| T O P I C R E V I E W |
| ChineseDM |
Posted - 02/15/2004 : 3:27:59 PM
hi i just llllove tim's songs and i wanna learn them, what would you guys say is one of the more easier songs (not as high speed) but still sounds impressive?
and is there a place where i can learn these terms such as "hybrid picking" and etc?
thanks in advance all |
| 11 L A T E S T R E P L I E S (Newest First) |
| Silky The Pimp |
Posted - 02/19/2004 : 1:36:08 PM
Why thankya. :) |
| Arthen |
Posted - 02/19/2004 : 1:04:38 PM
Silky, your posts rule. |
| ChineseDM |
Posted - 02/19/2004 : 11:35:29 AM
ahh i see, thanks for the detailed response, that's what i'm gonna do then, and that's perfect with these exercises because i lack dexterity/precision as well, i mostly play dave stuff and that isn't too bad in terms of accuracy, so i never really had a good exercise for accuracy, so thanks again  |
| Silky The Pimp |
Posted - 02/19/2004 : 10:51:18 AM
Here are a few basic skills exercises (below). These will help more with dexterity and accuracy in your hands than with mastering the actual techniques themselves... to do that, you need to play (a lot) and use what you gain from exercises in your playing.
To answer your other question directly... both! Do easy finger exercises... but also do difficult ones. Difficult exercises will be "backwards compatible" for lack of a better description. They will allow you to progress with the easier exercises too.
But you are on the right track with your question. You will gain the most from tackling something that you cannot play to speed... starting at a very deliberate pace, and slowly working up to the faster pace. I would do this both for exercises and for songs. Maybe start with "You Are My Sanity" but also spend some time each day working on "Stream." "Stream" is a great learning tool because it requires great pick control and a several different techniques (alternate picking, hybrid picking etc.).
The key to it all is consistency. Don't give up on a song until you've mastered it... same with finger exercises. But just remember this... you can be the most technically skilled player in the world, but if you don't play with heart, you'll always have a lacking sound (ex. - Yngwie Malmstein). On the flip side of that coin, if you play the simplest tune imaginable with your heart fully behind it, others can pick up on that and it can be 10 times as moving (ex. - TR on "To Touch Yearning"). Skill is not everything. Here are the exercises.
The key to improvement with every one of these exercises
is to be consistent. Do not increase speed on any of them
until you can play them perfectly at any given speed. Once
you are flawless at one speed, take it up a notch and practice
until you are perfect at a faster speed, and so on.
Finger Exercise 1: Alternate picking
|------------------------------------------1-2-3-4-------|
|----------------------------------1-2-3-4---------------|
|--------------------------1-2-3-4-----------------------|
|------------------1-2-3-4-------------------------------|
|----------1-2-3-4---------------------------------------|
|--1-2-3-4-----------------------------------------------|
|--4-3-2-1-----------------------------------------------|
|----------4-3-2-1---------------------------------------|
|------------------4-3-2-1-------------------------------|
|--------------------------4-3-2-1-----------------------|
|----------------------------------4-3-2-1---------------|
|------------------------------------------4-3-2-1-------|
Then repeat starting at the 2nd fret, and so forth all
the way up the neck.
Exercise 2: Hammering
|--------------------------------0h2h3-------------------|
|--------------------------0h2h3-------------------------|
|--------------------0h2h3-------------------------------|
|--------------0h2h3-------------------------------------|
|--------0h2h3-------------------------------------------|
|--0h2h3-------------------------------------------------|
Try this using each pair of fingers that you can. Also try
moving the hammers farther apart. Rather than just hammering
from 0->2->3, try 0->2->4 or 0->2->5 or 0->2->6. Once you
are comfortable with starting from an open string, start on
the first fret, and repeat, going up the entire neck.
Again, feel free to widen the hammer.
Exercise 3: Hammering
|-----------------------------------------1h2h3h4--------|
|---------------------------------1h2h3h4----------------|
|-------------------------1h2h3h4------------------------|
|-----------------1h2h3h4--------------------------------|
|---------1h2h3h4----------------------------------------|
|-1h2h3h4------------------------------------------------|
Then, as with the alternate picking exercise, repeat
starting at the 2nd fret, and so forth all the way
up the neck.
Exercise 4: Pulling
|--3p2p0-------------------------------------------------|
|--------3p2p0-------------------------------------------|
|--------------3p2p0-------------------------------------|
|--------------------3p2p0-------------------------------|
|--------------------------3p2p0-------------------------|
|--------------------------------3p2p0-------------------|
Again, as with the first hammering exercise, use every pair
of fingers that you can, and also move the frets you are
pulling off of farther apart.
Exercise 5: Pulling
|--4p3p2p1-----------------------------------------------|
|----------4p3p2p1---------------------------------------|
|------------------4p3p2p1-------------------------------|
|--------------------------4p3p2p1-----------------------|
|----------------------------------4p3p2p1---------------|
|------------------------------------------4p3p2p1-------|
Once again, repeat starting one fret up, and so forth all
the way up the neck.
Exercise 6: Hand control
|-----------------------------------------------2-5-12-9-|
|--------------------------------------2-5-12-9----------|
|-----------------------------1-5-12-9-------------------|
|--------------------2-5-12-9----------------------------|
|-----------2-5-12-9-------------------------------------|
|--2-5-12-9----------------------------------------------|
The idea of this one is to have to quickly move your hand
from one position on the fretboard to another that is
"far" away. The frets don't matter, so much as the distance,
and you can add in another position change if you like that
would take you from high on the fretboard back down low.
This will help develop control for playing songs that require
you to make long slides, or have chords that are in far
positions from each other. |
| Arthen |
Posted - 02/18/2004 : 8:28:48 PM
I don't know about lessons particular to Tim's songs. Just work on general skills in general, picking styles, fingerpicking skills, fingering, etc. Those will all benefit you. Not to mention knowledge of the scales and modes that are found throughout his material. |
| ChineseDM |
Posted - 02/18/2004 : 6:47:32 PM
you guys have any good recommended lessons that will help in tim's songs? if not, when i find lessons should i find a tougher one but on a slow tempo or an easier one on recommended tempo and work up? thanks again! |
| Silky The Pimp |
Posted - 02/18/2004 : 5:03:59 PM
I've been playing a shade under 9 years now... the best way to go is to find some good finger excercises that you like and stick to them. You'de be amazed at how much you can improve your dexterity by just doing 5 or 10 minutes of that a day.
If it's TR material you want to get into... start with some of the easier songs to play and build your way up to the more difficult ones... mix that with a good finger exercise program, and you'll be surprised at how quickly things can come together. |
| Arthen |
Posted - 02/18/2004 : 3:38:45 PM
Yeah, it's pretty easy to find the lessons. Wholenote rules.
I've been playing guitar only about four years. Been playing, well trying anyways, Tim songs for about three years. I just started trying to play them over and over and over. Eventually you build up. It all takes time and practice. |
| ChineseDM |
Posted - 02/18/2004 : 3:10:55 PM
hey thanks guys! btw how long have you guys been playing, cuz some of tim's songs can get pretty fast so just how long have you guys been playing tim to get up to his faster songs?
oh and the site didn't work for some reason  i'll just search for hybrid picking lessons on the site though |
| Silky The Pimp |
Posted - 02/17/2004 : 11:59:26 PM
I've always found You Are My Sanity to be pretty easy. I don't know of a site in particular for guitar vocabulary... but if you ask here I'm sure we'd try to help with your questions.
Hybrid picking is where you use a pick, but you also fingerpick with the fingers that aren't holding the pick. It's very often done alternately. TR does it in Stream after the "mary had a little lamb" part. Here's a link to an exercise:
www.wholenote.com/cgi-bin/page_view.pl%3Fl%3D2801%26p%3D1" target="_blank">http://www.wholenote.com/default.asp?iTarget=http%3A//www.wholenote.com/cgi-bin/page_view.pl%3Fl%3D2801%26p%3D1 |
| Arthen |
Posted - 02/15/2004 : 4:16:52 PM
Easiest: After the Dust Settles
Smile can be fairly easy. So can Los Alamos (except that end and the improv). I think one of the first I learned was Jemez Rolling Waves. |
