A quick metal thrash

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

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

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'

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

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

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

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.