Total Guitar June 2008
PLAY LIKE YOUR... HEROES
Ron Thal aka 'Bumblefoot'
Interview Claire Davies
ONE OF THE MOST TALENTED AND TECHNICAL ROCK GUITARISTS OF OUT GENERATION, RON THAL TAKES TIME OUT FROM RECORDING HIS FORTHCOMING SOLO ALBUM AND LAYING DOWN GUITARS FOR GUNS N' ROSES 'CHINESE DEMOCRACY' TO HELP YOU PLAY BETTER!
How much time per day do you devote to practicing?
"I don't devote nearly enough time as I should. I get so wrapped in everything else: writing, collaborating, engineering, producing, managing, designing, promoting, corresponding, negotiating, travelling, touring, teaching! There will be times when I don't even see a guitar for days, but the time away actually ends up being a good thing. When I pick the guitar back up there's a refreshed approach and new ideas. But when I'm touring, I play a few hours a day, every day. So it varies - I practice more during the times when I have shows coming up. But it's never enough. I could be so much better."
What areas of your playing do you enjoy working on the most?
"My favourite thing is playing guitar while watching TV, jamming to whatever I hear. Whatever music comes on, I try to jump right in an play along. You know, anticipate the changes, play the rhythm and melody together as they're happening. That's the kind of playing I do most, but no-one hears it unless they're hanging out in a room with me!"
Are there any techniques you're not so good at? How do you aim to improve on those?
"Anything and everything could be better. There's always room to grow, and the day you stop learning is the day you start sucking. There are some improvisational methods in my head that I can't pull off yet. I would need to spend hours a day, for years, with a metronome just playing slowly and training my brain to rhink in a different way. That's what it would take."
Is it important to work on your weaknesses or should you just focus on what you're good at?
"All of it is important. Work on everything. Just play. Over time it all comes together, and the weak stuff becomes more natural."
TG readers have played guitar for an average of two or three years and describe themselves as beginner to intermediate. How much should they practice?
"It really depends on your day, and how much time you have. By that, I mean how much time you have where you can really focus on playing without sacrificing too much of your life. Because, you know, life is what happens when you're not practicing in your room. Don't spend too much of your time alone with your guitar - you'll deny yourself a fulfilling life. A half hour to two hours' practice per day should be fine to keep your guitar playing improving.
"The most important thing is that you go out and live your life" all those experiences add dimension to who you are and it will reflect in you musical expression. It's the best thing you can do for your music"
What can TG readers do to increase the speed of their playing?
"Use a metronome when you're practicing. You shouldn't push too hard to play fast when your hands are tense; you've got to stay relaxed so don't tighten up. And take care of your body, especially your brain."
What do you do to keep your practice time fresh, ie, how do you prevent it from becoming a chore?
"The mind gets bored, not the hands, so do things that stimulate your mind. Remember, music starts in your brain and ends at your hands. You need to exercise the source of the music - your brain.
"Here's an exercise I have my students do, which requires another person who knows basic chord theory. Have someone hit quarter-notes of a chord, then all you have to do is play whole notes. So every four chord strums, you hit one note. It has to be a note that makes up the chord. For example; play any C, E, or G notes on the neck while a C major chord is being strummed. Every time you hit the whole note, at the same time you need to name the next note you're going to play. Next, try it over a changing chord progression, and then try it with half-notes, then quarter notes. This will help train your mind to think ahead of your hands. Your mind should always be one step ahead of your hands."
Scales can be pretty boring to play. How can you make this aspect of practice more relevant and interesting?
"I'm gonna go back to when I was 14, when I had been playing for about seven years. I started taking lessons from a great jazz guitarist named Pete Prisco. Man, did he straighten me out! He would have me play three-octave major scales at 40 beats per minute, slightly behind the beat, as softly as I could. That taught me serious discipline. Then we'd start accenting every second note in groups of three notes as if we were playing in ¾ time - soft, loud, soft, soft, loud, soft - still at 40bpm, lagging behind the beat. Adding dynamics to the picking brings so much to phrases and scaley runs.
Start working on adding accents to your scales. Practice different patterns of dynamics while playing scales, emphasizing different parts of the beat. This approach will be less boring to play, but better than that, it will be more interesting to listen to."
Is there an exercise or technique you've learned that's transformed your playing more than any other?
"In my early teen years, I liked to pick an album and learn the entire record in a day. Albums by AC/DC, Judas Priest, Iron Maiden, Led Zeppelin, Ozzy, Rush, Van Halen... It helped with ear training and it was an inspiration for writing a great mental workout. I'd drop the needle for 10 seconds, lift it off, play what I heard and work my way across the song. Do that for the first song, then the second, then go back and play both songs again. The hardest part is to not forget the previous song while memorizing each new song. You must always challenge yourself and meet that challenge. Doing that will transform your playing."
RON'S PRACTICE REGIME
Top tips from the masters
WARM-UP: play scales and four-finger chromatic runs. Start by playing softly, barely touching the strings. Gradually increase the intensity (five minutes).
PICKING/RHYTHM: play rhythms to a metronome - with single notes, then with chords. Go through combinations of quarter/eighth/16th notes, triplets, straight and swing feel, accenting and muting different parts of the rhythm. Play these slowly, then quickly (15 minutes).
CHORD PROGRESSIONS: Make different chord progressions using jazz chords. Arpeggiate each chord with the rhythms you came up with 15 minutes ago. Slowly, then quickly (15 minutes).
LEGATO/TAPPING: Play the previous arpeggios with your fret hand only, and play all hammer-ons and pull-offs in the different rhythms noted above. Then play the argeggios with your picking hand only, tapping all the notes (all hammer-ons and pull-offs onto different tapping fingers) in the different rhythms. Slowly, then quickly (15 minutes).
FREESTYLE: Put on some music that you've never heard before, and do your best to play along with what you hear. Work on getting familiar and retaining and complementing the melodies in the songs you're listening to. (15 minutes.)
