I've gotten to the point in guitar where I'm good with most chords. I've got strumming down, and I'm pretty decent at picking and hammering and pulling and all that stuff now.
One thing I can't seem to get is tremolo. How do you do it? I mean, I understand it's just strumming one string really fast, but I can't do it fast enough to sound good without hitting other strings. How am I supposed to practice it or is there some trick to it or something?
For isntance, the song I'm trying to learn it in is the lead guitar of "A Favor House Atlantic" by Coheed and Cambria. I can play the entire lead part except for this 10 second tremolo part of the bridge at 2:45 seconds in the song. It goes as such:
Bridge lead 3 (Each note in the first half of this lead is struck w/ tremolo picking)
e|----------------------------------------------------------------------------->
B|-10--9--7--9-4-5-7-10--9--7--5-4-5-7-10--9--7--9-4-5-7-5--4--5--7-5-4-5-->
G|----------------------------------------------------------------------------->
D|----------------------------------------------------------------------------->
A|----------------------------------------------------------------------------->
E|----------------------------------------------------------------------------->
Tab I'm using: http://www.ultimate-guitar.com/tabs/c/coheed_and_cambria/a_favor_house_atlantic_ver4_tab.htm
You can listen to it hear if you need to, but I'm warning you, this song has by far his wierdest vocals: http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewprofile&friendID=75321717
It's an obviously easy tremolo to practice on, but I just can't do it at all well.
This song is so fun for me to play on the guitar because it's so fast, and I really want to figure it out.
I think its time for you to put carpet on your walls and doorand also your roof, for some reason it makes your music sound better.
Alright. I wonder if maybe it's my amp as well that makes it not sound very good. It's just a practice amp with distortion pedal, so the sound isn't super amazing.
get a metronome and work on your speed picking. that and alternate pick while you do it (you'll go 10 times as fast).
as far as gear is concerned:
you're not going to sound all that great unless you have a decent guitar & amp.
Rule of thumb is if your amp doesn't have a good distortion and a decent clean, it's not worth picking up. Distortion pedals are useless. Overdrive pedals (i.e. Ibanez Tubescreamers) on the other hand while mixed with a decent amp sound... :)
is altnernate picking where you just hit it on the upstroke and downstroke? because i do that, haha. i'm not awesome at it yet, but i usually do all my picking like that.
Yeah, up/downstroking is essential when learning to tremolo. Just takes some practice.
Tremolo picking really isn't anything special. It's actually a term for when you move your pick closer to the bridge and pick to get a different tone. You're just talking about going faster. Get a metronome and work on it.