Don't think any of you have heard me on acoustic, check it out. i wrote the main riffs and built from there. just a jam, might turn it into a song.

I like that you actually have a sense of rhythm on the thing and don't sound stiff like a lot of players who came from heavy backgrounds do.

What are you tuned to there? I've taken a liking to DADGAD on acoustic lately, though I've started playing slide a lot as well.

Also, some of the harmonies make me ask- how far have you delved into jazz and classical stuff? Specifically not guitar-oriented.

...and I was the asshole who wrote their papers in one shot, proofread them the next day to see how awkward or OTT the wording was ("your writing is very suited to the academic environment", joked an English professor- a man who worked at a milk company and wrote poetry until his 40s), fer college. In high school, the guy who got by on their obscene test average while often not doing any work for entire semesters, save for art projects or whatever, who'd read the whole damn book in short order and then read another book in class. So I totally get it. Rock that if you can get away with it. Though I always sucked at math; had to take everything twice- literally everything- to go from fail to a solid B or equivalent.

Thank you.. Actually, it's funny, I don't really play anything heavy anymore-I guess I kind of grew out of it. Nor do I listen to metal anymore. And I'm playing in standard actually, I got a slide for Christmas, just trying to learn how to use it, so far I've only been messing with the spacey weird psychedelic noises like Syd Barrett did. may not be it's intended purpose, but it works and sounds quite exotic.

As far as harmonies go, I kind of figured them out on my own messing around, but I do like to add some jazz and classical flavors. For my playing, I like to mix little bits and pieces of scales/chords from different styles just for a unique sound. Towards the end was mixolydian raga influenced stuff, if that's what your referring too. Idk, on acoustic I kind of have my own way of playing and chord shapes that I don't really know where I got the ideas for. Just messing around with adding extra notes, taking some away, on normal chord shapes.

Yeah, I'm totally that guy, I did an essay the day before it was due without even reading it (while I also did another kid's for 50$ on the same night) and got recognized in class by my teacher on how great it apparently was. As far as tests go, I've always been the one to slack off then study a bit the night before and ace the test. I was a lazy ass dumbfuck last year (freshman) and totally fucked up all my classes because I didn't do anything, but I've kind of gotten my shit together this year so things are going well.

Yer welcome. I actually want to get back into the heavy stuff myself somewhat if only for the discipline it imposes on your rhythm work. I've found myself wanting as of late doing the odd post-punk cover with my band- specifically Sisters Of Mercy's Temple Of Love and Bauhaus' Dark Entries. And while Andrew Eldritch (yes, he played on Temple, both versions. I know my Sisters trivia; he can play pretty decent. Though he did spill a coffee into an AC30 once and didn't much care as he dislikes them... ) and Daniel Ash are hardly shredders, keeping that stuff tight at tempo- those are fast songs- when you don't do it anymore is tough. I suppose I gotta bust out the old Metallica stuff and work the downpicking. Technique matters, and if you need to use it, you need to have it. I'm afear'd to bust out Master Of Puppets or Blackened or something like that!

I'm not trained as a guitarist at all; I figured the rock instruments out on my own. Having already known theory and having a piano and viola background it worked out, and I've long been one to... Make up, I guess, my own chords. Really, I'm approaching the thing like a piano player versus someone trained as a guitarist. I was curious as I was wondering where some of your more nonstandard ideas throughout were coming from. Not that I have any recommendations not knowing what from there you'd like. Re: harmonies, that's basically how I did it too, though as I started late on guitar applying my theory background and getting into implied harmony- if I have the X and the Y the Z is perceived, or the bass or keys or other guitar can hold it down. (A neat trick in a metal band with a 5-string bass. Invert that power chord and have the bass carry the root.) Something I learned from a music teacher in high school talking jazz harmony- you can ignore the root and the fifth and still imply a chord. For something more traditional, the third is really the thing that tells you where you are- hell, even with extended harmonies, the third is what's defining major/minor.

The only time I ever really did the work after my early teens was going back to school as an adult in my mid-20s with a career and all the basics done anyhow- heaven forfend I ever take another math course... All I had to do then was write papers and read books. I like that. (Surprised? ) Which was pretty much all I ever did in an educational institution anyhow; read books and write about stuff. That and draw a lot.

nice you should learn how to play slide brah, its the chit.

For me, it was actually KMFDM that got me into it, 'cause they'd use it as an effect. I'd fooled around with it forever ago, but doing some NOLA bluesy or Tom Waits-y stuff with my tranny friend got me back into trying to learn it for real. That and I'm a Gov't Mule fan. It's just such a neat texture. From a string player's perspective, it's almost like a bow. I think it could be used in an avant-garde/ noise application pretty well.

I have a few old medicine bottles I use, old-school style. The guitar store near my house, the guy who runs it collects 'em and sells 'em as slides. There's a green one I like for live as there's a few times a set I bust it out.

But yeah, I digress. The more you know how to do, the more you can do, and the notion of not learning as proof against that, to me, is nonsense. The only time you're trapped or limited by ideas is if that's all you embrace. To be really epic awesome you break the rules or re-write them.

funny you say that. I was just teaching myself the WWIII intro.