Reacting To Myself at Age 13 Playing the Fade to Black Solo!

As painful as this was it was good to experience the "early days" once again. ;)
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Thanks!!!

[@markgillespie3971]

The flat bends capture Kirk's live feel perfectly, good job!

[@mack7235]

Haha

[@JJ-Streaming]

True dat!

[@peytonmercer2250]

You laugh at his live bends, he laughs at your bank account😂

[@Trainens107]

@@peytonmercer2250Chill it’s just a joke no need to flex someone else’s bank account lol.

[@joelm5509]

@@peytonmercer2250 Lil wayne cant play guitar, but he laughs at Kirks bank account though. Haha

[@alexmustang8177]

When I was 13 I thought that ridiculously fast solos were played by machines

[@hyramjackson]

I thought that children of bodom keyboard solos were played by Alexi on the guitar, dude seemed like a god for a time xp

[@Dagvi]

i'd love to have a friend to jam with..

[@omerkeremtastepe2271]

We all do man....

[@RexNicolaus]

Me too. Makes you feel less bad about yourself if they’re doing just as bad or worse lol.

[@jarrylerty452]

can relate

[@MGM261]

Agreed. But the issue is then you finally find a group or someone to play with and then your styles are totally different! They want you to play parts that are mind-numbingly boring, or a song that you have studied 10 years ago which you've learnt to hate... Its actually way more fun to play alone...

[@yeezy69]

Same

[@jaybee-5481]

that feeling when 13 yo Mike after playing for 1 year is still better than 46 year old you after playing 20+ years...

[@PedrodeAlmeida78]

Yeah... I'm 42 and those where my exactly my thoughts. I had my first electric guitar at 17 and had a classic guitar maybe 2-3 years before that...

[@joeblough261]

Only thing you got even slightly wrong is that it's been 28 years for me! Ha

[@TheGhuru]

lol

[@purpleraventd3]

Haha. Same here but 51. I still play that song often but never properly learned the solo so I'm sure his 13yo jam is better than what I still try to pull off.

[@nckhed]

If a 13-year-old with one year of guitar experience is better than anyone who has decades under their belt, you might be doing something wrong.

[@cesarefrancescoriggi]

At 13, I didn't even have idea of how to play that solo...

[@mattblackburn8789]

Feels lol. Me at 13* Anyways here's SMELLS LIKE TEEN SPIRIT

[@Taurus1337]

I'm 19 and still don't lol

[@NuhashHossain]

At 13 I was stuck trying to play nothing else matters

[@thedancingguy828]

I was 13 in 2017 lol when i started get into Metallica and other stuff

[@_witac]

I started playing at ten so luckily I can lol otherwise no

[@DrastixMachina]

Best feeling is when you see the improvement you made over a certain time period and you look back and laugh

[@robinekofficial]

I remember when I couldn't even downpick to 60 bpm now I'm up to 110 bpm xD

[@schifoso]

That tone would scare away every cat in the neighborhood.

[@av.punk.801]

Mines sitting next to me right now lmao

[@hmpz36911]

Or send them into heat

[@abhinavsharma1602]

Metallica made me wanna learn guitar too! And the intro solo from Fade To Black was the one solo I wanted to learn so bad. The starting was frustrating for sure coz i had just started out and it actually took me a few months to learn the techniques. It'd all about practice and patience tho. This video made me smile! :')

[@baptoufragilise]

I mean at 13 and with less than a year of practice it sounds pretty good to me !

[@GlynsGuitars]

Dude, this video motivated me to dig out some old tapes i had recorded from my teens ( im 54 now) . It was entertaining and brought back some good memories when i started out playing. I almost forgot how bad i was but was motivating to see how far ive come .. Thanks!

[@QueLoKevin]

"This was my first year of playing" I've been playing for over ten years and that's so much better than anything I could do lmao

[@AuroraLuxi]

Still a better guitar player than most beginners I have heard 😁 Edit: I take it back. Now I'm almost at the end of the video 😅

[@sstflm]

lmaoo

[@Hoscitt]

😄

[@jssome7835]

That outro solo is why I play guitar

[@henryswanson1851]

This is great. I still have cassettes of me playing Ride The Lightning/Justice songs on drums when I was like 12 that I recorded with a hand held tape recorder. It's really bad.

[@prometheustv6558]

It’s kind of hard to hear the solo over the rhythm part.

[@RanDieBam]

Oh my gosh what a bad mixing engineerrrrrrrr -.-''''''' They probably just set up the input gain so it doesn't clip and went with it and it's just like that on the tape, inseparable

[@RandomPerson-ui3xv]

Its an early 90s recording what did you expect lmao

[@xrung1706]

@@RandomPerson-ui3xv, 80s actually

[@LMStemmedBackingTracks]

@@xrung1706 I think he means mikes recording

[@prometheustv6558]

@@LMStemmedBackingTracks It would have been late 80s then

[@kylereece1979]

Nothing better at the time than the rush of getting a lend of a CD, then listening to it whilst watching it getting recorded onto a tape. Knowing that your initial love of the first listen to the music is only going to get better and better as the tape catches the tunes for you. Over 90% of my music as a teenager was on copied cassettes. It was amazing having a different album on each side! Your Metallica tape at the beginning reminded me of that. Loved this video. Fantastic idea to relisten to you jamming with friends and share the memories. I cant solo to save my life- so to me, your early attempts at Fade to Black sounds decent for your age and time on guitar. Id love to see more videos like this. Awesome!

[@jjrusy7438]

i love the beginning to fade to black and the little solo in the beginning. i did an ad-lib mashup of some of sabbath's snowblind which then faded (heh) into fade to black. I was thinking about alternate picking and tremolo picking. i never learned those techniques from anyone. i figured out those moves to be able to play certain things. I did have to learn how to sweep pick and do pinch harmonics from someone else tho. i had no effing clue. and i still need to practice those more, or the dreaded 2nd fret dime squealies. also, another guitar player told me to practice pinch harmonics unplugged, to nail the trick without help from amp gain.

[@skeletorwins5567]

That steel rage reunion needs to happen along with the way you played fade to black in that tape, for the tour.

[@Rockeiro70]

Great analysis of your own playing in the past. 👍🏼 I love the part with economy picking, sounds so good when You play it now. I had some solo parts in other songs where I even as adult and better player couldn't manage to play fluid in original tempo. Will recheck the economy picking... 🤟🏼

[@kadoman65]

Your facial reactions to your younger self from a guitar players POV is priceless, thanks for sharing from Vernon BC, Canada

[@nigonkouk1770]

Actually', it was fairly good', for such a short time playing.

[@metalmaniac1105]

Nah my first year I play rust in peace

[@haydenschmid760]

@@metalmaniac1105 Same, but don’t brag about it bro

[@Mad_Axe_Man125]

@@metalmaniac1105 ahh yes. that classic megadeth song, "rust in peace."

[@pizzza8061]

@@metalmaniac1105 same lol holy wars took a while for me to perfect

[@azraf8614]

I also learned the fade to black solo in my first year and this sounds exactly like mine. Its nice relating to my favorite guitar teacher.

[@MrPunkrockkid69]

I have a couple of recordings with my old bandmates on my ipod 4 touch and it brings back to those times everytime I listen to it

[@scaramcnamara689]

getting thru the solo without stopping was an achievement back in the days before xbox

[@shadow-ff5qb]

This is the solo that I'am trying to play and improve skills that included. Your reactions and feedbacks very helpfull for me thank you very much.

[@joshdrewpic]

I can relate so much! We might be around the same age (mid 30s). When I first picked up the guitar I just wanted to play metallica all DAY, I used to go to a friends house who had an RP7 (old multiFX pedal), we'd just take turns playing licks = he'd show me stuff, I'd show him stuff. IT was like 95 or something. Good times

[@name-ni3jc]

I love that you kept these

[@daubeny2911]

Can we talk about the fact that his tone is so good that even when he tries to play bad it actually still sounds kinda decent ? (Not in the recording, in the present)

[@willtsam171]

Like this vid cas it’s cool to see him go over his problems as a kid playing guitar lol and it sort of teaches you on what to look at while you play. Record while you practice!!

[@wolfachilles5451]

I can say that at 19 and 3 years of playing I’m around as good as you were when you were 13

[@mr.handbones9591]

beautiful, this takes me back to when me and my cousin were 14-15 years old, 20 years ago, playing this. sounds very similar.

[@thiswillprobhrt]

There’s a tape knocking around called “shitty riffs” that I made. I gave to someone when I was 14. I want that tape back 😂.

[@gyslainbeauchamp9241]

These are treasures, i'm that kind of guy, taping my stuff, and lookin'back ,its raw &real showing that you reaching your goal👍

[@saintdom6531]

Year 3 of playing the guitar and I still can't do the solo like your 13 years old self. Sucks man

[@mutsisloll]

I haven't tried that solo but i think i couldn't play it too

[@Anthony-nk4ky]

The solo in this song isn’t that hard. The trickiest part is probably the mini sweep lick he does right in the beginning. Just learn it slowly and you should have no problem with it

[@bkadam8654]

Yea it's not that hard but thise sweepy licks need some practice

[@firdaus125]

Play the solo everyday you pick up the guitar. Trust me you'll play it in a month.

[@JohnsGoated]

year 8 for me and i cant play that solo like that either lmao

[@martintroy]

It's good to see where you started from. It gives me hope in my own playing, only 6 months with a guitar so far. But thank god for these KZbin lessons and modern technology. I wouldn't learn a thing if it wasn't for you.

[@sonicclang]

At 13 (and through my teenage years) I jammed with my brother. We learned by playing Metallica songs too. Our family had moved to the country after having lived in the city before then so we had nothing really to do, so we just played guitar all the time. Eventually I got a drum set and I'd split my time between guitar and drums. It was awesome. Also, you're not bad for not even having been playing for a year at that point! It's probably better than I could do now, but then again I've never concentrated on soloing.

[@JeremyPezzeca]

Thats amazing playing for Only one year and being thirteen. I'm fifty and have been playing 3 months , and i'm still working on the first part of the first solo. I got a lot of work to do before. I even think of tackling the second solo. You did a great job thank you preferring your journey

[@DevinRyanVitek]

These throwback videos are great, keep posting them! Would love to see more videos with your Les Paul Custom too \m/

[@GabrielLopez1096]

I remember playing that way too, got a little nostalgic on this video haha thanks for sharing this! Have a nice day!

[@BrandonYbarra]

12/13 year old you sounds way better than 22 year old me by a long shot!! It sounded awesome!

[@thethingthatshouldnotbe3035]

I'm a rhythm player but this is actually one of the very few solos I wanted to learn (nothing else matters, square hammer and this). Now guess what, I don't have a problem with fast rhythm stuff or syncopation or rhythm in general, it's actually really good. But I can't. Play. Lead. For. Shit. It took me forever to learn the nothing else matters solo, square hammer was kinda okay but at some point I just gave up on fade to black. As of right now I'm in my 4th year of playing and I still sound similar to your tape, playing that solo. It drives me nuts because it's such a cool solo, my favorite actually. Anyway, have a good one Mike! (and everyone else who made it this far ;))

[@thethingthatshouldnotbe3035]

​@@jordanhumpal6005 i can play the intro solo just fine, actually (well, depends on the day, i guess xD) but the outro is beyond my understanding... anyway, good luck learning it!

[@Mindmapinc]

Dude, playing that solo not only at 13, but only after 1 year is epic. What a confidence booster that must have been knowing you would only get better from there. That was indeed mini Kirk showing up to ⚡ROCK⚡

[@txhellrazor4765]

I'm a 16 year old guitar player and been playing for a year. I have the same bend problem. Its great to see how much you've improved. You're amazing man. Great to watch.

[@liquidcancer4573]

I mean yeah he's in his forties now, so he has 30 years of practice under his belt

[@pez---]

try learning some of the breaks in November Rain...good for bends...also the Nothing Else Matters solo

[@gholmes4917]

This is one of those Goal solo's I am still working on. Good hearing your tips around circular picking

[@vincentmomont7538]

the best guitar youtuber 🎸🎸

[@LEE_MILLARD]

Millions of kids @ 13 couldn't do this you should be proud mate & not putting down you playing

[@dyche100]

Let me get this straight. As a 13 year old you were able to attempt a solo that a lot of guitarist strive for. And you’re embarrassed by it? Wtf man! I wish I could play that solo like you did! I may as well give up 😔

[@JonathanSH]

Don’t give up!

[@s0cializedpsych0path]

That's brave, man! I would never put my 13 year old self, on blast like this.

[@Hoscitt]

I'm impressed that you still have a cassette player 😄 I have a bag of teenage riff cassettes and nothing to play them on!

[@metalriffsfunthrash4129]

I just saw a regular single cassette cheap portable type recorder at Walmart... you can capture ur old tapes off the headphone port to ur computer front mic input!

[@valuedhumanoid6574]

So cool. I actually had a reel to reel tape recorder that my dad got at a flea market. It would hold 8 hours of music and very high quality. My first car had an 8 track player that would just eat tape all the sudden. I spent many hours rewinding tape back into the case. When cassettes came out it was like a HUGE improvement. Ah...those were the days...

[@MCENTYRE]

Fade to black was the first ever song i learned all the way threw when i was a beginner

[@timothyholmes4588]

I was lucky ky back in 86 when I started I learned the solo to crazy train like the first weak I had a guitar so I had a good starting place for soloing. but when I started taking lessons in 89 I really got things under control and learned theory and proper technic

[@Theloneliestsavage]

Me at 17 and has been playing guitar for 3 years and this sounds so much better than I can get. I'm really bad

[@davidrees1840]

It's great to have those recordings to critique yourself, but don't forget the feeling you had when you were playing that: you were rock gods, and nothing else matters!

[@Jgbj467]

I bet every beginner have tried this solo once 😂 Can you do more videos like that ?

[@uhggbonehead934]

Stop taking credit for Kirk's licks. That's Kirk live back in the early 90's.

[@TheArtofGuitar]

Dude, I sure hope not. haha

[@uhggbonehead934]

@@TheArtofGuitarlmao... thanks for sharing. And keep up the great work.

[@realobama1100]

13 year old you has a nice black metal tone.

[@teemunator]

Nice video of memory lane. I had this thing going on around 1996 where me and boys were playing metellica with Fender Stratocaster :D Master of Puppets, Fade to black.. etc. Later on song from Children of Bodom like Towards dead end. How they sounded back then omg :D

[@bigbossbird9444]

Rock on dude you're truly a legend

[@Walnutplaner]

you were 13 bro! that is awesome man thanks for sharing

[@enochcrosby6630]

The recording was really good, especially for only a year of playing. Did you learn by ear or did you have books that had the tabs in them? To me, it sounds pretty true to the record.

[@CR-oo3cm]

We all know the sudden greatness we feel when first nailing this solo. And we all know how we sounded at 13 :)

[@metalriffsfunthrash4129]

Wait... what year is this tape? I may need to change the title on my Oldest/Worst Fade to Black cover on YT vid

[@prometheustv6558]

He said he was 16 in 1993, so probably 1990.

[@dysfunctionaldave]

That part you said is a mystery at 7:24 is basically like a 5 stroke roll rudiment on drums- it's an 8th followed by 4 16ths repeated 4 times, accenting the 8ths and muting the 16ths. I always played the top half of a Bm chord at 7th fret for that, it came out with the closest sound to me. Also hilarious listening to what sounds like a perfect mirror image to me of trying to play this solo as a teenager, I would play this with the bassist in my band- thought I was nailing every note, and am really glad there's no recordings anywhere to demonstrate how horribly wrong I was.

[@ninja4O5]

Wow! Loved it man, you are like at lvl 100 now looking back to your lvl 15 self!!! 😂 Hey, can you do a quick tutorial on the circular picking, would help a lot! All love \m/

[@TheTalcoChannel]

I really wish I knew where my old tapes are. Lots of good memories and riffs I know I'm missing on them.

[@Jallen7362]

Now searching your channel for a video about this mythical circle picking technique

[@markdelgado6984]

Report back if you find it lol. I need it

[@jamesb95]

I bet I have tapes just like that somewhere! We had a band too but no singer

[@FadeToBlack1989]

This is the first song i ever learned on guitar. One day i said im going to learn the outro solo. And i played that for years non stop. Hence my yt name.

[@arklowrockz]

Great work for a 12 year old! Incidentally tapes are coming back in a big way in the Black Metal scene

[@yessir6427]

black metal lol

[@neoneherefrom5836]

no surprise there as black metal is about as low fidelity / minimal production as it gets

[@jaycavjr]

the fact you could even play that well one year in is pretty good!

[@jayyoutube8790]

This was the most effective way to improve overall pre-Internet days. Record yourself and play along and listen.

[@hmpz36911]

That was pretty good, all things considered. At least you had a knack for phrasing. I really struggled with that because I thought too much about playing the right notes instead of the timing.

[@DeniedByFate]

This brings back memories because I must have a dozen cassette tapes where my friend and I would record ourselves all the time. We played a variety of popular songs back then by different bands and it was definitely the easier Metallica stuff we played. I remember how bad I was at guitar back then and cringed a bit listening to myself. My friend was always excellent at rhythm.

[@tjtampa214]

That is funny and fun. And, btw, very sharp looking guitar you have there (the white one). 🌷

[@guitarwins1896]

Dang that was rough but I'm glad to have heard it and to have watched your video. I don't think I'm good...being that I don't learn songs...I just learn a lick or 2 and move to another song and mainly I just jam. But I spend a lot of time learning techniques and playing them better. I just learned how to harmonic tap about a week ago. I can only do it over certain frets of course...but it's clear...it just doesn't sound Kool lol. But it's harder than any other tapping than I know of. So that I'm proud of. And thanks for all of your videos! Favorite guitar teacher!!!

[@guitarianrockin4378]

Can I just say...I LOVE your Cobra Kai t-shirt!!

[@AdoreYouInAshXI]

Bro, at 13 I didn't even have the finger strength to hold down an electric guitar string. Now at 37 I still can only make a few chords and wham around on the low E string with heavy distortion. But I still enjoy playing lol. You're a guitar master!

[@littleblue995]

As someone who has being playing guitar on and off for 30 years this is very impressive for a 13 year old kid. Don’t really know what this guy expected from himself back then.

[@Johnnyleealdridgeofficial]

It sounded really great to me and you are very talented man!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[@jimmylee7984]

I'm wearing a Cobra Kai shirt as I'm watching this!

[@Oldschool811]

I said tomatoes not potatoes wtf!!!

[@Sam-jv5kb]

That "weird chord" you mention around 7:30 or so is actually a harmonic over the 7th fret on the g string I believe!

[@fenderowl]

7:25 The chord strumming thing is just Kirk playing the 7th fret of the G and B strings at the same time I believe.

[@maxjurhs8767]

At least you weren’t afraid to try the solo, my cousin was trying to play the guitar and would try anything.

[@gohjohan]

Anything? Even without circular picking?

[@ironfloydica3651]

I’m literally in the same spot as you right now lol. I’m 13, been playing for about 11 months, and I’m trying to learn this solo. (I can’t play the descending parts for the life of me lmao)

[@ignasd7255]

Don't give up! Also don't be in a rush, start playing slow and You will see, that You'll get faster and faster! Its just basic muscle memory!

[@DrayMartinez]

Can u play it now?

[@thrash1337]

Died laughing at the final part at 7:50, thanks for sharing Mike ;D

[@cainm8808]

For your first year of playing you did a hell of a job

[@crakula666]

That’s actually awesome after a year or two of playing…

[@psychedpanda3333]

why was he even trying this song after one year. i didn't try this song until like 2 or 3 years of playing

[@m45ben]

What you at 13 played sounds like how I'm playing it NOW, lol!

[@The_PlagueDoctor]

Hey, I am really curious how you stream your playing! My band and I are trying to figure what we need. We want to be able to practice and hear our own mix, while at the same time recording it into a DAW while streaming everything :). I have been looking at the Zoom L12, behringer XR16, and PreSonus StudioLive AR12. Thank you ♥ Loving all your content.

[@metalriffsfunthrash4129]

Just use the mic input on the front of ur computer and set the input sensitivity in the audio dashboard! Run off the headphone out in ur mixer, same as I record to DAW off my multi-pedal headphone out

[@jacksonbarker7594]

To practice and record live together remotely the best service I've found is jamkazam, free too

[@Timson1976]

Not bad after 1 year 👍👍

[@ryanr2740]

Dude really really good for first year!

[@redarsenic8194]

Could you do a video on 80s and very early 90s death metal, would love to hear you talk about the guitars on that stuff

[@ace9140]

you said the "2nd solo" but this is the third/outro solo. great video

[@jjjfo1818]

The bridge solo was the first solo I ever learned, then shortly after learned this one

[@mylogify]

0:25 😂😂 Hahahahahha. Nope, us talking about not being able to get girls. Mike I also had recorded my voice a lot when I was about 4-8 years old :D. I wish we didn't got rid of those casettes they were full of me talking... :D in 94-98... So fun video :D. You were very good! I started learning at 30, and I can say, it's very good for one year, especially at that age.

[@TheStoneyJackson]

Good thing I’m on Christmas break bc your livestreams got my sleep scheduled just as messed up as yours😂😂

[@ivansydorenko8424]

So much feel in those failed frases :o

[@kaischooler726]

love the steve vai guitar