Guthrie Govan Discussion

Chinkee · Joined: 01 Dec 2010 Posts: 11

I have been wondering how Guthrie plays legato lines so perfectly. Like his left hand is so strong at hammerons and pull offs that each note has exactly the same tone and volume. How does one achieve this? Are there exercises that contribute to stronger left hand fingers? Especially when he plays clean every note rings out loud and no buzzing. What is his secret!

vinccenzzo · Joined: 15 Aug 2006 Posts: 13

Guthrie's secret is that he's good at what he does.
For us mortals, there are exercises that help develop the legato technique, they're called ....legato exercises, available on any guitar website near you.
I personally find some exercises to get boring after a while so I recommend you learn a song or a solo you like that includes a lot of legato in it. For me it used to be Not of This Earth from Joe Satriani. Find yours. Good luck.

vinccenzzo · Joined: 15 Aug 2006 Posts: 13

Low action might help too.

BIOS · Joined: 10 Jul 2009 Posts: 45 Location: Inside your Piano

Get the answer from the man himself Wink

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tzph2KdXd_g

BIOS

Chinkee · Joined: 01 Dec 2010 Posts: 11

Thanks guys. I am just fascinated by Guthrie's tone when he uses all 4 fingers. It's just so nice and bright. Could it be his pickups or strings? I know he uses Rotosound strings but I dont know what kind of pickups he uses. I love that clean percussive tone he gets.

Adamr · Joined: 19 Sep 2010 Posts: 5

well he uses suhr pickups. just go to the suhr site to find out what ones. i could tell you but im not gonna Wink

.

as for legato there's all the exercises you could do . but i believe like vinccenzzo . i practice mine with a lot of joe satriani tracks.

but give it 25years+ of playing and your hands will be that strong.

have a look at videos of billy sheehan now there's a guy i would be frightened of shaking his hand in case he crushed it.

Chinkee · Joined: 01 Dec 2010 Posts: 11

adrianclark · Posted: Sat Jan 29, 2011 5:32 pm Post subject:

no_name · Joined: 12 Oct 2011 Posts: 1

I practice Legato since about 2 month and it's amazing how your strength in the left hand builds up. I'm pretty sure if you practice this stuff for about one year you're one step further to be a guitar god Cool

But a question to the Legato-Pros here.......it's normal that it's harder to get it in the higher positions like 12th to 19th fret if you start with this lessons?

Scias · Joined: 26 Jun 2005 Posts: 92 Location: Scotland

Don't be put off by the large number of years some people are mentioning. Many people can master a lot of techniques within 5 to 10 years. Putting them all together to create tasteful sounding things can take longer though. Stave vai and Joe satriani are good examples to look to if you want to isolate techniques and practice them one at a time. Some of their songs are even good excersizes.

I remember seeing this video about legato. It might be good if you're an insane holdworth fan. I'm not sure he explains this technique too well but he plays some interesting stuff anyway.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bTI2s4svE2s