Songs that helped you improve as a guitar player...

[UCBmetal]

I have found, over the years, that the best way for me to improve technically is to take a piece of music that emphasizes a technique I want to hone and learn it. This has been way more effective for me than doing exercises, and is also 200x more fun. I thought I'd share the jams that helped me improve elements of my playing in particular, and I'd love to get some ideas from you on how to further get better, especially in areas I don't mention!

Anyways, here goes (in no particular order):

Alternate Picking: Paul Gilbert - Scarified, Technical Difficulties, Human Abstract - Crossing the Rubicon, Paganinni - 5th Caprice
Trem picking: A bunch of Amon Amarth stuff.
Legato - Joe Satriani - Flying in a Blue Dream
Sweeping - Nevermore - Psalms of Lydia Solo, Jason Becker - Serrana (duh)
Rhythm Right Hand Work: Anything off Lamb of God - Ashes of the Wake, push the bpm downpicking Master of Puppets (yawn, I know), and Bleed by Meshuggah if you want to really burn.
Tapping - A bunch of Van Halen and Randy Rhoads stuff when I was younger, but pleeeeease give me some suggestions. I suck at tapping, and want to get better.

Also, there are a couple players I reeeeally like, and these songs helped me improve my phrasing and better understand how they sound so awesome:

Marty Friedman: Tornado of Souls
Jeff Loomis: Nevermore - The River Dragon, Enemies of Reality (Also a great solo to get comfortable playing pentuplets!)
Ryan Knight: BDM - Moonlight Equilibrium
Per Nillson - Scar Symmetry - The Illusionist

Hope this helps anybody out there, and I'd love to hear what songs made you the guitar player you are today!

 

[bondmorkret]

Cool thread. I guess recently I'm listening to mainly jazz and fusion players, so I transcribe a lot of thus stuff to help expand my knowledge. Transcribing the Countdown solo by Allan Holdsworth helped my playing a lot. Also transcribing Autumn in New York played by Jonathan Kreisberg helped my augmented scale knowledge tonnes!

 

[m3l-mrq3z]

Paganini's caprices have helped me improve my alternative picking. A lot. They have also influenced the way I play.

Joe Satriani has also influenced me as far as legato lines go. I just rip him off all the time.

Playing Fear Factory tunes has also been crucial in developing my riffing skills, which are still weak (I am mainly a lead player)

 

[Pablo Zuta]

One of the songs that i think help me is "eudaimonia overture" of Paul Gilbert , is a complex song and i like it because have so many different techniques like :Tapping , Arpeggios , Alternate picking , String skiping , Bends , power Chords , etc , etc .

 

[Tyler]

I just push myself with songs I know are harder than my ability. After I get the basic idea of it down and keep progressing I always feel its helped me out a ton.

 

[axxessdenied]

I used to do that. But, now that I am trying to record my own music I see how crucial practicing to a metronome is above all else. Even when you're playing along to a song and you think you are playing in time, it's probably nowhere near perfect.

I've been working now on getting rid of bad habits and getting my fingers to move more fluidly. Slow, deliberate, with intent.

 

[JosephAOI]

Unbreakable by Veil Of Maya helped me build up quite a bit of speed. Playing my own songs have made me improve more than anything though.

 

[ittoa666]

Anything by Paul Gilbert.

 

[MrPepperoniNipples]

Anything by Paul Gilbert.

+1

Greg Howe stuff helped me a lot, too
In being 'interesting' without necessarily playing fast, which I could never really do prior.

Necrophagist solos made me realize how important it is that in the fast licks the notes have to be on point rhythmically in order to really sound good. I think 'Epitaph' was the first one I learned.

 

[veshly]

This song was a very significant milestone in playing for me:




Tab here:

http://riversofgore.com/Tabs/bryss/InMyOwnGreed.gp5

 

[Maniacal]

flight of the bumblebee for picking

 

[zakatak9389]

Yngwie when I was first starting out helped me develop my alternate picking quite well. Also Dream theater too, that stuff is a real bitch to play

 

[TedEH]

Maybe I'm a little different, but I always find I learn more when I join a band than any other time. I can play new songs as much as I want but I find that I hit a ceiling. Jamming with someone new usually breaks through that ceiling for me. I learn some of the little tricks and things that the other player uses. And when you are being taught a new song by the guy that wrote it, you learn exactly what they did, not what you assume they did.

 

[groverj3]

If you want to work on tapping, Michael Romeo of Symphony X is pretty damn good at it. Work on a solo or two of his. I can't play any of them

 

[Solodini]

And for that general sort of tapping mechanic, just take a melody you know which is pow down the top 3 strings and replace occasional notes with the same note tapped higher up the neck, on a lower string. You can mix up how many notes your right hand plays and how often. You can change up the phrasing and timbre quite a bit by sliding a tapping finger between notes you'd otherwise hammer/pull or slide on a higher string with different tonal characteristics.

Also, tapping on separate strings helps to build up the Holdsworthian strength in tapping notes from silent, rather than relying on slurs from already vibrating notes.

 

[Sam MJ]

For hybrid picking, the intro to Animals as Leaders-On Impulse has been invaluable. I haven't got it up to speed yet but even so it's been super helpful. I'm already getting far more comftable with it .

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m4G0SIXxx2U

 

[Grimbold]

donna lee
so hard
yet you learn so much jazz from it!

 

[Blacklady]

Awesome thread. I’m beginner to guitar playing. Glad I found this post. This totally amazing, its actually working. Thank you so much!

 

[leoseanster12]

Picking (16th Sextuplets) - Technical Difficulties http://http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vMAIhjhA3Tw


Picking (16th quarter notes) - Flight of the Bumblebee http://http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4H9MMEzx8JQ


Sweeping - Altitudes http://http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1wMnuxF80Dw

 

[Jonathan20022]

Lost Not Forgotten - Dream Theater (Hybrid Picking during the Unison)
C'est La Vie - Protest the Hero (Alternate Picking all over the place)
Tears Dry On Their Own - Amy Winehouse (Fast Chord changes/shapes)
- He Can Only Hold Her - Amy Winehouse ^^
I Will Return - The Black Dahlia Murder (Alternate Picking, and most of the riffs made me realize my fingers didn't really act independently, so it helps that also)
If I Could Fly - Joe Satriani (Legato)
Freak Show Excess - Steve Vai (Legato and Solo Techniques)