Frank Gambale has a video where he uses economy picking and sweep picking as opposed to alternate picking and if you are advanced enough that's fine, but if you are in the beginner stages i would do as Chris advises us and pay attention to use alternate picking exclusively.. It can take many years to if not a lifetime to pick like Gambale so i choose not to put the cart in front of the horse!
Your are really a great teacher bro. This is honestly the best video on this I've seen by far, and all your solo tutorials surpass anybody else's also. Your definitely the best I have found on youtube, thank you for all your hard work.
Josh Dotson I totally agree. I once saw one of his Videos on Ultimateguitar and I appreciated all of them ever since! If you are reading this, Mr. Zoupa, please keep up the good work!
I don’t think there’s a better guitar instructor here on RU-vid. And that’s HUGE. Thank you very much for being here, sharing your time and knowledge with us, Chris.
It's been a year since my last check into this post. In the past year I've learned more about playing guitar from Chris than any other source in my life.
Dude I love watching your guitar playing. Just when it feels like I'm stuck at a stand still, I can watch your playing and it gives me so much inspiration. Thank you.
Hey man. Just wanted to let know the positive impact you've had on my life. Not only are you a talented player you're also an excellent teacher. Thanks from one teacher to another.
Just now discovering your channel in 2024 while getting back in-touch with my metal side and your channel is fantastic. I'm very excited to take this advice and apply it to my own practice. Thanks!
I wish you had more subscribers , because I think you're an awesome teacher. Not only do you break down the solos, you also explain the certain techniques. When I search a solo lesson, I will always look for your solo lessons first. Thank you for all your videos.
This is the most important guitar lesson video in my collection of favorites. This is the one that got me started on my shred quest and I return often to make sure I have the concepts clear.
i practiced a lot unplugged or clean tone and this has led me to suck at muting strings with distortion on. id say the same amount of time spent on playing clean should also be spent playing with distortion. you need both
And unplugged as well. how smoothly you play it unplugged will kinda determine how messy or cleaned up your actual solo will be when you stack on the gains (OD + distortion)
OMG! Middle finger nail! Why hadn't I tried that before!? For me this changes everything! I've tried numerous plectrums and the finger nail of my first finger, and have been struggling to decide which works best for me. But thanks to you I just realised that my middle finger nail feels so much more natural, and gives me the precision and speed I've been aiming for. Woohoo! :) This also means I can now jump between styles, incorporating strumming, taps, finger-style, and may be able to finally learn to be a good shredder too. I just tried some basic scales and found myself going so much faster than usual, and yet it seems to take much less effort, almost as if my finger has a mind of it's own. This really does change everything. I feel like I've been awakened or reborn, lol. Thank you!
Excellent. I frequently have friends or their kids asking me for advice on learning to play. I unfortunately have zero patience (a flaw, I know). I usually recommend checking out YT videos, but now I'll specifically turn them on to yours. From one player to another, you not only have gifted skills on the fretboard, but also as a communicator/teacher. Hats off to you!
I taught myself how to play guitar 19 years ago and this is something I've always tried to teach myselfthe reason I could teach myself how to play was because when you're younger you have all the time in the world to sit in your room and jam but as you get older it's hard to find time I think this video will really help me out though I want to learn that second scale you did that sounded badass !🤘🏻nice video
If you were a professor in a university, no student would ever miss any class of yours .. And everyone stands top .. Awesome explanation .. Every video I watch you're just awesome..
Straight & to the point. Great information too....ain't that always helpful! Glad to see somebody who knows what they're talking about & also how to teach. Keep up the the great work!
Very intuitive and comprehensive! If you want to get to that "elusive" high up place on the guitar, well then, this place has to be it...Chris Zoupa is key: he comes in right at that hard last hurdle (the one you can't seem to get over) and brings it home. Brilliant stuff
My vibrato has only just started sounding not shit. Every video I made in 2012 someone is giving me shit about it. I watched BEN ELLER WHY YOU'RE VIBRATO SUCKS and it changed my life. Ben is awesome.
Hey Chris, been watching you for a couple years now. Learned lots of solos from you and other techniques. But lately I've been exploring the sweeping technique, I saw your video specifically on sweep picking and picked up good info from it. But there are still some things I'm just not getting, any chance we could see another video, touching on the "progressive palm muting" technique and other aspects of sweep picking? Thanks again for such great content, and for being such a good instructor!
This is awesome, on top of what Chris said I'd say make sure you're always as relaxed as possible, unneeded tension can have a lot of negative effects.
Ive been playing guitar with my nails from the first time I pick my guitar,I thought picking with nails doesnt worth it.But then there you are.playing guitar without pick and shred like a boss.You inspired me dude.Thanks \m/
Chris didn't really go over any technique on the fret hand. Here's a tip, your left hand shouldn't be tense, it should be loose. You thumb placement also has something to do with it. If your thumb(obviously behind the neck) is placed between your middle and ring finger try placing it towards the left ahead of your index. That should help with finger dexterity.
clugokillscluco dude i was paying attention to my fretting hand and i noticed every time i did a solo my thumb would be in the middle, i moved it left to the index and i noticed a HUGE difference in the tension, thanks a lot dude
I never thought about maintaining the same picking movement while practicing by using Pentatonics and the Chromatic scale. And you're the 2nd person I've seen mention subdividing metronome beats into "pulses." The first was Al Joseph, who's a pretty mean shredder himself. Thanks for the brilliant ideas!
A very good attempt indeed at the space-age-old problem of helping the masses shred. The most impressive lesson you teach me is just observing how relaxed you are, seeing no tension at all to restrict anything. Thanks for taking the time. BTW, the super-imposed tab gives your lessons the edge. More old school, please! LOVE IT!
I never set out to learn economy picking, I just started doing it on my own As for the pentatonic thing, I should've, but didn't practice it often enough Been playing for 8 years My legato is good (ish) Can't do anything too complicated I have absolutely no alternate picking ability Years of practice with a metronome Nothing I have a good picking technique I sweep pick pretty good I can't alternate pick Anything that isn't a smooth motion, my hands don't work well together I'll keep up on your tips for a few months and see if that quickens the pace
Man, the part about economy picking helped me a lot. Not because I need to avoid using it cuz I’m passed the early stages, but that I should actually utilize it. I’ve never even thought about it, but some songs I’ve tried to learn I can’t quite get a fluid motion between strings on the speed picking riffs. I’m definitely going to try to work on that pick technique
Thank you Chris. From Alice in Chains to Iron Maiden solos, you have made me a much better guitarist, Your authenticity and teaching methods are the watermark, Please keep up the great work. KPH Yorba Linda Ca. USA
my father used to do it all the time with no pick...but my father, being self-taught, developed a REALLY bad habit of anchoring his hand on the bridge ALL THE TIME, regardless of guitar, he's got Les Paul's (Tune-O-Matic/Stop Tailpiece), he's got Strat's (Modern American Standard 2-Stud, Vintage 6-Screw Synchronized & he's gotta '92 SRV Signature Stratocaster that's got a Left-Handed Synchronized 6-Screw Bridge/Tremolo on a Right Handed Strat like Stevie Ray Vaughan), Telecasters (vintage or modern, telecaster bridges are mainly the same in this context). & more, my point being, it's a habit he developed early-on, & I took lessons (NOT from him) & I asked him last year why he does that & what he said made a lot of sense...he said to me "I anchor my hand as a reference point, so I can tell which string is where so I don't have to look at my picking hand while I'm playing...that's a big mistake I saw a lot of my friends who played making early-on...they'd look at the fretting hand and then check their picking hand and then double check their fretting hand & it takes TOO LONG...so I developed that habit by playing with a lot of different other musicians over the years"... But, I've gotten away from my original point here...the way he anchors his hand requires my dad to play with his picking hand in that shape and motion weather he has a pick or not...& my dad's thumb nail is like .88mm (LOL)
+Charlie Kapp You could just take your nail and sharpen the tip of it, take your ringfinger and hold it on your nail and then your thumb on your finger like a normal pick, works alright ;).
You are so right....I keep biting off more than my skill can cbew. I keep wasting my practice time on things I have no business trying to play. It's been a couple of months since I rededicated to playing fast. This should help. Thanks
Chris I have an observation that does not alter what your saying because I got the groove of the motion to return to the upper string immediately as you played it. In the first attempt at the pattern I found I angled my pic to keep from making the big arc. and this minimized the updown motion is ths part of your lessons here. I was simply amazed that it all came together in one effort. Its not the quality of fast picking at this time but it made a major influence to getting to and being immediately faster. I angle the pic and this kept the nose of the pick from going in deeper. Allowing the tip of the contact point to rebound faster and not having to use my wrist to retract back to the upper string when moving back one fret and continuing. Is this the effect you feel is appropriate for the whole of the lesson
It's actually true that if you practice playing fast long enough, you will develop the habits and techniques that make you play faster. However, it's easy to develop bad habits that impied fast playing too. Then eventually you start paying closer attention to and analysing the techniques of fast, clean pickers. That whole process took me years. With all of the videos, books and in depth technique analysis available today, the process can be reduced dramatically these days. It doesn't make sense to go it alone anymore. I've loved every minute of my journey but I do find myself wishing this was all available in my youth. So for you guys that are beginners to intermediate players, take advantage of guys like Chris that are willing to share there knowledge. Listen to them playing and if they're fast and clean, reap the rewards of their generosity. Back in the 80's this kind of teaching didn't exist unless you were willing and able to pay high dollar for a teacher and even then, they were stingy with these skills and techniques. Usually you could only get the information from good friends or fellow band members that wanted to make the band better. When it comes to melodic content and phrasing, nothing beats learning other guys licks and solos. Start slowly, learn to execute with flawless technique and gradually build your speed without sacrificing proper technique and muting. In the end you'll be so glad you did. Oh and listen to everything Chris says and does. There are teachers that can tell you how to do it but not demonstrate it and then there are the Chris Zoupas.
nice work mate. similar stuff that I was doing back in the day. I did a great warm up exercise that really helped 1234,4321, 1434,2434. every string up and back. nice little warm up with a metronome. make a mistake go back to the start and slow down the metronome. Just saying. worked for me matching left and right hand stuff. Great channel Chris
LMAO..... You're playing that nine note descending scale run and I immediately started having Deja Vu and couldn't place where I'd heard it before. Then I realized it was from Megadeth, Sweating Bullets (except Marty uses 12-note runs). I don't have perfect pitch but I'm pretty sure he even starts on that note. So I learned a good warm-up exercise to help my scale practice and I learned the solo from one of my favorite songs. Excellent lesson! 😁
