"Chop" Building?

[P-Bird]

Hey guys, Im new here, Seems like a pretty cool place..

So could i ask you all how do you guys go about Building your "chops"? For improving your improv and soloing..

Thanks alot for replies??

[lhallam]

Originally posted by P-Bird
Hey guys, Im new here, Seems like a pretty cool place..

So could i ask you all how do you guys go about Building your "chops"? For improving your improv and soloing..

Thanks alot for replies??

Check this out:

http://www.sheetsofsound.net

Then read what has been said about Jzuckers book "Sheets of Sound" in this area as well as in SoundHound. Check out what his 14 yr accomplished in one year. Listen to Ed DeGenaro's clips of some of the exercises from the book.

[Genghis]

I'm fairly new here myself, and one of the first things I did when I started reading some of the posts here is get Sheets of Sound (as recommended by the previous reply). It is everything they say it is and more. It's definitely snapped me out of a rut and I'm barely getting started with it. I've been playing for over 25 years and I wish I would have had something like this when I was just starting to really get into playing. It's the most complete and solid book on chops-building I have ever seen.

[P-Bird]

Wow thanks guys..

That book looks pretty good...i havent got around to the sound clips yet though but thanks...

[Tag]

Sheets of sound without a doubt. My Technique has always been pretty good, and I have only been glancing at the book over the last week, but my picking has already improved. I have been having difficulties with numbness in my hands, and many of his techniques make things easier for me now. (Less motion\fatigue) It gives you many different ways to look and play things you already know, as well as tons of new material. If I had used this method for technique when I was first learning, there would be nothing physically challenging on the guitar after these 20 plus years of playing. I am finding at this point, the thing is to skip around the book, and add things to what you already know, exactly as Jack intended it. I am an intermediate player, so I understand the theory behind it which obviously helps. For advanced players who do not have great technique, this book would be a godsend. I would think within a years time, slow or sloppy players could be shredding cleanly with practice.

[P-Bird]

Wow you really got me Gassing for it now..


Thanks alot Guys,

[spaceboy]

argh! i still haven't hardly looked at mine! stupid procrastinating bastard. but as soon as i've finished this silly "fast fingers" course that I got years ago and hardly looked at (mostly very basic stuff, for the kind of ability I was when I got it, but it's been very useful in learning modes and scale positions) then I will get straight in there. can't wait!

[P-Bird]

Cool, I listened to his 14yr old sons Shredding, and wow ..thats one hell of a hredder for a 14yr old..

[P-Bird]

Hey spaceboy where did you get your sheets of sound if you have it, im in Ireland but cant find anything on Amazon..

Thanks...

[Genghis]

I think you can only get it directly from http://www.sheetsofsound.net/

[lhallam]

BTW: P-Bird, welcome aboard. :cool:

[P-Bird]

Hey guys cheers..I see you can order directly Thanks..

Cheers for the welcome..

[6Tones]

I think some good" books for chops" can be
Bachs violin partitas
Paganinis 24 caprices for violin,both fit nicely on the guitar
Try picking up some books for other treble clef instruments,sax,violin ect.
Joe Passes jazz book is great too,lots of line examples

[spaceboy]

yeh, thanks to matte for putting me onto the partitas - really fun and really useful!

[P-Bird]

Originally posted by 6Tones
I think some good" books for chops" can be
Bachs violin partitas
Paganinis 24 caprices for violin,both fit nicely on the guitar
Try picking up some books for other treble clef instruments,sax,violin ect.
Joe Passes jazz book is great too,lots of line examples

Yeh ive heard Steve Vai's take on his 5th caprice..It sounds grat..its quiet tricky to play indeed..

Unfortunatly i'd need to be able to sight read to even attempt panganini's caprice's..

[markp]

I always did the hour aday aproach.

Hour blues scale
1 hour 3 note per string
1 hour arpegeos
1 hour 2 handed licks
1hour bends and vibrato
1 hour wammy bar
1 hour playing as fast as I can
1 hour learning from books and tapes

for each lick I learned iwould play it frontwards and backwards in differant keys,modes, scales and then try to make up 10 of my own licks out of it.

IN hine sight I should have been working the ear training instead of wearing out my hands.

My hands have always been ahead of my ears.

[dkaplowitz]

Wow, I wish I had 7 hours a day to practice. I probably wouldn't do it quite like that if I did though. Maybe about half that in technical exercises (between chords, arps, licks, scales), then the rest actual improvising.

[epluribus]

Yeah, same question here, dklapowitz. I took it to mean an hour a day with a different discipline each day. But it begs the larger question--how do you navigate the sea of information and practice exercises that are out there in this web-liberated world?

I've just started working with Tomo's excellent AYGP, and it's clear it's doing tons for my playing regardless of the playlist, but not far beyond that I simply don't have enough lifetimes for all the material I "should" work with.

For now, as a serious hobbyist since the 70's and aspiring to a return to performing, I just wanna do better at playing better R&B and Marshall Tucker covers for starters, done up with a nice spicing of other influences, like Joabim for example, or neo-classical passages like Gary Moore's.

But Tomo and several others here are right--why ignore half your crayons? So many colors, so little time, how do we use them best?

--Ray