Hi Christian! I hope that everything is ok!

This is your personal thread for the Gab's Army Mentoring Project. Based on your posts in the Army's first thread I think that your main goal here is to work on your compositions and lessons.
So please tell me exactly which are your goals, post some a video of you playing solo and rhythm and also post which are the things that you are working on.

Also your ideas for Army's collabs and songs are amazing and we should do it. You can help me with that!

The principles of our Army are:

+ Improve your technique
+ Make music and solos
+ Have fun
+ Destroy the enemy (hahaha not realy just kidding... )

Hi Gabriel,

I'm proud to be part of your army

As I already said, I wanna get better at composing punk rock songs. You can check my latest composition on my soundcloud site (check my signature), but you already gave it a listen a couple of months ago
So, I'd like to learn more about theory, how to structure a song, how to make it more interesting. But of course, I also wanna get better at rhythm and lead playing. Here are some of my recent videos:







And of course I love submitting student instructor lessons. Working on new ones at the moment, all in the style of german punk/rock bands





Looking forward to get started!

Christian

Ok my friend! Welcome to the Army! Here we go... We will start with the same things that I wrote for Superize but based on the style that you like...

I want you to choose 5 Punk Rock songs that you like but that you've never learnt and do the following work...

Creativity Work:

Choose 5 songs (please let me know which ones you select as soon as you do it). This is a template of what you should do.

Name of the song:
Name of the band:

Structure // What is happening? // Chords & Scales

Structure: You will divide the tune in Intro - Riff - Verse - Prechorus- - Chorus - Solo - Part C and so... You can add the letters A, B, C to the sections when you find different ones in the same tune (Ex: Verse A, Verse B, Chorus, Solo A, Solo)

what is happening?: Here you will describe each part. You can explain how is the part, if it has vocals, screams, melodies, harmonizations, how much is last, how many measures, etc. Every information that could be useful to understand the part.

Chords & Scales: Here you will post the tonality, the chord progression and the scales used for the melodies and solos.

Post you analysis using this concept here in one week.

Technique Work:

Regarding technique we will choose some lessons the next weeks, for this week I want you to work on the first lesson of my Intensive Technique Course.

LESSON #1 – WARMING UP & ENDURANCE

Work on this exercises and record yourself playing it in 6 days. Concentrate on the sound, the volume of each note (it should be the same for each note), not on the speed. Play it the faster than you can but the limit must be when you start to loose clearness.

This would be all for this week. Do you think that you'll be able to have all the videos by the next Wednesday?

Great task!
As soon as I read Superize's thread I knew what was waiting for me

Anyway, I actually found 5 of my favourite songs that I never learned to play, so this is my chance now!











Pretty sure I can do that in one week. I might post a different song every day though, if this is okay, so I can take time to work on one song at a time.

Great choices man! This will be very interesting. Posting one song per day sounds good for me.

Hola Gabriel!

Let's start with "Want you bad" by The Offspring.
I jammed along to the studio version, since I got it on CD and the quality is a bit better
I realized that the live version I posted above is played in Eb tuning, while the stuio version is in E standard.
So, the key is E.

Structure:
Intro (X4) - Post Intro (E chord) - Verse (X2) - Pre Chorus - Chorus (X2) - Verse (X2) - Pre Chorus - Chorus (X2) - Bridge - Solo (more a riff though) - Chorus (X3) and Outro (which equals the Intro)

What's happening:
Throughout the song we've got two guitars (three in the live version), the intro is a fast chord progression, all guitars play the same stuff. The post intro is a muted E powerchord. The verse has a chord progression with palm muted rhythm, though the first strum of each chord rings for a short time. The verse have lyrics which are sung clean. The pre chorus also has clean sung lyrics, the chords aren't muted but played out. Same is true for the chours, but towards the end of the chorus line one guitar seems to play simgle notes ( A G# A . The bridge has lyrics and the chords are strummed once, then they ring out. At the beginning of the bridge there are some natural harmonics. The solo is more like a riff, I'd say it's basically power chords with a dead note, so only two strings are ringing, the third string (actually, the middle one of the three strings played) is muted. The outro is the same as the intro

Chord progression:
Intro: E B A C# B
Verse: E C# B A G# A B
Pre Chorus: A B C# E A B C# B
Chorus: E C# B A G# A B
Bridge: B A E B B A E B
Riff: D# C# B E D# C# E F# G# B

That should be all, I guess. What do you think?

Great job Gitarrero! The song is in E major tonality. They use power chords in the whole song so you should add the number 5 to each chord. However is also interesting to analyse the chord progressions defining is the chord quality is major or minor. If we harmonize the E major scale in triads we have the following triads/chords:

E major ( IM ) - F# minor ( IIm ) - G# minor ( IIIm ) - A major ( IVM ) - B major ( VM ) - C# minor ( VIm ) - D minor (b5) ( VIImb5 )

Also it would be great if you analgesic the vocal melody. You don't have to post it here but learnt the melody in the guitar and try to connect the notes to the chord played at that moment to know what notes they use to stay and what notes they use as passing notes. Also sing the notes while you are playing them. After doing this job for some time you will be able to create melodies in the style that you like just singing over the chord progression that you created.


The rhythm used in the verse is very "Offspring style". They use to combine palm muting with some open chord accentuated before the chord change. (Check out "The kids aren't all right").
The structure is the classic "rock hit" one.... the bridge is always important in this type of song, and it's frequently the most emotive part. In this one it's like "melancholic" and gains emotion thanks to the solo...

the same concept is used in this song at 2:04...



Ok, good job mate! I'll wait for the next ones!

Hey Gabriel,
just letting you know I'm a bit busy these days, but saturday will be my guitar day again! I'll post a new analysis and the exercises by then.

Tomorrow, I am going on a field trip to learn more about punk rock
Meaning, I am going to see Rise Against live! I'm really looking forward to it

Christian

No problem mate! Thanks for notifying!

Rise Against! I saw them live the last year and they did a great show! You will really enjoy their energy and great tunes. I hope that you have a great time! Then tell me how it was!

Hola Gabriel!

The show was really awesome, Rise Against is a great live band and you were right about the energy, I really had a blast
While the Dream Theater show 2 weeks ago inspired me to practice a lot more this show inspired me to pick up my guitar and write some cool punk tunes

Here is a video I found on youtube of yesterday's show. Tim did a short acoustic set in the middle of the show, and I gotta say the atmosphere was really nice during the two acoustic songs.

That's great mate! It's always inspiring to see live shows of our favourite bands. I have seen both bands live and they did very different concerts but I think that I had the same reaction than you... I will be seeing Foo Fighters and Artic Monkeys the next month... I'm sure that I will be very inspired of this concert.. the thing that most inspired me from the FF is their live concerts, their energy, the way how the re-arrange the songs or add riffs or improvisations to their songs. It's an important inspiration for me and my band.

I've seen FF and the Arctic Monkey last year at the Hurricane festival. FF are simply one of the best live bands ever, Dave Grohl is a great guy with a great personality and it really shows during the live concerts.
The Arctic Monkey did play really good, nothing wrong here, but as I said before they didn't really interact with the crowd like other bands, so the show was a bit boring to me. Still, I really enjoyed your lesson in their style and will learn it soon
I didn't analyze any more songs today, instead I composed a punk song of my own and am in the process of recording and mixing right now. You can expect a result within the next few hours. I'm really happy about the result of the song and am looking forward to your feedback
Here are the warm-up licks, I recorded them at 100 BPM. Legato is my main weakness I'd say, but these licks really helped me get more confident with it. Tell me what you think about it!

good job man! yeah, I can note that legato is your weakness but you are doing a good job. I can note that the first one is the one that you find more difficult and it's for me the most effective of this exercises. I recommend you to practice these ones in the G strings now, because it makes you play with more strength. The exercises sound good and the only thing that I can say is keep on practising!
I would like to see you start working on lick number 7 that is the main pattern of the second part of the Intensive Technique Course. Have you tried it?

Haven't tried it yet, just looked for it. Is it the Left Hand Exercise with 4 exercises?

By the way, here is the song I composed today. I am already writing lyrics for it and will try to record them soon

http://soundcloud.com/gitarrero/bring-me-down-no-more

hey man! that sounds really good! I like the main riff. It's very punk style like Offspring, Rise Against, Bad Religion. I think that you should work a bit on the structure since I feel that the song is a bit long... maybe the first chorus could be half of what it is and the same with the second verse. I like the fact that you added a bridge (part C) between the second chorus and the last one.. I would like to see it more worked... even it could be longer and with some kind of "emotive"evolution. By the way I'm curious to know the melody that you have in mind...

Thanks for the feedback Gabriel!
Yeah, I also thought of cutting the first chorus and maybe both verses, depending on the lyrics. I am trying out different melodies at the moment, I'm sure I'll record some vocals within the next days.
How could I create an emotive evolution in the song? Start with less agressive guitars maybe?

You should check the bridges in the songs that you are analysing or maybe on other ones... the idea is to create any type of evolution in that section, sometimes with the chord progression, sometimes with the addition of guitars or other instruments... you have to achieve making the people feel chills...

let me show you some songs that I think that has cool "parts C"

at 2:12


at 2:03


at 2:08


Blink usually adds a musical part that adds some cool feeling to the tune and separates chorus 2 from 3.
at 2:50


at 2:39... EPIC!


at 1:54 My band!


at 1:54 again my band.. ... at the same minute!

Hi Gabriel!

Just letting you know I am back from two busy weeks of work and travelling, so it's time for some guitar practice again.
I will also work on the song again, now that I haven't touched it for two weeks

Christian

Great! Welcome back mate!

Just working on lesson 7 of the ITC program, was that the lickj you had in mind?
Any more suggestions what I should practice? Time to get to a regular practice routine again

Hi again! Yes, that lesson is a good choice! Let's go for it. I would also see you working on this two lessons... we can start for the legato one, the other is more difficult but you can start trying it.

http://www.guitarmasterclass.net/solo-guitar/legato-lesson/

http://www.guitarmasterclass.net/ls/legato...g_intermediate/


Regarding your routine, please also add any of the right hand lessons from the ITC.

Hola Gabriel,

I am slowly returning to a well-rounded practice routine with these legato lessons, a few AP lessons (Lian's Metal Patterns and a few of Todd's licks from his chat) and a few"in the style of" lessons.
For a start, I recorded two rec takes tonight, so please check the rec section...one lesson is one of your own

Christian

Hi man! I just checked and graded your REC takes! It's clear that you have been working hard! The lessons are ok but I noticed that you have to work on your timing. Both lessons has fast section and I think that your timing problem is just a technique limitation of your right hand so we have to train it!

At first I would like you to divide the Artic Monkeys lessons and work on the different riffs over metronome or a drum loop. Start at a slower tempo but work on them as a loop for some minutes until your hand is tired. Work on this way for some days for 30 minutes.

Have you ever worked on this lesson?

http://www.guitarmasterclass.net/rhythm-gu...c-metal-rhythm/

Hi Gab!

I've learned Marcus' lesson sometime in the past, but will work on it again. I have also been working on the Arctic Monkeys and Rise Against lesson at a slower tempo these last days.

Come to think of lessons:
Since I am also in Cosmin's mentoring group and he focuses on technique and a practice agenda for now, how about we focus on song lessons and songwriting? I think this would make things easier

Hi mate! That really makes sense to me! Do you have any new idea in progress? Let's work on it! We could go for the gab's army album song.

Sounds cool!

No new idea in my head at the moment, but that will come once I grab the guitar

I've got plans for a new student instructor lesson though, I will share my first thoughts with you once I recorded them.

For now, I will work on Marcus' rhythm lesson and the Rise Against and Arctic Monkeys lesson again.
Or what punky, rhythm oriented lesson would you suggest?

Cool mate! Here you have some suggestions:

http://www.guitarmasterclass.net/ls/My-Che...nce-Punk-Style/
http://www.guitarmasterclass.net/ls/Explosive_Punk_Rock/
http://www.guitarmasterclass.net/ls/Rancid-Roots/
http://www.guitarmasterclass.net/ls/Slash-...-I-Punk-Rhythm/

Nice!
Working on the first two lessons at the moment, your MCR lesson is kinda hard at some points though

On friday, I'm going to see Anti-Flag live, then I have the whole weekend to compose and record stuff for the Gab's Army album. How does that sound?

This sounds SO exciting! Can't wait to hear your entry for the album!

Man Gabriel, it's been a while!
But we need to revive this thread...
I recorded a demo of a song, didn't add any drum fills and let out the bass completely. All in all I think the song could pretty much stay as it is, with bass and drum adjustments of course. It is pretty short, but I went more for an Anti-Flag kind of song.
How do you like the main riff, should I add more gain or chose other notes?
I also used the second guitar to add a few single notes and palm muting in the verse...I thought about adding a third guitar that would just palm mute everything throughout the whole song, but decided against it.
What do you think so far?

Christian

http://soundcloud.com/gitarrero/resist

Hi mate! This could be a very cool punk hit!! Well done!
I would work a bit more the main riff... maybe as you said the notes election, or even the progression, to make it sound more interesting. You could change the ending of each repetition. I have been jamming and some ideas appeared, however I would like to hear variations from you. Also you could switch the progression to F sharp minor - A Maj - E Maj. This would mean that you change the B for the E, you can do it always or maybe the second and fourth time that you repeat the progression.

Sounds cool!
Yeah, I'm not too happy with the main melody as well, I'll mess around with some other notes.
As for the progression, I actually do change the B for an E every second and fourth time But will mess with the progression as well. But it's a good starting point
About the verse part...do you think I should play the palm muted part throughout the whole verse, as well as little arpeggios? Or leave it like it is (arpeggios in the first half of the verse, pm in the second half) ?

ahh I missed that you already played the E chord sometimes! I prefer it over the B chords. Regarding the verse, i think that a good bass tone could do the job, so you could try avoiding the palm muted guitar.

Okay, I will record bass tomorrow and leave out the pm part in the verse. I'll also try and substitute the B in the main riff by an E. Then we'll see what else could be done

Great! Please post here a version with bass and if you can, some variations of the main riff. Do you have ideas for the vocal melody?

Hey Gabriel,

here we go with an updated version!
I added bass and tried to play a bit more agressive in the verse, where the guitar only plays single notes now. What do you think of the bass tone? I added a bit of distortion. I also added a few drum fills now.
I changed the main melody (I think it is more interesting now) but kept the chord progression for now (F#m - A - B - F#m - A - E ).

What do you think so far?

http://soundcloud.com/gitarrero/resist-update-new-melody-and

I haven't thought of a vocal melody yet, but am trying out different stuff now. I really wanna record vocals, but need to sort out a few technical problems...
Maybe this could be my song for the Gab's Army album, if we are still planning to do this

Christian

Good job mate! I think that the main riff is more interesting now, you should play it even tighter. The bass arrangements sound cool over the backing and now I think that the verse guitars job fits better. Regarding the bass tone, I would boost a bit the EQ around 1.5 Khz to make it sound clearer. This track could definitely work for the Army's album!
I'm trying vocals over it and I find the chorus first chord very particular, how are your melodies sounding over it?

Hi Gabriel,

thanks for the feedback! I'm also happy with the new main melody, I will record it again so it's tighter.

As for the vocal melody, I think I pretty much got it down for the verse. As for the chorus, it is indeed difficult because of the sound of the first chord. It's a regular barre Am chord, but it really sounds weird when you wanna sing over it.

Speaking of vocal melodies, how do you or Luciana come up with them? I once saw an interview with Marta Jandova (the singer of the band Die Happy, I think you know them) and she said when she had no lyrics yet, she would just sing "nanananana" or sing something that sounded like english, but wouldn't consist of actual english words. So that's what I'm doing right now, and it's working good.
Do you think I should change/re-record the first chorus chord?

yes, I think that changing that first chords would be something that will allow you to create a more catchy melody over the song. I use to create Cirse's vocal melodies, just singing over the song without thinking on lyrics, I just combine words that sound good. If you don't feel comfortable doing this just with your voice, you could help yourself with your guitar.

Hi Gabriel,

I really need your help with this...no matter what I try, it doesn't sound right.
Now, the progression is A - E - B - D - E.
I tried to leave out the A and substitute it with something else, but nothing works out right.
I tried starting with the E, so it is E - B - D, but then I can't find a catchy chord that also leads back to the E for the next chorus.
inserting F# and A also didn't really work...
Any advice?
I'm happy with the rest of the song, but this is driving me nuts

Christian

I tried this for the chorus and I like how it sounds....

(D - A - E - B5 - D - A - E - E) x2

Check it!

Hola Gabriel!

I had some time on my hands and decided to record a slower song, I had this tune in my mind for a couple of weeks now.

What do you think of it?

http://soundcloud.com/gitarrero/turn-back-time

hey mate! It's cool to see you creating some melodic stuff!! I like the idea of this song, the verse and chorus progressions sound good and I think that you will be able to create some catchy melodies over it. I think that adding a "part C" or sang bridge after or before the solo could be good. Also you could make some variations to the last chorus... a beginning without drums? more arrangements?

I'm curious to hear the melodies that you have in mind for this one....

Cool, thanks for the feedback Gab!

Will try to come up with a part C and some vocal stuff soon

Great!! I will wait for the new version!