my biggest difficulties are playing riffs or bass-lines!

As with anything music related: if you can't do something practice until you can. Take a riff, slow it down and just work on it. There's no shortcut, trick or alternative: just play.

I'm almost the exact opposite...I can play riffs, bass-lines, single notes, scales, etc really well, but when it comes to chords, well, I still only know 4 of them by heart, and the rest takes me about 3-4 seconds to fret, or even longer for the ones that actually require all 4 fingers :shock: . Seems like you can't learn both kinds of playing at the same time unfortunately :(

On another related note, there's a song I'm working on which requires a rhythm part which seems harder than it should be...:
D-----------------------------
A---2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2----
E---0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0---

with every note palm muted, playing eighth notes at 6 beats per measure at 200 bpm, which I'm having really big trouble playing cleanly...it basically turns into a gaggle of 3-4 different notes, since I have to pick through 2 strings. So far I've stuck with only picking the low E and skipping the B note, cause it just seems impossible to play that fast using a mini-power chord. So umm...my question basically is, how hard is this supposed to be, is it even possible, and do I just need to basically practice this more till my picking hand falls off? :x

I've had the exact opposite problem since I started playing. I've really practiced my finger-style, but my strumming has lacked. I really much prefer to use my fingers than a pick, but that is my preference. Are you trying these riffs with a pick or with your fingers? I've found I'm much better (and more accurate) when I use my fingers than with a pick.

Since you already feel pretty comfortable with the rhythm guitar, my suggestion is to now turn your focus on finger-picking (as well as maintaining what you already know for rhythm). It sounds like you have a firm grasp on your chords and smooth transitions. If you can change chords smoothly while strumming, you can definitely change chords smoothly using finger-style. Like anything else...practice it until it becomes second nature.

I would definitely go over David's lessons. Some of them are amazingly helpful for finger-picking and riffs. Start slowly and then build up. Sometimes it is easier to get motivated for something difficult by learing a song, rather than scales and exercises. Do both...try a song as well as do your exercises! Try "House of the Rising Sun". That song really got me started in the right direction. You'd be surprised what you can accomplish in a short amount of time.

I'm not sure if this is taboo or not, but I want to help you out. Check out Kirk's website at http://www.guitarforbeginners.com . He has over 65 free finger-style guitar lessons with movies - some are for beginners and some for more intermediates. They will really help you develop the techniques necessary to conquer those riffs. I've really improved my finger-style with those lessons. He has some cool songs, as well as some originals he's composed. He also discusses the motivation and theory behind the composition and how to make the transitions easier. I hope this helps.

Good luck.

first of all thanks to everyone! To answer to jmaikos It is true that I'm more accurate to play riffs or bass-lines with fingers than with the pick. Regarding fingerpicking, I've learnt to play a few patterns and I have to say that I enjoy it a lot (I've also re-arrenged some songs in a finger-picking way), so maybe I'll try both yours suggestions, plus play a few scales and see what's happening!

cheers

Matteo

Hi Matteo - I had what may have been the same experience when I really started playing seriously two years ago. Up until then I had been strumming full chords on accoustics for 15 years and had become pretty good at that. I had also done some practicing with scales etc. Overall I had a pretty good fretting hand but my picking technique was awfull. Then I started out with an electric and attemtped to learn some new things. One of the biggest problem I encountered was altering between strumming full chords and playing sinlge note fills in between, or doing a solo and back into strumming. It was almost like I had to stop, click a switch in my head, reposition my pick and play on. ... and then back again, same procedure.

The solution to this?
"Use my magic recipe - I can guarantee you, you will *not* be a guitar god in 15 days!! "

Well seriously, my right hand technique still sucks :D but it has improved :)

1. Smaller pick, and / or more in between the fingers so that only a little tip shows. This helps bringing your hand closer to the strings - more control. I am still working on this, and especially when just strumming I fall rapidly back into old habits.
2. Practice switching back and forth - i.e. play a simple chord in a simple rhythmic pattern, and change to a very simple fill and back.
3. Play lots
4. Play more
(another thing that struck me - do you "anchor" your picking hand on the bridge or with the fingers or is it floating? For what it is worth I would highly recommend floating picking hand - I'm pretty sure Wes disagree tho' :-) )

I feel I have improved, and especially I have gotten past the stage where I had one mindset for strumming and another for picking. Now I don't think about whether I do one or the other. Need to gain more picking control, but I have plenty of time to correct that over the next 50 years :lol:

Good luck!!!

lars

For what it is worth I would highly recommend floating picking hand - I'm pretty sure Wes disagree tho'

I don't really disagree. But I think you play electric a little differently than acoustic, or at least I do. With acoustic it is very common to strum full 5 or 6 string chords. So you use a big motion with your picking hand.

With electric you play more on 1, 2, 3, and sometimes 4 strings. You do play full 6 strings on electric, but most of your playing is done on fewer strings. This is because full chords tend to sound muddy on electric, especially when using distortion. This is why everybody plays power chords, they just sound tighter. And you need smaller picking hand motion.

So, while I often recommend resting the picking hand on the bridge, it is not fixed rigid at all. In fact, I barely rest my hand there at all, it is still free to move. Maybe I gave the wrong impression. My hand sort of bounces on and off the bridge. It is a very loose feeling though, not rigid. But I am not free swinging my picking hand. It is very controlled. For me it almost feels like my fingers holding the pick are doing most of the strumming, but my wrist moves freely too. But that is me.

Very gently resting your hand on the bridge keeps your hand close to the strings. You can play more accurately. This especially helps if you go from strumming a full chord and then need to play single notes. It just gives your hand a reference, hope that makes sense.

You have to play with a much lighter touch too. You do not pound on the strings. When I strum a chord on electric it almost feels like a rake. I sort of gently drag my pick across the strings. It is a very light touch. And it is good to choke up on the pick some. By resting your hand gently on the bridge it gives you accuracy to strum like this without the pick hanging up on the strings (or missing strings).

But this is just how I do it. Everybody is different and others may give absolutely different advice. You have to find what works for you personally.

Here are some strumming lessons I found on YouTube that I would say I agree with, that proper strumming is done more with the wrist and not the arm.

First, the wrist.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sqe9-0xjcK4

Now, strumming with the arm.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zUdj7X0pBj0

Now both sound good, but the problem is when you try to go from the big arm strum to playing a single note riff you are probably going to miss completely. But by keeping the hand close to the strings, strumming from the wrist you can easily go to single notes.

So I agree with these lessons. This works for me personally.

Hello to Wes and Lars thanks for your kind suggestions. Regarding strumming I agree that it is better to play with the wrist than with the arm particullary if you play sixteen notes or in a downstrum manner only (like in hard rock).

I honetstly can play with big, wide strums only if I play a simple eight notes pattern at a slow time, still I'm not quite confortable...

I'll have to check Wes suggetsion to stay close to the bridge which I already found out it is very useful for muting

Cheers

Matteo

Hmm - actually I exclusively play with the wrist too (until I try to speed up that is :( ) . So I anchor my lower arm on the guitar, but hand is free. Wes, I see your point indeed for easier muting strings. And using the fingers to play is probably a very good idea - indeed I believe that "circular picking" using the fingers is the Zappa way of playing 8-) I am not attemtping to argue with Wes because he'll probably play in circles around me anyway - that gives his arguments some weight IMO :-)

Good luck Matteo - keep us updated on the progress then

lars