Philm's Thread, for Gab's Army Options

[philm]

Hey Gab, So my arm is finally getting better. I have this week off work still and then maybe i can slowly get back to playing next week.
I am itching to get back!
In the meantime i have been learning the notes of the fretboard. I have picked some songs for the ear training i thought of looking at these three songs.

Rise Against: People Live Here
A slow rise against one from the new album that i thinks is really interesting and a great song.

Biffy Clyro: Victory For The Sun
This is also one of my favorite bands. I love the build up in this song.

The Offspring: The Future is Now
As I have been learning all these punk lessons i thought it would be good to chose one in this style.

I tried to pick relatively easy songs and a bit of a range of songs. Just to clarify, structure would be looking at the order of sections like verse, chorus, bridge etc. and arrangement is looking at what the guitar and instruments are actually doing(picking,strumming etc.) I think the theory side of working out what chords and scales are being played is going to be a big challenge for me. What is the best way to approach this as i can't play on the guitar to try and find out what chords are people played? I don't really have the ears yet to hear a chord and know what it is in the song, i guess its a matter of practice. Anyway i shall get started in those tables.

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[Gabriel Leopardi]

Hi Philm! It's great to know that your arm is getting better and also to see you using this time to learn theory and analyze songs. You understood the song analysis table perfectly. This is the template that I use to share:

Song Analysis:

Name of the song:
Name of the band:

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

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

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

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


How to do it without your guitar? I think that the best would be to use guitar pro to transcribe the chords and arrangements to be sure that you are learning the chords right. Using a keyboard could be another good option but it depends on having one.

I would also like to recommend you this software that allows you to slow down tracks for learning and practice: http://www.ronimusic.com/amsldowin.htm

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[philm]

Hey gab, Good news! After my month long injury I can start playing again. I have been desperate to get back to playing and finally i am allowed too. My arm is still completely healed so i can't push it too hard yet. I think i will learn and practice some lessons that are a bit more easy going on my arm.

I starting your john frusciante lessons quite sometime again, i think these lessons would be a good starting point to get gently back playing. The stoner rock lessons after that shouldn't also be too much of a problem. I also want to up my practice on the acoustic.

I have been doing the ear training and have started some tables but i was really struggling trying to work out what chords and scales are being used in the songs without using the guitar. I need a lot more practice here still. So i just wanted to know that i am back playing and active and ready to get our journey rolling again

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[Gabriel Leopardi]

Hi Philm! These are fantastic news! You are back!! I'm very glad to know this.

Please be careful and start slowly, take your time to do some massages, stretches before and after your guitar sessions. Always do some warming up and stop playing every time you feel a disturbance in your arm.

I'll be waiting for your news, videos and song analysis.

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[philm]

Hi Philm! These are fantastic news! You are back!! I'm very glad to know this.

Please be careful and start slowly, take your time to do some massages, stretches before and after your guitar sessions. Always do some warming up and stop playing every time you feel a disturbance in your arm.

I'll be waiting for your news, videos and song analysis.

Hey gab,
Here is the john frusciante lesson first take. I am not entirely happy with the take, but i wanted to finally post sth again. I know there are some timing issues and i am not satisfied with the tone. I used my pod to create a sound but its not up to scratch compared to your tone. Do you have any advice here? I have learned the second lesson in this series and will post a take asap.

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[Gabriel Leopardi]

Hi Philm, I'll give you feedback as soon as I reach home. I'm getting back rom some Cirse's gigs.

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[Gabriel Leopardi]

Hi Philm! I'm back.

I have to say that this lesson has been a good choice for you. I can notice the different topics that you have to work to improve your solo guitar playing.

TUNING:
You guitar is slightly out of tune. This can be just a tuning issue or it can be related to other two things: old strings or calibration problems. Try to discover what's the problems and always remember to check your tuning frequently.

TIMING:
As you noted, there are some timing issues in your take. Some of these sound out of tempo over the backing and some other just sound different to the original lesson. The best way to improve this is to practice the lesson over the original take (mine) focusing on timing, rhythm and notes duration. Don't think on other things, just concentrate on going tight with my playing until you feel it more natural. It won't take so much time, you are very close.

BENDING:
There are 3 bends on this lessons, at 00:12, 00:22 and 00:32. I think that you should re-check them since the pitch that you are reaching is not totally precise. This problem can be related to the tuning issue that I'm also marking, so you always have to fix that one first. This lesson (Click HERE) is good to train this technique.

DYNAMICS:
Besides groove, vibrato, bending and some other details, the dynamics are another important feature that must be used to give more life to your playing. What does it means? It means to use different intensities as an expression tool. Your right hand is picking each note with the same intensity as a machine, try to feel the phrases and to give them different intentions. This is the last thing to add, once you fixed the previous ones but it's as important as them. You are human, so you have to sound as a person. This lesson is a good example of how dynamics can be used in your playing: CLICK HERE

TONE:
Tone is something that we never keep on evolving and experimenting. The sound seem to be good but I would work a bit more on the EQ used. At first, I would select the bridge pick up of your guitar, increase bass and mids, and lower treble. I'm not sure about the amp that you are using, but something connected to marshal or plexi could work great for this solo. Experiment with this and share a new sample if you want more feedback.


Ok mate, please work on this things and keep me updated about your thoughts and progress.

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[philm]

Hey Gab,
Thanks for your very detailed analysis and feedback. I appreciate it!
I've got a lot to work on but at least I can play again:) The tuning thing issue I think is to do with the strings they need to be badly changed.
I do normally practice the lessons over your playing a few times and then with just the backing. I can stay in time a lot better when practicing over the original take but as soon as i take that away i maybe need to focus more to stay on time by myself.

I have also recorded the second frusciante lesson. I am happier with this one than the first but a think a lot of your points probably apply to this lesson too. I also make some slight adjustments to the tone that I think are better but i will try again with your advice as well.



I have also done another take of the stoner rock lesson trying to incorporate your last feedback into it. I practiced this one quite a lot before my injury trying to work on the aggressiveness, solo and timing. The solo still needs a large amount of work but i think this take is a slight improvement on the last.

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[Gabriel Leopardi]

Hi Philm! I would like to congrat you on your great work on this mentoring program. I can see big improvements on these new takes compared to previous ones, mostly on the Stoner rock take. It means that you are taking my comments and working on each of the topics discussed. I notice improvements on each topic.

Frusciante's lesson applies to similar comments to the ones that I gave you for the first part. I insist that it's fundamental to change your strings to avoid this out of tune takes that are a very bad training for your ears. Focus on timing since it's the main thing to improve but also pay attention to vibrato, bending and dynamics.

I played again the previous take of the Stoner lesson after listening to this one and I honestly felt surprised of how much you could improve this one. The take is more solid now, the trills are tighter and the whole lesson has a much better timing now. Just a two details more:

RIGHT HAND PICKING:
You have managed dynamics much better now but there are some differences with my right hand directions (upstrokes and downstrokes) that give some of the first riffs a different intention, it sounds less aggressive and definition. So check it out. I also note in the solo that your alternate picking technique is not totally consistent when the faster licks appear. What about working on this lesson? LINK HERE.

VIBRATO:
This technique is getting better but most of the times it's still weak and irregular. This happens on riffs and also during the solo so you have to continue practicing this technique. Let's incorporate this lesson for this: LINK HERE

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[philm]

Hey gab, thanks for your kind words and feedback. I must say i do really feel improvement in my playing since starting this mentoring this years Its has especially helped me focus my practice and not take off more than i can chew. Also you have helped me solve and improve issues in my playing that i would never have figured it out by myself.
So here is the new plan of action.

Song lessons
To improve and work on,
-Stoner Rock
-John Frusciante 1+2

These lessons also need practicing and refining still
-Millencolin
-Rise Against
-The Offspring

Because of my injury and the speed of these lessons I may need to wait a little longer until i tackle these again.

Techniques
I will incorporate the two lessons you suggested on alternative picking and vibrato.

Alternative Picking
LINK HERE.

Vibrato
LINK HERE

Theory
Ear Training
-I haven't forgotten the song analysis, i will try to get those tables done

Note learning
Continue and finish learning the notes on the fretboard

Future lessons to learn
-John Frusciante 3
-Stoner Rock 2
-Fu Manchu Style
-Kyuss Style

Future
My long term goal maybe for the end of the year is to start developing and coming up with my own riffs/songs.

So that's the rough plan for the rest of the the year. A lot to get through but i thinks its realistic what do you think?

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[Gabriel Leopardi]

Hi mate, it's totally realistic, complete and organized. I recommend you to print the program and to have it always visible at the beginning of each routine. You can add notes and do some modifications that you feel can make it a better plan.

Let's go for it this week. Please keep me updated diary!

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[philm]

Hey mate, ok i am glad the plan is fine. I also am/have been learning a few songs on the acoustic. Ones for "around the campfire" moments .
These are;

-RHCP-Road trippin(to improve my finger picking)
-Green Day- Macy's day parade
-Coldplay - Yellow
-Oasis- Wonderwall

I am away for a few days but i can get cracking next week. I'm looking forward to it!

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[Gabriel Leopardi]

Ok! Have a nice time mate. Let me know when you are back to practice.

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[philm]

Hey Gab,
Just to let you know i am getting back to practice probably this week. I playing around on the acoustic a lot last week learning songs. But its back to the the lessons now. My daily plan looks kind of like this for this week.


Style lessons
Practicing the following lessons for 15 mins each or playing 10-15 times. 10 times to your playing and 5 with the backing track.

-Stoner rock (15min)
-John Frusciante 1 & 2 (15min)
-Rise against(10min)

Techniques
Vibrating lesson - start learning this one

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[Gabriel Leopardi]

Hi Philm! Thanks for the update. The plan sounds great for me. Are some videos coming soon to check your progress?

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[philm]

Hi Philm! Thanks for the update. The plan sounds great for me. Are some videos coming soon to check your progress?

Here you go:) I make new takes on the frusciante lessons. I practiced both these lessons around 40 times this week. I don't know if there is a big difference to the last takes but i think they are getting better. The stoner rock i didn't want to record yet as i don't think the improvement is large enough. I want to learn the vibrato and alternative picking lesson parallel to the stoner one and see what effect those lessons have on it.
Next week i want to focus on the learning the third frusciante lesson and the virbrato lesson.

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[Gabriel Leopardi]

Hi Philm! Thanks for the videos! I can notice that you are slowly improving them but you still have to practice every day focused on these things:

- Bending: Most of your bends are out of pitch. This problem appears mostly on the first lesson but it's because it has much more bends than the second one. You definitely have to continue working every day on this technique. Please use the lesson that I gave you previously to work on it, as well as this exercise:



- Timing: This problem is more notorious in the lesson 2, but it's also present on lesson 1. You tend to go a bit before the beat. A good way to work on timing, is to practice over the original lesson, trying to copy the rhythm and groove used by the instructor, in this case me.

- Dynamics: As you are not totally comfortable with the lessons, your picking is shy, and sometimes weak. Maybe you can work on it a bit later but start to pay attention to the different intensities used in the main video to give the phrases special feelings.

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[philm]

Ok gab, thanks for the feedback. I will work on these lessons next week trying to improve the bending and timing. The thing with the timing is i when i play along your playing i feel i am in time, but when i play just to the backing track its when i fall out of time. I think i just need to concentrate and count more closely. Regards the bending i don't think i studied the tab and listened to the bends closely enough on your take, i completely understand what you mean now with them being out of pitch.
I am not totally sure which of the technique lesson i should tackle first (alternative picking,bending or vibrato) as i don't have time for all of them at once. Which should i focus on first do you think?

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[Gabriel Leopardi]

Hi Philm. Great to know that the feedback is helping. Regarding timing, yes, that's normal, we use to feel more comfortable when we play over another guitar doing it right. You need to feel the rhythm with all your body in order to play it tight over a backing track without another guitar as a reference. You have to experiment, closing your eyes while you practice, putting all your concentration on it, moving your head or tapping with your foot. The idea is that you feel the rhythm instead of thinking it. This takes time but you'll be able to master it if you practice following my suggestions.

And about your question... I don't know how much time you are talking about but you should practice the 3 techniques every day, and if your time is so limited, you can make more emphasis on one technique each day. Maybe divide the time in 5/5 and you dedicate 3/5 to one technique and 1/5 to the other two ones. This can sound weird, but the best way to improve your techniques is with diary practice. You need to improve them and maintain them.

Let me know if this is clear or if you have any other question.

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[philm]

Ok gab i understand what you mean. I thought of learning the complete lesson in one go like with the style/song lessons and then move unto the next. Now i will learn then parallel to each other, for a start i learn the first part of each technique lesson spending around 10mins on each technique and build it up until i can do the whole lesson for each technique.
I am only getting the time to play around 1 and half hours a day about 4-5 times a week. So i am trying to get really structured with my time so i can make the most of it

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