J
Jak Angelescu
Guest
Hey everyone! I really really really REAAAAALLLLYYYY hope this doesn’t cause a riff between my fellow students and I. But as you all know I only say things out of true love for everyone on here to become the best players they could ever dream of becoming.
As usual, I am browsing through the “create a riff” page and I am seeing 99% lead playing, and of that amount, roughly 85% of it are students covering only solos of a song. Yes solos make us feel good about ourselves, but I keep trying to stress that guitar playing is not all about lead. And playing lead actually has a LOT to do with rhythm as well. I’d like to share with you all some personal experiences as to why I’d like to encourage everyone to learn and play the entire song of a cover and not just the solo.
I learned all of Hail To the King before I even dabbed into the solo. I learned the rhythm part as well for the solo section. When I got comfortable with it, I learned the solo and practiced ONLY the solo for roughly a year. Then I went to go play the song together and my stamina completely crapped out and I had to slow everything down AGAIN to build up the endurance to do the whole song.
So in all essence, when you just learn the solo and play the solo you can’t really actually play the song. And it’s not really doing anything for you. If a band called you up and said, “Hey, we are short a guitarist and need someone to fill in, can you do it?” You won’t be able to last during the entirety of the setlist.
Also, learning the rhythm part helps you get the groove, the feel, and even the key signature of the song. So when you DO go to learn the solo, you’ll understand why certain scales sound great over the chords you’re playing. If being a lead guitarist is your dream, you should be able to understand the chords you’re playing over. Otherwise jamming and writing with a band is going to be a nightmare.
Another example I’d like to give is from me playing one of my own songs. My rhythm work is very intense because I compensated my lack of lead ability with excessive rhythm, and by the time I had to do a 16th note run at 142BPMs and went into the solo, I had NOTHING left in my right hand to do it because it was soooo fatigued from the other parts of the song.
There’s a reason why Syn is as good as he is. He’s not just a lead guitarist. He understands what Zacky is playing and has the endurance to pull off things like The Stage, God Hates Us, and all these other songs for a 90 minute setlist. Also, Syn didn’t spend his time learning other people’s songs. Playing all of Syn’s solos only improves your technique, but doesn’t actually improve your knowledge of the guitar (if that makes sense).
I’d like to encourage all the students to learn the entirety of the songs of the solos they’re covering. Then break the solo down for us. Tell us what techniques the solo uses and scales (ex. a descending triplet legato run in E phrygian and it goes into chromatics right here). I’m going to start doing it as well because I learned a lot of scales that were being used in Hail To The King. Let’s all be consciously aware of what we’re doing the best we can! It’ll only make us better in the long run. You don’t want to sell yourself short.
Keep up the good work, guys! I’m so proud of you all!
As usual, I am browsing through the “create a riff” page and I am seeing 99% lead playing, and of that amount, roughly 85% of it are students covering only solos of a song. Yes solos make us feel good about ourselves, but I keep trying to stress that guitar playing is not all about lead. And playing lead actually has a LOT to do with rhythm as well. I’d like to share with you all some personal experiences as to why I’d like to encourage everyone to learn and play the entire song of a cover and not just the solo.
I learned all of Hail To the King before I even dabbed into the solo. I learned the rhythm part as well for the solo section. When I got comfortable with it, I learned the solo and practiced ONLY the solo for roughly a year. Then I went to go play the song together and my stamina completely crapped out and I had to slow everything down AGAIN to build up the endurance to do the whole song.
So in all essence, when you just learn the solo and play the solo you can’t really actually play the song. And it’s not really doing anything for you. If a band called you up and said, “Hey, we are short a guitarist and need someone to fill in, can you do it?” You won’t be able to last during the entirety of the setlist.
Also, learning the rhythm part helps you get the groove, the feel, and even the key signature of the song. So when you DO go to learn the solo, you’ll understand why certain scales sound great over the chords you’re playing. If being a lead guitarist is your dream, you should be able to understand the chords you’re playing over. Otherwise jamming and writing with a band is going to be a nightmare.
Another example I’d like to give is from me playing one of my own songs. My rhythm work is very intense because I compensated my lack of lead ability with excessive rhythm, and by the time I had to do a 16th note run at 142BPMs and went into the solo, I had NOTHING left in my right hand to do it because it was soooo fatigued from the other parts of the song.
There’s a reason why Syn is as good as he is. He’s not just a lead guitarist. He understands what Zacky is playing and has the endurance to pull off things like The Stage, God Hates Us, and all these other songs for a 90 minute setlist. Also, Syn didn’t spend his time learning other people’s songs. Playing all of Syn’s solos only improves your technique, but doesn’t actually improve your knowledge of the guitar (if that makes sense).
I’d like to encourage all the students to learn the entirety of the songs of the solos they’re covering. Then break the solo down for us. Tell us what techniques the solo uses and scales (ex. a descending triplet legato run in E phrygian and it goes into chromatics right here). I’m going to start doing it as well because I learned a lot of scales that were being used in Hail To The King. Let’s all be consciously aware of what we’re doing the best we can! It’ll only make us better in the long run. You don’t want to sell yourself short.
Keep up the good work, guys! I’m so proud of you all!
When I finally have tim i can delve into lead and theory.
