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Hello!
So here are the answers to questions

Name: Ivan

Years playing: 4

How many minor pentatonic positions can you play? This is a tough one I can use effectively only 1 or 2, but in theory I know all of them (but can't apply to my playing - the further I get from the 1st position, the more wrong notes I hit ). Scale knowledge is probably my biggest flaw.

Do you use a metronome? Yes, but most of the time I play either unplugged (without metronome) or with a backing track.

Can you improvise? A bit, but it is limited because of my fretboard knowledge.

If you could improve one thing with this program, what would it be? Despite my poor scale knowledge applied to guitar and improvisation skills, most of all I'd like to improve composition and arranging skills

A word about my influences : I'm really into almost every style of music, but my main influences are : Steve Vai, Joe Satriani, Andy James, Dream Theater, Blind Guardian, Blackmore's Night and many more (so mostly I play rock - metal ). Also I'd include celtic and video game (especially orchestral) music in general.
As for video, it's a little complicated, as I've never recorded my playing, and I'm not sure what to record (I mostly play "meaningless" exercises or parts of songs, but I know very little compositions in their entirety). What should be the approximate length of recording and what would you like to see in it - technique, sound, or something else? I'm a bit sick at the moment, but I'll try to record something on the weekend. Meanwhile, you can check out my performances from collabs I've taken part in (they are just audio though):
http://www.guitarmasterclass.net/guitar_fo...st&id=17532
http://www.guitarmasterclass.net/guitar_fo...st&id=17387

Thanks for accepting me, I'm really glad that I'm in MTP program with you Looking forward to strating it

This is great Ivan, thanks!
No need to record a video, your samples give me a good idea of where you're at.
Since you want to further your knowledge on scales and arrangement, I think we should work towards that...

Do you have a good understanding of modes?
If I ask you to play a Major 6th from an A note, can you get there directly?

Yes. Theory was never a problem for me, and I got grasp of modes pretty much instantly

I can play it instantly, but only in 1 place, and I'm not able to name the note. To find other places, or to get the name I need to do some counting.

Great Ivan!
I think we'll start with a simple arrangement exercise.

Assignment 1 - Arranging a simple melody

The goal of this first assignment will be for you to find chords that will work over the following theme.
There are more than one possible answers here...

I recorded a simple theme using the provided scale shapes.
You will need to create some chords that fit the recording.
The chords you will find need to use the notes of the mentioned scales.

Here is the theme you need to find an arrangement for:

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The theme was recorded using this A Ionian (A Major) position:

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Here is the same scale, except that I wrote it on the entire fretboard so that you can find or create some chord shapes over it:

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Record at least 3 arrangements by playing the chords you found over the melody. You can do video or audio here...

Let me know if you have any trouble!

I'd love to get something from you within the next week so that we can move forward!
Good luck!

Great!

I've got some questions before I begin:
1) Should I use the same chords for all 3 arrangements or can I vary them?
2) Should I use only my guitar for chords?
3) Can I transcribe the melody and use guitar pro as a helper, or would it be considered cheating?

You can use the same chords, but in a different order.
But if you use different chords for all of your takes that's great too!

Yeah, use your guitar only.. :-)

You can use Guitar Pro to help, but make sure your chords are played using only notes of the scale. :-)
\

As a starting point I've sketched the very basic chord progression in GTP. Please tell me if I've got any mistakes (I really doubt that Esus2 in "heavy").

Going to develop it on the weekend

By the way, how should I call the chords in bars 9 and 11 in "light" - Dmaj7 or F#m/D?

Yeah, you got it right!
There are a lot of different possibilities here, but all the chords you wrote are correct.
That E sus might sound a little weird to you, but the theory of it is absolutely right!

Try to write one or two more and record yourself playing guitar over it and post your work here.
Great job!

Oh, and when you record your guitar, please use a cleanish sound so that I can hear it well..

Thanks!

Hi David!
I've been busy in the university for the last 3 days, but now I'm pretty much free for the rest of the week I'll try to record something today or tomorrow.

Excellent!
I'm looking forward to checking out your work!
If this was too fast, I also have a slower backing.
Just let me know! :-)

How is everything going man? :-)
Feel free to ask if you need anything!

I was a little too optimistic about beung free and about my playing I've actually never practiced chord changes and stuff (actually I hated chords from the first minute I picked up the guitar ), so it takes some time to get comfortable with it.
One question to make sure I understood you correctly : do you want me to use essentially the same chord progression and play it in different ways, or should I vary the chords (chord letters to be more specific)?

I'll try to record something today

Basically, I'd like you to do exactly what you did on Guitar Pro, but with the guitar. :-)

Are you stuck?
Maybe this assignment was a little too hard? If you need help, please let me know!

No, the assignment is ok, I'm just having some time problems. I will upload my takes on this assignment tomorrow (that is to say today) *fingers crossed*.

Also I know that I'm late with mixolydian collaboration, but can I still upload my take during the next day or two?

Great!
Unfortunately I closed the Mixo thread, just recorded all comments today..
Have you recorded you take yet?
If so, I might be able to add it...

Sorry, havent recorded the collab take yet Guess I'll have to miss it.

Finally, here are some takes Hope I got the task right. There are some timing mistakes primarily in the places where chords change. If you want, I can upload some more takes tomorrow (today), but now it's 5:30AM here, so I can't record any more I've tried to shuffle all the chords, but the ones that always stay the same are the initial A and "resolution" E in the middle. Also the sound is not so good, but it seems to be almost the same on every preset. If you can't hear clearly what's going on, I can try to remix the takes with different preset, as I've got dry signal saved.

Great job Ivan!
That's exactly what I was expecting.
I wanted to start with this assignment to illustrate the fact that a note by itself doesn't have much meaning.
By adding chords to each note of the melody, these notes are "attracted" to your chord and that is what makes them sound the way they do. Great job!

Here's another way to do it, I think you used your ear mostly which is very good. But here a little reminder of the theory behind that exercise:

The theme I gave you was in the key of A Major.
That means that all the notes of the theme are found in the A Major scale (or A Ionian, same thing...).
Therefore, in order to create some chords that would fit the theme, the chords need to be built on the same A Major scale.

Let's write that scale:

A-B-C#-D-E-F#-G#

Let's build some 4 note chords (Root, 3rd, 5th and 7th) over each note of the scale:

A-C#-E-G# = AMaj7
B-D-F#-A = Bm7
C#-E-G#-B = C#m7
D-F#-A-C# = DMaj7
E-G#-B-D = E7
F#-A-C#-E = F#m7
G#-B-D-F# = G#m7b5

I hope this makes sense!

Here's the next little exercise.

Assignment 2 : chord theory

Write the 7 chords (4 note chords) found in the following Major scales just like I did for the above A Major

1. C Major

2. G Major

3. D Major


Let me know if you need help! Make sure you write the notes of the chords and the chord it should give...

Actually I've gone with theoretic approach on that one : I've looked on what notes the melody contains in each bar and tried to form a chord which contains at least one note of the melody (the longer the better) and does not have unpleasant clashes (actually there is a Dm7 in one take which is just a collection of all notes of the bar ). Then I've chosen the chords by ear from those sets for each bar (so that the progression makes some sense). I hope I've explained it clearly enough

Second assignment is easy, because I know about scale harmonization
1) C Major C D E F G A B
Cmaj7 = C E G B
Dm7 = D F A C
Em7 = E G B D
Fmaj7 = F A C E
G7 = G B D F
Am7 = A C E G
Bm7b5 = B D F A

2) G Major G A B C D E F#
Gmaj7 = G B D F#
Am7 = A C E G
Bm7 = B D F# A
Cmaj7 = C E G B
D7 = D F# A C
Em7 = E G B D
F#m7b5 = F# A C E

3) D Major D E F# G A B C#
Dmaj7 = D F# A C#
Em7 = E G B D
F#m7 = F# A C# E
Gmaj7 = G B D F#
A7 = A C# E G
Bm7 = B D F# A
C#m7b5 = C# E G B

I'm probably doing it the other way around - I use maj-min-min-maj-maj-min-dim formula and get the chords from it, and then look at what notes are in the chords.

Very well done!
Since you have your theory down quite well, let's apply this to harmonizing licks...
I recorded 4 short melodic sequences in different keys.
I would like you to harmonize those sequences on your guitar in thirds, and in 5ths...

Your first step is to understand the recorded sequence. They all have a logical repetitive pattern.

Once you have that, find the corresponding 3rd and 5th mode up and repeat the same sequence using those modes...

Please write down the modal positions you are using as well. All the recorded licks work well with 3 finger per string diagrams...

Let me know if you need help!

Take your time on this, try to be as clean as possible to really match the original sequences...

A Ionian

Click to view attachment

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B Lydian

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F# Phrygian

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G Mixolydian

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Ok, done it

I hope those takes are clean enough, I can't really say if this is the case because I've got a bad ear for rhythmic impurities.
My guitar is a bit too loud, especially in phrygian part. In each take, first goes harmonization in 5ths, then in 3rds. I've used basic 3 note per string modal shapes to play those sequences, here they are:
1) A Ionian
3rds - C# Phrygian
5ths - E Mixo

2) B Lydian
3rds - D# Aeolian
5ths - F# Ionian

3) F# Phrygian
3rds - A Mixo
5ths - C# Locrian

4) G Mixo
3rds - B Locrian
5ths - D Dorian

Haha! You nailed it!
Good job! Your scale knowledge is better than what you told me it was in your introduction!

Assignment 4: Modal chords

Our next step is going to combine the modal knowledge you proved you have with a similar arrangement exercise we did on your first assignment.

We'll work in A and record 7 little chordal riffs to fit our modes.

Here's how it works, we'll use at least 2 chords (4 note chords).

The first chord is given in the mode... (ex: for C Lydian, CMaj7)
We'll add a 2nd chord to that one. However, the hord that we will add HAS to contain the characteristic note of the mode we are working on. In the case of C Lydian, we have a CMaj7 chord. As you know, C Maj7 could also be a C Ionian mode. The question we need to ask is: "which note differentiates C Lydian from C Ionian?
The answer is F#...
Therefore, you must pick from the chords found in a C Lydian harmonization a chord that contains an F# Lydian.

You need to do the same for

A Ionian
A Dorian
A Phrygian
A Lydian
A Mixolydian
A Aeolian
A Locrian

Once you have them, record them!

Let me know if you have any questions... I'll give you a week for this one, unless you surprise me and finish it right away like you did for the previous 2!!!

I'll do it as soon as I can, but I cant do it today (I'm going to a Dream Theater show at last! ), so expect some results tomorrow

Is it a typo? Should it be just F#?

Sorry, it's a typo..
That's what happens when I get up at 4AM... :-/
Have fun at the show! I always wanted to see DT but never have.
Enjoy!

Whew, finally got home

I've got 2 questions about this assignment:
1) Should I only use 7th chords or can I add normal major/minor and "sus" and "add" chords?
2) Should I use only 2 chords in each progression, or can I go for 3 or 4?

Only use regular 7th chords (Root, 3rd,5th and 7th)
You can use more than two chords as long as one of the chords contains the characteristic note...

I think I've done it

Hope it is right, because I've never gone with "only 7 chords" approach, so some progressions sound weird to me

Ionian
Characteristic notes - don't really know
Imaj7 - IVmaj7 - V7 - Imaj7
Amaj7 - Dmaj7 - E7 - Amaj7
Lydian
Characteristic notes - #4 = D#
Imaj7 - II7
Amaj7 - B7
Mixolydian
Characteristic notes - b7 = G
I7 - bVIImaj7
A7 - Gmaj7
Aeolian
Characteristic notes - b3, b6, b7 = C, F, G
Im7 - bVIImaj7 - bVImaj7 - bVIImaj7 - Im7
Am7 - Gmaj7 - Fmaj7 - Gmaj7 - Am7
Dorian
Characteristic notes - b3, b7 (or only natural 6 if compared to aeolian) = C, G (E)
Im7 - IIm7 - Im7 - bVIImaj7
Am7 - Bm7 - Am7 - Gmaj7
Phrygian
Characteristic notes - b2, b3, b6, b7 (or only b2 if compared to aeolian) = Bb, C, F, G (Bb)
Im7 - bIImaj7 - Im7 - bVIIm7 - Im7
Am7 - Bbmaj7 - Am7 - Gm7 - Am7
Locrian
Characteristic notes - b2, b3, b5, b6, b7 = Bb, C, Eb, F, G
Im7b5 - bIImaj7
Am7b5 - Bbmaj7

Hope I got everything right

Great job!
This was a good preparation for what's next.
So, you built some chord progressions fitting each modes.
Here is a recap of the characteristic notes for each mode:

Ionian
Maj7 + 4th

Dorian
min7 + Maj6th

Phrygian
min7 + min2

Lydian
Maj7 + #4

Mixolydian
7 (Mixolydian is the only mode that uses that type of chord...)

Aeolian
min7 + Maj2 + min6

Locrian
m7b5 (Locrian is the only mode using that type of chord)

Here is a little lesson that talks about that subject:





Now we'll go a bit forward...
Following is a very simple loop using a constant A bass note.
I'd like you to record 7 modal rhythm tracks. The bass will remain in A to help all the notes of the chords give the full modal color.
This time, try to use triads (3 note chords)...

Same thing here, make sure that the tracks you build contain enough notes to give the color of the scale you're working with.
Let me know if you need help!

Tempo is 100

Click to view attachment

Thanks for the video! Now I understand exactly what you meant by characteristic notes. And realize that I've done previous assignment a bit clumsily (too many chords ). I've never actually realized that, for example, mixolydian is completely defined with only one chord!

But now I can just take chord progressions from previous exercise, remove 7th's and get progressions for this one So progressions stay basically the same, only dorian is changed to Im - IV (Am - D, maj6th is the 3rd of D) and locrian to Idim - bVIIm (Adim - Gm). Hope everything is correct

Yeah!
I listened to all 7 takes, and those are VERY characteristic of each modes.
Having the constant bass along with these chords are a great way to hear the modes and you got it well.
Next step is a bit unconventional, but here's how it goes...

I'd like you to record over the chord progressions you have done a very simple theme.
The twist is that you will need to transpose the same exact theme to each mode.
This will be done by analyzing the notes of your original theme and changing it to fit the mode you are working with.

For example, if you wrote a theme with the following notes: 3rd, 5th, 2nd; you will need to make sure you use the appropriate 3rd, 5th and 2nd for the mode you are in.

Does that make sense?

Yea, totally
i will do it as soon as I get home.
i think some themes will sound a bit weird

Yeah, they will, but it will be a good exercise!
Oh, and also, are these too easy for you? I want the exercises to be a little challenging, make you think about it..
Let me know how yyou feel about these assignments...

Too easy
just right
too hard (I doubt it... ) :-)

Actually the assignments so far are quite easy, because I know what's going on and they are very logical and "algorithmical" (which is easy for me as a mathematician and programmer ).

I'm going to record my takes tonight or tomorrow night at the latest. By the way, should I use the progressions which I've already recorded, or take one progression and do the same thing with it as with theme (change notes to fit the mode)? As I understood I should do the former

Yeah, do the former... :-)

Sorry for the delay, I was too tired yesterday to record anything.

Some takes sound weird as expected, mostly because chord progressions are different, and while I'm playing chord tones over one progression, the notes can clash in others. But I think ionian, aeolian, phrygian and locrian sound quite good. I've come up with this melody in ionian and then transposed it to other modes.

Hope I didn't alter the melody while I was recording

Good!

You are doing great. I targeted most of your assignments on the fact that you said in your presentation post that you had a poor scale knowledge.. Not quite poor!!! Let's move forward and apply that knowledge to improv...

The following backing track extract contains a modulation...
Here are the next steps.

1 Find both keys of the track, write them in your answer and record yourself improvising over the track.
The next step should help a lot once you did this.. You'll see... :-)

edit: forgot to post the backing! Here it is:

Click to view attachment

This backing is really cool!

My scale knowledge is ok when I work with them on paper or I have a couple of minutes to get the scale shape to the fretboard. For this assignment, do I need to fully improvise without any prior ideas or should I work out the solo and then record it (or a combination of two )? If it has to be full improvisation then I'm in big trouble because all my improvisation are very clumsy timing-wise as I have to think for some (long) time before, for example, changing positions.

Thanks!
Glad you like the backing..
You can prepare your improv, but try to leave a bit of improvised licks in there too...
Most importantly, make sure you use the right scales...
:-)

Hi David!

I'm afraid I'll need your help with this one, as I can't determine what is the chord progression. The first chord sounds something like A or Amaj7 and the second (I think) has some half-step movement, but I simply can't get it.

No problem, these types of chord progressions can be tricky...
Let's do it step by step...
First, here are the chords:

AMaj7 Dm7
AMaj7 Dmin7
G FMaj7
AMaj Dmin7


First, try to tie some chords together and see if you can fit all of them, or some of them into the same scale...
Let's see what you can find there..
Just write it down, we'll play later... :-)

Thanks!
Now I see... That half-step movement was probably C# of Amaj7 to D or C of Dm7.
Amaj7 and Dm7 cannot be put into one scale, so I'll have to play either A ionian or A lydian over Amaj7 and D aeolian, phrygian or dorian over Dm7. But I think ionian would be better in this situation as it contains D, so the modulation would be smoother (hopefully ). As for Dm7, I'd go for D dorian as it contains B which is also in A ionian. Also, the G and Fmaj7 chords are parts of D dorian, so I can use the same scale over Dm7 - G - Fmaj7 bit.

Is it right?

Excellent analysis!
That's exactly right.
So you will use A Ionian over the A Major chord, and D Dorian over all the rest...
Now, you can go for the short improv.
Don't kill yourself over it, we'll do another one soon using a different method...

Also, here is an important topic with new MTP requirements for you to read...
http://www.guitarmasterclass.net/guitar_fo...showtopic=31054

I'll take care of the new specs later today! :-)