Before 'Shredding'

Basically this is a series exercises aimed at speeding you up and getting your accuracy spot on. Try to remember all exercises by heart, this is help for the last exercise.

Exercise 1 part1.

e|-------------------------------------------------------------------------|
B|-------------------------------------------------------5-8-5-------------|
G|---------------------------------------5-7-5-------5-7-------7-5-7-------|
D|-----------------------5-7-5-------5-7-------7-5-7-----------------------|
A|------5-7-5--------5-7-------7-5-7---------------------------------------|
E|--5-8-------8-5-8--------------------------------------------------------|

e|------5-8-5--------|
B|--5-8-------8-5-8--|
G|-------------------|
D|-------------------|
A|-------------------|
E|-------------------|

Thats the first step to becoming faster. Remember to use alternate picking to get faster. The next exercise is the same but backwards.

Exercise 1 part2.

e|--5-8-5------------------------------------------------------------------|
B|--------8-5-------5-8-5--------------------------------------------------|
G|------------7-5-7-------7-5-------5-7-5----------------------------------|
D|----------------------------7-5-7-------7-5-------5-7-5------------------|
A|--------------------------------------------7-5-7-------7-5--------------|
E|------------------------------------------------------------8-5----------|

Repeat 4 times. That should also be done in alternate picking..in fact it should all be done in alternate picking. Join those to together. And remember, accuracy then speed.

Exercise 2.

e|---------------------------------7-8----|
B|--------------------------6-8-10--------|
G|--------------------5-7-9---------------|
D|--------------5-7-9---------------------|
A|--------5-7-8---------------------------|
E|--5-7-8---------------------------------|

Repeat 4 times and insted of starting from the first note when you finished, do the scale backwards to get really good. Up and Down the scale 4 times

Exercise 3.

This is the Blues scale.
e|--------------------------5-8-----|
B|----------------------5-8---------|
G|----------------5-7-8-------------|
D|------------5-7-------------------|
A|------5-6-7-----------------------|
E|--5-8-----------------------------|

4 times up and down as before. (alternate picking)

Exercise 4.

This is maybe the hardest and therefore ill take you through the fingerings aswell.
e|----------------------5-7---|
B|------------------5-7-------|
G|--------------4-6-----------|
D|----------4-7---------------|
A|------4-7-------------------|
E|--5-7-----------------------|

Fingerings.

The idea is one finger per fret.

1st finger (pointing finger) - 4th fret
2nd finger (Middle Finger)   - 5th fret
3rd finger (Ring finger)     - 6th fret
4th finger (little finger)   - 7th fret

you may think 'I can't be bothered with fingerings' but in the long run it will help a huge amount with this scale. Repeat up and down 4 times. Now the final exercise.

Exercise 5.

This exercise, the big finale is going to take most of your time, but it's worth it.
play each exercise 4 times as intructed. Start at a steady pace you're comfy with.
when youve finished one exercise move directly onto the next one. (this is where remember the scales comes in) Continue, play the next exercise 4 times and move on. You'll notice a slight pain in your hand(s) ignore it, carry on.

Once you have finished all 4 exercises count 4 beats then start again. Do this twice then leave it, do it again the next day. Take as long as you need learning the scales, it may help to learn the patterns of each scale. Learn them whatever way is easiest for you. You will find that practising this for about a week or two should speed you up and your accuracy will get better. don't Rush! as said before, Accuracy then Speed.

Now, More advanced players:

Play the same scales but play each and every fret. For exercise 4 you may want to start on fret 2 or 3 as playing on fret 1 becomes awkward.

I hope this helped you all, sorry about the mass of writing at the end but it's all helpful. Thanks!

Comments

[pogo_punkr]

This is a great lesson, thanks

[lumpy.gravy]

great lesson
i actually became faster at playing the solo from afterlife.

[omgiplayguitar]

im trying to learn the after-life solo too...im messing up a lot on the 1st part and excercise 4 really helped

[Wolfinator-x]

Thanks a dozen!

[Darkkon]

very kool

[Veroth]

nice, but i have one little problem. most of theses exercises focus on one position. for those of us who are trying to build some lateral dexterity, it would be nice if you included some exercises that span the entire fret bored or maybe something that covers different keys in the same lick.

[Veroth]

forgot to mention that YOU should have mentioned economy picking, its much more effective and i believe its absolutly required if you want to play fast.

[Darkkon]

yeah nice lesson, but if this is supposed to build speed,,, economy picking should be included.

[Deep*Kick]

its just exercises, use whatever picking technique you want.

[MetalD00d]

Hi there!
Good lesson! Just something that alarmed me a little. In your great lesson, you stated "You'll notice a slight pain in your hand(s) ignore it, carry on.". Pain is never a good thing, muscle tiredness is a different story, since we are building up finger dexterity, you expect to feel muscular 'burning', not pain.

That is my $0.02 on the lesson. Thanks

[Dee-Von]

this has helped me out quite a bit, and it's my first time going through it, thanks

[itsthedevil]

Nice one, been playing for over ten years and this is a serious boot up the backside for me!

[BFMV-Shredder]

Great lesson!
I became faster! :
Now I can finaly play those fast solos :

[itsthedevil]

cheers again, what do you think the next step should be?

[fearthecalm]

on economy picking - its a choice not a requirement. many shredders like Paul Gilbert ect use strict alternate picking.

[bcoutlaw]

Nice lesson it helped out a lot actually
Thanks!

[slayer666z]

good lesson

[raghavraghavs]

trust me guys and gals this leson is bluuudddddyyyyy
bludddddyyyyy
BRILLLLLIANTTTTT !!!
I HAVE ACTUALLLY started playing much FASTER ~!
it has helped to Shred !
go as the ma man has instructed and u can shred tooo !!

FANTASTIC

PEACE
\/

[boffeydaman]

the first exercise is a ded good shred lick!

[alienboy527]

I will be doing this everyday for the next two weeks!

[dragonscales]

extremely helpful

[Rony_Squirrel]

That's cool! =)

[Ibanezgeetarz]

good job

[Shadow_player]

lumpy.gravy wrote:

great lesson
i actually became faster at playing the solo from afterlife.

Crazy fool thts insane!

[!IKTPQ!]

this helped alot man, thanks a bunch

[Overkilled]

Woooo0000ooooo!

[ApoIIo2113]

well everyone seems to say it helped them so i tried it ... and good god! ive been able to play byob, and One-Winged Angel! 8/10

[Gussifer]

As a total beginner, it's nice to see how fast one can ge up to speed. Thanks Gib-Son!

[Gib-Gib-son-son]

thanks for the feedback everyone it's nice to know I could help so many of you.
taking in everything that you guys have said, I'm glad to say that I'm working on another lesson.
Thanks again to everyone, and keep one rockin'!

[skizoman05]

keep it up man - i was skeptical at first but this really helped - awesome stuff

[Rockn'rolldad]

want to take this lesson one step further? try it with a metronome.

[fishfingaz]

Brilliant

[adamd613]

i like the blues scale

[defytradition]

its just exercises, use whatever picking technique you want.

I completely dissagree; the point of an exercise is to better your playing which doesn't mean using the picking style you are most comfortable with.... your right hand won't imporve nearly as much if you don't try diffrent picking techniques.

[Rockn'rolldad]

defytradition wrote:

its just exercises, use whatever picking technique you want.

I completely dissagree; the point of an exercise is to better your playing which doesn't mean using the picking style you are most comfortable with.... your right hand won't imporve nearly as much if you don't try diffrent picking techniques.

+1

[Deep*Kick]

defytradition wrote:

its just exercises, use whatever picking technique you want.

I completely dissagree; the point of an exercise is to better your playing which doesn't mean using the picking style you are most comfortable with.... your right hand won't imporve nearly as much if you don't try diffrent picking techniques.

I didn't say to use only one picking technique, I said that you can apply any picking technique you want to the exercises, granted you wouldn't use 2 note per string patterns to exercise your economy picking.

[\m/(^.^)\m/-666]

Play the same scales but play each and every fret.

WTF?!?!?!?

does that mean play each fret between the notes of the scale or wot?

[Jules69]

i tried to do it but i stopped bcuz idk how to alternate pick
so cud som1 whos nice msg me and tell me how?
( i new )

[SIeepy]

Great Lesson!!

[Gib-Gib-son-son]

Play the same scales but at each and every fret.

That means use the same patterns as I have indicated but start at a different fret each time. I am sorry I should have made that clearer.

[69GuitarNewb69]

great lesson man

[Guitarhero'z]

That was a great lesson!!

[hecter$checter]

your lesson is pretty great. i enjoy doing it. when you say alternate picking i am assuming you mean up/down strokes? what is the best way to get better at that.

[mick1994]

gr8 lesson!!!!!

[madjack1987]

your lesson is pretty great. i enjoy doing it. when you say alternate picking i am assuming you mean up/down strokes? what is the best way to get better at that.

just keep at it until it feels natural theres no other way really, oh and your going to drop your pick ... alot dont worry about it

[noob_head]

good lesson but i dont think it could take u to the point of shredding. still good exercises though

[LordVasago]

This is going to come in handy. Thanks so much for posting.

[Gib-Gib-son-son]

hecter$checter wrote:

your lesson is pretty great. i enjoy doing it. when you say alternate picking i am assuming you mean up/down strokes? what is the best way to get better at that.

Alternate picking was very difficult for me when I started to use it, any guitarist would be lieing if they said it came to them straight away.
Start off by practicing on a single string, your pick should be going, up, down, up, down etc. Make sure you don't move your whole arm when you do this, try to get the action to come from the wrist, it will become easier with time.

Hope that helped.

[MetallicaBeast]

NICE

[MetallicaBeast]

whats the first full song a begginer should play?

[vash_08]

Gib-Gib-son-son wrote:

Alternate picking was very difficult for me when I started to use it, any guitarist would be lieing if they said it came to them straight away.
Start off by practicing on a single string, your pick should be going, up, down, up, down etc. Make sure you don't move your whole arm when you do this, try to get the action to come from the wrist, it will become easier with time.

Hope that helped.

Actually alternate picking came super easy for me. I started out with alternate picking without even realising it, I just did it naturally, instead of just down picking. Same thing with my little brother, he just started playing a few weeks ago, and the first day he touched a guitar he was alternate picking. I asked him how he knew to do it, and he didn't even know he was doing it.

[changmaster]

COOL horns up for this

[Zappanator]

also a good way to learn the first position of the minor pentatonic scale

[hecter$checter]

so what would be the best way to improve my alternate picking. i'm only alright at it. and i do these lesson exercises too.

[Gib-Gib-son-son]

vash_08 wrote:

Actually alternate picking came super easy for me. I started out with alternate picking without even realising it, I just did it naturally, instead of just down picking. Same thing with my little brother, he just started playing a few weeks ago, and the first day he touched a guitar he was alternate picking. I asked him how he knew to do it, and he didn't even know he was doing it.

Well then I suppose it could come naturally to some people, if that's the case then good for you, natural guitarist.

-----

hecter$checter wrote:

so what would be the best way to improve my alternate picking. i'm only alright at it. and i do these lesson exercises too.

hecter$checter wrote:

so what would be the best way to improve my alternate picking. i'm only alright at it. and i do these lesson exercises too.

To improve you must practice, it's the only way, unfortunately there are no shortcuts. Just keep at it.

[youngy93]

gr8 lesson, iv seen a massive improvement since i started on these

[NagorRoberts]

Fantastic help. but i still struggle with alternate picking. can anyone suggest any help. XXXXX

[wacko1992]

^^ you just gotta keep doing it dude, thats it

btw i have a question, do you play exercise 1 part 1 and 2 together continously, or do you separate them?

[Strauss86]

nice, definitely an awesome speed trainer and introduction to the scales, i liked all the patterns but i thought their difficulty was in reverse to the order they appeared, exercise 4 was definitely the simplest though i guess as being major makes it the odd one out, thanks again will be practicing this for the next 2 weeks

[Gib-Gib-son-son]

NagorRoberts wrote:
i still struggle with alternate picking. can anyone suggest any help.

Like I've said before you have to practice, start slowly playing a simple pattern of 3 or 4 notes to begin with then gradually get faster. Good luck and don't give up. Don't forget Accuracy Then Speed

wacko1992 wrote:
btw i have a question, do you play exercise 1 part 1 and 2 together continously, or do you separate them?

Practice them individually then try putting them together to make one big exercise.

[pimp_eskimo]

Ex 5 line 2 spelling mistake
"play each exercise 4 times as intructed."
otherwise a good lesson very helpful

[acoustielectric]

MetallicaBeast wrote:

whats the first full song a begginer should play?

Mine was smells like teen spirit

[Gib-Gib-son-son]

MetallicaBeast wrote:

whats the first full song a begginer should play?

I agree with acoustielectric, I think Smells Like Teen Spirit is a good song to start with. But maybe try something such as the intro section of Nothing Else Matters - Metallica.

[lugchris]

i finger pick and strum acoustic and wanted to fill it out that bit more,had a book for a present that teaches(learn the scales everywhere)found your tutorial and though i've just given it a bash tonight,my left hand has become reborn.My semi's out(acoustic that is)and my index nail plec is alternating like it's done it for years,so this isnt just for shredders great work and cheers.

[Strauss86]

been doing this exercise for over a week now and its really paid off, i've always been pretty lazy when it came to alternate picking but this is the perfect way to practice it, thank you very much i'll be a shreddin' in no time

bytheway have you or are you going to make a shredding lesson?

[Gib-Gib-son-son]

Strauss86 wrote:
bytheway have you or are you going to make a shredding lesson?

I have recently written a lesson on soloing techniques, after that has been accepted to the website I shall start working on a shredding lesson. A problem with UG is they seem to take months to put new lessons up. I am not sure whether it just happens to me or it happens to everyone, if anyone has any info on that I'd be grateful.

But yes there should hopefully be a 'Shredding' lesson in the future, I would like to get it up on here around March time.

Thanks for your interest.

And I would like to add that I'm glad that the lesson has helped so many of you.

[Tengatu Man]

wow i just noticed the scale... no wonder they seemed so wierdly familiar

[EldonsName24]

nice Me too man haha...the second part is easy after the dual but the first is tricky

omgiplayguitar wrote:

im trying to learn the after-life solo too...im messing up a lot on the 1st part and excercise 4 really helped

[vandalistzero]

Had to register just to thank you for coming up with such a great lesson. I noticed this a few days ago and finally started learning it today. I went all the way from Exercise 1 to 5 today and when I went back to playing tabs, I've already noticed an increase in my accuracy and speed. I can't wait to see how much more this helps me out over the next couple of weeks! Thanks again!

[Castro75]

This was a big help. I still cant play the scales to fast but I will get there. Keep the great lessons flowing!

[ilovepancakez]

this is useful (even for me and i play bass!)
it's the secret to become the second coming of cliff burton!!
Note: Slight pain=Being shot in hand!!!>_< (But i still got a couple of weeks to pratice it!

[Gib-Gib-son-son]

Just a note to everyone who has mentioned me saying

You'll notice a slight pain in your hand(s)

I meant, a slight ache not pain, sorry for the misunderstanding.

[Until4EvrDies]

A note on alternate picking: Ive been doing it ever since i first started playing, and i think that's because i started out playing chords... If you practice an up/down stroke with chords, it helps make it feel alot more natural when playing individual notes. I don't know if that'll help anyone, but i thought I'd throw in my 2 cents =]

[daniel731]

great lesson, thanks

[Squire_Guy08]

This is a great lesson. The 4th scale looks like something that I learned from the pentatonic scale before. I guess it does help to have that too. Thanks for the lesson though!

[ShreddimusPrime]

nice work, thanks! definately helped my speed.

[esmaabi]

Hey man i really thank you for this awesome lesson.
Special thanks because thanks to you i started taking guitar seriously. I have had guitar for 5 years now but I still can't really play it well but thanks to you I play now everyday 2-6 hours and it really helps me.
So i thank you again and something else to
YOU RULE MAN THANKS FOR GREAT LESSON!!!!!

[urbanesatan]

helpful stuff dude...

[ddean1991]

wow great lesson actually made me faster

[AaTwEn]

This is an awesome lesson..you should make more

[JBEADAM]

These lessons really do make this very simple.
thanks a bunch.

[Chicorancer]

Great lesson thanx i've only just finished the first part and i can already feel a difference in my speed and control

[SunburstLaguna]

ill def be using this alot. much appriciated.

[izzizz]

im having difficulty when doing it backwards. any tips?

[MRNASTY1]

Thanks for the great lesson. I`m having to practice with a horrible acoustic. I actually quit playing after my `68 Les Paul Custom got ripped off, so getting back to playing feels so painful yet great. If I ever hit the lottery and can buy another electric I should be ready to ROCK!!!!!

[MRNASTY1]

Great lesson. I just started playing again and have to play it on a crap acoustic because someone stole my `68 Les Paul Custom. I quit playing for around a year and if I can ever win the lottery and buy an electric I will be able to ROCK!!!!!
Thanks

[MRNASTY1]

Sorry had 2 windows open and thought I did not hit the post button.

[gothpunk555666]

Great lesson man this lesson helped me out alot looking forward to future lessons from you.

[Saint Valentine]

Haven't tried it put yet but I will when I get a chance.

[Serfent]

HAHA I've got blisters on my fingers! really helps haha

[nepalihedbanger]

cheers brah. this is a pretty good lesson. i got a little finger workout from it

[alphablade7]

Veroth wrote:

nice, but i have one little problem. most of theses exercises focus on one position. for those of us who are trying to build some lateral dexterity, it would be nice if you included some exercises that span the entire fret bored or maybe something that covers different keys in the same lick.

yeah but hes given you one pentatonic shape, so why bother typing up the rest when you can just use some initative and use the rest of the shapes yourself probably why he left them i imagine

[Gib-Gib-son-son]

Hi everyone, I wrote this lesson.
I'm writing to inform anyone interested that is interested that my second UG Lesson has been posted.
You can find it here,
http://www.ultimate-guitar.com/lessons/soloing/effect ive_soloing_techniques.html

I would much appreciate any feedback you may have.

Cheers

[Gib-Gib-son-son]

http://www.ultimate-guitar.com/lessons/soloing/effective_ soloing_techniques.html

[Tycrane]

Good lesson dude.I just posted my own lesson today and its not even as good as yours.hahaha!oh well.i guess i can only play but not teach.

[Tycrane]

I agree with everybody especially lumpy.gravy.your lesson has totally boosted my speed while playing the afterlife solo.good job gib-gib-son-son.