Rammikin's Metalcore Meltdown Options

[Cosmin Lupu]

Hey there my friend! Welcome to your very own personal mentoring thread

I would like to start by asking you to tell me a few things about your aspirations as a player and musician, about your musical preferences and level of playing. We'll take it from here and see how we can make good progress.

all the best

Cosmin

[Cosmin Lupu]

Hey mate, all good? I was wondering what your thoughts are so we can start up

[Rammikin]

Sorry, I've been away for a few days and now I'm going away for another week, but I'll be ready to participate when I get back.

I'd like to record my own instrumental metal core music. I don't have any professional aspirations, just for fun. I've been practicing for a while, but I seem to be stuck at the beginner level. I seem to have developed some bad habits. For example I get a lot of string noise when I'm playing and my rhythmic precision isn't very sharp. I've been struggling to get the kind of palm muting sound you get, for example in your pillar video tutorial.

[Cosmin Lupu]

Good morning there!

Well, metalcore is a lot about combining rhythm with melody - that means you need to develop highly accurate rhythmic skills mate, and that's where we shall take our journey towards.

When you come back we shall begin with cleaning up the bad habits and building up healthy new ones give me a shout, k? If you'd like to have something on your hands till you return, I'd suggest you to have a go at this lesson:

http://www.guitarmasterclass.net/rhythm-gu...c-metal-rhythm/

it's pretty basic, but it'll hone your palm muting skills and your tightness take a look over it and we shall start from here ok?

cheers

Cosmin

[Rammikin]

Ok, I'm back and trying to remember how to play guitar .

Here's my take on that video lesson:



Notice at 0:10 where the middle finger on my pick hand accidentally hits the string. Am I the only one who has that problem?

[Cosmin Lupu]

Ok, I'm back and trying to remember how to play guitar .

Here's my take on that video lesson:



Notice at 0:10 where the middle finger on my pick hand accidentally hits the string. Am I the only one who has that problem?

Hey there man! Your take is building up nicely, but it could be greatly improved if you would focus a bit on timing and tightness on the following parts:

-> 0.16 - 0.30 - the gallop part especially
-> 0.45 onward - the octaves need to be in time with the track

As a general advice, try to perfectly blend in with the drums at a slower speed and then work your way up

let me know if there's anything unclear!

Cosmin

[Rammikin]

You're right, I wasn't feeling the groove as I was playing. How about this? (I'm still struggling trying to slide chords)

[Cosmin Lupu]

You're right, I wasn't feeling the groove as I was playing. How about this? (I'm still struggling trying to slide chords)

Hey matey! Check this out:

- you are muting everything way too much - try to find that sweetspot which will provide the appropriate 'chug chug' while allowing the notes to be heard. Experimenting will provide very useful here.
- timing is faulty in some places such as the galloped phrase near the beginning.
- because of the fact that you are muting everything too much, the piece seems very dry and abrupt.

I say, let's first find the sweetspot for muting - if you nail this right, you will use it for all your life

let's rock!

Cosmin

[Rammikin]

Ok, here's a version with less palm muting.

[Cosmin Lupu]

Ok, here's a version with less palm muting.

Hey mate! The tone and palm muting are a improved, but you still seem to have a bit of trouble with timing. For this, I would like to ask you to record this lesson at a slower tempo and be very focused on timing and tightness work with the drums mate and you can't go wrong

do we have a deal?

Cosmin

[Rammikin]

Here it is at 112 bpm:


It's been a while since I uploaded the version you referred to and I've played it a few thousand times since then , so here's a newer version. It seems pretty tight to me, so if there's a timing problem, I'll probably need some help understanding what's wrong.

[Cosmin Lupu]

Here it is at 112 bpm:


It's been a while since I uploaded the version you referred to and I've played it a few thousand times since then , so here's a newer version. It seems pretty tight to me, so if there's a timing problem, I'll probably need some help understanding what's wrong.

Hey mate! The last take is most likely the best one so far! You are close! Check this out:

- don't lift the left hand off the strings while playing the chord shapes in the same position as it cuts out the flow and the power chord sounds choked. Check out mad's take on this one as I do believe he did an awesome work with it

- be careful towards the end and play the octaves more fluid - by this I mean that you are lifting your fingers from one shape to the other too abruptly and it would be great if you could practice this part a bit more

Take a look at mad's take and let's try one more, having the above things in mind

http://www.guitarmasterclass.net/guitar_fo...st&p=576843

cheers

Cosmin

[Rammikin]

Hah! Just 5 minutes ago I was looking at Mad's version and I noticed he didn't mute by lifting his left hand like I do and how much better his sounds!

[Cosmin Lupu]

Hah! Just 5 minutes ago I was looking at Mad's version and I noticed he didn't mute by lifting his left hand like I do and how much better his sounds!

Bingoooooo can you implement that?

[Rammikin]

But, actually, what I've been working on is the timing. Do you have any comments on that? If not, I'll work on the tone and muting and smooth chord changes.

[Rammikin]

[Cosmin Lupu]

Hey mate! Let's take each issue one at a time: first, I'd like you NOT to lift your hand from the chord position when playing (like you are doing it now) from the beginning of the piece till the end. You are just playing the accent and when the chord continues, it doesn't ring at all due to the fact that you are not pressing your fingers into that position. Hope this helps and looking forward to your questions!

Cosmin

[Rammikin]

I'm sorry, but I don't understand. I'm not aware of lifting my fingers and I don't see my fingers lifting in the latest version. That was the purpose that latest version...to play it without lifting my fingers, so that's the difference between version 4 and version 5. Can you be more specific about what you're referring to?

This post has been edited by Rammikin: Apr 6 2012, 12:17 AM

[Cosmin Lupu]

I'm sorry, but I don't understand. I'm not aware of lifting my fingers and I don't see my fingers lifting in the latest version. That was the purpose that latest version...to play it without lifting my fingers, so that's the difference between version 4 and version 5. Can you be more specific about what you're referring to?

Morning man Let's take the first 4 chords - you haven't lifted your fingers visibly indeed, but the sound of the chord after the accent was struck was too weak to have consistency, this is what I was talking about. Please let me know if this explanation helps. Regarding timing, let's look at the galloping part - see, it has to be tighter and in the last take it has some slips here and there. These are the small details which make the difference! I suggest you take a focused listening session on each part and pay attention to everything which could look as small and insignificant, k? Try to record a take afterwards and work with the drums as much as possible!

Let me know if I can help further we can analyze EACH bar if you wish

let's rock!

Cosmin

[Rammikin]

Ok, here it is. I'm still not lifting my fingers, but maybe this is different than before?