Im a beginning guitarist with the digitech brian may pedal trying to learn the bo rhap soo. I have the notes down but im working on playing it at tempo and with more precision, any tips?
Click here for vid of me playinglink
Hey bro...here are my tips...from one guitar player to another.
-It is good practice to spend about 15 min. EVERY DAY 'warming up' and getting your brain and your fingers connected. You could 'walk the board' or just play through scales.
-One of the greatest tools to use when practicing (that I seldom hear mentioned) is a metronome. I hear pianists, bassists, & drummers talk about using them...but rarely guitarists. Using one will do wonders for your chops and accuracy.
-The guitar solo for "Bohemian Rhapsody" is in Bb Mixolydian. Learn about that mode and practice it with other modes.
-Work on your knowledge of music theory, the different forms and fingering patterns for each of the diatonic modes. I guarantee you, Brian has used almost all of them throughout his career (except for Locrian).
-Learn and understand where all the notes are on the fretboard...it helps w/ Theory & Chord Construction.
-When using a metronome and practicing a piece of music...start the metronome at half or 3/4 (a tempo where you can comfortably play the solo) and master it at different speeds, working up to the tempo of the song you're learning.
-Work on developing your vibrato and accuracy w/ string bending...and listen/watch Brian's technique and approach using those basic things.
Be encouraged...everybody starts somewhere...even at one point, people like Brian May, Jeff Beck, Jimi Hendrix, & Clapton sucked on guitar. Practice and be the best that you can be! Good luck!
Another Brian-ism is that he would sometimes play through notes in a chord, as opposed to playing up and down every note in a scale. It's not a strictly Brian May thing, of course, but I've noticed it several times in his playing (and I think he's even brought it up himself). A little like sweep picking, I guess, but melodic.
I would also reccommend downloading a midi player on which you can mute or solo any of the tracks.
This will help you to practise and play along at any tempo without being able to hear the solo being played by anyone else but yourself.
Practising along with the track is great, but it can sometimes be a hinderance if you can hear more than just what you are playing. It could sound great, but hey, it's not all you.
With the whole midi player thing you can set the tempo, rather than trying to rush.
Try www.vanbasco.com, the midi player here should be fine. This is also handy for any other musician wanting to learn any given part of a song. Keyboards, bass, lead breaks etc.
Zebonka12 wrote:
Another Brian-ism is that he would sometimes play through notes in a chord, as opposed to playing up and down every note in a scale. It's not a strictly Brian May thing, of course, but I've noticed it several times in his playing (and I think he's even brought it up himself). A little like sweep picking, I guess, but melodic.
im a music teacher and one thing a do is get my kids to play the last bar, then the last 2, last three etc this way you dont get into the habit of playing a few bars, stopping and going back to the beginning.
you can get stuck just playing the first few bars and never get to the end
