Adam Murrell Mtp Thread, Come on in! Options

[Ajmurrell]

Hey there Bondy!!

Very excited to start getting down to some of the MTP stuff

Thought I'd at least introduce myself first, and then we can talk about what we'd like to do!

So... In contradiction to my silly user name, I despise being called AJ - it's just my intials! That's not to make you feel bad for calling me AJ earlier, as that would be a rather distressing first post to you as a mentor

I made the mistake of having my first email address as ajmurrell - and my mates all decided it would be hilariously funny to call me AJ dispite my dislike of it, unfortunately the more I disliked it, the more my mates got used to calling it me!

So yes, I'm Adam, and that little ramble above is something I suffer from, it's like a ramble-torrets, just to warn you!

[Bondy]

Hi Adam well we are in the same country in the same time zone so thats a good start, I'm also a bit of a rambler so you we should go together well, I look forward to my first lesson.

[Ajmurrell]

Yeah I was talking to Vaialation last night about that, it works out well for us!

I've had a look at your entry video's for the MTP, so I know you'd like to improve your Alternate picking, Sweep picking and Clean playing and I was just wondering if there was anything else you wanted to add that you might want to work on?

I see you're also a Yngwie fan I have a couple of lessons that are right up that street if you're interested!

I wanted to wait for the sylabus thats being provided before discussing a definite plan with you, but I was thinking if we had up to 4 key areas that you wanted to improve, in 4 weeks we can fit them all in nicely and get a little practice reigme going

I'm not sure how hard you want to be pushed, so it might be good if you could let me know realistically how many hours a week you have to put towards practice.

Hi Adam well we are in the same country in the same time zone so thats a good start, I'm also a bit of a rambler so you we should go together well, I look forward to my first lesson.

[Bondy]

That sounds great Adam, my sweep picking really is none existent at the moment and I really need a base to improve that; also I have never had a practise regime which i have stuck too so that would be good. As regards to how far I want to be pushed shove me of the cliff mate, I work better when i'm getting nagged at Time wise I can put in at least 1 hour every weekday; 2hrs or more at the weekends (per day), I'am at you beck and call Master Murrell. I like to have goals they keep me motivated so give me all you got I'm ready to learn & Practise hard.

[Ajmurrell]

Excellent man! That sounds perfect. I've been working on some sweep picking exercises today and think what I'll do is provide a sweep picking style piece for you practice each week, progressively getting more complex by adding extra strings

I have a 3 note per string exercise for this week, next week we'll move on to 4, then on to 5, and onto 6!

So my plan is to merge the sweep picking into each weeks extra activities as it's a skill thats best not rushed into learning, and very fun to play with too!

I see the syllabus guide has just come online so I will give that an overview before giving a lesson plan - I'll write out the full 4 week cycle as a draft after we've discussed what you'd like to be included. I'll try to include as many GMC lessons as possible, and throw in a couple of mine for more precise exercises on what you would like

I was thinking of using these area's as a base for us to work on:

*Alternate picking

*Sweep Picking

*Tapping

*Clean playing

If this sounds ok, I'll get cracking on exercises for each, making sure they're fun - as that was the most important thing for me when I started practicing properly, still is!

I also want to throw in a brief warm up routine that I would like you to play every day 2-3 times, as this really does help with progression and with each of the key skills above too.

That sounds great Adam, my sweep picking really is none existent at the moment and I really need a base to improve that; also I have never had a practise regime which i have stuck too so that would be good. As regards to how far I want to be pushed shove me of the cliff mate, I work better when i'm getting nagged at Time wise I can put in at least 1 hour every weekday; 2hrs or more at the weekends (per day), I'am at you beck and call Master Murrell. I like to have goals they keep me motivated so give me all you got I'm ready to learn & Practise hard.

This post has been edited by Ajmurrell: Jan 8 2009, 03:39 PM

[Bondy]

That sound great Adam I look forward to seeing the lesson plan

[Ajmurrell]

Draft 4 Week Plan

---INCOMPLETE---

I shall be posting two activities per week to keep things in line with the recommended syllabus and also adding some exercises/lessons in which you can ask for specific help on techniques. In both cases a video upload by the end of the week to show progress on each activity would be great.

If you could look through all of the "Activity 1" lessons and make sure you haven't done them before and are interested in learning them, then let me know they're ok. There are other options included HERE if you'd also like to check them to see if there are lessons you would prefer to learn, I just choose these ones because I thought they matched your intended target areas for improvement.

The "Activity 2" parts of each week, really are for your particular areas you want to improve, so the posts in the draft aren't written in stone. I would like to have a talk at the end of each week where you can tell me what you'd like to do for the next week.
I can then produce lessons from the GMC archive or record something myself.

Of course if there's anything you're not happy with, or if you find something too easy/hard or would like help on anything please do ask! I want you to be as vocal as possible!



Week 1

During this week I would like to recommend we work on the recommened lesson in the MTP Syllabus and a couple of extra activity technique lessons.

Activity 1

Beginner - Strumming and Arpeggios
This lesson will prove very usefull for working on timing, picking and rhythm. It will also highlight any problems that we may need to work on.

Activity 2

Tapping exercise 1 - Introduction to tapping using hammer ons and pull off's.
Sweep picking exercise 1 - Introduction to sweep picking using 3 string arpeggio's

Week 2

As with last week, I would like to continue to integrate the recommened syllabus and also some exercises matching your areas you would like to improve

Activity 1

Blues Groove
This is an excellent lesson for improving some blues rhythm ideas. It will also help with timing, finger strength and left/right hand synch.

Activity 2

Tapping exercise 2 -
Sweep picking exercise 2 -
Alternate Picking exercise 1 -

Week 3

Activity 1

John Frusciante Lesson
John Frusciante is legendary for his melodic phrasing and fantastic clean tone This lesson will be excellent for getting used to adding personality to your playing. Working on your vibrato, timing and rhythm.

Activity 2

Tapping exercise 3 - Introduction to tapping using hammer ons and pull off's.
Alternate Picking exercise 2 -
Sweep picking exercise 3 -

Week 4

Activity 1

Alternate Picking Thirds
Here's another lesson from the guitar god himself (No sucking up anyone, honest ). This one will obviously be great for what it says - Alternate picking! But it will be great for improving speed, finger movement, dexterity, scale shapes and stamina.

Activity 2

To be decided

This post has been edited by Ajmurrell: Jan 8 2009, 05:51 PM

[Ajmurrell]

Week 1

During this week I would like to recommend we work on the recommened lesson in the MTP Syllabus and a couple of extra activity technique lessons.

Activity 1

Beginner - Strumming and Arpeggios
This lesson will prove very usefull for working on timing, picking and rhythm. It will also highlight any problems that we may need to work on.

Activity 2

Tapping exercise 1 -  gmc_tapping_lesson.wmv ( 10.61MB ) Number of downloads: 97

-  GMC_Tapping_Lesson___Nuno_Bettencourt_style.gp5 ( 4.08K ) Number of downloads: 43


Introduction to tapping using hammer ons and pull off's.
I would advise learning this one bar at a time. Don't worry about needing to upload a video in a time frame, lets see how you do first.
I have used my third finger for tapping, simply because I find it more comfortable and easier to apply enough pressure. You can use either third or fourth finger for this exercise.


Sweep Picking exercise 1 -  gmc_sweeping_lesson_1.wmv ( 6.49MB ) Number of downloads: 54

-  GMC_Sweep_picking_lesson.gp5 ( 3.96K ) Number of downloads: 71
-

Introduction to sweep picking using 3 string arpeggio's
As above, I would recommend learning this one bar at a time. Take care with fretting each string as you sweep upwards, and practice much slower than the tempo I posted!! Try playing this on a clean amp setting to begin with, so you can hear any unwanted string noise.
If you have problems with it then do let me know, and like I say do take your time and if you'd rather ignore the song part and just practice the arpeggio's individually thats absolutely fine.

Ok man, the lessons are up! It was quite an adventure for me I must say First time for lots of things!

First off, don't be put off if these seem to long or too fast or whatever! I wanted to at least give you soemthing that would keep you busy for a while, while also improving your technique. So I'm not expecting you to learn all the parts for both exercises.

Hope this is all ok!

This post has been edited by Ajmurrell: Jan 9 2009, 06:28 PM

[Bondy]

Looking good Adam; I have done a couple of the lessons before, but i'm willing to do them again because I did not complete all of them upto the full bpm last time around. Besides I want to lose all my bad habits so starting from scratch is probably the best thing for me. On another note I have to say I think your doing a great job so far, i'm very impressed with what you have done here to help me. top marks lol 10/10

[Ajmurrell]

Great to hear!!

Sorry the video's for activity 2 aren't ready, I know exactly what I want to do, I just want to record during the day time while its sunny so you can actually see what I'm doing in the video I make I left it too late today and by the time I'd written all the lesson plan out - It was pitch dark outside and my "eco" light bulb thats replaced my 100w in my room should not legally be allowed to call itself a "light".

Glad I'm meeting your standards If I don't in the future you have to kick me a bit! I'll try to keep it at 10/10

Looking good Adam; I have done a couple of the lessons before, but i'm willing to do them again because I did not complete all of them upto the full bpm last time around. Besides I want to lose all my bad habits so starting from scratch is probably the best thing for me. On another note I have to say I think your doing a great job so far, i'm very impressed with what you have done here to help me. top marks lol 10/10

[Ajmurrell]

Right... Ok!!

I've recorded the two exercises/lessons, and may have bitten off more than I can chew! I've been tabbing out to Guitar Pro 5 for what feels like hours - there must be an easier way than inputting each fret!!

But Activity 2 is now up and live I do hope you have guitar pro, otherwise I can send you it in regular tab format.

The lessons are longer than I expected and thus I'm going to re-arrange the plan a bit as I'm still uploading and sorting this out - gimmie an hour or so!

This post has been edited by Ajmurrell: Jan 9 2009, 04:58 PM

[Ajmurrell]

OK bondy - just finished uploading the video lessons and Guitar pro files (Please have guitar pro! I really should have asked you first ) so check them out!!

[Bondy]

I got Guitar pro 5 Adam so breathe easy just downloaded the Tab sound really cool looking forward to doing that one having problems atm with you tube uploading a video for the MTP ahhh

[Ajmurrell]

Thank god for that!

I've updated the "Week 1" post so check it over

I can see this thread getting mega messy!!

[Bondy]

Here is my first video for you, had a few problems with you tube took ages to upload(then found out i uploaded the wrong one) So this one will do for now LOL.

[Ajmurrell]

Excellent man! Can see you have little problems with this level of playing Thanks for uploading though, it helps in deciding what lessons to recommend. How do you feel about the syllabus lessons planned for the future weeks? Also, what are your thoughts on the 2 lessons I uploaded yesterday?

I may well have overloaded you, sorry!, but I thought if you worked on them bit by bit, you'll have things to switch back and forth with when you get annoyed/bored with one

Thats the way I practice, making sure i keep myself entertained!

I would like to recommend that we keep the chord lesson (the one you just posted your playing on) as part of the warm up routine that I'll get together for next week. So just play through this a few times a day if you get the chance.

Small little things repeated, even if they're a bit easy for you, really do help you feel more "intune" with the guitar over a few weeks.

Here is my first video for you, had a few problems with you tube took ages to upload(then found out i uploaded the wrong one) So this one will do for now LOL.

[Bondy]

Adam the other two lesson you did are really cool and I'm enjoying playing them alternately as you suggested; I have just about memorized them both. I have to give you some credit here because this is the first sweeping lesson i have enjoyed learning. As for the rest of the syllabus lessons I'm looking forward to next weeks Blues lesson alot, and week 3s lesson I have done before but that was a long time ago and I probably did not finish it so I'm quite happy with those 2, the alt picking one not to sure on thats a long lesson to learn in a week but I will give it ago.

[Ajmurrell]

Glad you're enjoying them I remember learning those two examples and having a lot of fun with them, especially the sweep picking one.

I personally find exercises a little too mundane for me to get the motivation to really improve my playing with them, so always looked for ways to included them into something that is pleasing to the ear, and satisfying to learn.

I'm going to do the blues lesson next week as well, as I haven't seen it before and I want some new blues licks in my playing, so we can exchange notes on that one well.

If you've already done a lesson and would rather do one of the others (if you check the syllabus I believe there's 3 for that particular week to choose from) otherwise I can select one that works well with what you want to accomplish.

I have other lessons in mind too Should be a pretty full few weeks!

Do you have any questions or problems with the lessons I gave you?

Adam the other two lesson you did are really cool and I'm enjoying playing them alternately as you suggested; I have just about memorized them both. I have to give you some credit here because this is the first sweeping lesson i have enjoyed learning. As for the rest of the syllabus lessons I'm looking forward to next weeks Blues lesson alot, and week 3s lesson I have done before but that was a long time ago and I probably did not finish it so I'm quite happy with those 2, the alt picking one not to sure on thats a long lesson to learn in a week but I will give it ago.

[Bondy]

No Problems atm Adam think I will stick with the 2 lessons you provided, I want to get them down before I do anything else.

[Ajmurrell]

I think I've given you enough to work on for now

Really glad you're enjoying it though mate. How's the tapping one going? I based it on a nuno bettencourt solo, in a song called "flight of the wounded bumblebee" which is a song I learnt fairly early on. (Not up to full speed!)

I recommend giving it a listen if you haven't heard it already, I also recommend checking out the album Extreme: Pornografitti.

It's got some seriously cheesy 80's power ballads but Nuno does some AWESOME guitar work.

As usual, any questions let me know.

Just so I can get an idea of where to look for alternative lessons for the following weeks - could you have a think about what areas you definitely want to cover? I know you've said: Alt picking, sweep and clean playing but should I focus on any in particular?

Also, could I ask for a video of the lessons I've provided by next Thursday? Don't have to be up to tempo, just want to give you a week and see how you get on with it

No Problems atm Adam think I will stick with the 2 lessons you provided, I want to get them down before I do anything else.