I dont even use all 6 strings of my guitar...

[Kerosian]

Oh fuck sorry man

But you know what, try your hand at some Spawn of Possesion slowed down. They actually tabbed out their own stuff and its on Rivers of Gore - Brutal Tablature.

I cant play it either (I WISH!) but its great for grasping at advanced writing styles and their use of counterpoint is pretty badass sometimes. Look into "In my Own Greed". Thats a good one. Honestly though, if you're still starting out dont worry about not using all your strings, you'll start doing it as you learn what notes can be played with what and how to extend certain things.

/Looks at Scorched tab, lights guitars on fire, makes suicide note, kills self.

 

[Konfyouzd]

Play full/arpeggiated chords. Practice your scales/arpeggios. Experiement with both... Mix n mingle... You know... Just don't be afraid to try ANYTHING... Also, in drop tunings you might be able to get away with overlapping rhythm and lead parts a little more easliy than in a standard tuning unless you're pretty good w/ the scales, then it's all the same, really...

 

[mountainjam]

It never hurts to add some variety to your playing. When done in my moderation, stuff like sweeps can add to your riffs. A decent example of this is Sleep Terror. Nice heavy playing with a bunch of other thing thrown in.

Lol dude sleep terror is some of the most technical music ever written, not a good example for a beginner to play

 

[Fiction]

@Fiction
I didnt quite get the first part of what you were saying, what do you mean by
'Definitely try out matching your power rung out chords with a D/m shape so say you would hold a G5 (doubled powerchord) you would do the D/m shape where your finger on the G string would be on the g which is the 0, 12th or 24th fret'

Sorry, dont really know how to use the quote function XD

Click quote underneath whoevers post you want to quote.

It's hard to explain haha, I used it in one of my old songs before to make the chords sound cool but I can't seem to remember it or explain it haha. Its just to make the chords sound kind of fuller, for example;

e |--0--------8-------5----7-------|
b |--0--------10------5----8-------|
g |--0--------9*------7----7*------|
d |--2-----------------7------------|
a |--2-----------------5*-----------|
e |--0*-----------------------------|

Try play an Em And hold it for half a bar, and than play the Dm shaped chord starting on the 9th fret of the G string. I Gave the root notes *'s just so you can kind of see whats happening. I barely know theory or have any teaching experience, so this is the best I can do really haha.

 

[Stealthdjentstic]

Lol dude sleep terror is some of the most technical music ever written, not a good example for a beginner to play

Not to mention Sleep Terror's death metal parts are the least interesting ever. I like the band but they just ABUSE minor thirds more than any other death metal band I can think of

 

[Tomo009]

Not to mention Sleep Terror's death metal parts are the least interesting ever. I like the band but they just ABUSE minor thirds more than any other death metal band I can think of

There a problem with minor thirds?

But anyway I sort of suffer from this. I can really open up my playing and do so more on my 8 string, but often any long run will be followed by something on the bottom 2 strings. That's what I'm really trying to change at the moment.

 

[tacotiklah]

As a fellow metal rhythm guitarist, I to had this same problem. I read dimebag darrel's old guitar world column and got some helpful advice for fixing this problem. Write an awesome riff on your 2 lowest strings. Now move that exact riff up anywhere from 1-3 octaves. Play that riff in the higher register a couple of times, then switch back to the way you originally wrote it, down in the lower register. See how that change can give your riff an assload of punch? Makes that switch to the lower register feel powerful, and doing all of this will get you to a point where you are thinking across all the strings and up and down the neck. A great example of what Im talking about is the intro to cowboys from hell.

 

[ellengtrgrl]

Well, one way is to redefine the genre you play or just change it. You are not limited to one genre/style of playing. Work on playing full chords. Do not limit yourself.

+1

You can do single note rhythmn lines in chord shapes by using string skipping techniques (picking individual strings in the chord, rather than strumming out the entire chord). This will not only give you variety from the usual "blam blam" type of power/barre chord stuff, you'll begin to consider using the higher strings, to flesh out your rhythmn riffs. Using high gain, think of it as Johhny Marr on steroids. Speaking of which, here's the man showing what I just mentioned (albeit with cleaner tones):

 

[mountainjam]

Not to mention Sleep Terror's death metal parts are the least interesting ever. I like the band but they just ABUSE minor thirds more than any other death metal band I can think of

I really like his fusion death metal