These are answers to questions people have sent in, covering everything from a slow C to D change to Killswitch Engage style harmonies. Each one stands on its own, so skip to whichever is bugging you.
How to speed up the C to D chord change ▶ 0:32
C to D is a bit of a weird one, because there aren't really any shared notes between the two chords. You have to lift every finger off to get from one to the other. But there's a little thing that makes it easier.
From C, take your first finger off so you've just got your second and third fingers down. Notice how those two fingers are arranged: one string and one fret apart. That arrangement stays exactly the same in the D chord. So hop them across three strings, towards the floor, and you've already got two of your three fingers down for D. Then the first finger comes back in over the top.
Going back is the same in reverse: first finger off, hop back three strings, first finger back on. Try not to lift your fingers too far off the strings while you do it.
If you can keep a bit of tension between your second and third fingers so they stay in contact and keep their shape as you move, even better. Then you just have to practise it loads, and practise it fast, not at a comfortable speed.
How to connect your scale shapes ▶ 1:45
If you keep getting lost moving across the neck and end up back in position one, here's a really useful exercise. Take whatever scale you're comfortable with, pentatonic, minor or major, and take just the first two strings' worth of it.
For A minor pentatonic position one, that's the 5th and 8th frets on the low E string and the 5th and 7th on the A string. Now take that same shape and start it two frets higher on the D string. Then do it again three frets higher on the B string.
e|------------------------10-12--| B|------------------10-13--------| G|-------------7-9---------------| D|--------7-10-------------------| A|---5-7-------------------------| E|-5-8---------------------------|
It's the same shape in three different groupings, and by the end you're in position three of the minor pentatonic. So you can come down position three, or go back the way you came, run up and down position one, and travel across again. You're using an octave idea to move between shapes.
You can do this with the first two strings of any pentatonic or full minor or major scale position. Position five is actually an easier one: 3 and 5 on the low E and A strings, then 5 and 7 on the D and G, then 8 and 10 on the B and high e. That takes you from position five to position two.
e|-----------------------8-10--| B|------------------8-10-------| G|------------5-7--------------| D|-------5-7-------------------| A|--3-5------------------------| E|3-5--------------------------|
This does need you to know your five scale shapes, but it's a cool way of getting between them, and I think it sounds quite cool too.
How to stop hitting the in-between string when string skipping ▶ 4:27
This is where I think pick slanting comes in really handy. As you jump across a string, angle the pick in the opposite direction to the way you're moving, then angle it back the other way as you come back across. Changing the angle as you move means you hop over the string in between rather than catching it. There are plenty of pick slanting tutorials around if you want to go deeper into it.
The other thing is that with string skipping, the left hand is usually doing okay. It's normally the right hand that gets lost. So practise the right hand on its own, just the picking pattern on open strings. It's actually quite hard. There's something comforting about having the left hand moving too, and taking it away really exposes your picking.
How to stop low strings ringing out when you play riffs ▶ 5:47
It's hard to know without watching you play, but what I often see is people turning the wrist to reach the strings as they move across. By the time you get to the high strings you're in a different picking position, and your hand has moved away from the strings it was muting.
So instead, drop the whole hand from the elbow. The wrist might move a little bit, but when I pick on the high e string, my pick is in pretty much the same position relative to my arm as it was on the low E string. My arm covers the strings and I just quite lazily let it roll across them.
Also, use the flat of the thumb and the base of the palm to mute. A lot of people use the outer edge of the hand, but that's more for the chuggy stuff. The inner edge and base of the palm are what you want for muting the strings as you go across.
How to rake into a note without missing ▶ 7:00
This crosses over a lot with the last answer. Say you're raking across three strings to land on a note on the G string. If your fretting finger gently touches the strings above the one you're on, it mutes them for you, so your right hand doesn't have to be so careful. If you're fretting the note with your third finger, you can use your first finger to touch a string or two above it.
Ideally your right hand would be perfect, but in the flow of things that's hard, and a bit of safeguarding with the left hand is really useful. And again, drop the arm rather than turning the wrist. If you turn the wrist, you start hitting other strings.
Why modern metal riffs all sound the same ▶ 8:04
I think it comes down to a lot of things, but one I'd pinpoint is riff construction. A lot of players try to squeeze every technique, rhythmic idea and motif into every riff. They're painting with every colour across the entire canvas, every single time.
To write a defining riff, I think you have to restrict yourself. This technique, these frets, maybe these two chords. If you use everything and you're all over the fretboard, you haven't defined what you want the riff to feel like. I've seen people give the complete reverse advice, use all the strings, all the techniques, move all over the neck, and I personally think it's quite bad advice. It sounds cool, but it isn't memorable. Pick a motif or theme, stick with it and build on it. You can always make a more complex version later.
Where to start with ear training ▶ 9:30
The simplest place to start is intervals. Use an interval quiz, like the one on tonedear.com or the Ear Trainer, and start by telling the minor second and major second apart.
- Minor second: sounds like Jaws. It's any one-fret jump.
- Major second: sounds like the start of Happy Birthday. It's any two-fret jump.
A lot of people get the hang of those quite quickly. At the same time, work on the octave and the major seventh. The octave is the same note twice, one double the pitch of the other, and it sounds super clean. The major seventh feels like an octave but not quite. It sounds like it wants to pull up to the octave.
Then work inwards from there, almost by trial and error, to the thirds, fourths, fifths, sixths and sevenths. Another good thing to do is find vocal melodies on the fretboard. They're catchy, and even getting a few notes right is a good start.
How to write Killswitch Engage style harmonies ▶ 11:23
Guitar harmonies are just layered melodies. They need you to know your scale shapes a bit, so let's assume you do and work in C major.
A simple place to start is a third harmony. Take the first three notes of the scale, C, D and E. For each one, count up two more notes in the scale and play that at the same time. So notes one and three together, two and four together, three and five together: C with E, D with F, E with G.
It sounds a little crunchy on one guitar, but on two separate guitars you get a much cleaner sound. There's some physics behind that I won't get into.
You can also go two notes back in the scale instead. That gives you a sixth harmony. You still hear the original melody on top, but now there are lower notes sitting underneath, which sounds quite interesting.
How to sound more bluesy ▶ 12:53
If your pentatonic licks sound like the same licks you've been practising for years, I think the bluesy sound comes from moving in and out of the major and minor pentatonic scales.
A super simple way to do it: take your minor pentatonic scale and play the same shape three frets lower. In A, that's like playing F sharp minor pentatonic, which is the same notes as A major pentatonic. Put on an A blues backing track and jump between the two shapes, and you'll hear how different they sound over the same chords.
Another neat trick: take any note outside A minor pentatonic and slide from it into a note that is in the scale. For example, the 8th fret on the B string is in the scale and the 7th isn't, so slide from 7 to 8. Put a few of those in and you get a bit of that bluesy, almost jazzy feeling.
The difference between 3/4 and 6/8 ▶ 14:41
These get confused a lot, but they're quite distinctly different. Both can be counted as six, but the pulse is in a different place.
3/4 is counted "one and two and three and". Three beats, two notes per beat. It has a more 4/4 kind of feel: driving and forward moving.
6/8 puts the emphasis on beats one and four: "one two three four five six". That's three notes per beat, which is close to how you'd count 12/8: "one and a two and a three and a four and a". It has more of a swing to it.
Pick one and work on it
Don't try to fix all of these at once. Pick the question that sounds most like you, whether that's the C to D change, the scale shape exercise or the muting, and spend a week on just that.
