No worries Nick. Love your dedication to learning and practicing.

To answer your question about the speed thing, 32nd notes @ 72bpm/16th notes @ 144 is the bare minimum speed required. And, also, it has to be CLEAN. And by that, I mean SUPER CLEAN. Any sloppiness and you are X'd out...if you get what I mean. It has to be CLEAN and ON THE MONEY with regards to timing.

Yes, there are many more parameters to being a virtuoso musician, but the above is only the speed requirement. Just one small part.

As you said, there are tons of kids playing fast on YouTube but, generally speaking, their tone sucks, it's sloppy, their phrasing sucks, etc etc so, they don't fit the criteria. If the playing is sloppy, no matter how fast it is, you don't fit the criteria.

Also, originality. Is it fresh sounding? Or, if you are mining through already charted waters, are you adding anything at all new?

These are all questions to ask yourself. Speed alone doesn't matter. It's just one piece of the puzzle.

In fact speed doesn't matter at all unless you want to be fast...then it matters. Many virtuosos don't play fast but they excel at the other parameters.

Take Jeff Beck. He hardly ever plays blindingly fast, if at all. But his tone and phrasing are on another planet. Another level above mere mortals.

Hope that helps.

I really wonder where Frakh is/ what he is up to these days...my targets are set on the D major Scale coils he plays with his "marker notes" on the Sarod videos he has made. I would give most anything for a more detailed mini series where he would elucidate exactly what he has done/ worked on to get to that point; specifically to the the point to play such scale coil phrases within the 3 N.P.S. scalar framework. Cause right now I just am left in total bewilderment...I want to be able to play stuff like that...And I am kinda @ a loss right now as to what steps I must take to purchase for myself such capacity for implimenting Sarod technique.

I keep watching his videos trying every for of mimicry I can think of...everything down to how he chooses to orient the guitar on himself. Ill put on my web cam in one box and keep it up right next to his Sarod video's to try and make what I am doing as similar to what I see him doing as possible. But I am not yet anyewhere capable of what he does with the scale coils and Sarod.

I keep watching his videos trying every form of mimicry I can think of...everything down to how he chooses to orient the guitar on himself. Ill put on my web cam in one box and keep it up right next to his Sarod video's to try and make what I am doing as similar to what I see him doing as possible. But I am not yet anyewhere capable of what he does with the scale coils and Sarod.

Nick, I know you specifically asked for answers from Ursin/Pebber, but I just want to throw out there something that you, or I, or most others of us on this forum hasn't tried that Frakh has. How about 10-20+ years worth of practicing Sarod and developing forearm muscles using weights? Surely that has to count for something, no? All of us that are diligently practicing are building those muscles. We'll get there someday.

Spent the last day @ my aunts house, where I discovered a wonderful array of dumbells from 5-50 lbs...I know that in his videos Frakh uses 20 pounders...I personally have a 8,12, & more recently 15 pounder I have been ussing to work the vibrato muscles. But I have a few questions...First of all, what is the poundage I should be shooting for? I ask this because I dont want to hurt myself by going to hard to fast and thereby ruin any chance @ getting to a Frak-ish level. Second question I have is what short of time duration for working the dumbells should I be pushing to get to Pebbers or FrakHs level of strength...I have noticed that Sarod forearm movement is 1000% easier after a few minutes of dumbell I am also curious if I will eventually get to the point where it is easy without being dependant on a few minutes of the dumbell to reawaken the movement in picking fore-arm. Sometimes it feels like the dumbell is just there to help me forget what flatpicking feels like, and helps me remember what I should be striving for...Because it really is becoming apparent to me how big of a joke western flat-picking is; like an ant under the treads of a Saroding tank.

Flatpicking is not a joke

It just seems to me to require so much more exertion for each unit of output that it has to offer.

That Doc guy def seems to have mastered his chord explorations of that G major and C-Major Chord shape (-: But I dont think he has watched Pebbers videos to learn where the thumb goes /-:

Not to say that the guy sucks...hes obviously quite talented at what he does...he has obviously worked tirelessly with it

Hi guys I'm just posting all the videos I have uploaded. If you have the time to give any feedback it will be appreciated some videos are abit long I tried to cut down the latest ones I uploaded today. Ive got more chromatic exercises to upload Ill post the links when they are done.
Thanks

Picking ex on adjacent strings 2.40 to 2.51 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1waRFJM2YBA

Picking ex on Non adjacent strings 3.00 to 3.11 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mXR18XR0byk

P.I.M.A Permutations 3.31 to 3.36 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0EaDGSpLG0w

Scalpel Picking http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5O280nL7gmc


Latest:

Chromatic ex - 1 note per beat http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bMyvi5lLwn8

Chromatic ex - 2 notes per beat http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JCjqtqeulY8

Chromatic ex - 3 notes per beat http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=shqGR1imlDw

Chromatic ex - 4 notes per beat http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZN6iUvmPCX0

Chromatic ex - 5 notes per beat http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C3skYdWsRMU

After a long and perilous journey, I finally got the buckethead technique I have been questing for...Exciting opportunity to me to enjoy a glimpse of what virtuosso technique is supposed to feel like...peaceful and without the mind being encumbered by thoughts of notes or scale...just being in that moment in time and really enjoying the victory finally won while watching in amusement as ones hands dance without having to be told. Pebber is so dead on the money when he says that SAROD PICKING and TRILLS really are ALL you need to get the virtuosso technique!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GNnkubnMB6c

Dude nice picking speed, but you really really must work on your bendings, further Im a bit dissapointed that its not a cover of the song but only a picking excerpt from it I was really looking forward to hear you play music but keep going man you know " I can't never stop working hard"

The Bend's are not being playeed for the sound of them but to tighten up the tension on the string for sarod kinda like violin stacatto technique...but yes making sure they are in key would certain be ideal and a logical step///

I will; be doing jump man in all likelyhood later today
...I can never stop working hard,,,haaa the song is to distracting making me wanna shake it out and bust a move when i should be pushin the tech further

Bucketsshreeding is only dcoool fast when it locks into groove with a tune...so the real test will be the cover

This cover is to me, basically its a tribute to a unspoken hero of mine without whose inspiration I probably never woulda had the guts to pick up a guitar to begin with...and I will not upload this cover untill I am perfectly happy with the quality (remember this is my cover of his work).

Hi,

I am Marcus from Germany and here's my first video i made yesterday.It was only a test....with many mistakes on notes and technique.

Pebber,wanna thank you so much for all your videos and all your work you stuck in that...in the last 2 Years,since i'd learn from you my music life is so much fuller and brighter.Thank you so much.

Here's the post:

Welcome Well i loved that thankyou (dont be afraid of those wrong notes ) good scalpel.

I really liked it too - very tasty. Nice introduction - welcome!

Thanks for your welcome.(My english is very bad,hope you encoding these things that i'm writing here ;) ))
This is my first video and it's good to see that there are some things i gotta work it out.Thumb behind the neck...only one of many.





Music was my first love,and it will be my last

Wow! Great videos. Took me a while to get through all of the posts, but there's a lot of good info here! Really good reference material.

Got some more practice videos done If you have time to give me any feedback it will be appreciated.
More to come.
Thanks

2 string sweep in G Major (uderoche's sweep thread)
http://youtu.be/Z48RELeP6O4

Wholetone scale
http://youtu.be/aCPzz7OfT9k

F Major Scale
http://youtu.be/PoUHE_1-oqY

Hybrid Picking
http://youtu.be/uC6L0eFursE

More chromatic patterns
http://youtu.be/VuQFtarcXv8

Hi all
Just wanted to share a month old video that I made on G Mixolydian Improv over GMajor7 chord backing track from Pebber's website. I am still learning and I do not know how to improvise over chord changes. Hopefully will get there soon:).

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H0q4X8bn9GM

I finally got sick of waiting for the day when I would bowl a 300 on this cover in order for me to feel ok moving to upload it...there are a few parts that are a bit to quick for me to hear in my head (so I "cheated" through them)...I need to practice more...but I am sick of playing this tune and without a vid to stick a knife in it I wont feel somewhat good about it...and feel some sense of closure