Shawn Lane is all I have to say. He’s not my hero, but he was probably the fastest practical guitarist ever.
EDIT: You HAVE to play diminished if you want to play Locrian. No other chord properly fits the scale, if you try to use other degrees to make chords you are actually changing out of Locrian. Strange mode, don’t think it works for chordal music, but I love it for riffy metal stuff.
that goes without saying. Shawn Lane is amazing. sad to see him go. 
anyone pick up The Aristocrats’ album? I DL’ed it for Guthrie and Marco Minneman (I remember him from playing on Scarified, never realized how ridiculous this dude is. should’ve gotten in over Mike “I’m better than you” Mangini for DT IMO but oh well) and it’s pretty amazing. favorite tracks: “Sweaty Knockers”, “Bad Asteroid”, “See You Next Tuesday”, and “Flatlands”. very British lol.
Minneman is one of the best no doubt, saw him play live with Kreator once. Most interesting 10 minute drum solo EVER! Haven’t checked out The Aristocrats yet, but I should get on it.
Minneman is the only drummer I’ve heard who can get away with double peds on a jazz track. LOL.
How to write exotic music the cheapo way: write something in a minor mode (i.e. any mode with a minor third), go back in, and change all the minor thirds to major thirds. Some of them might sound ugly, and you can change those ones back, but some of them are going to sound pretty cool. You’ll often fall ass-backwards into Mixolydian, or Mixolydian-esque synthetic scales.
Music theory takeaway: the third is flexible in many situations, which is why (for instance) blues guitarists can get away with throwing in minor thirds all over the place in major chord progressions. An excellent demonstration in how the wrong note is sometimes the right one.
Like in many things in life, understanding the rules helps you understand the right times to break them.
Devy on playing and writing songs for the guitar.
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Just FYI, if you’re ever in my neck of the woods, they sell 6-string bass strings locally in Beijing. I didn’t pay attention to the brand.
I ended up breaking down and getting a cheap Ibanez 4-string/bass amp recently. No instruments in my life was driving me crazy.
Thanks for the heads up!
I might also look on Taobao later too, maybe I can get shipments if I ever need to change again.
Really need to get a bank account with easy access online banking here and use Alipay. (CCB charging for a USB dongle to access is no-go for me.)
I have another question for you guys. Did any of your wrists hurt like hell trying to get the thumb in the middle of the neck while being positioned between the middle and ring finger at first? Because its quite a strain on my wrist when playing like that. However when I have the thumb positioned with the index or outside the index it feels easier.
You definitely don’t want outside the index, I think when I play it’s sort of “pinch” between my thumb and index. It doesn’t feel strange for me to put my thumb anywhere though. In time it will all feel natural, I remember everything being extremely awkward at one point, but now it’s completely comfortable.
I’m not sure I fully understand the question, but when I first started to play and would practice with my thumb planted at the back of the neck (rather than wrapped around), my thumb/wrist tendons would always be sore. I just tried to practice in moderation and give it a chance to recover between sessions, and it eventually toughened up.
on classical guitar -> classical position. thumb behind the neck, knuckles parallel to the fret board.
on eletric guitar -> don’t give a fuck anymore lol. whatever’s comfortable. my thumb’s almost always sitting or almost sitting on the top of the neck post-12th fret for stronger bends.
I generally wrap my thumb for bends and certain chord shapes, and plant my thumb for everything else. Planting just gives you so much more reach.
Yeah I couldn’t imagine playing with my thumb wrapped around the neck. Maybe it’s just what I play, but your hand loses all dexterity and fast wide motions become impossible. I actually find it easier and less “stiff” to do vibrato and bends with my thumb “pinching” rather than wrapped around as well.
EDIT: I temporarily failed English
oh yeah, for sure when going up to the highest frets my thumb will be behind the neck. having that blues feel when bending with your thumb wrapped around the neck is a totally different feeling altogether IMO. really powerful.
but for all intents and purposes, thumb behind the neck is the way to go for speed and comfort.
I’ll readily admit that I started planting my thumb before I realized there was another way to do it. I didn’t know how to play and I positioned my hand based on pictures of Eddie Van Halen, who was always doing big stretches with his fretting hand. I basically stumbled upon its advantages as a happy accident, and retroactively learned the other method as I learned more about open-position chords.
how do you guys pick, btw? just curious. for whatever reason I seem to shift towards a more Paul Gilbert free hand style when doing legato runs (because my legato is heavily influenced by him) and I plant my palm on the bridge when alternate picking, like Guthrie. helps with muting the strings, too. I used to anchor my pinky but it was really uncomfortable and inaccurate for my picking. difficult to reach the first three strings and put a lot of tension on the wrist.
I tend to keep the knife edge of my right hand anchored at the bridge the majority of the time. Not as flashy as all the flailing of guys like Townshend and Van Halen, but it’s reliable.
FZ would anchor his pinky and ring finger on the side of the neck and hover his palm over the fretboard/neck pickup area, picking out notes like a little chicken head coming down. It was the weirdest thing.
weird picking styles is Marty Friedman’s lol. probably the most inefficient picking technique ever but he’s the only one that makes it work well.