Week 1 & 2
deadline: October the 15th

Hi Vemund!

As you read in the new MTP rules, we're now moving on to weekly assignments.
Because I posted this a bit late, I'll combine the first 2 weeks into one.

The deadline for these first couple weeks will be on October the 15th.

First, I'd like you to post here 1 lick that you wrote. Include to that lick at least 2 other ways to play that same lick as we talked about before.
You don't have to write 5, sometimes it won't be possible. At least 2 would be great (2 more than the original one)... :-)

Because we are combining two weeks into one, we'll do this in two parts.

First, just upload one lick here. You can either post a video, or simply a tab...
Once you have that, post 3 more licks...

Let me know if you need any help and if this makes sense!

Ok, I will try record the lick in first position and in two other positions tonight...

Where there any thing else??

What did you mean by : " First, just upload one lick here. You can either post a video, or simply a tab...
Once you have that, post 3 more licks..."

... And it was supposed to be the same notes... right?! hehe, so many questions

Cheers!

Ok David!

I have finished recording my lick in three differen positions:

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In the third position I used the same lick as the first one, just 12 frets higher up the neck... is this ok, or should I record another position?

And what did you mean in the ending here? :


Cheers!

That's great!
Try from now on to avoid playing the same lick an octave higher...
Just use the 5 pentatonic positions. I know some positions will be quite uncomfortable, but that's the point! :-)

I just wanted to to record a first lick to make sure you were on the right track, and you are!
Now your assignment is to record 3 different licks. Just like you did there...
You have until the 15th to do that.

As always don't hesitate to ask me if anything is unclear or if you need help.
Keep up the great job!

PS: watch your tuning, I think you're out of tune! ;-)

Ok, I found out that I just moved everything an octave higher, hehe ...

Anyway, now the assignment is to record three different licks, right? Not to do them in different positions?

And yeah, i noticed that I where way out of tune (especially on the A string ), but I noticed first when I was doing some cover on home, by dream theater later on

I will be done by the 15th

Cheers!

Sorry for the confusion man, you need to do the same exact exercise you just did, but this time with 3 new licks... :-)

Ok hehe, will do!

This time I think I will make a lick with less bending, because I'm almost bleeding from short fingernails (hehe)

Cheers!

Yeah, bending can be very painful at first!
Plus bending in different positions can be quite a challenge!

Hehe yeah...

But currently I'm working on a lot of other things in guitar too... and as I told you I have moved on to some lvl 7 lessons, and to "climax in a solo" by Emir. And I would like if you maybe could tell me how my playing is going so far... I have only recorded the fast part (which is the one I'm having a struggle with). It's a very rough take, but still.... Any guidelines would be great!

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(Edit: hmm... I guess my take was rougher than I thought... I made the take two days ago... )

And I also saw your new lesson today "Economy Picking Mechanics" (really well done by the way !), and I think it would be great if we maybe could use this lesson for the REC later on, as well as with "climax in a solo"...

Cheers!

PS. Especially on your tone in your video I could need some help... I guess you use GR4, so maybe you could help me get a recording as close to you as possible

... And I'm by the way finished with recording my first lick...

Your take is not that bad, although it's a bit hard to make much sense of it without the backing.
As far as tips, I think you simply need to clean up your picking a little. There's no secret here, just take the piece you're working on at a very comfortable speed and analyze your movements making sure everything is fluid.
You might need to do that hundreds of time before speeding up a bit. The key is to be extra relaxed while playing.

Thanks a lot for the nice comments about the new economy picking lesson!
That lesson was actually recorded quite a while back. A few months actually. That was before GR4 came out. I'm only using a factory preset of my Boss GT8 pedalboard. I use that pedal for all my lessons. I don't use GR for lessons yet as I record lessons on an old computer too slow for GR... :-/

Thanks for the comment!

I think I just need to do the part some hundreds time more .... and as you say, I should probably try focusing on relaxing more (usually I am relaxed, but you know what happens when going up on the speed ).

Anyway... about your economy picking lesson, I still think we should try that one for REC later on... it's a good experience to mix with the sound in GR4 anyway hehe

Sorry to bother hehe, just got to get this of my chest

I tried out to just relax and slow things down a bit, and then to increase the speed later on the fast part of "climax in a solo". After just about 15-20 minutes the changes was HUGE! ... At least in my eyes!

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I also found out why I where so surprised by the last take... it's because when I play I play through my amp, which have some sort of arrangement so the tone shall sound good, you know... when practicing and stuff ... My point is that the tone will be a lot different if I where to make a proper recording, not like this. Also I didn't change the sound anything after the recording, so you see my surprise

Sadly I did not make any changes to this one either, but still this clip sounded WAY much better than the last one:)

Anyway hehe, sorry for bothering, but thanks anyway!

Cheers!

Ps. This take sounded way better a few minutes ago...

Oh!
This does sound much cleaner than your previous take!!!!!
You are definitely on the right track, just don't give up and keep working slow and relaxed. Very good job!

Thanks for the great comment!

Here are my assignment upload:

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Some of the videos are sadly lagging (still...), but I don't have the time to record anything more today... also one of the takes where lagging to much (the music part), so I had to cut that too

You... see I have literately been doing homework and practicing for tests from the moment I am entering my home and up til around 11 -12 pm. At the moment I am practicing a big test in geography and one presentation in English... for tomorrow! And we got about three tests each week, also I'm are currently working on two projects (and starts one more on Monday), and if that wasn't enough the teachers thought it would be funny if we would had to read a book on about 500 p in two weeks... and then do a project on that one too...

Just had to say, hehe , I'm doing as much as I can, but don't really get the time... that's why the poor video editing...

Anyway... back to homework

Cheers!

PS. There may be some wrong in the video editing... don't really have checked a 100%, but I think everything is about right...

Oh man, you don't need to apologize about being so busy. I completely understand!
School and other life activities take a lot of time, I know!
The way I see this MTP program is only to help you a bit more in depth than I would be able to without this.
The deadlines are set just because we need a guideline, but it's not a matter of passing an MTP test or anything...
You can just take all this info and take it as it is and always come back to it later. :-)

About your assignment now. You did good!
Only problem is on the last video, when you are playing two notes at the same time it doesn't quiet match in th other positions.
However this is pretty good!
It kind of forces you to think differently about your fretboard. Good job!
Are you ready for the next step?

Week 3 deadline: October 22
This week we'll add a few licks to our musical vocabulary.
The lesson we'll study is very bluesy! Here it is.
For this assignment, I'd like you to pick at least 4 licks from this lesson and use them in rhythm over the following backing track... Basically, learn the licks and improvise using them...
Let me know if you have any trouble!

Click to view attachment

Great! Thanks for the comment

About the assignment, I think everything will go fine, the only minor "problem" will probably be to improvise "bluesy", since I am only used to do rock ballads... But this will for sure be a great experience!

Cheers!

Great video btw. It really shows the "blue guy in you" hehe

Hehe! Thanks man!
No need for a huge impro, just reuse the licks from the lesson over the provided new backing track...

Hello again!

This is really hard times I got to tell you! This is really the first time I have had the time to pull out my guitar since the last time I wrote here... (besides from my lesson with a teacher yesterday)... well, I really don't have the time though...
Today everything I have managed to do is studying for another test (tomorrow), making dinner and doing my homework... Then in about 30 min. learning your lesson and try to record a descent take.... It's way to much work at school! I have also started taking singing and piano-lessons, but cant find the time to practice this either...

Anyway... : (sadly, this is only a audio file, had no time to make a video...)

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Anyway, enough about the complaining... I'm actually doing well at school (hehe ), and in this weekend I will have the time to do some playing (maybe)... I mean, I still will have a huge test on Monday, and I still got 250 pages to read in my book (again to Monday), but still it's less than usual...

Cheers!

Ps. I realized I just used about 10 minutes just to write this post! Time is really a stupid thing when you don't get enough of it! ... and I'm still writing! (hehe )... got to go!

That's good man considering the little time you had!
Since you are so busy, I won't overload you with tons of extra work..

Week 4 assignment: Free form improv...

I would like you to keep developing some licks and improvisational skills on the same backing.
This time, try to expand a bit on the fretboard.. Maybe try to play some of these licks in different pentatonic positions?
What might be beneficial would be to start a lick, and use the end of that lick to start a new one...
Kind of like a poem when you repeat the last section to start a new sentence..

Let me know if that's good for you!

Thanks David!

The assignment sounds great, and I think I will have the time to work on this one

Cheers!

... It's still in G pentatonic... right?

Great!
Yeah, still in G.. :-)

Hi David

Just one little problem over here... you see, my cable just broke... I cant get nothing but cracking noises! I don't know either when I will get the time to buy some new, but hopefully as quick as possible... you see, this makes recording for the assignment a bit hard at the moment...

Maybe there is something I can do without the guitar instead... you know, theory and stuff? Because I am not sure when I get a new cable (even tho it want take too much time )

Anyway... Cheers!

Man, I'm sorry about that!
Lots of trouble here!
Take your time man,we'll figure out something? :-)

Yeah, I think we will figure it out!

Btw. I have been able do do all of my school work for every day and until Monday... even if I still have some tests (Spanish especially... language writing is my only weakness )... Anyway I think I will have more time these days to play my beloved guitar ...finally! (... even though on monday again I'm busy with Spanish and other tests... )

... Cheers!

Great to hear!