bernth

#98 - Amazing Atmospheric Chords

Time for another topic from your wishlist for this month - let's check out some beautiful and atmospheric chords!

When we think about complex, atmospheric, or special sounding chords, we usually think about adding many notes or making things much more complicated from a theory perspective. With today's lesson, I'd like to show you that the solution you're looking for might be much more simple :)

By spacing the notes of triads better and by working with inversions, you will get a k...

#97 - 5 Habits That RADICALLY Improved My Guitar Playing

Another week, another chance to improve! I hope you have a great start into this one today :) Before we work on more exercises and topics from your wishlist, I'd like to take some time to share 5 habits or mindset goals that really improved my playing over the last year.

Aside from specific exercises and workouts, I found that these topics had a huge part in my progress - but of course, I'm far from happy or done working on all of that stuff :) I hope you can benefit from this short sum...

#96 - How To Write Amazing Metal Riffs!

Welcome back my friends, it's time for the last topic from your wishlist for May! After that, we will finally tackle this month's most popular topics :)

After all the shredding, it's about time to work on another riff writing lesson. I chose a very simple cadence and show you some cool concepts and details you can add to make it more interesting! Aside from practicing this section, I'd love to see and hear you working with these ideas for your own material - make sure to send over some ...

#95 - My New Fast Picking Technique!

Today I'd like to show you my new picking approach! I've been working on this for quite a while now, finally got it to a level where I can show it to you and explain what's going on :)

I developed this style for the new album so you will this one a lot on there! It's essentially a combination of sweep picking and arpeggiating chords with a distorted sound. This technique is easy to speed up but it's difficult to maintain the same note spacing and rhythm! The right hand does all the hard...

Lesson Topic Voting For July!

Time to choose the lesson topics for next month, can't wait to see how you decide :) Also make sure to leave a comment if you have any further suggestions, I will add them to the lesson voting for August next time!

#94 - This Exercise SOLVED My Biggest Theory Frustration!

It's finally time for another in-depth lesson! This time we work on your chosen topic of improvisation once more :) I remember how frustrating it was for me to find my way across the fretboard in the beginning, this approach really helped me with that.

This exercise is really powerful when it comes to understanding arpeggios and improvising/playing solos over riffs and chords. I prepared an easy practical example and the exercise will allow you to understand how to form big and interest...

#93 - Top 5 Best Sweeping Exercises

Good morning to the community, hope you have a great start into the week today :)

Since your feedback on the 'Top 10 Best Picking Exercises' video was very good, I'd like to feature the best sweep picking exercises in the same way, before we check out new material later this week! I think these videos serve as a great summary of what we worked on so far and as great starting points for new members.

I also uploaded all the files in this post once again, here are the links to the in...

#92 - 5 Amazing Arpeggio Exercises!

Time for some killer arpeggio workouts! Here are 5 cool exercises for your routine - alternate picking, sweep picking and fingerpicking included :)

These arpeggios are all augmented, yet another topic from your wishlist for this month. Augmented arpeggios have a really cool dissonant and suspenseful sound, here we have a major third and an augmented fifth! So we can always compare augmented triads to major triads (just raise/augment the fifth), just as we are comparing diminished triads...

Great News Concerning The Guitar Pro Files!

Good morning to the community, hope you are all having a great day :) Today I'd like to share some exciting news from Dominik, one of our community members on here. A lot of you guys sent me questions concerning the guitar pro files for the lessons (how to open them, where to buy the software, how much it costs,...) - I just learned that there is an open source program that can open them, here is the original comment from Dominik:

A free alternative to GP5 is Tuxguitar, its free and sup...

#91 - The Awesome Chromatic Shred Trick!

Time for another lesson, hope you are all having a great week so far :) In this one I wanted to feature the request for an improvisation lesson in a bit of a different light. Instead of talking about mindset or abstract concepts, I'd like to show you a system that you can apply to all your licks that will infuse them with a cool progressive sound!

Once you practiced this lick, you will be able to apply this on the fly to all kinds of licks, scales, and arpeggios. This will provide you w...

#90 - These 3 Exercises Will Unlock Your Right Hand!

Today we check out another topic from your wishlist for this month - timing & rhythm exercises!

These workouts are not only beneficial for playing riffs or chord patterns, they will also help you with using more of your wrist when you are playing fast. After a couple of minutes of playing patterns like that, my right hand feels very warmed up and I neglected to work with more than one or two strings for rhythm workouts for far too long. So please give them a try, even if you don't p...

#89 - This Pentatonic Scale Trick Makes You Sound AMAZING

It's time to learn about one of the top-voted topics on your lesson wishlist for this month - working with diminished sounds! We will discuss augmented approaches in a separate video :)

Since we always worked with diminished arpeggios when we encountered this dissonant color so far, I'd like to introduce you to a completely different approach. What happens when we combine the minor pentatonic scale with the diminished sound? The result is a dissonant and interesting sound that I will us...

#88 - This Trick Makes Sweep Picking MUCH Easier!

For this week's in-depth lesson, I'd like to show you a picking trick I discovered recently! This one makes difficult directional changes with sweeping/arpeggio licks much easier :) Next week, we will dive into the 2 top-voted topics on the lesson wishlist for June, can't wait to share these videos with you!

Please don't forget to download the tabs, guitar pro files and backing tracks below! Hope you have an amazing weekend and a lot of fun playing guitar :)

Lesson Topic Voting June

It's time to decide on what we will practice and improve next! Can't wait to see how the community decides, I'm sure that it will be another great month full of shredding :)

#87 - Hammer-On & Pull-Off Workouts

Welcome back to the last lesson topic from the wishlist for May! You voted for hammer-on and pull-off workouts, so today I'd like to show you one of my favorite approaches concerning that :)

Aside from learning this powerful exercise, you will also revisit the most important factors that define a clean and accurate legato technique. This is often overlooked since hammer-ons and pull-offs seem easy to master in the beginning! That's why I'm happy that you voted for this topic, working on...

#86 - How To Sound Faster WITHOUT Playing Faster!

Good morning to the community, it's finally time for another lesson :)

In the first lesson for this week, we will talk about speed once again. In my opinion, there are more factors to playing fast than just BPM numbers or NPS (notes per second) - with this video, I wanted to feature the other 2 important aspects of shredding! So this lesson is a bit different, hope you like it :)

Of course I made sure to feature another practical demonstration, this one is a great workout for your...

#85 - Top 10 Best Picking Exercises

Good morning to the community - hope you are all having an awesome weekend! :)

I'll upload a compilation video of my 10 favorite picking exercises we looked at over the last year on YouTube today. This just serves as a quick summary concerning picking technique workouts and I think it's a great idea to have the most effective ones in just one video! I also attached the tabs and guitar pro files of each one in case you want to revisit them.

Next week, we will look at 2 really cool ...

#84 - Best Ear Training For Rock & Metal Guitar

Let's take a quick break from the shredding and focus on some music theory today - this is another highly requested topic from this month's lesson wishlist, happy to see that you guys voted for that one!

Today we start with ear training and discuss the benefits of developing your ear. I show you how to get started and also uploaded some special ear training backing tracks for the community! I recommend having them on your phone in a shuffle playlist. You can listen to the separate inter...

Killer Alternate Picking Workout!

Hope you have a great start into this week today :) Here's a quick idea for your alternate picking/string transitioning skills: combine 2 scale positions and play them up and down with a continuous downstroke, upstroke, downstroke, upstroke,... pattern!

While this doesn't sound unique or creative, it really helps me with further working on my fluid string transitions. I did this for over one hour today and the lick sounded much better and more fluid at the end than it did when I started...

#83 - 90% Of Beginner Guitarists Make THIS Technique Mistake

As promised, we check out another really helpful left-hand exercise today! This one is a killer independence workout since we are pairing the fingers in an unusual way. With finger exercises, we are often only working with all fingers ascending or descending (1, 2, 3, 4 / 4, 3, 2, 1) but here we are pairing them (1 + 3, 2 + 4). The pairing of the middle- and pinky finger is especially tricky since your hand might not be used to that!

Once again, we let the notes overlap to control the t...

#82 - Shred Exercise For Extreme Picking Progress

In the first lesson for this week, we check out a killer speed picking exercise! This one helps with hand synchronization and creative lick writing and is the foundation for the fast shred lick I posted on Monday :)

By working with different groups in the lick, we get a really interesting result concerning the phrasing - the ears of the listener can't really predict where the lick is going in the beginning and we are slowly moving away from the 'standard' repetitive shred phrases. This ...

#81 This Exercise Solved My BIGGEST Technique Frustration

It's time for another in-depth lesson! This time we tackle the biggest topic from your lesson wishlist this month. We check out an amazing exercise that helped me a lot with getting my left hand under control. I struggled with my technique for many years (controlling my pinky finger, maintaining a good angle for all playing styles) and this is one of the workouts that really made a difference.

Since this is such a massively requested topic, we will also check out another workout next we...

Amazing Guitar Practice TRICK For Better Technique!

Before we get to the next in-depth lesson tomorrow, I'd like to share a super simple but very effective practice trick with you! This is something I picked up from my metal drumming buddies (like Krimh, Sebastian Lanser, Marthyn,...) - they are quite obsessed with mastering difficult techniques at high tempos and I really like that mindset.

So I started implementing one of their tricks into my routine, watching my technique from a different angle and also recording the footage! This has...

#80 Can You Shred WITHOUT A Pick?? | Fast Fingerpicking Lesson

Time for some fingerpicking madness - this is one more topic that was requested on the wishlist for this month! To keep the shred theme going, we will look at fingerpicking from a different angle. Is it actually possible to come up with some cool shred licks without using a pick?

The system (index finger, pull-off, thumb) is really easy to speed up and sounds very unique - I hope you will use it for your music :)

I also recorded a practice backing track for you to work on the basi...

10 Levels Of Tapping | Easy To HARD!

It's time for another technique challenge before we get to the next in-depth lesson tomorrow, this time we dissect the different stages of tapping! :) Once again, my goal was to show my journey concerning this technique and the different creative steps. I uploaded the tabs and guitar pro files for you in case you want to learn some of the licks in this video!

Do you use tapping for your licks/music? Which level did you like the most?

Lesson Topic Voting May

Good morning my friends,

it's time to decide on what we will be working on next month :) I really look forward to digging into your chosen top-voted topics, let's do this together!

#79 - The Theory Exercise That Changed EVERYTHING | Metal Music Theory #2

Welcome to the second lesson for this week! Today we check out an amazing theory concept that will improve all your guitar solo skills (improvisation, arrangement, transcription, writing,...) and it was a big game-changer for me in the beginning.

You will get a completely different understanding of the fretboard by following this step-by-step formula (chord - triad arpeggio - 7th arpeggio - scale) and you can break out of your chords for melodies/shred licks easily that way :) Of course...

#78 - How To Shred On A 7 String | Modern Metal Riffs & Licks Lesson

Welcome to this week's first lesson, another one is coming tomorrow! This topic has been requested very often, we check out some interesting 7 string approaches (how to visualize your scales, arpeggios and more and how to write creatively) and I prepared a cool practical example :)

So if you own a 7 string or think about getting one, this lesson will be interesting! We will get back to 6 strings tomorrow, don't worry!

#77 - How To Instantly Boost Your Guitar Speed: Legato + Hybrid Picking

Happy to share this week's lesson with you - we tackle 2 of the top voted topics on your April wishlist: advanced legato licks and hybrid picking!

The lick in this video is really powerful and actually easier than it looks/sounds. The approach of combining hybrid picking with fast legato runs is something I use on a regular basis now and I can really recommend looking into it more.

Don't forget to download the tabs, guitar pro files and backing tracks below and have a great weeken...

I Spent 1000$ To Upgrade A 1500$ Guitar - Worth It? | Evertune & Fishman Pickups

This week's lesson is coming tomorrow (2 topics straight from the April wishlist)  - but today I'd like to share this early access video with you, it might be interesting if you're interested in gear :)

I want to finally upgrade and fix some older guitars this year instead of buying new models. Today we check out if the Evertune bridge is worth considering and if the Fishman pickups hype is justified!

I hope you enjoy this video, it's something a bit different and we will get...