Hi Muris,

In this post I will try to give you some idea on my current status, my background, goals, problems etc.

Background
My name is Roger, am from the Netherlands, 33 years old, and I have been playing the guitar effectively for about a year back in the early '90s, however lacked completely a proper lesson-plan etc etc. I was basically just trying to hit the strings and get proper sounds out of it (which to a certain extend even worked ). After this, I remained playing very minimal (sometimes once a month) for another 2 years, but then the guitars went to the attic.

Since about 1.5 years I have picked up my guitars again, and decided that this time things would go differently. I took lessons (which is extremely helpful getting the theory linked to the actual playing), but somehow it did not give me full joy. I came across GMC a while ago and since then I have developed myself quite a bit due to all the lessons, very valuable forum info and also the collabs. Since about 5 months I also play in a band, and am starting to write material for it

Besides playing the guitar, I have been frequently involved in playing music (piano, keyboards, drums), which certainly is helpful for rhythmic feeling etc.

I am interested in quite a few musical styles of which Jazz, Blues, Funk, Rock and Hard Rock are the most important ones. However, I would very much like to get more into other styles as I believe it will make me a better musician in the end.

Current status & problems
I have progressed quite considerably during the last couple of months, due the extreme increase in practicing and making it more focussed and organised. Generally speaking you can also notice this in the collabs I took part in (maybe not in all, but there is a certain line going upwards ).

Techniques
In terms of techniques I practiced most of them already on a regular basis, however there are a couple of technical points which require a lot of attention currently:

- Vibrato (no. 1 for sure)
- Bending
- Sweep picking
- Alternate picking (higher speeds)

Basically, the main objective for technique I have put myself in the forthcoming weeks is to actually achieve a controlled vibrato throughout a solo/song which is confident and contributing to the 'feeling' of the thing I am playing.

Nevertheless, besides vibrato and controlled bending, I would also really make some progress in really developing sweep picking and arpeggiated alternate picking runs at higher speeds.

In terms of rhythm playing, I am currently learning more and more chord shapes, however I would like to implement combining these chords with lead lines (hybrid picking), especially developing them in my own music (example I quite like: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iSM3FL7zUdw).

Although I would like to be able to playing some very fast runs if required, my ultimate goal is to become a good musician, and playing speed should only be a tool to reach that goal.

In terms of timing I could also learn quite a lot, although people keep telling me that I have quite a good feel for rhythm.

Theory
Theory wise, I am currently at a stage that I know e.g. the 7 3 nps boxes of the major modes, working on the harmonic minor scale currently and trying to connect all those boxes (e.g. sliding shapes through 3 boxes etc) to have proper fretboard knowledge instantly when improvising. It's really getting better and better due to a much structured approach.

Also, things as which chords to use with which modes, playing around chords, more jazz-related theory is something I am quite far in I guess (due to having teaching from a jazz player I guess ). But I certainly can learn loads more!!!!!

My major goal in terms of theory in relation to my playing would be to effectively being able to improvise on the spot using different modes. Part of this would also be developing a proper ear training to recognize all intervals.

A couple of key video's recorded in order of recording

20 Oct 2008 - Slow Blues Improv (first video recorded ever, quite happy with the licks produced, timing could have been better)


14 Dec 2008 - Christmas Rock Improv (was very happy at the time with the used techniques, maybe a bit simple here and there)


24 Jan 2009 - Stop Blues Improv (being able to switch relatively easy between the pentatonic boxes, not good use of vibrato)


12 Feb 2009 - Lick Construction Improv (achieved a fair level of picking speed and melodic/chord following improvisation, not very well controlled vibrato)


15 Feb 2009 - Fusion Jam Improv (not happy at all technique wise (vibrato/bending), first video in which I used a bit of sweep picking (yay ), timing could have been better, composing wise I am quite happy to actually compose something which is following chords, using arpeggios etc.)


Current lesson of Muris to practice
I started with the Phrygian Soloing - Intermediate, 2 weeks ago, learned the notes but then stopped it due to all the collabs etc and some personal things. Nevertheless will start this one up again tonight (update: can play the whole thing a bit sloppy at 60 bpm now). I noticed that some of the faster parts (legato + alternate picking are giving quite some problems).

Overall goal in the MTP
Improve myself as a musician and playing the guitar, which means that I will be able to make well thought own composed music which goes a bit further than the standard ABC. Furthermore, as part of this I would like to develop heavily my technique as this is definitely one of my weak spots currently (and that also limits my speed and other aspects of my playing).

I am extremely motivated to really make this one of the best experiences in my guitar playing life ever, and looking forward to start working with you Muris

If you wanna know any more details, just ask as I will probably have forgotten quite some stuff

Cheers
Roger

Hey Roger.

Watching all those clips I noticed that
you're pretty much of bluesy player which is great!

Here are 2 lessons that might fit your needs nicely.

http://www.guitarmasterclass.net/solo-guit...-blues-soloing/
http://www.guitarmasterclass.net/solo-guit...bending-lesson/

You'll find lots of bends and vibrato in those lessons
which is probably most important in blues playing.
Good thing is, it's not only one pentatonic scale up and down,
I tried so incorporate couple of scales into simple blues progression
and I hope you'll find that useful as well.

Let me know if you have any questions tho,
I'll be looking forward to your takes on those 2 lessons
in lets say 7 days.

Have a good time practicing!

Thanks Muris,

I will get on those lessons immediately tonight.

Just something I like to mention is that I actually want to progress to not be only a blues player (most of the collabs however had blues in it ) and I won't to move more into fusion/rock in the future as well. But regardless of that, I need to work big time on bending/vibrato so these lessons will be great!

Should I also produce a take on the phrygian intermediate lesson within 7 days, as it may be difficult to reach that given the timeframe?

Cheers!

EDIT: Checked the lessons out at work and they are really great!

Of course not only Blues,
I said that only because you seems to be very comfortable
with bluesy kind of playing and feel atm, that's all!!
And yes, we'll work on many other things as well,
this is just the start.
As for Phrygian lesson, it's fully up to you.
Even if you don't manage to nail lessons I gave you in 7 days
it's no big deal indeed, if you spend some time on them
I'm sure you'll get more power in vibrato and bending anyhow
which is one of our tasks here, just keep on working
and keep me updated!

Thanks a lot for the reply, I will do my utmost best to get as much out of all 3 lessons as possible

Great !

Just to quickly update you:

I am progressing fairly well with the Modern Blues lesson and the other bending lesson as well.

However one thing that stalls the progress is the fact that after I practice these lessons seriously for about 1 hour, my fingertips are totally ruined each day (and becoming painful as well), so I have to stop practicing those bends at that time (as I don't have enough power in my fingers any more to control it). This only shows to me that I really need to develop this area of bending/vibrato much more in order to get used to it.

Until now, I did not manage to record a video yet which was good enough to show you for the modern blues lesson (but this will happen before Thursday ). The other bending lesson may take a bit longer, due to the problems with hours of playing these bends currently.

No worries Roger, it is quite natural to face issues with finger tips
when working more on bends plus vibrato.
Just do it as you do know, have a break when you feel you need one
and try not to over work it cause sometimes it leads to very serious
problems and you would have to take even longer breaks to heal,
of course you know what you're doing and that won't happen.

Hi Muris,

Here is my first reasonable take on the Modern Blues Soloing lesson. It took me quite a while to get a take without quite a few errors (unfortunately, in this take the 2 whole tone bend is somewhat ruined due to string noise in this take, whilst this was much better in other takes ).

After watching the video, I am still not enthousiastic about my vibrato, but I have the feeling it's getting better since I started practicing the lesson.

I would appreciate any pointers to work on.

Gonna spend the remaining days on the other bending lesson Could you send me the backing of that lesson?

Cheers
Roger

We're getting there Roger, have no doubt!!

Ok, here are few pointers.
First of all, timing was bit wrong here and there
which isn't the must since we are focusing on bends and vibrato only
but you could try to fix that as well,
probably after few more listening to my take you'll get it in total, no rush.

Section 0:16-0:19, I believe you should you ring finger
for all those bends on B and high E string 11th fret,
you'll have much more strength instead of using pinky, give it a try.

Now, you could also try to play every bend in the lesson separately for a while,
just like a pure exercise, bend it and add vibrato then repeat it few times,
after that go next bend etc.
This might be boring thing to do but bends need time,
your hand will get used to everything after a while.

Here's one more trick but it's mostly psycho effect tho.
You can hit every note you need to bend very hard
and believe me, that will give some sort of confidence to your left hand
to perform even more accurate bends and vibratos.
As you can see in the lesson,
most of the time I was hitting strings like a mad man.

Good work so far Roger and here's backing you asked,
keep working, looking forward to more takes!

Click to view attachment

Thanks Muris,

I noticed that the timing wasn't perfect, but as you said I was focussing a bit more on the other things. I will certain try to bend with the ring finger on the 11th fret (I was even doing that when I started the lesson ).

From now on, I will certainly do the bends only for a couple of minutes just to get them in my head.

Cheers!

Roger

Just a quick update here:

Starting seriously now with the Blues bending lesson, and to my own surprise the whole lesson goes much, much easier now compared to last week when I first tried it. The work on the other lesson really payed off already I guess

Anyways, gonna keep working on it tonight, and will probably record a video of it on Friday (tomorrow I am having my squash night ).

Thanks for great news Roger and looking forward to see
new clips, keep it up!

Hey Muris,

Here is my take on the Blues Bending Lesson. Not all bends are spot-on, but overall I am more or less OK with this take, given the relative short practice period. Done more bending the last week than in my whole life before

Looking forward to your comments and next assignments

Cheers
Roger

Oh yeah, I can see you spent lot of time with bending since
this isn't easiest thing to play, no doubt!!

Timing for mostly fine but some bends were kind a out of pitch
so I would ask you to pay more attention on these:
0:09 - you bended it nicely but then you released it not fully,
so you ended somewhere between F and F#, you should end of F#.
0:11 - this bend was too high, watch your steps here!
0:15 - there are 3 whole tone bends here in a row and they were all
pretty low in pitch, just bend them with more power to reach right note.
0:20 - this should be tone and a half bend on A string, pull it heavy!!
0:25 - this one was too high
0:30 - to perform this 2 whole tones bend on G string you have to bend it upwards,
there is no enough fretboard to pull it if you bend downwards.
0:31 - these half tone bends were mostly low in pitch

I believe the tempo is what makes you problems,
it's could be too fast for you atm to play on time
and execute all those bands correctly!
So here is one slower backing for you, it's actually 90% speed of 75 bpm (time stretching),
try it and let me know how it goes, you should have more time with it
to perform all those bends with steady pitch.

Click to view attachment

Can I ask for one more take on each lesson and then we'll go with next assignments?

My fingers are not happy with you anymore Muris

But seriously, thanks for the comments and actually most of the bends you mentioned I already knew that they were not in pitch completely, but it was the best take I had after 1.5 hours from yesterday evening (quite frustrating ).

What I find in particular difficult is to execute this many bends in a short period of time, all with different amounts of bending.... I find it much easier to occassionnally bend and working on that one to be in pitch, but I guess that's normal.

Anyways, I will work on both lessons this morning a bit, and then I have a big party, so will be away until Sunday afternoon and will see if I can record 2 video's at least by tomorrow or Monday.

Cheers mate!

Roger

Ok, already made a recording of the Blues Bending lesson with the 90% backing (a night's sleep helps ).



I think most of the bends are now better in pitch, a couple are still off (e.g. the double bend in bar 4 is killing my fingers ).

I would appreciate if you could let me know whether this one is indeed better than my previous take?

Will record a take of the other lesson maybe still this morning or otherwise tomorrow/monday.

Cheers!

Absolutely and that's why I went for this lesson, to push you
further up right from the start!



Oh, it was MUCH better!!

I only have one question tho, at 0:16 you seem to play individual bend
instead of adding note with pinky on bended note,why?
That kind of licks is very useful and you can use it much often!

To be honest: because that particular bend is difficult for me to get right (sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't). A matter of practicing this over and over I am sure.

Off to the party now, am glad that the take of this morning was better

I see, with bit more practice these bends will be piece of cake for you,
have fun at party and let me know when you record last take on other lesson.

To give you a little update: practiced the other lesson quite a bit, especially working on the pointers you gave me. It's certainly much better now overall I think, and will record a video tomorrow of it (none of the takes recorded today were good enough as a whole to post). Gonna give my fingers a good night rest

Sure thing Roger, take some rest and I'll wait for the take, good luck!

Hi Muris,

Here is my 2nd take on the modern blues lesson. I had some difficulties with syncing the video and sound, but it seems fine now.



I would appreciate your comments, hopefully it's better than the first one, both with regard to timing and bending precision

Looking forward to the new assignments.

Cheers
Roger

That was much much better Roger,
of course there is always room for improvement
so I'm asking you to continue practicing bends and vibratos, ok?

Now lets try with some alternate picking,
I would like to cover all technique regions first
and then to work more on theory, improvising and such.

Here is one pretty nice picking etude for you,
original tempo is 160 but lets try with 90 bpm,
it requires lots of stamina as well which eventually
leads to faster and more accurate picking no matter what.
For the starters you don't have to cover whole lesson,
50% would be more than enough,
I would like to see your movements when doing pure picking stuff
and then we'll dive into details.

Lesson
Click to view attachment


Good luck and ask if you need anything of course!

Thanks Muris,

Start practicing right away!

Great!

Hey Muris,

I have two questions regarding the alternate picking. I have used that technique for a while already, however I always noticed that it's quite tough for me to increase speeds, even with familiar patterns, so I would like to tackle the problem right away. I believe it has to do with finetuning of the my technique used, and I would like to work on it already in this first part of the lesson:

Pick angle:
Should I aim to have the pick parallel to all the strings or with a slight angle (I particularly like the tone with I use no angle)? In relation to that, if I pick at different strings, should I adjust my pick angle or just accept a difference in angle?

Right-hand:
Should my right-hand movement be fully based from the whrist? Or should I use a combination of thumb/index finger - whrist movement? The elbow should be fixed right?

Many thanks for your advices.

Cheers
Roger

Hi Roger.

As for the angle, I guess you can keep less angle if you want,
of course it will not be the same all the time once you start
shifting from one string to another but it's ok.

And I advise you to play from wrist only, playing "from fingers"
is too weak for many occasions, specially if we are talking about acoustic guitar per example.
I guess you wanna be able to play almost everything
both on electric and acoustic, right?

Thanks Muris,

Glad that I started practicing the right way

Oh, and yeah I would like to develop myself as broad as possible playing guitar, so will stick with your advice on the wrist only Am progressing nicely with the lesson, must say that the 3 similar notes runs are quite tricky, compared to the regular 4 similar note runs. But with a bit of practice I am getting there (already noticing quite an improvement in my picking technique after a focussed practice session yesterday).

Finally I now really see that focussed practicing is really paying off big time

Cheers!

Awesome to hear Roger, keep me posted!

Hi Muris,

Attached a quick upload of the first 4 bars of the C minor picking etude to show you my basic movements (good that you pushed me in chat ).

Still quite sloppy, but should give you a good idea.

Looking forward to your advices

Cheers
Roger

It was very nice Roger,as I said in chat!

Try to make wider movements tho since you have time to do that,
it'll help you to feel each note better, also apply more power.

As for muting, you might notice that it doesn't have same effect
when playing slow compared with original tempo,
but still you can practice with and without PM at this speed, why not.

Practiced using your comments a bit yesterday and it surely improved the timing and consistency level. Must say that nailing the whole lesson without PM will take some extra practice though, but will certainly also try thereafter to apply the PM.

Anyways, as mentioned I have band practice tonight, so tomorrow I will continue practicing and hopefully I can record a video in the weekend of it

Cheers!

Sounds good Roger, have fun with the band tho!

After recording for about 2 hours , I managed to record a take which is most of the time ok-ish. It certainly has some 'errors', however I thought it would be best to show it to you this way. I omitted palm muting for now, as getting a take like this took me already quite a while

I find it particularly hard to play this flawless for 1.5 minute duration in total.

Looking forward to your comments.

Btw, even though I am only playing this etude at 90 bpm I notice a massive improvement in my alternate picking chops during jamming etc., even at much higher speeds, which is truly awesome! Anyways, I am more motivated than ever to really make things happen!

Nice, clean and accurate, thank you a lot for this Roger, made my day!

Your hand is fully relaxed which is most important here,
next you can apply more attack into picking if you want,
that helps a lot for better tone and timing tho timing here was excellent!

Ok, for a homework you could try maybe 100 bpms
but also do a solo over the same backing,
now you've memorized some picking patterns
plus all those bends from other lessons,
lets see how it'll be.

Awesome, your reply made my night! (just off to bed)

I practiced doing this at 110 bpm already a bit, so that's good continuous practice to get it up to speed and will certainly do so.

I will start working on a solo on the backing as well!

Cheers!

Quick question:

After looking at the chordprogression again in more detail would you say the following approach would be a good one for the scales to use during the solo:

Complete backing using C Aeolian except for the G and G7 (using C Harmonic minor or G mixolydian) and F#dim (using C locrian)?

Cheers!

Best idea would be C minor plus C harmonic for G and G7
and D Phrygian Dominant over F#dim, or simply play F#dim arpeggio like many do.

Ok thanks , will probably record the first part of the solo soonish (until Eb or so), to give you an idea how it's going.

Great Roger, will wait for it.

Hey Muris,

Ok, here it is. I have tried to stick partly to the C minor etude patterns (hence the type of solo I made), using vibrato and several bends here and there (was it better than 2 weeks ago before we started?). Also used some more speedy runs in between to spice things up a bit (could not withstand that).

Please let me know which parts you liked, and which parts can be improved so I can work on that while composing the remainder.

Cheers
Roger

I see that you feel much more free to bend the string!
However, be careful when trying whole tone and a half bends,
you did it 2-3 times but most of them were low in the pitch,
I know it's maybe little bit scary to bend string that much
but if you stared it then you have to finish it,
otherwise you end in between the notes and it sounds out of tune.

Picking was also nice, it made cool refreshing sound
after all those longer notes, just make sure that you count
all notes correctly like 16th, 16th triplets or whatever,
random picking runs might sound kind of sloppy if they
are played without enough confidence and power,
or at least you need to end it right on time with strong note
and that way even random runs will sound ok!

And vibrato could be maybe better,
you had lot of longer notes and enough time
to perform all those wide and heavy vibratos,
perhaps you were thinking what to do next and maybe that's what
distracted you from applying nice vibrato all the time,
try to focus enough on every single, hit the strings, apply vibrato
and let is stays as long as you want but keep it sounding sweet and not nervous,
once you're done with the note you can go for next one etc.
Each note we play needs special treatment, just like kids!

How about doing another one but maybe more melodic,
try to sing a line along with the backing and then
copy some of those lines that you sang,
we're after sweet solo that\ll have our attention!

Thanks for all the comments, still a long way to go . I will eventually get the bending/vibrato right .

Will try to make a more melodic one this time (I actually knew the last one wasn't melodic enough, but that was because I put things in it artificially what I normally wouldn't do that much).

Cheers!

Sorry for delay Roger, I just arrived in US,
looking forward to new take.

No problem Muris, hopefully I can put something together tomorrow, if not it will be end of next week as I am going to Milano for 6 days on a business trip .

EDIT: First upload will not be before next weekend unfortunately, work and private life are quite hectic at the moment, and the business trip doesn't help either .. will take loads of theory with me though on the trip

Have fun in the US!

Hey Muris,

Here is my new attempt (HQ setting is loads better ) to get something melodic on the backing of the C minor etude.



Looking forward to your comments

That was way more melodic Roger, good job!

Just pay attention at 0:31, we have Eb chord there
and you ended on C note, that's note pretty much strong note
cause Eb chord doesn't have it inside, try with Bb, G or Eb instead,
I would go with Bb tho since it's closest one to C.
Also focus more on vibrato on longer notes,
I'm sure you can notice that it's pretty nervous,
needs some more work and we will work more on that.
And last thing that I would like to talk about here is
Alternate Picking part you fired off in the middle of section,
you picked very cool spot but your timing was bit inaccurate
cause it wasn't kind a "prepared".
In improvisation we play some unprepared licks from time to time
but our hands must be comfortable with something similar
in order to pull it off nicely.
So think all licks that you wanna play, try it slowly,
see what note durations you're up to, clean it up,
play it slowly and then build the tempo.
After many licks you play it'll take less and less time
for those preparations.
How about another one with clean picking and more
slow and wide vibrato on longer notes?
You can use full backing if you want
and also think of strong notes when you lay down.

Hey Muris,

Thanks for the extensive feedback, which is certainly helpful.

Parts of the solo were indeed improvised, including the quick part, which explains that problem.

I will post another take fairly soon, and if you agree I would like to stick with the current length for now, just to get the vibrato better and the timing issues. I really, really would like to get my vibrato/timing/bending fully controlled as it annoys be bigtime currently .

Was the bending generally better compared to previous takes you saw from me?

Cheers
Roger

Hey Muris,

Here is a new take from me. I have focussed fully on the vibrato on this one and hopefully it's improved (I have at least the feeling, both during playing and after listening that it improved) compared to the previous take. Please let me know.

I also got rid of the ending at 0:30 on C (ended on Bb instead), however I know that the quick alternate part is not good yet, but I thought it would be good to know first whether the vibrato is finally getting better or not.

Thanks for the comments.

Cheers
Roger