I dont know where this topic goes, but I am learing "Deceiver of the Gods" right now in tribute to the new Amon Amarth album, my question is: How do you make things sound better, or more decent. I have been practicing this part for a while but it still sounds pretty sloppy. How does one make things nicer. If I have to I can record myself playing I guess. Any tips from some more experienced players?
Sound will only come with skill. Once you've cracked the 7000 hours of practice limit, you'll know how to craft your sound, don't worry about it. It's just the way it goes, just don't be suckered into buying ever more gear to improve on your sound as long as your skills are not at the level of being able to control your sound with your fingers. Believe me, a time will come where you won't need specific gear to get this or that sound, you'll just know how to play it so that it sounds just right. It's like with everything, practice is key. If you really want to be able to play the guitar, you have to make sacrifices for practice, you need to practice every day. First you will be frustrated because you will not evolve as fast as you'd like, but then suddenly there comes a moment when it's all natural and you can move on to the next level of skill.
Some tips: don't practice with an emulator or a digital whatever until you come to a semi-pro skill level, because it will screw with your feeling for the instrument and using headphones will damage your ears. It's better to stick to a small analog practice amp, preferably solid state because they're not as expensive in maintenance as tube amps, but still interact lagfree and naturally interacting with the guitar. Use as little distortion as possible, a heavy sound does not come from distortion, it comes from the fingers. Try to focus on playing as clean and precise as possible, after a while it will come automatically and it'll just sound right.
Said damn well.
Hands over cookie*
holy shit. thanks dude.
My first amp was a valvestate 8080 from Marshall, it's a solid state so no tube but the distortion from this amp sounds great! Practice is the most important thing, I'm still learning after 17 years of daily practice. My advice is to try some other songs that give you more of a easy feel when playing. In that case you can focus more deeply on the exact timing of the notes. Eventually you feel that you've outplayed your gear. Like when my valvestate 8080 speakers got shredded. Also worth a shot is to cut the song you are trying to master in smaller pieces and just move up.
sorry but i disagree with your point about the amplifier, good tone is so important because it really changes the feel of playing, when i got my first solid state amp, i didn´t really practice that much, maybe only 30 minutes once or twice a week. but with my new orange tube head hours pass by without me even knowing, cold hard practice isn´t always all that fun, and combine that with a shitty tone means you´re gonna come nowhere. my solid state amp sounds like my guitar, being recorded with a cheap headphone mic, and the tone is so cold and boring too.
I'm inclined to agree on the avoiding a solid state amp.
I would also recommend making sure your guitar has been set up correctly by someone who knows what they are doing.
And finally......buy lots of expensive boutique pedals from me! (this wont help your playing, but will help me buy a new PC)