What songs do you use to double as technique exercises?

[bigswifty]

Just thinking out loud here.. If you don't use it, you lose it. But running scale exercises to a metronome can be mind numbingly boring.
It's much more fun and musical to play along to something, and if it doubles as an exercise in _________ technique, that's great.

So, what songs do you know/can you think of that are excellent for keeping your chops up in one technique or another?

For example, Bleed by Meshuggah is one hell of a galloping rhythm exercise. If you can get through that, I think you're good in that department

What comes to mind?

 

[lost_horizon]

Damage Control - John Petrucci
Riffs, then string skipping, then inside picking, then country hammer ons, then bending, then fast chromatic runs, then sweep (or alternate) picking, then tremelo picking.

Kind of vanilla but when you do that big Dsus2 chord really gets the juices flowing.

 

[nickgray]

Glasgow Kiss from Petrucci's solo album, the intro riff. Seriously good alt. picking exercise. Also Periphery - Marigold. A bit annoying to get into drop tuning, but it's really good alt. picking exercise too.

 

[bigswifty]

Thanks for the suggestions so far!

Just thought of one: Waves - Guthrie Govan. That intro riff/lick works wonders for working on your slide precision.

 

[littlebadboy]

Smoke on the water.

Sorry, had to.

 

[Hollowway]

Not so much for technique, as for speed and accuracy (or maybe that's technique anyway? Lol.) but I like Zyglrox, Mea Culpa, Stabwound, Lash by Lash, and Perpetual Burn.

(Periphery, Human Abstract, Necrophagist, Spawn of Possession, Jason Becker, if anyone wonders about the specific artists.)

I like to practice songs that move around a lot, so I find Bleed mind numbingly boring to play just sitting here by myself.

 

[Lemonbaby]

Also Periphery - Marigold. A bit annoying to get into drop tuning, but it's really good alt. picking exercise too.

I use that in my regular routine as well, good workout to stay in shape.

 

[soldierkahn]

I use alot of Architects' stuff off of the All Our Gods album to help me with string skipping and accuracy without getting bored to death with a metronome. For speed in Drop D, I like running through LoG's Ashes of the Wake and Sacrament, and a couple tracks off of Wrath.

I tend to use more simple tunes with simple chord progressions in order to not get bored while practicing improv, which pretty much means all the music i listen to lol

 

[/wrists]

Children of Bodom's Bodom Beach Terror's The rock Riff.

 

[Drew]

Technical Difficulties, whenever I feel like working on alternate picking.

 

[wheresthefbomb]

I sometimes like to do my warmups to songs that are in different meters ie 4/4 exercises to a 6/8 beat etc. I find that it keeps my brain fresh.

Giant Squid - Metridium Fields is my go to 6/8 backing track, it's like 20 minutes of the same riff with very clear and consistent beat subdivision.

 

[MFB]

Mentioned this in another thread, but while I was in Drop D last night I decided to see what songs were also in Drop C that I could transpose up; forgetting how the song even went I checked out Born in Winter, this one requires clean playing to the max for octave/string skipping.



Same for the intro/main riff of Gift of Guilt, since this one uses distortion, it's a good one to practice muting other strings while tapping.

 

[sacguy71]

I use a lot of Metallica, Megadeth and Slayer songs to bone up on my rhythm playing. I definitely get a right hand workout after playing Angel of Death for example.

 

[IT'z Roberto]

Anything by Plini, Intervals, David Maxim Miccic, Sithu Aye, Chimp Spanner, and Modern Day Babylon for Melody exercises.

I can't play any of it but I listen and imagine as I noodle on my guitars

 

[KentBrockman]

Pachelbel’s Canon for string skipping. In 2011, I bought an issue of Total Guitar magazine and it had their arrangement of it transcribed. I use parts of it to this day.

For string bending, I use The Crying Machine by Steve Vai.

 

[Blytheryn]

Children of Bodom’s Chokehold is like an entire technique exercise in metal rythm and lead playing.

 

[Blytheryn]

Children of Bodom's Bodom Beach Terror's The rock Riff.

That tech death riff pre solo is something else.

It’s like LoG’s vomit riff on steroids.

 

[Dayn]

Ending solo to Dream Theater's 'This Dying Soul'. Nearly a minute of constant alternate picked 16ths at nearly 200bpm all over the neck. It's mostly a scale exercise really, but it's a fun one.