I duno if i've posted this in the right place or not but anyway..

Just started a couple of days ago and i'm wondering what kinda stuff i should be learning with. I've taught myself all the basic chords and started on some scales.

Anyway i'm into stuff like children of bodom, the haunted / vader etc. I know this is all pretty advanced stuff but can anyone recomend any simple tabs / songs from any of the bands in this vein i could start to try and play?

Learn mandatory suicide by slayer.. thats pretty simple.. (minus the solo)

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Learn all the basic chords very well.

Learn the notes on the fretboard, I find that it's a really good way to do that to just put a tape on the neck and write the notes on it, one string for one week, like, you start with the low E string and write F, F#, G etc. by the right frets all the way to the 12th fret, after a week take it off and put an new one on now with the notes on the A string. Just make sure to get a tape that doesn't leave glue on the neck.

Learn alot of scales and practise them with a metronome, if you dont have one go to www.metronomeonline.com. If you don't know how to use one, Darko teached me how to use it:




Learn easy well known songs like Iron Man, Stairway to heaven, Smoke On The Water, Cowboys From Hell etc.
Don't even try to play the solos thoug. Try to learn Master Of Puppets 'cause it's really good to improve your rythm playing, don't expect to be able play it just as fast as Metallica just yet thoug. Same with Cowboys From Hell.

Practise hammer-ons, pull-offs, bends, slides, streching etc. very well. These little tricks are used in most songs.

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Opeth - damnation..very easy album.

even i cant play cowboys from hell at full speed yet but yeh, iron man is a classic thats pretty easy.

remember, i know it's incredibly cliché'd, but practise does make perfect so stick with songs you can learn, like the ones manowar mentioned, before you get into songs like "bury your dead" which has been responsible for two people i know, picking up the guitar and learning.

you cant play CFH andy?!

dont get in over your head like others have said start off with easer stuff like some maiden, sabbath, tallica.

like others have said practice man its the best thing you can do. do warm up stuff over and over and faster stuff like

---------------------------1234------------------------
---------------------1234------------------------------
---------------1234------------------------------------
----------1234-----------------------------------------
-----1234----------------------------------------------
1234---------------------------------------------------

then take it backwards or i like this one
--------------------------------------------------------------1-2-1-3-1-4
-----------------------------------------------1-2-1-3-1-4--
-----------------------------------1-2-1-3-1-4------------
-----------------------1-2-1-3-1-4-----------------------
-----------1-2-1-3-1-4----------------------------------
1-2-1-3-1-4--------------------------------------------

then take that backwards, it will really help to strengthen up your pinky you cant just let it sit there like many players do. some other stuff to strengthen your pinky would be like the intro to master of puppets or the intro the starring through the eyes of the dead

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As others have said, practise with a metronome. It may be a bit of a pain in the ass but one day when you're as tight as Erik Lindmark you'll be glad you did. Do what guitar demon suggested, and try and get power chords down, eg.

|--------------
|--------------
|--------------
|-7---9----12-
|-7---9----12-
|-5---7----10-

Just practise and build up you finger strength, that's the first step to playing harder stuff like CoB.

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Basically, I started with metallica and then moved to slayer.

Don't neglect your scales though, I did and it's limiting me

If you've got an acoustic guitar, I'd say at least in the beginning, practice like 25-75% of your time on that one instead of an electric guitar. Builds finger strength alot better than an electric.

Do not neglect your ring finger and pinky. I did, and it's limiting me alot.

Practice often and a lot. Try to get at least 20 minutes each day, the more the better.

Practice both alternate and down-picking.

When you run into trouble with a song, analyse the problem and invent a lick to practice that specific problem. Like, you have trouble when you end up needing to pick "inside" strings. Just sit down and pick inside strings, and keep doing it until you're comfortable.

Never go too fast. If you realise you can't play a certain thing at a certain speed yet, step back and learn it good in a lower speed, then bring it back up *slowly* to where you want it.

If you are at all into acoustic stuff, the second point in the above list goes for your picking hand too.

That's all I can think of right now that I feel needs to be mentioned.

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try Unleashing The Bloodthirsty by CC.

easy and cool to play!

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the skill needed to just play it isnt much, but to play it right takes experience, its more about the mood then technicality, plus there are wierd chords and the use of capos, i wouldnt reccomend trying to learn damnation.
start slow, lean easier metallica, slayer, maybe some iron maiden. hell, even try some bodom if you are feeling froggy. i learned to play guitar on an acoustic with heavy strings, and i went straight from a begginers book, the wolf marshall guitar method book 1, into playing stuff like metallica, slayer, cradle of filth, all kinds of stuff like that on it, it was hard as hell, but when i got an electric, it made it ten times easier.

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i love doing that one, it will also help u with ur coordination in some ways.

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the first thing you want to do is learn some kickass stuff like some sabbath, zeppelin, deep purple, slayer etc and just enjoy yourself and get a feel for playin. Then i'd suggest you slowly pregress on to learning some more theory. There aint no point learning theory really fast and imediately cos it sometimes gets boring and could put u off. The key is to enjoy ureself

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Hehe thanks for all the input. I gota admit a lot of the terms are over my head. I think as mordor said, i want to be able to learn a few simple things that sound ok and then build on them with more of the theory.

Things like metronomes i feel are a bit beyond me at the moment

The practice stuff seems similar to what i have been doing. I got the tabs for vader - cold demons. Where as it looks incredibly simple when i do it, it in no way sounds like it should but either way i guess its giving me good practice of placement and co-ordination.

a lot of people have suggested master of the puppets to me so il give that a go along with cowboys from hell if you say thats alright at slow speeds

btw ... In cowboys from hell i'd be content with learning that underlying riff that goes through most of the song. can anyone give me the short tab for that ?
Ive got tabs of the whole song but im no good at picking out certain points. Id like to find that one cool short riff.

thanks

Yeah there is some capos on some songs but weird chords? yeah right..

what termonology went over your head, i dont mind explaining it (as long as i know it )

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oh and i think these are the riffs you meen
(riff D, D.2 and E)

http://metaltabs.com/tab/1/

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Terms like capos :P

And where as i can understand the rudementary basics of reading tabs. The other parts of the reading are also confusing. like hammers, slides, pull offs. i understand what most of them mean but not how to incorperate them properly.

But il take a look at the cowboy from hell riff. not sure if its the one i was thinking of. seen as a lot of the riffs in the song are similar but slightly different

a capo is a little thing you put on the neck of your guitar to hold down strings so you dont have to
http://www.shubb.com/GIF/c8b_89a.jpg
and aplied like such
http://img.musiciansfriend.com/dbas...s/36/361602.jpg

do you meen you cant read the symbols for hammer-on slides and stuff or your not sure how to perform them?

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i know the symbols and such but if i saw the notation for one i wouldn't know what to do.

What i was thinking of doing was learning a few good simple riffs like the cowboy from hell one. then looking at more advanced riffs that need me to learn the techniques. if i learn individual ones as i need them it shud make the load less heavy and more enjoyable :P or my thinking is such

I always play that riff that I think your talking about Freypal like this:

this three times:
D----------------------------------
A--------------------------------5-
E--0-3-0-3-5-3-5-3-6-3-5-3-6/7---

PM--------------------------------


then this one time:
D----------------------------------
A----------------------------------
E--0-3-0-3-6-5-3-0----------------

PM--------------------------------


in the second riff you can skip palm muting if that sounds better to you.



EDIT: forgot to put palm mute things in the tab...

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well you just carry out the action
lets take slide, say you have this
--------
----------
--------
--------
5/8-----
--------

you play the note at the 5th fret A string, then you slide up (withoutre-picking the note) to the 8th fret on the A string

or if you have a bend
--------
---13^---
--------
----------
----------
--------

then you fret the B string on the 13 fret pcik it and bend it up (without-repicking) sometimes you might see a number next to it like 13^ (1/2) or somethign (not quite like that but i cant duplicate tabbing here...) it just meens to bend that note up a half step, so of it is a 13th fret bend up a half step then it would really sound like your playing on the 14 fret. which leads to the question "well why not just play it on the 14 fret" cause you dont get that cool bending sound and effect

hammer ons-pull off

----------
----------
-----------
-----------
----------
0-0-0-0-0h1--

meens to play the open E fret then when you get to the 0h1 you pick the open e and without repicking it you hammer your finger down on it or vice verca for pull-offs, so if you had 7p5 then you pick the 7th fret and pull off to the 5 fret. if you do hammer ons and pull off back to back fast then its a trill so something like

5tr6 measn to pick 5th fret then hammer on 6, pull of to 5 hammer on 6 ect. without repicking the note


hope this helped and was what you were looking for... if not then it was a good way to kill time as my dinner cooked

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listen to the intro to purple haze by jimi hendrix, it's really easy and uses most of this things, slides, hammer-ons etc. find a good tab for it and learn it. JUST the intro.

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Good advice

thanks for all that explanation. yeh it's really helpful

and thanks for that tab i think that's what i was after.

i'l give some of it a go and see how i get on il look at purple haze intro in a bit see if i can make any of that.

Good luck pal!

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yeah good luck mate

and I edited the post with the CFH riff...

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