Can You Do The 30 Most Difficult Guitar Techniques?

[@RobertBakerGuitar]

What techniques did they leave out? The def forgot Trills.

[@MreenalMams]

Using a bow, E bow, paper bridge, chopstick trills, spoon bridge, And gimmicky techniques which look cool, not necessarily sounding too different like playing with teeth, playing behind the back.. They even forgot some basic techniques like simple fingerpicking, bending, trem picking, whammy dives, whammy vibratos, simple harmonics.. i mean you could say those aren't difficult techniques but c'mon they had open chords there.. Also Jordan Rudess has recently been doing this thing on his instagram where he plays keys with right hand, and legato guitar with his left both playing in unison.. i thought thats so cool..

[@deplinenoise]

Slide guitar

[@mojobag01]

The Iommi long slide, sort of limited to one man.

[@JaMeshuggah]

Chris Arp fitting all of these in one song

[@CD_Character]

Rake picking.

[@TylerJohnstonGuitar]

The hardest thing to do on guitar? Make money.

[@richardclark.]

It might be harder to stop buying them with the money I haven't made?

[@MaartenFranken]

So true! 😁

[@MrHumpah12]

Making money may be easier to achieve than getting girls

[@menaceproductionz909]

Lol chuuuurch

[@RolandSpecialSauce]

You can make money? I've only lost money my whole life.

[@PaleAlePapa]

The audio sounds fine and I dig catching your spontaneous reactions. Seriously, a nice video that I’ll enjoy watching again!

[@holgerseffen8020]

Joe Satriani wrote a series of columns for Guitar Player Magazine (I believe) in the 80s which later was published as a book. In one of these columns he explains different whammy bar techniques, one of which he calls "lizard down the throat". I think he invented the term. Btw you can hear him using it in the song Ice 9 from the Surfing album.

[@majikmuzik8036]

Yup satch coined it.

[@seanmiller7889]

Yep remember this and knew someone (you) in the comments would mention this!

[@jibicusmaximus4827]

that's right and is why i knew this some what obscure term.

[@shanepomeroy5608]

The book Joe Satriani published with all the columns from guitar player is called “Guitar Secrets”.

[@RogerBarraud]

@@shanepomeroy5608 Thankyou 🙂

[@deztruct0823]

I remember when I really desperately wanted to learn alternate picking, I remember I spent like a whole week just doing nothing but learning alternate picking, it was so satisfying being able to do that and pinch harmonics with relative ease. Guitar is such an endless skill it's cool passing those milestones and tracking your progress, just need to get good at tapping! Love your videos and the authenticity of them, and you're a great player too.

[@Music.is.my.Fuel.]

This video is so refreshing, it's like sometimes we forget that every guitarist is different. I mean, everyone have their weakeness and other stuff that they shine. The best minding is to play what you like and let the music bring you joy, it's not a competition, dont put too much pressure on yourself if you're not able to play all these techniques!

[@sepultura7771]

Agreed Most people don’t like a song because it’s hard to play,simple but inspired makes much better music

[@moneal25]

Been a huge Beck fan since the 70's. Early in my playing days, I remember being blown away when I learned many of the things he was doing were not done with a slide. He used a tremolo as a violinist might use a bow.. May he rest in peace..

[@sqrly2u]

You are such a humble man. I truly enjoy watching your vids Brother. Im in the clean/acoustic phase right now. At 55, I never thought I would be dropping dirty for clean as a pass time. It is truly illuminating.

[@mikeivey8471]

The 1 (IMHO) most important technique to learn and continuously employ all through our musical travels is "EAR TRAINING" !!! Learning to use your ears to know when your in tune or out & just knowing when something sounds musical is so important!! Using your ears to learn songs instead of relying on tabs to get all the nuances of a particular musician's style is so important in mastering any other technique you can think of !! Just thought I'd throw that out there !! Great video !!!

[@RolandSpecialSauce]

I think that just comes with time though. Your ears tend to become trained automatically the longer you play.

[@mikeivey8471]

@@RolandSpecialSauce very true in most cases , but I have played / listened to other musicians who have been playing for years and still haven't quite mastered the technique. Bless their hearts !!

[@Eelbackwards]

After finally learning to do a pinch harmonic (I always think of the part by ZZ Tops Billy Gibbons La'Grange) I developed a technique where I can flange an entire chord! I also will bend the chord pattern afterward to make something different sounding. Ascending leads is one of the harder things to develop compared to descending notes or patterns. Yngwie burns on ascending leads and sometimes relies on single string picking patterns to utilize speed picking or more notes within a measure. He has truly mastered it. One other technique I still cannot do well is, string skipping! Grrrr. The best and most difficult example I can think of is EVH in part of the lead from VH1 I'm The One!!! I was impressed with how quickly you were able to adapt nearly everything you talked about pretty fluidly. Definitely make some time to get a true classical at some point. The neck profile is wider, and a great way to practice some acoustic techniques and develop your stretching. Rock on Robert, and well done!

[@scoruja]

Not about this video per se, but just gotta say from having recently watched different vids of yours from a few years apart, it's amazing how good you've gotten at interacting with us audience members through the camera. Totally comfortable etc. Really cool to see.

[@krotma]

The hardest thing for me was playing fast run and picking every single note. Couldnt do it for 15 years, then I heard Guthrie Govan explain it like "No, you cant just play it slowly and then speed up. You're using different muscles when you pick really fast, so you have to play at that speed until your left and right hands learn to sync up" and then I began to get it. Then a fusion guitarist I met explained it even further "and you have to practice it regularly or your hands will de-synchronise again" important stuff!

[@jcburger733]

Thanks for showing us the 30 most difficult guitar techniques. I think I can do 3 of them 😀

[@alexanderyaroslavich2703]

As a (mostly) classically-trained bass player who played upright bass for 20+ years, both "sideways vibrato" and "thumb stretching" are pretty much standard techniques. As far as "sideways vibrato," It's pretty common with all the instruments of the string orchestra, since they don't have frets to limit the microtonal motion; You are literally rocking back and forth between pitches with the ends of your fingers. The lack of frets allows you to have way more flexibility for lots of different types of vibrato marked out in scores. The "Thumb fretting" thing is more specific to low strings (Cello and Bass) as it's a super PITA to properly execute high-register passages without a bit of a "guide," which is to say your thumb provides a bit of an "anchor" so your other fingers can achieve a melodic line in a very high register while falling back on the thumbed pitch; almost like a capo or barre chord lets you determine what the "open string pitch" is. Granted this particular technique is rooted in the fact that Cello and Bass are played with the fingerboard going up and down 90 degrees to your fingering hand, and also that you've gat a gigantic wooden box without cutouts to deal with, so you pretty much have to employ it in the upper register (if you ever even play there in a score). Cool to see Jake employ this, I never knew he did!

[@seanmiller7889]

Yep I've heard to this referred to as 'Classical Vibrato' which it really should be called. This to me is difficult especially with chords!

[@GoatMee]

- From the basic one I'm missing string skipping and pre-dives (where you dive your whammy so low everything goes slack, fret what you will - a single note or a chord - and make it sound by lifting the whammy up so the strings tense up in a way to produce sound). - Vai's circular vibrato, combining side and up-down motion. - Trills with two different fingers doing the trill on the same fret (fret the base note with your index finger and then alternate between middle and ring finger hammer-on/pull-offs half or whole step up to create a fast trill, classical guitarists use this). - Vai's picking flutters where he frets a note with his pinky and then slides his ring finger into the same fret, simultaneously pulling off the pinky to the ring finger one fret lower and sliding the ring finger back up to the initial fret and then the same with middle and index finger, with every (main) note picked. The result is a fast tremolo picked note, but with these minute pull-offs and slides in between. - Mini dive or dent or whatever you want to call it, I saw Jeff Loomis use this, what you do is place your fretting hand on the A string, pick the empty E string and bend the A string without sounding it. The result is that because of the tension created by the bent A string, the neck will slightly bend and lower the tension of remaining strings, most notably the picked E string that will sound lower, and by releasing the bend on the A string you bring the E string back to pitch. - Shredding harmonics - fretting hand is playing legato runs while the picking hand is sliding across the strings creating what you could call artificial natural harmonics (not pinched, but the flesh of the picking hand is "breaking" the vibration of the strings to create the harmonic effect). Prime example is Morean's guest solo on Velocity from Obscura's Omnivium. - The one where you reach with your right hand over to "capo" the strings , or just mute them and let the legato licks fly without worrying about the sounding of the open strings. - Mathias IA Eklundh uses a bunch of insane techniques, for example playing with a comb. Gilbert's power drill shenanigans are in the same category. - Scottie Mishoe (and nowadays others too) does insane 3- and 4-step slap&pops on the guitar, it's basically the funk bass guitar wizardry used on an electric guitar. (close to Andy McKee, but Andy uses the whole acoustic body while Scott focuses on strings only) - Going through Charles Caswell's Berried Alive repertoire could reveal an interesting technique or two too. Early Buckethead too. Or Gowan. And Bumblefoot. - Let's not forget the over-under from Michael Angelo Batio, the Hands Without Shadows. Playing on two necks simultaneously could also be considered a technique. Add Vai's Teeth of the Hydra to this category. - Vai's joint shifting is different than Donahue's. Vai is bending notes with two individual fingers to change from one chord to another by bending alone. He can have three of four strings vibrating and then bend two notes to change the chord. I'm not familiar with what Donahue was doing, but what you are showing is playing with intervals, two notes only. Do I get paid for this? 🤓

[@simpwood4973]

i saw whitesnake last year and reb beach and joel hoekstra displayed basically that entire list in a mindblowing way. the craziest 8 finger tapping licks i have ever seen

[@jamiew.lacroix7055]

I love the fact you have the honesty to admit (that you have not tried or are unable to do that particular technique) which almost ever guitarist would never admit they did not know. Also giving the proper credit were it is due, thank you for all your blood sweat and tears your awesome effort is greatly appreciated.

[@craiglizt8074]

Glad to see rasgueado (#14) on here. I think even more difficult is the alzapua technique...also from flamenco.

[@youreallygotmenow4855]

I gotta say I really like the contrast between Robert's musical background and his personality. I mean, he clearly grew up with 80's hard rock where there was generally a lot of boastfulness and cockiness (no matter what role in the band) and just sheer shallowness. He's the total opposite of that as he seems like a well-adjusted, nice and very down-to-earth kind of dude, so yeah, major kudos to his family (and himself) for raising him the way he turned out to be. This, to me, is very rock 'n' roll 🤘

[@photojeffd]

I'm not taking a shot or throwing shade, because you're an excellent guitarist and Im 60 and struggle every day, but it's kinda comforting to someone as yourself admit that they can't do it all! If all I did was practice steel guitar licks on a tele, I'd never learn 'em while you would nail a dozen licks in a day! Thanks for an awesome video!!!

[@rd400d]

I like that you keep your mistakes in your videos. Reminds everyone that its ok. Whilst yt and such are fantastic for learning but people get discouraged with all the "perfection" and heavily editted players/teacher etc.

[@MreenalMams]

During sweep picking you mentioned that the guitar you had on your hand isn't the right one for it.. that's an interesting topic i think.. would love to see a video where you talk about which guitars/what kinda guitars would be appropriate for different techniques.. I've always had a strat style guitar, and have recently got a les paul style guitar.. and I've always found many techniques like sweep picking and more 'shred-style' techniques aren't very easy on the strat style.. so it makes me wonder if getting a different style guitar would open different doors..

[@melanie2663]

This is a great topic that I'd love to see Robert cover.

[@USMarine75]

Weird because there’s a ton of shred guitarists that play Strat style guitars and few that play LP style.

[@michaelcottle6270]

@@USMarine75 I was going to say something similar - but bear in mind the Strat Style shredder guitars were usually something like an Ibanez with hyper flat fretboards which is what you really need when you're sweeping at full speed - you don't want to be moving your right hand over a hill at the same time as synchronising with your left at 30 notes per second :). I put a very flat aftermarket neck on my cheap Strat copy to get a very creditable shredder. I remember playing a late '70s Strat in a shop once, it must have had a 9.5" radius or less - it was insane (and, to me, unplayable) - same with most Teles. Maybe Mreenal's Strat is like that which would be a tough shred... To answer the question - yes, different guitars lead you down different paths, you find certain things become easier & you gravitate to them.

[@MreenalMams]

@@USMarine75 yes there are always outliers and people who kinda break the 'norm'.. Yngwie Malmsteen & Dave Murray & Janick Gers come to mind for strat style & Slash for Les Paul..

[@MreenalMams]

@@michaelcottle6270 Yes its a revelation that I'm just realising much more recently.. I used to believe that all guitars are the same and we can play anything on any guitar, but it doesn't seem to be the case.. an interesting hypothesis i have is that not only does a player make modifications on the guitar, but also the guitar makes modifications on the player's style over the years, especially more so ij our formative years when we are more open to influences.. PS i think my guitar fretboard is 12 radius (Peavey Raptor.Exp).. I couldn't find the exact specs for this particular guitar, but Peavey has another model called Raptor Plus so I'm guessing it must be the modern equivalent of it..

[@TheCountofToulouse]

Brad Gillis is a wammy master. I've always admired his control and ability to construct solos with it. The solo from the song Sentimental Street always got me, it's SO difficult to get it exactly like he does it.

[@ryanmiller6978]

His Kahler (Floyd?I think he was a Kahler guy at the time..)flutter (Dont tell; me you love me) was the first thing i thought of at 1:48 trim gargles.

[@markr.devereux3385]

The NIGHTRANGER duo have many excellent solos. To me they need to be near TOP 10 of my generation of players.

[@gregwilson9066]

Agreed…that’s my favorite solo from Brad.

[@ScottfromBaltimore]

So cool, just hanging out with Robert, talking about hard things to do on guitar. The audio sounded fine on my phone, by the way.

[@NicoMeijer74]

Your guitar sound was great. I like hearing picks hitting strings whenever I'm learning guitar stuff. It helps. Not being sarcastic. As for hybrid picking, Vinnie Moore is one of my favorites.

[@Gutszomb11]

They forgot the Stone face technique "not making faces while playing guitar" it's the hardest one.

[@uncanny_bassman]

... especially when using a wah wah

[@jillwebb775]

Remember Carlos"you should be making a lot of faces when you play", if you're not, well, you should....😮

[@mp-kq3vc]

I like the sound just from the camera mic. It's how I learned, by people showing me licks live, without "incredible audio."

[@Brian_Burdette]

Hadn’t heard the term “Lizard down the throat “ but have used the slide up /dive bomb technique. Definitely from the Vai/Satch school.

[@ScottD-44]

Satch/Vai School!

[@willarddickerson921]

Love your technique with the intro. You are on another level. I will come back to look at the rest. Thanks again for your help.

[@edmann6444]

I'm not sure if anybody has mentioned, but "Passionflower" by Jon Gomm always floors me! An incredible array of different techniques; to me most notably detuning and retuning strings all throughout the song. Not to mention tapping, harmonics, percussion all on acoustic guitar and singing at the same time!!! Also a very cool song, which at the end is probably the most important thing any guitarist should account for.

[@jibicusmaximus4827]

yes, detuning by the use of banjo tuners..

[@jibicusmaximus4827]

i must admit that style alienates me some what (same with most shredding too) but i heard that on a guitar mag cd or something? what you say is on point, that is like the exception that proves the rule to me, it's incredibly musical and emotive too.

[@mountainhobbit1971]

what about the "drill on guitar" technique like Eddie VH does on the intro to 'poundcake'? and that 'pick scrape' up and down the strings...both seem easy enough but are they? ;-)

[@electricaardvark]

I have used "Lizard Down The Throat" before - as far as I can recall, I picked it up from a magazine article probably in the 90s, about/with Steve Vai... (Though it could have been Joe Satriani!) I am not a particularly technically accomplished guitarist at the best of times, but it is sweep picking that really kills me!

[@ScottD-44]

Satriani 🎸!

[@S2Sturges]

Joint shifting.... I learnt that from my guitar tech back around 1981, and he was taught it by Red Rhodes when he worked at Red's shop in LA.. of limited use but fun to pull it out now and again..

[@dibaskar265]

very comprehensive and honest revelations of many techniques with explanations within your own limitations(which you honestly admitted unlike many youtubers) make this a gem of a video for any upcoming guitar player who wants improvement in their playing whichever level. 👌👌👌👌👌👌👌🤟🤟🤟🤟🤟🤟🤟🤟🤟🤟🤟

[@billhuang6506]

Travis Picking Hell == The Boxer by Simon and Garfunkel. Spent months working that up and never could get it fast enough. Incredible skill builder.

[@kristynsdad]

Hardest things??? Eddie's perfect tapping, pull offs to open strings, pick slides, tremelo picking....etc Yngwie's sweep picking, lighting fast scaler runs... SRV's killer vibrato and blues runs.... Paul Gilbert's string skipping and overall technical genius..... Jason Beckers arpeggio insanity and lightning fast scaler runs.... Nuno Bettencourts funk....

[@ricdrakes2741]

NOBODY can tapp like Buckethead. Actually not many can do the things he does with a Guitar.

[@BCarpenter2314]

Greg Koch has one of the best hybrid picking techniques and sounds I've ever heard.

[@godbyone]

Yes. He has it worked out. I really think if Danny gatton was alive. With today’s equipment. He would have leaned to tone of Koch

[@davedecker1725]

Along with chicken pickin chord bending Travis picking and EVERYTHING ELSE!! I would put the Mansquatch toe to toe with ANY guitarist

[@alzinn8231]

Nzinn73 Greg is great. Danny Gatton had one of the best overall right hand technique I've seen. Flat pick , middle, ring, pinky. I didn't find pick harmonics that hard, what gave me the hardest time was rest strokes on electric becuz my middle finger is a lot longer than my index. Eventually it got easier but was always easier with just index finger like Jamerson or Bruce.

[@ThomasMetal75]

One of the coolest uses of violining is by Alex Lifeson towards the beginning of Rush's Xanadu from their Fairwell to Kings album. The melody is beauitful.

[@russell_szabados]

He actually uses a volume pedal for the Xanadu intro (and the La Villa Strangiato intro & opening to solo). I learned guitar to Rush records in the 80's and was an Alex Lifeson fanatic, I saw him play the Xanadu intro from the 3rd row in 1983 and bought a volume pedal the following week. You can use the volume knob, but it sounds more accurate w a foot pedal, just sayin!

[@ChuckSpade]

Natural delivery & keeping it real - in real time…. Flaws definitely make your videos more interesting. Keep it up.

[@TimothyHuffGuitar]

George Lynch has some awesome solos!

[@sqrly2u]

Alternate and economy picking is something I have started to incorporate into all of my picking. I do love working with both forms. It makes me more aware of where I am at and cleans my picking up much much more.

[@cletusbeauregard1972]

Dude, check out that 70s song Midnight At The Oasis. Amos Garrett tracked that whole thing live, bending 3 strings at once. Just f-ing insane,

[@RobertBakerGuitar]

Will do!

[@jscotlandr]

I'm really glad you didn't reshoot the video because of the sound issue with the original. Your true and honest REACTIONS to the different techniques is what made this video so good. One of my biggest pet peeves with KZbin content is when the creator titles the video "Joe reacts to XYZ" and the video is a scripted critique of 'XYZ'. A review or critique is NOT a reaction, it's the exact opposite. A review is a thoughtful analysis of the subject matter while a reaction is an emotional, visceral response. The way each of the 30 'techniques' triggered a different reaction from you made this video so fantastic.

[@primitiveT]

I like the Triple tapping. I use a galloping motion with my frettign hand, holding one note and pull offs with the successive fingers on successive frets, while tapping the string. Sounds like a rose standing on its own. Love you Grandma.

[@jeffarcher400]

Being on the beat, staying in tune,not playing too loud,showing up on time... Lizard down the throat is a Satriani term from the Surfing album. It's in the Ice 9 solo. It says depress bar while gradually sliding up( or release while sliding down) approximately maintaining solitary pitch, press hard while sliding to make fret sound as loud as possible. Joe calls this the lizard down the throat sound.

[@davidrose7456]

When you were doing the elephant sound and then mentioned the Joe Satriani version of it. Back in the 90's I bought Satriani's time machine music book. They explained how to do it and called it "lizard down the throat"

[@klisher]

definitely heard of gargle and violining as techniques back in the 90s in guitar magazzines. (not just guitar world either, UK magazines too) one i would add is for acoustic.. adding a walking bassline beneath a melody.

[@RayC234]

Yeah that first technique I picked up from a Brad Gillis video don't remember what he calls it but he does it in his solo on "Don't Tell Me You Love Me"

[@MatthewBreithaupt]

That list included a lot of trivial stuff while completely missing these : 1. "Trampolinig Oz Fox Stryper" - and give credit to Oz Fox from Stryper since I haven't seen anyone else use this technique 2. Cascade Harmonics (do pull-offs with two fingers while lightly touching and sliding one fingers in the pickup area) 3. Using the fretting hand to finger a harmonic near the 3rd fret of the lowest (thickest!) string and then pressing down the note and bending it - not sure of the name of this technique or who does it, but I think Adam D of Killswitch Engage must use it. 4. Bending behind the nut 5. Pedal tone riffs - eg; Parkway Drive - "Idols and Anchors" 6. Unison Bends - intro of Run To The Hills by Iron Maiden

[@JoeR203]

I was doing the "Lizard" sound back in '86 when I bought my Ibanez Roadstar II. It was my first guitar with a tremolo bar.

[@musicalADD_theband]

I love that it’s all one take. Rock on bro

[@indiedavecomix3882]

The hardest technique for me so far is the one where you hold down the strings on the fretboard then hit them with the pick. 😅

[@greenfly1264]

I started developing that 'lizard' technique on a bigsby as a different way of getting from point A to a difficult point B just to hide scruffyness. Didn't know it was actually a thing , but the possibilities for illusion and expression are becoming a great avenue to explore.

[@ScottfromBaltimore]

I didn't check the article, but I imagine quarter tones might come into play between the minor and major 3rd and a minor and major seventh in bluesy stuff. Like Neal Schon's Solo in Lights.

[@tlstechtalk]

Jeff Beck used all of these effortlessly, he was the master of the whammy bar.

[@harrisontownsend910]

And his wasn't totally floating either.

[@preston2636]

Not all of them. Hybrid picking for example isn't something he did. He would need to use a pick in the first place.

[@dannyjdonovan]

Glad you kept the original reactions. Audio is fine, especially if you're listening over phone speakers or whatever. I will say, a few techniques I now know the names of, and quite a few I'm now going to practice, because while trying them I've realized how sloppy I really am at them, lol. Lizard down the throat was the only new one for me, and I fail to see the application, other than stage flair. As a bedroom musician, I guess I could work on my stage flair. My cats might enjoy it?

[@AndreyOrochi]

Aight man I got chu. On top of my head... For harp harmonics, acoustic slap/tap/fingerstyle, check out some Alan Gogoll. For 8-finger/ 2 handed/ wide stretch tapping, there are Buckethead, Shawn Lane to be checked as well. Enhanced tapping and electric fingerstyle? Ichika Nito. Scott Mishoe? Yes, please. Max Ostro for thumb fretting. Vibrato? Derek Trucks. Anton Oparin for the best alt picking ever. Guitar + Keyboard? Gabriel Guardian. Fretless guitar? Tom Fountainhead. Legato? HYPER picking? Roy Marchbank. Foot flutter? Charles Caswell. Genre-melting Indian-inspired metal guitar? Vishal J. Singh. I could go on and on, but hopefully you least check these guys. Do share your thoughts.

[@seanmurray976]

Hi Robert! New subscriber/my first comment here! - BTW I’m Sean…great to meet you…LOVE your channel that I stumbled on after seeing your cameo on Uncle Larry’s page the other day… Anyway to my point of commenting - YES Uncle Larry is a damn good harp harmonic gentlemen…also I was devastated with how hard barre chords weee when I first started!

[@BarrySwords]

Lizard down the throat is a legit name for that technique. I first read about it in one of the UK guitar mags like 20 years ago.

[@jakejambor1]

Robert Baker “plays Eddie and Nuno tapping perfectly” Also Robert Baker “I never really got good at tapping”

[@VnMJack]

Lizard down the throat is a Joe Satriani thing from Surfing. There was a guitar mag article on the technique in the early 90's

[@bobnewiss1055]

Wow! What a fantastic video, Robert - Thank you! Did you notice that Gerry Donahue also bends the fourth string a semitone and lets this fall after picking up the second string - three awesome string bends in one. My tutor quite successfully demonstrated this technique many years ago but I still haven't the strength in my fingers! 😟😟

[@erezinyo]

Thanks Robert. Really enjoyed watching you loving these techniques

[@09ncowan]

Derek Trucks' microtonal playing is so good.

[@douglascarducci6977]

Go watch Jeff Beck live at Ronnie Scotts for a bunch of techniques and Adrian Belew ...they're both exceptionally unique seen them both front row and they were stunning

[@uncanny_bassman]

Belew is probably the most entertaining guitarist I've seen live

[@charliebabbit4325]

Tip, I learned by watching Robbie Robertson of The Band, for pinch/pick harmonics, turn your pick backwards, fat side down, they squeal so clean

[@remlemac]

You are very humble, looking foward to your travis picking success.

[@syndicateproductionstarana4925]

Love this video bro.Some cool techniques for sure yo

[@nathanneff]

Good call, you know you would have never made it through feigned reactions. You are hilarious! Barre chords! I thought you might dis that one but you are exactly right, most of us put it off, funny. Glad you are genuine about your preferences, without being a snob. And ALL the references digressing onto the guitar, to me is hilariously perfect way to talk guitar. Good stuff

[@GermanFafian]

Lizzard Down The Throat term was coined by Satriani in his Tab book for Surfing With The Alien. But he does it on the Low E String.🙃

[@zoeherriot]

Mike Oldfield's sideways / violin vibrato is amazing - he's definitely one of the best guitarists to study for that. Tubular Bells (Live in Montreaux 1981) is a good performance, because the camera is close up on his hands, and you can see it's used constantly.

[@Shredderallamode]

Chris poland

[@zoeherriot]

@@Shredderallamode Yup, that's a fair call - I think he used both styles. Oldfield applied violin vibrato so regularly, it is a signature of his sound. But yeah, I was racking my mind for other players that use it a lot and Chris Poland is a good one.

[@half-arsedmusic]

yeah, I could never do pinch harmonics that way because I hold the pick with a thumb and two fingers. What works though is, if you hold your pick like me, your little finger tends to be hanging around the string you're picking, so you can just touch it lightly as you pick with your little finger. Or if you've got a lot of distortion on, you can pick down while simultaneously picking up with your ring finger - hence the "pinch" in the name.

[@thatshaneguy546]

Love your videos Robert. Appreciate your time

[@JackMurtonGuitar]

there's two i use that they missed out. 1st being string skipping licks and 2nd i dont know what the other one is called but it is where you tap a note with your picking hand then slide to the same note with you fretting hand and work your way up the scale on the same string. It sounds really cool i think. haha

[@jossbsure]

The Lizard down the throat I encountered first in the Satriani tab book of Surfing with the Alien in 1988. In Ice 9, around the 60th mesure, notes says that it's Joe who christened the technique.

[@odiumpugnator472]

The "elephant" sound, listen to King Crimson's tune "Elephant Talk", on the album Discipline, released 1981. That's the first time I ever heard that sound. You'll hear that sound, technique, along with a plethora of other amazing playing. Tony Levin plays bass on a "Chapman Stick", it's an electric upright bass that you wear a like other stringed instruments.

[@weedyguitarstudio1715]

I love to do pinch harmonics but never tried the Lizard down the throat that's cool gonna try that after the video😎💯🤘

[@TheMeJustMe75]

Been playing guitar for a long time and the tapping arpeggios like Aaron Marshall and Plini does has been hard to pick up for me. It's one that I think sounds amazing especially at the beginning of a song like New Material by Periphery.

[@russowings5351]

Brad Gillus of night ranger is the lizard god but they called it scooping in my day. Great stuff.

[@wildersparks9161]

Jimmy Herring does the best whammy slide I’ve ever heard. His rig rundown has some of it going on I think.

[@turbotunna3794]

"Lizard Down the Throat" - I still remember hearing this on Surfing with the Alien in the song Ice 9 when I was in primary school and wondering how!?!? It was like 15years later I got my first floating trem guitar and had to learn that technique... but it always sent my G-string flat so rarely use it. LOL Great vid btw Robert, as always.

[@JackTaylorGuitars]

I'll learn how to travis pick with you bro! Loved the video as always. It made me re-evaluate wtf I'm doing with guitar 😂

[@RobertBakerGuitar]

Let's do this thang!

[@michaeleaster1815]

Fun video! I think they missed (a) tapped bends and (b) pulling the string up with right hand, behind the fretted note...

[@USMarine75]

Another vote for B. Paul Gilbert does the whammy bend without a whammy bar trick in the solo for Undertow. 12-15 trill and at same time grabs string behind and bends up and releases.

[@StevenRobertsonTheOACS]

Chester Atkins referred to #24 as hammer-on/pull-off You'll have to watch some of his videos to see what chord and melody/harmony tapping is.

[@Halenrocks5150]

I would have never guessed your audio was off. Great video and lots of fun!!!

[@mikea4015]

The “lizard down the throat” term and technique comes directly from Joe Satriani which he first used on the song Ice 9

[@crate5150]

Thanks for sharing.

[@darkonation]

FANTASTIC video. That was fun. Subbed. 🤘

[@achtsieben87]

Great video, thanks. Pinch harmonics are weird. Once I started doing them, I couldn't even explain to myself how I did them. It seems to be a combination of how you attack the string with a pick and how you dampen it, almost at the same time. It brings to mind an old Guitar Player interview with Roy Buchanan. GP: You've perfected an overtone technique by striking the string with your pick and the first finger at the same time. Did you develop this yourself? RB: I guess so. I never heard of anybody else doing it, and I've been doing it ever since I can remember. When I first did it, it was a mistake. I did a thing with Bobby Greg called 'Potato Peelings', and it happened. Then everybody was digging that one thing, so I just figured out what I did.

[@comatoo]

29 and 30 I most associate with Jeff Beck and 31 would also be a Jeff technique - multiple note variations from a harmonic using the tremelo. To hear an example, listen to The Ballad of Bill Hubbard on Roger Waters' Amused to Death. Another tool Jeff Beck used in a unique way was the slide and I suppose that would be 32 as it wasn't mentioned either.

[@chickenjedi]

I used to practice the "lizard down the throat" thing (I never called it that) back when I had guitars with locking tremolos, just as a kid playing around with my whammy bar. I never thought it had actual use or merit.

[@ipguyman108]

Sincerely, I appreciate your humanity in not claiming to master everything currently. Not many teachers are that humble to be honest..😊

[@brians1793]

5:05 I used to do this, I didn't really even know it was a thing others did until now lol.

[@thinkingofvenice]

Lizard Down The Throat came out of the song Ice 9 on Satch’s Surfing With The Alien record. 😎 I remember seeing it in the transcription as a kid and going “uh what?”. 😂

[@k14ce2002]

Lizard Down The Throat was used by Satch in Ice 9.

[@curtdkrueger]

Satriani, Ice 9 solo has the "Lizard down the throat". Satch at one point even gave it that name.

[@Anunakkiwalkitalki]

I like to do what I call a "Shoooom" which is basically striking a note high on the fretboard mainly on the low E and sliding the note down the fretboard, but instead of just plucking the note, I rake the strings with my thumbnail followed by the tip of my pick. It's something reminiscent of sounds heard on EVH recordings. I don't see people doing it, but I have been using regularly since accidentally falling upon it when I was a kid some 40 years ago.

[@flyingrhoads]

Can you please tell us what amp/ fix unit you used for the opening licks!!! It sounded incredible

[@allengoeddey2719]

Very cool, rock’n the Danelectro at the end.

[@johnkruton9708]

EVH specific volume pot that spins easily and has been pre worned to make his sound is a thing if you’re wanting to mimic the swells