Hey, I've been playing guitar for bout 2 n a half yrs and i wanna get better. I've only played metallica and pantera without the solos for ages and i just got into children of bodom. To me alexi laiho is god, n i was wonderin if anyone would know how to learn to play like im. I can play a few song without the solos but with interludes n stuff like Silent night, bodom night, hate me,everytime i die etc. and i can play all of angels dont kill.
Any ideas on how to get better is appreciated.

King_Nothing

practice alot, if there something you cant do, then take it slow at first and let your fingers get used to where they need to go and what they need to do. then slowly build up the speed. alexi is a good player but i dont think you should want to play like him, its definitally ok to get tips and maybe some licks from people but the last thing you or anyone should want to be is just like someone else and be an alexi or azagthoth rip off.

however if you really want to learn to play like him then learn most if not all of their songs and see what he tends to do alot in leads or solos and also take note on what scales he uses most

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Hmmm, i see where you are coming from with not tryin to be liek someone. I feel im myself when i am playin as i can play with different guitars at different heights and different ways happily. I think my biggest problem is with my picking hand. I CANT PICK UP AND DOWN! i do pretty much everything down, just to get an idea of how stupid it is, i play all of Bed Of Razors by Children Of Bodom ALL DOWNSTROKING.
I blame metallica for my problem with that, lol.
Keep em coming please

Alternate picking is the first thing you want to learn. You won't get far without it.

you cant alternate pick, thats a delema for sure, to start alternate picking like i said just take it slow and then faster but its not something you can do in a day it will take a while too get pretty fast at it at lest a month if not longer (depending on how much you practice i guess) when you alternate pick though dont use your arm!!! just pick while moving iether your wrist or somepeople just use their two fingers. im not sure how fast you can pick right now but if you practice alternate picking then take that speed and times it by two, thats what your shooting for

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Just practice a lot.

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the exercise i was "taught" to lean fingering and alternate picking was to do this

going through all the strings, then when you get to 4 on the bottom string, go backwards
you dont have to do it fast, just make sure you get the down and up right

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There is your problem right there

^

huh???

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Haha, i was just like you when i was like 10, when i turned 13 i became more into bodom, so i started to learn all there songs without solos and such, and then once i perfected those, i started learning all of his licks and solos, theyre really not that hard, oyu just gotta practice pick control and finger control, So far i can play just about all of alexis solos. I reccomend buying a metronome, and download Guitarpro, at mysongbook.com you can download all the children of bodom songs you want, they show you how fast to play them, how to play them, and allow you to play along with the song, and if you cant play it as fast, you can slow it down to as much as 25% of the original speed, once you mastered the solos at 25% then move on to 50% and so on... I practice at least 6 hours a day, all i do is do warm ups, then arpegios for scales, then to stretch out my hands i do Bodom solos, mostly from Warheart. You also might have noticed that he does something called "sweep picking", its rediculously hard to do, but practice it as much as you can, youll be so impressed. Your going to hear this advice everywhere, no matter what, practicing is theonly way to get good. Dont expect for skill to come out and jump into your soul, it doesnt happen that way. And i sorta have to plug myelf, but if you go to hte thread titled "holy shit check this kid out" if you go to the second to last page, youll find a site called digital studio or something, go there then go to projects and look for theleper, that would be me, if you want to hear what will happen to you if you practice hard. I covered Follow the Reaper, so check it out, the quality sucks, but if you turn it up you can here me.

If you are looking for speed...buy "speed kills" by michael angelo. It is a video that basically got me going on shred guitar. It isn't a beginners thing though, believe me. It will definetely improve your playing.

Meh, im not to big on shred, to me its just a pointless display of skill, yes it takes skill, but it doesnt really sound to good, theres gotta be some kind of melody, or pattern, instead of trying to hit every fret 12 + at one time.

Listen to Jason Becker, and then spew worthless nonsense onto this very fine site of ours.

He is basically the only guy I listen to any more for music. Beautiful beautiful beautiful. www.jasonbecker.com . Listen to Cacophony too, he is in it. Read the sad story of his struggle with A.L.S. Let it change your life, and your views on Alexi Laiho being God.

Dude, i never said Alexi was god, i think hes definately one of the best, there are many better players out there, i just like alexis style better then most.Jason becker is really good, but once again i am not to big on shred. Sorry if my dislikes conflict with your ability to read.

I love Alexi and he is a good guitar player, but i think there are alot of guitar players who or just as good and better then him


Alexi rules all at songwrighting though (not counting lyrics of course)

isnt that a chromatic scale?

Dude, you better learn alternative picking NOW because if you havent in like 2 and a 1/2 years of playing your pretty under-privelidged in the music realm, just being helpful.....

Somehow that doest appear to be a problem to me considering at the age hes at hes achieved much more than a lot of great guitarists out there.

Considering I was talking to (notice the quote) king_nothing, being able to play COB is nothing special at all for a 16-17 year old.

So thank you sir, for being my idiot of the day, and giving me the opportunity to make an ass out of you.

Alexi released "Something Wild" when he was 16 i belive.

Becker released "Speed Metal Symphony" when he was also 16.

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conclusion, practise your fucking ass off while you're not in your fucking coffin yet!

and be sure to get a daily routine, have short breaks too..

i had the same problem when i first started playing. but in my terms u have to grab ur guitar by the nuts, do some trills with all ur fingers until ur whole forearm is burning. take a 30 second break then do it again. then train ur ear, while using tabs with the solos. obviously start slow, then build up, and then go crazy on the mf.

btw, u dont know ur limits until u push them.

Was something wild impressive?

no but becker....16.....speed metal.......... *speechless*

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Yes

i can understand if you dont like Children of Bodom i would expect you of all people to atleast respect Alexi for his playing

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I do, I was asking you if it was impressive

Yeah I didn't get that vibe from that question either shred.

I saw COB in concert, they opened for Iced Earth. I'm not a big fan of the style, but his playing is impressive and I would pay money to see him play again.

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Your mom is impressive... IN BED!!

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ohhh what a burn.....

You cut me deep Cannibal.