Spacebran's Practice & Inspiration, For Gab's Army Options

[Gabriel Leopardi]

Hi Spacebran! This is our thread for practice and inspiration. Here post the info that you sent me for reference:

"Hey!

I would love to join your mentoring program. I had a period where I was a bit off and on and haven't participated on the forums very much for the past year or two... I've found some new inspiration and really want to take my playing more seriously again with a routine.

Here are some things I want to get better at:

-Knowing more chords on the acoustic and knowing my way around with chords better, in general
-Acoustic finger style (mainly blues)
-Electric - 80s hair metal solos and rhythms

My routine lately has been the following...

-Warm up with exercises from Troy Stetina's speed mechanics book
-Work my way through Troy Stetina's Fretboard mastery book
-Come on here and learn some different lessons

Right now, I am nearly finished this 80s rock lesson: https://www.guitarmasterclass.net/ls/Rhythm-Guitar-80s-Rock/

I am also working on this Van Halen lesson (I used to know it a long time ago): https://www.guitarmasterclass.net/rhythm-gu...n-style-lesson/"


I decided to choose that name to the thread because our main goals must be based on them. My idea is to help you with your guitar practice but also to keep your motivation at high levels.

I have some questions for you.

1) What inspired you to start playing guitar?
2) What things, events, people makes you want to get back home to practice?
3) Who are your favorites musicians and why?
4) Do you usually compose music? Do you have any idea to share here?
5) How is your day? What do you usually do?

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[spacebran]

1) What inspired you to start playing guitar?

I started playing guitar when I was 14 years old and am currently 27. I was inspired by a new found interest in metal and punk music. My friend bought a guitar and started playing so I did too. We started a band and I found that I had some natural talent, which was definitely a great help. I had lessons for about a year from a guitarist named Adrian Raso (look him up!). He is one of the greatest guitar players I have ever seen to this day. Through him, I heard of artists like Paul Gilbert who continues to inspire me to this day.

2) What things, events, people makes you want to get back home to practice?

When I hear an awesome tune I just want to pick up my guitar and jam! I love jamming for or with people at parties, camping, etc.

3) Who are your favorites musicians and why?

I have a lot of favorites... one of my favorite metal bands is Amon Amarth. I love their epic Viking metal sound. One of my favorite guitarists is Paul Gilbert - I don't think I need to explain why . Right now, I am listening to a lot of Ratt and other 80's hair metal bands. I just love the way I feel when I listen to their music.

My favorite composer is Adrian Von Zeigler (https://www.youtube.com/user/AdrianvonZiegler). He inspired my to take writing orchestral/ambient music more seriously. His pieces are just... amazing. Check them out!

4) Do you usually compose music? Do you have any idea to share here?

Yes, I do compose music. I spend a lot of time improvising over backing tracks that I get from YouTube or tracks that I make. If I am jamming with a friend, I usually improvise there too. I have a lot of ideas on the go and I do have a track I could share, but I haven't mastered it properly. I actually ordered some studio monitors yesterday so I can use those for mixing rather than headphones.

I also love to compose orchestral music. This is another reason I bought studio monitors - It's too hard composing orchestral music with headphones. I need to hear the music as if it was in front of me.

A lot of my writing is just tidbits here and there. I recently started doing some more serious records, but again, that's why I wanted some monitors. I can show some ideas later once I get my monitors set up!

5) How is your day? What do you usually do?

I am currently a high school teacher in Alberta. I spend my day doing a job I love and in the evenings or on weekends I am usually playing guitar, playing video games, reading, or hanging out with my girlfriend (who I live with) or friends. I also run a dungeons and dragons campaign every Friday night.

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This post has been edited by spacebran: Jun 16 2014, 05:01 PM

[Gabriel Leopardi]

Hi Spacebran, thanks for your info. I find it very inspiring. I checked both Adrians while I was reading your post and I have to say that I loved what I heard. The guitarist is a very interesting composed as well as the orchestral one. This bandcamp: http://adrianvonziegler.bandcamp.com/ is pure inspiration. Thanks for sharing.

Based on your info I would set two directions in your diary work because I think that you've already have a good level. These two directions would be:

1) Practice: Here we would set weekly routines to polish your technique and to learn new concepts applied to guitar and composition.



2) Composing projects: I think that it would be great to start designing your professional career and all the things that it implicates.

- Releasing simples and Eps.
- Uploading Youtube videos for promotion. Playing the songs, videoclips, tutorials on how you composed/recorded the tracks
- Starting your own website, bandcamp and facebook page.


What do you think?

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[spacebran]

1) Practice: Here we would set weekly routines to polish your technique and to learn new concepts applied to guitar and composition.

2) Composing projects: I think that it would be great to start designing your professional career and all the things that it implicates.

- Releasing simples and Eps.
- Uploading Youtube videos for promotion. Playing the songs, videoclips, tutorials on how you composed/recorded the tracks
- Starting your own website, bandcamp and facebook page.


What do you think?

It sounds good, but to be clear, I am not trying to become a professional musician. I simply want to create for the fun of creating. I do want to write a metal album and it would be fun to promote it, but I'm not sure about starting my own website, etc. I'd rather talk about the promoting side of things later on.

Practice - I levelled up yesterday. I frequently refer to myself as levelling up when I have one of those moments where a piece of theory suddenly something becomes clear and useful to me or I 'master' a technique.

Even after all my years of playing, I never really managed to connect together the modes and chords. I always wondered how people just know what chords to play where when they're in random keys.

I've known the modes for quite a long time, but I usually use the 3-notes-per-string patterns. I've been practising the forms presented in Troy Stetina's fretboard mastery and it's making connections between scales and moving them around on the neck. This led be to realizing I understand keys and notes a lot better when I think about what 'position' I am in (i.e. if I am playing E aeolian, I am in the 'phrygian' position since that is the scale above it. I don't know why it took me so long to actually make this connection and use it, but it's definitely opened my eyes a bit to mastering the fretboard.

This realization has also helped me understand *how* I need to practice knowing what chords I can play no matter what string the root is on and no matter the key. I have began linking them to the position I am in on the fretboard.

It may sound silly that it took me so long to make these connections (or does it? The fretboard is complicated! But not really...)

Anyways, that was some success I had yesterday.

I've attached a piece I was working on last year. I used headphones to record and didn't spend much time mastering it (which is something I would also like to get better at - so perhaps as I write things, I can share them here and some tips would be great!).

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[Gabriel Leopardi]

It sounds good, but to be clear, I am not trying to become a professional musician. I simply want to create for the fun of creating. I do want to write a metal album and it would be fun to promote it, but I'm not sure about starting my own website, etc. I'd rather talk about the promoting side of things later on.

This sounds good. As the artist that you shared as influence have a strong presence on Youtube and the web in general, I thought that you would be interested on following their steps. But off course, this is not a rotund yes or no, black or white, there are lots of possibilities and levels. But trust me, once you have your album composed, there nothing more rewarding than receiving nice feedback from many people from different parts of the world.

Practice - I levelled up yesterday. I frequently refer to myself as levelling up when I have one of those moments where a piece of theory suddenly something becomes clear and useful to me or I 'master' a technique.

Even after all my years of playing, I never really managed to connect together the modes and chords. I always wondered how people just know what chords to play where when they're in random keys.

I've known the modes for quite a long time, but I usually use the 3-notes-per-string patterns. I've been practising the forms presented in Troy Stetina's fretboard mastery and it's making connections between scales and moving them around on the neck. This led be to realizing I understand keys and notes a lot better when I think about what 'position' I am in (i.e. if I am playing E aeolian, I am in the 'phrygian' position since that is the scale above it. I don't know why it took me so long to actually make this connection and use it, but it's definitely opened my eyes a bit to mastering the fretboard.

This realization has also helped me understand *how* I need to practice knowing what chords I can play no matter what string the root is on and no matter the key. I have began linking them to the position I am in on the fretboard.

It may sound silly that it took me so long to make these connections (or does it? The fretboard is complicated! But not really...)

Anyways, that was some success I had yesterday.

I happy for you of this achievement but I can't get exactly what you are saying here, I don't understand what you finally understood about modes. Could you add some info or examples about this?

I've attached a piece I was working on last year. I used headphones to record and didn't spend much time mastering it (which is something I would also like to get better at - so perhaps as I write things, I can share them here and some tips would be great!).

This track sounds very interesting. I like how much it's influenced by classic metal bands. There are some moments that it reminds me to bands like Maiden and Sabbath, some others to Power Metal bands like Gamma Ray, Primal Fear and Edguy.

Regarding the composition, I feel that there are many cool ideas happening there. After some time I feel that it needs some harmonic changes, because it keeps too much around the root chord. I feel that it's lacking some kind of chorus, or refreshing melody.
The track inspires tension, a dramatic moment, maybe you won't want to create a "catchy" or "refreshing melody" but even wanting to make it sound with that feeling all the time, it would be good to try some chord movements.

This song, originally composed by Dio has some connection with your track, see how it moves in the chorus:



Regarding the mix, the main thing that your track is lacking is bass sound. I can't hear it with my headphones, is there a bass guitar?

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[spacebran]

I happy for you of this achievement but I can't get exactly what you are saying here, I don't understand what you finally understood about modes. Could you add some info or examples about this?

This track sounds very interesting. I like how much it's influenced by classic metal bands. There are some moments that it reminds me to bands like Maiden and Sabbath, some others to Power Metal bands like Gamma Ray, Primal Fear and Edguy.

Regarding the composition, I feel that there are many cool ideas happening there. After some time I feel that it needs some harmonic changes, because it keeps too much around the root chord. I feel that it's lacking some kind of chorus, or refreshing melody.
The track inspires tension, a dramatic moment, maybe you won't want to create a "catchy" or "refreshing melody" but even wanting to make it sound with that feeling all the time, it would be good to try some chord movements.

Regarding the mix, the main thing that your track is lacking is bass sound. I can't hear it with my headphones, is there a bass guitar?

haha, I was rambling on when I typed that. Basically, I think I am making connections between how to understand what chords I can play and where no matter what key I am in, which will help tremendously with improvising. For example, let's say I am playing in E aeolian with the root on the 7th fret of A. I see this is the B Phrygian position on the neck since the E aeolian mode is really, just a part of the Phrygian mode above it. As soon as I think 'B Phrygian', I understand what chord shapes can be played in that mode, which are all connected to the E below it. Now I am going to make connections to the root/1st inverted/2nd inverted triads that are found on each string in each position of each mode. I'm not sure if other people do it this way or not, but it's opened my eyes quite a bit. I have to think a lot less when playing chords and this makes me happy.

Thanks for the comments on that track. It's still rough and I agree, it needs something more refreshing and to sound a little more melodic. That's something I would like to understand better. When composing, I'm very good at coming up with catchy riffs, but I have trouble making connections between verse, chorus, etc. I want to have a better understanding of making harmonic changes or switching between different keys.

And you are correct - there is no bass. I actually bought a bass about 2 years ago, but then I moved from Canada to England for a year and didn't get to play it much. I wrote that track while I was in England, so no bass yet!

Thanks for all the input by the way! I have a good feeling about joining your group!

Also, that track by killswitch engage is badass. I downloaded a guitar pro file and I'm going to analyse it.

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[Gabriel Leopardi]

Now I understand what you mean. It's a trick to find the chords from the tonalities faster, isn't it? If that's what you mean, it's right but when you are talking about scales and modes, it's important to visualize the modes as they are at the fret board and not as a part of other scale. It's better to see each mode with its root and characteristic note to make appropriate use of it.

Talking about fast tricks for modes, I find this video by the professor very cool.



Learning triads sounds like a good plan. Let's start working a bit on modes here. Would you like to start with Lydian?

About the song, you can write the analysis here. I usually divide the song in parts (intro, verse, chorus) and write down what's happening on each with the instruments, how it's arranged and the theory behind it (scales and chord progressions)

Structure // What's Happening // Theory

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[spacebran]

Now I understand what you mean. It's a trick to find the chords from the tonalities faster, isn't it? If that's what you mean, it's right but when you are talking about scales and modes, it's important to visualize the modes as they are at the fret board and not as a part of other scale. It's better to see each mode with its root and characteristic note to make appropriate use of it.

I get lost with so many chord shapes and I want to expand my knowledge so I know exactly what chords fit in each position on the neck. For example, I'm okay with the standard bar chords, but say if I am playing in some random mode, I want to know what chords I can play with roots on different strings (i.e. if I am playing in E aeolian starting at fret 7 on A, how am I supposed to know what triads or other chords fit in and around that mode with the root on any string? I think I am starting to figure out ways of remembering, though)

I know all the modes in two forms. I'm pretty good with the 3-note per string version as well as the more 'standard' way of playing them like in that video you showed. I do see each mode with its root and characteristic note, but it helps me to visualize the mode as part of another mode when the root is no longer on the 6th string. In the example I gave before, I see E aeolian on fret 7 of A as the E aeolian scale, but it helps me to picture what is around it by understanding that it's really a part of the phyrgian mode above it. I hope that makes it clear.

Is this how other people do it? I'm not sure, but once I started thinking about it that way, it made it easier.

Talking about fast tricks for modes, I find this video by the professor very cool.

I'll check it out in more detail tomorrow - there seem to be a few tricks in there that I will think about.

Learning triads sounds like a good plan. Let's start working a bit on modes here. Would you like to start with Lydian?

I understand the Lydian mode - what would you like to work on? And yes, understanding triads and there inversions is helping me tremendously work my way around the fretboard. I want to become as fluent with the triads as I am the modes (okay, well more so, I still make mistakes!)

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[Gabriel Leopardi]

Yeah, everything that helps to find a mode fast and to feel oriented on guitar is ok, but always being sure that you are focusing on the mode that you are playing and not on the "reference" scale. I used many approaches to feel familiar with modes, and I have to say that the one suggested by Alejandro on this series "modes harmonized in thirds" is the best one to learn each mode as a different scale:

https://www.guitarmasterclass.net/ls/aeolia...ed-with-triads/

Both Alejandro and me learnt improvisation in this way by an important guitar teacher in our city. These way of learning modes opening my mind and my fret board knowledge a lot when I was younger.

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[spacebran]

Yeah, everything that helps to find a mode fast and to feel oriented on guitar is ok, but always being sure that you are focusing on the mode that you are playing and not on the "reference" scale. I used many approaches to feel familiar with modes, and I have to say that the one suggested by Alejandro on this series "modes harmonized in thirds" is the best one to learn each mode as a different scale:

https://www.guitarmasterclass.net/ls/aeolia...ed-with-triads/

Both Alejandro and me learnt improvisation in this way by an important guitar teacher in our city. These way of learning modes opening my mind and my fret board knowledge a lot when I was younger.

Wow, these lessons are awesome! I think I am going to study these for awhile! It's exactly what I am trying to teach myself. Thanks.

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[Gabriel Leopardi]

Wow, these lessons are awesome! I think I am going to study these for awhile! It's exactly what I am trying to teach myself. Thanks.

Great. Go slowly one mode at a time. Here are some ideas of how I used to practice it:

- Playing the scales as Alejandro plays them in the main video, connecting the scales vertically.
- Harmonize the scale notes but using the root chord as the bass note of the triad.
- Playing the scales horizontally on each string connecting triads.
- Play melodies starting from triad note and ending on triad note.

This workout will definitely open your fret board visualization.


How is the song analysis going?

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[spacebran]

Great. Go slowly one mode at a time. Here are some ideas of how I used to practice it:

- Playing the scales as Alejandro plays them in the main video, connecting the scales vertically.
- Harmonize the scale notes but using the root chord as the bass note of the triad.
- Playing the scales horizontally on each string connecting triads.
- Play melodies starting from triad note and ending on triad note.

This workout will definitely open your fret board visualization.


How is the song analysis going?

Thanks! Working on it slowly!

As for the analysis, I am curious - since the song is in dropped C, how do you refer to the chords? For example, in standard, if you play a C power chord on the third fret of the A string, it is a C power chord. In a dropped C tuning, it is actually a Bb power chord. I just want to know what the standard way of referencing chords when in a different tuning - do you go by the actual chord or by what position on the guitar the chord is?

I've done an analysis up to the solo, by the way.

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[Gabriel Leopardi]

Thanks! Working on it slowly!

As for the analysis, I am curious - since the song is in dropped C, how do you refer to the chords? For example, in standard, if you play a C power chord on the third fret of the A string, it is a C power chord. In a dropped C tuning, it is actually a Bb power chord. I just want to know what the standard way of referencing chords when in a different tuning - do you go by the actual chord or by what position on the guitar the chord is?

I've done an analysis up to the solo, by the way.

This is a good question. I think that the correct way would be to write the name of the chord that it's sounding because the sound is the important thing, not the position in the guitar.

What did you get from the solo?

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