Hey Muris!
I´m so excited about the beginning of this challenging training. So, as I´m not a great speaker and I don´t see the necessity of it now, I´ll start with the main things.

About me
After 10 or 11 unmusical years of life, I started playing the guitar. My teacher allowed me to skip some study years as I progressed pretty fast. For Christmas 2005 (or 2006, I don´t remember), I got my first electric guitar. I practised a lot and was inspired by my idol Carlos Santana. Then, for my 17th birthday I got my lovely JEM and practised the whole day during the holidays. This hasn´t changed until now. Until those wonderful time with my instrument, I knew that music plays and will play a big role in my life. But I wasn´t sure about the jobs. I was told that I was difficult to live from music, so I studied intensively mathematics at school which I like, too. After the summer holiday 2008 in Igalo where I met you, you convinced me to focus on music. Well, I changed school and have no serious problems there. At the moment, I am the best in music in my class ( ) and I know that I won´t have problems with living from music. Ideally, I´d like to travel around the globe and play my music for people. If this won´t be possible, I still have my classical guitar diploma, so I can be a guitar teacher.

My Weaknesses
-improvising (you´ve seen me improvising, so you have an idea of the chaos that I´m talking about )
-timing
-technique
-finishing ideas (I started a lot of projects and never finished one)
-sometimes, I don´t feel that I have control over my hands

My Goals
-being that versatile/good to live from music later on
-apply my theoretical knowledge (which is pretty good) in praxis
-to have a certain charisma on stage since I´m performing more and more frequently (I think that only a few tips should be ok which I could try to apply)
-expand my fretboard knowledge (I know what note is on which fret, but when improvising, I am not fast enough)
-play jazz!

Some Videos
Bohemian Rhapsody Solo

I think that my vibrato improved, but it isn´t very confident here. Also my tone control could be better. The good thing were the bends.

For the Love of God

In general, I´m satisfied with the playing. There were a few sloppy notes, timing and whammy bar problems.

Link to my youtube profile if this isn´t enough


Currently working on:
Emir Hot - Turkish March
I have problems with the fast AP part, but it will be better in a few weeks. I have to get used to the melody/fingering.

Muris Varajic - E minor Melodic Solo
I started practising this first-class melody in order to develop my vibrato, bends and composing skills. I think that I can play it pretty good now, it only needs some small corrections.

Muris Varajic - Alternate Picking
Now, this lesson is killing me. I can´t go further than 90 bpm. And even at that point, it´s not very clean.

Sometimes, I practise Mojo Oro.

Could you give me the bt´s of the two middle lessons, please? Both at 90 bpm.
Well, that´s it I think.

Cheers,
Tolek

Hi Tolek.

Since I know pretty much about you
I will give you few tasks right away.

http://www.guitarmasterclass.net/solo-guit...r-style-lesson/
Luke's lesson is probably a nice mix of playing all around the fretboard
using few scales, with lots of expression and ideas.

http://www.guitarmasterclass.net/solo-guit...r-style-lesson/
You're probably asking yourself why this!
Well, this lesson is soooo much about timing,
if you play it just a little bit faster or slower groove wise it won't sound right.
Note, if you're not comfortable with Mark's picking technique
you can play it with the pick, no problem at all.
My thing is to feel the whole thing and get the groove down.

Those 2 lessons are maybe not high technical stuff
but they are VERY demanding when it comes to execution
which just might push you to another level of playing.

Due to your busy schedule (as you said)
I'm not gonna give us any time markers,
no need for video at this point as well, mp3 would work just fine.

Good luck and let me know if you need anything else.

Hey Muris!
Glad to read something new in this topic! Those two lessons are really nice, I love them and am very keen to master them. I can already play the Luke lesson, learnt it a few moments ago. It only needs some perfecting. I´m gonna start the 2nd one tomorrow evening, I think.

As for showing my progress, I try to upload videos to youtube and show them to you. And I´ll pay attention on the time, I´ll practise the lessons and try to show videos every week or every two weeks. Thank you for understanding my busy schedule.

Cheers!
Tolek

PS: I forgot to ask you if you could provide me the backing tracks to both lessons? At full speed, please.

Hey!
Could I get the BT´s at full speed, please?

Thanks

Backings are on the way.

Just got them, thanks.

Hey there!
I just completed the first post.
Could you give me some advice on how to expand my chords knowledge? I know how chords are built, but I often don´t know how to fret them. I have no troubles with the standard first position chords nor the barré chords over the whole neck nor with 7th chords, dim,... .

See you,
Tolek

There are many ways to fret chords
so all you have to do is to find notes that you're looking for.
Tell me what kind of chords make you problems and I'll try to
give you an example on how to fret them.

Also, you said you completed first post, what post?

I only know a few patterns and I want to learn more. In jazz, there are a lot of patterns that I´ve seen but never remembered. I think that such a chord knowledge should have every guitarist... So, time to start working with that!


The first post of this topic where all the information is.

Just give me type of chord you have troubles with and I'll explain it, no worries.

But I still don't get the first post thing tho,
you finished working on those lessons or?

9th chords, 11th chords, or just simply a 7th chord with the 3rd in the bass or similiar.



I finished the "About me" section in the introduction post and added a point to "My Weaknesses".
I´m still working on the lessons, they only need some precision at timing and hand movement.

Ok, with 9th chords the thing is that you have to play 9th and 7th by all means,
if you miss 7th it'd be add9 and that's not 9th chord.
But you can miss either 3rd or 5th (better if you miss 5th tho)
if you have problems to play all 5 notes.
Per example G9 chord, there are notes G, B, D, F and A.
Try it like this, G note on D string 5th fret, B note on G string 4th fret,
F note on B string 6th fret and A note on high E string 5th fret.
As you can see, there is no D note which is 5th but you're still getting G9 chord.
And if you eventually 3rd then you'll have no idea
if it's G9 or Gmin9 but you'll still have some sort of 9th chord.
Those are major rules that you should be thinking of when you're
fretting 9th chords "in a walk".

11th chords are different story tho and most of a time
it's considered as a slash chord, per example G/A which is the same thing as A11.
Notes of this chord are A, C#, E, G, B and D.
if you take a look how its constructed you'll notice 2 chords inside,
A and G chords.
it's very tricky to play all these 6 notes at once
so many guys just play A in bass with G chord somewhere above, which is G/A.

For more info about shapes I would have to ask you to look
at many websites that provides million of patterns for chords,
otherwise I'll end up here writing whole day.




Got it.

Ok, thanks for explaining this so briefly. I already knew those things (some of them ), but wasn´t very sure. I´ll try to find out some patterns.

Why is the 11th chord called slash chord?

It's not actually called slash chord
but it's almost the same thing as G/A or what else
so you can look at it that way,
"/" is slash sign and there you go.

Ok, I got it now. I thought Slash uses those chords a lot and that´s why they´re called like that!

Nope.

Good evening!
I recorded two videos. Maybe a third one will come tonight. Maybe!
I know both are not perfect, they still need some approvement, but anyway they´re not that bad.


Steve Lukather Lesson



E Minor Melodic Solo



Cheers,
Tolek

That was some nice playing Tolek, well done!!

Regarding your sound,
can you please try to dial midds and maybe even trebs a bit lower next time?
That's not big job I guess and your sound
will be much warmer and smooth after that.

Now about lessons, E Minor melodic Solo
was really played well and in time,
the only thing I would work more here is vibrato,
there are many long bended note where you can apply
that wide and slow vibrato to make your guitar singing in a way.

And as for Luke lesson,
pay more attention to vibrato of course (Luke is well known of great vibrato tho )
but also on timing, specially in middle section over Bb chord,
you should take Ab note as a marker and aim to lay it
right on first beat in next bar, on top of the Fm chord if I'm right.


Good work so far Tolek, now we need to polish everything nicely,
looking forward to next takes!

Thanks for that fast reply!


Again, but this time in noob language, please! I´m new in this are, so I don´t know exactly what to do. I uploaded two pics that show my settings in POD Farm:
In Luke lesson:
Click to view attachment

In E Minor lesson:
Click to view attachment

I think I know what you mean, but when I do it, it doesn´t sound how it should, imo.

I´m glad you liked them, btw!


Sure, I´ll work on that. How can I improve it? When I try to train it, I do it like this guy and try to do some different vibratos (aggressive, wide, soft,...).

I can't tell much from watching those picts Tolek
since I don't use same unit PLUS it depends
a lot from rest of the gear, guitar, pickups etc,
I would just do some tweaking to get more warmer sound,
no big deal tho, it's nothing THAT bad.



Sure, Rick lessons is cool, same as Marcus's lessons on vibrato,
just think more of vibrato all the time,
practice separate notes, both regular and bended with vibrato
and you'll see the improvement.

Here´s a new take of the Luke lesson, this time with a much better tone.




By the way, I´m currently listening to "Drunk Funk" and I fell in love with that masterpiece. Due to this, I added to the "My Goals" list: play jazz. I love jazz and tried it once and learnt chords, scales, arpeggios, some rules,... . Could you give me some advice how to develop in that fantastic style, please?

VERY NICE TOLEK!!!

Thank you, Muris... eeeh, Monte!

It was much better Tolek,
tone and also timing!!

There are small issues after tapping notes
but you'll get it done after more practicing,
those timings are bit tricky indeed,
you could try to pay more attention to GP file
to get those timings nicely, just an idea.

Now, one thing I would like to point at is vibrato,
you're holding your hand way too much in a "classical" shape
so you don't have good and solid stand for powerful vibrato,
how about trying to wrap your thumb more around the neck?

1 2009, 04:57 PM' post='346980']
That´s what I was working on.


Ok, good idea. I´ll try that and record another take then.


I just tried out that new position and it feels very uncomfortable and strange. However, I´ll try to get used to that to get a better vibrato as you said.


What about that jazz thing?

I know it's probably uncomfortable atm since you've
been doing it in "classical" way for a long time.
But it'll work fine for you, do some practicing and playing
like that until you get used to it, shouldn't take long.

As for Jazz, we might try diving there right now
bit imo it'd be wise to stay a little bit longer on diatonic stuff,
once we get that nicely we can start working on Jazz,
after all, Jazz isn't just a style, it's a final step.

Sure, that´s normal. I never knew that it´s better to grab the neck more in order to get a better vibrato. I tried it out and yes, I can hear a difference.


Oh, sure. I just remembered that you explained me that in Igalo. Let´s continue with diatonic stuff!

Sounds great, looking forward to takes!

Hi,
here are two weak takes at the two lessons.

Knopfler


Luke


Cheers.

Tolek

Hell yeah, Luke is sounding a WAY better,
vibrato is growing nicely and you nailed that tricky
timing part after tapping almost 100%, which isn't easy!

And sound for Knopfler was very cool imo, no need to worry about it at all.
There was some problems with timing, perhaps you need
few more listens to my take to "remember" how it should sound.
Also try not to apply much power in picking when playing
those slower licks, whole Idea with Mark is small or none drive
with lots of Dynamics.
Can I ask for one more take but with just a little bit slower backing,
like you did with Luke?

And for a home work, take Luke backing original tempo
and do some solo over it, use any kind of sound you want
and compose us a nice melodic solo with sweet lick.
How about that?

Really? A few parts were sloppy, though...


Ok, I´ll do that.


Sure, sounds great. I´m looking forward to it!

I was talking about vibrato and after tapping part only,
I know some spots were bit sloppy but you'll fix that anyhow.

Sure.

Finally, I had a liitle bit of time and the power to record something. Here´s my own solo over the Luke BT.



The ending was not correct in rhythm.

Cheers!

That was nice jamming Tolek, well done!

There were some tapping licks and legato one near the beginning
that didn't come out clean enough tho,
so I'm asking for another take when you get some free time
but try to keep it clean, you don't have to shred at all
but go for clean phrases with lots of melody,
think of vibrato as well which is getting better btw.

And for Knopfler lesson, we might try another take
with better timing, it was kind a off on slower parts so you
missed the groove a bit.
You did learned notes nicely and now it's all about
your reproduction of the piece.

Ok. After Tuesday, I´ll have a lot of free time because holidays begin.

Ok then, looking forward to it.

Finally, here is the newest Knopfler take. This time without video (sorry ) because my father hasn´t got a video editor. When I´ll be back home, I´ll try to do a video. This take is slower than the original (3/4 of it). Some licks aren´t clean yet.

Click to view attachment


The new Luke solo is going to come soon, I think.


Cheers!

Timing was much better this time Tolek, well done!
Still, you slowed it too much so you could try something
just a bit faster, we lost the groove somehow.

Looking forward to new Luke take!

Here´s the faster version of the Knopfler lesson. Still some troubles with the fast pentatonic run.

And here´s the Luke Solo. I enjoyed it very much.

Much better Tolek!!

No need to worry about fast run tho,
it'll come with time and more practicing,
what would I like to hear more from you
is more vibrato on longer notes and better articulation on same notes,
each note has its own purpose, specially in Knopfler's world,
give them what they deserve.
So think of that no matter what you're playing,
faster runs are ok but those runs don't mean a lot
if you fail to present slower parts nicely, right?



Damn that was cute Tolek!!!!!!!!!!!

Ahhhhh, now I DEMAND to hear same solo, same notes,
just add more vibrato, you can't say no,
would be shame to leave this sweet piece just like that!!!!!!

Sure. That´s the point that I want to develop.



You´re funny. Aye, master, I´ll do another take tomorrow.


I think I´m ready for a new assignment, don´t you think so? Of course, I´ll still practise the current lessons, but as I have time now, I can practise even more!
BTW, I started today your first lesson on GMC: Pentatonic Substitution. I got it down at half speed and can play it faster and faster.

Sounds good!!

As for new assignment, I just wanted to ask if you
have some new lessons ready to deploy but there you go,
Pentatonic Substitution seems like fun.

Great! Could you just send me the backing, please?

There you go.

Click to view attachment

Many thanks. I´m just trying to record sth, but it doesn´t work.

Sth?

Sth = something

Here´s the sth, btw. I messed up at the end because I was full of excitment that I played that lesson without bigger mistakes.

Just watch out on timing, you played pretty BEFORE the track,
maybe because you slowed it a lot,
looking forward to next take!