Tips berlatih gitar ala john petrucci

 John Petrucci (JP) ? Salah satu gitaris terbaik dunia..hahahaa,,macam pemain bola aja nih. Gitaris ini memiliki ciri khas alternate picking yang super cepat dan rapi.
Merupakan gitaris band progresif rock Dream Theater sekaligus salah satu pendiri band tersebut,,pernah kuliah di sekolah musik Berklee meskipun akhirnya keluar untuk fokus pada DT bersama Mike portnoy dan John Myung
Oke,cukup perkenalan ny, mari kita simak 3 tips latihan gitar dari John Petrucci!

Practice with a Metronome (Berlatih dengan Metronom)

"I can't stress this enough," Petrucci says. "Using a metronome allows you to focus. You have this thing clicking, and it's unforgiving, it doesn't care what else is going on around you. 'Tick-tock, tick-tock, play-the-part, play-the-part.'
"To me, there's no question that using a metronome develops your speed and accuracy. If you're learning scales or you're jamming on parts that you can't quite pull off, it's a must.
"When you use a metronome, you're start to notice where the notes are falling, if they're on the beat, behind the beat, between the beat, and so on.
"This is very important. So much of the time, guitarists just play and they don't give any real thought to time – they're just happy if they hit the notes. But hitting the notes isn't enough. You have to hit the notes at the right time.
"It's almost funny how fast it improves your playing.I n only a few days, you'll find yourself playing cleanly and losing the slop. And after a while, you'll start to develop your own internal metronome, even though that's no substitute for the real thing,
"I've listened to musicians who say that using a metronome makes you robotic, that it decreases your 'feel.' That's ridiculous. Either you have feel or you don't. Feel is one of those intangibles that can't be taught. But if you do have feel, using a metronome will allow you to play cleaner – and that'll make your 'feel' have more, well, 'feeling.'
"I practice with a metronome to this day. All of the solos that I write for Dream Theater, I still sit down and go through them the same old-fashioned way. There's no reason to change now."
Transalate singkat :
Menggunakan metronom merupakan sebuah keharusan untuk musisi, metronome membantu kita sebagai musisi untuk FOKUS, melatih kecepatan dan ketepatan tangan.
Ada tangga nada/scales dan bagian2 tertentu yang tak bisa kamu mainkan, mainkan dalam tempo lambat dengan menggunakan metronom. pelan tapi pasti itu lebih baik daripada cepat tapi berantakan.
Seorang gitaris tak cukup dengan membunyikan nada dengan tepat, tapi harus sesuai dengan tempo/time signature. Banyak musisi berkata metronome membuatmu kaku, mengurangi "feel". Sebenarnya tidak begitu, penggunaan metronome justru membuat permainan kamu lebih bersih dan memberi lebih banyak "feel".
Divide Your Parts (Membagi Bagianmu/Solomu)

"Let's say you're working on a long section of music or a solo," says Petrucci. "It really helps if you break everything down into separate parts instead of looking at it as one long unbroken piece.
"Chop it up. Invariably, there'll be parts you can play better than others. So take the parts that are giving you difficulty and work on them, but work on them independent of the other parts.
"You might have a series of arpeggios that you can't nail. Isolate them. Work on them. Practice them for days on end. Before you know it, you'll become very familiar with how to play them. Then you can incorporate them back into the rest of the solo.
"But – and this is a very big but – the minute you do that, you must practice the entire piece or the whole solo from beginning to end. Think about it: If you're playing it live, that's what's expected of you. You don't get a chance to break things up on stage. So work things out in parts in your practice room, then flesh the whole thing out later. It's a great way to work."
Translate singkat :
Ada kalanya kita berhadapan dengan solo lagu yang sangat panjang, beberapa bagian dari solo itu adalah bagian yang paling sulit -katakan, sweep picking yang gila-gilaan- dan kamu tidak bisa memainkan nya.
Untuk hal ini, JP meminta agar memecah bagian-bagian dari solo tersebut. Ada bagian yang mudah, sedang dan sulit. Latihlah semua bagian itu. Khusus untuk bagian yang sulit, kita perlu melatih bagian itu sedikit lebih lama, kalo perlu seharian penuh. Sehingga lama kelamaan kita terbiasa dengan bagian itu dan mulai bisa memainkan nya dengan benar.
TAPI, begitu kamu selesai melatih diri dengan bagian yang sulit, jangan lupa untuk memainkan semua bagian itu. Yap, semua nya. 3 bagian itu kamu satukan dan mainkan sesuai aslinya. Anggaplah kamu sedang live dan tidak ada waktu istirahat, kamu tentu tidak mau memainkan solo itu dengan berantakan….
Practice Unplugged (Berlatih tanpa Ampli/ Bermain akustik)

"Guitar players love to hide behind walls of distortion and sustain that comes from their amps," says Petrucci. "But a lot of the time, it's a way of covering up slopping playing.
"Unplug yourself. Either play with your guitar unplugged or if you really want to use an amp, turn it way down and bag the distortion and sustain.
"You'll be amazed at how quickly you'll develop a smooth, clean style of playing and you'll lose all of your slop.
"If you can play a legato run without sustain, you're golden – and it'll sound ten times more awesome when you can finally plug in, crank it up and wail. But you have to be able to play it accurately and smoothly beforehand.
"When I think of a lot of the players I admire, they could always play their parts without hiding behind distortion and sustain. Put the time in. Hear your mistakes. Yeah, it sucks, it's humbling, it makes you want to throw the guitar out the window. But if you work on your mistakes, they'll eventually go away, and you'll become a strong player."
Translate singkat :
Gitaris sangat senang berada dalam nuansa distorsi dan sustain dari ampli mereka, tapi itu adalah cara untuk menutupi permainan mereka yang berantakan.
Oleh karena itu, berlatih gitar tanpa ampli atau kalo terpaksa pake ampli turunkan saja distorsi nya.
Dengar dan rasakan perbedaan nya, kesalahan yang ada mulai terlihat. Tentu kamu bisa memperbaikinya. Meskipun kesalahan itu membuat kamu kesal dan ingin membuang gitar mu atau membanting nya seperti di konser musik, perbaiki saja. Then you will be strong player….