Hello! I am very happy that you joined my mentoring program! Welcome aboard!
I have a few questions before we start! It will give me a better idea about what assignments to give you!
-What are your goals?
-What is your weakness?
-What is your strongest point?
-Your favorite guitar players?
Looking forward to start working with you!

Hi! I'm happy too. I beleave it will be cool.

My goal is to learn how to make music. I mean i want to know how to make a chord progression and develop a nice melody over it. I want to understand how theory works and after that to combine these knowledge with technical skills of my hands.

It seems to me that phrasing i my weakness. Sometimes I just fail in creation a good phrase or melody.

I think my strongest point is my motivation and discipline. I started to play guitar rather late (at the age of 20), but really enjoy playing guitar and I'm going to keep practicing, though my free time is limited because of my job (I'm a PhD student and I'm going to receive a PhD these year). Anyway, I can devote 2-3 hours for guitar.

My tastes are pretty wide I like many styles, many guitar players. I can highlight Nuno Bettencourt, Richie Kotzen, Steve Vai and even Eric Sardinas. My favorite styles are blues rock and funk rock.

I'm looking forward to my first task.

Perfect!
To start I have a really good exercise that will get your hands synced together very well and very fast!
Here is the tab

E ||---------------------------|----------------------------------------|
B ||---------------------------|----------------------------------------|
G ||o5--5--5--5--5--5--5--5----|--5--5--5--5--5--5--5--5--5--5--5--5----|
D ||o--------------------------|----------------------------------------|
A ||---------------------------|----------------------------------------|
E ||---------------------------|----------------------------------------|


----------------------------|---------------------------------------|||
----------------------------|---------------------------------------|||
--5--5--5--5--5--5--5--5----|--5--5--5--5--5--5--5--5--5--5--5--5--o|||
----------------------------|--------------------------------------o|||
----------------------------|---------------------------------------|||
----------------------------|---------------------------------------|||


-------------3--3----------|--------------3--3----------|
-------4--4--------4--4----|--------4--4--------4--4----|
o5--5----------------------|--5--5----------------------|
o--------------------------|----------------------------|
---------------------------|----------------------------|
---------------------------|----------------------------|


--------------3--3----------|--------------3--3---------|||
--------4--4--------4--4----|--------4--4--------4--4---|||
--5--5----------------------|--5--5--------------------o|||
----------------------------|--------------------------o|||
----------------------------|---------------------------|||
----------------------------|---------------------------|||


-6--3----------------------|--6--3----------------------|
----------4--6--3----------|-----------4--6--3----------|
o------5-----------5--3----|--------5-----------5--3----|
o--------------------------|----------------------------|
---------------------------|----------------------------|
---------------------------|----------------------------|


--6--3----------------------|--6--3---------------------|||
-----------4--6--3----------|-----------4--6--3---------|||
--------5-----------5--3----|--------5-----------5--3--o|||
----------------------------|--------------------------o|||
----------------------------|---------------------------|||
----------------------------|---------------------------|||


-6--3--------------------6--3----------------------|
----------4--6--3-----------------4--6--3----------|
o------5-----------5--3--------5-----------5--3----|
o--------------------------------------------------|
---------------------------------------------------|
---------------------------------------------------|


--6--3--------------6--3----------------|
--------4-----------------4-------------|
-----------5--4--3-----------5--4--3----|
----------------------------------------|
----------------------------------------|
----------------------------------------|


--6--3--------------------6--3----------------------|
-----------4--6--3-----------------4--6--3----------|
--------5-----------5--3--------5-----------5--3----|
----------------------------------------------------|
----------------------------------------------------|
----------------------------------------------------|


--6--3--------------6--3---------------|||
--------4-----------------4------------|||
-----------5--4--3-----------5--4--3--o|||
--------------------------------------o|||
---------------------------------------|||
---------------------------------------|||


-6--4--3-------------------------------------------|
-------------------6--4--3-------------------------|
o---------7--5--3--------------------7--5--3-------|
o---------------------------6--5--3----------------|
----------------------------------------------6----|
---------------------------------------------------|


----------------------------------------------------|
----------------------------------------------------|
----------------------------------------------------|
--------6--5--3-----------------------------3--5----|
--5--3-----------------------------3--5--6----------|
-----------------6--4--3--3--4--6-------------------|


-----------------------4--6--8--3--4--6-------------|
--------------4--6--8--------------------3--4--6----|
-----3--5--7----------------------------------------|
--6-------------------------------------------------|
----------------------------------------------------|
----------------------------------------------------|


--6--4--3-------------------------------------------|
--------------------6--4--3-------------------------|
-----------7--5--3--------------------7--5--3-------|
-----------------------------6--5--3----------------|
-----------------------------------------------6----|
----------------------------------------------------|


----------------------------------------------------|
----------------------------------------------------|
----------------------------------------------------|
--------6--5--3-----------------------------3--5----|
--5--3-----------------------------3--5--6----------|
-----------------6--4--3--3--4--6-------------------|


-----------------------4--6--8--3--4--6------------|||
--------------4--6--8--------------------3--4--6---|||
-----3--5--7--------------------------------------o|||
--6-----------------------------------------------o|||
---------------------------------------------------|||
---------------------------------------------------|||

Make sure to practice it at a slow tempo using a metronome! This exercise will do miracles and you will see results very quick!
Let me know if you have any questions or need help!
GP file
 Hands_workout.gp5 ( 4.5K ) Number of downloads: 97

Ок. The task is clear. Working on it now.

Awesome I am looking forward to hear your take! Let me know how it goes and if you have any questions!

Hi Alex!

I've just made a take. Here is it - http://soundcloud.com/artem-6/alex_task_1

Still don't feel confortable at 80, therefore I think I should keep on practicing with it.

Cheers,
Artyom.

You did very very good! Sometimes you are rushing a little bit! I can suggest to add this exercise into your warm up routine and continue practicing it! I will post a new assignment for you in a few hours! We will start getting into melodic exercises a little bit more!

So I have a new assignment for you!
Here is the backing track that you can use to practice your assignments!
http://soundcloud.com/alex-feather-akimov/blues-mentoring
It's a standard I - IV - V blues progression in E
So the chords are: E7 - A7 - B7
I would like you to jam over it and get use to the feel and the groove!
For now I would like you to use E minor pentatonic in this position:






Let me know if you have any questions or need help!

Wow! Love this track!

Should I use only E minor pentatonic or modes are also allowed? I found that E mixolydian sounds very nice over this track.

Artyom.

This post has been edited by smolentsev: Jun 6 2012, 02:05 PM

Great! I am glad you like it!
For this exercise I would like you to use pentatonic only! Just jam with it we will add more scales as we go along! I will also record my take to give you ideas in a few hours!

Hello! So I did my take!
Here it is!
http://soundcloud.com/alex-feather-akimov/smolentsev
I used the same pentatonic shapes that I gave you!
So now I would like you to continue and record your 8 bars!
Try to keep it less busy and be as melodic as possible!
Please record your take after mine and leave the rest of the backing track so I can do the next part!


Let me know if you have any questions!

Hi Alex!

Here is my take. I add my 8 bars as you asked.

http://soundcloud.com/artem-6/task2_smolentsev_take

This post has been edited by smolentsev: Jun 13 2012, 05:34 PM

Very nice take! Melodic and very relaxed! I like it!
So since the chord progression is Emi7 - A7 - Dmaj7
I would like you to use those scales over them:
Over Emi7
E dorian


Over A7
A minor blues pentatonic


Over D maj7


Try to combine them together that's what I did
What I am looking for is to really hear the A minor pentatonic over A7 chord!
This exercise will help you to learn how to play over changes!
Let me know if you have any questions or need help!

Hello!

I recorded another 8 bars (from 43sec).

http://soundcloud.com/artem-6/task2_smolentsev_take2

I used only E dorian and D ionian. You asked me to use A minor pentatonic, but it sounds a little bit weird here, especially note C. Is it correct to use Aminor over this track (as I understand the key of the track is E dorian)?

You did a good job! I like your sound and ideas are great! Your guitar is a little out of tune! I would like you to play A minor pentatonic over A7 chord the whole point of this exercise is to hit those changes and playing A minor pentatonic over A 7 chord is totally fine, same thing when you are playing E minor pentatonic over E7 blues!
Try it out! Just jam a little and let me know how it goes!

I just wanted to follow up and see how this A minor pentatonic coming along?
Let me know if you have any questions or need help!

Hi, Alex!
Sorry for delay, I was limited in time a little.
More 8 bars recorded (from 0:59).

http://soundcloud.com/artem-6/task2_smolentsev_take3

I used A minor pentatonic with blue note as you recommend. I like the result. It's very interesting and useful exercise for me, because I don't deal much with improvisation and phrasing.
Thank you.
Artyom.

You did a great job! Very melodic and creative! I like it very much!
I will add my take tomorrow and will add new assignment as well!
Great job!

So for the next assignment I would like you to add new scales
Over E mi7
Still E dorian
Over A7
Let's combine A minor and A major pentatonics




And over D major 7 let's use arpeggios:
A major


G major


D major 7


I will add my take in a couple of days!
Let me know if you have any questions or need help!

Hi I just wanted to follow up and see how are you doing! Let me know if you have any questions or need help!