One trick I learned regarding nerves and playing live is to run around the block or do something that gets your heart pumping and your body in an non-relaxed state (15 push-ups etc) and practice your piece or passages in that way. It replicates a nervous condition so you know how your body reacts to stage fright without actually being on stage and you can then condition your body to play comfortably.
Just an fyi- and I know a lot of folks are joking in this thread, but this legit helped me with my anxiety soloing in jazz ensembles when my main was tenor sax. Helped with working on my breathing, body shakes and generally helping me relax more. It’s worth at least a try.
I’m proof that 10000 hours of wrong practice makes a mediocre guitarist. I’ve been focusing lately on fixing all my bad habits and these videos have been a tremendous help!
Yeah, i've been breathing wrong my whole life, more than 150 thousand hours. Would you imagine? lol Even talking, my diction is not the best and i have more than 10 thousand hours talking. Some people are stuck in bronze with 7 thousand hours plus, on league of legends. This 10 thousand hours rules is the most bullshit thing ever. What makes one improves is 3 things. Focus, ambition and curiousity. Ambition made you want to improve, curiousity brought you to this video and focus makes you practice it all to perfection. Remember these 3 words everytime you wonder why someone never improves at something: Focus, ambition, curiosity.
Yes, that's correct. There are actually certain rules to the 10 000 hour practice. It's not just the hours, it's also focus, self reflection( i.e. thinking about your mistakes) and so on. Just mindlessly doing 10 000 hours will get you nowhere
Not getting lessons as a teenager is something I deeply regret. I was offered them by my parents countless times, and I used to tell them, “Eddie Van Halen never had lessons!” Well, decades later and countless pentatonic abuse, I’m finally starting to break down the barrier. This is a great video, likely helping me in the long haul. Thank you!
@@laksthegamer1185 Cool. I've heard its a good way to start understanding the neck of the guitar (or maybe other stuff comes first, but its a good early step). Right now I definitely cannot freestyle or anything, and I still haven't really even begun to memorize where the notes are. I'm trying to find an entry point into learning music/chord theory and all that. Came across some pretty good sources, so just gotta try 'em see what works for me I guess.
@@mrhobs For me, it’s decades of pentatonic leads, not understanding much else. I’m not at all saying pentatonic runs are bad. But too much of the same can get old over time, especially when you’re trying to break free from many or most of your compositions sounding too much alike.
2:05 exercise 1 3:25 exercise 2 5:11 exercise 3 7:34 exercise 4 PRACTICE UR POSTURE WITH A STRAP for Live Playing chromatic workouts speed drills practical music theory funk patterns deadnote patterns
That upstroke escape/downstroke escape is something I desperately need for my playing. My pick keeps getting stuck in between the strings and it slows my playing down. Thank you so much for this advice for self-taught guitarists
As a self-taught guitar player for years, i have so many problems finding good material to learn (both about technique and theory) until i found out Bernth's channel. Just want to say thank you, you helped me a ton and deserve millions of subcriber
there's a thing that makes it feel "right on point" with him right? I love watching other courses but here, even though I play accoustic, there's a little something extra that I can't quite put my finger on.
You should watch HowToPracticeGuitar's videos along with TomHessMusicCorp. I think they are the kings of guitar technique videos, no idea why they aren't far more widely known.
I'm not a shredder, more of a boomer rock player. However his lessons, tips, and theory discussions really help me improved even after playing for 45 years (Holy crap! ). I know I'll never get the level of ability like this but I still know working on this has helped me continue to improve. Best tips. Posture, tension and escape movements.
@@reggiebdog I understand. I'm probably older than you and have recently retired from the business world and may never attain this level of playing. I have more time to hone my skills now. Life is but a candle and a dream must give it flame. In these troubled times achieving the highest level of proficiency on this instrument I love so much is my dream, my flame ..... Ariel's Attic on youtube , spotify, bandcamp is what I consider my baseline even at this um, advanced age in the guitar world so to speak.. The thrill of the chase.. If i ever lose IT, that's when it will be time to set the instrument aside. Don't see it happening.. Thank you BERNTH for many helpful videos!!!
There's no shame being a boomer. Without the boomer generation's contributions, none of what is being played today would even exist. Each generation must age, and mature, to realize the importance of influence from the previous one. Perpetual evolution of the instrument.
@@58BURSTi play alot a different music in various bands from 60s,70s, 90s, pop, disco, country, jazz, but metal was never a draw for me. The guitar is an amazing instrument and it has so many various styles and sounds and approaches. I figure adding some amazing Bernth licks can open up new territory for me.. The young boomer.
That "one-sided escape movement preference" really opened my eyes. Surprisingly, I can effortlessly play an arpeggio on four strings, but not on three... First time I notice it, thank you!
As someone who's been drawing for 7 years, I am offended by this horse with human legs. As someone who's been self-taught for just about a year, I thank you for this very useful content and will try to apply your advice ! (Random fact on the horse's legs : the knee/elbow is "inside" the body and the first joint you see is actually the horse's ankle/wrist, and it walks on its toes/fingertips, hence the arms and legs that seem to fold backward compared to us ! Animals just have... very big feet)
it always makes me crazy when people say that animals have “backwards knees.”. but furthering what you said, it’s not just horses but many animals that actually have very short thigh bones, like birds, and what we see as the “knee position” are actually their ankles. what i think is the best way to think about it is that vertebrate animals’ limbs ALL bend in the same way as ours, it’s just that the bones in their limbs are a different length. that and remembering that NO vertebrates have “knees that bend backwards”. also a helpful thing to remember for people who want to animate a werewolf transformation or something. sooooo many older movies have shown the knees snapping backwards when they should have shown the feet enlongating and the thighs shortening. some do get it right tho.
@@mkv2718 Your comment is exactly what I wanted to say but couldn't since it would have been too confused and long, so thank you for the nice addition ! And I didn't know about the werewolf transformation thing, that's interesting
You still call that 'ankle/wrist' a knee tho. Horses have both a knee and elbow on their front legs. The corresponding joints on the hind legs are called a hock and a stifle. The lowest obvious joints are called fetlocks on all four legs.
I'm so happy you mentioned that you were shocked by how hard it is to play single strumming patterns perfectly clean and in time - I always thought I just suck 😂
Campfire acoustic or front porch acoustic jams and out comes a guy you didn’t even know played and you’re jealous of how clean his strumming and chord changes are . I’ve been in that situation more times than I can remember . Most of the time they wish they could do some of that single note domination and I wished I wasn’t self taught .
@@brandonjackson5865 damn i didnt even think there were other people like this haha. I remember when i switched from classical guitar to electric and got tremendously frustrated because i couldn’t even play a scale at 60 bpm with a pick and was (still am) never sure if i was moving my right hand correctly. Since then i’ve learned all of the shreddy techniques pretty decently, but i still couldn’t make a pop song sound good to save my life. It feels like there is something extremely obvious that i am missing
@@benjaminj883 I always thought it was for me at least that I started on electric and learned bar chords first and eventually realized that I knew the cowboy chords from the clean intros to the metal songs I learned, the arpeggiated soaked in chorus intros that I still love. When I imagine a clean guitar tone it’s a jazz chorus or twin reverb with a ce2 in front set slow and deep on the neck pickup . I think if I had started out on a steel stringed acoustic my open chord changes would be much cleaner. I can work on it and clean them up a lot but it’s still not those crisp bluegrass players chord changes
Crazy what BERNTH’s videos have done for me. Would have never thought I would play any CHON and some Polyphia. Just grabbed a lot of his legato, sweep picking, tapping, and shredding videos and put them into a practice routine. Also fixing my picking motion to close hand worked wonders ! Great teacher !
@@nunolance23 well he has plenty of videos. Choose the ones where it’s a daily challenge where you start from 40bm and then so on. So one day I would do: Legato, Tapping, Sweep Picking, Shred video. About 15 mins each strict form. Then later in the day I’ll learn some of my fav chon stuff as best I could. Then next day I’ll switch it up: Tapping, Sweep picking, music theory, and alternate picking two notes per string exercises and so on. Just find the videos for you and practice to his videos about 15 mins each technique per day. I can only do an 1 hour if techniques before my mind wanders. But later in the day I’ll learn a song I want. Also helps to watch his picking and neck gripping videos. Helped me be more relaxed and have fun with it. Good luck !!
My lessons were pretty much some chords, the pentatonic scale and “Sunshine of your Love”. Then 19 years of playing by myself. Watching your videos has made me realise a lot of things I’ve been doing wrong for a long time.
Glad you've mentioned a posture. There's a lot of guitarists (including me), who are not able to play equally when sitting or standing. Video about that would be great, but I can't force you... :)
Optimal, effective, but also FUN practice! Thanks a lot for this. I’ve been wanting something more to push myself further and this is exactly what I needed.
I had a time a few years ago when I basically only practiced metal and I had such a hard time when I was about to try new genres, but also correcting my mistakes in technique. I had to completely rework the way I held the pick and this channel taught me the correct way. Nowadays I play many different genres. Pop, rock, blues, jazz, and more. I can do basic open chords, but also complicated jazz chords. And now I can even play a bit of fingerstyle. Because I also play the piano I've had an easier time learning music theory. I usually visualize the fretboard as a piano. And now I've basically become a music theory nerd (mostly jazz theory).
I never get nervous on stage. I crave that interaction and feedback from the audience. It unlocks my virtuosity, because then I’m playing from my heart instead of my head. Use your head in practice (Practice Practice!) and rehearsal, so you can rely on your heart on stage.
I enjoy that as an "artist" you are 'exercising' multiple instruments via sketch and in my humble experience. Piano helped me build tonic variation, guitar helped me build rhythm that transitions into my piano improv. But drawing freehand (I'm left handed but play traditional) that helps me really analyze shaping, muscle groups in wrist and fingers using only pencil. I'm getting better all over mind and body. This exercise will be very stimulating to say the least. I began guitar in a metalcor3 band but I play in folk, funk n pop/ballad more than metal solo riff picking and sweeps. Finger picking and variants with pick and fingers also gives my right hand new solo riff skill on piano and that also begets rhythm style in string. Great thought experience and implementation.
and that last tip.... tension and pressure, that is a performance tip that can transcend instrument, genre, even the basic material. I come from a spoken word poetry background, with training as a stage actor. I am primarily a rapper. I love guitar and have noodled for most of my life... but the tension and pressure tip-i immediately felt how that translates to microphone technique concerning grip position, breath, distance, and delivery dynamics. shoot goes for throwing a good punch too.
genuinely one of the best guitar videos I've seen in ages! All the points made here are 100% spot on! Especially that point about live playing tension!
The single-note domination is spot on. Even some of the big shred guys have an algorithm or trick to figure out the structure in their playing. So when you do get it, even if you can't quite nail the raw speed (because Nuno and Petrucci are absolute freaks), you still get the trick and can maybe even blag your way through their songs. Big learning later comes when you try playing stuff where there's nowhere to hide, no tricks and every note means something. Can't cheat with any of the goddamn Hellecasters, just have to nail it. Even Johnny Marr, I swear This Charming Man gave me more sweats on-stage than playing, say, Jump. Every note matters and the audience will notice even one clam instantly.
As an artist as well as a guitarist, my drawing recommendation is that you start with something simple, like an apple, but pay attention to shading and highlights. Animals are much more of a challenge because they require knowledge of that specific animal's anatomy in order for a drawing to look convincing.
Artist myself, but I'd say it was quite the point to pick something hard for comedic effect ;) That said it wasn't tooooo bad, he started with the big shapes and proportions which alread covers a lot of mileage for a good drawing. Yes, the anatomy of horses and any quadrupeds is veeery speific: A quick tip is to understand the bones of the hind leg, because that's where the "inverse knee" is most visible: Quadrupeds basically walk on their tippy toes (feet and toes stretched very long) and at the human knee position is their ANKLE (bending backwards!). The actual horse knee sits vey close to their hip and is covered with muscle. You can get away with drawing a stick for the fore legs, but the hind legs need to be closer to the real shape. However, the head is spot on, horses ARE creepy, and that is a perfect drawing of their TRVE form ;-)
The learning curve graph was spot on, it was a great idea putting it in the video because it makes visible the actual representation of learning. Not too many people have this creativity, no matter the topic they are discussing here on youtube.
Playing music is a constant battle with frustration. I'm far FAR away from "good playing" but I'm making progress in my picking hand after years of bad habits. It's never too late to go back to basics and unlearn some other things, it's just getting out of the comfort zone of what we can actually play comfortably good, hiding behind the "ego of a musician" if you will. Hope you're making progress man, keep on grinding 👽🔥
Bernth, I usually get lost about half way through the video, but I sure love to watch them and try to do some of the exercises you present, so Thanks a bunch.
The horse could be out of the Berserk Eclipse(Japanese Manga). The other question is: how do I hold my pick and how do I arrange the other three fingers of the hand that holds the pick correctly? Naturally I want to open my hand. But I see a lot of guitar players who are able to keep their fingers together, almost like a fist and like you did in the clip.
Check the picking mistakes videos of the same channel. But he recommend to make kind of a fist and keep your hand close, so you have more control of your picking hand because the motion is minimal
Personally I find open hand is easier for bigger rythm strumming and close my fist for faster subdivision sweeps and picking individual notes with your pick essentially make a cross with your thumb and index and put the pick in between the two when plucking slightly angle your pick and dont just flatly pick the string
How do you keep coming up with such amazing lessons with the frequency you do? You're seriously the best guitar lesson channel on RUclips right now. On that note, I'm totally adding that modal arpeggio/scale exercises to my lesson plan. A horse with the mouth of a crocodile is the thing of nightmares. I love it.
Honestly learning to play afew Polyphia songs has helped me immensely on a lot of these techniques although ever since learning to hybrid pick I always pick with an open hand now and find it awkward to pick closed hand.
in the exercise 3, you start with an A dim arpeggio, and then goes to B locrian with alternate picking, i guess is just a tab error, you can just transpose everything a full tone, so it starts on the 14 fret on the A string, the B for the B dim arpegio
Prob the first video I’ve seen that not only says like, the reasons you’re struggling, but then throwing out exercises to show said techniques. Really good video 🫡
I've been wanting to learn to play for various reasons and have been apprehensive.... 3 minutes of watching you and i'm already feeling like i could do it with your help with the way you're explaining things. i can't wait to finish this video and watch more before i purchase a guitar and give it a go.
Well, now you got to buy that 🎸 and you must show it to us. It comes handy for both of us, you got your guitar and we will actually believe your words! :)
The last one is so true. I play bass, just some simple pop sounding songs. But practicing sitting down and performing live standing up is so different. My big other mistake is i kinda avoid using my pinky finger, limiting me to a lot of guitar technique and cool chords
The advice I always give people who have stage fright is to two-fold. First, always practice the same way you'll play. In my case, standing with my drummer behind me and the synth player to my right. I'm facing away from the band, and I'm doing the same types of movements I'd do onstage. We are playing an established playlist in the same order. I'm imagining that I'm onstage at that moment. I've even gone as far as to make cardboard cutouts of people and place them in different spots so I can look at them and imagine that I'm playing to the crowd. Secondly, when the set is about to start, I'll close my eyes and look straight up. I'm tuning out all of the outside noise. I'm building up energy in my head and body. I'm like an Olympic swimmer waiting for the gun to fire so I can start the race. What I'm waiting for is the 4 count from the drummer. In my world, there is silence, then tss tss tss tss. The 4 count sets me free. At that point, I start playing the song. I know how to play it. I don't look at the crowd until I've gotten past the intro of the song. At that point, I don't have the choice to stop. We've gotten too far into the song. All I can do is just keep playing. By the end of the 2nd song, I'm on autopilot. I'm just doing exactly as I've been doing during practice. TLDR: Practice like you play, play like you practice, and the 4 count sets you free.
Dude, I've been a long-time watcher, and I've gained so much knowledge from the bits you post here, I finally went and joined the Patreon group. Beyond stoked to continue my journey as a guitarist and musician with you. \m/
I appreciate that Bernth has incorporated Troy’s Cracking the Code vocabulary like upstroke and downstroke escape, however I feel like that the original idea that there are actually multiple ways to make picking technique work is a bit lost in the progress. For example, closed and open fist pick grips are both viable options depending on the person. For me both work well but I prefer open fist because it introduces less tension and helps with noise control.
That is argueably not true. Open hand your fingers hit/bounce off the pickguard resulting in a less efficient movement. and added stirng noise That's not to say that great shredders can't use open hand, but from a technical standpoint. Bernth is correct.
@@davidhurd2477 Not if you slightly curl your fingers. I do think closed hand allows most people to play more cleanly, but doesn't mean you can't shred open handed.
I feel like I'm stuck with my picking, because I've always played open hand and after watching Bernth for a while I feel like I need to start playing closed hand and surprise surprise, it's making me worse. Now idk how to pick anymore.
@@Edwin-nh8gk Man I feel EXACTLY the same as you. Been playing almost 2 yrs picking open hand and after watching Bernth here and there I tried to switch to closed and it just feels... wrong. I especially have trouble tremolo picking with closed hand. Perhaps im just not used to it. I really dont know
Last big step I took in my guitar playing couple of years back was to simply push the speed of the songs on a limit where I can play them. I used to spend countless hours trying to perfectly play songs and it seemed like endless work. When I pushed up the speed, I obviously made much more mistakes, but I also had to lock in and feel rhythm to keep it together. There's much less distraction and chance to overthink. It took very little time to start getting much better with timing and accuracy, and lowering the speed I suddenly could play them in a whole different level than previously.
@@Peron1-MC Nah. That wasn't the point. You shouldn't always practice with the same tempo anyways, especially that fast you consistently miss notes. But you need push constantly ahead to get better.
Hi Bernth, great video! If i may give you a tip for the horse head, you made the mouth way too far back, a horse mouth only opens at the front. You drew it almost up until the eyes. It should end much closer to the front of the head.
Yup. I held a pick wrong for 2 decades, and now I can't change. Not without hours and hours and hours and I don't have time. Learn things correctly the first time and you'll thank yourself. GREAT VIDEO!
Thank you for your videos, Ive made a terrible mistake of giving up guitar when I was 16 back then we had big comunity of musicians in my town. Now I have more free time after my studies and Ive picked it up again. Im basically forced to be self-taught there is no musical school anymore, no bands nor any venues, so I have only feedback from my friend who doesnt live in my town anymore and sometimes we meet to have a beer and he helps me. So people like you are big help.
I am completely self taught and now looking back on these videos after playing for a decade I have to say; if you're trying hard every day and you have critical thinking skills you will come to these conclusions without anyone teaching you. Because I have, it's nice to have the confirmation though. Caveat, I started on Piano; learned all the keys by ear and started composition without knowing theory - but it's all math, so if you have a mathematical mind you will learn theory just by training your ear to learn all the keys. I had a piano teacher literally force me to take a lesson because they said I was so gifted; simply because I could play in any key by ear on piano. Those lessons made me want to quit music all together. Theory is a double edged sword. If you learn it just for technical knowledge that can cause you not to realize breaking the rules can make the coolest shit ever. I've been paid to compose entire orchestra's for commercials; no lessons, no theory teachers. It's about developing your ear and being extremely critical. Don't try to be like everyone else! The only reason metal exists is because people DIDN'T listen to their musical teachers. But you have to have CRITICAL THINKING SKILLS. You have to turn every thought upside down and see it from every angle, focus, and learn to learn on your own. Just copying speedy people you will be a poor copy. I was homeschooled though, so I guess a key is to be homeschooled - I also taught myself from 6th grade on, so you have to start young on teaching yourself! Then you learn to teach yourself, then you can teach yourself effectively. Learning how to teach yourself is more important than learning. Just playing around trying to go fast is not teaching yourself. You must think, think about every aspect of what is going on. From how sound travels, why a string makes noise, why a guitar resonates and how pickups work. Think.
I was believing this until I went to your page. You remind me of the teacher I had for a little as a kid. He was a musical genius the industry just never gave him a chance 😂
People lack critical thinking skills and love to be told what to do. Shame more people don't explore their own ideas as often. Always starts with a google search on how to become "better", when "better" is just objective. I have more fun playing random notes in random sequences on the guitar than I do trying to mimic a great song like Octopuses Garden or Stairway to Heaven. If more people learned to play for themselves and not for pride then the musical world will get its next "metal". Good take!
@@austinfancher5908 A few artists come to mind - such as Jimi Hendrix. He had a pretty rough childhood, but was passionate about music. Even without support financially or intellectually he found a way. Legend has it he strung up rubber bands and strings to make make-shift instruments as a kid and would practice on them often. Later on in life he would become credited for being the founder of the "distorted" guitar sound; he achieved this by punching many holes in an amplifiers speaker. He said he was just being creative and wanted a certain sound - this would later be emulated by overdriving driving tubes... I am sad that people like that are the exception and not the norm. I guess it shows the human race has a lot of evolving to do. Perhaps it also shows that our "standards" in education and development may be holding back minds from developing in certain ways. It's a very complex issue, but it's worth thinking about.
I was surprised to discover when i played my first gig at 13yrs old with our band there was no stage fright,and i felt more at home with playing on stage than anything id ever done previously .😊
Yea being self taught, i never put any barriers on just doing what feels natural to me even if its "technically wrong" or not the way a professional would do, and the upside to that is just feeling free to do what you want like i learn songs by ear and quickly realized theres usually atleast 2 ways to play any song and i would play the most difficult way until i learn the actual way a song cover is played and find out a much easier way than what i tried lol but i noticed i should be much further in progressing than I actually am. Ive been playing since i was 7yrs old and im now 34yrs old, ive definitely improved but not as far as I should be. But because of money restraints and being a lefty with right handed guitars it took me awhile before i actually got a guitar that fits me aesthetically better but i STILL havent gotten a guitar perfect for me. But i notice my picking right hand is severely lacking...because i never really cared about picking techniques growing up playing....but ive realized why some covers I play doesnt sound quite exact as the way it sounds on album even though im playing the right strings...but like with alternate picking im not great at it or chugging the low E string as im playing something on the 5th string the chugging doesnt sound as tight. And/or it sounds sloppy because I originally started playing with no pick, just using my thumb and other fingers to strum but realized if i want to play extreme metal and Thrash i need to learn using a pick
Just wanna tell you that after 25 years of playing I tried switching picking style after seeing one of your videos. That was about a year ago or so, and I've upped my shredding game soo much. It's easier on my arm, a lot more controlled and sounds better as well. Thank you!
I'm 70, I started playing guitar when I was 5. Being self taught has never hindered me. I played my first professional show at 14. Now at 70 the only thing that does hinder me is the arthritis in my hands but I compensate and keep pulling it off. Your generation might think it's all about speed but frankly it's not. Your exercises will help a lot of young musicians who want to play shred and metal though. Keep up the good work.
I'm a total newbie in electric and play mostly acoustic which also am a newbie. I watch this video and my mind goes like. "Hmm hmmm.... Yeah. This totally sounds like magic and some kinda wizard words. I don't have the slightest idea what it is."
If I were you keep learning on the acoustic. When you switch to playing electric it will be easier on your hands because an electric is more giving and less tension on your hands. Plus learn how to finger pick.
@@Strings-jg2to I can do some finger picking as long as the song isn't too fast. I can't use a pick at all though. Tried it and I felt like I dislocated my shoulders by trying do to a pinch harmonic.
As a teenager I was VERY guilty of 1 and 3. I remember in my 20s a random MAB video had him talk about pick escaping and optimizing economy of movement that way, and it made it so that I had to relearn a lot of my picking technique because of that (and I could definitely shred by then so that was annoying haha). Anyway solid video and presentation. These mistakes are definitely more subtle than the average player will give credit for.
Something I learned a while back is the way you hold your guitar can actually severely impact your guitar's tuning if you have a floating bridge. People with larger bellies are also affected by this. Try your best to always hold your guitar the game either standing up or sitting down
You know it's bad when you've been playing for like 12 years and look at the correct and incorrect ways to hold a pick and you dont do *either of them* ...
It’s so weird how two months ago I wouldn’t have understood a thing he said when it comes to music theory my school teaches it and man I feel good knowing what he’s talking about
Start by trying to draw the Horse roughly in shape of circles. Only draw them lightly at first, but you need them as guidelines to verify the proportions later. I would try drawing the snout only showing one nose hole. And then drawing the hole in the shape of a lying 9. And call it "Horst" next time ;) Thanks for the vid btw
Ive been trying to learn Riot of Violence by Kreator and its really giving me a tough time. I can consistently play the main riff at 80%tempo, but anything higher I play very sloppily.
I think my biggest problem was that I always wanted to play fast thrash and death metal rhythm guitar, and that's really it. So my advice to old me would be "push yourself, don't hurt yourself." I've recently come up with exercises to help me with my endurance specifically and what I've learned is that you shouldn't be comfortable when you're pushing because you have to be uncomfortable enough that you're forcing yourself to loosen up, but if it starts to hurt or it gets difficult to keep time, stop and rest that arm. Also, I was the opposite of a lot of guitarists, I never did exercises because especially starting out I didn't really care about doing lead guitar, all I cared about were riffs. What helped me more than anything else was finding riffs I could turn into exercises because it's way more interesting, then I can trick my brain into a more big picture focus rather than hyperfocusing on my picking technique. Finally, realizing its OK to take breaks when you're learning stuff that's really pushing you. (Or better yet, having an off day where you just do some exercises and call it between practicing the big song or whatever) because I remember before I learned that, I gave myself tennis elbow practicing Master of Puppets lol
Guitar needs to think outside the box or it will go nowhere Still cool people are trying to teach "right from wrong" But is there really is something like that?
there isn't, its all up to the individual how you want to play thats generally why people play music. but of course we should let the gurus tell us that we are always doing something wrong and to follow there every command 😄 honestly these guitar channels are everything thats wrong with youtube. Bring back the real and cancel the garbage youtube.
I'm a self taught guitarist and I mostly play blues, rock and whatever moves me musically, I just started playing hollowed be thy name from iron maiden.. Seemingly a easy song with basic licks nothing to hard for me who has been playing for 3years already, but when playing the licks at fastser speeds I realised that my picking technique was really taking so much from my playing, I find inconsitansies and it feels like it breaks my rhythm, I just want to say thank you so much for posting these videos you've given me something to work with and a way to check myself... And if it wasn't for this I would probly never improve or become anything more than a beginner.
I took lessons for a few years in my late teens, then life and family happened and I always played when I could thinking that when my kids were older and on their own I would come back to it. That time is now but in that time I developed multiple sclerosis and it affects my pick hand quite a bit. My hand trembles and I usually just drop a pick. So I’ve been working on classical guitar fingerpicking, changing everything about playing to what I thought I would come back to. Sometimes life throws curveballs and we have to adapt. I wish like hell I could practice this. I’ve always wanted to be a fast picker, but learning to adapt is crucial, for anything in life. Whatever happens be the best you can. Rock on 🤘
I started doing negative reinforcement with the pick-dropping. I'd only practice until I dropped my pick, and that really worked. Now, you couldn't pull that thing out of my hand with a pair of pliers.
my favorite video so far is the piano 🎹 visual overlay on the guitar fretboard helps me increase understanding and learning fundamental theory scales modes that is something i really wish i had back in 1980 when i began learning how to play guitar
I really appreciate this video. It shows some really helpful exercises, even if I a lot of what I tend to gravitate towards is less on the metal side. I'm happy I was able to play the first exercise pretty alright. In fact, playing it full alternate picking instead of cherry picking based on muscle memory/the direction the hand was already moving felt like the easiest way to play it (which I'm sure was the point). I'll probably continue to just do what feels right, but I'll definitely start explicitly practicing full alternate picking more to help with learning more complex future riffs and patterns.
My issue with the picking exercise is completely different. My pick technique is fine for it, at least I couldn't get far enough along to detect an issue. My issue is that I play in a let ring style, so I have extreme difficulty playing such a pattern as individual notes. Time to practice!
Bei Ola gesehen, hier auf dem Kanal gestöbert und direkt Abo! Spiele schon seit 1994 und konnte hier ziemlich viele Fehler bei meiner Spielweise ausmachen und ordentlich angehen (und ja, ich bin "self-taught-player"...).Daumen hoch!
at first i was careless about what you where saying or pointing out our mistakes, but watching all of your videos, makes me realize that i really have so much mistakes in my guitar journey. the way you talk, youre so familiar in many mistake seems like you have encountered all of that and now youre a big help to us thanks to this channel its a very helpful channel
After playing bass since 2002, i bought an electric guitar last week. Looking forward to learn a totally new instrument (for me at least). Your videos are really helpful for a total noob like me😅 Thank you! ❤
Got tired of screenshoting clips from your exercises and said take my money on Patreon, never would do this in a million years with these insufferable self professed RUclips guitarists but you are so legit my dude thank you for standing out from the crowd!
That horse drawing caught my attention 😅 would’ve watched anyways cuz you play incredibly and your videos are easy to understand and so awesome! 😁🤘 pure gold
Over the years I played without my pinky finger, I'm just now learning at 48 years old, I was fast AF with just 3 fingers but it opened up a whole new world once I started using my pinky😏
You are one of the most Humble and Amazing Vertouso Guitarist Sir, unlike other youtubers who criticize Legendary Guitar players, Thank you for teaching us how to play guitar and giving us a positive mindset😊👍👍👍
I'm glad I found you on here. Thanks! I found you after I got the weird and wonderful 7 string guitar. It gave me interest in music I had not previously been interested in, and techniques I had not pursued.
I noticed a number of years ago that recording is also a skill of its' own. And I don't mean setting up the amps for recording and getting a good tone or any of that, but just being able to actually play the stuff tight after the REC button has been pressed. I never had issues with this because I'm a geek and always had a simple recording setup available at home, and I can definitely recommend that to anyone. Back when I started it took a bit of effort as interfaces and stuff wasn't as cheap and easy to setup as these days, but these days there's really no excuse not to practice recording. It's similar to playing live in some ways, you can't really replicate it without actually doing it.
I pretty much agree dude but I think of the two more like rhythm and lead. When I'm strumming rhythm and singing I use the wider pick hold. When I need to get into a lead and be more precise, that's when I choke up on the pick for more accuracy and attack. But, you know, it's really whatever is most comfortable to the player. I'm not telling you anything you don't already know, Good vid either way, your pretty sick on the guitar
Download today's exercise play-along videos, tabs, backing tracks & guitar pro files ▶ www.patreon.com/bernth - happy practicing 🤘
Random German word unheimlich. That horse looks unheimlich!!🤘
🎸
Do you need my address to send me your masterpiece? I’ll blindly draw a random object and send it to you in return. 🤘🏼🎸
love the humor about subscribe and get better xD
Thanks these are amazing
One trick I learned regarding nerves and playing live is to run around the block or do something that gets your heart pumping and your body in an non-relaxed state (15 push-ups etc) and practice your piece or passages in that way. It replicates a nervous condition so you know how your body reacts to stage fright without actually being on stage and you can then condition your body to play comfortably.
nice one man
@@ziggylayneable thats the real rockstar way🤣🤘🏽
Thanks for the sharing. I will test
@@ziggylayneable haha, this would not work as you enter a a state of self confidence despite the pumping heart.
Just an fyi- and I know a lot of folks are joking in this thread, but this legit helped me with my anxiety soloing in jazz ensembles when my main was tenor sax. Helped with working on my breathing, body shakes and generally helping me relax more. It’s worth at least a try.
I’m proof that 10000 hours of wrong practice makes a mediocre guitarist. I’ve been focusing lately on fixing all my bad habits and these videos have been a tremendous help!
Same, dude. Best of luck to you!
Yeah, i've been breathing wrong my whole life, more than 150 thousand hours. Would you imagine? lol
Even talking, my diction is not the best and i have more than 10 thousand hours talking.
Some people are stuck in bronze with 7 thousand hours plus, on league of legends.
This 10 thousand hours rules is the most bullshit thing ever.
What makes one improves is 3 things.
Focus, ambition and curiousity.
Ambition made you want to improve, curiousity brought you to this video and focus makes you practice it all to perfection.
Remember these 3 words everytime you wonder why someone never improves at something:
Focus, ambition, curiosity.
Yeah. I’m with you dude. I just recently realized that I’ve been picking and holding the dam neck and body incorrectly. Lol
@@YskarAlbumLunaactualy we are breathing wrong. Learn yoga u will understand the proper breathing method and its a fact
Yes, that's correct. There are actually certain rules to the 10 000 hour practice. It's not just the hours, it's also focus, self reflection( i.e. thinking about your mistakes) and so on. Just mindlessly doing 10 000 hours will get you nowhere
Not getting lessons as a teenager is something I deeply regret. I was offered them by my parents countless times, and I used to tell them, “Eddie Van Halen never had lessons!” Well, decades later and countless pentatonic abuse, I’m finally starting to break down the barrier. This is a great video, likely helping me in the long haul. Thank you!
What is pentatonic abuse? So I can avoid it. I want to learn the pentatonic scale, so is there a problem with that?
@@mrhobs learn from good sources and pentatonics are good
@@laksthegamer1185 Cool. I've heard its a good way to start understanding the neck of the guitar (or maybe other stuff comes first, but its a good early step). Right now I definitely cannot freestyle or anything, and I still haven't really even begun to memorize where the notes are. I'm trying to find an entry point into learning music/chord theory and all that. Came across some pretty good sources, so just gotta try 'em see what works for me I guess.
@@mrhobs For me, it’s decades of pentatonic leads, not understanding much else. I’m not at all saying pentatonic runs are bad. But too much of the same can get old over time, especially when you’re trying to break free from many or most of your compositions sounding too much alike.
@@mrhobs watch this video for good start with pentatonic scales: ruclips.net/video/X9rYOhX77mA/видео.html
2:05 exercise 1
3:25 exercise 2
5:11 exercise 3
7:34 exercise 4
PRACTICE UR POSTURE WITH A STRAP for Live Playing
chromatic workouts
speed drills
practical music theory
funk patterns
deadnote patterns
That upstroke escape/downstroke escape is something I desperately need for my playing. My pick keeps getting stuck in between the strings and it slows my playing down. Thank you so much for this advice for self-taught guitarists
Ditch the pick, play with the fingers? Some of the best do...
Try a smaller pick
I'm a natural upward pick slant player and practising bleed by meshuggah finally got me to be able to do down as well lol
So much gold in this video Bernth
Thanks for checking it out!! :)
Mainly that horse though
Why the hell am I watching this I’m a self taught pianist
lol😂
You tell me
Why am I watching this if I take guitar lessons😊
@@HaynesEllis I did I’m learning both
Why I am watching this if i am a self taught accordionist
As a self-taught guitar player for years, i have so many problems finding good material to learn (both about technique and theory) until i found out Bernth's channel. Just want to say thank you, you helped me a ton and deserve millions of subcriber
totally agree...he's got the 'teaching gene'
there's a thing that makes it feel "right on point" with him right? I love watching other courses but here, even though I play accoustic, there's a little something extra that I can't quite put my finger on.
You should watch HowToPracticeGuitar's videos along with TomHessMusicCorp. I think they are the kings of guitar technique videos, no idea why they aren't far more widely known.
@@louiscyfer6944 maybe they mean "self taught" is only learn from online video without in hand teacher
@@louiscyfer6944it exists. Lot of famous guitarists are self-taught
I'm not a shredder, more of a boomer rock player. However his lessons, tips, and theory discussions really help me improved even after playing for 45 years (Holy crap! ). I know I'll never get the level of ability like this but I still know working on this has helped me continue to improve. Best tips. Posture, tension and escape movements.
Ok boomer
@@MrPDTaylor haha! I hate the label, but the birthdate says 'boomer'
@@reggiebdog I understand. I'm probably older than you and have recently retired from the business world and may never attain this level of playing. I have more time to hone my skills now. Life is but a candle and a dream must give it flame. In these troubled times achieving the highest level of proficiency on this instrument I love so much is my dream, my flame ..... Ariel's Attic on youtube , spotify, bandcamp is what I consider my baseline even at this um, advanced age in the guitar world so to speak.. The thrill of the chase.. If i ever lose IT, that's when it will be time to set the instrument aside. Don't see it happening.. Thank you BERNTH for many helpful videos!!!
There's no shame being a boomer. Without the boomer generation's contributions, none of what is being played today would even exist. Each generation must age, and mature, to realize the importance of influence from the previous one.
Perpetual evolution of the instrument.
@@58BURSTi play alot a different music in various bands from 60s,70s, 90s, pop, disco, country, jazz, but metal was never a draw for me. The guitar is an amazing instrument and it has so many various styles and sounds and approaches. I figure adding some amazing Bernth licks can open up new territory for me.. The young boomer.
That "one-sided escape movement preference" really opened my eyes. Surprisingly, I can effortlessly play an arpeggio on four strings, but not on three... First time I notice it, thank you!
As someone who's been drawing for 7 years, I am offended by this horse with human legs.
As someone who's been self-taught for just about a year, I thank you for this very useful content and will try to apply your advice !
(Random fact on the horse's legs : the knee/elbow is "inside" the body and the first joint you see is actually the horse's ankle/wrist, and it walks on its toes/fingertips, hence the arms and legs that seem to fold backward compared to us ! Animals just have... very big feet)
it always makes me crazy when people say that animals have “backwards knees.”. but furthering what you said, it’s not just horses but many animals that actually have very short thigh bones, like birds, and what we see as the “knee position” are actually their ankles.
what i think is the best way to think about it is that vertebrate animals’ limbs ALL bend in the same way as ours, it’s just that the bones in their limbs are a different length. that and remembering that NO vertebrates have “knees that bend backwards”.
also a helpful thing to remember for people who want to animate a werewolf transformation or something. sooooo many older movies have shown the knees snapping backwards when they should have shown the feet enlongating and the thighs shortening. some do get it right tho.
@@mkv2718 Your comment is exactly what I wanted to say but couldn't since it would have been too confused and long, so thank you for the nice addition ! And I didn't know about the werewolf transformation thing, that's interesting
Herbert is gorgeous though :]
You still call that 'ankle/wrist' a knee tho. Horses have both a knee and elbow on their front legs. The corresponding joints on the hind legs are called a hock and a stifle.
The lowest obvious joints are called fetlocks on all four legs.
I'm so happy you mentioned that you were shocked by how hard it is to play single strumming patterns perfectly clean and in time - I always thought I just suck 😂
Campfire acoustic or front porch acoustic jams and out comes a guy you didn’t even know played and you’re jealous of how clean his strumming and chord changes are . I’ve been in that situation more times than I can remember . Most of the time they wish they could do some of that single note domination and I wished I wasn’t self taught .
@@brandonjackson5865 I literally can’t even do the basic chords but I can alternate pick and tap
Scrolled to this comment right as he was saying this lmfao
@@brandonjackson5865 damn i didnt even think there were other people like this haha. I remember when i switched from classical guitar to electric and got tremendously frustrated because i couldn’t even play a scale at 60 bpm with a pick and was (still am) never sure if i was moving my right hand correctly. Since then i’ve learned all of the shreddy techniques pretty decently, but i still couldn’t make a pop song sound good to save my life. It feels like there is something extremely obvious that i am missing
@@benjaminj883 I always thought it was for me at least that I started on electric and learned bar chords first and eventually realized that I knew the cowboy chords from the clean intros to the metal songs I learned, the arpeggiated soaked in chorus intros that I still love. When I imagine a clean guitar tone it’s a jazz chorus or twin reverb with a ce2 in front set slow and deep on the neck pickup . I think if I had started out on a steel stringed acoustic my open chord changes would be much cleaner. I can work on it and clean them up a lot but it’s still not those crisp bluegrass players chord changes
Crazy what BERNTH’s videos have done for me. Would have never thought I would play any CHON and some Polyphia. Just grabbed a lot of his legato, sweep picking, tapping, and shredding videos and put them into a practice routine. Also fixing my picking motion to close hand worked wonders ! Great teacher !
Could you Share that routine?
@@nunolance23 well he has plenty of videos. Choose the ones where it’s a daily challenge where you start from 40bm and then so on. So one day I would do: Legato, Tapping, Sweep Picking, Shred video. About 15 mins each strict form. Then later in the day I’ll learn some of my fav chon stuff as best I could. Then next day I’ll switch it up: Tapping, Sweep picking, music theory, and alternate picking two notes per string exercises and so on. Just find the videos for you and practice to his videos about 15 mins each technique per day. I can only do an 1 hour if techniques before my mind wanders. But later in the day I’ll learn a song I want. Also helps to watch his picking and neck gripping videos. Helped me be more relaxed and have fun with it. Good luck !!
My lessons were pretty much some chords, the pentatonic scale and “Sunshine of your Love”. Then 19 years of playing by myself. Watching your videos has made me realise a lot of things I’ve been doing wrong for a long time.
Glad you've mentioned a posture. There's a lot of guitarists (including me), who are not able to play equally when sitting or standing. Video about that would be great, but I can't force you... :)
Optimal, effective, but also FUN practice! Thanks a lot for this. I’ve been wanting something more to push myself further and this is exactly what I needed.
I had a time a few years ago when I basically only practiced metal and I had such a hard time when I was about to try new genres, but also correcting my mistakes in technique. I had to completely rework the way I held the pick and this channel taught me the correct way.
Nowadays I play many different genres. Pop, rock, blues, jazz, and more. I can do basic open chords, but also complicated jazz chords. And now I can even play a bit of fingerstyle. Because I also play the piano I've had an easier time learning music theory. I usually visualize the fretboard as a piano. And now I've basically become a music theory nerd (mostly jazz theory).
I never get nervous on stage. I crave that interaction and feedback from the audience. It unlocks my virtuosity, because then I’m playing from my heart instead of my head.
Use your head in practice (Practice Practice!) and rehearsal, so you can rely on your heart on stage.
I enjoy that as an "artist" you are 'exercising' multiple instruments via sketch and in my humble experience. Piano helped me build tonic variation, guitar helped me build rhythm that transitions into my piano improv. But drawing freehand (I'm left handed but play traditional) that helps me really analyze shaping, muscle groups in wrist and fingers using only pencil. I'm getting better all over mind and body. This exercise will be very stimulating to say the least. I began guitar in a metalcor3 band but I play in folk, funk n pop/ballad more than metal solo riff picking and sweeps. Finger picking and variants with pick and fingers also gives my right hand new solo riff skill on piano and that also begets rhythm style in string. Great thought experience and implementation.
Thanks man it’s been so long since I’ve played guitar (10 years) and this has helped me so much get back to where I was
and that last tip.... tension and pressure, that is a performance tip that can transcend instrument, genre, even the basic material. I come from a spoken word poetry background, with training as a stage actor. I am primarily a rapper. I love guitar and have noodled for most of my life... but the tension and pressure tip-i immediately felt how that translates to microphone technique concerning grip position, breath, distance, and delivery dynamics.
shoot goes for throwing a good punch too.
genuinely one of the best guitar videos I've seen in ages! All the points made here are 100% spot on! Especially that point about live playing tension!
The single-note domination is spot on. Even some of the big shred guys have an algorithm or trick to figure out the structure in their playing. So when you do get it, even if you can't quite nail the raw speed (because Nuno and Petrucci are absolute freaks), you still get the trick and can maybe even blag your way through their songs.
Big learning later comes when you try playing stuff where there's nowhere to hide, no tricks and every note means something. Can't cheat with any of the goddamn Hellecasters, just have to nail it. Even Johnny Marr, I swear This Charming Man gave me more sweats on-stage than playing, say, Jump. Every note matters and the audience will notice even one clam instantly.
As an artist as well as a guitarist, my drawing recommendation is that you start with something simple, like an apple, but pay attention to shading and highlights. Animals are much more of a challenge because they require knowledge of that specific animal's anatomy in order for a drawing to look convincing.
Artist myself, but I'd say it was quite the point to pick something hard for comedic effect ;) That said it wasn't tooooo bad, he started with the big shapes and proportions which alread covers a lot of mileage for a good drawing. Yes, the anatomy of horses and any quadrupeds is veeery speific: A quick tip is to understand the bones of the hind leg, because that's where the "inverse knee" is most visible: Quadrupeds basically walk on their tippy toes (feet and toes stretched very long) and at the human knee position is their ANKLE (bending backwards!). The actual horse knee sits vey close to their hip and is covered with muscle. You can get away with drawing a stick for the fore legs, but the hind legs need to be closer to the real shape.
However, the head is spot on, horses ARE creepy, and that is a perfect drawing of their TRVE form ;-)
The learning curve graph was spot on, it was a great idea putting it in the video because it makes visible the actual representation of learning. Not too many people have this creativity, no matter the topic they are discussing here on youtube.
All of this is way too difficult for me for now. I never even thought of trying sweep or alt picking
I hope I can make it to that level one day
Playing music is a constant battle with frustration. I'm far FAR away from "good playing" but I'm making progress in my picking hand after years of bad habits. It's never too late to go back to basics and unlearn some other things, it's just getting out of the comfort zone of what we can actually play comfortably good, hiding behind the "ego of a musician" if you will. Hope you're making progress man, keep on grinding 👽🔥
all you really need is a goal and motivation! you'll make it there if you REALLY try! you got this man, keep up the great work!
Bernth, I usually get lost about half way through the video, but I sure love to watch them and try to do some of the exercises you present, so Thanks a bunch.
Try reading the transcript of the audio. Helps me find what I need.
@@ZzzzzzzxxxzzzYZ4 thanks, I'll give it a try
Love the drawing idea! I started on acoustic, but your video is still insightful to watch :)
The horse could be out of the Berserk Eclipse(Japanese Manga). The other question is: how do I hold my pick and how do I arrange the other three fingers of the hand that holds the pick correctly? Naturally I want to open my hand. But I see a lot of guitar players who are able to keep their fingers together, almost like a fist and like you did in the clip.
Check the picking mistakes videos of the same channel.
But he recommend to make kind of a fist and keep your hand close, so you have more control of your picking hand because the motion is minimal
Personally I find open hand is easier for bigger rythm strumming and close my fist for faster subdivision sweeps and picking individual notes with your pick essentially make a cross with your thumb and index and put the pick in between the two when plucking slightly angle your pick and dont just flatly pick the string
You know every other channel I’ve watched for tips isn’t as detailed as yours. You go in depth and I love that
How do you keep coming up with such amazing lessons with the frequency you do? You're seriously the best guitar lesson channel on RUclips right now. On that note, I'm totally adding that modal arpeggio/scale exercises to my lesson plan.
A horse with the mouth of a crocodile is the thing of nightmares. I love it.
Honestly learning to play afew Polyphia songs has helped me immensely on a lot of these techniques although ever since learning to hybrid pick I always pick with an open hand now and find it awkward to pick closed hand.
in the exercise 3, you start with an A dim arpeggio, and then goes to B locrian with alternate picking, i guess is just a tab error, you can just transpose everything a full tone, so it starts on the 14 fret on the A string, the B for the B dim arpegio
Thought I was the only one who noticed this at first.
Prob the first video I’ve seen that not only says like, the reasons you’re struggling, but then throwing out exercises to show said techniques. Really good video 🫡
I've been wanting to learn to play for various reasons and have been apprehensive.... 3 minutes of watching you and i'm already feeling like i could do it with your help with the way you're explaining things. i can't wait to finish this video and watch more before i purchase a guitar and give it a go.
Well, now you got to buy that 🎸 and you must show it to us. It comes handy for both of us, you got your guitar and we will actually believe your words! :)
The last one is so true. I play bass, just some simple pop sounding songs. But practicing sitting down and performing live standing up is so different. My big other mistake is i kinda avoid using my pinky finger, limiting me to a lot of guitar technique and cool chords
Eigentlich a Wahnsinn, wieviel Expertise in unserer Stadt steckt. Alles Gute weiterhin für deinen genialen Kanöö👏
The advice I always give people who have stage fright is to two-fold. First, always practice the same way you'll play. In my case, standing with my drummer behind me and the synth player to my right. I'm facing away from the band, and I'm doing the same types of movements I'd do onstage. We are playing an established playlist in the same order. I'm imagining that I'm onstage at that moment. I've even gone as far as to make cardboard cutouts of people and place them in different spots so I can look at them and imagine that I'm playing to the crowd. Secondly, when the set is about to start, I'll close my eyes and look straight up. I'm tuning out all of the outside noise. I'm building up energy in my head and body. I'm like an Olympic swimmer waiting for the gun to fire so I can start the race. What I'm waiting for is the 4 count from the drummer. In my world, there is silence, then tss tss tss tss. The 4 count sets me free. At that point, I start playing the song. I know how to play it. I don't look at the crowd until I've gotten past the intro of the song. At that point, I don't have the choice to stop. We've gotten too far into the song. All I can do is just keep playing. By the end of the 2nd song, I'm on autopilot. I'm just doing exactly as I've been doing during practice.
TLDR: Practice like you play, play like you practice, and the 4 count sets you free.
One thing that's really helped me is doubling every exercise I play or song I learn on both acoustic guitar and electric guitar
Dude, I've been a long-time watcher, and I've gained so much knowledge from the bits you post here, I finally went and joined the Patreon group. Beyond stoked to continue my journey as a guitarist and musician with you. \m/
I love how in every guitar video, they start the video with them playing amazingly to let us know they know what they’re talking about
I appreciate that Bernth has incorporated Troy’s Cracking the Code vocabulary like upstroke and downstroke escape, however I feel like that the original idea that there are actually multiple ways to make picking technique work is a bit lost in the progress. For example, closed and open fist pick grips are both viable options depending on the person. For me both work well but I prefer open fist because it introduces less tension and helps with noise control.
That is argueably not true. Open hand your fingers hit/bounce off the pickguard resulting in a less efficient movement. and added stirng noise
That's not to say that great shredders can't use open hand, but from a technical standpoint. Bernth is correct.
@@davidhurd2477 Not if you slightly curl your fingers. I do think closed hand allows most people to play more cleanly, but doesn't mean you can't shred open handed.
I feel like I'm stuck with my picking, because I've always played open hand and after watching Bernth for a while I feel like I need to start playing closed hand and surprise surprise, it's making me worse. Now idk how to pick anymore.
@@Edwin-nh8gk Man I feel EXACTLY the same as you. Been playing almost 2 yrs picking open hand and after watching Bernth here and there I tried to switch to closed and it just feels... wrong. I especially have trouble tremolo picking with closed hand. Perhaps im just not used to it. I really dont know
Picking to fit the purpose
Last big step I took in my guitar playing couple of years back was to simply push the speed of the songs on a limit where I can play them.
I used to spend countless hours trying to perfectly play songs and it seemed like endless work. When I pushed up the speed, I obviously made much more mistakes, but I also had to lock in and feel rhythm to keep it together. There's much less distraction and chance to overthink.
It took very little time to start getting much better with timing and accuracy, and lowering the speed I suddenly could play them in a whole different level than previously.
yeah you have to find a happy medium between too slow for the rythm to make sense and to fast and miss alot of notes :)
@@Peron1-MC Nah. That wasn't the point. You shouldn't always practice with the same tempo anyways, especially that fast you consistently miss notes.
But you need push constantly ahead to get better.
Hi Bernth, great video!
If i may give you a tip for the horse head, you made the mouth way too far back, a horse mouth only opens at the front.
You drew it almost up until the eyes.
It should end much closer to the front of the head.
You're doing a great job. We all should learn from everywhere we can, thanks for your efforts in doing all this work. Much success to you!
Yup. I held a pick wrong for 2 decades, and now I can't change. Not without hours and hours and hours and I don't have time. Learn things correctly the first time and you'll thank yourself. GREAT VIDEO!
Guilty as charged lol. Called out in front of class, thanks Teach lol😂🤣
🤘👽🤘
Thank you for your videos, Ive made a terrible mistake of giving up guitar when I was 16 back then we had big comunity of musicians in my town. Now I have more free time after my studies and Ive picked it up again. Im basically forced to be self-taught there is no musical school anymore, no bands nor any venues, so I have only feedback from my friend who doesnt live in my town anymore and sometimes we meet to have a beer and he helps me. So people like you are big help.
I am completely self taught and now looking back on these videos after playing for a decade I have to say; if you're trying hard every day and you have critical thinking skills you will come to these conclusions without anyone teaching you. Because I have, it's nice to have the confirmation though.
Caveat, I started on Piano; learned all the keys by ear and started composition without knowing theory - but it's all math, so if you have a mathematical mind you will learn theory just by training your ear to learn all the keys.
I had a piano teacher literally force me to take a lesson because they said I was so gifted; simply because I could play in any key by ear on piano. Those lessons made me want to quit music all together. Theory is a double edged sword. If you learn it just for technical knowledge that can cause you not to realize breaking the rules can make the coolest shit ever.
I've been paid to compose entire orchestra's for commercials; no lessons, no theory teachers.
It's about developing your ear and being extremely critical. Don't try to be like everyone else!
The only reason metal exists is because people DIDN'T listen to their musical teachers.
But you have to have CRITICAL THINKING SKILLS. You have to turn every thought upside down and see it from every angle, focus, and learn to learn on your own. Just copying speedy people you will be a poor copy.
I was homeschooled though, so I guess a key is to be homeschooled - I also taught myself from 6th grade on, so you have to start young on teaching yourself! Then you learn to teach yourself, then you can teach yourself effectively.
Learning how to teach yourself is more important than learning. Just playing around trying to go fast is not teaching yourself. You must think, think about every aspect of what is going on. From how sound travels, why a string makes noise, why a guitar resonates and how pickups work.
Think.
I was believing this until I went to your page. You remind me of the teacher I had for a little as a kid. He was a musical genius the industry just never gave him a chance 😂
People lack critical thinking skills and love to be told what to do. Shame more people don't explore their own ideas as often. Always starts with a google search on how to become "better", when "better" is just objective. I have more fun playing random notes in random sequences on the guitar than I do trying to mimic a great song like Octopuses Garden or Stairway to Heaven. If more people learned to play for themselves and not for pride then the musical world will get its next "metal". Good take!
@@austinfancher5908 A few artists come to mind - such as Jimi Hendrix.
He had a pretty rough childhood, but was passionate about music.
Even without support financially or intellectually he found a way.
Legend has it he strung up rubber bands and strings to make make-shift instruments as a kid and would practice on them often.
Later on in life he would become credited for being the founder of the "distorted" guitar sound; he achieved this by punching many holes in an amplifiers speaker. He said he was just being creative and wanted a certain sound - this would later be emulated by overdriving driving tubes...
I am sad that people like that are the exception and not the norm.
I guess it shows the human race has a lot of evolving to do. Perhaps it also shows that our "standards" in education and development may be holding back minds from developing in certain ways.
It's a very complex issue, but it's worth thinking about.
These type of videos have been very helpful for someone like me who has an extremely irregular work schedule , which makes it hard to find lessons.
I was surprised to discover when i played my first gig at 13yrs old with our band there was no stage fright,and i felt more at home with playing on stage than anything id ever done previously .😊
Yea being self taught, i never put any barriers on just doing what feels natural to me even if its "technically wrong" or not the way a professional would do, and the upside to that is just feeling free to do what you want like i learn songs by ear and quickly realized theres usually atleast 2 ways to play any song and i would play the most difficult way until i learn the actual way a song cover is played and find out a much easier way than what i tried lol but i noticed i should be much further in progressing than I actually am. Ive been playing since i was 7yrs old and im now 34yrs old, ive definitely improved but not as far as I should be. But because of money restraints and being a lefty with right handed guitars it took me awhile before i actually got a guitar that fits me aesthetically better but i STILL havent gotten a guitar perfect for me. But i notice my picking right hand is severely lacking...because i never really cared about picking techniques growing up playing....but ive realized why some covers I play doesnt sound quite exact as the way it sounds on album even though im playing the right strings...but like with alternate picking im not great at it or chugging the low E string as im playing something on the 5th string the chugging doesnt sound as tight. And/or it sounds sloppy because I originally started playing with no pick, just using my thumb and other fingers to strum but realized if i want to play extreme metal and Thrash i need to learn using a pick
😂 it's a zombie horse. Great vid as always
I tried 😂😂
Just wanna tell you that after 25 years of playing I tried switching picking style after seeing one of your videos. That was about a year ago or so, and I've upped my shredding game soo much. It's easier on my arm, a lot more controlled and sounds better as well. Thank you!
You are so good. But I know that you're dedicated af and that your hard work just turned out. Hats off to that and thanks for more videos.
I'm 70, I started playing guitar when I was 5. Being self taught has never hindered me. I played my first professional show at 14. Now at 70 the only thing that does hinder me is the arthritis in my hands but I compensate and keep pulling it off. Your generation might think it's all about speed but frankly it's not. Your exercises will help a lot of young musicians who want to play shred and metal though. Keep up the good work.
You're the best teacher anyone could ask, I love your channel man, thank you for everything!
I'm a total newbie in electric and play mostly acoustic which also am a newbie. I watch this video and my mind goes like. "Hmm hmmm.... Yeah. This totally sounds like magic and some kinda wizard words. I don't have the slightest idea what it is."
If I were you keep learning on the acoustic. When you switch to playing electric it will be easier on your hands because an electric is more giving and less tension on your hands. Plus learn how to finger pick.
@@Strings-jg2to I can do some finger picking as long as the song isn't too fast. I can't use a pick at all though. Tried it and I felt like I dislocated my shoulders by trying do to a pinch harmonic.
@@kinciscorner that's great. I wish I practiced more finger picking when I first started. Keep practicing. You'll get it 💯
As a teenager I was VERY guilty of 1 and 3. I remember in my 20s a random MAB video had him talk about pick escaping and optimizing economy of movement that way, and it made it so that I had to relearn a lot of my picking technique because of that (and I could definitely shred by then so that was annoying haha).
Anyway solid video and presentation. These mistakes are definitely more subtle than the average player will give credit for.
Omfg, can't get past that freakin horse....lmao 😂😂😂😂😂😂
Something I learned a while back is the way you hold your guitar can actually severely impact your guitar's tuning if you have a floating bridge. People with larger bellies are also affected by this. Try your best to always hold your guitar the game either standing up or sitting down
You know it's bad when you've been playing for like 12 years and look at the correct and incorrect ways to hold a pick and you dont do *either of them* ...
It’s so weird how two months ago I wouldn’t have understood a thing he said when it comes to music theory my school teaches it and man I feel good knowing what he’s talking about
BERNTH low key resembles Layne Staley from AiC
Start by trying to draw the Horse roughly in shape of circles. Only draw them lightly at first, but you need them as guidelines to verify the proportions later. I would try drawing the snout only showing one nose hole. And then drawing the hole in the shape of a lying 9.
And call it "Horst" next time ;)
Thanks for the vid btw
Ive been trying to learn Riot of Violence by Kreator and its really giving me a tough time. I can consistently play the main riff at 80%tempo, but anything higher I play very sloppily.
" On a field littered with corpses
Stands a lonely flower
It reminds the world how it was
But we kicked it away with POWER!". \m/
@@karlricardo4088 I LOVE THAT SONG🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥
Great album! I was also learning that song recently.
@@karlricardo4088 Nicee🔥🔥
I think my biggest problem was that I always wanted to play fast thrash and death metal rhythm guitar, and that's really it. So my advice to old me would be "push yourself, don't hurt yourself." I've recently come up with exercises to help me with my endurance specifically and what I've learned is that you shouldn't be comfortable when you're pushing because you have to be uncomfortable enough that you're forcing yourself to loosen up, but if it starts to hurt or it gets difficult to keep time, stop and rest that arm.
Also, I was the opposite of a lot of guitarists, I never did exercises because especially starting out I didn't really care about doing lead guitar, all I cared about were riffs. What helped me more than anything else was finding riffs I could turn into exercises because it's way more interesting, then I can trick my brain into a more big picture focus rather than hyperfocusing on my picking technique.
Finally, realizing its OK to take breaks when you're learning stuff that's really pushing you. (Or better yet, having an off day where you just do some exercises and call it between practicing the big song or whatever) because I remember before I learned that, I gave myself tennis elbow practicing Master of Puppets lol
Guitar needs to think outside the box or it will go nowhere
Still cool people are trying to teach "right from wrong"
But is there really is something like that?
there isn't, its all up to the individual how you want to play thats generally why people play music. but of course we should let the gurus tell us that we are always doing something wrong and to follow there every command 😄 honestly these guitar channels are everything thats wrong with youtube. Bring back the real and cancel the garbage youtube.
I'm a self taught guitarist and I mostly play blues, rock and whatever moves me musically, I just started playing hollowed be thy name from iron maiden.. Seemingly a easy song with basic licks nothing to hard for me who has been playing for 3years already, but when playing the licks at fastser speeds I realised that my picking technique was really taking so much from my playing, I find inconsitansies and it feels like it breaks my rhythm, I just want to say thank you so much for posting these videos you've given me something to work with and a way to check myself... And if it wasn't for this I would probly never improve or become anything more than a beginner.
I took lessons for a few years in my late teens, then life and family happened and I always played when I could thinking that when my kids were older and on their own I would come back to it. That time is now but in that time I developed multiple sclerosis and it affects my pick hand quite a bit. My hand trembles and I usually just drop a pick. So I’ve been working on classical guitar fingerpicking, changing everything about playing to what I thought I would come back to. Sometimes life throws curveballs and we have to adapt. I wish like hell I could practice this. I’ve always wanted to be a fast picker, but learning to adapt is crucial, for anything in life. Whatever happens be the best you can. Rock on 🤘
I’ve been searching far and wide for a quality horse drawing tutorial. Thank you
I started doing negative reinforcement with the pick-dropping. I'd only practice until I dropped my pick, and that really worked. Now, you couldn't pull that thing out of my hand with a pair of pliers.
I'll reply to remember this
my favorite video so far
is the piano 🎹
visual overlay
on the guitar fretboard
helps me increase
understanding and learning fundamental theory scales modes
that is something i really wish
i had back in 1980
when i began learning how to play guitar
I really appreciate this video. It shows some really helpful exercises, even if I a lot of what I tend to gravitate towards is less on the metal side. I'm happy I was able to play the first exercise pretty alright. In fact, playing it full alternate picking instead of cherry picking based on muscle memory/the direction the hand was already moving felt like the easiest way to play it (which I'm sure was the point). I'll probably continue to just do what feels right, but I'll definitely start explicitly practicing full alternate picking more to help with learning more complex future riffs and patterns.
The technique you put as "escape" is also has been coined by Troy Grady - he calls it pick slanting. His videos are gold, worth checking out.
My issue with the picking exercise is completely different. My pick technique is fine for it, at least I couldn't get far enough along to detect an issue. My issue is that I play in a let ring style, so I have extreme difficulty playing such a pattern as individual notes. Time to practice!
Bei Ola gesehen, hier auf dem Kanal gestöbert und direkt Abo! Spiele schon seit 1994 und konnte hier ziemlich viele Fehler bei meiner Spielweise ausmachen und ordentlich angehen (und ja, ich bin "self-taught-player"...).Daumen hoch!
at first i was careless about what you where saying or pointing out our mistakes, but watching all of your videos, makes me realize that i really have so much mistakes in my guitar journey. the way you talk, youre so familiar in many mistake seems like you have encountered all of that and now youre a big help to us thanks to this channel its a very helpful channel
There is no mistakes when playing music. If it's your play Style, then that's how you play. I do not like how this guy goes about teaching at all
That's a mighty special Bdim arpeggio at 5:24.
loving these practice exercises with tabs. new sub! Just getting back into guitar again after almost 10 years off
After playing bass since 2002, i bought an electric guitar last week. Looking forward to learn a totally new instrument (for me at least). Your videos are really helpful for a total noob like me😅
Thank you! ❤
Dude....your a fantastic teacher! Thoroughly enjoy your videos and I've learned alot from them! Thank you!
Got tired of screenshoting clips from your exercises and said take my money on Patreon, never would do this in a million years with these insufferable self professed RUclips guitarists but you are so legit my dude thank you for standing out from the crowd!
Berth is actually a very entertaining and Funny person. Only seen his music till now. Pretty cool dude.
Best teacher I never had. So clear and concise.
That horse drawing caught my attention 😅 would’ve watched anyways cuz you play incredibly and your videos are easy to understand and so awesome! 😁🤘 pure gold
You are an amazing player!!! I can’t believe how many people on RUclips are better guitar players than my guitar hero’s I grew up listening too.
Great video! Thanks for your tips! BTW… the knee of the horse in the back legs is the way around. The opposite way you drew them ;)
Over the years I played without my pinky finger, I'm just now learning at 48 years old, I was fast AF with just 3 fingers but it opened up a whole new world once I started using my pinky😏
You are one of the most Humble and Amazing Vertouso Guitarist Sir, unlike other youtubers who criticize Legendary Guitar players, Thank you for teaching us how to play guitar and giving us a positive mindset😊👍👍👍
Dude you are gold ! Respect for your work and for what you teach ( for free) !
Best teacher on youtube keep up the great work man!
I'm glad I found you on here. Thanks! I found you after I got the weird and wonderful 7 string guitar. It gave me interest in music I had not previously been interested in, and techniques I had not pursued.
Based on the thumbnail, I was expecting insight into pick grip, but ah well, useful tips none the less.
I have never heard the term "escape" for that technique but holy crap does the word make sense!!! I am very much remembering that.
dude wow, that is blowing my fingers apart. I'm 300% doing what you said with the one direction escaping and didn't even know the other side existed
Great video, thank you for always pushing us to improve. You are an excellent teacher.
I noticed a number of years ago that recording is also a skill of its' own. And I don't mean setting up the amps for recording and getting a good tone or any of that, but just being able to actually play the stuff tight after the REC button has been pressed. I never had issues with this because I'm a geek and always had a simple recording setup available at home, and I can definitely recommend that to anyone. Back when I started it took a bit of effort as interfaces and stuff wasn't as cheap and easy to setup as these days, but these days there's really no excuse not to practice recording.
It's similar to playing live in some ways, you can't really replicate it without actually doing it.
I pretty much agree dude but I think of the two more like rhythm and lead. When I'm strumming rhythm and singing I use the wider pick hold. When I need to get into a lead and be more precise, that's when I choke up on the pick for more accuracy and attack. But, you know, it's really whatever is most comfortable to the player. I'm not telling you anything you don't already know, Good vid either way, your pretty sick on the guitar