Preparing to relearn Megadeth songs

There was a time when I could play a lot of Megadeth songs without even thinking about it, but if you don’t keep it up, eventually you lose your edge. It happens to all us — life gets in the way sometimes.

I decided a couple of weeks ago to relearn a lot of the songs that I used to play a lot. I went into my studio, picked up the guitar and played what I could remember — it wasn’t pretty. I decided I needed to do some preparation before learning the songs.

With many bands, getting back into playing songs is easy. The songs really aren’t that tough to play, but Megadeth is different.

Dave Mustaine is the master of chord progressions, so learning to play those songs takes a little bit more planning. Here are a few things I did to prepare.

First I watched many of the Megadeth concerts I have on DVD and on my Apple TV. I watch concerts differently than most people — I don’t just watch the band play, I watch the guitarist and where he is playing the chords. There are many ways to play each chord, but there is a reason the guitar player chose to play it a particular way. That’s the type of detail I try to pick out.

Guitarists like Mustaine have a lot of cool notes in their songs that aren’t always easy to pick out on your own. I often go to YouTube and search for a song to see if anyone was able to get it — many times they do. That’s another great detail to pick out.

Keep in mind that I still haven’t picked up my guitar yet.

The last thing I did was to look at tabs to refresh my thoughts on how to play the songs. This is usually the last step before I begin to play.

This whole process takes a couple of weeks. It may seem like a lot just to relearn some songs, but when I picked up my guitar yesterday I was able to rip off a few songs right away. It felt good too.

The main point of doing so much preparation is to reduce the frustration of relearning songs you used to know how to play.

http://twitter.com/Alex_Ramadan AlexRamadan

When it comes to playing Megadeth stuff, Mustaine’s part’s aren’t the ones that kill me, it’s usually Marty Friedman’s stuff that is impossible to duplicate.
jayparry

i think of mustaine as the off-time strumming god like in train of consequences i think the chord progressions came from their bassist actually
http://twitter.com/flyfishidaho Jeremy Anderson

I disagree with both comments so far, but not in a bad way. Dave Mustaine’s rhythm guitar parts are very difficult to duplicate accurately. His leads are often sloppy, (but awesome) and therefore also hard to do precisely as well. Marty is very good, but his techniques are pretty standard in many ways. Personally I can cop Marty’s licks much more readily than Dave’s rhythm parts. I strongly prefer the older Megadave stuff, (before Youthanasia) although United Abominations was pretty groovy. These days, though, I simply can’t stand his voice. I like the music, and Dave’s political views, but the voice drives me nuts, he sounds like a whiny constipated chipmunk to me any more.

I’m sure @jayparry meant “syncopated” strumming, not “off-time.”

@AlexRamadan if you find Dave’s rhythm parts universally approachable, I salute you.

@theBeardTM: I love Amplified. I’m a 5by5 devotee since The Big Web Show Episode 1, and your show is a great addition to the family. Really glad to have some guitar talk on the network. Thanks for all you do.
http://twitter.com/iSplatts Adam S-P

I utilise a similar method with my bass guitar playing. Problem is most concerts don’t show the bassist actually playing long enough to catch things. Although concerts with Maiden (Harris…the freak), Reznor, Floyd and even Nightwish often have prominent shots at the bassist.

It’s nice to know someone as musically talented as yourself watches concert/music vids the same

Thanks for sharing Jim!