Hi I am learning guitar - well starting to play seriously anyway.
I really want to play stuff from Annihilator-to-nile-to-darkthrone etc.

I am currently working through the Troy Stetina series (onto the Thrash Method at the mo)
Just wondering
1) are these good books to start with?
2) how do I down tune 1/2 and full step?
3) is it just as good to learn from downloading tabs of songs I like?
4) How do I get that really heavy death metal sound?
5) any other advise would be really appreciated

My set up is
KH 202 Guitar by ESP
Laney 29w amp with a death metal pedal
any adjustments I need to this?


Sorry if I have put this threat in a wrong place.

1 Okay for some beginning techniques, but those books alone wont get you there.

2 Do you have an electronic tuner? If not, I suggest buying one.
Halve step: bE G# C# F# bB bE
Whole Step (standard D) D G C F A D

3 Nothing beats learning the techniques and tricks from playing your favourite songs. Don't forget to play/write your own stuff, as just learning songs sometimes dimminishes ones own creativity.

4 Downtune! Get realy hot bidge pickups for your guitar, like EMG's, Dimarzio X2N or Seymour Duncan Invader. Throw out that distortion pedal and practice amp and get a real amp!

5 Just post questions here if you have them. Just remember not to be an asshole prick, since some n00bs forget that

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I have a tuner - would be lost without it.
I guess I have a long way to go getting the hang of playing guitar

i'm currently into the Troy Stetina lead series and i progress very well. Also get the rhythm series which is also good..it helped my alot to get better. it's now easier to play my favs songs.

So, i highly recommend theses books, it's great stuff.

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It'll take some time for you to get good, expect 3-4 months before you'll be able to play a lot of what you want to play, and this is only if you work extremely hard. Practice your left (and right) hand technique for about an hour a day, playing slowly at first, and build your speed up. Don't try to play as fast as you can through scales and stuff, because since you just started you will probably be doing it with sloppiness and developing bad habits. If you have anymore questions I'll be more than glad to answer on AIM. The SN is JacksonGuitars67.

Cheers

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why didnt you give that to him all in flats?
Eb, Ab, Db, Gb,Bb, Eb

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well, since bE and bB, while the other notes in in sharp seem to be a standard.

Besides, most tuners I noticed do that, so it might be less confusing

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I got the thrash books early in my axin' days, though looking back on them they didn't particularly help me, because I used them wrong. I just learnt a few riffs from the books and expected that to get me through but unfortunately it isn't that easy. On the other hand, I did eventually get speed mechanics, which I'd recomend. It will produce great results if you work with it in the correct ways. Treatit as a holy book you turn to daily, although it may be boring and hard, work on thestuff you can't do, until you can do it.

I found the thrash books to be too restricting and dependant on the natural minor scale, which, without sounding too arogant or ignorant, I now view as far from the bestscale and sound to be playing in for thrash - it just sounds either too cliché or at times too happy (if it dives into major modes, but don't worry about thatat the minute). Bear in mind that although riffs from bands like slayer etc do use the minor, so do a lot of other 'classic' non heavyacts like Iron Maiden etc, and that's a sound I wanted to avoid. (though I do like the band, they just arn't heavy enough for the kinda shit I like, such as Nile and 'Corpse etc...)


Don't ditch the books, as they have a lot fo good stuff in them, just don't get too reliant on them and definately seek other sources, or you may find yourself in the frustrating position I was in where nothign sounded right and the scales just didn't hit the spot.

Start learning some riffs thatuse scales such as the diminished ones, which is basically (on the E string)

-0-1--3-4--6-7--9-10--12-13 etc (that's the form I like to use, begining with a half step. Some great bands and riffs use the form that begins with a whole step):

-0-2-3--5-6--8-9--11-12 (But I just don't like having the fourth interval in my scale (that is, having both open 'E' and open 'A'). Examples of bands that make great use of this are Dying Fetus and Vader for example...

At first, from my experience, these scales may seem hard to make any form of music within, but with time you'll soon develop a 'groove' around them as you get the feel for the notes and your ears begin to understand the concepts of intervals.

Intervals: These are ones I recomend you to associate your playing and hearing with:

Minor Thirds (0-3 etc... a popular method by Cannibal Corpse is to trill these like: 7h10p7h10p7 etc). Check out "Stripped Raped and Strangled by them for a great example of this (the introduction).

Augmented fifths (0-6.... Check out "The Negation" by Decapitated for good example of this)

As for getting that sound, try scooping your tone on your amp, by setting the EQ to somethign along these lines: Low : 80% Mid : 20% High : 80%

Hope that helps! Keep riffin'

That's the most important thing. Stick with it. I ahd a 3-4 year period where I didn't really progress at all because I was learning comfortable songs all the time.

Over the last 6 months I have improved alot because I've been learning necrophagist - foul body autopsy took me about 3 months, then extreme unction took a couple of weeks, diminished to b has taken 2 months (not the solos thugh). Yesterday I started on culinary hyperversity, which I can currently play at 58% tempo and I will expect it will take a few months because my sweep is poor, and it's and its rock solid. I'm just going to keep chipping away at it and eventually I'll get there.

You want to learn thrash?

1. Learn how to tremelo pick the 6th string with 16th notes for a while.
Do that with the others too.

2. Learn how to do triplets, alot. Quads and gallops are good too.

3. Listen to alot of thrash. This helps with playing and creativity.

4. Get used to downpicking alot.

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Drink alcohol. Then look at every other thread in this forum.

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