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Posted by: Gabriel Leopardi Aug 2 2016, 07:19 PM

Hi sidthekid! Welcome to your mentoring thread.

Before we start, I'd like to know a bit more about you.

- How many time have you been playing guitar?
- Favorite guitarists, bands and musicians.
- What are your guitar goals?
- How would you like to you see yourself in 5 years (related to music and guitar)?
- How many time can you play guitar each day?
- Do you have playing live experience?
- Which are your strong and weak points with guitar?
- What do you know about music theory?
- Can you record videos of you playing?
- Share here audios and videos that reflect your current playing.

Posted by: sidthekid Aug 5 2016, 04:55 AM

Hi Gabriel!
I 22 years old. I started playing guitar 8 years ago. Played a lot for the first 4 years, then played very little/acoustic stuff to sing along during the next 3 years. Have started playing again since 6 months ago.


Fav band - GnfR for sure. Zeppelin and classic rock - love their songs. Santana, and Eric Clapton - guitarists I admire the most. Apart from that I like blues covers, Coke Studio, any type of song really as long as its good - pop, metal or whatever.


I like blues-rock the best, so want to play at Slash/Santana/Clapton's level. Not looking to be a shredder but good to have technique/speed/vibrato etc.


I want to be great at blues, songwriting, and soon start a band that plays gigs at the local Hard Rock Cafe! \m/ Learn to sing basic stuff too, that's the dream, and only have around 2 years not 5!


I can play 1-2 hours on weekdays, and several hours (3-5) in the weekend, though I can probably play more if I'm working on something particular.


Just in a few student stages, 100-300 people, nothing major but I know how easily the audience gets bored


Strong points - I'm confident in my blues improvisation and general sense of melody.
Weak points - sometimes my timing is off, vibrato is weak, sloppy playing, buzzing strings, and I don't realize it because I'm playing alone to myself. I'm pretty weak at ear transcribing, I can't confidently get the key/chords of even a pop song. For example, I learnt almost the whole of Europa from tabs without even knowing which key/chords the song is in


I know the basics, major/minor chords, know the theory for triads/aug chords etc but not well enough to play those chords. Know the 12-bar blues progression, can improvise over Em/Am pentatonic easily with some standard blues-rock riffs, but can't change scales according to the chords in the song (which is something that really bugs me!).


I can record vids. Here's two videos of lessons I was working on, so these are about my current limits of playing.
Alternate picking Workout -

Melodic Riffing -

Posted by: Gabriel Leopardi Aug 5 2016, 01:58 PM

Hi mate, thanks for the info. Based on your goals and videos, this is what I suggest as the first assignment.


ASSIGNMENT #1:

Goals:

- Blues phrasing development.
- Polishing your bending technique.



TASK 1:

- Learn this lesson: https://www.guitarmasterclass.net/ls/BB-King-Blues/
- Improvise over the backing track of this lesson trying to create your own variations.


TASK 2:

- Read and play the examples of this section:
"1. Blues Scale Theory and Application" from the https://www.guitarmasterclass.net/guitar_forum/index.php?showtopic=50470


Exam and deadline:

By August 16th you'll have to share 3 videos:

- A video playing BB King lesson (3 coins)
- A second video improvising over the lesson's backing using B pentatonic minor (3 coins)
- A video playing the scales and examples from the Blues Scale Guitar part 1 (4 coins)

Each of this videos will be evaluated (check the coins value below). You need to get at least 7 coins to pass. If you pass, we can continue, if you don't you will have a second "call" that would be the last one.

Posted by: sidthekid Aug 8 2016, 04:30 PM

Hi Gabriel!!
Thanks for this assignment, I'm making more progress since the last week than in a long time. Deadlines work!

Here are the first 2 videos, the BB King Blues cover and its improvisation. I initially thought the BB King vid was easy, no fast licks or anything, but when I sat down to record it - damn the timing was killing me! It took some time, eventually I started taking cues from the bass on the backing track. And playing that repeatedly gave me a sense of which notes to go for with the blues progression while improvising.







I'll post the third video soon

Posted by: Gabriel Leopardi Aug 9 2016, 07:34 PM

Hi mate! Great to find your first videos here!!

It's also really cool to know that deadlines are working. Having specific guitar plans and dates to finish them is the way to go if you want to see notorious progress in your playing.

The videos are on the right track. As you've commented, the BB king lesson has some timing issues that need to receive some special attention and there is also some work to do with bending, a bit vibrato, and finally dynamics. It seems to be a lot of stuff but don't worry, focus on 1 element at a time, if you adjust timing and the bends pitch, this lesson can be considered passed with a high grade.

The improvisation is a good first step too. The phrases need to be more defined. Try to get inspiration by the structure of the original solo to create your improvisation.

Posted by: sidthekid Aug 15 2016, 07:46 PM

Hi Gabriel!
I redid the BB King lesson again, this time paying attention to dynamics (soft/hard picking) a bit, and trying to improve timing and vibrato.



I've also added some vids of the Blues Guitar Theory lesson you linked to. I had some questions, which videos did you want me to practice exactly? I did videos of 4 sections - 1.1 to 1.4. There are many videos linked in section 1.5 and I didn't get which ones did you want me to play. Should I also include the scales of 1.6/1.7?

I tried recording another improvisation but it was just the same / worse than my previous one. As in, to follow the structure of the original solo, should I include parts of the original licks as well, or try to avoid those notes? Also, to create more defined phrases, should I create my own tune and practice that before recording? Or should the recording be spontaneous, I'm confused

Posted by: Gabriel Leopardi Aug 16 2016, 08:58 PM

Hi friends! Congrats on your great job!!

You've been working very hard on all these lessons. I'll give you 5 extra days to:

- Polish the bends on BB king lesson. The pitches are not precise.
- Adjust timing on the blues lessons (pentatonic minor, major and blues sclae lesson).
- Share a free improvisation over the BB king lesson. You don't need to pre compose it, and you can use licks from the original lesson and variations of them.

Ok?

Posted by: sidthekid Aug 16 2016, 09:22 PM

Thanks Gabriel! Ok, I'll make the bends better, the vibrato too, by practising with the original. I'll try and post 3 vids soon, thanks for the feedback!

Posted by: sidthekid Aug 18 2016, 08:32 PM

Hi Gabriel!! Here's the three videos again-

I hope the pitches are better on this one i.e. the 22nd fret bend.


I tried playing along with some BB king jams on youtube before recording this improvisation to loosen up though I realized what you wanted - that I should be able to use the licks I learnt above in my improv playing. Well, I tried to (without letting it sound too much like the original tune)


And here's the minor pentatonic/minor blues/major pentatonic exercise vid, its a bit more in sync I guess? But I couldn't really see what I could improve.

Posted by: Gabriel Leopardi Aug 19 2016, 03:08 PM

Hi mate! Well done!!

Based on your submits these are your results:

Everything is a lot better on this new takes! You did an amazing job man! We are ready to move forward and start with the next assignment.

What are your thoughts about this first days of practice? Anything to share about the experience?

Posted by: sidthekid Aug 19 2016, 09:49 PM

Woo! So many coins great!! Thanks for the comments, can't wait for the next one It was tough to keep practicing the same and trying to improve, but I know that's important.

For the first time I felt what a solo on the 12-bar blues means, I got a little bit of what it means to improvise - there isn't any theory, you just jam out, experience the sound blending, remember which group of notes sound good with which chords, and apply that experience to future tunes - awesome. I thought there was some theory that everybody follows that I was missing

Posted by: Gabriel Leopardi Aug 21 2016, 12:53 AM

ASSIGNMENT #2:

Goals:

- Blues phrasing development II
- Polishing your vibrato technique.


TASK 1:

- Learn this lesson: hhttps://www.guitarmasterclass.net/ls/Blues-Vibrato-SRV-Style-Solo/
- Improvise over the backing track of this lesson trying to create your own variations.


TASK 2:

- Read and play the examples of this section:
"2. Blues Arpeggio and Chord Theory " from the https://www.guitarmasterclass.net/guitar_forum/index.php?showtopic=50470.


Exam and deadline:

By August 30th you'll have to share 3 videos:

- A video playing SRV (3 coins)
- A second video improvising over the lesson's backing using E blues scale (3 coins)
- A video playing the scales and examples from the Blues Arpeggio and Chord Theory (4 coins)

Each of this videos will be evaluated (check the coins value below). You need to get at least 7 coins to pass. If you pass, we can continue, if you don't you will have a second "call" that would be the last one.

Posted by: sidthekid Aug 30 2016, 06:10 PM

Hey Gabriel!! I managed to record 2 videos of the SRV style blues. My vibrato doesn't sound cool at all right now! (Also I think the backing track is different from what is played in the video)

Here's the SRV style blues lesson -



And here's the jam on the backing track -




And I haven't been able to give much time the past 10 days, so didn't get time to practice the Blues Theory much. I finished the dominant 7th Arpeggio section but not much else. I can do the next 3 sections - Dom 9th/Minor 7th/Minor 9th - by tomorrow if that's ok?

Posted by: Gabriel Leopardi Aug 30 2016, 11:38 PM

Hi mate, good job!!

The two videos can be considered passed for the assignment. I also think that the main thing to improve in both of them is your vibrato technique. You need to try to do it more from your wrist, in order to get a wider and more consistent technique. The best would be to dedicate some time to play only vibrato over the backing track, focusing on your left hand movement.

Your improvisation is ok! It's lacking some structure but I can start visualising some phrases there, so you are on the right track man.

I'll give you two more days to finish the blues theory work, and to work on vibrato, but you don't have to provide new videos of the lesson and improv.

Keep on rocking!

Posted by: sidthekid Sep 2 2016, 07:09 PM

Hey, thanks for passing them! Yes I'm practicing that crazy vibrato whenever I play, shaking my wrist etc

Here's the vid of sections 2.1-2.4, I did the boxes video and also tried improvising on the backing track but I think I will forget these scales soon if I can't use them generally, are there any songs that use them? Or how/where should I use them?



I did section 2.5 - Dominant 7th chords as well, and can generally play the chords mentioned there.

Posted by: Gabriel Leopardi Sep 3 2016, 03:19 PM

Hi mate! Great job!

Well, let's talk about the scales learnt. You've learnt these scales:

Pentatonic Major
Pentatonic Minor
Blues Scale
Dominant Arpeggios

These are the roots to play blues, and as blues is the root of many other styles like rock, jazz, reggae and funk, that knowledge will be really useful. I think that you know that you'll use pentatonic scales very often but let's talk about the dominant arpeggios.

When talking about blues with major chords, we can say that the 3 chords from the 12 bars blues progression are dominant, so you could solo over a blues backing, following the chords with each of the arpeggios. Blues masters usually combine this arpeggios with Pentatonic and blues scale. They take the arpeggio to connect their phrasing with the chords.

Another blues soloing approach which has some relationship to the previous technique is to mix Major and Minor Pentatonics. This is very used, but being able to visualise the arpeggios will help you even with this approach.

In other styles, you'll be able to use dominant arpeggio every time you find a dominant chord in a progression (which is the V chord of a major tonality), and also over Mixolydian progressions in which the I chord is dominant.

This info can seem to be too much, or too advanced but don't worry, you'll slowly start to understand this info. By know try to experiment over this backing tracks:




ASSIGNMENT #3:

Goals:

- 12 bars blues
- Mixing Pentatonics
- Dominant arpeggios


TASK 1:

- Learn this lesson: https://www.guitarmasterclass.net/ls/12_bars_blues_progression/
- Improvise over the backing track of this lesson trying to create your own variations.


TASK 2:

- Practice dominant arpeggio, G major and minor pentatonics over this backing track:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lVapYwZkWRg


Exam and deadline:

By September 14th you'll have to share 3 videos:

- A video playing the lesson (3 coins)
- A second video improvising over the lesson's backing (3 coins)
- A video improvising over the Funky backing track (4 coins)

Each of this videos will be evaluated (check the coins value below). You need to get at least 7 coins to pass. If you pass, we can continue, if you don't you will have a second "call" that would be the last one.

Posted by: sidthekid Sep 8 2016, 06:14 AM

Hi Gabriel!! The 12 bar blues progression is a really tasty solo, I'm having fun learning it! For its improvisation, like how should the G major and minor pentatonic scales be mixed? Is it random, whatever sounds good, or should I follow some pattern like one bar G major, then one bar G minor, etc ?

And in the video, for this lick -
E S S S S S S E T S S S S S ]
----------------------------|------------]
----------------------------|------------]
---------------5---4---3----|------------]
-----------6-7---7---6----5-|------5---5-]
----------------------------|--6-7---7---]
----------------------------|------------]

Where did the G#, D# notes come from?? They sound like blues notes, but they aren't in the G blues scale right? (the G major/minor blues notes are A#/C#)

And for the third task - the G7 backing track is cool - again the same question - G minor pentatonic fits in, G7 Arpeggio a little bit here and there fits in, but G major pentatonic sounds like trash, how can I mix them better?

Since the progression is G7-G7-G7-G7, C7-C7-G7-G7, D7-C7-G7-D7, do I use G7 C7 D7 arpeggio scales over the chords in sync?

Posted by: Gabriel Leopardi Sep 8 2016, 01:51 PM

Hi mate!

It's really cool to see how, the deeper you get into blues, the trickier it seems and the more tools you have to solo over the same progression. There are different ways to see the same things. The answer is in the masters. The best is to analyse what the biggest blues players play/played over each of the chords. Check SRV, Muddy Waters, BB King, Hendrix and analyse how they use all this tools over a progression.

Besides this, experiment by yourself following this two principles:

- All the notes in between the blues scale can be used as passing notes if you do it wisely, with a clear direction and start and end on chord tones.

- Which are chord tones? The notes from the chord, so in the case of the dominant progression, the chord tones are also the notes that build each arpeggio.

- Major scale usually sounds good over some chords and over others not. Try it by yourself and write down your conclusion.

- About following the chords from the dominant progression with the dominant arpeggio of each, yes, that will work, but if will sound more interesting if you find the way to stay on blues scale and suggest the arpeggios. I mean, imagine that you have a fader that lets you mix both tools. Don't switch, move this fader from one to the other... mixing it... I hope that it makes sense. If not check this video that applyes the same princpile mixing modes with pentatonics: https://youtu.be/OkaqfgSqtHg

Posted by: sidthekid Sep 14 2016, 07:30 PM

Hi Gabriel! I'm back with the vids!

So here's the original lesson. I really enjoyed playing the bends, timing and structure.


And an improvisation over its backing track




Here's the jam video in G major/minor. Its 5 minutes long, so long I played almost all of my usual licks, ran out of steam in the middle, this is basically where I'm at with improvising. I used the minor pentatonic mostly, and also the hybrid major/minor, limited to 2-3 positions mostly. Tried adding the arpeggio scale at the end, it's all very haphazard and random



Guess I haven't integrated much till now from the BB King or SRV lesson. SRV is now my new favorite guitar player though \m/

Watched the video, got an idea of what you're saying about mixing, the hybrid major/minor pentatonic is used by Slash alot right?




I couldn't get started on matching the major scales to chords, and couldn't figure out how to use chord tones either, this stuff seems important, can you recommend some videos/exercises for that?

Posted by: Gabriel Leopardi Sep 15 2016, 03:19 PM

Hi friend! Great to find your new videos!!

Based on your submits these are your results:

There is off course a lot of work to do but this videos show that you are on the right track, and that you have been working really hard! I'd like to recommend you again to watch as many blues masters improvising as you can. The more you listen, the more you practice jamming and the more licks you learn, the better your improvisation will become.

About mixing pentatonics, don't worry about it. Give time to get used to the concepts learnt during the current assignment, and keep on practising them. We'll cover everything along the assignments.

Posted by: sidthekid Sep 15 2016, 06:36 PM

9 coins awesome!! Cool, I am listening to SRV right now, really like Texas Flood and Scuttle Buttin. Also listening to jams of the masters on youtube.

I'm also thinking of trying a REC take, is there any you'd recommend for my level? I liked this lesson a lot https://www.guitarmasterclass.net/ls/80s-Hard-Rock/

Posted by: Gabriel Leopardi Sep 16 2016, 03:32 PM

Ok mate, this is the new assignment. We will continue with blues now covering an amazing blues players called Kenny Wayne Shepherd (very influenced by SRV). I also added The Tasty Etude which could be a good first step into the direction of the lesson that you've shared. What do you think?



ASSIGNMENT #4:

Goals:

- Melodic Playing
- More blues phrasing!

TASK 1:

- Work on this lesson: https://www.guitarmasterclass.net/ls/Kenny-Wayne-Shepherd-Phrasing/
- Improvise over the backing track.


TASK 2:

- Learn this lesson: https://www.guitarmasterclass.net/ls/The_tasty_etude/


Exam and deadline:

By September 29th you'll have to share 3 videos:

- A video playing the blues lesson (4 coins)
- A video improvising over the blues lesson (2 coins)
- A video playing The Tasty Etude (4 coins)

Each of this videos will be evaluated (check the coins value below). You need to get at least 7 coins to pass. If you pass, we can continue, if you don't you will have a second "call".

Posted by: sidthekid Sep 28 2016, 06:31 AM

Hey man!
Yes, the Tasty Etude is really a very tasty lesson, I really liked the notes and feel of the licks.




Here is the KWS lesson -




Here is the improvisation for the KWS lesson, it is a bit haphazard but I managed to get some good licks in there -




By the way I've learned that 80s hard rock lesson as well, can post it if you want

Posted by: Gabriel Leopardi Sep 30 2016, 07:59 PM

Hi mate! Your work on these tasks is very promising. I think that you've done a killer job, and I think that there is still more to get from this lessons so I'd like to extend the deadline to give you some more days to work on details.

Please focus on:

- TIMING
- Bending
- and other expression details.

for each of the videos (including your improvisation).


The new deadline is October 10th.

Ok?

Posted by: sidthekid Sep 30 2016, 11:29 PM

Thanks! Haha, I had a feeling that you would ask for these lessons again, I can do better I know I'll try to improve the timing and bends more!

Posted by: Gabriel Leopardi Oct 2 2016, 10:45 PM

Great!

Posted by: sidthekid Oct 4 2016, 03:25 PM

Hey, I'm trying them again, I'm not really getting which parts to improve, for timing and bends and generally. Could you give some specifics to focus on?

Posted by: Gabriel Leopardi Oct 5 2016, 08:32 PM

Sure!

Timing: On Tasty Etude: the first 00:30 seconds are not tight. I can't mark a specific phrase, the whole thing has notes or groups of notes that are like "hurried". Then also at 00:37, 00:38, and from 1:01 to 1:09.
On KWS: at 00:47 and from 00:53 to the end.

Bending: On KWS: 00:05, 0:19, 00:23, 00:28, 00:38, 00:45 and 00;49.

Posted by: sidthekid Oct 18 2016, 07:52 PM

Hi Gabriel!

Here's the redo of the Kenny Wayne Phrasing lesson -


Well, I totally missed the deadline, I was a bit busy mainly because I bought a Yamaha keyboard recently, and started learning piano too through online videos, so didn't give as much time. But I hope I get good at keyboard since that will help in harmony and improve my ear!

I notice that I procrastinate and leave the recording of the videos until the last 2 days before the deadline. So I practice the tunes even less, I'm sorry one thing that could help is if you give the deadline in steps, so if its 1st Oct and you give 3 videos, I have to submit 1 by 5th October and 2 by 10th October, like that.

Can you allow me to skip recording the Tasty Etude re-do for next time? (I'm tired of practicing that tune I guess ) I'll record it again later, for now can you give something new? I don't know why my excitement reduced

Posted by: Gabriel Leopardi Oct 19 2016, 09:37 PM

Hi mate,

good! The lesson needs some polishing regarding timing, bending and vibrato but I think that we can move forward. Motivation is the main goal!

I think that your idea of deadlines can really work. About what to work... are there some songs and lessons that you have in mind?

Posted by: sidthekid Oct 20 2016, 09:30 PM

I really like Rocket Queen by GnR and want to be able to improvise in its progressions. Also, learning Tasty Etude I think improved my improvisation, I generally play in the pentatonic but I'm able to play a bit in the major scale now in that position. I just want to have better melody right now, not going for speed, but to know which scales fit which chords and progressions etc

Posted by: Gabriel Leopardi Oct 22 2016, 07:38 AM

ASSIGNMENT #5:

Goals:

- GN'R Song
- Improvising (Penta + Dorian)


TASK 1:

- Learn the first 46 seconds of Rocket Queen: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1TnL-LJKWE0


TASK 2:

- Improvise over the first 46 seconds of Rocket Queen using Minor Pentatonic Scale (F#m) and Dorian Mode (F#m)


Exam and deadline:

By October 31th you'll have to share 3 videos:

-A video playing the first 46 seconds of Rocket Queen.
- A Video improvising over it.


Feel free to submit the first video some days before the deadline.

Posted by: sidthekid Oct 27 2016, 06:01 AM

Hey Gab!
I like this assignment! At the same time its really difficult too, I hope my transcribing is atleast 50% similar to the original

(I have no idea how that whooshing sound around 0:22 is made, some slide maybe)

I've also made an improvisation but it is only F#m pentatonic right now, no Dorian. I'll make another improv video, how does this one sound?

Posted by: Gabriel Leopardi Oct 28 2016, 06:17 PM

Hi mate! Great job! It's absolute brillliant the fact that you've learn this one by ear. I'll send you some tabs via PM to let you adjust some little details that you need to fix in order to play everything correctly.

Regarding the improvisation, this is a good first take. I think that you still need to experiment with this in order to get more defined phrases. By now you seem to be exploring the scale, now it's time to say something. Incorporating some licks from lessons can be also a good idea.

https://www.guitarmasterclass.net/search/slash/#lesson=2;forum=1

And also check out these licks:

https://www.guitarmasterclass.net/guitar_forum/index.php?showtopic=43287

Posted by: sidthekid Oct 29 2016, 10:33 PM

Hey, thanks alot for those links and the PM! I'll do the proper recording as well as the improv, I am just going through all the Slash-style videos and so need a few more days, is that OK?

What do I say, I don't have anything to say I don't feel creative while improvising/write riffs/songs anymore (I used to) because I fear no-one has the time to listen to it. That's something to work on outside this site I guess

Posted by: Gabriel Leopardi Oct 30 2016, 05:44 PM

Can I recommend a book?

http://kennywerner.com/effortless-mastery

Posted by: sidthekid Nov 4 2016, 10:37 PM

Wow, just wow. Thanks a lot for the recommendation man. That book felt really good to read, it answered many questions/doubts that were in my head and even some that I didn't have, which I might have had later so its saved me time. Its definitely something to read again and again, I had almost forgotten that playing the guitar makes me feel happy, it had become all goals and technique and no time for enjoying the sound

Let me tell you a story-
I remember one time playing the guitar that was the best feeling I ever had, it was more than 6 years ago but I still remember it clearly. I had listened to Crossroads by Clapton and was going through the tabs for the song. I was all alone at home. I finally came to this electrifying lick -

E|------17------17----------|--17-------17----------|--17-------17----------|
B|----------19-------20b---|-------20------20b-----|-------20------20b----|
G|-----------------------------|--------------------------|--------------------------|
D|-----------------------------|--------------------------|--------------------------|
A|-----------------------------|--------------------------|--------------------------|
E|-----------------------------|--------------------------|--------------------------|


You know, a classic repeating blues-rock lick. As soon as my hands played it, my head just filled with emotion. I literally got high and dizzy with happiness. I put the guitar down and ran around for 20 seconds, then that feeling went away. It was like tasting electricity, and I haven't ever gotten such an intense feeling since, I hope it'll come back someday


Here's the intro to Rocket Queen again, thanks to better tabs. I'm going through the Slash-style videos, but still can't get a decent improvisation for this intro right now, I'll post one soon.

Posted by: Gabriel Leopardi Nov 8 2016, 03:02 PM

Hi mate,

beautiful post! I'm glad to know that the book really captured you. It's one of the best books that I've ever read. And yes, it is something to be read many times, every time your forget it.

This is the energy that you need in order to play guitar so I think that now we are on track.

Please keep me updated.

Posted by: sidthekid Nov 11 2016, 06:28 AM

Hey Gabriel! I made some more improv videos, I'll post multiple takes here so you know the level I'm at right now. I get the feeling that the song has underlying chord changes based on which I should play different 'boxes' of the F#m pentatonic, or something, getting different sounds for different parts of the song is something that I'm not getting.







Please help me improve this!

Posted by: Gabriel Leopardi Nov 13 2016, 06:35 AM

Ok mate, I think that you need to get into some rocker licks and patterns that will give you some phrases that will be your starting points for improvisation. We have lots of great Slash lessons here that you can work. But I would suggest you to give a try to the concepts shared on this one:

https://www.guitarmasterclass.net/solo-guitar/improvise-like-slash/


It's an old lesson, but it includes many tools that can be applied over the song that you are playing


Please check it out and let me know what you think.

Posted by: sidthekid Nov 15 2016, 07:47 PM

Great lesson! I went through it, found 2-3 new licks that I really like Some of them I've heard before, since I've learned the Sweet child of Mine and Slither solos, these hard blues-rock licks are my favourite type \m/

So I think these days are a crucial period, a type of test, for me to learn to improvise according to scales and finally have a breakthrough. I will try my best!

Like I went through this lesson -
https://www.guitarmasterclass.net/ls/Poor_Man_Blues_Solo/

Its backing track is the 12-bar blues in E, so
E-E-E-E
A-A-E-E
B-A-E-B

I saw that first the solo plays notes from the Bm pentatonic then shifts to Em pentatonic, then back to Bm, then finally back to Em pentatonic. I thought that was it, but it seems all the notes I THOUGHT were from the Bm pentatonic scale, could actually come under the E minor chart diagram at the bottom of the Lesson Description.
So what scale is the instructor playing the whole time? Is it the E minor/E minor pentatonic (hybrid) only, the whole time?

Also, if I want to improvise on this backing track -
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xu7lPZGfZKs
its chords are Em-G-D-C. Are there any specific scales I should be on during any of the chords? Or should I just roam around on the Em hybrid scale? Is there any music theory for this?

Posted by: Gabriel Leopardi Nov 16 2016, 05:39 PM

Hi mate,

the instructor on the blues lesson is using a concept called "following the chords". The scale is mostly E pentatonic minor, however there are some extra notes (2) that are taken from E minor scale, mostly when the backing goes to A.

The chords from the progression are minor. So what he is exactly doing in this solo targeting the notes from each chord, and using the notes from the pentatonic as passsing notes to create the phrases.

Try it by yourself. Work on small parts of the neck and play Em arpeggio every time that Em minor sounds, and A minor arpeggio when this chord sounds:

http://www.guitarmasterclass.net/scalegenerator

http://www.guitarmasterclass.net/scalegenerator


Once you can do it, do the same but also using E pentatonic minor scale as a template to create phrases.

http://www.guitarmasterclass.net/scalegenerator


You'll notice that if you combine all these notes, you'll get E minor scale which is the scale suggested by the instructor. The trick is not which notes you play, the trick is WHEN.

Does it make sense?

Posted by: sidthekid Dec 1 2016, 06:51 AM

Hey Gab, I tried your above suggestion, it makes sense yes. I recorded two videos of me, playing the Em Arpeggio notes (with emphasis on ending a phrase on E/B) during the Em chords, and Am notes (with emphasis on ending a phrase on A/C) during the Am and Bm chords. Also used the pentatonic scale notes as passing notes.






I also noticed that I don't really listen to the sound of the notes I play, and how they sound with the chords, but I link/connect more with the visual structure/ box position/ lick structure. As in, I try to fit the licks I already know onto the chords without matching the sound, that's something I will work more on.

Posted by: Gabriel Leopardi Dec 2 2016, 02:04 PM

Hi mate, good! This is a great first step into this direction. The next exercise that I recommend doing is to play the closest chord tone when a chord changes to give the solo a smoother direction. At this moment, I can hear that every time the chord changes, you start a new arpeggio, the idea is that this change happens more naturally.

Also try to start creating more musical phrases, using pentatonic but focusing on chord tones. Again, the following the chords concepts should be natural. People must think that you player the right note at each moment, not that you are changing the shape everytime the chord changes.

This is not easy, but keep on working with these ideas in mind and it will slowly happen.

Keep the great job!

Posted by: sidthekid Dec 8 2016, 04:45 PM

Thanks for the advice! I'm definitely making some progress, also I found an awesome website Hook Theory ( https://www.hooktheory.com/trends ) that lets you choose a chord progression and see popular songs in that progression. I'm on it all day

Can you give me another video to work on, something that I can go for REC? What should I progress in next, I think I will start Todd's shredfest challenge from Jan so please give me a difficult one

Posted by: Gabriel Leopardi Dec 9 2016, 06:43 AM

That's a cool site! Thanks for sharing!

What about giving a try to this lesson?

https://www.guitarmasterclass.net/ls/Stevie_Ray_Vaughan_Inspired_Phrasing/

Posted by: sidthekid Dec 9 2016, 08:58 PM

Whoa this is an awesome lesson! The fast parts are just on the edge of my playing ability...I'll definitely try my best on it

Posted by: Gabriel Leopardi Dec 10 2016, 04:26 PM

Cool! It's one of my favorites.

Posted by: sidthekid Dec 16 2016, 05:08 AM

Hey Gabriel, here's my take. I can work on it more and try to make a REC before next weekend!

Posted by: Gabriel Leopardi Dec 17 2016, 05:37 PM

Hi mate, that's really good!

There are some details regarding your playing that can be fixed but the overall sounds really close, congrats friend!

The main thing that I would improve on this one to share a REC take is your tone, and the mix sound. It doesn't sound good, how are you recording this? It sounds like if it would be low fi.... what amp are you using?

Then, regarding playing, be careful with timing, you tend to play licks after the beat so pay attention to it. Besides this, there are some obvious details to adjust in some licks close to the end, but again, this is really good!

Posted by: sidthekid May 20 2018, 05:03 PM

Hi Gab! Been a long while since I posted here! Doing some RECs nowadays, my playing's definitely improved.
I was doing this lesson https://www.guitarmasterclass.net/ls/Bens-Vibrato-Odyssey-5/, wanted to ask if I can use my third finger instead of the 2nd finger for playing the vibrato notes. I don't really bend with the 2nd finger alot, mainly use the first or 3rd fingers...so is that ok?

Posted by: Gabriel Leopardi May 21 2018, 02:32 PM

Hi mate, great to hear from you!!

Using your third finger won't avoid you to pass at REC but I strongly recommend to also practice with your second finger since you'll need to be able to bend and do vibrato will each of your fretting hand fingers.

Are you using finger 1 to help your finger 2 when bending?

Posted by: sidthekid May 21 2018, 06:47 PM

Hey yea, I had lots of academic/job work last year, learned singing and keys too so the guitar was ignored. But now I've got a good recording setup and look forward to getting back

Yes I use the finger 1 behind 2 for bending. Ok I will practice with both fingers, anyway I can't do the fastest part properly with any finger right now, I usually bend the string up so downwards is new for me.

Posted by: Gabriel Leopardi May 23 2018, 12:10 AM

Well, take your time for practice and to get used to it. This lesson is specially designed to improve your vibrato (as well as your bending) so it's a good moment to master these techniques. If you don't do it know, you'll regret it later.