Guitar questions

[wootapotky]

I've been playing guitar for about a year now so I'm not that good yet. But I have a question about bending. Whenever I bend up a couple of notes my finger gets caught under the string above and when I release the bend it'll play that string which I don't want it to. Is there a technique to bending better?

Also my fingering is a bit sloppy. I never really practiced chords when I first started and I still don't now. I just hate playing them. But would practicing chords help my fingering and rhythm on solos? If not are there any excercises besides just practicing I should do?

For speed, is there anything besides practicing scales that will help me get faster quicker?

One last question. I know this is a lot of questions but I really want to get good at guitar. Is there any specific overdriver or effects pedal or possibly humbuckers that will give my guitar a smooth, sweet bluesy sound? My guitar kind of sounds hollow, almost acoustic on my higher pitched notes and strings.

 

[hardwork]

Originally posted by wootapotky
I've been playing guitar for about a year now so I'm not that good yet. But I have a question about bending. Whenever I bend up a couple of notes my finger gets caught under the string above and when I release the bend it'll play that string which I don't want it to. Is there a technique to bending better?

Guide the string down a bit with your finger; don't just let 'er rip when your bend is done if your bending finger is under that other string.

Originally posted by wootapotky
Also my fingering is a bit sloppy. I never really practiced chords when I first started and I still don't now. I just hate playing them. But would practicing chords help my fingering and rhythm on solos? If not are there any excercises besides just practicing I should do?

I doubt it will help you much rhythm-wise through solos, but anything that makes your fingers move somehow they're not used to is going to help you in the long run.

I remember back in the day I would try to finger the craziest, worst-sounding "chords" I could and I'd flip back and forth between them, just to get my fingers used to moving quickly to where I wanted them to.

Originally posted by wootapotky
For speed, is there anything besides practicing scales that will help me get faster quicker?

Play anything you know faster and faster and faster. Try messing around, throwing in all the random tricks you know (power chords, hammer-ons, slides, bends, etc.) one right after the other faster than you ever would otherwise.

Originally posted by wootapotky
One last question. I know this is a lot of questions but I really want to get good at guitar. Is there any specific overdriver or effects pedal or possibly humbuckers that will give my guitar a smooth, sweet bluesy sound? My guitar kind of sounds hollow, almost acoustic on my higher pitched notes and strings.

Stop in at a music store: any decent one will have a guitar guy on hand to fill you in.

 

[The Bad Ass Canadian]

When you bend a note, the string above it should ride up onto your fingernail, a little bit or get pressed into the fleshy part under your nail. but you need to make sure the string above isn't ringing, as well... that'll just sound horrible. By touching the other string as you bend, it should naturally mute it.

To gain some speed, you need to develop left and right hand synchronicity. You should be running through a scale with a metronome.

Use alternate picking (up-down-up-down)

Practice at a comfortable pace and as you get really accurate, up the speed of the metronome and repeat til you can run through the scale very quickly and cleanly. If your right hand and left hand are out of sync, it will sound sloppy. You gotta hit the notes with your left hand and pick the string with your right hand all at the same time. If you're going to fast, things won't come out cleanly.

Why on earth are you not learning chords? Chords are the back drop for every song in existence.... If all you do is try and play guitar solos, all you are is a wanking guitar player wannabe. Get good at every area, and don't just stick to lead cause you think it's "cool". Rythm is alot more important and will get you farther. Play both, equally.

What kind of sound are you looking for and what kind of guitar/ amp do you have now? You gotta tell us these things or else we can't help you. The guitar you have will greatly affect your tone.

No distortion or overdrive can mask the fact that it's a thin sounding guitar.

 

[il_duce]

When you play scales (which you need to do, if you wanna get better at soloing) don't concentrate on speed. Concentrate on technique, make the notes ring loud, clear, and in time with the metronome. Start at a slow tempo, and gradually increase the tempo every time you practice.

As far as how to get a good bluesy tone, you gotta shop around. Go into stores, play different guitars. Play cheap ones, expensive ones, ones with humbuckers, ones with single coils. Play them all. Pick one which sounds the best to you (that you can afford).

Don't cheap out, because many starters will get a crap guitar, which will sound like crap, so they will quit. Get an axe that makes you want to play.

On the other hand, don't waste all your money on a new Les Paul Custom. A lot of people spend more time trying to get "the best" gear available so they can get that "perfect" tone. Yet they spend more time looking for gear than actually playing their instrument. And then they wonder why they still can't sound like Jimmy Page even though they have all the same gear he used.

What I'm sayin is, get a good guitar you can grow into, but don't get into the habit of buying a new guitar every month. Just play, play, play.

 

[wootapotky]

Guide the string down a bit with your finger; don't just let 'er rip when your bend is done if your bending finger is under that other string.

What if I have to let it go quick to play another note on that string?

Why on earth are you not learning chords?

Mostly because very few songs on my cd's have mainly chords on them. Almost all of them only play chords while they are singing and I can't hear the chords very well so I can't get the strumming down, which is why I don't like playing them. Are there any good chord songs that you guys know of to start me off?

About the bluesy sound I fixed that. I have a Schecter Gryphon and it switches from humbucker to single coil and I fiddled around last night for a long time and found a setting that plays the single coil better so it doesn't sound hollow anymore, it actually sounds pretty good now for the blues sound.

 

[manuva]

Originally posted by wootapotky
I've been playing guitar for about a year now so I'm not that good yet. But I have a question about bending. Whenever I bend up a couple of notes my finger gets caught under the string above and when I release the bend it'll play that string which I don't want it to. Is there a technique to bending better?

Sounds like your action is too high. Get the guitar setup properly, they'll set the action at a height which prevents what you're talking about.