speaking of practice: stratosphere by stratovarious is a great exercise

[jibberish]

ok, this song is actually boring after a few listens, but it was constructed ok and has that huge slow part in the middle which is really nice and makes for quite the saga.  i am just working on the first fast part. the final fast part is mostly pieces of the first fast part anyway, and the middle isnt really much of an exercise..

it seems like the equivalent of an 8th grade music theory project, which is probably why i saw what was going on here on just the first couple listens. the dude made a song out of finger exercise minor wankery. but herein lies the value:  the speed and the patterns.

you are forced to do pattern gear changes, serious little jumps up and down the neck, pinky 1 fret/pinky 2 frets away changes from pattern to pattern. coordinated hammer-on-pull-off/picking patterns.

my hand is smoking so badly after working on this, and wow is it making other stuff easier as i am speeding this bitch up.

I really don't gothrough the things i work on too much, but this piece has been doing me more wonders than anything i have done so far, so maybe it will help someone else too. it takes 15minutes to learn since it is basically 3 chunks of repeating patterns. who knows how long it takes to get to full smooth speed lol

here is the original

here is the tab
http://www.azchords.com/s/stratovarius-tabs-3845/stratosphere-tabs-40475.html

[RAGER]

I would have been all over this type of thing 20 some odd years ago but nowadays I'd be bored to tears immediately but yes it would be an exercise, and exercise in patience more than endurance.  that's just my dealio   Go for it.

[liquidsmoke]

Is that a snare or a trash can lid? 

I actually kind of like this song. The tendons in my hand would be on fire after a few minutes of trying to play it though.

[Volume]

Is that a snare or a trash can lid? 

I actually kind of like this song. The tendons in my hand would be on fire after a few minutes of trying to play it though.

I've recorded in the same studio as these guys, don't remember what album they recored there though. Anyway, the engineer said they set up a huge PA in the studio (it's a big room, they record orchestras and stuff too), ran the drums through the PA and recorded it to get a big, massive sound.