Tesla / Modern day cowboy / Opening lick

Hi Mike,

About that fast opening lick on modern day cowboy, where you go 1/3/7, 1/3/7, 3/5/7, 3/5/7.

The speed is pretty difficult, obviously, but equally the 'stretch'. Even picking every note and playing slow, it's quite a stretch to reach across 5 frets at the bottom end of the neck.

My hand is just big enough to reach, whilst fretting all 3 notes at once, but does this get easier with practise? I also had a go with the left hand 'travelling' up the neck (i.e. let go of 1st fret whilst grabbing the 7th), but then the accuracy really suffers.

Any preference from your point of view?

Thanks,

Chris

Hey Chris!

Yes the stretch is a killer! I almost feel like those guys wrote the lick out of some sort of exercise they were practicing -- it's symmetrical and a great exercise in itself to work on finger stretches, legato, and speed.

If you continue to drill the pattern for several minutes (or until your hand fatigues!!) each and every day, it should get easier and easier. Be sure to practice it slowly. Plenty of repetition at slower speeds will burn these tough stretches into your muscles, and with consistent drilling, you should see an improvement over time.

For myself, I find anchoring the index finger onto the fret helps me, but I wouldn't discourage you from experimenting and finding the right fingering technique that works for you. As guitartists, it sometimes takes that experimentation to find a technique or approach that seems more natural to us.

Hope this helps! Let me know how it goes,

Mike

Thanks, I'll keep working on it. To be honest, I'm not expecting to master it at full speed any time soon, but as you say, it's a good exercise, and for the song, there's always the option of playing the Guitar 1 rhythm part instead.

I got it. The trick for me is to keep my left thumb really low on the back of the neck - a bit like when I'm playing barre chords, but maybe even lower. Then, I can anchor my index finger on the 1st fret and play all the notes legato. Just have to get it up to speed now....

BTW, on the same song, I can't play the solo exactly because my guitar only has 21 frets, not 22. I get round it by, e.g. playing a double pick at 20, then full step bend at 20, so it stays in key. But is it much different playing a 22 fret model compared with a 21? I'm thinking about upgrading later this year, but really not sure whether to stay with the reliable strat-type or go with something different.

Hey Chris, great news! Now just keep drilling it to get it up to tempo!

Yes sometimes that missing 22nd fret on Strats and Teles can be a pain!! In my experience, there's really not alot of difference between a 21 fret guitar vs. 22 fret guitar. I would just say try before you buy - if you can - just try out alot of different guitars and see if there's anything that resonates with you!

Cheers!

Mike

So, next question on this song. (Sorry, I used to go out on Saturday nights, but it's history).

Anyway, in the guitar solo, that lightning fast all-picked run on the C-major scale.

According to the notation, this is mostly triplets, with a quintuplet thrown in as well. But I can't really process those timings. Overall, my thinking is that at the end of the run, you hit that bend on the 10th fret of the A string, and if you happen to get there a sixteenth early or late, it wouldn't really make a massive difference to how the song sounds, as long as you start the second part of the solo on the right beat of the next bar. Is that how advanced players see it, or can you really get to grips with these timings with enough practise?

Also, a technical question. When the notation marks 16th note triplets, does that mean you shoud play 3 notes in the space of counting 2 sixteenths? (Meaning that 16th note triplets are a step up in speed compared with straight 16th notes?)

Thanks in advance for advice. It's a bit strange to be asking questions about songs as advanced as this after only 4 years playing, but no complaints, obviously. I'm really happy with where I'm at with the Guitar Tricks song lessons.

Regards,

Chris

Chris, you're doing awesome!

Re: your first question, obviously that's a pretty fast run, so I encourage to try and play it any way you can, and if that means maybe your'e a tick late or early on the final bend, that's okay. The more you drill it at slower tempos, the more you'll burn the sound of the run into your brain, and eventually, you'll be able to follow the pulse of it naturally!! Experienced guitar players know the sound, but it's just too fast to be able to count it in real time. Make sense?

Second question - you're absolutely correct about the 16th note triplets - another way to think of it is to play 2 sets of triplets across 1 quarter note (or 1 "beat").

Cool man, keep rocking it!

Mike

Hey Mike,

Picking this thread up again in relation to the guitar solo (and especially the c major run I talked about earlier in the first solo.)

I can do it ok now with the slow playthrough in the lesson, so progress, but still some way to go to get to full tempo. (I'm doing plenty of fast alternate picking exercises as well, since that's pretty much a pre-req).

Question - do you have any particular mental approach to parts like this? Reason I ask is because I'm becoming aware of a common mental block I have with difficult songs. I'll know that there is a certain part of a song I have problems with, and this results in me mentally anticipating that part a bar or 2 before. End result is that I lose concentration, lose the 'feel' for the song and tighten up phyisically.

(And then, things get progresively worse if I'm playing along to the backing track, becasue then it's really obvious if you lose time, which seems to increase the pressure to do it right).

Obviously, this tension is all counterproductive, but even being aware of the problem, I'm having a hard time countering it. Is this another thing to break through via practise and grandually increasing speed, or are there alternative approaches? I'm guesing I'm not the only one to encounter this....

Thanks,

Chris

Hi Chris - this is such a great question about a totally common struggle.

If you're feeling anxiety leading into a lick or section knowing that it's a struggle, then, there's no other way around it - you simply have to continue isolating and drilling that lick. Continue to spend several focused minutes at a time drilling that lick over and over (with no mistakes) at whichever slower tempo feels comfortable. This is the quickest and most efficient way to overcome that anxiety. It may take several more weeks to get this lick up to speed comfortably, so you just need to dig in and keep working at it!

You can do it - you're doing all the right things and you've already come so far with this tune! Just keep at it. Once you start getting the lick more comfortably up to speed - the less you'll feel that anxiety and pressure to execute whenever you reach that spot in the song, and it should start to feel more seamless.

Hope this helps - thanks for all your updates and keep going with it!!!

Mike

Thanks, yeah, I thought you'd probably say that. I guess if you had a dollar every time you had to tell a student there were no quick and easy answers, you'd have plenty in the bank.😐

Anyway, I'm still motivated. I just look back at other songs I had the same problem with in the past that I can do now, so there's no chance of me quitting. Sweet home Alabama on one of my previous threads is a great example. My strategy has always been to learn relatively difficult songs that stretch me, and I mostly avoided plateauing so far.

one worry I do have is whether spending all this time learning difficult parts absolutely note for note might hinder improvisational ability when I get better. Like giving a presentation, I never learn a script word for word. Is there anything in that? Or would you expect locking in the mechanical skills, as now, will stand me in better stead in future?

Chris

Ha - you know me too well!:)

Ultimately, one of the biggest aspects of improvisational playing is the ability to transmit the ideas from your brain to your fingers - so in that respect, the more technical ability you have, the more improvisational potential there is.

IMO, there is a huge value in learning solos and licks note for note - it increases your technical strength while adding to your well of licks and ideas. But it also develops your improvisational instincts - you are getting inside the construction of solos, the dynamic arcs, shapes, and phrasing used by the masters. As you add to your repertoire, you'll be building your instincts on how to construct and shape solos in real time.

So in addition to learning solos note for note, also take time in your practice routine to work on improvising - for example - making up solos over a 12 bar blues backing track.

Make sense?

Mike

Yes, makes sense. Don't want to get ahead of myself though. I think for me, it makes more sense to focus on the technical skills for now.

Thanks for your advice though. I'll check back in when / if I can play the solo at full tempo.

Excellent!

[br]Mike