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GMC Forum _ Gabriel Leopardi _ Hickstir's Practice Room
Posted by: Gabriel Leopardi Feb 3 2015, 12:14 AM
Hi hickstir! Welcome to your thread for Gab's Army, my mentoring program. Here the idea is to help you design guitar routines to achieve diary, weekly, monthly and yearly goals. The idea is to define this goals together to then design guitar routines and share your report and videos/audios of you to show me how everything progresses.
Here I will copy the info that you shared in your intro thread, to have it as reference.
My music goals are varied, which also my be why I can't seem to stick to one thing very long before I realize I'm off working on something else. I can't tell you how many intro's or 'beginning of songs I've learned. How many have I completed, that's right, none! I know it's partly self-discipline and partly not seeing an instructor every week knowing you have to show what you were assigned to work on. Of course they are both one in the same.
My long term goal (maybe a few years or so) is to be able to know and understand fretboard theory (or just plain theory) and put together my own music. I would like to feel comfortable if I met someone and the said "hey, come on over with your guitar and we'll mess around. I would like to learn a few songs along the way, but I kind of look at that as a sub-accomplishment kind of thing.
Short term goals are the problem for me, I realized that I don't have any. The issue is that my long term goals keep getting in the way. My thinking goes kind of like this, and I'm guessing I'm not alone out there. My short term (daily) thinking kind of goes like this; "Let's see, I want to learn theory so I better just concentrate on that, but I want to learn the notes on the fretboard so I'll work on that, but I really need to learn the pentatonic scale so..., but I really want to learn some Scorpions, Slash, Pink Floyd, so on..., but I really need to learn the major and minor scales, but I would really like to learn some country for my father in law, but, but, but..." There's pretty much my daily thinking, it's always "well if I work on this, I'm not working on that".
Anyways; I'll leave it at that as I'm guessing anyone interested can get a good picture of where I am. I did forget to mention that I just recently got a Zoom R-8 for my birthday and love it! I was also an eye opener the first time I tried to play a simple solo while listening to the rhythm. ohmy.gif It blew my mind at how different it was to play that once easy solo over other music!!! I can see why 'they say' you need to play with others, or at least backing tracks.
Anything else to add? Can you record yourself? Do you have any videos of you playing?
Posted by: hickstir Feb 3 2015, 12:51 AM
Here I will copy the info that you shared in your intro thread, to have it as reference.
My music goals are varied, which also my be why I can't seem to stick to one thing very long before I realize I'm off working on something else. I can't tell you how many intro's or 'beginning of songs I've learned. How many have I completed, that's right, none! I know it's partly self-discipline and partly not seeing an instructor every week knowing you have to show what you were assigned to work on. Of course they are both one in the same.
My long term goal (maybe a few years or so) is to be able to know and understand fretboard theory (or just plain theory) and put together my own music. I would like to feel comfortable if I met someone and the said "hey, come on over with your guitar and we'll mess around. I would like to learn a few songs along the way, but I kind of look at that as a sub-accomplishment kind of thing.
Short term goals are the problem for me, I realized that I don't have any. The issue is that my long term goals keep getting in the way. My thinking goes kind of like this, and I'm guessing I'm not alone out there. My short term (daily) thinking kind of goes like this; "Let's see, I want to learn theory so I better just concentrate on that, but I want to learn the notes on the fretboard so I'll work on that, but I really need to learn the pentatonic scale so..., but I really want to learn some Scorpions, Slash, Pink Floyd, so on..., but I really need to learn the major and minor scales, but I would really like to learn some country for my father in law, but, but, but..." There's pretty much my daily thinking, it's always "well if I work on this, I'm not working on that".
Anyways; I'll leave it at that as I'm guessing anyone interested can get a good picture of where I am. I did forget to mention that I just recently got a Zoom R-8 for my birthday and love it! I was also an eye opener the first time I tried to play a simple solo while listening to the rhythm. ohmy.gif It blew my mind at how different it was to play that once easy solo over other music!!! I can see why 'they say' you need to play with others, or at least backing tracks.
Anything else to add? Can you record yourself? Do you have any videos of you playing?
I don't have any videos, so how about this... I found the youtube link on how to record one so I'll watch that and whatever else I need to do this. Then I could put together a video of me simply playing some random things, chords, notes, pentatonic scale, and so on. Even though this will be kind of embarrassing for me, I know you have to have an idea of where I am in order to help me and I think this will do the job. Give me a day or two since I'm new to this. And thank you soooo much, I'm really looking forward to this journey!!
Posted by: Gabriel Leopardi Feb 3 2015, 02:03 PM
This sounds great mate! I'll wait for the video. Is this the youtube tutorial that you've found?
Posted by: hickstir Feb 3 2015, 03:34 PM
Not sure, I just logged in to see if I could find the link again. I'll assume that this is one I should watch so I'll do that
Posted by: Gabriel Leopardi Feb 3 2015, 06:56 PM
Sure, this one includes all the needed information.
Posted by: hickstir Feb 9 2015, 04:26 PM
Okay, so I'm almost done with the studio upstairs, but here's the 'in the meantime' video. I sincerely hope you didn't think I was more advanced than I am but hey, maybe in 6 months or so I can be another nice testimonial for the site, and you. Note: I played 'clean' so there was no place to hide the sounds. I did forget to add some bends, double stops, power chords, barre chords, but I guessing you can probably tell where I am with those from what I played here. So hopefully this will get us started and you you want me to play something specific just let me know.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QD3gPnW6Ekg
I'll go back and read how to post the vid...
Posted by: Gabriel Leopardi Feb 10 2015, 02:21 PM
Hi friend! Thanks for this video! These are the two lessons that I suggest to work during this first week:
http://www.guitarmasterclass.net/ls/Beginners_Corner_1_Open_Chords/
http://www.guitarmasterclass.net/ls/Beginners-Corner-25-Alternate-Picking/
The idea is that you divide your practice time and dedicate 2 blocks of 20 minutes to each of these lessons. The best is to have some time to rest your mind between the blocks. This means that your schedule should look:
Practice plan:
1 x 20 min : Open Chords
5 minutes: Rest
1 x 20 min : Alternate Picking
5 minutes: Rest
And if it's possible repeat this plan one or two more times each day.
Deal?
Posted by: hickstir Feb 10 2015, 03:39 PM
http://www.guitarmasterclass.net/ls/Beginners_Corner_1_Open_Chords/
http://www.guitarmasterclass.net/ls/Beginners-Corner-25-Alternate-Picking/
The idea is that you divide your practice time and dedicate 2 blocks of 20 minutes to each of these lessons. The best is to have some time to rest your mind between the blocks. This means that your schedule should look:
Practice plan:
1 x 20 min : Open Chords
5 minutes: Rest
1 x 20 min : Alternate Picking
5 minutes: Rest
And if it's possible repeat this plan one or two more times each day.
Deal?
I'm on it! Thanks.
Posted by: Gabriel Leopardi Feb 11 2015, 05:56 PM
Perfect! Keep me updated!
Posted by: hickstir Mar 1 2015, 05:29 PM
Hi Gabe, right after you gave me my first work, I realized I had a few issues that I needed to address in order to feel totally comfortable and be able to give my learning full attention. So, since then I have completely moved around two rooms, dry-walled a closet and attic, spent a lot of money on a new computer and an Audiobox usb, learned and investigated DAW’s in order to make an informed choice on what I wanted to use, learned about the one I chose (Mixcraft pro 7), been sick, walked the dogs, shoveled some snow, and so on… So I finally produced my first complete test video and I’m really excited and now ready to concentrate on guitar! Whew!
Also; do not worry that I'm going to tell you a 10,000 word story every time I post a video, this was an exception to let you know 'where I am'.
I will try to stick to only mentioning things related to the lesson, such as...
You will notice somewhere around the third iteration of this piece that I did a little different picking pattern (although still alternate). I started getting into the beat and that's when I started picking accordingly. I didn't want to do the whole video over so I hope you'll let that one slide?? If not, you're the boss. 
Okay; let's see if my first attempt at video embedding works...
Posted by: Gabriel Leopardi Mar 1 2015, 05:52 PM
Hi mate! Congrats on your first guitar video!! It has a very good quality! Well done.
Here we go with some things to improve and have in mind for the next days of practice and videos:
- Your guitar tone can be artistically cool, but it's not the best one to let me check your timing on this lesson. It seems that you are using some reverb or delay on it that creates an atmosphere behind it and the notes are not felt clearly.
- Even with the effect, I think that your timing is not completely tight, there are some moments when your 8th notes aren't a bit faster, mostly the second of each beat, so please pay attention to it, and let me know if I'm just confused because of the tone.
- I notice that you don't reach the higher note with precision, just pay attention to it and isolate the part to work on it if it's necessary.
Other than that, this video is a great first step. Keep on the great job!
Posted by: hickstir Mar 1 2015, 10:45 PM
Here we go with some things to improve and have in mind for the next days of practice and videos:
- Your guitar tone can be artistically cool, but it's not the best one to let me check your timing on this lesson. It seems that you are using some reverb or delay on it that creates an atmosphere behind it and the notes are not felt clearly.
- Even with the effect, I think that your timing is not completely tight, there are some moments when your 8th notes aren't a bit faster, mostly the second of each beat, so please pay attention to it, and let me know if I'm just confused because of the tone.
- I notice that you don't reach the higher note with precision, just pay attention to it and isolate the part to work on it if it's necessary.
Other than that, this video is a great first step. Keep on the great job!
I will tone down the reverb and delay(actually thought about that). Yes; I do/did have problems nailing the high note and will now go to some serious work on that. Thanks!
Posted by: Gabriel Leopardi Mar 2 2015, 02:29 PM
Great! Looking forward your new take!
Posted by: hickstir Mar 10 2015, 01:08 AM
Posted by: Gabriel Leopardi Mar 10 2015, 04:48 PM
Hi friend! Great job with this one! The overall sound is better and let's me hear that your playing is getting more consistent. There is a little room for improvement regarding timing and some position shifts that are not totally precise but this take would be a 9 at REC program. This means that you are ready to start working on this lesson:
http://www.guitarmasterclass.net/ls/Picking-Hand-Basics/
Keep on the hard work!
Posted by: hickstir Mar 11 2015, 03:58 PM
http://www.guitarmasterclass.net/ls/Picking-Hand-Basics/
Keep on the hard work!
Awesome! Chord work is coming...
Posted by: Gabriel Leopardi Mar 12 2015, 02:02 PM
Great! Looking forward your chord video.
Posted by: Gabriel Leopardi May 5 2015, 05:36 PM
Hi mate, here I'm ready to suggest some work for this week. I will suggest this lesson in the style of Buckethead. It's a very melodic lesson that includes from picking arpeggios to phrasing, vibrato, bending and alternate picking. It's not a tricky lesson but it is great to start applying the different techniques into musical situations.
http://www.guitarmasterclass.net/ls/Buckethead-Style-II/
I think that working on this lesson, combined with some work on the previous lessons worked is a good plan for this week. And if you agree, I will be available at the chat-room in one week to see your progress.
Deal?
Posted by: hickstir May 6 2015, 11:16 AM
Awesome looking lesson. Yes!! I will certainly continue to be working on my alt picking because I've kind of messed myself up... I was looking for anything and everything available on picking techniques because, while this might not make sense, it seemed like I was pretty good at slow and very fast, but everything in the middle was killing me. So I found this https://www.youtube.com/user/troygrady and now I'm kind of stuck in between what I was doing and tying to do what he was showing, which is some kind of slight rolling of the wrist. Anyways; not trying to go 'off site' or anything but had to see everything I could on picking techs since this is pretty foundational to everything. PS. I'm not really interested, per-say, at that kind of speed, just want to be able to do what I need to do with a pick, right???
http://www.guitarmasterclass.net/ls/Buckethead-Style-II/
I think that working on this lesson, combined with some work on the previous lessons worked is a good plan for this week. And if you agree, I will be available at the chat-room in one week to see your progress.
Deal?
Posted by: Gabriel Leopardi May 6 2015, 02:50 PM
Hi Hickstir, I'm checking the analysis that he did to Malmsteen's picking and it's interesting. Everything you can see, hear and learn to have different perspectives is always welcome and helpful. Some stuff will work for you, while some other note, each of us is different, have different hands, fingers, mind, goals, tastes, so something that works great for somebody can work bad for you or the opposite. This is why there is not a unique way or method to play guitar. If you check the picking of different guitarists like Malmsteen, Michel Angelo, Frank Gambale, Steve Morse, you will see that each of them do it in a very different way.
I'm checking your picking hand basics video again and I can say that your right hand looks good, but there is something lacking if you want to reach high speeds. We usually start the movement from the wrist but also add some movement from the elbow. Imagine that you have water in your hand and you want to quit it shacking it.
The movement will be smaller and more precise, but the feeling is similar. Now pay attention to this two masters of Alternate picking. Check how they move their right hand. You'll notice that both move from wrist and elbow, but the % of motion is different. Vinnie seems to be moving more from the elbow, while Paul does it more from the wrist.
Which on you should use? Try both playing 16th notes on open E string for a while over metronome and decide which one feels more comfortable for playing fast. I personally use both, but when playing really fast, I'm closer to Vinnie's technique.
Posted by: hickstir May 6 2015, 03:26 PM
Thanks much, I see I just have to find it and go with it!
I'm checking your picking hand basics video again and I can say that your right hand looks good, but there is something lacking if you want to reach high speeds. We usually start the movement from the wrist but also add some movement from the elbow. Imagine that you have water in your hand and you want to quit it shacking it.
The movement will be smaller and more precise, but the feeling is similar. Now pay attention to this two masters of Alternate picking. Check how they move their right hand. You'll notice that both move from wrist and elbow, but the % of motion is different. Vinnie seems to be moving more from the elbow, while Paul does it more from the wrist.
Which on you should use? Try both playing 16th notes on open E string for a while over metronome and decide which one feels more comfortable for playing fast. I personally use both, but when playing really fast, I'm closer to Vinnie's technique.
Posted by: Gabriel Leopardi May 6 2015, 05:34 PM
Exactly. I'm here to check you progress by the way, to be sure that you are going on the right track.
Posted by: hickstir May 26 2015, 03:12 PM
Hi Gabe, well, I wanted to get my Buckethead vid up this weekend but smashed my finger while putting a battery in my Xterra. Sounds like a going thing with me. It's not too bad and I expect to be up and running in a few days. In the mean time, while I can't play anything too fancy, I would like to try and practice something you are probably going to notice... I have off and on trouble hitting the pick and fret finger at the same time. It's not real bad, but there's a clear double sound that you can hear when I hit the fret with my finger and then pick the note. So I thought maybe you have or know of a lesson that I can work on while my finger is getting back to normal??
Posted by: Gabriel Leopardi May 26 2015, 03:25 PM
Hi mate, I'm sorry about that issue with your finger.
I think that you mean hand sync. don't you? You can work on this with any solo or lesson but if you want specific, but not very musical exercises, you can go for this series:
http://www.guitarmasterclass.net/lessonseries/Hands-Synchronization/
Posted by: hickstir May 26 2015, 03:45 PM
Ah, that's exactly what I meant! Thanks much. This should help me for a few days while healing.
I think that you mean hand sync. don't you? You can work on this with any solo or lesson but if you want specific, but not very musical exercises, you can go for this series:
http://www.guitarmasterclass.net/lessonseries/Hands-Synchronization/
Posted by: Gabriel Leopardi May 27 2015, 01:51 PM
Great!
Posted by: hickstir Jul 6 2015, 03:24 PM
Hi Gabe, yes it’s me, I’m finally back! I’ll be posting two video’s I’ve completed tonight. One is finally the Buckethead style, and one is just me picking the faster flowing parts of that piece so you can maybe get a better look at what I’m doing (or not doing). Since there is a very good possibility that you are right about now thinking “wow, he’s just been working on this piece since May???”. No, I haven’t .
The thing that this lesson made me realize (real quick) was that I really wasn’t ready for this. You may have even realized that but maybe knew what it would do for me?? Anyways; I quickly realized that I could not play the entire piece without messing up at least one or two sections. So once my finger was back and ready I started on a quest to learn and practice all of the individual aspects that make up this lesson. Here is basically what I’ve been doing the past couple of months…
Studying and practicing; alternate picking, sweep picking, economy picking, strengthening and using my little finger, trying to figure out and then practice where and how I want my hand/fingers on my picking hand, how and where I want my thumb and fingers on my left hand, how I want to hold my guitar (how high, low, neck up, neck down…), what kind of pick do I want to use (I think I’ve settled on the Dunlop torex sharpy), not flapping my fingers so far away from the fretboard, how hard or soft to pick the strings, and so on…
So as you can see, this one little ‘beginner’ lesson brought on a world of enlightenment for me! Now as you will also see, I’m still not even close to being there when you watch the videos. I am determined, and I know I will. If it’s like other things I’ve learned throughout my life, it will just kind of fall into place once I’ve practiced enough.
I know the video is terrible. I posted this one on purpose because there’s no sense in doing video after video to get one perfect for you since you need to see the real stuff to be able to help me. It also seems that I play completely different from day to day. One day I just seem to be “on”, and then the next day it’s like I never picked up the guitar before in my life. The thing is that I think the bad days are getting better so I have a little hope. As for the sound, sorry but still not good at getting what I’m looking for from my DAW. I almost forgot, I know some of the ‘bars’ come out a little different sounding than yours (something else I need to work on), but hopefully there at least close to the overall timing of the piece. If that makes sense.
Thanks, Wes
Posted by: Gabriel Leopardi Jul 6 2015, 03:42 PM
Hi mate! What a post! Welcome back friend!
I have to say that your approach to practice is exactly how I base my lessons and mentoring programs. The lessons are excuses to work on specific areas in order to polish your guitar playing to be able to create your own music. While practicing lessons we usually note that some techniques or type or licks require more attention or extra stuff and that's why I add more "exercise" type lessons when it's required.
I'm now very curios to see your videos, when are they coming??
Posted by: hickstir Jul 6 2015, 03:56 PM
I have to say that your approach to practice is exactly how I base my lessons and mentoring programs. The lessons are excuses to work on specific areas in order to polish your guitar playing to be able to create your own music. While practicing lessons we usually note that some techniques or type or licks require more attention or extra stuff and that's why I add more "exercise" type lessons when it's required.
I'm now very curios to see your videos, when are they coming??
As soon as I get home from work tonight and get them on youtube.
Posted by: hickstir Jul 6 2015, 11:29 PM
Very strange, my youtube upload did not bring the sound with it. I only got what my video camera recorded which is the sound of an electric guitar being played without an amp. However; I'm going to go ahead and post this because I'm thinking it doesn't get any more telling than this!
I think maybe I'm just trying to go too fast for where I'm at.
By the way, if this is too 'cheesy', just let me know and I'll upload the correct vid. I figured out that I uploaded from my converted videos folder and not my Mixdowns folder. Doh! I also see something that I don't do when practicing, which is pulling my little finger waaay off of the board. I'll be fixing that!
Posted by: Gabriel Leopardi Jul 7 2015, 04:28 PM
Hi mate, thanks for the videos. These ones helps by now to check your progress but videos with guitar tone and backing will help much more in the future.
You already know the main things to improve on this one, but here is a list:
- Timing: Your timing is not precise, are you playing this over the backing?
- Alternate Picking: Your picking is not consistent, some extra AP exercises would be good.
- Bending: You are still not comfortable with this technique. Remember to use the other fingers to help the one that is pressing the fret.
- Vibrato: It's still not there, work on it.
Please re-check these techniques and let me know if you need suggestions on complementary lessons to work on these elements.
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