Earlier we discussed here about developing unique ideas. Here's one simple tool that can seriously help you. Big time!

Get a book, with empty pages. start writing down all ideas that you come up with. Little licks, technical ideas, stories, cool scales and modes, song scetches. Write the stuff down every day, or when ever you get inspiration and come up with cool ideas. This book will help you not to forget the ideas you want to learn or develop further!


Here's a random folder of Mika's scetchbook. What a mess!

What tips you could offer when jamming and finding your own unique style and ways to approach?

Calm down, don't rush. Remember guitar playing is not a sport or competition. You are making music and a personal statement. What is your mission? Breath in, breath out, listen to you heart and follow it.

STUDY AND EMULATE

Emulating guitar players with different styles is very good idea to get ideas and influeces. And to go even further I suggest trying to emulate and study other instrument players as well. What ever might get you excited: violin vibrato, harp like arpeggios, Jan Hammer pitch bends, chinese Erhu licks!

And how about singers! Anybody ever tried to sound like Kate Bush or Lemmy Kilmister on a guitar? Hmmmm.

But remember to walk your own path. Listen to different music styles and keep your ears and mind open.

» Read More

Mr FF I need ur help more than anyone else right now. I need to build up my speed!

Sloooww dooown! Take any lick you want to learn, maybe a simple with only few notes. Important: practice with metronome!

» Read More

SWEEPING!

Sweep picking, what a nice way to play arpeggios. This technique gives you that nice smooth legato like tone. Let's your fingers fly around the fretboard!

Beware:
- One note per string.
- Aim is to make a smooth stroke from beginnig to end. You sweep, just like stroke of a broom!
- One note ringing at time. No chords, no overlapping of the notes!

Popular is to play triad based sweeping arpeggios (think Yngwie Malmsteen). Google "sweeping", You will find that kind of material all over the internet.

ROLL THAT BROOM!


Here we have two simple and short examples. Bsus2 and F#sus4 arpeggios. Three notes per string down, three notes per string up. Listen to the audio samples. To make sure the only the right note is ringing at the right time I only press the current fret down. Don't play it like a chord.
You can also try using palm muting to get a different tone. It's good idea to practice with a metronome. Slightly (but not too much) overdriven tone is best for practicing. It will reveal all your dirty mistakes and unwanted noises, such as overlapping notes). Try developing your own three note arpeggios!

Know this: Mastering this technique will take time! Practice hard!

Here's a new mode change to play with. It's a nice modulating tone, the changes between two lydian modes in different keys, F and A flat. This jam will get you flying!

F lydian notes: [F-G-A-B-C-D-E] formula: [1-2-3-#4-5-6-7]
Ab lydian notes: [Ab-B-C-D-Eb-F-G] formula: [1-2-3-#4-5-6-7]


The backing track is same as on Magic Carpet Tour -game, but with this cool change added. Enjoy the ride my friends!

Mr. Fastfinger interviews John Petrucci, who kindly shares his wisdoms and visions on guitar playing: how to develop speed, picking techniques, how he prepares for a show and more. Very important for every guitar player!
I respect this moment.

Very busy here with the ninja slide techniques. A little guitar improvisation, just for you!

MULTI SCROLL JUTSU

This special "Multi Scroll Jutsu" is used when a ninja wants to fool his enemies and not let them know which direction he's heading next. There are several ways to do this technique. Study these examples. But pay attention to the left hand fingerings.

» Read More

"Can you tell us how do you think melodies? My melodies sounds ordinary and I dont like them. I just wanna know how to make them quirky, more interesting, angular, weird riffs or melodies? "
Anonymous (09/08/2008 - Mr.Fastfinger blog)

Melody is the most important element in music. Rhythm and harmony, very important too! No good melody, no interesting music. Hard to say where the melodie comes. Everything I experience, see and hear is affecting me, then I process. The best melodies usually appear on my head, then i search for the way to bring it out into the air. Sometimes finding the melody is very simple, like booom! Sometimes it takes work, time and patience. All that musical theory can help you creating music and melodies, but,the heart is the key. Guitar player put heart into melody, audience gets big feeling. Emotions very important here.

» Read More

Here's a very nice backing track for soulful solo improvisations. Thanks to the looping machine, one can enjoy jamming this for hours. And maybe some more. But before we begin let's take a look at the actual modes we are using here.

B aeolian notes: [B-C#-D-E-F#-G-A] formula: [1-2-b3-4-5-b6-b7]
Bb Lydian notes: [Bb-C-D-E-F-G-A] formula: [1-2-3-#4-5-6-7]

Learn where to find these modes on the guitar. Put the loop on and close your eyes.

» Read More

Sliding from note to note is considered easy: Just pick a note, keep pressing the string while sliding the finger to another fret. Good! But sometimes even the most experienced guitar players land on a wrong note when doing this "Basic Slide".

BASIC SLIDE

A real ninja never fails to slide into the right note. He practices this technique in the dark.

» Read More