Metal ... Yeah Baby ...

WishICouldPlay

WishICouldPlay

Banned
Joined
Nov 21, 2012
Messages
242
Hey guys.
Now that I have some free time on my hands, I would like to expand my horizons a little. Would like to learn some metal and some shred. Hoping you can help with some suggestions ... slow and easy, first steps first. In about five years I can play it at the retirement home (lol).
I'm not very good at altered tunings, dropped D is about it for me.
Please be gentle, my favourite guitarist (not sayin' he is the best) is Clarence White, followed closely by Blind Lemon Jefferson and Merle Travis. Plus one of my favourite songs is "Mama Tried".

Regardless, I can play, so I can learn.

Thx.
 
Albrecht Smuten said:
If you want to start easy, start with Metallica... then you can work your way to, say, Children of Bodom (and no, I will NOT mention Opeth this time)...
Click to expand...

thx man.
what would be a good song to start out with? this is totally foreign territory for me.
 
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OK it is too early to get my heart racing like that. From the title I anxiously opened the thread expecting some mouth-watering PRS Metal model guitar porn. Guess that proves what I need to start saving for as my next guitar. ;)
 
WishICouldPlay said:
Hey guys.
Now that I have some free time on my hands, I would like to expand my horizons a little. Would like to learn some metal and some shred. Hoping you can help with some suggestions ... slow and easy, first steps first. In about five years I can play it at the retirement home (lol).
I'm not very good at altered tunings, dropped D is about it for me.
Please be gentle, my favourite guitarist (not sayin' he is the best) is Clarence White, followed closely by Blind Lemon Jefferson and Merle Travis. Plus one of my favourite songs is "Mama Tried".

Regardless, I can play, so I can learn.

Thx.
Click to expand...

All of the old Black Sabbath stuff is pretty easy, and based on blues mixed with some major scales (relatives). Some songs are in standard, some in E flat, some in drop C. You will be able to tell pretty quickly which ones are what. "War Pigs" is always a good place to start... or "Iron Man". You will get a lot of building blocks for metal from those 2 songs.

The biggest thing with metal is building stamina in the right hand for all the down-picking.

Some people also consider the first 2 Led Zeppelin albums heavy metal as well (for the time)... but it's very blues based too.

More bands that fit the profile: Judas Priest, Iron Maiden, Ozzy, Motorhead, Alice In Chains (E flat drop D), Tool...

Heavier stuff: Sepultura, Slayer, Anthrax, Exodus, Machinehead, Testament...

Good luck with whatever songs you pick, just keep trying and don't give up if it gets too hard! I love all of these bands, but I really love all the old blues guys too... :rock:
 
I'm with Sekunda...Sabbath all the way.

Remember that book...Everything I needed to know I learned in kindergarten?

Everything I needed to know about metal I learned from Sabbath!!!
 
A good metallica track to learn is welcome home( sanitarium). Its got clean appregio chords. Some good rhythm parts slow and fast solos. Hell if i can play it anybody can.
 
Metallica's "Wherever I May Roam" would be a good start

"Enter Sandman" is also pretty easy.

Once you get the proper "right hand down picking" stamina, try "Through The Never" then the iconic "Master Of Puppets"

 
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Sekunda said:
The biggest thing with metal is building stamina in the right hand for all the down-picking.
Click to expand...

With all due respect I humbly disagree. I've only read / seen lessons of Troy Stetina and John Petrucci, but they both accent fluent down-up (and up-down with same precision) picking. It's good to start early and build yourself a proper habit, it pays off later when you need to play really fast (imagine Meshuggah here)...
 
I have to agree with Albrecht. It doesn't matter how fast you are with down picking only - you can just as easily be twice as fast with alternate picking. Practicing your attack angle will make them even with no discernible difference between the down and up strokes. You can should be able to get to the point where you can vary your attack both down and up for accents and softer pickings mixed.
 
I agree that good alternate picking is the way to go, especially if you want to go fast.

But straight down picking is so much fun playing Live! ^ ^
 
Albrecht Smuten said:
With all due respect I humbly disagree. I've only read / seen lessons of Troy Stetina and John Petrucci, but they both accent fluent down-up (and up-down with same precision) picking. It's good to start early and build yourself a proper habit, it pays off later when you need to play really fast (imagine Meshuggah here)...
Click to expand...

Yes, I agree when it comes to more intricate music... but as far as Metallica and Black Sabbath... they play mostly solid down-picking on the "ride the E" chunk parts. I have the John Petrucci videos and he does alternate picking very well... and explains it very well. But until you get a grasp on what is going on, alternate picking can be very confusing at first. Just trying to make things simple is all :)

Plus... John Petrucci is just insane on a guitar. Not a good place to start... but to end, hell yes!
 
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"single direction picking" at it's slowest......

pete-townshend-windmill-1373310013.gif
 
rugerpc said:
"single direction picking" at it's slowest......

pete-townshend-windmill-1373310013.gif
Click to expand...

"Screw shredding! I pick with the biggest arm movement!" xD

Alternate picking for starters is great exercise. Although I can't downpick as fast as Hetfield as of yet, I sure can alternate pick fast! And meshuggah gallops are achievable as well for me :laugh: It's pretty much what you love you to play that drives you to learn something in a certain way.

If you're wanting modern metal tunes, there's Alter Bridge, plenty of big riffs and Mark Tremonti (who plays PRS) has got serious chops when it come's to soloing.
Next on the PRS artist roster, there's also Paul Allender from Cradle Of Filth. He's a pretty melodic person, he likes playing melodic stuff over chords, but not all that much into straight soloing.
Then, there's also Opeth (Albrecht Smuten, why not? :laugh:) They're pretty hard to play, but most of their compositions have pretty straightforward solos, though the riffs alone will leave you in awe when you attempt it. One more thing, death growl alert here! :rock:

I expanded my music horizon first through the PRS artist roster list, not sure if it might work for you but it's worth giving it a try! :cheers:
 
I'm an old blues guy and don't know exactly what constitutes 'shred/metal' but I love jamming on Alice in Chains - Man in the Box & Radiohead - Creep. Both are very easy rockin' tunes. Creep is my theme song! :)
 
Metallica ...enter sandman

If you want more drop C tuning style then anything from metallica's St Anger album

Drop c and drop b tuning......motionless in white , Black veil brides , Crown the Empire

Metallica will help you with the down picking however watch it there, Hammet is notorious for throwing up strokes in and very fast sweeps.
 
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