down to practice in weeks, and it's mainly been an exercise in shaking off the rust. I've started looking at another song by a band called Incubus, but I won't try to blog on it until I can play it to a reasonable standard.

I'll try not to leave it so long before I post again!

Playing Opeth's 'Weakness'

2010-06-20T11:58:00.007+01:00

This is a hauntingly beautiful track that is suprisingly easy to play to. I say play 'to' because although there are very simple elements that you can play, there are lots of subtleties in it that are hard to pick up and it's almost impossible to find accurate tabs for them. A lot of it is also played on a keyboard, despite it's guitar-like sound. For now I'm just going to show you a couple of riffs that are easy to practice that sound great.

First of all I'm going to tell you the settings I have on my Line6, because you need quite a long eerie sound to come out of your guitar to make this sound right. You can practice it without of course, but it won't sound as close to the real thing.
The sound I get with the following settings isn't exactly as it sounds in the song, but it's as close as I could get and it still sounds great.

Settings

Amp Model: Clean (you could try Blues, but I found this makes the notes sound a bit too strong)
Drive: Full (This doesn't mean the sound is very distorted, it just makes the notes a bit 'fuzzy' as the model is set to a clean sound.)
Bass: 4 (10'o'clock on the dial)
Mid: 9.5 (4'o'clock)
Treble: 9.5 (4'o'clock)
First Dial: No effect
Second Dial: Delay effect
Reverb: 11 (5'o'clock)

Ok so here's the song...

The riffs we're going to be playing come in at about 58 seconds in.
Here's the tab:


e|--------------------------------------------------------|
B|--7-7-7-7-7/8-------7-7-7-7-7/8--\5-----7-7-7-7-7/8-----|
G|---------------4-------------------------------------4--|
D|--------------------------------------------------------|
A|--------------------------------------------------------|
E|--------------------------------------------------------|

You will see there is some sliding to be done (the / symbol) but it's very simple in this song. I have found that it helps to pick the string, slide, and then pick the second string as well. You can try just picking and sliding without playing the second note if you want but I find it's harder.

There's then this very similar part...

The seven right before the slide is a really quick one, almost a grace or ghost note. <-- According to the person who write this tab.


>e|-------------------------------------------------------|
B|--7-7-7-7-7-7/8-8/10------------------------------------|
G|--------------------------------------------------------|
D|--------------------------------------------------------|
A|--------------------------------------------------------|
E|--------------------------------------------------------|

This piece is great for practicing very gentle picking and when you feel confident also for sliding (without picking the second note). I can't find a video of someone practicing this, so enjoy this live performance by Opeth themselves.

Playing The White Stripe's 'Dead Leaves and the Dirty Ground' Intro

2010-06-20T10:32:00.002+01:00

The actual notes in this are really easy to play, it's more about timing. This is a great piece of music to practice when you want to rock out a bit as you can crank the distortion up and even bend the strings a bit if you want to. It only uses ONE string, so you don't have to worry about moving your fingers about too much.
Here's the song:

The tab is as follows (I found several that were really badly written, so I wrote this myself):

e|-------------------------------------------|
B|-------------------------------------------|
G|-------------------------------------------|
D|-------------------------------------------|
A|-------------------------------------------|
E|-5---5--5-0-3---3--3-0-2--2-0-1--1-0-5---5-|

On the second time through I think there is a tiny bit of bending on the first note. You can hear it in the song

Here's a video of someone playing this on an acoustic guitar.

He skips the '0's in the tab above, well actualy he doesn't skip them, he plays them on the same fret rather than open. So the first '0' in the tab above would be a 5, the second would be a 3, the third would be a 2 etc
This is easier but doesn't sound as good IMO. Give it a go if you find my version a bit tricky.

Playing Metallica's 'Enter Sandman' Intro

2010-06-20T10:04:00.003+01:00

This is a short and easy intro followed by a guitar trick that's quite hard to pull off (I haven't really got it down yet). Enter Sandman is a great song that's very popular (and a bit overplayed!). Here it is incase you're a complete phillistine.
;)

The tab for the intro is:

e|------------------|
B|------0-----------|
G|------------------|
D|----7-------------|
A|--------------7---|
E|--0-----6--5------|

Easy enough. =) Here's the difficult part (for me at least:

e|------------------------------------------|
B|------------------------------------------|
G|------------------------------------------|
D|------------------------------------------|
A|-2/7----------------2/7-------------------|
E|-----0-0-0-0-0-0-0------0-0-0-0-0-0-0-----|

You may not have seen a forward-slash in tab before - what this means is that you slide from the first fret written to the second. So in this case you start with your finger on the second fret, pluck the string and then slide your finger down to the 7th fret really fast. It's easy to do, but hard to make it sound right. After that it's just a case of plucking the top string.

Here's a good video that shows you how to play both these parts (and the entire song), it actually includes the tab at the bottom right of the video too so you can see what parts he's playing. The actual instructions start at about 1:10 into the video, after he's finished a short demonstration.

Good luck with that, the first part is good easy practice and the second should push you a bit.

Playing Opeth's 'In My Time of Need' Intro

2010-06-20T00:35:00.005+01:00

This is a great bit of music for practicing (and a great song!). The first part of the intro is very easy, and the second bit is quite tough and good for stretching your fingers.

Here's the song. Unlike 'Come As You Are' you are probably not familiar with it unless you are into this genre of music, so take a few minutes to familiarize yourself with it. The 'easy' part is played in the first 25 seconds. 25-27 seconds is the tricky part. To put it into perspective the intro riff is 8 notes played over about 3 1/2 seconds, whereas the second is 9 notes played in just under 2 seconds. I still can't play the second riff as fast as it is played in the song, so I wouldn't worry if you can't get it right straight away. =P

Here's the tab for the first riff which is played 7 times at the beginning of the song and also used later on:


e|----------0--------|
B|--------7---7------|
G|------0-------0----|
D|----7-----------7--|
A|-------------------|
E|--0----------------|

Nice and easy, as you don't have to move your fingers on the fret board at all. I am not sure whether you should pluck all the strings downwards or get the last three on the way back up, but I find the former easier as I'm not great at strumming/plucking upwards yet!

The more difficult part:


e|----------0---3------|
B|------1-----1-----1--|
G|----4---4-------4----|
D|---------------------|
A|--0------------------|
E|---------------------|

I put my pinky finger on the fourth fret of G and my index finger on the first fret of B. On the 7th note I use my ring finger to hold the top e string at the third fret.

Here's a video of someone playing the song, if it helps you to see someone else play it.

I'm not at a level where I can play the whole song yet, mainly because that second intro riff is tricky and my fingers don't like stretching that far more long enough to practice it a lot, but if you feel you are ready the whole tab can be found here.

Playing Nirvana's 'Come As You Are' Intro

2010-06-19T23:58:00.005+01:00

So it's just over two weeks since I started practicing, and I thought I'd get into some of the things I've been working on. First off is the song in the post title, which I mentioned in my 'Tablature' post. It's not the easiest intro I've been playing but it is amongst them and unlike the others it's reasonably long (15 notes). You also don't have to worry too much about the tuning, as standard tuning sounds close enough for casual practice. It's played suprisingly fast in the song, but you can work up to that speed as it sounds fine played at a slower speed.

Here's the song:

This is the tab for the intro - if you can learn this you can play the first 50 seconds of the song! As I said in one of my previous posts, the first '0' is only played the first time around, after that you begin at the second '0' after the second line.

d|--|-------------------------------------------------------------| 
A|--|-------------------------------------------------------------|
F|--|-------------------------------------------------------------|  
E|--|-------------------------------------------------------------|
G|--|-------0---0---------2-----2---------------------------------| 
D|-0|0-1-2---2---2-2-1-0---0-0------------------------------------|

If you are having difficulty try watching the video below. Normally by themselves there aren't too helpful, but combined with the tab above you should have a good idea of what's going on. Bear in mind he is playing with standard tuning, which is why it sounds a bit higher pitched than in the video above. If you tune your guitar as shown on the left hand side of the tab above then it will sound better.

I won't post the tab for the entire song because I can't find one that actually plays right (even the one that I took the intro from). I used this song to practice plucking the strings without looking at them (as it's only the top two strings this is nice and easy), to get used to switching fingers/frets and to practice keeping a rhythm.

So I definitely recommend starting with this if you want to get straight into playing a song! I'll post up some of the other ones I've been trying to play soon.

The First Songs I'm Learning to Play

2010-06-10T16:33:00.004+01:00

So I thought I'd share with you what songs I'm using to help me practice at the moment.

They are:

I chose most of these because I'm very familiar with them and how they should sound, because they all have intros which are playable at beginner level, and because they were the easiest to find tabs and practice videos for (i.e. people playing them on youtube). I'd love it if you could send me some more!

Tablature

2010-06-10T14:07:00.006+01:00

I'll keep this relatively brief, as I'm only familiar with the basics.

Tabs are a form of musical notation that tell you where to place your fingers (rather than just telling you what to play, like sheet music, tabs also tell you how to play it). It looks similar to sheet music too, to the untrained eye.

Tabs are written like this:

e|--------------------------------|
B|--------------------------------|
G|--------------------------------|
D|--------------------------------|
A|--------------------------------|
E|--------------------------------| <-- Thickest (top) string

Each line represents a string, with the bottom line representing the top string. This sounds counterintuitive, but makes sense, considering the top string is closest to you (or, your eyes at least) when you are playing. The letters on the left indicate what note that string should be tuned to. Different songs require different tuning.

Here is the tab for the intro to 'Come As You Are' by Nirvana, which is nice and simple:

d|--|-------------------------------------------------------------| 
A|--|-------------------------------------------------------------|
F|--|-------------------------------------------------------------|  
E|--|-------------------------------------------------------------|
G|--|-------0---0---------2-----2---------------------------------| 
D|-0|0-1-2---2---2-2-1-0---0-0------------------------------------|

As you can see immediately the letters on the left are different to those above, because this song requires different tuning. You will also note there are numbers on two of the 'strings', ranging from 0 to 2.
The number corresponds to the fret that that note is played on. So 1 = first fret, 2 = second fret etc. 0 denotes an 'open' string, meaning that you do not hold it at any fret, or indeed at all.
There is also a second line right after the first note is played - whoever wrote this tab put that there to remind us that in this song that first note is only played the first time, so after that we start from that line rather than the first one.
So, the above tab means:

"Pluck the top string (D) 'open' twice, then once at the first fret, and once again at the second fret. Then pluck the second string (G) 'open' once, the first string (D) on the second fret, second string (G) open again, first string (D) second fret twice, then first fret and then open. Then the second string (G) on the second fret, the first string (D) open twice and then finally the second string (G) on the second fret again."

You can see why it was necessary to find a way of writing how to play that was shorter than that!
There are plenty of other symbols you can find on tabs, but as a beginner I don't really need to worry about them yet.

Hopefully that should be enough for you to get started. If you want to read more on tabs check out the following links:

Wikipedia entry (guitar tablature is half-way down the page)
How To Read Guitar Tabs (more detail)

You can find thousands of tabs online, some easier to read and play than others. Try googling some of your favorite songs!

The LTD F-100FM - Strings, Strap, Pickups and Tuning

2010-06-10T12:32:00.018+01:00

Let me start by saying that despite the title of this post, this doesn't just apply to this brand or model of guitar! However it probably won't apply to all guitars (I don't know, I'm just a beginner!) .

The Strap

One thing I learned very early on is that a guitar strap is a necessity (for me at least). Holding the neck of the guitar up for any length of time can really start to make your wrist ache, and using your arm to prevent the guitar from sliding down your lap can make strumming a bit awkward. Bear in mind I am telling you what I have discovered as a beginner, this is by no means proffessional advice!
As you can see in the picture below, my guitar has a curve on the underside (if you are holding the neck in your left hand) that you can put over your knee to help hold the guitar in place, this helped until I got hold of a strap.

The Strings

If you read my last post you will know that I managed to snap the bottom string (the thinnest) while trying to tune it. This posed several dillemas for a beginner such as myself. Firstly, how do I remove the string? Secondly, what string should I get to replace it? And thirdly, how do I reattatch the new string?

Fortunately for me it was easier than I thought. There is a hole in the body of the guitar through which the string is threaded, and the string has a small metal ring on the end so that it cannot be pulled all the way through. So all you need to do is push the broken string back through this hole and the ring with come out the back of the guitar's body and you can grab this and pull the string out easily. If the top of the string is still wrapped around the machine head it should be possible to just pull it off or unwind it. Obviously be careful that you don't scratch your guitar but as the string is useless you don't have to worry about cutting or bending it any more.

As to which string to get, I will cover that in more detail later. All I did on this occassion was go back to the music store where I bought my amp, and ask for a good but inexpensive set of strings that would be suitable for a beginner. When I can find the packet I'll tell you what they were! Each pack contains a single string of each type, and costs around £6.99.
Putting the string back on is a bit more fiddly but easy enough if you're careful to put it on the right way. If you have any doubts about your ability to do this ask the guy in the music store to show you how do do it (obviously you'll need to take in your guitar for this). As long as you bought either your guitar or amplifier there they are likely to be happy to help, or at least explain things to you probably clearer than I can.
Essentially, you need to push the 'top' end of the string (the end without the ring) through the correct hole in the body of the guitar, and thread it through. Then push the top end of the string through the hole in the machine head (the part you twist to tune the guitar) and then loop it back through itself. You can then twist the tuning peg until the string starts to tighten. Make sure the bottom end of the string is mounted on the little groove in the bridge in the same way as the others.

IMPORTANT: Make sure the string is looping around the machine head in the same direction as all of the others on that side!

The Pickups

I don't know a huge amount about these yet, but I'll write what little I know. On an electric guitar, the pickups 'pick up' (unsuprisingly) the vibrations from the strings and translate them into electronic signals that your amplifier can interpret. They are located on the body of your guitar, beneath the strings, and usually look like little metal circles.
Where your pick (plectrum) or thumb hits the string makes a difference due in part to the location of the pickups in relation to the height and tension of the strings. Strumming/plucking a string further towards the neck above those pickups will generate a deeper sounds whereas strumming further down the body over the pickups nearer to the bridge will generate a sharper brighter sound. At least it does when I do it!

Tuning

I have been using my amp to help me tune my guitar, though you can get seperate guitar tuners and some people can tune by ear (infact I believe most guitarists can after some time). I'll go into more detail about how I do that in a later post, but for now I'll just give some advice based on what I've done.

Take your time. It's better to make small slow adjustments than sharp large ones, simply because some of the notes are very close together and you will 'overshoot' them by tuning too agressively. You need to be quite precise sometimes. It's also quite hard to judge how much resistance the string is giving when you turn the peg too quickly, which makes it easy to miss the 'threshold' of the string and therefore snap it.

Pluck the string more than once. Electric tuners sometimes seem to pick up different notes as the string vibrates less and less after you've plucked it or get confused if you change the string tension whilst plucking it. Stop it vibrating once you've plucked it and then pluck it again once you've made any adjustments you need to. The amp/tuner should pick up the new note cleanly.

Keep your tuning low if you can. You won't snap you're strings easily if they are not very taunt. Higher notes mean taunt strings and if you wind the tuning peg too far you might snap them.

Two Days In...

2010-06-10T11:53:00.009+01:00

So, it's Thursday lunchtime and I thought I'd share what I've been up to so far.

I decided that although I do have a beginner's guitar book to work through (which contains a load of chords that I'll need to learn), I'd rather dive straight in at the deep end and try to play some familiar songs.
I tried to choose songs that I liked, that didn't sound too hard, and that had a bit of variety. I also discovered that the songs I chose require completely different tuning - so I got a taste for tuning my guitar too.
I will confess now that I snapped a string doing so...all part of the learning process I figure! So if you happen to do the same, don't worry, you aren't alone! I had to buy a new set of strings and figure out how to replace the one I snapped, but luckily due to a courier error (I recieved somone else's mic stand with my guitar) I am owed two free packs of strings, so it's not all bad. ; )

I've got quite a bit to talk about, so I'm going to try to break it up into digestable chunks and as seperate posts. I'll be covering the following list of topics (in no particular order), so feel free to skip any posts that don't interest you. I'll turn these into links as I write the posts too, so you don't have to search for them!

The Line6 Spider III Amp - Settings and Auto-Tuner
The ESP LTD F-100FM - Strings and Strap, Pickups and Tuning
Strings - String Manufacurers and Types
Tabs (Poor-Man's Sheet Music!)
The First Songs I'm Learning to Play

The Equipment

2010-06-08T15:03:00.002+01:00

I'd like to start by introducing you to the setup I have at home with which to learn. I recieved my guitar TODAY, and cannot wait to get home and put it to the test.

Finding the right guitar

For me, there were several important criteria for a guitar.
Price
Style
Genre Association (i.e. what style of music the guitar is very generally suited to)
Quality

Obviously, I needed a guitar that I could afford. For me that meant spending ideally less than £300.00 (currently about US$432).
The style was also important to me. I have a strong appreciation for aesthetics (having delved into art, graphics and design in the past) and knew that simply having a beautiful guitar would be a source of motivation for me!
I also wanted to ensure that I was buying the right tool for the job. Intending to play (speaking in broad terms) 'metal' predominantly I was looking for a guitar suited to this genre. I was aware that a good guitarist can play any style on any guitar with almost any equipment, but I figured I might as well make life easier for myself!
Lastly I wanted a guitar that was going to last, and that was 'good' rather than 'playable'. This is why I didn't buy some of the cheaper guitars available (though there are cheaper that are perfectly OK, I wanted something I could 'grow into').

To find such a guitar I spent a lot of time looking around. I read forums where people in my position would ask 'what is a good beginner's guitar for playing metal' and spend a lot of time reading the responses they got. I also looked at some of my favorite bands to see what kind of guitars they played to see if I liked or could afford them (yes I do, and no I can't, as it turned out!). Arguably I should have spent longer than I did on this, but I found three that I liked (all made by ESP LTD) and then posted my own thread on a forum asking for other people's advice and suggestions based on the criteria I gave and the guitars I had shortlisted.

The result was me settling on the LTD F-100FM. It's general retail price was around £280 which was towards the upper end of my budget, but not unreasonable. Despite this I decided to check Ebay for a second-hand guitar that could save me some of my hard-earned cash. I was pleasantly suprised to discover a brand-new one for only £199.99! Needless to say I snapped it up! I have yet to honour the timless and cheesy tradition of naming it, so I'm open to suggestions. ;)

I'll upload a picture of mine as opposed to a random internet image once I have a good picture of it. But they are identical as far as I can tell.

Finding the right amplifier

I went through much the same process trying to find an amp, although for obvious reasons I put less emphasis on the look of the thing and spent more time looking for videos of how it would sound. Eventually I narrowed it down to either a Roland Cube 15, a Microcube (also made by Roland), or a Line6 Spider III, with the spider being the preffered choice.

I actually picked up the Line6 Spider III from my local music shop, as I managed to get £50 taken off the price and 6 months interest free finance.

Without the finance I would have had to settle for one of the cheaper and far less powerful cubes, which would have been a shame because although they are good quality and loud enough for practice, they do not have nearly the same selection of tones and effects - and can't attain the same ear-shattering volume. =P

So there you have it! Spend the time, effort and money and you can find the equipment that not only looks and sounds right, but that inspires you to persevere.

Wish me luck!