Hi there Emir,

Just wanted to check something with you as I'm slowly going through all the videos and getting them down at a VERY slow tempo at the moment!!

The guitar I'm using is a Fender Strat, and due to the vintage 21 frets I can't reach those 22nd fret notes, is it ok to transpose these sections an octave down?

The stretch for video 4 is a tough one, but I have mammoth spider hands so with practise I think it's within my reach - upto speed may take quite a while however, and same goes for the rest!

Cheers,

Adam

I have just seen it. There is 22nd fret on a couple of places on video 4. You will then need to play one octave down. It should still sound good. It will be a tough stretch but there is no other option. I think there are no more places with 22nd fret used. I would like to see you playing this tune. Upload video once you get all the parts at least half speed.

Edit: because you are playing video 4 an octave down, you have to continue the part from video 5 an octave down as well. They are connected.

Good luck

Cheers Emir, I shall certainly upload a video once I feel I've got it to my ability at half speed. I'm certainly finding some parts more difficult that others, so I may have to upload segments of the tune rather than as a full take but I shall see how much progress I make over the week.

No rush mate when you think you are ready then upload. I am really excited I will see someone playing it

It's going to be a huge challenge thats for sure! But thats what makes it all the more fun!

Emir,
This is a great lesson. I am really not much a neo-classical guy but I am gonna give this one a serious go!! Between this one and of couple of Muris's lessons my technique should get a serious workout. I have been wanting to work on my 3-string sweeps as well and this will be a great context to do it in. I'll post a take when I get it down. Thanks for the lesson, you ROCK!!

Thank you for this post. Yes it will be really cool to see you playing it. I am happy that you found a right place of using licks like 3 string arpeggio. In this lesson you can find one in F major and a diminished one. Of course I am here for any help if you need it.

cheers

Hi Emir,
I tore into it this morning. It is exactly what I needed. I am about half way through it, just getting the notes under my fingers that is. Some very cool licks in here that I have always kind of practiced but it will be cool to be able to put them in the context of a song. Thanks again for the cool lesson. You Bosnian guitarists ROCK!!!

Monte

I learnt this all last night and was shredding it up but then unfortunately I woke up after falling out of bed

OC you kill me

I am very very happy if you found something good for yourself that you can use. Can't wait to hear when you play it

Emir, could I be a real pain and request a take by you at 60bpm with the backing track?

I've been practising with a metronome and within GuitarPro, and am having timing issues when playing with the backing track and it would really help me nail some of the starting points to some of the licks.

Especially having trouble with counting in the lick in video 2!

Good news is so far I've got up to Video 9 down to memory, and now making sure its all in time and everything rings out properly. Then I'll start linking the parts together, and move on to the later video's after that.

Yes I can post the track here but maybe tomorrow. You can also slow the tempo in guitar pro and turn the click on. I know it is better if I record it but at least until I find some time for it.

Cheers

Thanks alot Emir, I've been setting the GP5 file to half speed as well, It's mainly a issue I have with getting it to work with the backing track.

I have difficulty "hearing" how it sounds within the backing track at the slower speed- if that makes sense.

Hearing a take at that speed would really help, thanks a lot!

It's great fun to learn and it is pushing me a lot. I'm trying to pay strict attention to getting the timing perfect as I always seem to learn things by replicating what I hear instead of understanding the note duration in written form. One of my weaknesses!

Thanks again.

Hi Emir,
If you could post the original backing at full speed that would be cool!! I can slow it down using "transcribe". Thanks.

Monte

I have transcribe as well but if you slow it down to 60bpm it's not very good quality. I will post now.



I understant. I will record tomorrow

Thanks Emir!! This is gonna be a cool lesson to work on. I'll post a video when I get it down. BTW, do you use hybrid picking much in your playing? Thanks again!!

Monte

Yes sometimes when needed. I don't think there was any hybrid picking in this lesson.

Hi

Here is the solo in 60 bpm. Sorry my guitar is a bit out of tune, I just came home and did it quickly, didn't really have time to polish anything. I have to tell you that for me is 3 times more difficult to play it slow like this It just doesn't go

But I hope this can help you

cheers

Excellent! Thanks so much, that will really help set the timing solid for me. In the past when practising I've ALWAYS sped up when learning way to fast, leaving sweeps and alternate picking runs way too sloppy. Lots of mishits and missed notes, so I am trying to get the technique down perfectly before even attempting to speed it up.

In terms of my progress, I've now learnt upto the very last video so now moving on to getting each segment a bit more polished

A few more days, and hopefully I'll be able to post a video!

Thanks again!

Thanks, that's really cool to hear. Post it here also when you're ready

Any chance of you doing a 15bpm take for me to give this lesson a go

hahaha, this one felt like 0bpm. I coudln't believe how strange I felt

I'd imagine it's like driving a Ferrari at 15mph

Emir,
I have almost gotten all the way through this lesson and I was wondering if you could do me a favor. Could you kind of "describe" as best you can how you do that last lick with the whammy bar? I have watched the video but my timing or something is off and I can't get it to sound like you do. Kind of a weird request I know but any insight you can give me would help. This lesson is just what I needed!! Tons of stuff I have wanted to practice but never did because I just got tired of doing "excercises". It is great to see all these techniques in a cohesive piece of music. Thanks!!!

Monte

Hi

I will try to explain what I play there. Keep in mind that this type of lick doesn't need to be in time. It's how you feel it.

First I press whammy down before I play any note. Then I hit a note (on 12 fret 3rd string) and slowly release whammy. When the whammy reaches the neutral position I continue to bend the note up full step with the left hand (not whammy). All this is a continuous process, no stop. It should sound like a one long bend from the start until now.

The second part is opposite. So now you've done your bend and hold it there. Slowly release bend and when you get down to the G note, continue to bend down with a whammy. This should also be like one long bend with no stop. The difference here from the first part is when you get to that G note, you start playing hammer ons and pull offs (12, 0, 12, 0...) while pushing the whammy bar down. Really up to you how many of these (12, 0) you want to play. They should be fast to be effective. At least 3 of them.

I hope this helps

Perfect!! Just what I was hoping for. Thanks Emir!!

Monte

Thought I'd update on my progress:

So far so good! Today's probably the first day I'm starting to feel comfortable playing most of this (at the relatively slow 60bpm ). It's still fairly sloppy and only managed a couple of complete runs without serious mistakes. Still a lot more refining to do for sure.

The only riff I'm having real problems with is the one in Vid 13. It may just be that I'm accenting the wrong note's. Technically it's definetly within my grasps, it's just getting it to SOUND right that I'm struggling with at the moment. I'll focus on that tomorrow

Really enjoying this Emir, one of those times you feel like you're genuinely improving your playing opposed to playing catch up with abilites that you've let slide over time.

That's very good to hear. Great feeling when you realize you are making progress and getting there. I haven't had it for a long time The last time I practiced like that was a couple of years ago.

The important thing about video 13 is that you have to execute every single hammer on and pull off correctly and pick the other ones. That's maybe what's causing you feel wrong accents. That's a Paul Gilbert lick and it's kind of non-stop out of a natural timing feel because of note group structure. Don't think too much about that, just when you start that run play consistently until you get to the last note. Make sure you finish the run a bit before tapping so you have time to jump there and tap the next phrase. When you get to a faster tempo backing, you will play it a lot easier as those phrases make much more sense if they are up to speed. I really struggled recording the 60bpm take

Now you can believe when I said in the lesson description

If you are not familiar with this kind of playing I suggest that you take a couple of bars a day until you master them. That way you can possibly get the whole piece in about a week if you spend some serious time practicing.

that this was really achieveable if you set your goal and go for it. When I said you can get the whole piece, I didn't mean to play it perfectly but you can understand all the parts and then polish them one by one.

Good luck and let me know how it is going.

I think I'm going to take your advice and work on the timing to the gilbert lick when I push the tempo up a little, it's still causing me trouble

It is a great feeling when you progress a little bit yeah, especially after so long of staying fairly static. This is more my fault than anything else, all you need to improve your playing is something to practise but most importantly putting the time into learning. I just need to start putting the time in

As for getting a video up, I'm going to aim for a monday upload as that would be nicely in keep with your statement above

Only problem is I'm going to have to work out how to record a video! I've no problems recording audio, have done that many times before in multi-track software- but I have no webcam or external speakers on my laptop. So the easy way of playing direct in to the computer with an effects pedal and playing everything through the speakers and capturing it through a web cam isn't going to work.

I do have a digital camera that can take video, but the laptop speakers are so poor (and only one of them works!) so I'd rather work out a way of getting a recording take done on the computer and sync up a video. Although that I'll need to learn too! heh.

Is it possible to download the backing tracks? I can't see a simple way of recording a take without having the backing track to insert into my mult-track. Although I hear there's copyright issue's with that.

Anyway, enough of the ramble. Lessons going really well, and feeling increasingly comfortable with playing it - just need to upload a take.

Cheers!

You can record guitar in your recording software while recording video. Then take recorded track and video track and put them together in the video editing software. Get rid of audio picked by the camera and sync properly recorded take with the picture.

Ok, as promised here is a take I've just recorded at 60bpm.

Well when I say just recorded, I mean about 5 hours ago as it's taken me that long to work out how to encode the video without the sound magically becoming out of synch after rendering!!

Anyway, this take is obviously a maze of areas to work on. I'm not that happy with it, but it does show what my ability is like after about a week of practise.

I'm aware I messed up the timing a couple of times, most noteably by missing out one of the riffs before the paul gilbert lick - meaning I wait a load more time for the tapping part.

Also I tried to be a bit reserved with the whammy lick at the end because my strat goes so out of tune when using it!

There's lots and lots to work on here I know, but thought I'd be honest with how I'm doing.

Apologies for the poor video quality - I'll perhaps do another take tomorrow in better lighting. Because it's a fun process to do now I know how to do it!

Cheers!
Click to view attachment

Good Job man!!! Now it is just a matter of repetition and slowly speeding it up. Other than the timing issue before the tapping lick I thought you did a really good job, especially for only one weeks work!!!

Monte

I have to say that I am really nicely surpised. Very good progress. I can see that you are very careful and that doesn't allow you to relax yet but I am sure you will get there very soon. Now I will give you some tips to solve the timing issues

- Lick from video 2 you played after the right beat. It starts on the 3rd sixteenth note of that bar or the 2nd eight note whatever is easier for you to count. The lick itself is in 16th notes, only the last note is a quarter note. Look at this example. This is one 4/4 bar. S = 1 sixteenth note, X = where you should start the lick, A is where you actually started playing. The second X is the last D quarter note on the 4th string.

    X                            X 
s s s s    s s s s    s s s s    s s s s
           A

The next one starts right after this one on the 1st beat of the next bar played in 16th triplets.

There was exactly the same problem with the lick from video 12 but here you started earlier. The first note should be as per example above. If you play the GP file with the click you should be able to recognize that. Listen to the kick and snare drum and try to make that as your orientation. Because of this the next lick from video 13 started way before than it is supposed to start.

When you fix these things then I will tell you about picking and fingering. For now this is great progress. Well done.

Thanks Emir Some really usefull tips, I've been desperately trying to get the timing of the licks from both of those video's in time and failing! I hadn't even noticed the mistake for the lick in video 12, but now it makes sense to my timing issues.

I think note durations and how they sound/feel and play is one of my biggest weaknesses. I can't quite count out 3 sixteenth notes in my head, but if I know how a lick sounds thats played in sixteenth notes I can replicate it by listening to how it sounds.


Anyway, I'll work on the timing issues, unfortunately nothings "clicked" yet - but I'll keep at it.

Thanks again



Thanks man! Got some things to work through for sure, but I'm glad with the weeks progress You should get a take up at some point too!

I haven't had as much time as I would like to work on this lesson. I am in the middle of moving but my goal is to really start practicing it in december so hopefully I'll get a take up in a few weeks, not a full tempo though
The only way for you to fix the timing issues is to learn to count. It can be frustrating but once you get it down it will help your playing/phrasing immensely. Keep working man!!

Monte

Hi Emir,

I made this video earlier, but didn't want to upload it as the playing was pretty sloppy in a good few areas, and I know I can play it better... but seeing as I'm not going to be able to make another video until tomorrow I thought I may as well upload it and see if you think I've sorted out the timing issues at least= although I'm aware that the paul gilbert lick at the end isn't in time, I can play it in time with the Guitar pro file. Just to ask, is the guitarpro file different to the recorded one you sent me? Just because it seems in the recording you sent you come in before the bar, and in the guitar pro file you come in on the first beat in the bar. Maybe I'm just not hearing it right

I think I've solved them, but I'm not 100% sure. Can't wait to start speeding it up and take your advice on better fingering or picking

Cheers,
Click to view attachment

Sorry I've been away for a couple of days so I missed this one. Yes, it's 10 times better now. Timing is now ok just that Gilbert lick needs to be fixed. 3rd note of that lick comes to the 1st beat of the new bar. Maybe this will help. I have to check GP file to understand what you were telling me. The fast scale before the middle section has a bend. You didn't bend that note. The rest is very good. Next time when you play in a faster tempo I can advise you for fingering.

well done

Thanks Emir

I shall get cracking on speeding it up! Feels much more comfortable picking at higher tempo's, but left hand accuracy is compromised so I need to work on that the most I think.

I'll make sure I make the changes you mentioned too

Damn those sixteenth note triplets are causing me some serious grief at 90bpm!

I'm finding a very relaxed and fluid movement with the right hand really helps with the picking speed, but the alternate picking accuracy is dramatically reduced for me due to the very light picking.

I try to keep my picking hand moving as minimally as possible and keep it accurate, but it is slow progress. I think I've hit a wall that I need to start grinding away at.

You have to pick stronger. No light picking in this music mate Just dig down as agressive as possible and that will give you confidence

Ah! Then that was the perfect timing to find out that, as I've just been grinding away at trying to get it up to speed. I recorded a SHOCKING audio take, purely for me to work against each day - to show that I am actually making progress.

Aggressive picking it is then. Although I find that much harder, but it makes much more sense in feeling the note rhythm.

Thanks!

EDIT: Picking from the wrist only is the correct way isn't it? Try not to get the forearm and sholder creating the movement?

Pick from any angle that makes you feel comfortable but your hand should always be relaxed, or at least look realaxed See mine and you'll get the point. I mix movement from wrist and elbow, what's the bloody word

I'm making progress! Very slowly, and much finger aching but with much more feel with playing a bit harder.

This really is a speed barrier for me, its totally into the world of the unknown at 90bpm, which is still quite slow in relation to 120bpm.

I feel (hope!) that it's a barrier that sort of just clicks after some dedicated progression and time, but at the moment it's slow progress.

I'm relentlessly practising the full piece at 90bpm, making many mistakes with each take. Would it be more efficent practise to learn each individual part at 90bpm first, making sure they're accurate and then attempting the full piece along with backing?

Or is it fine to just carry on playing the whole piece, and just slowly improving the mistakes.

This is quite the task I've set myself Emir


EDIT: I exagerate a little bit it seems when I re-read this, by relentlessly I mean: Playing the piece all the way through maybe 20 times a day, in one session. No practise over the weekend either as the girlfriend was eating up all my time

Here's todays 90bpm take - I'm having so much fun with this lesson!

Click to view attachment

Yes, this is exactly how you should practice.

This last 90 bpm take is very good. Again timing problems but that's ok as long as you are aware of that. The whole thing is getting together and you have made a great progress. I am expecting to hear this take 50% better in a week. Once you get this tempo right 120 will be a piece of cake

Be careful with the little bends in some phrases. They don't need to be exact half step, it should be almost like you're bending it uncounciously (just a slight touch).

Well done

I think I'm getting there with the 90bpm take

Slow progress, but as I expected when getting up to this kinda speed. It's a barrier I feel i'm slowly chipping away at and making some sound progress, especially at least when it comes to thinking "this is easier than before". (Emphasis on BEFORE, as this really isnt easy! )

So yes, I slacked a bit towards the end of last week in terms of keeping the practise regime constant, but this week I'm back on top of it and making some head ground.

Starting to feel a bit overwhelmed by the possibility of taking this up to 120bpm! I think I could manage some of it at that tempo, or at least I have in a couple of run throughs I've attempted, but certainly not with any of the sixteenth triplets! They are still well and truely NOT clean on my 90bpm, but like I said, making improvement.

I think i'm just having to get used to the faster wrist action with the triplets, as it's a different type of motion that I'm not used to... If that makes sense.

Oh well... Look out for the next 90bpm take by the end of the week!

cool mate I am waiting for the next take

Here's my newest take,

Bit sloppy still and certain area's I can play better - just every take I do I make a couple of mistakes, so inevitable that some would be on the recording!

Click to view attachment

Right... I need a kick up the arse a bit with this. Think I've hit a wall in the 90-120bpm progression. I need to really dedicate some time to getting each lick clean one by one.

Thinking of only concentrating on four bars a day.

I really have to thank you for your help with me on this lesson, my speed and more importantly my expression and personality has improved drastically.

My alternate picking feels much more natural, although still needs some work. It feels like a fluid movement opposed to a forced one.

Such a great lesson Emir, keep them coming!