Andy James – Metal Edge Extreme Metal Arpeggios

Extreme Metal Arpeggios

The latest in the “Metal Edge” series from Lick Library (see also Extreme Tapping, Extreme Pentatonics, Metal Soloing Techniques volume one) Extreme Metal Arpeggios covers a wide range of approaches to arpeggio playing and provides an excellent introduction to the idea of sequencing arpeggios in order to provide further musical examples to inspire a wide variety of players from beginner to advanced.

We all love arpeggios don’t we? I remember learning the solo to Europe’s “The Final Countdown” before progressing onto a couple of Gary Moore-style licks and thence onto some sweep-picking and whenever I played them over a backing track I felt much more of a connection to the harmony…..and to paraphrase Greg Howe “they looked and sounded cool!”. Andy covers a number of techniques in his examination of Arpeggio playing which include:

Although Andy feels this DVD might not be of use to absolute novices I think that as long as you have a knowledge of basic triad construction then there are a number of the earlier segments which could be of benefit to relative newcomers -- one of the strengths of this video is that it does by necessity cover basic approaches right up to more advanced ideas.

I can’t really fault the presentation or progression of ideas in Extreme Metal Arpeggios - from a simple single string triad Andy proceeds to two string picked arpeggios (yes, with a certain Gary Moore vibe) to triad arpeggios on three strings played with sweep picking,  to 5-string arpeggios, Paul Gilbert-esque string-skipped variants, and then to extended sequences which combine all of these ideas into one long series of notes. Everything here is logical, clearly explained, fautlessly executed and if you’re new to any of these ideas you couldn’t do much better than to purchase this.

Now, I have to say that the biggest plus of this video is perhaps also it’s one shortcoming. By appealing to a much wider player base and by choosing to give an overview of many different ways of performing arpeggios those players who might be a little more advanced or experienced are going to be looking for really advanced ideas and this isn’t the DVD for them.

That’s not to say Andy doesn’t cater for those players (look at Extreme Tapping, or his Sweep Picking video for example) but it would be incredibly hard and perhaps even unwise to move from simple triadic sweep picking to monstrous Rusty Cooley ideas in the space of one DVD and I have to say that realising that and giving this DVD a wider focus was an excellent idea. Moving from Extreme Metal Arpeggios to his other releases is even better!

For a great overview and an introduction to the wider world of arpeggios techniques, look no further

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