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GMC Forum _ Alex Feather _ Degroot Guitar Mentoring

Posted by: Alex Feather Mar 25 2012, 08:00 PM

Hey I am very excited to start working with you!
I have a few questions before we can start!
-What are your goals?
-What is your weakness?
-What is your strongest point?
-Your favorite guitar players?
Thank you very much for joining! It will be fun!!!

Posted by: DeGroot Mar 25 2012, 09:20 PM

Hey man, I am really excited for this opportunity!

My main purpose here is to add more variety to my playing! I would like to focus on rhythm playing. It would be great to learn some fusion, jazz, blues shuffles, funk, etc. I'm really open to just about any style. smile.gif Until recently I had not played much "clean" guitar. I've mostly been just a strummer of major/minor open chords in the past. I'd like to begin more intricate right hand rhythm into my playing.

I would also like to add into the mix some slide guitar playing. I am a true beginner at this style. I recently bought a slide and had worked with your "tuner bend" lesson. To get all the nuances right with the slide was a bit over my skill level but it was a good start to get used to playing slide.

I don't really have any real strong points to brag about but I should add that my background is with neoclassical/shred style. I'm working with Gabriel on that side of my playing at the moment as well.

Crossroads is one of my favorite movies and influenced me to want to play slide and blues. I love Ry Cooder's slide guitar playing!

Well, guess that is all for now. I'm looking forward to some lessons from you! Thanks!!

Posted by: Alex Feather Mar 26 2012, 08:16 PM

QUOTE (DeGroot @ Mar 25 2012, 08:20 PM) *
Hey man, I am really excited for this opportunity!

My main purpose here is to add more variety to my playing! I would like to focus on rhythm playing. It would be great to learn some fusion, jazz, blues shuffles, funk, etc. I'm really open to just about any style. smile.gif Until recently I had not played much "clean" guitar. I've mostly been just a strummer of major/minor open chords in the past. I'd like to begin more intricate right hand rhythm into my playing.

I would also like to add into the mix some slide guitar playing. I am a true beginner at this style. I recently bought a slide and had worked with your "tuner bend" lesson. To get all the nuances right with the slide was a bit over my skill level but it was a good start to get used to playing slide.

I don't really have any real strong points to brag about but I should add that my background is with neoclassical/shred style. I'm working with Gabriel on that side of my playing at the moment as well.

Crossroads is one of my favorite movies and influenced me to want to play slide and blues. I love Ry Cooder's slide guitar playing!

Well, guess that is all for now. I'm looking forward to some lessons from you! Thanks!!

Great!!! I think together we can achieve some big results!!!
I would like to start with you with some rhythms!
I have a backing track that has a very simple chord progression
It's C major - A minor - E minor
I also added a track with my guitar in it to give you some ideas!
What I want you to do is to record main guitar and a double
using different voicing!
So for the first part use this voicings:
C major9
http://www.guitarmasterclass.net/scalegenerator
A minor 7
http://www.guitarmasterclass.net/scalegenerator

E minor 7

http://www.guitarmasterclass.net/scalegenerator

And for the second part use this voicings:
C major 7
http://www.guitarmasterclass.net/scalegenerator

A minor
http://www.guitarmasterclass.net/scalegenerator

E minor 7
http://www.guitarmasterclass.net/scalegenerator

The trick is to play the same strumming for both tracks!
Doing this exercise you will kill two ducks with one stone
You will improve your timing, learn new chords and will start learning about creating backing tracks!

Here are the tracks:
With guitar
http://soundcloud.com/alex-feather-akimov/guitar

Let me know if you have any questions or need help!

Posted by: DeGroot Mar 26 2012, 11:49 PM

Sounds terrific! Gonna jump into this now

Posted by: Alex Feather Mar 27 2012, 01:13 AM

QUOTE (DeGroot @ Mar 26 2012, 10:49 PM) *
Sounds terrific! Gonna jump into this now

GREAT! I am looking forward to hear your take!

Posted by: DeGroot Mar 27 2012, 04:15 AM

QUOTE (Alex Feather @ Mar 27 2012, 12:13 AM) *
GREAT! I am looking forward to hear your take!


I was anxious to hear how these chord voicings sounded so I recorded something already. Its really cool and interesting to play something like this! I do think I could get the strumming tighter with more practice and maybe the clarity of the notes in some of chords could be improved. Thought I'd share this recording anyway to make sure I'm on the right track with it. Thanks Alex!


http://soundcloud.com/degroot-2/alex-feather-mentoring

Posted by: Alex Feather Mar 28 2012, 02:05 AM

QUOTE (DeGroot @ Mar 27 2012, 03:15 AM) *
I was anxious to hear how these chord voicings sounded so I recorded something already. Its really cool and interesting to play something like this! I do think I could get the strumming tighter with more practice and maybe the clarity of the notes in some of chords could be improved. Thought I'd share this recording anyway to make sure I'm on the right track with it. Thanks Alex!


http://soundcloud.com/degroot-2/alex-feather-mentoring

Wow!!! Sounds really good!!!! What you can do now is to make chords sound tighter and add some delay!!!
I will show you another cool tricks after the basic chords are done!
I like what you did! Maybe add a little more treble or presence on your amp
Also maybe a tiny bit of reverb!
What you can do is send me your takes and I will add some effects and will explain you what I did!!!

Posted by: DeGroot Mar 28 2012, 05:04 PM

QUOTE (Alex Feather @ Mar 28 2012, 01:05 AM) *
Wow!!! Sounds really good!!!! What you can do now is to make chords sound tighter and add some delay!!!
I will show you another cool tricks after the basic chords are done!
I like what you did! Maybe add a little more treble or presence on your amp
Also maybe a tiny bit of reverb!
What you can do is send me your takes and I will add some effects and will explain you what I did!!!


Thank you! I will record some new versions soon after some practice with it. I already experimented a bit with some delay and treble EQ!

So, I will give you one version with delay and one without effects? Are you able to download from sound cloud and add effects from there?




Posted by: Alex Feather Mar 28 2012, 11:20 PM

QUOTE (DeGroot @ Mar 28 2012, 04:04 PM) *
Thank you! I will record some new versions soon after some practice with it. I already experimented a bit with some delay and treble EQ!

So, I will give you one version with delay and one without effects? Are you able to download from sound cloud and add effects from there?

Yes I can download from soundcloud if you will make track downloadble!
I will add some effects after and will explain you what I did so you will have a better idea!

Posted by: DeGroot Mar 29 2012, 07:12 PM

Ok, I made the track downloadable! I'll make sure the next versions are downloadable too.

Posted by: Alex Feather Mar 29 2012, 07:33 PM

QUOTE (DeGroot @ Mar 29 2012, 06:12 PM) *
Ok, I made the track downloadable! I'll make sure the next versions are downloadable too.

If you can upload guitar only tracks so I can work with them.

Posted by: DeGroot Mar 29 2012, 07:56 PM

QUOTE (Alex Feather @ Mar 29 2012, 06:33 PM) *
If you can upload guitar only tracks so I can work with them.


Here you go! Thanks!

http://soundcloud.com/degroot-2/alex-feather-mentoring-aif

Posted by: Alex Feather Mar 30 2012, 08:28 AM

QUOTE (DeGroot @ Mar 29 2012, 06:56 PM) *

Sounds Great! I will work on it tomorrow morning!

Posted by: DeGroot Mar 31 2012, 09:27 AM

QUOTE (Alex Feather @ Mar 30 2012, 07:28 AM) *
Sounds Great! I will work on it tomorrow morning!


Great! Look forward to hearing it!

Posted by: Alex Feather Mar 31 2012, 03:31 PM

Very good take!
I like the sound you came up with!
This is what I did:
I added a little reverb (I have Lexicon)
Abbey Road 124box compressor
Sound Toys Cristalizer
Now if you will add this take to the backing track you will hear some cool changes!!!
Also I have noticed that your track is distorted it happens because Input Gain set too high!
I would recommend to lower it and after track is recorded just normalize it in your recording software!
This way you still will have a loud track and will avoid unwanted clipping!

http://soundcloud.com/alex-feather-akimov/guitar-only-take

Let me know if you have any questions!

Posted by: DeGroot Mar 31 2012, 07:21 PM

QUOTE (Alex Feather @ Mar 31 2012, 02:31 PM) *
Very good take!
I like the sound you came up with!
This is what I did:
I added a little reverb (I have Lexicon)
Abbey Road 124box compressor
Sound Toys Cristalizer
Now if you will add this take to the backing track you will hear some cool changes!!!
Also I have noticed that your track is distorted it happens because Input Gain set too high!
I would recommend to lower it and after track is recorded just normalize it in your recording software!
This way you still will have a loud track and will avoid unwanted clipping!

http://soundcloud.com/alex-feather-akimov/guitar-only-take

Let me know if you have any questions!


Sounds very nice! I like the improvements a lot! I like the added "brightness" to it. I'll have to watch out for that bass note strumming on the A chord though.

Regarding your advice:

I'm not exactly sure what normalizing is. I have just started with DAW recording and recording my own amp/guitar in general. I use Garageband but I don't see this option available. I do have a Noisegate here? Will this work for a similar result? The clipping, as you mention, is from my Mic setting being too high. I noticed that as well and that should be an easy problem to fix.

I also have compressor, reverb, and delay track effects in the software. Its very basic stuff to work with but hopefully I can get some similar results here. I'll have to do some research and see if I can add plug-ins in the future to further develop the sound. Thanks Alex for the effects sample! We'll get some better sounds on the next track!


Posted by: DeGroot Mar 31 2012, 08:43 PM

Here is a new take! Well, I worked on boosting the high mid/ treble frequencies post recording. Added the delay/reverb. I tried to add compressor but it was clipping/distorting! Overall, when comparing to the original recording I think its an improvement in the right direction.

http://soundcloud.com/degroot-2/alex-feather-new-track-with

Posted by: Alex Feather Apr 1 2012, 04:29 AM

Track sounds much better! I can hear it much clear now!
I'm working in logic but I'm sure garage band is very similar!
Here is a thread I found let me know ifthis helps
http://www.kvraudio.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=307873
I would like you to turn down guitar track a little bit and upload it to soundcloud!
I'm gonna prepare a new assignment for you today!
It will be really fun I will explain you how to create your own licks combining arpeggios and pentatonics!

Posted by: DeGroot Apr 1 2012, 07:11 AM

QUOTE (Alex Feather @ Apr 1 2012, 03:29 AM) *
Track sounds much better! I can hear it much clear now!
I'm working in logic but I'm sure garage band is very similar!
Here is a thread I found let me know ifthis helps
http://www.kvraudio.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=307873
I would like you to turn down guitar track a little bit and upload it to soundcloud!
I'm gonna prepare a new assignment for you today!
It will be really fun I will explain you how to create your own licks combining arpeggios and pentatonics!


That thread helps out! Thanks a bunch for finding that!
I turned down the guitar by .3dB. Let me know If it needs further adjustment.
Great, I'm really looking forward to the new assignment!


http://soundcloud.com/degroot-2/alex-feather-lesson-guitar

Posted by: Alex Feather Apr 5 2012, 09:32 AM

So now when we have a backing track for you the fun part will start!!!
Let's take two pentatonics:
A minor
http://www.guitarmasterclass.net/scalegenerator
E minor
http://www.guitarmasterclass.net/scalegenerator

So what I want you to do is to create a few licks combining those pentatonics together!
Here is an example:

E |-----------8--5--7--5-------|-----------8--7-------------|----|
B |----------------------------|--------5--------8----------|----|
G |--4--5--7--------------7----|--5--4--------------7-------|----|
D |----------------------------|-----------------------7----|----|
A |----------------------------|----------------------------|----|
E |----------------------------|----------------------------|----|


--------5-----------7-------|--8--7--5-------------------||
-----------8----------------|-----------8--5-------------||
-----7-----------7-----7----|-----------------7--5-------||
--5-----------5-------------|-----------------------5----||
----------------------------|----------------------------||
----------------------------|----------------------------||

Guitar Pro
 licks.gp5 ( 1.81K ) : 167

Let me know if you have any questions!

Posted by: DeGroot Apr 5 2012, 08:00 PM

QUOTE (Alex Feather @ Apr 5 2012, 08:32 AM) *
So now when we have a backing track for you the fun part will start!!!
Let's take two pentatonics:
A minor
http://www.guitarmasterclass.net/scalegenerator
E minor
http://www.guitarmasterclass.net/scalegenerator

So what I want you to do is to create a few licks combining those pentatonics together!
Here is an example:
E |-----------8--5--7--5-------|-----------8--7-------------|----|
B |----------------------------|--------5--------8----------|----|
G |--4--5--7--------------7----|--5--4--------------7-------|----|
D |----------------------------|-----------------------7----|----|
A |----------------------------|----------------------------|----|
E |----------------------------|----------------------------|----|


--------5-----------7-------|--8--7--5-------------------||
-----------8----------------|-----------8--5-------------||
-----7-----------7-----7----|-----------------7--5-------||
--5-----------5-------------|-----------------------5----||
----------------------------|----------------------------||
----------------------------|----------------------------||

Guitar Pro
 licks.gp5 ( 1.81K ) : 167

Let me know if you have any questions!


hmm, I'm not able to open the file example. I did download the free GP software. If its not too much trouble would it be okay to hear it through sound cloud?

either way, I'm sure I can get the idea for the lesson. Thanks!

Posted by: Alex Feather Apr 6 2012, 07:33 AM

Here is another try! smile.gif let me know if you can download it!
 licks.gp5 ( 1.81K ) : 102

Posted by: Alex Feather Apr 7 2012, 09:17 PM

QUOTE (DeGroot @ Apr 5 2012, 07:00 PM) *
hmm, I'm not able to open the file example. I did download the free GP software. If its not too much trouble would it be okay to hear it through sound cloud?

either way, I'm sure I can get the idea for the lesson. Thanks!

Hi! Just wanted to make sure that you could download the file! Let me know!

Posted by: DeGroot Apr 8 2012, 05:54 AM

QUOTE (Alex Feather @ Apr 7 2012, 08:17 PM) *
Hi! Just wanted to make sure that you could download the file! Let me know!


Hi Alex, I wasn't able to open the file after I download it. I tried the free trial Guitar Pro 6 as its the only version available. When I try to open it in Safari it just reads "don't have an application to open it". I took some time to try and figure it out but I'm out of ideas.

Posted by: Alex Feather Apr 8 2012, 09:29 AM

QUOTE (DeGroot @ Apr 8 2012, 04:54 AM) *
Hi Alex, I wasn't able to open the file after I download it. I tried the free trial Guitar Pro 6 as its the only version available. When I try to open it in Safari it just reads "don't have an application to open it". I took some time to try and figure it out but I'm out of ideas.

I just downloaded the file and it works fine on my end. You have to download it and open it with Guitar Pro should work!
Can you please let me know step by step what you are doing and I will try to help!

Posted by: DeGroot Apr 8 2012, 06:14 PM

QUOTE (Alex Feather @ Apr 8 2012, 08:29 AM) *
I just downloaded the file and it works fine on my end. You have to download it and open it with Guitar Pro should work!
Can you please let me know step by step what you are doing and I will try to help!


I think it is because I'm using just a trial version for Mac that it won't allow me to use it? It only gives me limited options.

1. downloaded the file
2. opened it with GP6

Nothing happens. It opens into a blank page. I'm only allowed to open sample files that are preset.
I'm guessing the problem is that I don't own the software. I was going to buy it but it is $60.

I've had others look into it too and thats the conclusion we came up with. Maybe I'm missing something obvious!

Posted by: Alex Feather Apr 9 2012, 03:47 AM

QUOTE (DeGroot @ Apr 8 2012, 05:14 PM) *
I think it is because I'm using just a trial version for Mac that it won't allow me to use it? It only gives me limited options.

1. downloaded the file
2. opened it with GP6

Nothing happens. It opens into a blank page. I'm only allowed to open sample files that are preset.
I'm guessing the problem is that I don't own the software. I was going to buy it but it is $60.

I've had others look into it too and thats the conclusion we came up with. Maybe I'm missing something obvious!

Hmmm that's weird! You can't see notes at all? Or just don't have sound?

Posted by: DeGroot Apr 9 2012, 05:27 AM

QUOTE (Alex Feather @ Apr 9 2012, 02:47 AM) *
Hmmm that's weird! You can't see notes at all? Or just don't have sound?


Both actually! Well, I bought a GuitarPro app. so its all good now!

Posted by: Alex Feather Apr 9 2012, 04:33 PM

Very well I am glad it's working!

Posted by: DeGroot Apr 12 2012, 08:42 PM

Hi Alex,

Here are some ideas I came up for the lesson!


http://soundcloud.com/degroot-2/alex-feather-mentoring-lead-1

Posted by: Alex Feather Apr 13 2012, 08:40 AM

Sounds very very nice! Melodic and smooth! Your timing is a little bit off it sounds like you are slowing down a little bit!
So here is a new backing track for you!
http://soundcloud.com/alex-feather-akimov/03-cmaj-to-amaj

http://www.guitarmasterclass.net/scalegenerator

A major

http://www.guitarmasterclass.net/scalegenerator

http://www.guitarmasterclass.net/scalegenerator

Plus I want you to start getting use to a whole tone scale

So when A major comes you can also use this

http://www.guitarmasterclass.net/scalegenerator

Let me know if you have any questions!



Posted by: DeGroot Apr 14 2012, 07:38 AM

Sounds great, I was playing over your Cmaj to Amaj backing a couple weeks back.

I was looking through a music book earlier this week and came across whole-tone scales. It got me thinking on how or when I would apply whole-tone scales to music, so its interesting to find this here! Is the whole-tone scale something I should use over A Major here in small sections? It seems when I use it for a extended time over A major it sounds odd or maybe it is just the way I am using the scale.

Posted by: Alex Feather Apr 14 2012, 08:20 AM

QUOTE (DeGroot @ Apr 14 2012, 06:38 AM) *
Sounds great, I was playing over your Cmaj to Amaj backing a couple weeks back.

I was looking through a music book earlier this week and came across whole-tone scales. It got me thinking on how or when I would apply whole-tone scales to music, so its interesting to find this here! Is the whole-tone scale something I should use over A Major here in small sections? It seems when I use it for a extended time over A major it sounds odd or maybe it is just the way I am using the scale.

You can start from using whole tone scale in the little section! We will keep adding stuff as we go along!

Posted by: Alex Feather Apr 20 2012, 03:19 PM

QUOTE (DeGroot @ Apr 14 2012, 06:38 AM) *
Sounds great, I was playing over your Cmaj to Amaj backing a couple weeks back.

I was looking through a music book earlier this week and came across whole-tone scales. It got me thinking on how or when I would apply whole-tone scales to music, so its interesting to find this here! Is the whole-tone scale something I should use over A Major here in small sections? It seems when I use it for a extended time over A major it sounds odd or maybe it is just the way I am using the scale.

Hi! I just wanted to follow up and see how your progress is going? Do you have any questions?

Posted by: DeGroot Apr 20 2012, 07:32 PM

I haven't made a whole lot of progress cause I've been too busy with work this week. I have a couple good ideas going on with the lesson though! Hoping to have this arranged and recorded over the weekend.

Posted by: Alex Feather Apr 20 2012, 08:03 PM

QUOTE (DeGroot @ Apr 20 2012, 06:32 PM) *
I haven't made a whole lot of progress cause I've been too busy with work this week. I have a couple good ideas going on with the lesson though! Hoping to have this arranged and recorded over the weekend.

Sounds good! I'm very excited to hear your ideas!!!!!!

Posted by: DeGroot Apr 23 2012, 03:39 AM

I was improvising for a while over the track today! Unfortunately I have not been able to practice much lately cause of working long hours. I am still determined to make progress here even if it takes a longer than I'd like!! smile.gif

Well, here is what I have so far. Couple of notes here are "off" sounding as I was improvising mostly after the 30 second mark. Figured I'd post something even if it isn't perfect yet. I tried working with the whole tone scale but had some trouble finding a way to fit it in naturally.




http://soundcloud.com/degroot-2/cmaj-to-amaj

Posted by: Alex Feather Apr 23 2012, 04:24 PM

QUOTE (DeGroot @ Apr 23 2012, 02:39 AM) *
I was improvising for a while over the track today! Unfortunately I have not been able to practice much lately cause of working long hours. I am still determined to make progress here even if it takes a longer than I'd like!! smile.gif

Well, here is what I have so far. Couple of notes here are "off" sounding as I was improvising mostly after the 30 second mark. Figured I'd post something even if it isn't perfect yet. I tried working with the whole tone scale but had some trouble finding a way to fit it in naturally.




http://soundcloud.com/degroot-2/cmaj-to-amaj

Sounds very good!!! Some notes were off but I can hear that you are trying to use a lot of scales I asked you to!
Good job!
Now I would like you to start landing on chord tones every time the changes hit!
Try to get 3rd and 7th so you can really accent the changes!
Let me know if you need help or have any questions!

Posted by: DeGroot Apr 23 2012, 06:23 PM

Ok thanks! I will further concentrate on accenting the chord tone changes and also getting all notes in key.

Posted by: Alex Feather Apr 24 2012, 05:27 AM

QUOTE (DeGroot @ Apr 23 2012, 05:23 PM) *
Ok thanks! I will further concentrate on accenting the chord tone changes and also getting all notes in key.

Perfect! Let me know if you need help!!! I think in a few days I will make a new assignment for you! And we will add more complicated things to your playing smile.gif

Posted by: DeGroot Apr 24 2012, 09:05 PM

QUOTE (Alex Feather @ Apr 24 2012, 04:27 AM) *
Perfect! Let me know if you need help!!! I think in a few days I will make a new assignment for you! And we will add more complicated things to your playing smile.gif


Great! I will look forward to the challenge!!

I'll try and post something with new Cmaj to Amaj version in the next couple days.

Posted by: Alex Feather Apr 25 2012, 07:37 AM

QUOTE (DeGroot @ Apr 24 2012, 08:05 PM) *
Great! I will look forward to the challenge!!

I'll try and post something with new Cmaj to Amaj version in the next couple days.

Perfect! I am looking forward to hear your take! smile.gif New challenge will be posted very soon!

Posted by: DeGroot Apr 29 2012, 03:17 AM

Hi Alex,
I haven't been able to get to my lessons because of working long hours every night. Im hoping things will settle down in a week and I'll get back into this. I can't wait to get back into the lessons!!

Posted by: Alex Feather Apr 29 2012, 07:50 AM

QUOTE (DeGroot @ Apr 29 2012, 02:17 AM) *
Hi Alex,
I haven't been able to get to my lessons because of working long hours every night. Im hoping things will settle down in a week and I'll get back into this. I can't wait to get back into the lessons!!

Sounds good! Let me know when you are ready! I have prepared a new assignment for you so as soon as you are ready I will post it! smile.gif

Posted by: DeGroot May 4 2012, 07:18 PM

QUOTE (Alex Feather @ Apr 23 2012, 03:24 PM) *
Sounds very good!!! Some notes were off but I can hear that you are trying to use a lot of scales I asked you to!
Good job!
Now I would like you to start landing on chord tones every time the changes hit!
Try to get 3rd and 7th so you can really accent the changes!
Let me know if you need help or have any questions!


Ok, I finally have time to get back into more lessons. smile.gif

Just a quick question. When you are referring to 3rd and 7th, you are talking about the 3rd and 7th note in the pentatonic scale?

Posted by: Alex Feather May 5 2012, 07:25 AM

QUOTE (DeGroot @ May 4 2012, 06:18 PM) *
Ok, I finally have time to get back into more lessons. smile.gif

Just a quick question. When you are referring to 3rd and 7th, you are talking about the 3rd and 7th note in the pentatonic scale?

Great! No I am talking about chord tones 3rd and 7th of each chord

Posted by: DeGroot May 5 2012, 11:48 PM

I've been improvising for about hour on this today. I'm not really coming up with anything structured that I'm happy with. I was concentrating on trying to accent the chord changes. Every take I did was different... I thought this was one of the better ones even with couple unsure moments. smile.gif

http://soundcloud.com/degroot-2/cmaj-to-amaj-2

Posted by: Alex Feather May 6 2012, 05:37 PM

You did a really good job! Nice tone and good chord tones! Very nice take!
I am gonna create a new challenge for you today!
In the meantime please download this track:
http://soundcloud.com/alex-feather-akimov/ii-v-i-jam
I will create a new challenge based on it!

Posted by: DeGroot May 6 2012, 06:15 PM


Thanks! That backing sounds great! Can you make it downloadable when you get a chance.

Posted by: Alex Feather May 7 2012, 05:41 PM

Sorry smile.gif Here we go!
http://soundcloud.com/alex-feather-akimov/ii-v-i-jam

Just click on it and you will be able to download the track!

Posted by: DeGroot May 8 2012, 06:43 AM


Thanks! smile.gif I look forward to the new challenge!

Posted by: Alex Feather May 8 2012, 09:31 AM

QUOTE (DeGroot @ May 8 2012, 05:43 AM) *
Thanks! smile.gif I look forward to the new challenge!

Great! So here it is! I want to start getting into playing over 7th chord!
You know mixolydian already now it's time to add some new scales!
Let's start with a whole tone scale!
It's a very cool scale to play especially if you like Holdsworth! smile.gif
So what I want you to do is to learn a whole tone scale and use it over A7 chord
http://www.guitarmasterclass.net/scalegenerator

http://www.guitarmasterclass.net/scalegenerator
You can use both!
The chord changes are:
Emi7 - A7 - Dmaj7
I want you to play E dorian over Emi7 - A whole tone scale over A7 - Bminor pentatonic or D major scale over Dmaj7

It might sound weird at first but more you will play it better and cooler you will feel!
Try to experiment and let me know if you have any questions or need help!

Posted by: DeGroot May 8 2012, 07:40 PM

I think Holdsworth is fantastic!

I've been coming up with ideas and the whole tone over A7 is sounding real cool. I'll post something after jamming to this for a couple days!

Posted by: Alex Feather May 8 2012, 07:49 PM

QUOTE (DeGroot @ May 8 2012, 06:40 PM) *
I think Holdsworth is fantastic!

I've been coming up with ideas and the whole tone over A7 is sounding real cool. I'll post something after jamming to this for a couple days!

Perfect! Let me know if you have any questions!
P.S. You can use a whole tone scale for any 7 chord! Just start with a root!

Posted by: DeGroot May 11 2012, 08:12 AM

I'm still in the experimental stage with this lesson. This take isn't structured but more for a example. I wanted to see if I'm doing this correctly...specifically with the whole-tone scale?

http://soundcloud.com/degroot-2/ii-v-i-experiment

Posted by: Alex Feather May 12 2012, 05:12 AM

It sounded really good! You did very good on the whole tone scale!!! Now I want you to try to combine a whole tone scale with a mixolydian mode and use it over A7!
Let me know if you need help with it!

Posted by: DeGroot May 12 2012, 05:59 PM

Thanks! I added the mixolydian mode over A7. I used the whole tone over A7 and I think it turned out more natural this time. I'll let you be the judge.

http://soundcloud.com/degroot-2/ii-v-i-mix-olydian

Posted by: Alex Feather May 13 2012, 02:51 PM

QUOTE (DeGroot @ May 12 2012, 04:59 PM) *
Thanks! I added the mixolydian mode over A7. I used the whole tone over A7 and I think it turned out more natural this time. I'll let you be the judge.

http://soundcloud.com/degroot-2/ii-v-i-mix-olydian

Sounds very good! I can suggest to keep it less busy and try to focus on the melody instead of shredding! Also I would like you to build the solo over this chord progression using everything we have covered so far! I want you to work on:
Dynamic, building melody, developing the solo! You can do a few loops through the track! Let me know if you have any questions!

Posted by: DeGroot May 14 2012, 02:53 AM

QUOTE (Alex Feather @ May 13 2012, 01:51 PM) *
Sounds very good! I can suggest to keep it less busy and try to focus on the melody instead of shredding! Also I would like you to build the solo over this chord progression using everything we have covered so far! I want you to work on:
Dynamic, building melody, developing the solo! You can do a few loops through the track! Let me know if you have any questions!


Cool, sounds like a plan! smile.gif

Posted by: Alex Feather May 14 2012, 05:03 AM

QUOTE (DeGroot @ May 14 2012, 01:53 AM) *
Cool, sounds like a plan! smile.gif

Awesome I am looking forward to hear your take!

Posted by: Alex Feather May 19 2012, 05:29 PM

Hey! I just wanted to check on you and see how is everything? Let me know if you need any help!

Posted by: DeGroot May 19 2012, 06:15 PM


Things are going well! I took a short break away from the backing track and have been working on some other technique lessons. Just needed to do that so now I can come back to this track with a fresh approach.

I was playing to the backing again last night and am starting to piece together small parts. I'm trying to come up with a melody that can be a main theme to build the solo on. It might take me a while cause I want to put together something that will be more catchy... as if it were composed to be an instrumental song.

Posted by: Alex Feather May 19 2012, 10:57 PM

QUOTE (DeGroot @ May 19 2012, 05:15 PM) *
Things are going well! I took a short break away from the backing track and have been working on some other technique lessons. Just needed to do that so now I can come back to this track with a fresh approach.

I was playing to the backing again last night and am starting to piece together small parts. I'm trying to come up with a melody that can be a main theme to build the solo on. It might take me a while cause I want to put together something that will be more catchy... as if it were composed to be an instrumental song.

Perfect! In a few weeks we will start a new thing! I will play a part and you will play a part on the track! It will be fun!

Posted by: DeGroot May 20 2012, 05:57 AM

QUOTE (Alex Feather @ May 19 2012, 09:57 PM) *
Perfect! In a few weeks we will start a new thing! I will play a part and you will play a part on the track! It will be fun!


Oh wow, that sounds like it will be a lot of fun! I'm excited to hear that.


Posted by: Alex Feather May 20 2012, 06:03 AM

It will be! I am excited too!

Posted by: DeGroot May 23 2012, 08:06 PM

Hi Alex! Here it the new track! smile.gif

http://soundcloud.com/degroot-2/ii-v-i-jam

Posted by: Alex Feather May 24 2012, 08:42 AM

QUOTE (DeGroot @ May 23 2012, 07:06 PM) *
Hi Alex! Here it the new track! smile.gif

http://soundcloud.com/degroot-2/ii-v-i-jam

Wow you did an amazing job! I love your phrases from 0:17! Beautiful!

Posted by: DeGroot May 25 2012, 03:01 AM

QUOTE (Alex Feather @ May 24 2012, 07:42 AM) *
Wow you did an amazing job! I love your phrases from 0:17! Beautiful!


Thanks, Glad to hear you like it! It is fun to jam over!

Posted by: Alex Feather May 25 2012, 08:53 AM

QUOTE (DeGroot @ May 25 2012, 02:01 AM) *
Thanks, Glad to hear you like it! It is fun to jam over!

Awesome! So how about adding a new thing to it?
Let's do a diminished scale over A7 chord!
C - Db - Eb - E - F# - G - A - Bb
It's 8 notes scale try to apply it the same way you did with a whole tone! When you are ready let me know and we will add some arpeggios to it!

Posted by: DeGroot May 26 2012, 04:07 AM

Sounds good, I'll try this out very soon. I assume we will add some arpeggios after adding some diminished scales?

Posted by: Alex Feather May 26 2012, 05:57 AM

QUOTE (DeGroot @ May 26 2012, 03:07 AM) *
Sounds good, I'll try this out very soon. I assume we will add some arpeggios after adding some diminished scales?

Yep exactly! We will add arpeggios from the diminished scale!

Posted by: DeGroot May 29 2012, 04:51 AM

Well, I was "experimenting" with the diminished scale over the track today. It is cool to try new things, although it may not sound like it! smile.gif I guess we will take it from here! http://soundcloud.com/degroot-2/ii-v-i-jam-diminished-scale

Posted by: Alex Feather May 29 2012, 07:16 PM

QUOTE (DeGroot @ May 29 2012, 03:51 AM) *
Well, I was "experimenting" with the diminished scale over the track today. It is cool to try new things, although it may not sound like it! smile.gif I guess we will take it from here! http://soundcloud.com/degroot-2/ii-v-i-jam-diminished-scale

You did a great job! I like this take a lot! Practice it for a couple of more days and I will join you to give you more ideas! smile.gif

Posted by: DeGroot May 30 2012, 06:51 PM

QUOTE (Alex Feather @ May 29 2012, 06:16 PM) *
You did a great job! I like this take a lot! Practice it for a couple of more days and I will join you to give you more ideas! smile.gif


Thanks Alex smile.gif I'm going to look into some of your diminished lesson notes that I saw posted and work off that for a while.

Posted by: Alex Feather May 30 2012, 07:53 PM

QUOTE (DeGroot @ May 30 2012, 05:51 PM) *
Thanks Alex smile.gif I'm going to look into some of your diminished lesson notes that I saw posted and work off that for a while.

I will post a track tomorrow! Also your playing at some point reminded me of Santana! Good job!

Posted by: DeGroot May 31 2012, 07:20 PM

QUOTE (Alex Feather @ May 30 2012, 06:53 PM) *
I will post a track tomorrow! Also your playing at some point reminded me of Santana! Good job!


That is nice to hear. I love Santana's style of playing. smile.gif

No need to rush anything if you're busy. I know I won't be able to work on guitar too much for a couple of days. I'm excited for the lesson collab!

Posted by: Alex Feather Jun 1 2012, 05:10 AM

QUOTE (DeGroot @ May 31 2012, 06:20 PM) *
That is nice to hear. I love Santana's style of playing. smile.gif

No need to rush anything if you're busy. I know I won't be able to work on guitar too much for a couple of days. I'm excited for the lesson collab!

I am working on it so check back tomorrow! smile.gif
I am very excited as well! It will be very fun!

Posted by: Alex Feather Jun 1 2012, 08:24 PM

So I have a track ready!
What we will do is we will play 4 bars each and will create the whole solo from the beginning till the end!
http://soundcloud.com/alex-feather-akimov/degroot-track
I started it I use E dorian scale for E mi7 chord
when A 7 came I played a variation of the first phrase
Over D major I combined A major blues pentatonic with A minor
Now I want you to continue and play the next 4 bars! Try to continue my idea and really make it flow nicely together!
Let me know if you need help or have any questions!
P.S. When you will be uploading the track do it the same way I did with your take mixed and with the rest of the backing track playing!

Posted by: DeGroot Jun 1 2012, 09:06 PM

QUOTE (Alex Feather @ Jun 1 2012, 07:24 PM) *
So I have a track ready!
What we will do is we will play 4 bars each and will create the whole solo from the beginning till the end!
http://soundcloud.com/alex-feather-akimov/degroot-track
I started it I use E dorian scale for E mi7 chord
when A 7 came I played a variation of the first phrase
Over D major I combined A major blues pentatonic with A minor
Now I want you to continue and play the next 4 bars! Try to continue my idea and really make it flow nicely together!
Let me know if you need help or have any questions!
P.S. When you will be uploading the track do it the same way I did with your take mixed and with the rest of the backing track playing!


Excellent! smile.gif I will answer back this weekend!

Posted by: Alex Feather Jun 2 2012, 12:55 AM

QUOTE (DeGroot @ Jun 1 2012, 08:06 PM) *
Excellent! smile.gif I will answer back this weekend!

Perfect! I am looking forward to it! smile.gif

Posted by: DeGroot Jun 2 2012, 08:07 PM

QUOTE (Alex Feather @ Jun 1 2012, 07:24 PM) *
So I have a track ready!
What we will do is we will play 4 bars each and will create the whole solo from the beginning till the end!
http://soundcloud.com/alex-feather-akimov/degroot-track

Posted by: Alex Feather Jun 2 2012, 08:17 PM

QUOTE (DeGroot @ Jun 2 2012, 07:07 PM) *
I continued your phrase idea over E and A then added something different over D7. Hope this works OK! Look forward to your reply smile.gif
http://soundcloud.com/degroot-2/alex-feather-degroot-jam

Sounds very good! I like it a lot! I will add my part tomorrow and will give you a new assignment based on it! smile.gif

Posted by: JPBluestring Jun 9 2012, 02:10 PM

QUOTE (Alex Feather @ May 6 2012, 04:37 PM) *
You did a really good job! Nice tone and good chord tones! Very nice take!
I am gonna create a new challenge for you today!
In the meantime please download this track:
http://soundcloud.com/alex-feather-akimov/ii-v-i-jam
I will create a new challenge based on it!


Hey. I really enjoyed your previous take. This is very nice.Very inspiring. I wish I could do similar stuff. Thanks for sharing.

JPBluestring smile.gif

Posted by: DeGroot Jun 9 2012, 08:57 PM

QUOTE (JPBluestring @ Jun 9 2012, 01:10 PM) *
Hey. I really enjoyed your previous take. This is very nice.Very inspiring. I wish I could do similar stuff. Thanks for sharing.

JPBluestring smile.gif


Thanks JP! Glad you like it. smile.gif

Alex, I'm ready for the next part of the lesson when you get a chance.

Posted by: Alex Feather Jun 10 2012, 05:53 PM

QUOTE (DeGroot @ Jun 9 2012, 07:57 PM) *
Thanks JP! Glad you like it. smile.gif

Alex, I'm ready for the next part of the lesson when you get a chance.

I will do it tomorrow and will post the next assignment for you! smile.gif

Posted by: Alex Feather Jun 16 2012, 12:50 AM

QUOTE (Alex Feather @ Jun 10 2012, 04:53 PM) *
I will do it tomorrow and will post the next assignment for you! smile.gif

So for the next assignment I would like you to create a short solo based on arpeggios only
If we will harmonize the E dorian scale we will get:
Emi7 - F#half diminished - G maj7 - Ami7 - Bmi7 - Cmaj7 - D7
You can use any of this arpeggios! I would like you to create a solid and melodic connection using at least different arpeggios and nothing else!
Here is my take:
http://soundcloud.com/alex-feather-akimov/degroot


I also noticed that you punching in a lot this time I want to hear a solid take from the beginning till the end!
This will take you out of your comfort zone as well! smile.gif
Do the same thing as last time record after my take and leave the rest playing!
Let me know if you have any questions or need help!

Posted by: DeGroot Jun 16 2012, 10:44 PM

Wow, this will be a challenge. Ok, I'm on it! smile.gif

Posted by: Alex Feather Jun 17 2012, 04:58 AM

QUOTE (DeGroot @ Jun 16 2012, 09:44 PM) *
Wow, this will be a challenge. Ok, I'm on it! smile.gif

I am looking forward to hear your take! smile.gif

Posted by: DeGroot Jun 18 2012, 07:52 PM

QUOTE (Alex Feather @ Jun 15 2012, 11:50 PM) *
If we will harmonize the E dorian scale we will get:
Emi7 - F#half diminished - G maj7 - Ami7 - Bmi7 - Cmaj7 - D7


I'm slowly trying to learn theory. I'm curious what is the theory behind coming up with these specific chords? Are these just certain chord harmonies that you picked for this lesson? Hope my question makes sense.

Posted by: Alex Feather Jun 18 2012, 11:56 PM

QUOTE (DeGroot @ Jun 18 2012, 06:52 PM) *
I'm slowly trying to learn theory. I'm curious what is the theory behind coming up with these specific chords? Are these just certain chord harmonies that you picked for this lesson? Hope my question makes sense.

It's very simple! I think I went a little too far ahead smile.gif
I was talking about E minor chord and probably should start from the beginning!

So the chord progression is:
Emi7 - A7 - Dmaj7
It is in a key of D major
So if we will harmonize the scale we will get:
Dmaj7 - Emi7 - F#mi7 - Gmaj7 - A7 - Bmi7 - C#half diminished

What I did is build chords for each note of the scale! Simple as that!

In this case I meant E minor ionian and wanted to add some changes
So instead of going through with E dorian I suggested to use E Ionian over E mi7 Which would have natural C
Emi7 - F#half diminished - G maj7 - Ami7 - Bmi7 - Cmaj7 - D7

I hope that makes sense! Let me know if you have any questions or need help!

Posted by: DeGroot Jun 19 2012, 07:35 AM

You explained that well. I'm glad I asked. smile.gif Thanks!

Posted by: Alex Feather Jun 19 2012, 07:23 PM

QUOTE (DeGroot @ Jun 19 2012, 06:35 AM) *
You explained that well. I'm glad I asked. smile.gif Thanks!

Cool! smile.gif Let me know if you have any other questions!
Also looking forward to your take! smile.gif No punch - ins! tongue.gif

Posted by: DeGroot Jun 19 2012, 07:56 PM

QUOTE (Alex Feather @ Jun 19 2012, 06:23 PM) *
Cool! smile.gif Let me know if you have any other questions!
Also looking forward to your take! smile.gif No punch - ins! tongue.gif


Ok laugh.gif

I changed out the last lick with a different one and touched up a spot. I'll play the whole thing over when I submit a new take so its sounds solid!


Posted by: Alex Feather Jun 19 2012, 08:30 PM

QUOTE (DeGroot @ Jun 19 2012, 06:56 PM) *
Ok laugh.gif

I changed out the last lick with a different one and touched up a spot. I'll play the whole thing over when I submit a new take so its sounds solid!


Sounds good! Looking forward to hear your take!

Posted by: DeGroot Jun 20 2012, 07:47 PM

Hi Alex,
I have been studying all of the chords that I'll be using for the assignment. If you check the link below you'll see the notes for Bmin7 with the 7th listed incorrectly as A#. Not knowing any better at first, I was creating patterns with A# and it made for some interesting sounds.

http://www.guitar-chords.org.uk/b-minor7-chord.html

After researching I could not find a B chord that consists of B-D-F-A# as listed there. I thought maybe it was an Augmented chord but later discovered that I would raise the 5th for Aug. and for diminished I would flat the 7th.

So my question is:

If B-D-F#-A is Bmin7th

What chord is B-D-F#-A#?


Posted by: DeGroot Jun 20 2012, 09:08 PM

Here is my first attempt at the assignment. I will gladly record another version but I wanted to check to see if I'm on the right track.

I also recorded my first part from a couple weeks ago without punch-ins but I wasn't able to figure out how to drop it in without it sounding a little weird.

http://soundcloud.com/degroot-2/alex-feather-degroot-jam-2

Posted by: Alex Feather Jun 21 2012, 06:39 AM

QUOTE (DeGroot @ Jun 20 2012, 08:08 PM) *
Here is my first attempt at the assignment. I will gladly record another version but I wanted to check to see if I'm on the right track.

I also recorded my first part from a couple weeks ago without punch-ins but I wasn't able to figure out how to drop it in without it sounding a little weird.

http://soundcloud.com/degroot-2/alex-feather-degroot-jam-2

You did a good job on this take!
It sounded like your timing was a little off and also you have landed on a very weird note that was sounding very weird!
Also I would like you to expand the borders of your playing and try something new!
I want you to do Q&A technique Q should be at a low register A in a high!
Let's use the same scales and shapes as before!
Let me know if you have any questions or need help!

Posted by: DeGroot Jun 21 2012, 07:57 PM


I will try and do something completely different with the arpeggio lesson. I'm not too proud with what i put up yesterday.

With this new Q & A assignment. SHould I do this on the track that you played lead on?

Also, if you can please check a couple replays above. I left you a question you might have missed. smile.gif

Posted by: Alex Feather Jun 22 2012, 08:02 AM

QUOTE (DeGroot @ Jun 21 2012, 06:57 PM) *
I will try and do something completely different with the arpeggio lesson. I'm not too proud with what i put up yesterday.

With this new Q & A assignment. SHould I do this on the track that you played lead on?

Also, if you can please check a couple replays above. I left you a question you might have missed. smile.gif

I will record Q&A first thing in the morning so you can record a solo using my idea! We will start developing this solo a little more so it will get a bit shredddddy! smile.gif
I am not sure which questions you are talking about? Can you please post it again?

Posted by: DeGroot Jun 22 2012, 05:08 PM


Sounds good to me! I am ready to get shredy. smile.gif

I think I answered the question I had. It is the post one before the recording I put down the other day.
It is a question about 7th chords.

I accidentally came across this chord and was playing arpeggios in this shape. My question was what chord would this be?

B-D-F#-A#

My answer is B maj/min7. Am I correct?

Posted by: Alex Feather Jun 24 2012, 07:48 AM

QUOTE (DeGroot @ Jun 22 2012, 04:08 PM) *
Sounds good to me! I am ready to get shredy. smile.gif

I think I answered the question I had. It is the post one before the recording I put down the other day.
It is a question about 7th chords.

I accidentally came across this chord and was playing arpeggios in this shape. My question was what chord would this be?

B-D-F#-A#

My answer is B maj/min7. Am I correct?

Hello!
So to answer your question B -D -F# - A# is not B maj/mi7
Because it has a minor third D
So let's try to analyze it
B - D is a minor third
D - F# Is a major third
B - F# Major fifth
If this would be it we will have B minor chord
But since we have A# which is major 7th
It will be called B minor major 7
This chord is coming from B harmonic minor
B - C# - D - E - F# - G - A#
I hope that helps!
P.S. Will post my take in a few hours! smile.gif

Posted by: DeGroot Jun 25 2012, 05:08 AM

QUOTE (Alex Feather @ Jun 24 2012, 06:48 AM) *
Hello!
So to answer your question B -D -F# - A# is not B maj/mi7
Because it has a minor third D
So let's try to analyze it
B - D is a minor third
D - F# Is a major third
B - F# Major fifth
If this would be it we will have B minor chord
But since we have A# which is major 7th
It will be called B minor major 7
This chord is coming from B harmonic minor
B - C# - D - E - F# - G - A#
I hope that helps!
P.S. Will post my take in a few hours! smile.gif


Yes, that helps! Thanks!

Posted by: Alex Feather Jun 26 2012, 02:39 AM

QUOTE (DeGroot @ Jun 25 2012, 04:08 AM) *
Yes, that helps! Thanks!

The track that you have recorded disappeared!! Can you please post it again?

Posted by: DeGroot Jun 26 2012, 08:38 AM

QUOTE (Alex Feather @ Jun 26 2012, 01:39 AM) *
The track that you have recorded disappeared!! Can you please post it again?


If you don't mind I'd like to record my part over again before we move on to the next step!

Posted by: Alex Feather Jun 27 2012, 09:36 AM

QUOTE (DeGroot @ Jun 26 2012, 07:38 AM) *
If you don't mind I'd like to record my part over again before we move on to the next step!

Sounds good! Go for it! I am looking forward to hear your take!

Posted by: DeGroot Jun 27 2012, 07:58 PM

QUOTE (Alex Feather @ Jun 27 2012, 08:36 AM) *
Sounds good! Go for it! I am looking forward to hear your take!


Ok, here is a new one connecting the arpeggios. Tried to play this as clean as I could and hopefully made it sound a little more interesting than the last one. Can't wait to hear the next take! smile.gif

http://soundcloud.com/degroot-2/alex-feather-degroot-jam-2-1

Posted by: Alex Feather Jun 28 2012, 12:09 AM

QUOTE (DeGroot @ Jun 27 2012, 06:58 PM) *
Ok, here is a new one connecting the arpeggios. Tried to play this as clean as I could and hopefully made it sound a little more interesting than the last one. Can't wait to hear the next take! smile.gif

http://soundcloud.com/degroot-2/alex-feather-degroot-jam-2-1

Beautiful take!!! Very very good! I will add mine today! smile.gif

Posted by: Alex Feather Jul 1 2012, 02:11 AM

QUOTE (DeGroot @ Jun 27 2012, 06:58 PM) *
Ok, here is a new one connecting the arpeggios. Tried to play this as clean as I could and hopefully made it sound a little more interesting than the last one. Can't wait to hear the next take! smile.gif

http://soundcloud.com/degroot-2/alex-feather-degroot-jam-2-1
This exercise will help you to realize how many thing hidden in such a small amount of space!
For example:
Here is A7 arpeggio
http://www.guitarmasterclass.net/scalegenerator
Or G major7 Arpeggio
http://www.guitarmasterclass.net/scalegenerator
I would like you to find the other 5
Dmaj7-Emi7-F#mi7-Bmi7-C#mi7b5
Also pentatonics are here too!
Here is E minor or G major pentatonic
http://www.guitarmasterclass.net/scalegenerator
Having limited space will actually open up your mind more! Try it out!
For this take you free to use any scales or arpeggios!
Here is my take!
http://soundcloud.com/alex-feather-akimov/degroot-1
Let me know if you have any questions or need help!

Posted by: DeGroot Jul 1 2012, 04:28 PM


Hi Alex,
This will definitely put my mind to the test. I will try and be as creative as possible inside the one position. Should be fun!

Posted by: Alex Feather Jul 2 2012, 06:25 AM

QUOTE (DeGroot @ Jul 1 2012, 03:28 PM) *
Hi Alex,
This will definitely put my mind to the test. I will try and be as creative as possible inside the one position. Should be fun!

It will be fun! I am excited to hear what you will come up with!

Posted by: Alex Feather Jul 7 2012, 05:46 AM

QUOTE (DeGroot @ Jul 1 2012, 03:28 PM) *
Hi Alex,
This will definitely put my mind to the test. I will try and be as creative as possible inside the one position. Should be fun!

Hi! I just wanted to follow up and see how the challenge coming together? Do you need any help?

Posted by: DeGroot Jul 7 2012, 06:50 PM

Hi Alex! This was a fun challenge and a very cool way of improvising. I also wanted to mention how I love how you open that phrase in your last take. Its sounds so catchy how it connects with my last note. Well, hope you enjoy my newest take.

http://soundcloud.com/degroot-2/alex-feather-degroot-jam-2

Posted by: Alex Feather Jul 8 2012, 01:19 AM

QUOTE (DeGroot @ Jul 7 2012, 05:50 PM) *
Hi Alex! This was a fun challenge and a very cool way of improvising. I also wanted to mention how I love how you open that phrase in your last take. Its sounds so catchy how it connects with my last note. Well, hope you enjoy my newest take.

http://soundcloud.com/degroot-2/alex-feather-degroot-jam-2

Let's work on this chord progression If we will analyze the first three chords we will get this:
C6 - C - E - G - A
Ami9 - A - C - E - G - B
Dmi9 - D - F - A - C - E
You can play C major scale over it
or A minor, D minor, E minor pentatonics

I would like you to analyze the rest of the chords we are going diatonic only so no melodic or harmonic minor yet!
But we will be using this track for those as well!
Let me know if you have any questions or need help!

Posted by: DeGroot Jul 9 2012, 05:14 AM


That chord progression is very complex! I'll have to do a lot of studying on this one. I like the sound of it and look forward to the challenge!

Posted by: Alex Feather Jul 9 2012, 05:52 PM

QUOTE (DeGroot @ Jul 9 2012, 04:14 AM) *
That chord progression is very complex! I'll have to do a lot of studying on this one. I like the sound of it and look forward to the challenge!

Let me know if you need help analyzing it! smile.gif I know it's hard but we will have a lot of fun playing over it!

Posted by: DeGroot Jul 10 2012, 05:41 AM

Hi Alex,
I've been analyzing these chords. So, here is my answers so far and maybe you can help with the rest. I'm not sure if I'm totally getting it yet.

As you mention: C6, Am9, Dm9 chords can be played with C maj, A min scales plus Dmin and E min pentatonics.

As I look further I see I can use these same scales over Dm9, G11, C, and Amin7.

Now we switch it up and can play Dmajor or B minor scales over Bm7, D7, G6, F#min7 progression. Also G major or E minor can be played over G6 chord?

Now things get unclear for me. B9 chord is played with B-D#-A#-C#-F#. My answer here is F# maj and D# minor scales.

Then E major chord can be played with Emaj and C# minor scale....

and finally we have G7#5. I don't have an answer for this one. I believe the chord is made up of G-B-F-E#. I'm guessing I don't play a major or minor scales with this one?




Posted by: Alex Feather Jul 10 2012, 06:24 PM

QUOTE (DeGroot @ Jul 10 2012, 04:41 AM) *
Hi Alex,
I've been analyzing these chords. So, here is my answers so far and maybe you can help with the rest. I'm not sure if I'm totally getting it yet.

As you mention: C6, Am9, Dm9 chords can be played with C maj, A min scales plus Dmin and E min pentatonics.

As I look further I see I can use these same scales over Dm9, G11, C, and Amin7.

Now we switch it up and can play Dmajor or B minor scales over Bm7, D7, G6, F#min7 progression. Also G major or E minor can be played over G6 chord?

Now things get unclear for me. B9 chord is played with B-D#-A#-C#-F#. My answer here is F# maj and D# minor scales.

Then E major chord can be played with Emaj and C# minor scale....

and finally we have G7#5. I don't have an answer for this one. I believe the chord is made up of G-B-F-E#. I'm guessing I don't play a major or minor scales with this one?


Ok so here is the answer:
C6, Am9, Dm9, G11, - For this chord progression you can play:
C major scale, A minor/D minor/Eminor pentatonic

C, Am7, Bm7, D7, G6, G6 - C lydian A minor/B minor/ E minor pentatonic

F#m7, B9, - F# Dorian /Bmajor/Emajor/F#minor pentatonic
E, G7#5. - E Harmonic minor

Let me know if you have any questions or need help!

Posted by: DeGroot Jul 11 2012, 04:14 PM


Is there a "easy" system for coming up with what scale can be used over a chord? I'm probably making it more difficult than it really is. I'm okay with figuring out what notes are used in a chord. I basically had zero theory knowledge before I joined GMC. Thanks in advance.

Posted by: Alex Feather Jul 11 2012, 05:36 PM

QUOTE (DeGroot @ Jul 11 2012, 03:14 PM) *
Is there a "easy" system for coming up with what scale can be used over a chord? I'm probably making it more difficult than it really is. I'm okay with figuring out what notes are used in a chord. I basically had zero theory knowledge before I joined GMC. Thanks in advance.

Modes the easiest system! Just use modes over each chord!

Posted by: DeGroot Jul 16 2012, 07:01 AM

Here is an example of the first ideas I have come up with. Playing with a cleaner tone than I usually do.

http://soundcloud.com/degroot-2/jazz-funk

Posted by: Alex Feather Jul 18 2012, 04:21 AM

QUOTE (DeGroot @ Jul 16 2012, 06:01 AM) *
Here is an example of the first ideas I have come up with. Playing with a cleaner tone than I usually do.

http://soundcloud.com/degroot-2/jazz-funk

You did a good job! I would suggest to keep it less busy and use more chord tones! I will add my track in a few hours to give you more ideas!

Posted by: Alex Feather Jul 21 2012, 06:20 AM

QUOTE (DeGroot @ Jul 16 2012, 06:01 AM) *
Here is an example of the first ideas I have come up with. Playing with a cleaner tone than I usually do.

http://soundcloud.com/degroot-2/jazz-funk

I actually have decided to make your assignment more interesting and challenging! smile.gif
I would like you to create a solo using only 3rd and 7th you are free to do any octaves! For this assignment I am not gonna give you any ideas and won't add my take so you are on your own!
This exercise will improve your chord tones
The best part of this exercise is because you don't have a lot of notes to work with you have to build your solo starting with only a few notes and develop it towards the end also in order to compensate notes shortage you will have to use different grooves! smile.gif
Try it out! This exercise will change the way you think! smile.gif
Let me know if you have any questions or need help!

Posted by: DeGroot Jul 21 2012, 07:36 AM

QUOTE (Alex Feather @ Jul 21 2012, 05:20 AM) *
I actually have decided to make your assignment more interesting and challenging! smile.gif
I would like you to create a solo using only 3rd and 7th you are free to do any octaves! For this assignment I am not gonna give you any ideas and won't add my take so you are on your own!
This exercise will improve your chord tones
The best part of this exercise is because you don't have a lot of notes to work with you have to build your solo starting with only a few notes and develop it towards the end also in order to compensate notes shortage you will have to use different grooves! smile.gif
Try it out! This exercise will change the way you think! smile.gif
Let me know if you have any questions or need help!


This should be interesting for sure! I will start this new assignment soon.

Posted by: Alex Feather Jul 22 2012, 12:28 AM

QUOTE (DeGroot @ Jul 21 2012, 06:36 AM) *
This should be interesting for sure! I will start this new assignment soon.

Sounds great! I am looking forward to hear your take! smile.gif

Posted by: Alex Feather Jul 31 2012, 09:51 AM

QUOTE (DeGroot @ Jul 21 2012, 06:36 AM) *
This should be interesting for sure! I will start this new assignment soon.

Hi! I just wanted to follow up and see if you have any questions or need help with anything! Let me know!

Posted by: DeGroot Jul 31 2012, 07:14 PM

Hi! I've been working on it. I should have something soon. It is a difficult assignment for me but it is teaching me to land on those 3rd and 7th tones.

Posted by: DeGroot Jul 31 2012, 08:51 PM


This assignment was more difficult than I thought it would be. I had to think more about what note I was playing. smile.gif Hopefully I'm on the right track with this.

http://soundcloud.com/degroot-2/solo-3rd-and-7th-chord-tones

Posted by: Alex Feather Aug 1 2012, 05:58 AM

QUOTE (DeGroot @ Jul 31 2012, 07:51 PM) *
This assignment was more difficult than I thought it would be. I had to think more about what note I was playing. smile.gif Hopefully I'm on the right track with this.

http://soundcloud.com/degroot-2/solo-3rd-and-7th-chord-tones

You are on the right track for sure! Try to leave more space in between and some chord tones were a little bit off but you are getting there! smile.gif I think a little more practice and it will be perfect!
Good job!

Posted by: DeGroot Aug 1 2012, 08:02 AM

QUOTE (Alex Feather @ Aug 1 2012, 04:58 AM) *
You are on the right track for sure! Try to leave more space in between and some chord tones were a little bit off but you are getting there! smile.gif I think a little more practice and it will be perfect!
Good job!


Glad to hear that. The notes that are off are pretty noticeable to me now. I will practice those thing you mentioned and record a new take soon!!

Posted by: Alex Feather Aug 1 2012, 05:58 PM

QUOTE (DeGroot @ Aug 1 2012, 07:02 AM) *
Glad to hear that. The notes that are off are pretty noticeable to me now. I will practice those thing you mentioned and record a new take soon!!

Sounds good! I will join you next week and will give you some more ideas! smile.gif

Posted by: Alex Feather Aug 8 2012, 09:40 PM

QUOTE (DeGroot @ Aug 1 2012, 07:02 AM) *
Glad to hear that. The notes that are off are pretty noticeable to me now. I will practice those thing you mentioned and record a new take soon!!

Hi I just wanted to follow up and see how are you doing? Should I record a track to give you ideas? Let me know!
P.S. I would rather you to do it by yourself but if you are having troubles with anything let me know! wink.gif

Posted by: DeGroot Aug 9 2012, 07:56 PM

QUOTE (Alex Feather @ Aug 8 2012, 08:40 PM) *
Hi I just wanted to follow up and see how are you doing? Should I record a track to give you ideas? Let me know!
P.S. I would rather you to do it by yourself but if you are having troubles with anything let me know! wink.gif


I'm having some troubles with it. The major problem is that I had transcribed some of the chords wrong. I struggle with theory and it takes me a long time to figure it out.

I practiced around with it for a couple hours today. I agree I would like to figure it out for myself. Its coming along better now, although it is hard for me to create anything interesting with 3rd and 7ths. I'm going to try and record something tomorrow and you can instruct me from there. smile.gif

P.S. I also had a question about 6th chords. Is it normal to play the 7th over these chords?

Posted by: DeGroot Aug 10 2012, 06:25 PM

Ok, here is a new take. I tried to leave breathing room so its not busy sounding. I think something might sound a little off in the end with the arpeggio but not completely sure!



http://soundcloud.com/degroot-2/solo-3rd-and-7th-chord-tones-1

Posted by: Alex Feather Aug 10 2012, 06:39 PM

QUOTE (DeGroot @ Aug 9 2012, 06:56 PM) *
I'm having some troubles with it. The major problem is that I had transcribed some of the chords wrong. I struggle with theory and it takes me a long time to figure it out.

I practiced around with it for a couple hours today. I agree I would like to figure it out for myself. Its coming along better now, although it is hard for me to create anything interesting with 3rd and 7ths. I'm going to try and record something tomorrow and you can instruct me from there. smile.gif

P.S. I also had a question about 6th chords. Is it normal to play the 7th over these chords?

Hi! I am glad you want to figure it out yourself! It is a very good challenge I understand it is hard to be creative but while you are doing it you are learning chord tones! smile.gif And it is very important!
You can play 7th over 6th chord just make sure it is in a different octave so it doesn't clash!
Also 6th chord is a major or minor triad with 6 in it so you can pretend that 6 is 13 and assume that there is 7 - 9 and 11 in this chord! smile.gif
Let me know if it makes sense if not I will explain it in more details!
I will start adding theory to your mentoring program! smile.gif

Posted by: DeGroot Aug 10 2012, 06:50 PM

Sounds great Alex! I definitely need to add theory study into my mentoring program. I'm also going to be out of town a lot coming up so it will be good to work on that side of things since I won't be able to record guitar.

P.S. I posted a new take for 3rd and 7th in case you missed it.

Posted by: Alex Feather Aug 11 2012, 10:21 PM

QUOTE (DeGroot @ Aug 10 2012, 05:50 PM) *
Sounds great Alex! I definitely need to add theory study into my mentoring program. I'm also going to be out of town a lot coming up so it will be good to work on that side of things since I won't be able to record guitar.

P.S. I posted a new take for 3rd and 7th in case you missed it.

You did a great job on the take! Sounds very nice! smile.gif
So let's get into the theory:)
I would like to start getting into Harmonic minor:)
SO I have a little pop quiz!:)
-Please harmonize E harmonic minor scale using triads and seventh chords
-What harmonic minor would you play over this chord progression:
Ami - C - F - E7

Posted by: DeGroot Aug 13 2012, 05:58 AM

QUOTE (Alex Feather @ Aug 11 2012, 09:21 PM) *
You did a great job on the take! Sounds very nice! smile.gif
So let's get into the theory:)
I would like to start getting into Harmonic minor:)
SO I have a little pop quiz!:)
-Please harmonize E harmonic minor scale using triads and seventh chords
-What harmonic minor would you play over this chord progression:
Ami - C - F - E7


My best guess for using a harmonic minor scale over that progression would be: A harmonic minor

The scale has a G# in it which will not work over C.

I'm afraid I don't know how to build chords from E harmonic scale. Would I just harmonize the root to 3rd 5th and 7th from harmonic scale? Are there certain notes in the scale that I should use 7th and others that I should not?

E harmonic scale:
E F# G A B C D#

E= EGB
F#= F#AC
G= GBD#
etc...








Posted by: Alex Feather Aug 14 2012, 12:12 AM

QUOTE (DeGroot @ Aug 13 2012, 04:58 AM) *
My best guess for using a harmonic minor scale over that progression would be: A harmonic minor

The scale has a G# in it which will not work over C.

I'm afraid I don't know how to build chords from E harmonic scale. Would I just harmonize the root to 3rd 5th and 7th from harmonic scale? Are there certain notes in the scale that I should use 7th and others that I should not?

E harmonic scale:
E F# G A B C D#

E= EGB
F#= F#AC
G= GBD#
etc...

I would like you to build 7 chords yourself!!!
E= EGBD#
F#= F#ACE
G= GBD#F#
Etc.

This way you will really understand how harmonic minor works! Just do the notes for now and I will tell you the names of the chords after you are done! smile.gif

Posted by: DeGroot Aug 14 2012, 07:47 AM

E harmonic scale:
E F# G A B C D#

E= EGBD#
F#= F#ACF#
G= GBD#F#
A= ACEG
B= BD#F#A
C= CEGB
D#= D#F#AC


Posted by: Alex Feather Aug 14 2012, 07:06 PM

QUOTE (DeGroot @ Aug 14 2012, 06:47 AM) *
E harmonic scale:
E F# G A B C D#

E= EGBD#
F#= F#ACF#
G= GBD#F#
A= ACEG
B= BD#F#A
C= CEGB
D#= D#F#AC



Perfect!
You made a typo on F# it is E not F#

So now the names:
Emi/maj7 - F#mi7b5 - Gmaj7#5 - Ami7 - B7 - Cmaj7 - D#dim7

So that means every time you will see any of those chords you can play E melodic minor!
Now I would like you to figure out what melodic minor you can play over II - V - I chord progression I gave you
Emi7 - A7 - Dmaj7
Let me know if you have any questions or need help!
Hint: There is more than one! smile.gif

Posted by: DeGroot Aug 15 2012, 07:35 PM

QUOTE (Alex Feather @ Aug 14 2012, 06:06 PM) *
Perfect!
You made a typo on F# it is E not F#

So now the names:
Emi/maj7 - F#mi7b5 - Gmaj7#5 - Ami7 - B7 - Cmaj7 - D#dim7

So that means every time you will see any of those chords you can play E melodic minor!

You mean I can play E harmonic minor? I assume it was a typo but I want to make sure!


Now I would like you to figure out what melodic minor you can play over II - V - I chord progression I gave you
Emi7 - A7 - Dmaj7
Let me know if you have any questions or need help!
Hint: There is more than one! smile.gif

My answer is:
D Melodic minor
E Melodic minor


Posted by: Alex Feather Aug 16 2012, 06:15 PM

You are absolutely correct! So for a new assignment I would like you to use this chord progression
http://soundcloud.com/alex-feather-akimov/ii-v-i-jam
And try to combine E and D harmonic minors together I would like you to pay closer attention to VII and try to use it the most!
Let me know if you have any questions or need help with anything! smile.gif

Posted by: DeGroot Aug 16 2012, 06:45 PM

QUOTE (Alex Feather @ Aug 16 2012, 05:15 PM) *
You are absolutely correct! So for a new assignment I would like you to use this chord progression
http://soundcloud.com/alex-feather-akimov/ii-v-i-jam
Great! smile.gif

I will be out of town for about a week. I will make the assignment a priority when I get back!

P.S. You mean for me to use E and D Melodic minor or Harmonic minor?


Also, do you have another theory assignment that I can work on since I won't be able to play guitar? Thanks!

Posted by: Alex Feather Aug 17 2012, 10:19 PM

QUOTE (DeGroot @ Aug 16 2012, 05:45 PM) *
Great! smile.gif

I will be out of town for about a week. I will make the assignment a priority when I get back!

P.S. You mean for me to use E and D Melodic minor or Harmonic minor?



Also, do you have another theory assignment that I can work on since I won't be able to play guitar? Thanks!

Have fun on your vacation! smile.gif I will prepare a new assignment in a couple of days! smile.gif

Posted by: DeGroot Aug 28 2012, 08:46 PM


Hi Alex! Just giving a little update since I haven't posted here in a while.

I was just back home for a couple days and am leaving town...again. smile.gif

So, when I get back I will post a take of my assignment!

Posted by: Alex Feather Aug 31 2012, 03:11 AM

QUOTE (DeGroot @ Aug 28 2012, 07:46 PM) *
Hi Alex! Just giving a little update since I haven't posted here in a while.

I was just back home for a couple days and am leaving town...again. smile.gif

So, when I get back I will post a take of my assignment!

Sounds great!!! I am looking forward to continue our mentoring! smile.gif
BTW thank you so much for recording Rolling Keith! I am honored! smile.gif

Posted by: DeGroot Sep 7 2012, 06:35 PM

QUOTE (Alex Feather @ Aug 31 2012, 02:11 AM) *
Sounds great!!! I am looking forward to continue our mentoring! smile.gif
BTW thank you so much for recording Rolling Keith! I am honored! smile.gif


It was my pleasure to record Rolling Keith! I had been looking for more beginner stuff that includes slide, so that was a perfect lesson. I have practiced it some more and got it more in the pocket with the drums now. I am also working on another of your lessons and hope to be able to submit it soon.

So, I've been trying the Melodic minor scales with the backing but haven't really recorded something that sounds good to me. I'll just keep at it and hopefully something will click with it soon.

P.S. Thank you for your comments on my lead over your Fusion collab. smile.gif I think all the practice with the mentoring is helping me get better with improvising.

Posted by: Alex Feather Sep 7 2012, 11:54 PM

QUOTE (DeGroot @ Sep 7 2012, 05:35 PM) *
It was my pleasure to record Rolling Keith! I had been looking for more beginner stuff that includes slide, so that was a perfect lesson. I have practiced it some more and got it more in the pocket with the drums now. I am also working on another of your lessons and hope to be able to submit it soon.

So, I've been trying the Melodic minor scales with the backing but haven't really recorded something that sounds good to me. I'll just keep at it and hopefully something will click with it soon.

P.S. Thank you for your comments on my lead over your Fusion collab. smile.gif I think all the practice with the mentoring is helping me get better with improvising.

Awesome! I am glad it is working out for you and you are learning new stuff from me! smile.gif
You did a great job on Rolling Keith and I can hear how much you have improved! Good job!
About melodic minor I would like you to record a solo it doesn't have to be perfect! Just do as best as you can this way we can continue working on melodic minor and you will get results faster

Posted by: DeGroot Sep 11 2012, 08:40 PM

QUOTE (Alex Feather @ Aug 16 2012, 05:15 PM) *
You are absolutely correct! So for a new assignment I would like you to use this chord progression
http://soundcloud.com/alex-feather-akimov/ii-v-i-jam

Posted by: Alex Feather Sep 12 2012, 06:36 PM

QUOTE (DeGroot @ Sep 11 2012, 07:40 PM) *
This is more or less me just practicing with Melodic Minor scales. I'm trying to get a feel for it but its just not clicking at all. rolleyes.gif Sorry to make you listen to this but I figure I'm stuck and just may be going about it all wrong.

Should I use the melodic minor scale more sparingly? Sometimes it seems like notes in the scale clash with the backing.
I have watched videos of people improvising with melodic minor and I hear great things. smile.gif

http://soundcloud.com/degroot-2/ii-v-i-jam-melodic-minor

You did very good! I like your jam! Nice! smile.gif
In order to get interesting phrases you have to start combining diatonic scale and melodic minor this is how you can get really creative!
Would you like me to do a take for you so you can get more ideas? Let me know!

Posted by: DeGroot Sep 13 2012, 02:03 AM

QUOTE (Alex Feather @ Sep 12 2012, 05:36 PM) *
You did very good! I like your jam! Nice! smile.gif
In order to get interesting phrases you have to start combining diatonic scale and melodic minor this is how you can get really creative!
Would you like me to do a take for you so you can get more ideas? Let me know!


Ok, I will try your advice first! Then maybe after I can hear how you would combine melodic minor with diatonic. smile.gif

Posted by: DeGroot Sep 13 2012, 06:19 AM

[quote name='DeGroot' date='Sep 13 2012, 01:03 AM' post='606958']

Ok, I will try your advice first! Then maybe after I can hear how you would combine melodic minor with diatonic. smile.gif

I have a question that may help clear things up for me about melodic minor scale.

Should I be playing it different when I'm descending and ascending? I didn't know this and have been playing it the same way descending and ascending.

I will paste what I read:

The melodic minor scale is the same as the natural minor with the exception that the sixth and seventh tones are raised by a semitone (half step) when the scale is ascending. When the scale is descending, the melodic minor is the same as the natural minor, e.g.:

Posted by: Alex Feather Sep 13 2012, 04:43 PM

QUOTE
Ok, I will try your advice first! Then maybe after I can hear how you would combine melodic minor with diatonic. smile.gif

I have a question that may help clear things up for me about melodic minor scale.

Should I be playing it different when I'm descending and ascending? I didn't know this and have been playing it the same way descending and ascending.

I will paste what I read:

The melodic minor scale is the same as the natural minor with the exception that the sixth and seventh tones are raised by a semitone (half step) when the scale is ascending. When the scale is descending, the melodic minor is the same as the natural minor, e.g.:


It is only applies for classical music and only for harmonic minor!
The reason is #VII is a very intimidating tone that needs to be resolved! and going going down using a natural scale solved it!
I will prepare a track for you in a few hours to give you ideas! smile.gif
Let me know if you have any questions or need any help!

Posted by: DeGroot Sep 14 2012, 12:48 AM

QUOTE (Alex Feather @ Sep 13 2012, 03:43 PM) *
It is only applies for classical music and only for harmonic minor!
The reason is #VII is a very intimidating tone that needs to be resolved! and going going down using a natural scale solved it!
I will prepare a track for you in a few hours to give you ideas! smile.gif
Let me know if you have any questions or need any help!

Ah, that clears things up. That is very interesting to know. I had read that Mozart used Melodic Minor a lot. I will have to listen for that sometime.

Ok great, I'll wait for your take and I'm sure that will help out.

Posted by: Alex Feather Sep 15 2012, 04:13 PM

QUOTE (DeGroot @ Sep 13 2012, 11:48 PM) *
Ah, that clears things up. That is very interesting to know. I had read that Mozart used Melodic Minor a lot. I will have to listen for that sometime.

Ok great, I'll wait for your take and I'm sure that will help out.

Sounds good! Give me a few hours and I will post something! smile.gif

Posted by: Alex Feather Sep 17 2012, 05:23 PM

QUOTE (DeGroot @ Sep 13 2012, 11:48 PM) *
Ah, that clears things up. That is very interesting to know. I had read that Mozart used Melodic Minor a lot. I will have to listen for that sometime.

Ok great, I'll wait for your take and I'm sure that will help out.

So I have prepared a track for you! I left it unfinished on purpose so it is easier for you to take over and continue!
 Melodic_minor_.mp3 ( 2.54MB ) : 81

As you can hear I am leaving a lot of space in between the phrases and using kind of Q&A technique!
Let me know if you have any questions or need help with anything!

Posted by: DeGroot Sep 18 2012, 02:47 AM

QUOTE (Alex Feather @ Sep 17 2012, 04:23 PM) *
So I have prepared a track for you! I left it unfinished on purpose so it is easier for you to take over and continue!
 Melodic_minor_.mp3 ( 2.54MB ) : 81

As you can hear I am leaving a lot of space in between the phrases and using kind of Q&A technique!
Let me know if you have any questions or need help with anything!


Thanks for the ideas! Here is what I recorded after I heard your take. Still not there yet but its getting better. This is more jamming in the moment... next take will have better Q&A or at least more fluid phrasing. smile.gif

http://soundcloud.com/degroot-2/melodic-minor

Posted by: Alex Feather Sep 19 2012, 08:59 PM

QUOTE (DeGroot @ Sep 18 2012, 01:47 AM) *
Thanks for the ideas! Here is what I recorded after I heard your take. Still not there yet but its getting better. This is more jamming in the moment... next take will have better Q&A or at least more fluid phrasing. smile.gif

http://soundcloud.com/degroot-2/melodic-minor

You did great!!! I think if you will add more Q&A it will be perfect! Try to think about the melody not about the notes! And you will be fine! smile.gif

Posted by: DeGroot Oct 8 2012, 08:18 PM

QUOTE (Alex Feather @ Sep 19 2012, 07:59 PM) *
You did great!!! I think if you will add more Q&A it will be perfect! Try to think about the melody not about the notes! And you will be fine! smile.gif


I have another version here that I came up with today. Hopefully its an improvement! I tried to leave it a little less busy with pauses and maybe it sa little more melodic.

http://soundcloud.com/degroot-2/melodic-minor-2

If you think I'm ready to move on to new things, I'd like to try out more fusion style backings and playing while working on different scales. smile.gif

Posted by: Alex Feather Oct 10 2012, 08:00 AM

QUOTE (DeGroot @ Oct 8 2012, 07:18 PM) *
I have another version here that I came up with today. Hopefully its an improvement! I tried to leave it a little less busy with pauses and maybe it sa little more melodic.

http://soundcloud.com/degroot-2/melodic-minor-2

If you think I'm ready to move on to new things, I'd like to try out more fusion style backings and playing while working on different scales. smile.gif

You did a great job! I think you are ready too smile.gif
I will post a new assignment in a few hours! We will be playing over the changes and I will explain what scales you can use !

Posted by: Alex Feather Oct 22 2012, 05:01 PM

Hi I just wanted to follow up and see if you are ready for a new assignment? I am gonna change the backing track again if you are fine with it! It will have a lot of changes!
Let me know!

Posted by: Alex Feather Oct 22 2012, 10:16 PM

So here is what I came up with
http://soundcloud.com/alex-feather-akimov/libach-jazz
Do you like this track? How do you feel if we will be working with this one for a while!
You are a great player already and I want to push in a different direction so you will get more comfortable with melodic minor and will be able to play over the changes much easier!
Let me know!

Posted by: DeGroot Oct 23 2012, 03:28 PM

QUOTE (Alex Feather @ Oct 22 2012, 09:16 PM) *
So here is what I came up with
http://soundcloud.com/alex-feather-akimov/libach-jazz
Do you like this track? How do you feel if we will be working with this one for a while!
You are a great player already and I want to push in a different direction so you will get more comfortable with melodic minor and will be able to play over the changes much easier!
Let me know!


Sounds good to me! I like the backing so it would be cool to work with this. So, should I work with using some melodic minor over this backing for the assignment?

Posted by: Alex Feather Oct 24 2012, 01:36 AM

QUOTE (DeGroot @ Oct 23 2012, 02:28 PM) *
Sounds good to me! I like the backing so it would be cool to work with this. So, should I work with using some melodic minor over this backing for the assignment?

Actually I wanted to combine assignments and would like you to transcribe the chord progression first smile.gif
This way we will kill two birds with one stone and will get ear training going as well! Than I will explain melodic minor in more details!

Posted by: DeGroot Oct 25 2012, 07:24 PM

I transcribed about half of the progression so far. It took me a long time to figure this out. Once I realized that 7th chords were common it became easier.

Dmin7-G7-Emin7-Amin7-Dmin7-G7-C7-Amin7-Dmin7-G7-C7-E7-F7-G7-Emin7-Amin7-Dmin7-G7

Hopefully I'll be able to figure out the rest tomorrow. smile.gif


Posted by: Alex Feather Oct 27 2012, 04:57 PM

QUOTE (DeGroot @ Oct 25 2012, 06:24 PM) *
I transcribed about half of the progression so far. It took me a long time to figure this out. Once I realized that 7th chords were common it became easier.

Dmin7-G7-Emin7-Amin7-Dmin7-G7-C7-Amin7-Dmin7-G7-C7-E7-F7-G7-Emin7-Amin7-Dmin7-G7

Hopefully I'll be able to figure out the rest tomorrow. smile.gif

The first part looks right! smile.gif Figure out the rest! And as you can see this is a perfect progression to play melodic minor! Especially since it has E7 chord! I am very excited to start jamming with you over it!

Posted by: DeGroot Oct 28 2012, 01:17 AM

QUOTE (DeGroot @ Oct 25 2012, 06:24 PM) *
Dmin7-G7-Emin7-Amin7-Dmin7-G7-C7-Amin7-Dmin7-G7-C7-E7-F7-G7-Emin7-Amin7-Dmin7-G7


Here is the rest:

Gmin7-Bmaj-Amin-B7-Bflat7-A7-Dmin7-G7-Emin7-A7-Dmin7-D#dim-Emin7-Amin7-Dmin7-Emin7-F7-C7-Emin7-A7



Hopefully most of this is right! smile.gif Look forward to start jamming to this track!

Posted by: Alex Feather Oct 31 2012, 08:33 AM

QUOTE (DeGroot @ Oct 28 2012, 12:17 AM) *
Here is the rest:

Gmin7-Bmaj-Amin-B7-Bflat7-A7-Dmin7-G7-Emin7-A7-Dmin7-D#dim-Emin7-Amin7-Dmin7-Emin7-F7-C7-Emin7-A7



Hopefully most of this is right! smile.gif Look forward to start jamming to this track!


Awesome! You are correct! Now I would like you to tell your thoughts about what would you play over those chords
Let's do the first part
Dmin7-G7-Emin7-Amin7-Dmin7-G7-C7-Amin7-Dmin7-G7-C7-E7-F7-G7-Emin7-Amin7-Dmin7-G7
What would you play over it?

Posted by: DeGroot Nov 5 2012, 08:56 PM

QUOTE (Alex Feather @ Oct 31 2012, 07:33 AM) *
Awesome! You are correct! Now I would like you to tell your thoughts about what would you play over those chords
Let's do the first part --
What would you play over it?


So far, I know some of my possibilities could be:

Dmin7-G7-Emin7-Amin7-Dmin7-G7-C7-Amin7-Dmin7

A minor scale, A minor pentatonic, E minor pentatonic


G7-C7-E7-F7-G7

F major, F melodic minor, F lydian, F major pentatonic

Emin7-Amin7-Dmin7-G7

A minor scale, A minor pentatonic, E minor pentatonic

Posted by: Alex Feather Nov 7 2012, 07:14 AM

QUOTE (DeGroot @ Nov 5 2012, 07:56 PM) *
So far, I know some of my possibilities could be:

Dmin7-G7-Emin7-Amin7-Dmin7-G7-C7-Amin7-Dmin7

A minor scale, A minor pentatonic, E minor pentatonic


G7-C7-E7-F7-G7

F major, F melodic minor, F lydian, F major pentatonic

Emin7-Amin7-Dmin7-G7

A minor scale, A minor pentatonic, E minor pentatonic

Those are good choices very stable! I would like you to step outside a little bit
and over G7 chord play G diminished scale
And over C7 a whole tone starting with C!
The rest you can keep but I want you to really play over those dominant chords
also another great technique to use would be Joe Pass arpeggios have you heard about it?
Let me know!

Posted by: DeGroot Nov 7 2012, 06:45 PM

QUOTE (Alex Feather @ Nov 7 2012, 06:14 AM) *
The rest you can keep but I want you to really play over those dominant chords
also another great technique to use would be Joe Pass arpeggios have you heard about it?
Let me know!


I'm not familiar with Joe Pass arpeggios but would like to know more. smile.gif

Are you referring to Dominant arpeggios? The thought did cross my mind, but I have rarely used it in my own playing...yet.

I did experiment with this once over an older Sinisa collab from his scale generator. It sounded really cool and opened things up from the more straight forward pentatonic playing. Well, I'll wait to hear your thoughts and suggestions on this. smile.gif

Posted by: Alex Feather Nov 11 2012, 12:24 AM

QUOTE (DeGroot @ Nov 7 2012, 05:45 PM) *
I'm not familiar with Joe Pass arpeggios but would like to know more. smile.gif

Are you referring to Dominant arpeggios? The thought did cross my mind, but I have rarely used it in my own playing...yet.

I did experiment with this once over an older Sinisa collab from his scale generator. It sounded really cool and opened things up from the more straight forward pentatonic playing. Well, I'll wait to hear your thoughts and suggestions on this. smile.gif

It is a combination of arpeggios played in one section of the neck! Give me a few hours to finish up the assignment and I will explain it in details! smile.gif

Posted by: Alex Feather Nov 17 2012, 03:46 AM

QUOTE (DeGroot @ Nov 7 2012, 05:45 PM) *
I'm not familiar with Joe Pass arpeggios but would like to know more. smile.gif

Are you referring to Dominant arpeggios? The thought did cross my mind, but I have rarely used it in my own playing...yet.

I did experiment with this once over an older Sinisa collab from his scale generator. It sounded really cool and opened things up from the more straight forward pentatonic playing. Well, I'll wait to hear your thoughts and suggestions on this. smile.gif

So I have a new assignment for you!!!
This is a Joe Pass technique and it is very useful because you can combine different triads in any order you want!
E |----------------------------------------------------|
B |----------------------------------------------------|
G |--------------------------------------------2-------|
D |-----------------2--------4-----2--5-----4-----2----|
A |-----2--5-----3-----2--5-----3--------5-------------|
E |--3--------5----------------------------------------|


-----------------------------------------2----------|
-----------------------3-----1--5-----3--------5----|
-----4-----2--5-----4-----2--------4--------5-------|
--5-----4--------5----------------------------------|
----------------------------------------------------|
----------------------------------------------------|


--3-----2--5-----3--7L-7----------------------------|----|
-----3--------5-------------------------------------|----|
----------------------------------------------------|----|
----------------------------------------------------|----|
----------------------------------------------------|----|
----------------------------------------------------|----|


----------------------------------------------------|
----------------------------------------------------|
----------------------------------------------------|
--------------2--5--4--------------4--5--2----------|
-----2--5--3-----------3-----2--5-----------3--5----|
--3-----------------------5-------------------------|


----------------------------------------------------|----||
----------------------------------------------------|----||
-----2--4-------------------------------------------|----||
--4--------4----------------------------------------|----||
--------------5-------------------------------------|----||
----------------------------------------------------|----||


 Joe_pass_style.gp5 ( 2.3K ) : 63


Here is the chord progression
Dmin7-G7-Emin7-Amin7-Dmin7-G7-C7-Amin7-Dmin7-G7-C7-E7-F7-G7-Emin7-Amin7-Dmin7-G7
I highlighted the chords that I would like you to play those arpeggios over
For the rest of the progression I would like you to use scales that you have suggested!
Let me know if you have any questions or need help with anything!

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