Shredding on acoustic

      I’ve been playing guitar for a while now. Till date, I’ve composed loads of licks & riffs. Also, I’ve been playing System of a Down, Wolfmother, Led Zeppelin, Despised Icon, Pitchshifter, Green Day etc. and of course good ol’ Metallica. It’s just a matter of experience. It was hard before, but now my fingers move pretty well on the fretboard even though I'm still improving.

      I have a sleek red acoustic guitar which is a witness of my guitar playing since it all started from scratch. I think I’m the only one who plays Metallica or SOAD on acoustic. Playing all these Metal songs on acoustic have made my fingers very strong. And they say electric guitar is like 10 times easier to play than an acoustic because it has low action. Now I'm really excited because I've training myself so rigorously on an acoustic that it's going to be a piece of cake when I will buy an electric guitar. It's kinda stupid that I've been playing chromatic exercises over and over again (it helped a lot though) in order to be a good shredder. If I can shred on acoustic, it's going to be so amazing on electric. . .

About my guitar playing

It was last September when I joined the guitar class. All I could play after that was, ‘Happy Birthday’ & 2-3 other tunes from some famous movies. I stopped attending after two months & practiced at home. It wasn’t until last month that I managed to play the guitar with more ease than before. Initially, I practiced those 2-3 stupid tunes, but later, as I got better at playing it, I started to pluck strings randomly & then it all started.

            I played it my way. I let my mind command my fingers. Now, my ears analyze what I play & mentally suggest a change if required. Though I’m still a newbie; I’ve improved my guitar-playing a lot.

            It gradually became my passion, to take the guitar, play it according to my mood & compose a new tune. Depending on my mood, I play differently & form different kind of riffs. I started to write those small melodies in a notebook. I was happy that I could play the guitar in a way that reflects the state of my mind. Those riffs which I worked out sound pretty neat & fine, but I never felt proud.

            But, one day, I felt like playing my favourite bands' songs on my guitar. Google helped me get tabs of songs. Then I felt proud of the fact that I could play almost same. That was lame. I drove away from my own creativity. After a while, I decided to be innovative again & to work out my own tunes.

            Today, I’m sitting with my guitar beside me & there's a piece of paper in front of me, which has notation of a freshly composed riff. When I played it over & over again, I got excited & happy. This riff is the best one I’ve ever created. When I compared my work with songs by all those artists out there I felt confident, because, what I’ve created, sounds just great and if I keep practicing this way, I will get better. Now I feel better & can enjoy the originality as well. . .