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Hi David!

A little bit about me:

My name is Vemund, and I live in Norway not far away from Oslo. I am 15 years old and have been playing guitar for about two years, but the electric for only one. I play on a Morgan guitar (don't know exactly the type), but I'm probably going to exchange it for another guitar because I'm having some major problems with the input.... My recording gear are currently a boss br 900, which I use with reaper. I also have a M-audio fast track sound card, and I was going to buy the Guitar rig 3, but instead I'm going to wait until October, so the 4th version can be released.

Music style:
I basically like everything which has to do with the "old-time rock" with bands like AC DC, Deep purple, Whitesnake etc.
And when it comes to guitarists, i like people like Satch, Petrucci, Bryan May and so on.

Ok, now over to my playing:

First of all I want too say that everything is NOT as bad as it may look like below. My playing ability I would say is a steady lvl. 6.

Until recently (about a month ago) I always tried to "just play it", but I didn't know quite what I was doing... So then I started practicing more rhythm (to songs, not with metronome), I started reading Andrews theory lessons (I'm about half way through), and I started practicing scales and improvising over songs (the major scale).

But then I figured out that I was not satisfied with my tone, and soundings... and about everything which has to do with recording. So then I dropped of at all the things above to focus on recording...

But for two days ago, I finally got satisfied with my recordings and such, so now I'm back on track again... This is why all of your questions make me seem like someone who absolutely know nothing about anything... even if I may do. Hope you know what I'm talking about... To make it short: I don't know all of theory, scales and such, but it is exactly what I'm practicing at the moment...

Things about my playing which I REALLY have to improve:

On the technique:
My vibrato (especially on bends)
The rest is not too needy... for now...

And now to about everything you asked if I could do

I am bad at improvising
I don't know any full scales by heart
I lack some theory knowledge
And no, I don't use metronome...

If you could improve one thing with this program, what would it be?
Well... I think everything above speaks for itself, but the thing I actually want to improve the most is my vibrato... I believe I'm already working on the scales and stuff, but my vibrato I can't seem to figure about how to get right...


Things I'm good at.

I'm able to learn stuff fast (I believe)
I know how to play it, I just don't know what I'm doing yet...


Over to the video:



This is my old rec video, I have not been able too record to many things because of I was not happy with the sound... but I will try too record later on (as soon as possible) the solo for "Sometimes I feel like screaming" by deep purple... I think that this solo will show more about what I am able to play...

That was a lot for now... (sorry for my poor English)

Thanks a lot for being my mentor and Im looking forward to start a.s.a.p.

Regards: Vemund

I will try post something within the next week

Only one problem: I cant get the file to open ... when I press on the file I only get the "board message"

... and where did your post go?

Very good Vermond!
Your playing is not bad at all!
Let's work in that direction and try to get you to play with more depth.
We'll start with some vibrato exercises.

Assignment 1 - vibrato

Take a look at Carlos' great melodic solo in G.
The theme is fairly simple to memorize, but I'd like you to add some wide vibrato for every longer notes...
Concentrate on you rhythm while doing the vibrato motion.
You want to try to get a vibrato that is in tempo with the track.

I am trying to get the backing track from Carlos and will post it here if I can get it.
If not, I'll create one...

Once you are done, record your take either by video or audio and upload it here.

If you could post something within a week that would be great!

Let me know if you need any help!
Good luck!




Haha!
I'm sorry, that was someone else's assignment!
Yours is right below. :-)

Will do I'm going to start on the lesson at once!

Great!
Just let me know if you need any help!

Ok, now my fingers are sore and my recording is done!
So whenever you post the backing i will post my take

Haha! Don't hurt yourself!!!
I just sent another email to Carlos. Hopefully we'll have the backing soon!
If not, I'll create a backing based on that song and post it here..
If I haven't gotten anything by tomorrow evening, I'll make the backing...

He he, no problem

I just used too much slide in practice I think, and I could never
get the rhythm right when recording... even if the lesson itself wasn't hard at all!

Hehe!

OK!
Carlos didn't get back to me yet, so I decided to recreate the backing track for you...
Here it is, tempo is at 80..
Once again, nothing super hard here, but really concentrate on both rhythm placement and vibrato on the linger notes...
Try to have a vibrato that follows the beat...

Click to view attachment

Great!

I will upload my take tomorrow (probably)
I still need to do some mixing and stuff.
And its quite late for a "school-night" to start with this now

No problem!
Just remember, focus on rhythm placement and on the vibrato! :-)

Just wanted to check on you and see how everything is going?
Let me know if you need anything man, I'm there for you!

I'm sorry for the delay... it seems there was a lot more school work than I thought at first... I will see if I can finish tonight (probably not ) But I'm free most of tomorrow, so I will have it uploaded within tomorrow evening at least

Oh no problem at all man!
I just want to be sure that you're OK and that you didn't encounter any problems.
I'm looking forward to hearing what you did!

Ok, finally here are my upload of the solo

Be aware of that I noticed some weak points in my playing when mixing everything together, but I think its not too many faults...

(btw. This is not the guitar I mainly use, the other one did not work at the moment hehe )

Click to view attachment

Also, besides the melodic solo in GM I have also focused on mainly five things the last week :

* Theory - I know about half of Andrews theory lessons
* Chords - not "the chords", but how to play them with no "strict form" in right tempo, if you see what I mean (It's hard to translate it... )
* Scales - I have learnt the major and minor scales by heart now, but play them best in G

* Sweeping - I'm doing some basic sweep exercises
* Vibrato - I'm of course focusing on the vibrato also every time I play

You see, I was wondering if in the next assignment if we could mix up some of those things??? ... I mean of course, if you don't have other assignments lined up already, or if you want me to improve this one...

For an example: With my guitar teacher here at home I have gotten the task to play and record the chords (with no firm form) to the song "soldier of fortune" by Deep Purple, and then creating a solo over the backing I then have made...

Of course... If its not to much to ask

Cheers!

Good job!

One thing that I think would help your playing greatly is to add some rhythm to your vibrato.
What you recorded sounds great, but on the longer notes, I think adding a slower vibrato movement that fits the tempo would give it a deeper richer appeal.
No need to redo this though, just think about it when you play. :-)

What you are currently working on is great and the next assignment kind of goes along what you are trying to achieve.
We'll try to combine all the techniques you want into a composition style.

Assignment 2: writing

We'll use the same backing you just used, but this time I'd like you to write your own melodic lead.
Start by finding the melody, then make it interesting on your guitar by adding some embellishments such as maybe a little sweep part, some bends, vibrato.. Anything you can add to make your melody shine.

You don't need to write or record something over the whole backing, but at least on the full chord progression (which repeats several times during the backing)

Let me know if you have any questions!

Keep up the great work, you are doing wonderful!

Ok, great!

Thanks for the great comments!

I will start whenever I get the time, but I really hope you understand that the schedule is a bit tight at the moment ... I'm sure it's the same thing for you... I just want to say I don't have the time to record it within this weak... But I will do my best to get my take done nicely and as soon as possible

Cheers!

Great!\
Yeah, I absolutely understand that you are busy, we all are!
No problem at all, I don't want this to be stressful at all! :-)
Let me know if you need anything!

Hi David!

I just went by to say that I have been REALLY busy lately! And I have not had much time to work on the assignment, but I have found some space the next couple of days (finally ). And now that gr4 is out on the market I'm probably going to by it (as soon as possible). But I still have played some guitar (duh ), and I have really improved on improvising, and especially rhythm, so I think my take will be a bit of a improvisation... (hehe)

Cheers!

Excellent!
I'm looking forward to hearing what you worked on! :-)

Ok David!

So last night I bought the gr4, and I must say that it seams to work great!

And here are my take:

Click to view attachment

You may notice that both the video and the sound was lagging a lot, and it seems that no matter how many takes I do, this will always happen (maybe you know what went wrong?).... So I understand if it is a bit hard to evaluate the video... Anyway, the take was about 90 % improvising. This is because of that I had a plan (which didn't work for long), and I have learnt where you could take those "runs" in about 5 positions, and also I knew what I was doing at the end...

Cheers!

Hmmm. Not sure why you audio is interrupted... Does it do that only when recording video?
I can still tell that this is a well done job though. :-)

We'll continue on this path and develop a stronger fretboard knowledge.

Assignment 3: Fretboard mastery

Instead of using the minor scale like you did, we'll focus on minor pentatonic scales.
The minor pentatonic scale is very close to the minor scale, it only has 5 notes instead of 7...
Following are the 5 pentatonic positions you'll use here"

Position 1
Click to view attachment

Position 2
Click to view attachment

Position 3
Click to view attachment

Position 4
Click to view attachment

Position 5
Click to view attachment

I would like you to write a very simple lick using position 1, then try to find different ways to play that lick using the other positions.
You don't have to use all 5 positions, sometimes some positions won't be very comfortable for that lick...

Try to write 5 little licks on the 1st position, and video record yourself playing that original lick and at least one other way to play that lick...

Let me know if you need any help!

PS: Feel free to record several videos for each lick instead of recording all of them on the same video...

Hi David!

I will get on the assignment right now!

Just some questions to the new MTP rules:

* Is this the first weekly assignment?
* Are we supposed to deliver the REC video in the beginning of November (as a task in this month), or in the end of November ( as a task to next month)?
* Is it possible if I could work on a rec as an addition to the assignment with you on this board? ...I mean, if I could pick a video, show you the progress, and then you could help me work on the lesson... I'm btw currently fine with almost any level 6 lesson (and bellow), and I'm working on Emir's Climax in a solo (lvl7), and if we maybe could decide on which lesson to pick...

Hehe so many questions ... anyway... I'm on to my assignment

PS. The audio in GR4 is not being interrupt during normal playing...

Cheers!

Glad you saw the new rules, I was just going to let you know about it...
I still need to open a new thread for this month's MTP. I'll take care of that later today...

As far as the REC video, from what I understand it will be for next November and will have to do with what we've been working so far. I'm open to your suggestions as far as video...

OK

Just something about the assignment:

I have written one lick in the first position, am I supposed to write 5 variations of that lick in the first position, or am I supposed to write 5 pretty similar licks in each box/position? ... or am I supposed to do something different...?

Something different.. :-)

I want you to write a very short lick in one position, then write the same exact lick (same notes), but fit it in another position.
Basically if someone listens to your lick, he should not be able to hear the difference between the one played in the 1st position and the other...

Aha!

So I are going to create 5 variations of the same lick with the same notes (of course all around the fretboard...) !...?

Exactly!
But if you can't (sometimes it won't be possible) you don't have to write 5...
At least 2 would be great (2 more than the original one)... :-)