Completed Gmc Collaborations Options

[Ivan Milenkovic]

LA Boogie Collaboration

Hey my friends! smile.gif

Here is the summary of the comments for the L.A. Boogie Collab, and the Final Mix.


Matt23:

Rhythm: Great rhythm from the start, and continuing very nicely, using long notes in a very good manner, coupled with occasional faster sequences. The solo is progressing nicely to the end, using faster passages in the end. In the second part there is that one faster bluesy sequence that could be more in time. The sequence alone is fairly decent, but I would like the second part of it to be exactly in time, and the root should come on the first beat of the bar to really nail that sequence down and to really make it even more effective.
Phrasing: I really liked the phrasing you pulled out in this take. I think you have a good sence for beat, and good sense for where to finish the licks. Root is predominantly used as a landing note throughout the solo, which is pretty good and gives a nice balance. Also, when the backing goes to G in middle part, you managed to work your way out through that change pretty effectively as well using the A minor scale. I the second part the ending could use couple of more notes as I mentioned in the comment for the rhythm. Just one or two notes before the root, and the root comes all alone in the last bar would make it sound bigger and more complete.
Technique: Good array of techniques, it is nice to hear such a nice balanced bend/vibrato technique. One thing that could be better with vibrato is bended vibrato technique that still could use some more work in order to control it well and to be synced with the tempo of the backing track. Your picking is good, and the only part where there is some additional noise present is the last faster passage. I advise that you spend some time working on some faster AP passage exercise, so it becomes your regular routine during workouts. Remember - spending 30 mins or so per day on one fast AP passage will greatly increase your ability to play faster, not just that passage but a wide array of previously learned sequences as well.
Sound: Your sound on this take was excellent, very smooth and pleasing to the ear. Lots of drive and compression but very nicely balanced with good smooth mids that cut through the mix nicely. The amount of space is good, I would prefer just a bit less delay volume, but it does sound pretty cool.

jafomatic:


Rhythm: Very cool groovy lead, I liked it very much. Although you started with some faster notes, you did build up your take right until the end and made it very effective and interesting to listen. The shuffled feel sounded very good here, and the only weak point of your take in terms of rhythm are just couple of rhythmically misplaced notes in the last part of the take. Other than that, every note was very much in place, so it was a very cool solo.
Phrasing: Great melodic build up as well as rhythmical, you followed the progression very nicely, in the first and middle part using mostly pentatonic scale notes. Middle part was a great addition with those double stops, sounded nice and rockish, and really gave your take a cool dimension and a story to follow to. The last part like I mentioned could use a bit more precision in execution so the notes are all well defined with precision timing. Other than that I think the phrases are very well composed, blended together, and all of them form a very interesting solo and story. The ending with a nice bluesy lick was a great touch to this great take.
Technique: Good playing in general. The legato parts should need some more work to really nail them down without any additional string noise, which is very important in order to create a good control over the tone. Also I noticed your bending is a bit weak, so you should perhaps focus more on strengthening the bends. This just takes several metronome sessions to get the technique just right, doesn't really require you to put more strain on the fingers while bending.
Sound: very cool and interesting sounding take. panned effects are something that always works well and can turn out pretty effective. I think this little experiment proved to be very successful, and wah and delay parts that are panned really sound pretty cool. Couple of things to watch out are: delay is a bit louder than needed, wah should be sweeped with more control, taking into concern the tempo of the backing track and the beats, and distortion could be just a tad bit smoother in the midrange. Other than that, you get 10 for creativity.

enforcer:

Rhythm: Very nicely balanced solo. I like the way you accent the beat using the dotted half notes in the first couple of phrases. The solo is divided into 3 main sections same as backing, in the first part you have a good structure, then comes the middle part legato/tap sequence that wasn't that perfect, I can see that you were nearly there, fretting all the notes, and you know what notes you wanted, but they just didn't came out that well timing-wise. The last part was a nice wrap up, and sounded very cool and balanced. All in all very stable, with the exception of the legato run, that could use some couple of days with metronome to make it solid.
Phrasing: Good use of pentatonics, dorian and minor scales. I like the main theme you played during the whole take, and again the only thing that could use some work is that legato part. I have to say however that in that run all the notes were properly placed - melodically speaking, so from a phrasing standpoint it was quite cool to hear it. I liked the harmonized part in the end, you really showed some good skills and creativity here to fatten up the solo a bit, and make it sound even cooler. Overdubbed takes always sound cool this way, so this is very cool. The ending turned out excellent and effective.
Technique: Your execution was great, no weak points in fretting or picking on slower passages, some extra noise audible on the faster legato/tap part. Good control over the tone and over the bends as well. Thing that could be a bit better is vibrato, gotta make it more wider and aggressive, so it really brings out those long notes to life.
Sound: great smooth sound, very balanced mids with some very subtle low pass and hi pass filtering. This leaves the bass and treble a bit less pronounced and it sounds pretty cool, very similar sound to what I used for this collab in the first place. The amount of space you used is just enough, gives it a nice dark depth that is suitable for the backing. Well done on this field.

JVM:

Rhythm: Starting good with 4 nicely structured rhythmical phrases. After that you had some problems with the timing. Some notes didn't come out exactly on the beat, and your were behind the beat. In general your sense for rhythm is very good, but I think you have to watch out your timing. It needs to be perfect and all the notes have to come out clear as a bell.
Phrasing: Using mostly A minor and A pentatonic scale and it does sound very nice. All the licks were on spot, and you had a really nice structured and interesting solo take here. Using double stops in the second part was a good decision as well, and all in all I think the phrasing was good. In the last part of the solo you circled around a bit, it may seem like you lost the story with your solo, but you managed to finish off nicely.
Technique: As far as technique goes, the whole take is nicely played, so in general I can recommend fine tuning your techniques. This will enable you to sound more tighter in execution, which is very important. There were some weak notes in the middle of the solo, but you managed to pull through. Bends also could use more work to become stronger.
Sound: Good smooth preset, with some top end buzz that could use some low pass filter to kill the buzzing and the additional noise created from overdriven preset. In general, the tone was good, but it had some problems of being heard in the mix. Perhaps some mid boosting would enable it to stand out.

Gus:

Rhythm: Good rhythmical phrases that sounded very nice and tightly structured to me. You seem to prefer eight note phrases that last around 2 bars so you used mostly these kind of phrases in the take. What could be a bit better is inserting some longer notes here and there, thus enriching the overall rhythmical structure of your take. Too many 2 bar eight note phrases will sound repetitive even if you change the notes. So using longer notes may help in that case. Your timing was very good in the whole take.
Phrasing: You displayed some very nice phrasing in this take, I like the way you changed the phrases to keep the interesting, and you did it quite well. In this sense, the phrasing keeps the attention, but since the phrases are "packed" into very repetitive rhythmical structure this can lead to not determining the proper solo build up.
Technique: Your playing is good in this take, and all the notes came out on their right places, but the execution itself is a bit sloppy with lots of unwanted string noise on some places. I suggest you work more on muting techniques so you clean up your playing from undesired string noise. This will do wonders for you tone, and make your overall playing much more enjoyable and smoother.
Sound: Good sound, smooth in essence, but with buzzing occurring in the treble-presence region. I think smoothing out that part would be a smart thing to do to create a more stable preset. Lots of distortion is used, so that compresses the signal and kills dynamics, so a little less drive would be useful as well. I like the wah use, and if it had slightly less drive it would come out even better.

FINAL MIX

Crossfire Collaboration

Hello my friends, here is the sum up of all the comments that I've done for the Crossfire collab. Thank you everybody for participating, and hope to see you on the next collabs as well!


axes:

Rhythm: Good rhythmical phrases that usually come in pairs or quads here, you seem to play in that kind of a structure here, and relly more on a rhythmic aspect of the solo. Everything is fitted nicely, and almost all the notes came out pretty clear which is excellent cause lots of them are played in 16th triplets. I think the overall impression is good in terms of speed, but a bit more better structure could be used, one that would accent the dynamics of the solo better and make a better build up. For example I would like to see some slower paced licks in the first part and later possibly developing more complicated and faster passages. So focus on rhythm dynamics is something that requires more attention. Structure and execution alone are great.
Phrasing: Not bad at all, there are some cool phrases within, and most of them are connected the same way as rhythm ones. duo or quad groups of phrases with changed last phrase, and often turned into a fast passage/run. This is all very good, but I believe those end phrases could benefit from better note lands. In the second phrase in the end for example there is ending on the minor third (G), which is kinda acquard note to land on I have an impression the lick was started and stoped somewhere before the end. SO main focus for you should be on more longer notes, and really having a time to stop and thing about the licks and runs that you want to do, so they really form a nice story when played together. Story that will have introduction, main part, and conclusion. All the elements are there but matched in a more raw way that woudl require a bit more careful note choice.
technique/effects: Great technqiue and well executed solo, almost all the notes are there, and they are all very clean even the fast runs are nice and pleasant to listen. I found the solo quite effective in terms of technique just because of shear cleanness of playing.
Sound: Good sound, lots of mids so it cuts trough very sharply, it's a bit louder than backing but I will fix that. Just right amount of overdrive and everything, and the thing I would like to hear that is more overtones in sound, it is narrowly mid-focused. Although there is small amount of air in the sound, adding a very light reverb would sound cool.




sted:

Rhythm: Good rhythmical phrase that repeats throughout the solo, I like it and the pauses that you did are also very important. I think in overall, although the phrases are repeating several times, you managed to make it interesting because you inserted some subtle details here and there, and used different passages and different kinds of pauses in between them so it remains interesting. One thing that needs more work is timing. Gotta be perfectly in beat with the backing.
Phrasing: Good use of pentatonics, I like the melodies and I specially like the last couple of phrases in the end. You really started something there that sounds excellent, and in the end executed a small sequence that resembles on the stuff you played in the first part so it was "kinda" uneffective way to finish, but still very good. I just had an impression that after that great last part, you will finish in the same style - developing those few phrases. They were really inspiring. All in all good phrasing, and somewhat repetitive first part with an excellent shining second part moment.
Techniques: Solid playing, I like it. What could better are vibratos that are too narrow and fast/uncontrolled. They should be quite oposite, wide and controlled. I probably said this numerious times, perhaps I already spotted this, but still it's something to focus on, because I do believe you play great and I think you will benefit a lot from more vibrato exercises.
Sound: Very good sound, tasty and smooth. The reverb could be backed off a bit, but I like the dark texture of it. Sounds cool, possibly the tail should be shortened out just a little. Everything else is solid.

superize:

Rhythm: Your rhythm choice is very good, couple of long notes, and followed by faster legato passage, then in the second part you kinda slowed down, and did more longer notes in general. I would like to see the other way around to be really effective. Since you have a good sense for rhythm, now it is time to consider analyzing the concepts of rhythm dynamics, and how notes should create an effective build up until the end. Nevertheless, you have perfect timing in this solo.
Phrasing: Your solo impressed me because of the fact you are not into blues. However, I can see that you really tried to play this properly, and respect you very much because of that, great attitude. You started with mixolydian feel, and used legato lick with major third to back it up, after that couple of bends, and then minor third legato lick. Simple and raw? Yes, but in essence proper way to do it. In the second part good use of minor box 1 on the 12th fret, and I only wish you played it a bit more faster or used some cool bends. This would give a more effective ending for the solo. In general, your soloing is good, phrasing techniques are well thought off, and although you have to learn a bit more about blues, you really managed to pull out some melodies that are structured in a good way. This is your way and I respect that. If you want my advise, I suggest learning those pentatonic boxes well in all positions, for example in this case all 5 boxes of E minor pentatonic scale would really give you plenty of familiar space to work in. They will help in metal very much, and complement powerchords in a very effective way. Learning the pentatonic scale is something that is good not only because of the soloing, but riffing as well, so you will benefit from it.
Technique: Although you haven't used any advanced techniques on this one, you managed to use those that will be most effective and they are. Execution is flawless and this is always what I would like to hear more than fast licks but played sloppy. You are a good player, just keep at it.
Sound: Nice smooth tone, sounds good to me. Delay is a bit louder than needed to me, so I think backing off a volume just a tiny bit would make a big difference in the mix. Your solo would push just a bit more forward comparing to other instruments.

leedbreak

Rhythm: Good rhythmic patterns that repeat over the whole take and have some form of a structure. As always, building a nice dynamics through your rhythm playing is just as important as anything else, so be aware of that. The notes that you play kinda sound like jumping from note to note using the accentuated notes on the quarters of the bar. This created an impression that you are slowing down the track with your solo, which is a good strategy to use sometimes, but not always, like in the second part. There were some timing issues as well that needs to be fixed.
Phrasing: Not too rich but good enough. Using the minor pentatonic box most of the time with occasional outside notes. All in all I think the structure could be a bit better. Lots of phrases are repeated in the same melodic (and rhythmical) way, so I think developing the phrases so that at least the landing notes are different could be a good example what should be done in the next take.
Technique: Good technique, but you need to tighten up the playing a bit. I get the impression that this whole take was done in-speed, or when not warmed up so bends and vibratos, and the playing in general were little clumsy. I believe you can do a lot better.
Sound: Good sound but too much space added. Try softening up that reverb a bit, increase the time, lower down the volume and make it a bit more brighter. No big modifications, just in small increments.

Toroso:

Rhythm: Good timing in the take, and good rhythmic structure as well. I can understand the way you were going with this take, and in overall the rhythmical build up is a very solid one, although one thing I would like to hear is more tighter execution and timing in general in this take. I like the way you progressed with faster passages in the second part, and all in all I think practicing those passages with the metronome would really make them even more effective.
Phrasing: Good phrasing, and a very nice development. Everything is very nicely fitted in. Again I note the importance of properly executed notes in this take to create a more defined solo. I believe your phrasing is very nice, and all the ideas are connected to each other, so your main focus should be perhaps on smoothing out those passages so they blend seamlessly into one another, possibly by incorporating some slides here and there, and keeping some of the notes sustaining. In the end I would like to hear the bended root on the treble strings instead of going sharply to the low E string root, so you finish more effectively.
Technique: You technique progress is audible, and I can see that in second part you are now inserting some a bit faster passages that do sound very cool and effective. I think overall quality of your playing could use some refinement, for example bends need to be spot on the pitch, vibratos need to be more stronger and controlled, and I would like to hear some slides as well. Other than that, I think your technique and picking style is probably something that is pretty good, but here you can improve as well, but taking a metronome and practicing some faster passage over and over. This will increase your overall playing ability, not just that particular passage.
Sound: Your tone is very good and it cuts well. There is some amount if hiss in the signal and a small buzzing presence blended in the overdrive, but you have very nice and smooth mids in the sound, so I think the sound is audible nicely in the mix. Well done

edguy:

Your second take already sounds much much better, I really liked it! Thanks for taking the time to do another take.
In comparison to the first one, this one has lots of cool elements that are much better blended together to create a nice balanced story that is pleasing for listening and keeps attention for the listener.
Since the critique is what usually makes us realize some imperfections, there are few suggestions I can make for you for this new take for fine tuning:

In the first part you had 3 cool pairs of call & response phrases. What I noticed is that all the response phrases were finished on notes that leave the impression of unfinished musical sentence. If you listen carefully I think you will understand what I mean. Possibly the last note on every response phrase could be a bit different, possibly ending on a root or something. This would give a good meaning to the phrases, and make impression that they are complete.
In the second part of the solo, there are some very cool legato sequences. 1st and 3rd ones are Em arpeggio triads, while the second one is a bit acquard A# major triad but with flated 5th. It sounds a bit dissonant in this solo so I suggest just using some note from Em pentatonic scale instead of A#. A# is in fact the note from E blues scale, but when used in this triad it can sound strange, specially if you put it between two Em triad shapes that have the same pattern and where the E note is actually parallel to the A# note so to the listener A# becomes the root.
All in all I think your take was great, major improvement from the previous one. I would like to hear some more vibrato on some notes, specially on those endings of the phrases in the first part, but it is very good as it is. It think you well understood what can be done to make your take better, and this proves that you are thinking about the way you play. Well done! smile.gif


Again I say, there are always room for improvements. If you feel that you can make even better take and you want to do it, feel free to do it, there is no harm in doing it and fine tuning your solo to become even more better. I appreciate the fact that I can follow your progress through this collaboration so it will mean a lot in future ones as well.


Kaznie:

Rhythm: Very good rhythmic structure that repeats in the first part. In the second part again some cool variations. Towards the end you had some slightly unusual 16th note quad groups here and there in between slower notes. This leaves the impression you are practicing mostly 16th notes with the pentatonic scale, so I suggest tried to insert triplets in your regular daily routines. Regardless of that, it all came out very solid, not a note missed, all very well defined until the end. Great rhythm work.
Phrasing: Very nice melodies, specially in the beginning. Sounds really cool with the panned overdubbed octave licks as well. Until the very end, you have great melodic build up, and I can say it is one quality solo. I would prefer a bit more better ending, possibly just holding the last note a bit and vibrating it would mean a lot.
Technique: Good use of blues techniques, nice raking effects throughout, and great bends, very tasty and musical. All in all you did really well on this collab in terms of execution and really progressed a lot from previous collabs. I really dig this solo, and hope to hear even more progress from you. The thing you should perhaps spend some time with the metronome in order to balance out your playing is the vibrato and triplet feels.
Sound: Decent clean sound, but I think it is a bit thin. Compressing a bit, and adding some light overdrive would definitely make it more alive. All in all it is good.


Staffy:

Your new take was excellent, you really managed to play everything great, and I really liked the middle part with the repeated sequence. The last part still sounds a bit acquard to me in some way, specially the last bend, I get the impression that some dissonant note was played, and bended, perhaps it is not the case tho.. I think perhaps there is some work that could be done when the chords are changing, so you can better connect your soloing in those moments. You seem to handle I IV V pretty good, but I can see some difficulties when progression goes out of there.
Anyway, thanks a lot for sending the new version, this one is really cool, and you play blues great my friend.

Dexxter:

Rhythm: Great rhythmical figures, really cool use of the palm muting technique to accent some notes, and good build up until the end of the solo. Everything was very nicely balanced and although I expected an ending with a bit more notes and some slightly faster passages, I think this sounds pretty good as it is. Great job in having the whole take very rhythmically defined, no notes are off timing wise.
Phrasing: Good phrases, and good connection between them. Some phrases in the take are leaving an impression of not finished story at some points, probably due to some landing notes that are used, but all in all I think again everything is properly matched, no dissonant notes, and played really nicely. There are few shot bluesy licks, but you have the style of playing that is more heavy oriented. This means you used not so standard blues licks, but this is not something that is bad, since you managed to play all the parts very nicely and really blended all the phrases with the backing track.
Technique: More heavy oriented technique, precise and aggressive sounding. Very cool, and good control over the tone, there were almost none of the additional string noise in your playing so that makes it very nicely defined and effective. Your muting is very good. Palm muting especially, and you used PM as a good effect to accent many notes in this solo. The thing that I think you lacked to play in this solo are vibratos, and bending vibratos. These would really give a whole new dimension to your take, so possibly concentrate on making those notes sing when you apply a nice string wide vibrato to them. With your style of playing this will sound great.
Sound: Good sound, smooth and balanced bottom end and mids, with a bit pronounced hi midrange and presence. There is some degree of buzzing in the overdrive preset, but it is very small and not so noticeable in the mix. The amount of space was just enough, possibly a bit less would be even better to make your dry signal more pronounced and in front.

FINAL MIX

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[Gabriel Leopardi]

Name: Southern Metal Collaboration
Number of participants: 14

 Southern_metal_collab_final_mix.mp3 ( 9.63MB ) Number of downloads: 294



Hi Guys! This is the final mix and comments thread for the Southern Metal Collaboration! Here you'll find my comments regarding your solo composition, your technique and you tone. I really enjoyed mixing this collaboration because there are many great entries and ideas. This collaboration made me discover that we have many southern rockers here. I'm also surprised of the quality of the playing and composition abilities showed in this collaboration. Download the final mix and listen to it to know that I'm telling the true. So I have to say Thank you all for the participation and Congrats for your playing!

Here we go with the comments:

Chris Evans: (0:04 – 00:33)
Great take Chris! It starts with a killer rock lick over pentatonic very well played. I like the combination of bluesy licks with fast stuff in the following sections. The tapping lick is fantastic! And it is very well played (I'll borrow it for any improvisation!). I notice some little timing (very little) problem in the fast alternate picking licks. This can easily be worked with metronome. The rest is played perfect. I like your tone in this take. Thank you for this killer and inspiring take!

Dark Dude: (00:33 – 01:33)
Congrats for your first recording & collaboration man! You did a great job! The first part of your solo has interesting ideas played with wah wah (it sounds like a auto wah ). However I would like to comment that in this part you play every idea like separated (there is silence between licks) and this makes the solo sound like a group of licks and not as a unified idea. I think that you should work this. You used many bends and long notes in the whole solo and it fits perfect with the backing. I It would be really good if you could add a stronger vibrato to make it sound more expressive. I don't really understand what you are playing in the faster part. It doesn't sound very clear. The same happens with the last lick which seems to be very cool! Anyhow you did a great job in your first recording ever! Thanks for this take & keep on rocking.

DenisN: (01:03 – 01:33)
Nice take and solo man! I can hear some Zakk Wylde and also John 5 influences in this solo! I really enjoy the solo that you composed. It starts with a bluesy pentatonic idea with a cool "answer" & "response" evolution. Then you played perfectly faster pentatonic + blue note licks. Everything is perfect in the first section. The second section is also very interesting and it remembers me to John 5 melodies. It also played well but it has some little intonation problems in the second lick (after the harmonic) and also in the last bends. You should add stronger vibrato to sound more like a metal cowboy! Thank for this amazing solo!

Dexxter: (01:33 – 02:01)
Your solo starts promising with some interesting licks very in the style. There are some little timing issues in the first licks but nothing too much important. I really enjoy the first section of your solo. When you get to the second part I start to feel that the whole solo is too lineal. There are different interesting ideas in your solo but I think that you should to work on the evolution of the solo to make it sound more entertained. Everything sounds on scale and is played very well. Your tone sounds great with a nice Eq and drive amount. Good job!

Enforcer: (02:02 – 02:32)
Hey man! There are lots of amazing ideas in this solo. I also have to say that your technique is really good. The fast licks played with alternate picking sound very clean as well as the sweep and the tapping lick. I like the way you composed each part of this solo. I can feel a dialogue between licks in this solo from the beginning. This makes the solo evolve in fluently. I want to stand out the last lick that you used to end the solo, it's PERFECT! The only thing that I would add her is a bit more of expression (maybe this is because you didn't have enough time to practice the solo). This can be achieved playing stronger with you pick and adding a stronger vibrato in some parts.
Other thing that I note is that the double string bending at 02:12 sounds a bit delayed. However you did a great job! Thanks for your solo!

Jafomatic: (02:32 – 03:01)
I can really feel southern vibes in your playing! Everything starts with a fast pentatonic lick which is very effective and resolves in a rocker bend. Then you continue with some classic rock ideas once again over pentatonic minor that fits perfect with the chord progression. The second part has also a very good evolution. I notice in both part that the fastest licks don't sound clean enough. You should isolate those licks an practice them with metronome as exercises. Start slowly and concentrated on muting (with your right hand palm and with you left hand's fingers that you don't use) the strings that mustn't ring. You should always play this licks picking stronger with your right hand.
Another thing that I wan to suggest is to work on your tone. That's the other reason that doesn't make you playing sound clean. I don't know what you are using but if it's a amp simulator try changing the amp or the stomp. Anyhow it'0s a great composition so you just have to work on making it sound killer! Keep on rocking!


Kaznie: (03:01 – 03:30)
Hey Kaznie. Unfortunately I have to say that this time I'm not convinced of your solo composition. I know what you can give us with your guitar and this time I feel that the solo has very repetitive ideas from the beginning. The F major – G major bridge licks sound a bit more interesting than the previous licks and I think that you should have explored more those ideas. Regarding the technique I must say that every lick is played well and the notes sound clean. Your bends are very precise in this solo. Adding more stronger vibrato would be really good to make your playing sound more expressive.
Thanks for your take!

Leedbreak: (03:30 – 04:00)
Hello Leedbreak! The solo composition ok and it has some great moments and licks. However I don't find many interesting ideas until the second part. You start with the 9th of D minor and it makes the solo sound original for the style. Then you play a pentatonic lick that remembers me to Kirk Hammet (which is really good for me!). The other ideas sound a bit less interesting. The second part of the solo is more entertained than the first one. My favourite part is the beginning of the second part (from 03:45). From that lick everything evolves very cool with amazing double string licks. I think that you should add a bit of presence or treble to your tone. Ok, that's all for this take! I hope that this helps you! Keep on rocking!

Mskeide: (04:00 – 04:29)
Hey man! I really enjoyed this take! The tone & playing is clean and very professional. The first two ideas are fantastic. First a long bend and then some muted alternate picking played perfectly. The following ideas are also really good but have some little technique issues to improve. They are ok but they don't sound such clean than the precious one. From that point the ideas become a bit less interesting until the classic rock repetitive lick that sounds killer and gives place to a perfect ending lick. The addition of auto wah (or maybe a real wah wah) fits perfect and it's very well controlled. I think that with a little of extra work on this you'll have a very professional take. Great job!

Nimrandir (04:29 – 04:59)
Wou!!! This take is killer! I feel like if I was hearing Zakk Wylde in some parts, Slash in others, Doug Aldrich in others.. You really nailed the style perfectly! There are some licks that I want to learn there! The solo evolves perfect. You did a really great composition alternating classic rock licks with fast pentatonic licks. You're tone also fits perfect with the style. So I just have to say Congrats for this take and thank you for your take!!

Outlaw (04:59 – 05: 29)
Hey Outlaw! The first thing that I note when your solo starts is that your tone isn't helping you to sound clean and clear. If you hear the final mix you'll note it as soon as it starts. Try changing some settings of your amp. It sounds like an amp simulator so I suggest you to use another amp. I like the licks and ideas that you are playing in your solo. I think that with a little of work on precision and timing you could have a very good take for this backing. I note that you are having problem with both hand's synchronization in the fastest alternate picking licks. This is very easy to work. The problem here is that one of your hands is moving faster than the other one. You have to work with metronome at a comfortable tempo for both hands. After some minutes of practice you can add 5 bpm and so... You have to continue in this way until you reach the required tempo. Thanks a lot for your take Outlaw!

Superize (05:29 – 05:59)
Hi Superize! I like the way you start the solo with a nice pentatonic phrasing. Everything evolves in an entertained way until the last part where you the last bends. Maybe the repetition of bends makes the last part sound a bit reiterative and without surprise and emotion. There are some parts where I feel that the licks sound like a bit isolated one from another. Try to work on this to make the transitions sound more smoothly. The first sweeps sound a bit out of tune in one part are some of the last notes don't ring well. The notes that you chose for this sweeps aren't the best for this part. You are playing C major arpeggio over F major and D major arpeggio over G major chord. This makes the idea sound a bit strange because you are playing this triad: 5th + 7th + 9th. You repeat this idea later over D minor chord. This isn't wrong but maybe sounds a bit more "jazzy" than the things that we are used to hear in this style. I also note that some bends could ring better. Finally I want to ad that I like your tone. It sound clean and with a warm eq. Thanks for you take!

Marek (05:58 – 06:28)
Hey Marek! Nice playing! I like the ideas that you show here and I think that with a little more of work in the ideas you could have an amazing take. It sound like and improvisation and that makes some like sound a bit unsure or doubtful (don't know the correct word for this). You tone is very enjoyable in this take and this is also helped by a tasty playing. Regarding your technique I can say that everything is well played (excepting the tapping that has some notes that don't ring) and I think that you could add more vibrato to your playing. As I said in previous comment here I note that the transition between licks should be smoother. Work on this! Thanks for your take man!

The kepler conjecture: (06:28 - 07:00)
This is rock and roll! hahah. You really nailed the vibes of the style. I can hear COC, Spiritual Beggards, Lynyrd Skynyrd and much more music in your solo! Your take is a very good example to show that an easy solo can be amazing. I like the evolution of your take. The interaction between licks sounds like a dialogue and it is very smooth.
Every time I hear the take I like it more so I just want to congrats you for this taste take!
Keep on rocking!


Original Thread

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This post has been edited by Gabriel Leopardi: Sep 23 2009, 06:29 PM

[David Wallimann]

Master the Mixolydian mode collaboration
10 participants

Here are the comments for your improvs over the Mixolydian backing track. Great job everyone, each take is quite unique and overal this collab has been quite a success! Make sure to check out everyone’s comments as I tried to include some tips and suggestions useful for you future improvisations.

Jafomatic



RatedHTR



Sted



Maharzan



Superize



Enforcer



Dexxter



Staffy



Leedbreak



The Kepler Conjecture

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[Santiago Diaz Ga...]

Feeling inc collaboration

Number of participants 16

This is the final mix of the "Feeling Inc. Collaboration". I'm very sorry for the delay, but there were some guys that asked me for a little more time to upload their takes. So, I gave me because my idea is to hear you all. If you have any doubt about the comments, just let me know. Thank you very much for your participations and hope you like it. See you on the next one!!!

 Feeling_inc_Collaboration___Final_Mix.mp3 ( 51.33MB ) Number of downloads: 340



Jafomatic (0:00 – 1:52) : Talking about the topic of the collab, I’d give a little more expresion to the vibrato. It’s not bad at all, but I think it needs a little more relaxed movement. The bendings are very well tuned, but I would recommend to add a little vibrato when you reach the correct note.
Now, the melody is excelent, but I noted that every time the melody “explodes”, it goes down and I feel like it didn’t defined the idea. Besides this, you’re very very close. Congrats for your work!!

NoSkill (1:52 – 3:36): The melodic work is very very good. You should pay more attention to some bendings that goes a little further than should and work a little more the vibrato, so it will turn wider. It’s not bad, but it’s too soft. Listening to some players as Steve Ray Vaughan or Satriani in their ballads could help you.

UncleSkillet (3:36 – 5:20) : Very nice melody (It sounded very 80’s hard rocker). I think you should close a little more the idea of the solo, because it seems that it never defines. But the idea is very very good. You have to correct some tempo problem that makes the solo undefined, but you’re very close. I listened pmñy a few bendings, but they’re perfect. About vibrato, as I have marked to the other guys, you should wide the movement, so it will sound more agressive. The rest is very good!

Berglmir (5:20 – 7:04): The melodic work is great, but you should check out some details. First, is the election of notes over every chord, because, besides we’re working on one same scale for the notes that makes every executed chord, there some notes that fits better than other. Generally, for long duration notes, you should choose a note that be part of the fundamental triad of the sounding chord. Second, you should pay atenttion to the tempo. You have some little delays that blackened a lot the melody.
Your vibrato is very very good and there wasn’t too much bendings, so I can’t really analize them. If you correct what I marked, you’ll note an enormous progress. Let’s get on work!!

Leedbreak (7:04 – 8:48): Excelent tempo on the phrases. Talking about bendings, you have some problems on the bendings tune (You stay a little behind of the note) and the vibrato is not bad, but you should work wider, so it will be more agressive as I already said. The phrases you’re working in the middle fits very very good. That makes the melody very tasty, but you should pay attention on what I marked you before to have a better result.

JamesT (8:48 – 10:32): Very nice Vibrato and Bendins. The melody is also excelent. You just have to correct some Rhythmics misses in the end of the phrases and some technical details (some notes doesn’t sound very clear), but all this is to make your work perfect, because the take es really good. Congratulations!!

Marc_Maiden (10:32 – 12:16): Good job with the vibrato and bendings. The melody lacks a little of explotion (It sounded like it’s all calculated) and you have to work a lot on the cleannes of your sound on the fast licks, because there are some little noises that comes from not muting the strings correctly that turns your sound quite dirty. The rest is very nice.

Sollesnes (12:16 – 14:00): Excelent combination between technique and melody. Very nice vibrato and expresivity. Also, your control of the Rhythmic figures is great. Definitly an awesome job. Congratulations!!.

Kaznie_nl (14:00 – 15:44) : At the beginning, very nice melody and election of notes. In the second part, the are some notorious mistakes of notes and scale, specially on the fast parts. Your vibratos is very good and the bendings are almost none, so I couldn’t analize them properly. You should pay more atenttion on the executed notes and the bendings, because these are the only things that blackened your work.

Dexxter (15:44 – 17:28): Very nice Vibrato, but you missed the first bendings, where you have some detunes (Listening to all the track, I doubt it could be the guitar’s tune or any intonation problem). Talking about the melody, you catched perfectly the concept of working the slow parts applying vibrato. But I think that it needs a little more explotion in some parts, and, as I said before, correct the bendings.

Audiopaal (17:28 – 19:12): Excelent melody, it reminds me some movie’s music or something similar. Very nice vibrato and general concept. I think you missed some bendins, so I couldn’t really analized them properly to see how you’re working on this technique, but, you’ve made an exclenet job on the melody and vibrato. Congratulations!!

Enforcer (19:12 – 20:56) : Talking about the topic of the collab, it’s very well executed. Vibrato is very nice executed. The same for the bendings, with a perfect tune. The thing that you should specially work on are the duration of the notes and the cleannes on your fast licks, because they have some tempo problems and, in some techniques like Sweep Picking, you’re having problems to control the sounds that left the strings you already played. With only correcting this, you’ll develop a lot your final sound.

Nimrandir (20:56 – 22:40) : Very nice sound, also the melodic work is pretty good. You should pay more attention on the bendins and work a little bit more on the tunes in some cases (Some bendings are perfect and in some, you a go a little further). Vibrato is very well, but in some cases you could do it more agressive. As I said before, try to listen and copy the technique of Steve Ray Vaughan, Yngwie Malmsteen, etc. Very well done!

Crazyfret (22:40- 24:24): You should work on the bendings. The positive of it is that it looks like you note the detune of it in the moment and you instantly correct them. You should work on them so you can get the afination in only one stroke, without that extra movement. About Vibrato, is very nice. Also the melodic work is very good. But, as I said before, you have to give it a close, and end to the melody. It sound like it never explodes. But, in general terms, is very very good.

Sensible Jones (24:24 – 26:08) : Great melodic work and phrase. Vibrato could be more marked (wider) but it’s not bad at all and the bendings are very well. About rhythmic session, I found some mistakes that I think they come from an improvised work. However, you should pay attention on this because it’s a shame to blackend an awesome work with these little details. Great work, Congratulations!!.

Tolek (26:08 – 27:52) : Excelent melody and very good rhythmic work. You should work a little more on the Vibrato, so the note will have more “feeling”, and there weren’t too much bendings to analize, but, what I already heard, they were fine. I recommend to work on the Vibrato. With this, you’ll fulfill a lot your sound. Nicely done!


 Feeling_inc_Collaboration___Final_Mix.mp3 ( 51.33MB ) Number of downloads: 340

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[Santiago Diaz Ga...]

Heavy Metal Collaboration : Number of participants 6

 Heavy_collaboration___Final_mix.mp3 ( 8.84MB ) Number of downloads: 259


Thanks to everyone for participate. Hope you liked the backing and enjoyed playing. Now, the comments!!

Enforcer: Very nice Wah touch, but I’d like you to turn it off on the fast licks. I really liked how you developed your solo and how the melodic work of the beggining became into more agressive lines, with an absolutly metal touch. I think that the only thing you missed is that I think that it needs a little bit of technique explotion in some moment, but, apart from that, I really liked it. Congrats for your work!!.


Dexxter: Excelent melody and very nice touch, You’ve created a mini instrumental tune inside a backing track. I’d like to see where you would take the solo if the backing would be longer. Technically is very correct, but I think that you should work on your sound (It feels like your guitar sound is needing some “Body” feeling, some mid presence). Very nice work Dex!


Marek: Very nice work. At the beggining, I had some doubt about how you started the solo, but you carried it excelent and you worked very good all the melodic and technical parts. You have to pay more atenttion in some rhythmic factors, for example, in the fast part, the bass drum is playing 16th notes and you’re playing 16th notes triplets on your phrase. This makes a sensation of a constant discordance with the drum, because of the beat difference of each other, but if you can correct these things, you’ll grow a lot as a guitar player. I’m waiting anxious your next participation!!.


Leedbreak: Very nice melody. I noted a lot of improvement in the cleannes of your sound. You should work a little bit on the rhythmic sections because there are some discordance in certain parts ( I know that it was improvised, but I had to say it!. Hehe). Also, you have to choose better the resolution of your fast licks, because they give the sensation that it never resolves and, in this way, the lose sense. Every time you play a fast lick, you have to search a melody that resolves the idea, so it’s not there just because you need to play fast. I think you’re missing a little bit this, but, as I said before, I’m noting some improvement there. Keep working on this way!


Jafomatic: I’m telling what I noted in every of both takes. In the first one, you’re trying to do a more melodic work but it’s very notorious that it’s improvised. Maybe you should give it a structure and record them when you’re sure of what you’re gonna play. Talking about the second one, I liked it a little more. It’s faster than the previous one, but I noted the same thing that I told you before about the first one. I’m sure that if you work more the idea until you like them and then record them, the final result of your work could infinitly better. Waiting for you on the next one!!


Outlaw: The most “typical-metal-solo” of all the takes. Your lines reminds me a lot to Kirk Hamett. The idea fist very well with the backing, but you should work a lot on the rhythmic part (the note duration you’re executing) and, technically, you should clean a bit your sound, but the rest is very very nice. See you on the next Collab!


 Heavy_collaboration___Final_mix.mp3 ( 8.84MB ) Number of downloads: 259

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[Ivan Milenkovic]

Here's the final mix and comments for the Classic Ballad Collaboration! smile.gif

Thank you everybody for participating, your takes were all great. Special thanks for the people who took the time to record several takes, so we can really hear the takes becoming better and better. All the people that recorded double takes will have all their takes in the final mix one after each other.

Comments:


Leedbreak (1st take):

I'm giving you a bit shorter comments for now, as you are willing to make an effort of actually developing your take as the collaboration goes. In the end I will grant you with more in depth comments:

Rhtyhtm: Good timing, and good precision. I think you nailed all the notes well on the beat, and used nice rhythmical figures. Just before the second part there was a bit faster sequence that I think needs more work. Try to nail it perfectly in time and the whole take will benefit from it/
Phrasing: Good phrasing, but a bit repetitive sounding in the first part. Seems like you were searching for structure here until that bend. I advise you to analyze the bits before the big bend somewhere in the middle of the first part, and try to make a small call & responce structure here to enrich this part of the take. Also the ending was a bit uneffective. In terms of melody everything was nice, but try to peak the ending with some bend an octave higher or something similar. This will sound lot more effective and logical.
Technique: Everything was played very nicely and with little noise. Well done. One thing I want you to focus are vibratos - they need to be well controlled and much slower for this kind of a track. Try 16th vibratos with this tempo, it will sound great.
Sound: Your tone is very good, and you can keep it like this, smooth balanced out and comes out nicely from the mix. If there is something to watch for, those would be additional noises, so muting technique is as always needed.

Leedbreak (2nd take):

leedbreak:

Well this take is already much better and fresh sounding! smile.gif Well done!
- your vibrato accuracy is very much improved and it sounds well controlled in most places! smile.gif
- the big bend in the middle of the first part was a bit out of pitch, but that is a minor issue.
- you very much improved accuracy here, so almost all the notes came out clear and pleasant
- phrasing is drastically improved, so now we have a very nice and smooth melodic flow. There are some hickups tho, mostly in the phrase before the big first part bend, and in the end, where it tends to sound a bit up & down the scale.
- the ending turned out very cool with that nice little phrase, and although you came down to the root, instead of going up, it definitely sounded as a very cool ending for the solo - well done.

So my friend, I think you really did a lot better take now, and I believe you can go even further with this. Are you up for it? smile.gif


Leedbreak (3rd take):


Rhythm: Starting great in the first part with a perfect timing. Every note is precisely in place, and the 16th notes in the end of the part 1 are now enriched nicely with some 8ths as well, which is very nice to hear. The second part is also very good, although there are some minor timing issues in the end.
Phrasing: This part had very similar structure as the one before, and I believe the phrases were are blended together nicely. There are some inserted effects, like the slide in from bellow in the beginning of the part. All the notes came out clear as well. Second part is the only part that you played one note outside of scale towards the end (in that descending sequence), but besides that I think the take was perfect, and all the notes had their proper place, well done.
Technique: The whole take was played very nicely. The problems that I saw were mostly around that big bend in the first part and legato triplets in the first part as well that were a bit slow. The triplet sequences in the second part also would use some tightening up. However these are small details, since all the notes came out very clear and with solid timing.
Sound: Good tone, as said previously, well balanced, low buzz. Not that smooth, but goes along with the track nicely and cuts well through the mix.


In general, I believe this take is a major improvement, because it is played very clean and precise. The only note that is outside of the key is the one towards the end, and I consider this the only mistake in the whole take. I can see that you tried very hard to do this solo, and this version is the best one, since you have that degree of comfort and security while playing this take. Well done.


muntahunta:

Rhythm: Great rhythmical figures, that are following the backing in a very laid back manner, and all the notes came out executed properly. Just the right amount of all the note durations used. If there is one thing I could suggest - it would be to posibly insert some fast legato triplets to spice up those 16th triplet sequences you have in the middle and in the end. I really like the whole structure and the balance you made with your solo.
Phrasing: Excellent melodic development throughout the solo, very smooth flow and great melodies, lots of feelings and phrases are just bleeding into one another. This is the finest example on how the solo should sound and be effective. There are however few moments on the solo that could be even better, for example in the second part you were using the root couple of times which is good, but I get the impression that I was hearing it a bit often. Also, in the end, there was that same root again, so possibly inserting root on the octave higher would sound even more effective. These are minor suggestion to this great solo, really well done.
Technique: Great execution throughout. The only thing that lacks in this beautiful solo are wide and slow vibratos. Achieving greater vibrato control will take this solo to much greater heights, so I advise that you start focusing on practicing the vibrato more, as your playing "deserves it"
Sound: Good tone, smooth and very little noise. The sound is a bit bassy, so I believe checking out the preset so you get a good focused low end will mean a lot. There was also a bit of buzzing in the sound, so possibly lowering down a distortion just a tiny tiny bit would help there.


Marek Rojewski:

Rhythm: starting a bit shaky with 16 notes, then a long bend, and cool whole note bends. In general very cool take, with a great fast legato sequence in the second part. All in all a good rhythmical structure that really sounds good, but not that balanced in some places. For example I would like to hear a bit better ending and more diverse notes, possibly putting longer notes (bends) as oposed to a high speed legato lick.
Phrasing: Good start, and the first part was good. The bends were a nice touch, but I somehow get the impression you were using a bit too much up & down sequences. Solution to this would be to try to invent some interesting patterns for practice that involve everything but up & down sequences, and I've seen this Muris's latest lesson that is great for that, it's called Hold The Beat.
Technique: If there is one thing to recommend, that is more vibrato use. This will definitely increase the dimension and expressivnes in your playing. Check out my bending lesson that is live recently, it features this same backing. Some good bending and vibrato samples can be found there. Other than that everything was pretty much clean and well played.
Sound: A bit too much distortion makes it compressed and a bit buzzy, so lowering down the gain is my first suggestion. Other is to lower down the volume of the reverb as it kills definition of the guitar. A little reverb always goes a long way, so putting too much muffles the signal in fact. Just keep all the settings at reasonable levels and always do some test recordings to see how the preset sits in the mix, not solo.

jafomatic:

Rhythm: Great rhythmical figures. You seem to rely often on upbeat, which is great, and on quarter triplets here and there. The second part was a bit slower than I hoped for, possibly inserting one or two a bit faster sequences would mean a lot here.
Phrasing: Great first call & response lick, and after that excellent development. In the last part of the clean part you seem to lost track a bit, and possibly this part could use some minor improvements in order to stay connected with a great vibe you created with the intro. The OD part was very good, very nice phrasing, and good development. On thing that hit me was the last note, it sounded cool, but a bit rhythmically displaced, so possibly fixing that root up an octave would be a nice thing to do.
Technique: Good techniques shown here. There are some note bleeds here and there, so I believe better muting techniques could be applied in order to really sound cool. Also, I would like to hear better vibrato. The legato licks and picking was very nice and addded a very cool smooth flow to your playing, so no problems there.
Sound: Good clean preset in the first part, and nice OD one in the second part, although the OD one is significantly louder than the clean part. Also, the take is over compressed. Remember to use the compression on guitar track only, and NOT too much, as the backing is already compressed quite a bit.


Kaznie:

Rhythm: Great long notes, and very nice timing with accenting the first beats. I like how the part evolves in the second part of the solo as well, and how you use more notes as the solo progresses towards the end. As all the notes came nice and clean, I can safely say that your timing is perfect, but as always it would be good to fire up some nice sequence here and there, perhaps using some shorter note durations. This can greatly improve the quality of this take, and I am talking about just a small sequence. If you want I can give you an example of the sequence for the MTP in form of a small run. When I say small run I really mean something like 6-8 notes that are a bit faster. If executed properly, this solo could easily be professional material. It still is tho, but as we always say - it can always be better.
Phrasing: This solo was probably the best I heard so far from you, because the phrases really tell a nice story, and you really nailed a nice vibe here. Lots of feelings, good connection between the phrases and very fluid. I have a small suggestion in the second phrase, where you did couple of C-D notes and then went to root again. I think the D note would make a stronger and effective ending then the A. I phrase 3 you went octave higher which is a good way of further expanding the phrase, but then in phrase 4 you can back octave lower and played a root again. Possibly here it would be cool to do a nice bend or something just to escape a bit from the root. The second part of the solo was great, and ending very solid.
Technique: Well, there is certainly some improvements here, the bends are awesome, very expressive and I can really see your worked on them. Precisely in pitch, perfect timing, great sustain. Vibrato is also very very good, still needs some polishing but now you are doing it slowly and with more control. All the notes came out very clear, so really well done with the execution.
Sound: The sound could use some tweaking, the problem is with the top end buzz that is too great. I believe a bit more smoother preset would be great. It is not that easy to get it with software, but it can be done, specially if you start to use EQing of the guitar, and if you lower down the gain slightly to increase dynamics a bit.


Berglmir:

Rhythm: Very cool expressive rhythmical figures, I like the way it sounds. There are some problems with the timing both in the first part and in second part. The rhythmical sequences you used are note precise enough, and while you played those faster runs not all notes came out clear. Some practice is needed to be able to play these fast sequences and remain in time, so I think with some more polishing of those faster runs, it can sound awesome.
Phrasing: Very nice and logical phrases in the first part, and good development. I like the notes that are used specially in the slower parts. The second part had a very good connection between the phrases. There are couple of things I noticed that need some improvement with this take. First, in the clean part of your solo, as soon as you hit faster sequences, the connection with the phrases is dropping down, but as soon as you return to slower notes you manage to continue. This problem is solvable by actually anticipating the runs you are going to play, both rhythmically and melodically. All the notes must come out clear, and have their function within the solo, so using many of them not and letting some slip does not help. Same goes for the second part, only I believe you had lot more expressivnes there and I like the attitude of your playing, sounds you really got the feeling for it, so it's good.
Technique: Techniques you used need a bit of polishing on the faster sequences. Everything else was played very nicely, and I would like to hear a more slower and wider vibrato here as well.
Sound: Clean is very nice, and so is the distorted part. The clean notes are in little dissonance with the distorted part when running in the background, but distortion is cutting through and it is not buzzy, it's smooth, althouhg it has lots of treble.


Staffy (1st take):

Rhythm: All the notes were pretty much perfectly in time, but there are two moments where the notes were lagging a bit. The middle part legato is a bit on a slow side, and so is the legato in the end. I think these parts have to really be right on the beat, they are a bit loose. But this is the minor concern, and in general I consider this a really well played solo with a good sense for the rhythm.
Phrasing: Great theme lick during the first part, and you really did developed it well during those 5-6 phrases in the first part. This solo is the best I've heard from you, structure is there, and sounds very nice. The second part of the solo has a bit more loose structure, and the connection is there, but it is a lot stronger in the first part. I would suggest to really analyze the second part and really see how the notes, specially the phrase ending notes correlate to each other. There are a lot of possibilities to create a more interesting connections, so it will definitely be cool and interesting to work on those things a bit.
Technique: This is the most precise solo I've heard so far from you. The amount of noise is small, and it is mostly around the last legato part and some bends at the beginning. I think polishing legato technique, and polishing bending vibrato is primary concern if we look this solo. I like how you pulled out bending vibratos, they sound well controlled and slow, but I believe a bit more security needs to be put in them before they sound completely natural. Bends are all solid, and with cool bending dynamics that is changing through the phrases. I believe those things are a good sign that you mastered different bending techniques, and based on the bending you showed here, I think only faster bending technique is only thing that lacks a bit to add that small degree of tightness to them if you know what I mean. Same goes for muting the bends properly, they will come out tighter after that.
Sound: Good overdriven preset, rolled off highs to remove the buzz, which worked nicely, but the buzz is still present in a very small degree in harmonics. Sounds smooth and comes out nicely in the mix, so I would say it is a good tone for this ballad.


Staffy (2nd take):

great improvement in this take, and the sound is very good now, although I think it still has some of the unpleasant top end sizzle audible on some notes, so smoothing out the high end is something that I can recommend.
regarding your playing - great, best solo I've heard from you so far. Very nicely played and well controlled notes. The 2 16th note sequences in the second part were good, solid play and well executed, although I can notice some degree of uncomfort when playing them. They did turn out great, and I'm very happy to hear them, they bring a lot into this solo which sounds professional. Regarding bends, they are good, but I have a feeling they are not controlled that well, and some of them a bit slow and not precisely on pitch. So from this take, there are couple of things that could be better:

- more comfort on the faster runs (exercise 15-20bpm faster then the backing tempo)
- more strength on bends (practice bending on faster tempos)
- remove the top end sizzle on the preset to make it smoother (some notes are a bit harsh because of this, but not all)


Hammerhead (goes for both takes)

Rhythm: The rhythmical balance in your playing was made with a big contrast in both take 1 and take 2. In the first part you had some very long notes, some of them were a bit too long if we consider the general picture. In the second part you produced some many more notes and not all of them were perfectly in time, which disrupted the balance. The thing I can recommend with your take is to try to make a bit more gentle contrast. The contrast idea itself is very good, but it cannot function properly when the parts are so much different from one another. Solution would be to implement some more notes in the first part and to pull out some notes from the second part. This will lead to more balanced rhythmical structure, and more accurate timing in the second part as well.
Phrasing: The phrasing in the whole take was a bit unstructured as well, specially in the second part with those faster passages. What I recommend here is to compress some of the phrases in the first part so that they fit the bars nicely and they have a more faster flow. In the second part, the opposite thing must happen - phrases should be more connected and stretched out, and the last bend should stay on the pitch (without letting it go).
Technique: All the techniques used are very good, and bends are very good. The thing that could be implemented are more vibratos, and more accurate legato playing in the second part so that all the notes have equal loudness.
Sound: Your tone in both takes was in essence very good and smooth, but it lacks definition cause you added too much reverb on it. It made it get lost in the mix a bit, and not all the notes came out clear. I think by lowering down a reverb would definitely make it already much better. There was also some hum audible on the guitar track. I actually think that the second take had pretty much the same sound as the first one, and it was less loud as well.


sted:

Rhythm: There is a slight rhythmical disproportion in your take, mainly because of the use of faster passages in the first part, which in return didn't created enough of a spring board for the solo to jump to when the second part kicks in. Towards the end of the first part you had some very cool slower passages, and if you similar rhythm phrases throughout the first part, the proportion will be created, so the solo could peak in the second part. The timing was mostly off on many phrases as well, due to the fact many notes were played without accenting the backing track groove properly with them, so - less notes and accenting the strong notes on the click will make it a lot lot better.
Phrasing: Lots of good phrases were used in here, but they were note connected very good. The solo must tell a story, and have a reasonable melodic structure. I suggest making a main there melody for the solo that is simple and catchy and trying to develop it throughout the solo. This will definitely make it a lot structured. Also it may be wise to finish the solo on the root note, or any strong note from the last chord. This will sound really strong and it will have a sense of completion.
Technique: Good playing throughout the whole solo, and the bends were nice and fast. The thing that I noticed is that some notes suffer from pitch bending, which is usually a result of not that good vibrato. If you land on a note, you must keep it precise, no movement unless you can do a nicely controlled vibrato and you know how long you will do that before you move on.
Sound: The sound was good, cut through the mix well, and everything was nice and audible. I would put slightly less space here, and use lowpass filter to cut those higher frequencise out that are causing minor buzz issues. The amount of distortion could be slightly less as well for this recording.


Keilnoth (goes for both takes)

Rhythm: Simplistic approach in your case payed out, and the rhythmical structure follows the backing track very well. Everything was nicely fitted and balanced out, although I would like to hear some nice faster sequence involving 8th notes in the last part. The 3 eight notes followed by doted half phrases in the first part were very effective.
Phrasing: Great sense for melody and structuring phrases. The lines were really telling a nice story, and it all made sense. The first couple of phrases were the intro, later came development and in the second part a nice wrap up. As I said, one faster sequence would reach a bigger climax and the solo could have a bigger dynamics, so I think you can work on that and insert it somewhere towards the end of the second part to make it professional
Technique: There were some weak notes in the solo, and vibrato was not that great and well controlled, but I think you played within your abilites and pulled out very good solo. One thing that would definitely raise the quality of this solo is effective vibrato control, so this is IMO the first thing you should focus on.
Sound: The sound was not that good. Lots of clipping and too much reverb really made it harsh sounding. What I suggest is smoothing out the preset, lowering down the volume of your input so that there is no clipping, and lowering down the reverb for better results.
Sound (take 2): Well you implemented all the things that were a problem in the first take, and it turned out great now. The only thing that is left to fix is the amount of reverb. Try lowering it down to bring it to the same amount of space backing has, so it doesn't sound to "far away" from the backing (band).


enforcer:


Rhythm: The rhythmical balance is there, because you used the slower passages in the first part and faster passages in the second, but your timing was off in many notes in this take. The reasons for this are different as we progress throughout the solo. In the first part, the best way to accent the strong notes and to really make a good connection with the backing is to watch out for the kick and snare of the drum. These provide a good reference point around which you can build your rhythmical phrases. Failing to do so will set some notes in between with unclear rhythmical meaning which can be very misleading. In the second part, there were some very cool fast passages, but I think not all notes were nicely in place again, mainly because there were too many of them and they were note all balanced out rhythmically. Improvisation goal is also to make all the notes placed in their correct place in the backing, so by practicing those runs on slower tempo and knowing exactly what note goes where in a bar will make a world difference.
Phrasing: Great development in the first part, I really liked how the phrases flowed into one another. The second part however lacked a good structure, as there were too much notes in some places. I believe you could played here with more structure and less notes and still manage to express the same thing you wanted with the way you played your take.
Technique: There are two issues that can be addressed to in this solo. Those are vibrato and muting. String noise that occurs in some places accents the need for a proper muting techniques while practicing, and I definitely feel that more tighter, slower, and more controlled vibrato could raise the quality of your take.
Sound: In essence a great tone, smooth and cool, but I think too much delay is added, and the guitar notes loose definition this way, specially when the second part kicks in. Lot less space is the solution here.


Power_Arctica

Rhythm: Good balance and build up, although I believe the intersection between the first and the second part and the part of your solo towards the end are a bit too fast and are struggling to keep the balance right. Everything else was nicely fitted in place, and I especially like the energetic ending.
Phrasing: great development in the first part of the solo, and the build up in the second part was also very good. The only thing I can notice is that the last fast lick is an area that lacks connection to the rest of the phrases around it towards the end of the solo. The contrast between the finishing phrase and the fast lick before it is too great for an effective finish, so this is the thing that needs a bit polishing. Getting those phrases into connection would really wrap up your soloing in a professional manner.
Technique: Everything was played nicely with a good aggressive style that you prefer. I think some places need improvement, and those would primarily be bended vibratos and vibratos. You executed them and use them extensively, but the problem is with making them balanced and even. Vibrato must sound even, all the bends should be the same, and precisely in pitch.
Sound: The sound is good, but there are couple of things I can recommend. Lower down the distortion a bit, remover the top end slightly, and decrease space effect you used slightly This would help to get it connected with a backing a bit more.

Dexxter:

Rhythm: Very good sense for rhythm displayed in this take, accentuation mostly done on the first beat, and properly locked with the kick drum. This kind of rhythmic pattern repeats throughout the first and second part of the solo. The only thing that this take lacks is a proper climax build up. You seem to manage to reach the climax with the phrasing and use of higher notes in the second part, but if this build up was backed up by proper rhythm in the second part the solo would turn out much better. Solution for this is definitely inserting some faster sequences in the second part. Doesn't have to be super fast, but 8th notes during the course of 1-2 bars would make a world difference.
Phrasing: Excellent phrase groups that interact with one another in a very nice and fluid way, mainly due to those excellent bends. The phrases are nicely connected and almost all the strong notes are nicely accentuated over their respective chords. There was some unclear ideas in the very beginning where one phrase ended up on a bit unusual note, compared to the phrases around them, but me as a listener really have feeling that you carefully played this with very good attention to details and where each note should go. Very good improvised solo.
Technique: Your solo definitely has a vocal quality to it because of the way you played bends and vibratos, which is excellent IMO. One thing that lacks is the use of those faster sequences to spice things up, but other than that, very good playing.
Sound: Very good tone, smooth mids, tight lows, and just a little top end sizzle then I would like to hear, but far from being harsh. The important part of your tone is the way you play, and you do fret the notes carefully enough to produce consistent tone throughout the solo. Excellent control IMO.

Sensible Jones:

Rhythm: Excellent rhythm, and sense for keeping the dynamics of the rhythmical phrases flowing and moving. The way you played last bits of both part 1 and part 2 are really done great, I really had an impression of things moving and flowing. This is because you managed to increase the tempo feel of the backing track in order to build up a proper ending in the both parts with those 8th note slides. Although you kept solid time with accentuation on the 1 beat, there were some very slight timing issues in the first few phrases of the solo, notes escaped the kick drum by a fraction of second.
Phrasing: All the phrases in the take were very nicely fitted in and structured in a way that makes perfect sense. If you ask me, the solo had a little "too perfect" sense to me, and this is mainly because of the repetitive root use as and ending of the phrases, even on the last phrase in the solo. This creates a predictive feel with the listener. The solution to this problem is a very easy one - rehearse improvising so that you play licks that are familiar to you, but play a different landing note each time and focus on strong notes. This will create a really nice degree of variety within your playing, so you create a sense of tension and question with the listener of where you will go next.
Technique: All the techniques used were well rehearsed and solid. The thing that I can recommend upgrading is bending and vibrato. Two things that need better control and pitch accuracy, and it will raise the quality to greater heights.
Sound: Slightly boxy sound, tight bass response, sharp mids, and slightly buzzing highs that need some low pass filtering. The thing that is audible is some degree of clipping so I think you should adjust the level of the signal a bit. Everything else was very good.


TheKeplerConjecture:

Rhythm: Timing in the take was very good, almost all the notes had a strong attachment to the beats in the solo, and longer notes ringed just the way they supposed too. One thing that I think lacks here is a proper rhythmical dynamics, and me as a listener feel that rhythm of a solo is a bit flat with no real sense were the beginning, middle and end are, because of continuos use of sixteen triplets sequences throughout the solo. I think a nicer balance can be achieved if you try to group the rhythmical phrases so that they lead to a climax, and then run down to a finish with more connection between them, and more connection to the backing as well. The way you played, I have impression that backing is constantly slowing down-speeding up in wave like motion, which in the end produces a more flat dynamic response than I would like to hear. Nevertheless, the timing was very good, and it leaves impression of well played and sharly executed take with a variety of interesting rhythm phrases to listen.
Phrasing: Your phrasing was very interesting to listen as it had lots of cool moments and melodies. Lack of structure is evident here as well, but as a general impression. Phrases do connect with each other in a nice way, but they all don't form a complete story as a whole. I think the main reason is playing familiar licks and runs previously rehearsed, and I can clearly hear the segments that you practiced and that you are trying to implement here. The integration of the things you practice however must be done seamlessly, so that the listener cannot tell what you practiced. This will all come in time and with more interesting patterns for practicing, but there is one thing to keep in mind when improvising. I think there were moments in the solo where you focused on the melody nicely, but these moments are rare. You should try to focus to listen what you play, and try to make simple but effective melodies/phrases that correlate to one each other, instead of playing familiar sequences in order to make your phrasing even better.
Technique: Excellent techniques displayed, all the phrasing effects were very nicely used, in proper places, and I specially like the release bend you do, and control over the tone. Everything is balanced, well played, and every note has it's proper pitch, tone and dynamics with very little accidental oscillations of sound.
Sound: Not to focused low end, but sharp mids and highs that really cut nicely. The buzzing is audible to some extent, so I believe you should try to possible lower down the gain a bit to achieve a more tighter and defined sound without any sounding unnatural. The space is used to a big extent here, so I also recommend lowering down the delay just a bit. However, I usually disslike the space when it is added too much, but your space effects add a nice quality to the guitar signal. Just keep it safe, and don't push effects over that edge where you loose tone definition and it will be fine.


Marc_maiden:

Rhythm: Good rhythmical structure in the first part, I really had the impression of you solo moving nicely along side the backing track. The transition into 2nd section was a bit harsh tho, and the faster sequences in the second part didn't quite correlate nicely with the first part of the solo. They seem like two completely separate solos for me as a listener, so I think better connection between these two would create a much more nicer balance to this take. Timing also needs some refinement in the second section.
Phrasing: Excellent phrasing in the first part, really nice melodic passages that blend into one another in a fluid way. Very good. In the transition part and throughout the second section, I think structure got a bit weaker, and the phrases were still there, but not as nicely connected as in the first part. Faster passages really didn't play their function or raising to the climax, because the loudness was a bit acquard, and they are placed without any strong connection with other phrases around them.
Technique: Well controlled vibrato and bends, makes the solo sing. The faster passage in the second section is lacking definition, and the notes could be better played. Towards the end, things got better, but I think you could play the second part with more attention to the notes.
Sound: A bit raw sound that lacks some degree of distortion and space. It was a bit dry, and two dimensional, so just a tab bit overdrive and delay would already make it a lot better.

Here's the final mix and comments for the Classic Ballad Collaboration! smile.gif

Thank you everybody for participating, your takes were all great. Special thanks for the people who took the time to record several takes, so we can really hear the takes becoming better and better. All the people that recorded double takes will have all their takes in the final mix one after each other.

Comments:


Leedbreak (1st take):

I'm giving you a bit shorter comments for now, as you are willing to make an effort of actually developing your take as the collaboration goes. In the end I will grant you with more in depth comments:

Rhtyhtm: Good timing, and good precision. I think you nailed all the notes well on the beat, and used nice rhythmical figures. Just before the second part there was a bit faster sequence that I think needs more work. Try to nail it perfectly in time and the whole take will benefit from it/
Phrasing: Good phrasing, but a bit repetitive sounding in the first part. Seems like you were searching for structure here until that bend. I advise you to analyze the bits before the big bend somewhere in the middle of the first part, and try to make a small call & responce structure here to enrich this part of the take. Also the ending was a bit uneffective. In terms of melody everything was nice, but try to peak the ending with some bend an octave higher or something similar. This will sound lot more effective and logical.
Technique: Everything was played very nicely and with little noise. Well done. One thing I want you to focus are vibratos - they need to be well controlled and much slower for this kind of a track. Try 16th vibratos with this tempo, it will sound great.
Sound: Your tone is very good, and you can keep it like this, smooth balanced out and comes out nicely from the mix. If there is something to watch for, those would be additional noises, so muting technique is as always needed.

Leedbreak (2nd take):

leedbreak:

Well this take is already much better and fresh sounding! smile.gif Well done!
- your vibrato accuracy is very much improved and it sounds well controlled in most places! smile.gif
- the big bend in the middle of the first part was a bit out of pitch, but that is a minor issue.
- you very much improved accuracy here, so almost all the notes came out clear and pleasant
- phrasing is drastically improved, so now we have a very nice and smooth melodic flow. There are some hickups tho, mostly in the phrase before the big first part bend, and in the end, where it tends to sound a bit up & down the scale.
- the ending turned out very cool with that nice little phrase, and although you came down to the root, instead of going up, it definitely sounded as a very cool ending for the solo - well done.

So my friend, I think you really did a lot better take now, and I believe you can go even further with this. Are you up for it? smile.gif


Leedbreak (3rd take):


Rhythm: Starting great in the first part with a perfect timing. Every note is precisely in place, and the 16th notes in the end of the part 1 are now enriched nicely with some 8ths as well, which is very nice to hear. The second part is also very good, although there are some minor timing issues in the end.
Phrasing: This part had very similar structure as the one before, and I believe the phrases were are blended together nicely. There are some inserted effects, like the slide in from bellow in the beginning of the part. All the notes came out clear as well. Second part is the only part that you played one note outside of scale towards the end (in that descending sequence), but besides that I think the take was perfect, and all the notes had their proper place, well done.
Technique: The whole take was played very nicely. The problems that I saw were mostly around that big bend in the first part and legato triplets in the first part as well that were a bit slow. The triplet sequences in the second part also would use some tightening up. However these are small details, since all the notes came out very clear and with solid timing.
Sound: Good tone, as said previously, well balanced, low buzz. Not that smooth, but goes along with the track nicely and cuts well through the mix.


In general, I believe this take is a major improvement, because it is played very clean and precise. The only note that is outside of the key is the one towards the end, and I consider this the only mistake in the whole take. I can see that you tried very hard to do this solo, and this version is the best one, since you have that degree of comfort and security while playing this take. Well done.


muntahunta:

Rhythm: Great rhythmical figures, that are following the backing in a very laid back manner, and all the notes came out executed properly. Just the right amount of all the note durations used. If there is one thing I could suggest - it would be to posibly insert some fast legato triplets to spice up those 16th triplet sequences you have in the middle and in the end. I really like the whole structure and the balance you made with your solo.
Phrasing: Excellent melodic development throughout the solo, very smooth flow and great melodies, lots of feelings and phrases are just bleeding into one another. This is the finest example on how the solo should sound and be effective. There are however few moments on the solo that could be even better, for example in the second part you were using the root couple of times which is good, but I get the impression that I was hearing it a bit often. Also, in the end, there was that same root again, so possibly inserting root on the octave higher would sound even more effective. These are minor suggestion to this great solo, really well done.
Technique: Great execution throughout. The only thing that lacks in this beautiful solo are wide and slow vibratos. Achieving greater vibrato control will take this solo to much greater heights, so I advise that you start focusing on practicing the vibrato more, as your playing "deserves it"
Sound: Good tone, smooth and very little noise. The sound is a bit bassy, so I believe checking out the preset so you get a good focused low end will mean a lot. There was also a bit of buzzing in the sound, so possibly lowering down a distortion just a tiny tiny bit would help there.


Marek Rojewski:

Rhythm: starting a bit shaky with 16 notes, then a long bend, and cool whole note bends. In general very cool take, with a great fast legato sequence in the second part. All in all a good rhythmical structure that really sounds good, but not that balanced in some places. For example I would like to hear a bit better ending and more diverse notes, possibly putting longer notes (bends) as oposed to a high speed legato lick.
Phrasing: Good start, and the first part was good. The bends were a nice touch, but I somehow get the impression you were using a bit too much up & down sequences. Solution to this would be to try to invent some interesting patterns for practice that involve everything but up & down sequences, and I've seen this Muris's latest lesson that is great for that, it's called Hold The Beat.
Technique: If there is one thing to recommend, that is more vibrato use. This will definitely increase the dimension and expressivnes in your playing. Check out my bending lesson that is live recently, it features this same backing. Some good bending and vibrato samples can be found there. Other than that everything was pretty much clean and well played.
Sound: A bit too much distortion makes it compressed and a bit buzzy, so lowering down the gain is my first suggestion. Other is to lower down the volume of the reverb as it kills definition of the guitar. A little reverb always goes a long way, so putting too much muffles the signal in fact. Just keep all the settings at reasonable levels and always do some test recordings to see how the preset sits in the mix, not solo.

jafomatic:

Rhythm: Great rhythmical figures. You seem to rely often on upbeat, which is great, and on quarter triplets here and there. The second part was a bit slower than I hoped for, possibly inserting one or two a bit faster sequences would mean a lot here.
Phrasing: Great first call & response lick, and after that excellent development. In the last part of the clean part you seem to lost track a bit, and possibly this part could use some minor improvements in order to stay connected with a great vibe you created with the intro. The OD part was very good, very nice phrasing, and good development. On thing that hit me was the last note, it sounded cool, but a bit rhythmically displaced, so possibly fixing that root up an octave would be a nice thing to do.
Technique: Good techniques shown here. There are some note bleeds here and there, so I believe better muting techniques could be applied in order to really sound cool. Also, I would like to hear better vibrato. The legato licks and picking was very nice and addded a very cool smooth flow to your playing, so no problems there.
Sound: Good clean preset in the first part, and nice OD one in the second part, although the OD one is significantly louder than the clean part. Also, the take is over compressed. Remember to use the compression on guitar track only, and NOT too much, as the backing is already compressed quite a bit.


Kaznie:

Rhythm: Great long notes, and very nice timing with accenting the first beats. I like how the part evolves in the second part of the solo as well, and how you use more notes as the solo progresses towards the end. As all the notes came nice and clean, I can safely say that your timing is perfect, but as always it would be good to fire up some nice sequence here and there, perhaps using some shorter note durations. This can greatly improve the quality of this take, and I am talking about just a small sequence. If you want I can give you an example of the sequence for the MTP in form of a small run. When I say small run I really mean something like 6-8 notes that are a bit faster. If executed properly, this solo could easily be professional material. It still is tho, but as we always say - it can always be better.
Phrasing: This solo was probably the best I heard so far from you, because the phrases really tell a nice story, and you really nailed a nice vibe here. Lots of feelings, good connection between the phrases and very fluid. I have a small suggestion in the second phrase, where you did couple of C-D notes and then went to root again. I think the D note would make a stronger and effective ending then the A. I phrase 3 you went octave higher which is a good way of further expanding the phrase, but then in phrase 4 you can back octave lower and played a root again. Possibly here it would be cool to do a nice bend or something just to escape a bit from the root. The second part of the solo was great, and ending very solid.
Technique: Well, there is certainly some improvements here, the bends are awesome, very expressive and I can really see your worked on them. Precisely in pitch, perfect timing, great sustain. Vibrato is also very very good, still needs some polishing but now you are doing it slowly and with more control. All the notes came out very clear, so really well done with the execution.
Sound: The sound could use some tweaking, the problem is with the top end buzz that is too great. I believe a bit more smoother preset would be great. It is not that easy to get it with software, but it can be done, specially if you start to use EQing of the guitar, and if you lower down the gain slightly to increase dynamics a bit.


Berglmir:

Rhythm: Very cool expressive rhythmical figures, I like the way it sounds. There are some problems with the timing both in the first part and in second part. The rhythmical sequences you used are note precise enough, and while you played those faster runs not all notes came out clear. Some practice is needed to be able to play these fast sequences and remain in time, so I think with some more polishing of those faster runs, it can sound awesome.
Phrasing: Very nice and logical phrases in the first part, and good development. I like the notes that are used specially in the slower parts. The second part had a very good connection between the phrases. There are couple of things I noticed that need some improvement with this take. First, in the clean part of your solo, as soon as you hit faster sequences, the connection with the phrases is dropping down, but as soon as you return to slower notes you manage to continue. This problem is solvable by actually anticipating the runs you are going to play, both rhythmically and melodically. All the notes must come out clear, and have their function within the solo, so using many of them not and letting some slip does not help. Same goes for the second part, only I believe you had lot more expressivnes there and I like the attitude of your playing, sounds you really got the feeling for it, so it's good.
Technique: Techniques you used need a bit of polishing on the faster sequences. Everything else was played very nicely, and I would like to hear a more slower and wider vibrato here as well.
Sound: Clean is very nice, and so is the distorted part. The clean notes are in little dissonance with the distorted part when running in the background, but distortion is cutting through and it is not buzzy, it's smooth, althouhg it has lots of treble.


Staffy (1st take):

Rhythm: All the notes were pretty much perfectly in time, but there are two moments where the notes were lagging a bit. The middle part legato is a bit on a slow side, and so is the legato in the end. I think these parts have to really be right on the beat, they are a bit loose. But this is the minor concern, and in general I consider this a really well played solo with a good sense for the rhythm.
Phrasing: Great theme lick during the first part, and you really did developed it well during those 5-6 phrases in the first part. This solo is the best I've heard from you, structure is there, and sounds very nice. The second part of the solo has a bit more loose structure, and the connection is there, but it is a lot stronger in the first part. I would suggest to really analyze the second part and really see how the notes, specially the phrase ending notes correlate to each other. There are a lot of possibilities to create a more interesting connections, so it will definitely be cool and interesting to work on those things a bit.
Technique: This is the most precise solo I've heard so far from you. The amount of noise is small, and it is mostly around the last legato part and some bends at the beginning. I think polishing legato technique, and polishing bending vibrato is primary concern if we look this solo. I like how you pulled out bending vibratos, they sound well controlled and slow, but I believe a bit more security needs to be put in them before they sound completely natural. Bends are all solid, and with cool bending dynamics that is changing through the phrases. I believe those things are a good sign that you mastered different bending techniques, and based on the bending you showed here, I think only faster bending technique is only thing that lacks a bit to add that small degree of tightness to them if you know what I mean. Same goes for muting the bends properly, they will come out tighter after that.
Sound: Good overdriven preset, rolled off highs to remove the buzz, which worked nicely, but the buzz is still present in a very small degree in harmonics. Sounds smooth and comes out nicely in the mix, so I would say it is a good tone for this ballad.


Staffy (2nd take):

great improvement in this take, and the sound is very good now, although I think it still has some of the unpleasant top end sizzle audible on some notes, so smoothing out the high end is something that I can recommend.
regarding your playing - great, best solo I've heard from you so far. Very nicely played and well controlled notes. The 2 16th note sequences in the second part were good, solid play and well executed, although I can notice some degree of uncomfort when playing them. They did turn out great, and I'm very happy to hear them, they bring a lot into this solo which sounds professional. Regarding bends, they are good, but I have a feeling they are not controlled that well, and some of them a bit slow and not precisely on pitch. So from this take, there are couple of things that could be better:

- more comfort on the faster runs (exercise 15-20bpm faster then the backing tempo)
- more strength on bends (practice bending on faster tempos)
- remove the top end sizzle on the preset to make it smoother (some notes are a bit harsh because of this, but not all)


Hammerhead (goes for both takes)

Rhythm: The rhythmical balance in your playing was made with a big contrast in both take 1 and take 2. In the first part you had some very long notes, some of them were a bit too long if we consider the general picture. In the second part you produced some many more notes and not all of them were perfectly in time, which disrupted the balance. The thing I can recommend with your take is to try to make a bit more gentle contrast. The contrast idea itself is very good, but it cannot function properly when the parts are so much different from one another. Solution would be to implement some more notes in the first part and to pull out some notes from the second part. This will lead to more balanced rhythmical structure, and more accurate timing in the second part as well.
Phrasing: The phrasing in the whole take was a bit unstructured as well, specially in the second part with those faster passages. What I recommend here is to compress some of the phrases in the first part so that they fit the bars nicely and they have a more faster flow. In the second part, the opposite thing must happen - phrases should be more connected and stretched out, and the last bend should stay on the pitch (without letting it go).
Technique: All the techniques used are very good, and bends are very good. The thing that could be implemented are more vibratos, and more accurate legato playing in the second part so that all the notes have equal loudness.
Sound: Your tone in both takes was in essence very good and smooth, but it lacks definition cause you added too much reverb on it. It made it get lost in the mix a bit, and not all the notes came out clear. I think by lowering down a reverb would definitely make it already much better. There was also some hum audible on the guitar track. I actually think that the second take had pretty much the same sound as the first one, and it was less loud as well.


sted:

Rhythm: There is a slight rhythmical disproportion in your take, mainly because of the use of faster passages in the first part, which in return didn't created enough of a spring board for the solo to jump to when the second part kicks in. Towards the end of the first part you had some very cool slower passages, and if you similar rhythm phrases throughout the first part, the proportion will be created, so the solo could peak in the second part. The timing was mostly off on many phrases as well, due to the fact many notes were played without accenting the backing track groove properly with them, so - less notes and accenting the strong notes on the click will make it a lot lot better.
Phrasing: Lots of good phrases were used in here, but they were note connected very good. The solo must tell a story, and have a reasonable melodic structure. I suggest making a main there melody for the solo that is simple and catchy and trying to develop it throughout the solo. This will definitely make it a lot structured. Also it may be wise to finish the solo on the root note, or any strong note from the last chord. This will sound really strong and it will have a sense of completion.
Technique: Good playing throughout the whole solo, and the bends were nice and fast. The thing that I noticed is that some notes suffer from pitch bending, which is usually a result of not that good vibrato. If you land on a note, you must keep it precise, no movement unless you can do a nicely controlled vibrato and you know how long you will do that before you move on.
Sound: The sound was good, cut through the mix well, and everything was nice and audible. I would put slightly less space here, and use lowpass filter to cut those higher frequencise out that are causing minor buzz issues. The amount of distortion could be slightly less as well for this recording.


Keilnoth (goes for both takes)

Rhythm: Simplistic approach in your case payed out, and the rhythmical structure follows the backing track very well. Everything was nicely fitted and balanced out, although I would like to hear some nice faster sequence involving 8th notes in the last part. The 3 eight notes followed by doted half phrases in the first part were very effective.
Phrasing: Great sense for melody and structuring phrases. The lines were really telling a nice story, and it all made sense. The first couple of phrases were the intro, later came development and in the second part a nice wrap up. As I said, one faster sequence would reach a bigger climax and the solo could have a bigger dynamics, so I think you can work on that and insert it somewhere towards the end of the second part to make it professional
Technique: There were some weak notes in the solo, and vibrato was not that great and well controlled, but I think you played within your abilites and pulled out very good solo. One thing that would definitely raise the quality of this solo is effective vibrato control, so this is IMO the first thing you should focus on.
Sound: The sound was not that good. Lots of clipping and too much reverb really made it harsh sounding. What I suggest is smoothing out the preset, lowering down the volume of your input so that there is no clipping, and lowering down the reverb for better results.
Sound (take 2): Well you implemented all the things that were a problem in the first take, and it turned out great now. The only thing that is left to fix is the amount of reverb. Try lowering it down to bring it to the same amount of space backing has, so it doesn't sound to "far away" from the backing (band).


enforcer:


Rhythm: The rhythmical balance is there, because you used the slower passages in the first part and faster passages in the second, but your timing was off in many notes in this take. The reasons for this are different as we progress throughout the solo. In the first part, the best way to accent the strong notes and to really make a good connection with the backing is to watch out for the kick and snare of the drum. These provide a good reference point around which you can build your rhythmical phrases. Failing to do so will set some notes in between with unclear rhythmical meaning which can be very misleading. In the second part, there were some very cool fast passages, but I think not all notes were nicely in place again, mainly because there were too many of them and they were note all balanced out rhythmically. Improvisation goal is also to make all the notes placed in their correct place in the backing, so by practicing those runs on slower tempo and knowing exactly what note goes where in a bar will make a world difference.
Phrasing: Great development in the first part, I really liked how the phrases flowed into one another. The second part however lacked a good structure, as there were too much notes in some places. I believe you could played here with more structure and less notes and still manage to express the same thing you wanted with the way you played your take.
Technique: There are two issues that can be addressed to in this solo. Those are vibrato and muting. String noise that occurs in some places accents the need for a proper muting techniques while practicing, and I definitely feel that more tighter, slower, and more controlled vibrato could raise the quality of your take.
Sound: In essence a great tone, smooth and cool, but I think too much delay is added, and the guitar notes loose definition this way, specially when the second part kicks in. Lot less space is the solution here.


Power_Arctica

Rhythm: Good balance and build up, although I believe the intersection between the first and the second part and the part of your solo towards the end are a bit too fast and are struggling to keep the balance right. Everything else was nicely fitted in place, and I especially like the energetic ending.
Phrasing: great development in the first part of the solo, and the build up in the second part was also very good. The only thing I can notice is that the last fast lick is an area that lacks connection to the rest of the phrases around it towards the end of the solo. The contrast between the finishing phrase and the fast lick before it is too great for an effective finish, so this is the thing that needs a bit polishing. Getting those phrases into connection would really wrap up your soloing in a professional manner.
Technique: Everything was played nicely with a good aggressive style that you prefer. I think some places need improvement, and those would primarily be bended vibratos and vibratos. You executed them and use them extensively, but the problem is with making them balanced and even. Vibrato must sound even, all the bends should be the same, and precisely in pitch.
Sound: The sound is good, but there are couple of things I can recommend. Lower down the distortion a bit, remover the top end slightly, and decrease space effect you used slightly This would help to get it connected with a backing a bit more.

Dexxter:

Rhythm: Very good sense for rhythm displayed in this take, accentuation mostly done on the first beat, and properly locked with the kick drum. This kind of rhythmic pattern repeats throughout the first and second part of the solo. The only thing that this take lacks is a proper climax build up. You seem to manage to reach the climax with the phrasing and use of higher notes in the second part, but if this build up was backed up by proper rhythm in the second part the solo would turn out much better. Solution for this is definitely inserting some faster sequences in the second part. Doesn't have to be super fast, but 8th notes during the course of 1-2 bars would make a world difference.
Phrasing: Excellent phrase groups that interact with one another in a very nice and fluid way, mainly due to those excellent bends. The phrases are nicely connected and almost all the strong notes are nicely accentuated over their respective chords. There was some unclear ideas in the very beginning where one phrase ended up on a bit unusual note, compared to the phrases around them, but me as a listener really have feeling that you carefully played this with very good attention to details and where each note should go. Very good improvised solo.
Technique: Your solo definitely has a vocal quality to it because of the way you played bends and vibratos, which is excellent IMO. One thing that lacks is the use of those faster sequences to spice things up, but other than that, very good playing.
Sound: Very good tone, smooth mids, tight lows, and just a little top end sizzle then I would like to hear, but far from being harsh. The important part of your tone is the way you play, and you do fret the notes carefully enough to produce consistent tone throughout the solo. Excellent control IMO.

Sensible Jones:

Rhythm: Excellent rhythm, and sense for keeping the dynamics of the rhythmical phrases flowing and moving. The way you played last bits of both part 1 and part 2 are really done great, I really had an impression of things moving and flowing. This is because you managed to increase the tempo feel of the backing track in order to build up a proper ending in the both parts with those 8th note slides. Although you kept solid time with accentuation on the 1 beat, there were some very slight timing issues in the first few phrases of the solo, notes escaped the kick drum by a fraction of second.
Phrasing: All the phrases in the take were very nicely fitted in and structured in a way that makes perfect sense. If you ask me, the solo had a little "too perfect" sense to me, and this is mainly because of the repetitive root use as and ending of the phrases, even on the last phrase in the solo. This creates a predictive feel with the listener. The solution to this problem is a very easy one - rehearse improvising so that you play licks that are familiar to you, but play a different landing note each time and focus on strong notes. This will create a really nice degree of variety within your playing, so you create a sense of tension and question with the listener of where you will go next.
Technique: All the techniques used were well rehearsed and solid. The thing that I can recommend upgrading is bending and vibrato. Two things that need better control and pitch accuracy, and it will raise the quality to greater heights.
Sound: Slightly boxy sound, tight bass response, sharp mids, and slightly buzzing highs that need some low pass filtering. The thing that is audible is some degree of clipping so I think you should adjust the level of the signal a bit. Everything else was very good.


TheKeplerConjecture:

Rhythm: Timing in the take was very good, almost all the notes had a strong attachment to the beats in the solo, and longer notes ringed just the way they supposed too. One thing that I think lacks here is a proper rhythmical dynamics, and me as a listener feel that rhythm of a solo is a bit flat with no real sense were the beginning, middle and end are, because of continuos use of sixteen triplets sequences throughout the solo. I think a nicer balance can be achieved if you try to group the rhythmical phrases so that they lead to a climax, and then run down to a finish with more connection between them, and more connection to the backing as well. The way you played, I have impression that backing is constantly slowing down-speeding up in wave like motion, which in the end produces a more flat dynamic response than I would like to hear. Nevertheless, the timing was very good, and it leaves impression of well played and sharly executed take with a variety of interesting rhythm phrases to listen.
Phrasing: Your phrasing was very interesting to listen as it had lots of cool moments and melodies. Lack of structure is evident here as well, but as a general impression. Phrases do connect with each other in a nice way, but they all don't form a complete story as a whole. I think the main reason is playing familiar licks and runs previously rehearsed, and I can clearly hear the segments that you practiced and that you are trying to implement here. The integration of the things you practice however must be done seamlessly, so that the listener cannot tell what you practiced. This will all come in time and with more interesting patterns for practicing, but there is one thing to keep in mind when improvising. I think there were moments in the solo where you focused on the melody nicely, but these moments are rare. You should try to focus to listen what you play, and try to make simple but effective melodies/phrases that correlate to one each other, instead of playing familiar sequences in order to make your phrasing even better.
Technique: Excellent techniques displayed, all the phrasing effects were very nicely used, in proper places, and I specially like the release bend you do, and control over the tone. Everything is balanced, well played, and every note has it's proper pitch, tone and dynamics with very little accidental oscillations of sound.
Sound: Not to focused low end, but sharp mids and highs that really cut nicely. The buzzing is audible to some extent, so I believe you should try to possible lower down the gain a bit to achieve a more tighter and defined sound without any sounding unnatural. The space is used to a big extent here, so I also recommend lowering down the delay just a bit. However, I usually disslike the space when it is added too much, but your space effects add a nice quality to the guitar signal. Just keep it safe, and don't push effects over that edge where you loose tone definition and it will be fine.


Marc_maiden:

Rhythm: Good rhythmical structure in the first part, I really had the impression of you solo moving nicely along side the backing track. The transition into 2nd section was a bit harsh tho, and the faster sequences in the second part didn't quite correlate nicely with the first part of the solo. They seem like two completely separate solos for me as a listener, so I think better connection between these two would create a much more nicer balance to this take. Timing also needs some refinement in the second section.
Phrasing: Excellent phrasing in the first part, really nice melodic passages that blend into one another in a fluid way. Very good. In the transition part and throughout the second section, I think structure got a bit weaker, and the phrases were still there, but not as nicely connected as in the first part. Faster passages really didn't play their function or raising to the climax, because the loudness was a bit acquard, and they are placed without any strong connection with other phrases around them.
Technique: Well controlled vibrato and bends, makes the solo sing. The faster passage in the second section is lacking definition, and the notes could be better played. Towards the end, things got better, but I think you could play the second part with more attention to the notes.
Sound: A bit raw sound that lacks some degree of distortion and space. It was a bit dry, and two dimensional, so just a tab bit overdrive and delay would already make it a lot better.

Here's the final mix and comments for the Classic Ballad Collaboration! smile.gif

Thank you everybody for participating, your takes were all great. Special thanks for the people who took the time to record several takes, so we can really hear the takes becoming better and better. All the people that recorded double takes will have all their takes in the final mix one after each other.

Comments:


Leedbreak (1st take):

I'm giving you a bit shorter comments for now, as you are willing to make an effort of actually developing your take as the collaboration goes. In the end I will grant you with more in depth comments:

Rhtyhtm: Good timing, and good precision. I think you nailed all the notes well on the beat, and used nice rhythmical figures. Just before the second part there was a bit faster sequence that I think needs more work. Try to nail it perfectly in time and the whole take will benefit from it/
Phrasing: Good phrasing, but a bit repetitive sounding in the first part. Seems like you were searching for structure here until that bend. I advise you to analyze the bits before the big bend somewhere in the middle of the first part, and try to make a small call & responce structure here to enrich this part of the take. Also the ending was a bit uneffective. In terms of melody everything was nice, but try to peak the ending with some bend an octave higher or something similar. This will sound lot more effective and logical.
Technique: Everything was played very nicely and with little noise. Well done. One thing I want you to focus are vibratos - they need to be well controlled and much slower for this kind of a track. Try 16th vibratos with this tempo, it will sound great.
Sound: Your tone is very good, and you can keep it like this, smooth balanced out and comes out nicely from the mix. If there is something to watch for, those would be additional noises, so muting technique is as always needed.

Leedbreak (2nd take):

leedbreak:

Well this take is already much better and fresh sounding! smile.gif Well done!
- your vibrato accuracy is very much improved and it sounds well controlled in most places! smile.gif
- the big bend in the middle of the first part was a bit out of pitch, but that is a minor issue.
- you very much improved accuracy here, so almost all the notes came out clear and pleasant
- phrasing is drastically improved, so now we have a very nice and smooth melodic flow. There are some hickups tho, mostly in the phrase before the big first part bend, and in the end, where it tends to sound a bit up & down the scale.
- the ending turned out very cool with that nice little phrase, and although you came down to the root, instead of going up, it definitely sounded as a very cool ending for the solo - well done.

So my friend, I think you really did a lot better take now, and I believe you can go even further with this. Are you up for it? smile.gif


Leedbreak (3rd take):


Rhythm: Starting great in the first part with a perfect timing. Every note is precisely in place, and the 16th notes in the end of the part 1 are now enriched nicely with some 8ths as well, which is very nice to hear. The second part is also very good, although there are some minor timing issues in the end.
Phrasing: This part had very similar structure as the one before, and I believe the phrases were are blended together nicely. There are some inserted effects, like the slide in from bellow in the beginning of the part. All the notes came out clear as well. Second part is the only part that you played one note outside of scale towards the end (in that descending sequence), but besides that I think the take was perfect, and all the notes had their proper place, well done.
Technique: The whole take was played very nicely. The problems that I saw were mostly around that big bend in the first part and legato triplets in the first part as well that were a bit slow. The triplet sequences in the second part also would use some tightening up. However these are small details, since all the notes came out very clear and with solid timing.
Sound: Good tone, as said previously, well balanced, low buzz. Not that smooth, but goes along with the track nicely and cuts well through the mix.


In general, I believe this take is a major improvement, because it is played very clean and precise. The only note that is outside of the key is the one towards the end, and I consider this the only mistake in the whole take. I can see that you tried very hard to do this solo, and this version is the best one, since you have that degree of comfort and security while playing this take. Well done.


muntahunta:

Rhythm: Great rhythmical figures, that are following the backing in a very laid back manner, and all the notes came out executed properly. Just the right amount of all the note durations used. If there is one thing I could suggest - it would be to posibly insert some fast legato triplets to spice up those 16th triplet sequences you have in the middle and in the end. I really like the whole structure and the balance you made with your solo.
Phrasing: Excellent melodic development throughout the solo, very smooth flow and great melodies, lots of feelings and phrases are just bleeding into one another. This is the finest example on how the solo should sound and be effective. There are however few moments on the solo that could be even better, for example in the second part you were using the root couple of times which is good, but I get the impression that I was hearing it a bit often. Also, in the end, there was that same root again, so possibly inserting root on the octave higher would sound even more effective. These are minor suggestion to this great solo, really well done.
Technique: Great execution throughout. The only thing that lacks in this beautiful solo are wide and slow vibratos. Achieving greater vibrato control will take this solo to much greater heights, so I advise that you start focusing on practicing the vibrato more, as your playing "deserves it"
Sound: Good tone, smooth and very little noise. The sound is a bit bassy, so I believe checking out the preset so you get a good focused low end will mean a lot. There was also a bit of buzzing in the sound, so possibly lowering down a distortion just a tiny tiny bit would help there.


Marek Rojewski:

Rhythm: starting a bit shaky with 16 notes, then a long bend, and cool whole note bends. In general very cool take, with a great fast legato sequence in the second part. All in all a good rhythmical structure that really sounds good, but not that balanced in some places. For example I would like to hear a bit better ending and more diverse notes, possibly putting longer notes (bends) as oposed to a high speed legato lick.
Phrasing: Good start, and the first part was good. The bends were a nice touch, but I somehow get the impression you were using a bit too much up & down sequences. Solution to this would be to try to invent some interesting patterns for practice that involve everything but up & down sequences, and I've seen this Muris's latest lesson that is great for that, it's called Hold The Beat.
Technique: If there is one thing to recommend, that is more vibrato use. This will definitely increase the dimension and expressivnes in your playing. Check out my bending lesson that is live recently, it features this same backing. Some good bending and vibrato samples can be found there. Other than that everything was pretty much clean and well played.
Sound: A bit too much distortion makes it compressed and a bit buzzy, so lowering down the gain is my first suggestion. Other is to lower down the volume of the reverb as it kills definition of the guitar. A little reverb always goes a long way, so putting too much muffles the signal in fact. Just keep all the settings at reasonable levels and always do some test recordings to see how the preset sits in the mix, not solo.

jafomatic:

Rhythm: Great rhythmical figures. You seem to rely often on upbeat, which is great, and on quarter triplets here and there. The second part was a bit slower than I hoped for, possibly inserting one or two a bit faster sequences would mean a lot here.
Phrasing: Great first call & response lick, and after that excellent development. In the last part of the clean part you seem to lost track a bit, and possibly this part could use some minor improvements in order to stay connected with a great vibe you created with the intro. The OD part was very good, very nice phrasing, and good development. On thing that hit me was the last note, it sounded cool, but a bit rhythmically displaced, so possibly fixing that root up an octave would be a nice thing to do.
Technique: Good techniques shown here. There are some note bleeds here and there, so I believe better muting techniques could be applied in order to really sound cool. Also, I would like to hear better vibrato. The legato licks and picking was very nice and addded a very cool smooth flow to your playing, so no problems there.
Sound: Good clean preset in the first part, and nice OD one in the second part, although the OD one is significantly louder than the clean part. Also, the take is over compressed. Remember to use the compression on guitar track only, and NOT too much, as the backing is already compressed quite a bit.


Kaznie:

Rhythm: Great long notes, and very nice timing with accenting the first beats. I like how the part evolves in the second part of the solo as well, and how you use more notes as the solo progresses towards the end. As all the notes came nice and clean, I can safely say that your timing is perfect, but as always it would be good to fire up some nice sequence here and there, perhaps using some shorter note durations. This can greatly improve the quality of this take, and I am talking about just a small sequence. If you want I can give you an example of the sequence for the MTP in form of a small run. When I say small run I really mean something like 6-8 notes that are a bit faster. If executed properly, this solo could easily be professional material. It still is tho, but as we always say - it can always be better.
Phrasing: This solo was probably the best I heard so far from you, because the phrases really tell a nice story, and you really nailed a nice vibe here. Lots of feelings, good connection between the phrases and very fluid. I have a small suggestion in the second phrase, where you did couple of C-D notes and then went to root again. I think the D note would make a stronger and effective ending then the A. I phrase 3 you went octave higher which is a good way of further expanding the phrase, but then in phrase 4 you can back octave lower and played a root again. Possibly here it would be cool to do a nice bend or something just to escape a bit from the root. The second part of the solo was great, and ending very solid.
Technique: Well, there is certainly some improvements here, the bends are awesome, very expressive and I can really see your worked on them. Precisely in pitch, perfect timing, great sustain. Vibrato is also very very good, still needs some polishing but now you are doing it slowly and with more control. All the notes came out very clear, so really well done with the execution.
Sound: The sound could use some tweaking, the problem is with the top end buzz that is too great. I believe a bit more smoother preset would be great. It is not that easy to get it with software, but it can be done, specially if you start to use EQing of the guitar, and if you lower down the gain slightly to increase dynamics a bit.


Berglmir:

Rhythm: Very cool expressive rhythmical figures, I like the way it sounds. There are some problems with the timing both in the first part and in second part. The rhythmical sequences you used are note precise enough, and while you played those faster runs not all notes came out clear. Some practice is needed to be able to play these fast sequences and remain in time, so I think with some more polishing of those faster runs, it can sound awesome.
Phrasing: Very nice and logical phrases in the first part, and good development. I like the notes that are used specially in the slower parts. The second part had a very good connection between the phrases. There are couple of things I noticed that need some improvement with this take. First, in the clean part of your solo, as soon as you hit faster sequences, the connection with the phrases is dropping down, but as soon as you return to slower notes you manage to continue. This problem is solvable by actually anticipating the runs you are going to play, both rhythmically and melodically. All the notes must come out clear, and have their function within the solo, so using many of them not and letting some slip does not help. Same goes for the second part, only I believe you had lot more expressivnes there and I like the attitude of your playing, sounds you really got the feeling for it, so it's good.
Technique: Techniques you used need a bit of polishing on the faster sequences. Everything else was played very nicely, and I would like to hear a more slower and wider vibrato here as well.
Sound: Clean is very nice, and so is the distorted part. The clean notes are in little dissonance with the distorted part when running in the background, but distortion is cutting through and it is not buzzy, it's smooth, althouhg it has lots of treble.


Staffy (1st take):

Rhythm: All the notes were pretty much perfectly in time, but there are two moments where the notes were lagging a bit. The middle part legato is a bit on a slow side, and so is the legato in the end. I think these parts have to really be right on the beat, they are a bit loose. But this is the minor concern, and in general I consider this a really well played solo with a good sense for the rhythm.
Phrasing: Great theme lick during the first part, and you really did developed it well during those 5-6 phrases in the first part. This solo is the best I've heard from you, structure is there, and sounds very nice. The second part of the solo has a bit more loose structure, and the connection is there, but it is a lot stronger in the first part. I would suggest to really analyze the second part and really see how the notes, specially the phrase ending notes correlate to each other. There are a lot of possibilities to create a more interesting connections, so it will definitely be cool and interesting to work on those things a bit.
Technique: This is the most precise solo I've heard so far from you. The amount of noise is small, and it is mostly around the last legato part and some bends at the beginning. I think polishing legato technique, and polishing bending vibrato is primary concern if we look this solo. I like how you pulled out bending vibratos, they sound well controlled and slow, but I believe a bit more security needs to be put in them before they sound completely natural. Bends are all solid, and with cool bending dynamics that is changing through the phrases. I believe those things are a good sign that you mastered different bending techniques, and based on the bending you showed here, I think only faster bending technique is only thing that lacks a bit to add that small degree of tightness to them if you know what I mean. Same goes for muting the bends properly, they will come out tighter after that.
Sound: Good overdriven preset, rolled off highs to remove the buzz, which worked nicely, but the buzz is still present in a very small degree in harmonics. Sounds smooth and comes out nicely in the mix, so I would say it is a good tone for this ballad.


Staffy (2nd take):

great improvement in this take, and the sound is very good now, although I think it still has some of the unpleasant top end sizzle audible on some notes, so smoothing out the high end is something that I can recommend.
regarding your playing - great, best solo I've heard from you so far. Very nicely played and well controlled notes. The 2 16th note sequences in the second part were good, solid play and well executed, although I can notice some degree of uncomfort when playing them. They did turn out great, and I'm very happy to hear them, they bring a lot into this solo which sounds professional. Regarding bends, they are good, but I have a feeling they are not controlled that well, and some of them a bit slow and not precisely on pitch. So from this take, there are couple of things that could be better:

- more comfort on the faster runs (exercise 15-20bpm faster then the backing tempo)
- more strength on bends (practice bending on faster tempos)
- remove the top end sizzle on the preset to make it smoother (some notes are a bit harsh because of this, but not all)


Hammerhead (goes for both takes)

Rhythm: The rhythmical balance in your playing was made with a big contrast in both take 1 and take 2. In the first part you had some very long notes, some of them were a bit too long if we consider the general picture. In the second part you produced some many more notes and not all of them were perfectly in time, which disrupted the balance. The thing I can recommend with your take is to try to make a bit more gentle contrast. The contrast idea itself is very good, but it cannot function properly when the parts are so much different from one another. Solution would be to implement some more notes in the first part and to pull out some notes from the second part. This will lead to more balanced rhythmical structure, and more accurate timing in the second part as well.
Phrasing: The phrasing in the whole take was a bit unstructured as well, specially in the second part with those faster passages. What I recommend here is to compress some of the phrases in the first part so that they fit the bars nicely and they have a more faster flow. In the second part, the opposite thing must happen - phrases should be more connected and stretched out, and the last bend should stay on the pitch (without letting it go).
Technique: All the techniques used are very good, and bends are very good. The thing that could be implemented are more vibratos, and more accurate legato playing in the second part so that all the notes have equal loudness.
Sound: Your tone in both takes was in essence very good and smooth, but it lacks definition cause you added too much reverb on it. It made it get lost in the mix a bit, and not all the notes came out clear. I think by lowering down a reverb would definitely make it already much better. There was also some hum audible on the guitar track. I actually think that the second take had pretty much the same sound as the first one, and it was less loud as well.


sted:

Rhythm: There is a slight rhythmical disproportion in your take, mainly because of the use of faster passages in the first part, which in return didn't created enough of a spring board for the solo to jump to when the second part kicks in. Towards the end of the first part you had some very cool slower passages, and if you similar rhythm phrases throughout the first part, the proportion will be created, so the solo could peak in the second part. The timing was mostly off on many phrases as well, due to the fact many notes were played without accenting the backing track groove properly with them, so - less notes and accenting the strong notes on the click will make it a lot lot better.
Phrasing: Lots of good phrases were used in here, but they were note connected very good. The solo must tell a story, and have a reasonable melodic structure. I suggest making a main there melody for the solo that is simple and catchy and trying to develop it throughout the solo. This will definitely make it a lot structured. Also it may be wise to finish the solo on the root note, or any strong note from the last chord. This will sound really strong and it will have a sense of completion.
Technique: Good playing throughout the whole solo, and the bends were nice and fast. The thing that I noticed is that some notes suffer from pitch bending, which is usually a result of not that good vibrato. If you land on a note, you must keep it precise, no movement unless you can do a nicely controlled vibrato and you know how long you will do that before you move on.
Sound: The sound was good, cut through the mix well, and everything was nice and audible. I would put slightly less space here, and use lowpass filter to cut those higher frequencise out that are causing minor buzz issues. The amount of distortion could be slightly less as well for this recording.


Keilnoth (goes for both takes)

Rhythm: Simplistic approach in your case payed out, and the rhythmical structure follows the backing track very well. Everything was nicely fitted and balanced out, although I would like to hear some nice faster sequence involving 8th notes in the last part. The 3 eight notes followed by doted half phrases in the first part were very effective.
Phrasing: Great sense for melody and structuring phrases. The lines were really telling a nice story, and it all made sense. The first couple of phrases were the intro, later came development and in the second part a nice wrap up. As I said, one faster sequence would reach a bigger climax and the solo could have a bigger dynamics, so I think you can work on that and insert it somewhere towards the end of the second part to make it professional
Technique: There were some weak notes in the solo, and vibrato was not that great and well controlled, but I think you played within your abilites and pulled out very good solo. One thing that would definitely raise the quality of this solo is effective vibrato control, so this is IMO the first thing you should focus on.
Sound: The sound was not that good. Lots of clipping and too much reverb really made it harsh sounding. What I suggest is smoothing out the preset, lowering down the volume of your input so that there is no clipping, and lowering down the reverb for better results.
Sound (take 2): Well you implemented all the things that were a problem in the first take, and it turned out great now. The only thing that is left to fix is the amount of reverb. Try lowering it down to bring it to the same amount of space backing has, so it doesn't sound to "far away" from the backing (band).


enforcer:


Rhythm: The rhythmical balance is there, because you used the slower passages in the first part and faster passages in the second, but your timing was off in many notes in this take. The reasons for this are different as we progress throughout the solo. In the first part, the best way to accent the strong notes and to really make a good connection with the backing is to watch out for the kick and snare of the drum. These provide a good reference point around which you can build your rhythmical phrases. Failing to do so will set some notes in between with unclear rhythmical meaning which can be very misleading. In the second part, there were some very cool fast passages, but I think not all notes were nicely in place again, mainly because there were too many of them and they were note all balanced out rhythmically. Improvisation goal is also to make all the notes placed in their correct place in the backing, so by practicing those runs on slower tempo and knowing exactly what note goes where in a bar will make a world difference.
Phrasing: Great development in the first part, I really liked how the phrases flowed into one another. The second part however lacked a good structure, as there were too much notes in some places. I believe you could played here with more structure and less notes and still manage to express the same thing you wanted with the way you played your take.
Technique: There are two issues that can be addressed to in this solo. Those are vibrato and muting. String noise that occurs in some places accents the need for a proper muting techniques while practicing, and I definitely feel that more tighter, slower, and more controlled vibrato could raise the quality of your take.
Sound: In essence a great tone, smooth and cool, but I think too much delay is added, and the guitar notes loose definition this way, specially when the second part kicks in. Lot less space is the solution here.


Power_Arctica

Rhythm: Good balance and build up, although I believe the intersection between the first and the second part and the part of your solo towards the end are a bit too fast and are struggling to keep the balance right. Everything else was nicely fitted in place, and I especially like the energetic ending.
Phrasing: great development in the first part of the solo, and the build up in the second part was also very good. The only thing I can notice is that the last fast lick is an area that lacks connection to the rest of the phrases around it towards the end of the solo. The contrast between the finishing phrase and the fast lick before it is too great for an effective finish, so this is the thing that needs a bit polishing. Getting those phrases into connection would really wrap up your soloing in a professional manner.
Technique: Everything was played nicely with a good aggressive style that you prefer. I think some places need improvement, and those would primarily be bended vibratos and vibratos. You executed them and use them extensively, but the problem is with making them balanced and even. Vibrato must sound even, all the bends should be the same, and precisely in pitch.
Sound: The sound is good, but there are couple of things I can recommend. Lower down the distortion a bit, remover the top end slightly, and decrease space effect you used slightly This would help to get it connected with a backing a bit more.

Dexxter:

Rhythm: Very good sense for rhythm displayed in this take, accentuation mostly done on the first beat, and properly locked with the kick drum. This kind of rhythmic pattern repeats throughout the first and second part of the solo. The only thing that this take lacks is a proper climax build up. You seem to manage to reach the climax with the phrasing and use of higher notes in the second part, but if this build up was backed up by proper rhythm in the second part the solo would turn out much better. Solution for this is definitely inserting some faster sequences in the second part. Doesn't have to be super fast, but 8th notes during the course of 1-2 bars would make a world difference.
Phrasing: Excellent phrase groups that interact with one another in a very nice and fluid way, mainly due to those excellent bends. The phrases are nicely connected and almost all the strong notes are nicely accentuated over their respective chords. There was some unclear ideas in the very beginning where one phrase ended up on a bit unusual note, compared to the phrases around them, but me as a listener really have feeling that you carefully played this with very good attention to details and where each note should go. Very good improvised solo.
Technique: Your solo definitely has a vocal quality to it because of the way you played bends and vibratos, which is excellent IMO. One thing that lacks is the use of those faster sequences to spice things up, but other than that, very good playing.
Sound: Very good tone, smooth mids, tight lows, and just a little top end sizzle then I would like to hear, but far from being harsh. The important part of your tone is the way you play, and you do fret the notes carefully enough to produce consistent tone throughout the solo. Excellent control IMO.

Sensible Jones:

Rhythm: Excellent rhythm, and sense for keeping the dynamics of the rhythmical phrases flowing and moving. The way you played last bits of both part 1 and part 2 are really done great, I really had an impression of things moving and flowing. This is because you managed to increase the tempo feel of the backing track in order to build up a proper ending in the both parts with those 8th note slides. Although you kept solid time with accentuation on the 1 beat, there were some very slight timing issues in the first few phrases of the solo, notes escaped the kick drum by a fraction of second.
Phrasing: All the phrases in the take were very nicely fitted in and structured in a way that makes perfect sense. If you ask me, the solo had a little "too perfect" sense to me, and this is mainly because of the repetitive root use as and ending of the phrases, even on the last phrase in the solo. This creates a predictive feel with the listener. The solution to this problem is a very easy one - rehearse improvising so that you play licks that are familiar to you, but play a different landing note each time and focus on strong notes. This will create a really nice degree of variety within your playing, so you create a sense of tension and question with the listener of where you will go next.
Technique: All the techniques used were well rehearsed and solid. The thing that I can recommend upgrading is bending and vibrato. Two things that need better control and pitch accuracy, and it will raise the quality to greater heights.
Sound: Slightly boxy sound, tight bass response, sharp mids, and slightly buzzing highs that need some low pass filtering. The thing that is audible is some degree of clipping so I think you should adjust the level of the signal a bit. Everything else was very good.


TheKeplerConjecture:

Rhythm: Timing in the take was very good, almost all the notes had a strong attachment to the beats in the solo, and longer notes ringed just the way they supposed too. One thing that I think lacks here is a proper rhythmical dynamics, and me as a listener feel that rhythm of a solo is a bit flat with no real sense were the beginning, middle and end are, because of continuos use of sixteen triplets sequences throughout the solo. I think a nicer balance can be achieved if you try to group the rhythmical phrases so that they lead to a climax, and then run down to a finish with more connection between them, and more connection to the backing as well. The way you played, I have impression that backing is constantly slowing down-speeding up in wave like motion, which in the end produces a more flat dynamic response than I would like to hear. Nevertheless, the timing was very good, and it leaves impression of well played and sharly executed take with a variety of interesting rhythm phrases to listen.
Phrasing: Your phrasing was very interesting to listen as it had lots of cool moments and melodies. Lack of structure is evident here as well, but as a general impression. Phrases do connect with each other in a nice way, but they all don't form a complete story as a whole. I think the main reason is playing familiar licks and runs previously rehearsed, and I can clearly hear the segments that you practiced and that you are trying to implement here. The integration of the things you practice however must be done seamlessly, so that the listener cannot tell what you practiced. This will all come in time and with more interesting patterns for practicing, but there is one thing to keep in mind when improvising. I think there were moments in the solo where you focused on the melody nicely, but these moments are rare. You should try to focus to listen what you play, and try to make simple but effective melodies/phrases that correlate to one each other, instead of playing familiar sequences in order to make your phrasing even better.
Technique: Excellent techniques displayed, all the phrasing effects were very nicely used, in proper places, and I specially like the release bend you do, and control over the tone. Everything is balanced, well played, and every note has it's proper pitch, tone and dynamics with very little accidental oscillations of sound.
Sound: Not to focused low end, but sharp mids and highs that really cut nicely. The buzzing is audible to some extent, so I believe you should try to possible lower down the gain a bit to achieve a more tighter and defined sound without any sounding unnatural. The space is used to a big extent here, so I also recommend lowering down the delay just a bit. However, I usually disslike the space when it is added too much, but your space effects add a nice quality to the guitar signal. Just keep it safe, and don't push effects over that edge where you loose tone definition and it will be fine.


Marc_maiden:

Rhythm: Good rhythmical structure in the first part, I really had the impression of you solo moving nicely along side the backing track. The transition into 2nd section was a bit harsh tho, and the faster sequences in the second part didn't quite correlate nicely with the first part of the solo. They seem like two completely separate solos for me as a listener, so I think better connection between these two would create a much more nicer balance to this take. Timing also needs some refinement in the second section.
Phrasing: Excellent phrasing in the first part, really nice melodic passages that blend into one another in a fluid way. Very good. In the transition part and throughout the second section, I think structure got a bit weaker, and the phrases were still there, but not as nicely connected as in the first part. Faster passages really didn't play their function or raising to the climax, because the loudness was a bit acquard, and they are placed without any strong connection with other phrases around them.
Technique: Well controlled vibrato and bends, makes the solo sing. The faster passage in the second section is lacking definition, and the notes could be better played. Towards the end, things got better, but I think you could play the second part with more attention to the notes.
Sound: A bit raw sound that lacks some degree of distortion and space. It was a bit dry, and two dimensional, so just a tab bit overdrive and delay would already make it a lot better.

https://www.guitarmasterclass.net/guitar_fo...st&id=18199


Here's the final mix and comments for metal dorian collaboration! smile.gif


There weren't a lot of participants involved, but Dexxter and Jafo really did their best, and I think it sounds awesome. Each put it's own distinct style and flavor into the track, and I'm very pleased on the result! smile.gif


Comments:

Dexxter:

Rhythm: great figures, not one note off in the whole take and all played with perfect timing, probably due to the fact that you had guitar pro. Really well done for this one. I like the intro, and all the rhythmical phrases in both parts, but I think somewhere after the start of the second part you had some longer notes that kinda outbalanced the rhythmical structure a bit.
Phrasing: Great sense for the phrases, specially in the first part of the take, where melodies interact with each other in a very cool way using some fast passages. In that second part there is again that problematic part that is lacking a bit of a structure and connection with the rest of the solo. My general impression regarding your phrasing on this one was that all the phrases was nicely fitted and perfectly played, but they lack some degree connection so they don't sound phrase-after-phrase like. However, by listening to your take, I definitely didn't get the impression that you were playing lick after lick, the connection is there, I just feel the connection could be a bit stronger.
Technique: You displayed a variety of techniques here, and all of them were perfectly used to execute the notes flawlessly. There are only 1 or 2 week notes in the whole take, and the only thing I would like to hear more is the use of a wider more aggressive vibrato more often.
Sound: Great sound that cuts well, and doesn't suffer from any problems regarding buzzing. The amount of overdrive is just about enough, and space is great. Nothing to add here, very good.

Jafomatic:

Rhythm: Rhythmical structure has tighter connections between the phrases that it may appear at first glance. All the notes were carefully played, with minor timing problems in the beginning section of the second part. The dynamic build up was not executed effectively, and because of this the solo sounded flat. The reason for this is the use of too many similar rhythmical phrases in both takes. Despite of this, the second part indeed had somewhat faster sequences which can be considered a nice separation and build up from the first one. If it had some crucial elements implemented, like defining the transition between the parts better, and defining those faster passages towards the end to a bigger extent so they reach a proper climax, I think it would sound even better.
Phrasing: The phrasing used was excellent, with a very noticeable and straightforward structure of 4 big phrases in each section and more than cool overdubs. All 4 phrases in the first section were really good, and you found a way to balance them and develop them as the backing progressed. In the second part, the notes and the theme start to loose definition towards the end of the solo. All this decreases the effectiveness of the solo a lot, because the listener usually remembers the last part of the solo. Next time, I advise if you do have problems finishing up the last phrases, stop, rest, and come back the next day with a fresh idea in mind. The overdub the guitars carefully and recreate the end part so that really fuses with the solo, but also it wraps up the solo nicely.
Technique: Everything was played very good, with strong accent given on palm muting technique. The thing that I believe lack here is a good controlled vibrato, and some definition in those last phrases, so all the notes come out equally well. Everything else was really nice.
Sound: Overall tone was good. I listened both of your posts, and it sounded more defined to me while listening only to the soloed guitar track. This leads me to conclusion that amount of space used and relative lack of mids made guitar track a bit lost in the mix. Not too much, but I believe it could have better definition to some extent. I believe focusing guitars into 500-1500Hz region and cutting out other places (specially the low end) would make it a bit more tighter and mids-hi mids would be smoothed out and your palm muting and notes would get that pleasant "chunk" pronounced even more to let the notes jump out in the mix. Cutting down the space just a bit would help as well.


https://www.guitarmasterclass.net/guitar_fo...st&id=18197

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[David Wallimann]

Lydian Melodic Development collab

12 participants

Thanks to all the participants! You all did a good job and inspired me these comments. I hope you find them useful!

Rated Htr


Jafomatic


TheKeplerConjecture


UncleSkillet


NoSkill


Power_Arctica


maharzan


sted


Sensible Jones


Nimrandir


Dexxter


Marc-Maiden

Easy Listening Aeolian Mood collab

11 participants

Thanks to all the participants! You all did a good job and inspired me these comments. I hope you find them useful!

Dexxter


Rated HTR


JVM


Sensible Jones


Jafomatic


Skennington


TheKeplerConjecture


Nimrandir


Staffy


sted


leedbreak

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[Jonathan Burgos]

Hello friends! This is the final mix and comments thread for the Steve Lukather Style Collaboration. Here we give the results of the collaboration. In general, the work has been very good. Do not know if I've been lucky or if most GMC members are good students and guitarists! When working with the recordings, I recommend you do the mixdown with Sound Forge. It is an interesting program, and also easy to use where you may remove noise and normalize volumes. If any of you work with frutty Loops, I can give them some useful files with very interesting configurations.
I must admit that you have been the best group of students. biggrin.gif
Also want to thank you for having done her homework and participating in this collaboration. wink.gif Now, download the file and listen to the work friends. Enjoy it.

These are the 11 participants:

Marek Rojewski - kaznie_NL - Jafomatic - NoSkill - Sollesnes - Dexxter - Staffy - Rated htr – Mhskeide – Nimrandir – TheKeplerConjecture .

Comments:

Marek Rojewski: (0:03 – 01:04)
Looking for the sound, you pay attention to the search of the tone. I would take a bit of reverb and I proportion more delay, anyway, is a matter of personal taste. Apply a good vibrato suggested in rhythmic phrases beginning with melodies. The rhythmic figures seem to exercise, I would suggest more research figures, play with the spontaneity. In the chorus you play octaves with interesting rhythmic, very original. In general, good work Marek! You're creative when it comes to make the solos.

Kaznie: (01:09 – 02:10)
You're also search the sounds, sounds-like Lukather (gain with chorus) I like it. You create melodies in the beginning, is a good proposal. Duplicate guitars with interesting arguments. In the chorus provides a bluesy color. Then execute difficult moves at the right time. Well done! You must work in the neatness of it. Perform in the style of Steve. Very good finish with a nice job of two guitars. You work in the creation of the solos. You have good vibrato and the implementation of bending are good. Kazni Good job!

Jafomatic: (02:17 – 03:16)
Very Good sound! Use less gain at the beginning and do it more powerful from the chorus. Good setup delay. The arguments are very good, the notes from the beginning has a nice rhythm. Interestingly, the contrast is like 2 guitars. I appreciate a more melodic sound from the chorus. Well done!.

NoSkill: (03:23 – 04:25)
NoSkill, my friend. I found a note that is not on the scale. I recommend that you verify. From the bluesy chorus apply a color (I like!). You give importance to sound, and those looking for close to a great tone. That's part of the maturation of the guitarist. I would change to less reverb and a longer delay so that it's so confusing. You must realize that what I say is a matter of taste. Make good straight and have good control of vibrato. Resolving the problem of the correct scale (which is just a note!), you did a good job. Well done.

Sollesnes: (04:29 – 05:34)
Good proposal in the beginning about melodies and rhythm. You made a good sound. You make some nice fast phrasing, very original. The change in the chorus sound changing positively the song (chorus tone as usage varies sometimes Lukather). In the chorus perform an ascending scale very difficult! You have very good typing and interesting musical ideas. The finish is very good too, with melody harmonization with other guitar. With your track, I had to fix the volume with the sound forge. Very good job.

Dexxter: (05:35 – 06:39)
Looking rhythmic phrases, something very important in a student. Well done. I provide more delay and reverb (a matter of taste). Make good bending and have a good vibrato. Very good finish and good Lick rockers (the style that used in some cases, Steve). Looking melody on the chorus, another plus. Good work mate.

Staffy: (06:40 – 07:44)
Staffy Very good job! You're an experienced guitarist. Dominates the sound of blues and also run some fast movements. You have a good control of vibrato and bending as any blues guitarist (that's why I insist to study the blues as a basic tool of the application of taste when you run a good one.). You have a good sound. You make beautiful melodies in the chorus and make a nice phrase up coming to the end.

Rated htr: (07:46 – 08:49)
Nice Sound Rated. Search melody’s in the beginning, important for a guitarist who moves forward in its level. The work you do in the chorus is interesting, original, with phrases legatos. When you return to the music of the verse, you realize interesting arguments differentiating of others. Well done. The tapping of the end is complicated. It's an interesting work. Well done.

TheKeplerConjecture: (08:54 – 09:56)
Run good arguments rhythmic with melodies and sometimes some nice licks. Your bending is good, it would delay and reverb for a longer sound. In the instrumental styles, is widely used implementation of delay and reverb, when the guitar comes to the first place. Nearing in the end of song, I realize that your arguments rhythmic and melodies are similar throughout the song. I suggest you investigate that. Play with the shift to the blues scale, or just do other things after the chorus. Good job!

Final Mix topic

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[Gabriel Leopardi]

Name: Frusciante Style Collaboration
Numbre of participants: 15

 Frusciante_Collaboration_Final_Mix.mp3 ( 8.98MB ) Number of downloads: 373


Hello GMC! This is the comments and final mix thread for the John Frusciante style collaboration. I want to say that I’m impressed of the level in this collaboration. The quality of the takes is fantastic. Every take has something to stand out and the whole mix is really cool to hear. I can say that we have a lot of tasty players at GMC!
If you haven’t participated please take your time to hear this final mix because you’ll find a lot of inspiring stuff on it!

So thanks to all the participants and congrats for your playing and creativity!

Here we start with the comments:

Adrian Figallo (00:02 – 00:41)
Amazing job Adrian! First I want to thank you for being part of my collaboration! It’s a honour to have your on it! Now talking about the take I can note that you have John’s style very incorporated in your playing! The notes chose are perfect at every moment and that the most important thing in Frusciante’s style. The execution is also very good and I love the feeling of your playing in this one. The tone sounds close to John and the reverb settings make the take fit perfect in the mix. Good job!

Berglmir (00:42 – 01:20)
Hi man! Your tone and playing and very in the style of the backing! I think that you nailed perfectly the idea of this collaboration. The beginning of your solo doesn’t sound like something that John would play in a solo but it sound very cool. It’s a funky idea played rhythmically perfectly. I like every note that you played and I love the fact than you never overplayed in the whole solo. I would only say that there are some little intonation problems in some bends. I like you sound since it sound very in the style.
Well done!

Dexxter (01:21 – 01:57)
Nice take and feeling! The first round of the backing you composed an amazing solo that could be part of any Californication song. The notes are just perfect at every moment and the bends are very expressive. I think that you loss the perfection in the middle of the solo (01:44). There is a note out there and some little timing issues at that point. In the end your solo turns perfect again. Your tone sound very cool for the style and with this backing.

Enpantheboy (01:58 – 02:37)
I like the feeling of your take. You sound really nice in the whole solo. The beginning is played perfect and sounds like a great variation of the original lesson. I like the lick that you repeat at 2:17 but its repetitions are a little out of tempo. Then the solo continues ok but I think that it would sound more interesting if you would play variations instead of repetitions of some licks. Your clean tone sound very warm and it’s perfect for the song.

Jafomatic (02:37 – 03:17)
The first idea of your solo is so great. That funky phrasing with delay at tempo sounds fantastic! Then the solo continues with a lot of amazing licks and ideas! I love every lick and phrase. The structure of the solo has been composed (or maybe improvised?) in a very effective way. The only thing that I note if that in some parts the delay makes the solo sound a bit confused. I’m not sure if this is because the original lick played is a bit out of tempo or if the delay time isn’t at the correct tempo. BTW I have listened many Frusciante and even Mars Volta’s solos that use this as and intentional effect.

JVM (03:17 – 03:53)
I’m impressed of you tone in this take! It’s sound like if Frusciante would record it! The tone reminds me to John’s solo albums. I want to know what you used to record this take! It’s such good that with just some cool bends you did a fantastic solo. However I want to add that the notes that chose for your bends are PERFECT. I also like how you used the silence as a part of your solo. This gives every idea a lot of more importance. I only have to congrats you because every aspect (playing, feel, tone, structure, composition) is excellent and this take show that you are a very creative player.


Kaznie (03:53 – 04:33)
You recorded a very good solo inspired that starts very inspired in the original lesson and then it evolves in other directions. Regarding you technique I think that the solo is played perfect and with the required vibrato to capture the “soul” of the style. The notes that chose sound very good excepting in some section of the second part. I’m basing only on my ear (that is how John composes his solos). I have the sensation that some notes are tensions that don’t first perfect with the chord played. This thing is very easy to work and you don’t need to study a lot of books of harmony to improve it. You have to detect those licks (example: at 04:16) and then try to sing which ones would be the nicer note for that moment in the song. Now talking about your tone I think that you should have tried with something warmer for this stuff. A warmer sound or even a clean sound would make this solo sound a much better! BTW in the overall you did a good job. Thanks for your take Kaz!

Keilnoth (04:33 – 05:12)
Hey man! Nice playing. You captured John’s tone and phrasing style in your take. I personally prefer the first part of your solo. It sounds better played and the ideas seem to be more connected. In the second part you have timing problems in some licks (05:00) but everything turns well again in the end of the solo. When I hear your solo I feel that it could be a fantastic solo with a little more work in the evolution of it. Its structure seems too linear in the whole solo and after hearing it I am still waiting something to happen. Do you understand what I mean? Regarding your technique I thing that the most important thing to work is your timing. And regarding the sound I must say that your tone is very good in this one. Thanks for your take.

No Skill (05:12 – 05:49)
Your take is Psychedelic! I’m amazed of the fact that you did something completely different to the original lesson and it still sound like Frusciante. Your tone is just perfect in this one! The amount of effect + the amp sound are so psychedelic and remind me to John’s solo album and also to The Mars Volta guitar sounds. This is not a coincidence since Frusciante usually appears as a guest in Mars Volta’s albums. The phrasing is very cool and very 70’s! I can feel some stoner vibes on it (Have you heard “Spirirual Beggars”??). I only can say that some licks are a (very little) out of tempo.
But your tone and phrasing made my day! Congrats for your take NoSkill!

Rated htr (05:49 – 06:27)
You nailed Californication style! Your take sounds as a nice variation of the original lesson. I like the notes and licks that you chose for every moment and I feel that it’s a very nice to hear solo. The evolution is very good and I think that the last funky lick is a very good choice for the ending. Your playing is very good and I don’t note any technical problem in your take. The only thing that I hear is some intonation problems (at 6:00) that seem to be a problem with the guitar calibration. Your tone is warm and clean as the one that John usually uses. So I only can say! Thank you and Good job!

Sensible Jones (06:27 – 07:05)
You have the most original tone in the whole collaboration and you still sound in style! I must say that your take is so expressive and I feel that your guitar is talking! She is saying something and that was the main idea of this collaboration! I’m sure that the effect similar to a wah wah gives it that characteristic of “talking guitar”. The phrasing sounds like something composed by John and the structure makes the solo very funny to hear. Your playing is perfect and has the expression required for the vibe of the song. I want to thank you for your take and ask you what your settings are for this one!

Siggum (07:05 – 07:43)
What a groove! Can’t stop listening to your take! I love your playing in this one! It’s so groovy! And that something very difficult to achieve in a ballad! The playing is so fluently and every lick that appear fits perfect with the previous and the next one. You composed a fantastic solo! I can hear a dialogue between the licks and this gives a uniform sense to the whole take. Your tone is very good and is clearly generated with your fingers (and pick). The technique is perfect and the timing is superb! You nailed John style and recorded of the best take in this collaboration! Great job my friend!

Skennington (07:43 – 08:22)
Hi Sken! I like how your take begins. It starts like a variation of the original lesson however I feel that then it keeps in the same way and nothing more interesting happen. I think that the overall is too linear and I’m sure that it’s because you played long note in most parts of the take. You repeated the same note values in the most of the part of your take and that makes the solo less interesting. By the way the notes that you chose sound very good over the chords and there are some interesting melodies. I like the tone that you used for your solo and your playing is generally very good. Thanks for your take Sken!

Toroso (08:22 – 09:00)
I like the stuff that you provided in this take! There are some interesting and amazing melodies on it. So I think that your creativity is very high! However I feel that your playing is a bit shy and insecure. You need to play the notes strongly and add some strong vibrato to sound confident. That’s the most important thing to work on your playing. Even the bends should sound stronger and more defined. If you’d improve this thing you could make you nice solo sound as a SUPERB solo. You don’t have to change the notes, you have to add feeling! Regarding your sound I like the tone that you set for the take and I think that it fits perfect with the backing.

Uncrediblehaak (09:00 – 09:48)
Ok, I reached to the end of the song and I found a beautiful take! I love your solo! It sounds so nice. That guitar is crying! I feel a very melancholic vibe on it. You recorded a take that hasn’t any similarity to the original lesson and it even sound very in the style of John Frusciante. Every note, every phrase, every silence, every bend is perfect! I want to stand out that you used the silences as a part of your solo and that’s a very important thing. Your playing and tone are very professional. I want to say thank you for sharing you music with us! Keep on rocking!


Final Mix & Comments Thread

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[Daniel Realpe]

Dreamy Ballad Odd Time Collaboration

Number of participants: 10

 FINAL_MIX_Dreamy_Ballad_Oddtime_Collaboration.mp3 ( 8.43MB ) Number of downloads: 375


Great takes overall! Thank you for participating, it was very fun to listen to your collabs. Here are some comments I wrote when listening to your takes. Off the top of my head.

- Jafomatic: (0:00-0:37)

I enjoyed your bends and slides. The two guitars create a nice effect when they start splitting.
Good job on using the whole stereo spectrum, it really stands out in the mix. The final lick is very expressive with the muting, good job. The tone you got is very sparkly and attacked, very bluesy, sounds good over the BT.

When I laid down the track in my DAW, it didn’t sync perfectly when matching the starting points, I had to move it by watching the start of the wave. Just a detail but worth mentioning.

- Keilnoth: (0:37-1:12)

I liked the turn you did when changing to the second part (in the Am7). The bend to reach the high B was in perfect tune, very expressive!
You seemed a little hesitant when the track comes back to the beginning. At the end the bends are slightly out of tune, careful with that.
The guitar feels a little small with the patch you are using, as if it was coming from a tweed. I don’t know if it is intentional but just so you know. Other amps and other EQ give a bigger sound. Maybe it’s too dark?

Overall I feel that you are a little hesitant. Hit the strings hard and bend them aggressively. At least one time before doing something mellow.

- NoSkill: (1:12-1:48)

You have a rounded melodic idea in your head and come back to it to reinstate it, that makes it easier for the listener to become familiar with the theme, good job!
Try making jumps on the Em scale too, not only up and down.
Don’t be too careful when thinking where the beat is, instead just listen to the BT with more attention and let your hand fall on the beat naturally. I say this because I feel that you are rushing a little bit. Also be more careful muting the strings, I can hear sometimes dirty intervals when two strings ring.

Maybe there’s a need for more brightness in your patch, and less distortion.

- Neurologi: (1:48-2:27)

Good job clarifying the phrases by pausing between them. The delay is set very precisely and gives the nice fugue effect. I like how it fades at the end.
The rhythm is a little off for instance on the third phrase, the starting is out of the pulse.
You used an Em scale, that gives the solo a totally different vibe than pentatonic, good to have as many tools you can use. One thing that might be useful is not always use it up and down but make jumps on the same scale, like the one interval I heard somewhere in there: B-E. There are plenty of lessons in GMC about that.

The tone mainly depends on how you hit the strings, I feel that you are being a little too careful. On the final fast run I can see the intention. You start off pretty good but half way it’s like notes take you by surprise. Plan the whole before you make it, this is what exercises are good for.

For the patch I think it might use some presence so it stands out on the mix. Maybe the delay is affecting some here so one thing I sometimes do is EQing the feedback of the delay so it sounds a lot darker that the original sound source and then they don’t get confused.

- Hammerhead: (2:27-3:02)

I liked how you started with a dissonant interval. Sounds pretty interesting to me. Then you open to an Em scale which “normalizes” the melody giving it a nice effect. The open string licks had a bizarre effect over the backing track in my opinion, good thing.
Loved how you slowed down on the ending part, very nicely done.

The tone used is quite bright, the wah exalts the highs even more, that’s probably one thing to take into consideration.
There’s an slight timing issue at the very end. It’s hard to tell what you wanted to do.

- Skennington: (3:02-3:39)

Your non-musical references were very effective to me. Very well put together, you really painted a scenario in my head!
The intro clean part sounds great with the backing, just perfect. There’s an slight off note on the last part on the lead solo.
The ending slowed phrase was very good to end the solo, rounded the idea very good.

Nice tones both clean and lead.

- Methodseeker: (3:39-4:14)

Props to you for taking risks! You have clear in your head how to sub-divide over this odd signature, good job! You have a good timing sense. Some of the dissonances gave an interesting twist to the idea.

Careful when using dissonances (Although this can be very relative). They have to be treated very carefully, meaning you have to resolve them pretty quickly and not place them on strong beats (This case the 1 - - 4 -). Some of the notes sounded too off. I heard you used the C# somewhere in there, I liked the colour that particular note added to the solo.

The tone you used is much better than first upload although it’s still too thin in my opinion. You could round it up a little more with some EQ and try using compression so that some of the attacks that peak don’t come out as loud and everything sounds more even.

- Maharzan: (4:14-4:49)

I liked the way you rounded an idea. It has a sense and a direction. Very good job on that. I loved how on the second part when the backing track comes back to the beginning you created kind of a climax, it really stands out and makes the solo very expressive.

There’s a slight intonation issue. Some notes seem a little out of tune, I think it’s because you got used to do small bends, it’s good to clarify clearly when you do bends and when the notes are still. Play with no bends just to practice.

The tone you used is a little dark. There’s probably too much reverb, that’ll clear it a little more.

- Dexxter: (4:49-5:22)

Great expressive solo, very good job. I liked the minor seconds sounding harmonically, those dissonances put there stood out.

At the end you sounded a little uncertain, many attacks of the notes were out of the beat, it’s ok when a few are but when many are off beat sounds unorganized.

Very nice lead tone!

- Daniel Realpe: (5:22-6:08)


Original thread can be found here

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[Ivan Milenkovic]

Smooth Latino Collab


Marek Rojewski

Rhythm: Good 16th note groupings in the first part of the solo. The second part had a similar structure but with less use of the 16th notes. In general, I think the phrase-by-phrase approach here turned out pretty good. The thing that I would possibly like to hear here is the opposite rhythm phrase using. What I mean is that you could insert 16th note sequences in the second part towards the end, so the solo has a better rhythmical build up. Related to that - the slower note passages that were used in the second part would fit pretty nicely in the first part as the development of the solo.
Phrasing: In the first part you used 2 pairs of call & answer phrases, and another 2 pairs after that. These phrases were pretty good, and although at the end of this part I get a feeling of slight repetition, I also remembered all the phrases as well, which is a good sign that they are catchy. Nice work with those. The second part needed to have some sort of a climax form, and the ending should carry on that climax to the very end. I think the second part didn't quite match up with the first one melodically. Although the similar phrase structure was used in the very end, the suggestion that I have for this part is to at least use higher notes to distinguish the climax and ending from the intro.
Technique: Good played in general, and little string noise. What I think you would benefit in this solo is better bending and vibrato control. Bendings and vibratos need to be precisely in pitch, and their speed also needs to be controlled even more.
Sound: Good tone, slightly buzzy and flat tho. Dynamics is probably narrowed down with the amount of overdrive used. The preset is cutting nicely tho. There are some occasional clicks and pops here and there, not sure what that is.



skennyngton

Rhythm: Good start with the 2 pairs of structured theme phrases. After that a section with longer notes, and the whole structure repeats once more time with slight alterations of rhythm. In general, I consider this idea for the rhythm phrases a very good one, it give a good contrast to different solo sections, and gives a whole solo a round, complete shape. Memorable structure it is. The thing that I didn't like that much is the ending, I think it can be handled a bit better, specially the last note. It is too short.
Phrasing: The phrases used in this solo are pretty interesting, and the transition between the pal muting bit and longer note bits are flowing nicely as well. You managed to connect them in a nice natural way. In general I don't see anything wrong with the note choice you made at all. All the notes are exactly where needed. What I can suggest for making this solo even better is possibly developing the second palm muting section so it plays a variation of the first section. The last section can also be played in different octave, or just transposed, so you have a higher pitched passage that resembles to the first one, but now it is a bit more developed.
Technique: The longer passages were pretty cool, nice sustain and tone control. The palm muting sections could use a bit more tone control and better playing. VIbrato could also use more work, but I think it is on a good level.
Sound: Smooth tone, but buzzy to some extent. The amount of space effect added is pretty cool.


sted:

Rhythm: there is definitely a strong blues influence in the way you do your rhythm in the licks. They tend to carry the swing feel a lot. This is positive thing to me, as the solo really got a nice dimension from it. The thing I can suggest tho, is to insert some more longer notes here and there, and sustain them to allow more expressiveness and "vocal" vibe. Positive thing is that you used pauses in a very good way, so the uniformity of swing(y) rhythmic phrases was neutralized a bit.
Phrases: Great melodic build up from the beginning to the end. The phrases were blended so nicely, and the notes are flowing from low to high during the solo, with a good climax towards the end. I think the only part that can benefit here a bit is the last couple of notes and the last note. It just doesn't seem like a really effective ending for me, compared to the rest of the solo which was professional sounding. So, better ending would do justice to this solo.
Technique: Everything was executed nicely with a nice dynamic sense. I love how you adjusted the picking so some phrases are accented and some aren't. However, not all the notes came out well, and vibrato could use better control. My advice here is more picking exercises to really go through various combinations of picking patterns when changing strings.
Sound: Twangy clean with vintage dark reverb - excellent biggrin.gif The thing that could be a bit better is cutting down the tail of a reverb so it doesn't act as a lo-mid padding. This isn't too important tho, but it can be when the sound range of the reverb is clashin with some other instrument (even gutiar), and it messes up the range. By EQing the reverb and adjusting the tale a bit (rarely the big tale is ever needed and audible in the mix anyway) it will turn out awesome.

NoSkill:

Rhythm: Good rhythmical structure, with longer phrases in the beginning and shorter towards the end. The solo finishes off nicely in terms of rhythm as well. The thing that I didn't quite felt right about, is the way you played longer passages. They were undefined on moments, and the notes didn't fall into their places within bars. The reason for this could be partially because of the heavy usage of delay and reverb effects, which blur the real notes in such a way that there was a probability for confusion when playing. Next time, I suggest you do the dry take first, examine the notes and see if they fall into place, then add space effects.
Phrasing: Excellent way to start the solo, with that nice theme, and than developing it as the take progresses. I think you generally did a great job in capturing a mellow vibe and using it throughout the solo. The thing that you could work more are those passages in the middle. They don't really have that strong function, specially because the notes are scattered in a strange way. Positive thing about them is that they do land on proper root notes tho.
Technique: Volume swells/fade ins were used nicely in this solo to give it a more of a vocal vibe, which is good. What I think you could use is better note separation and more equal dynamics in picking on those faster passages.
Sound: The thing that you tried to do with the sound is a very positive one, and I can feel what that was, but I believe you didn't quite managed to make it a reality. Overuse of space effect made a negative impression with me, because I think the overall playing was muddy and undefined. The purpose of delay and space isn't to make the guitar sound like keyboards, it is there to add space (make guitar less or more further away from the other instruments in the mix). If you wanted to make your guitar sound like some pad/vocals, I suggest you try to experiment with various filters, and lower down the attack value, which will cause the fade in effect. Then you can add space to make it blend with the general space placement of the "band" in the backing track.

Sollesness:


Rhythm: Interesting flamenco-like rhythm playing that really blends with the backing well. I think you managed to play some very cool rhythmic figures here and the faster passages were also a very cool touch. Regarding the structure, it is a bit confusing to me as a listener, because the way you go from slow to fast and back is a bit rushed and not precise. The slower passages were OK, with a bit too much rhythmic "freedom", that caused some parts to be a bit disbalanced with the backing drums. The faster ones were great, but again, there is tendency in your playing not to know where they will end. You are doing the runs properly, but when the time comes to stop, you are not really sure what note is that. Try to understand the proper note placement within bars when playing the run, and anticipate where it ends.
Phrasing: As I said, you used cool flamenco motives when building the solo melodies. I liek the way you played them, and I think everything was pretty good. One thing that I noticed is that you are having problems to finish off faster passages. I suggest you practice the same run with various landing points - this will enable you to use that run in various situations with no problems.
Technique: Very good picking technique is displayed in the take, but I think dynamics of the picking could be wider. It was mostly with one degree of pressure, and I think there are few places in the solo where you could apply less or more pick pressure. Another thing was muting - there were some places where the strings ringing is clearly audible, so make sure you have your hand on those bass strings while playing.
Sound: Sound was very good, nicely blended with the backing track, with just the right amount of reverb added. Three small things I noticed: 1. There were some audible overdub signs. There is nothing wrong with overdubbing, but when doing it, try to make it seamless. 2. There were some places where clipping occured. 3. one string was sliightly detuned.




Sensible Jones:


Rhythm: Great way to follow the backing, and really cool rhythmical phrases from beginning to an end. I like the way you follow the drum in a syncopated manner. The thing that I believe you could work more on is structuring the phrases in a more interesting way. There was some degree of uniformity while I listened this take, and the first part of the solo and second part of the solo each have their own same phrases that are repeated a bit, with too little alterations. I believe you can develop these phrases just a bit more, and insert some faster passage here and there, or a longer pause, to make it more interesting.
Phrasing: Awesome first intro lick. The way you developed phrases was really great, and I can spot some very nice emotion going on there. The phrases have a very soulful vibe and are catchy. Occaional use of harmonic minor was a cool touch here too. Thing that I believe would made it even better is less use of root notes, and more use of other strong notes when finishing those phrases. Try to concentrate on other strong notes in the future when practicing to acquire this skill.
Technique: Great hybrid picking technique made the solo stand out, because the tone created was unique. Strong snapped notes came out very good and added a degree of expression that is un-obrainable with the pick. What I think you can work more on here is the proper use of fingers to add just the right amount of popping, somewhere less, somewhere more, depending on the function.
Sound: The color of your guitar tone was very cool, smooth and jazzy sounding. Very nice. The thing that is the problem is the clipping. Make sure pop and strum the strings hard next time when checking the meters - sometimes these techniques create a much bigger amplitude. Another (smaller) problem is the use of long reverb tail. There isn't any real need for this. Better make is shorter so you don't clash some frequencies with it. It was quiet tho..

Daniel Realpe:

Rhythm: great start and continuing right away with faster rhythmical phrases that build up great towards the end. The phrases were played spot on, with a lot attention to details, and the way you play is a bit strange, but full of control and expression. I specially like the finishing lick where you landed dead on the end. This demonstrates in my opinion just how much control there is there.
Phrasing: Phrases were structurized in a very unusual but very systematic way. You connected the different licks in a great way, from beginning to an end. You know exactly where the notes are, and where you will land, and have immense skills to make it work. The thing that I think it was a bit strange is the way how melody and rhythm were connected together. To me it sounds like the melodies were slightly "detached" from the rhythm in a way that the phrases were constantly rushing/slowing down with no way for listener to predict the changes in any way.
Technique: Impressive display of array of techniques. You are no doubt great musician and player with lots of practice under the belt. Your technique is your strongest side no doubt, specially whammy use, which extensively used in the solo.
Sound: Great tone, cuts through the mix nicely and sounds very precise. The important part of the tone is in your fingers no doubt, and with this kind of a direct sound with low amounts of reverb and mid-focused tone, it is very hard to cover mistakes. You played every note properly and maintained control throughout, and it definitely enhanced already focused tone.



Animal:

Rhythm: nice flowing kind of rhythm work, with pauses and syncopation being the key element for maintaining the interest with the listener. The rhythm was a bit uniform, but different different way of how you used the pauses and note duration values from beginning to the end, created just the right degree of solution to the uniformity problem. The minimalistic approach blended in nicely, and all these components worked hand in hand to created a nice balanced take.
Phrasing: Very good sense for melody, with excellent call & response phrases throughout the solo. I specially liked the first part of the solo, and the phrases were developed really naturally there. Rhythm was well connected to the way you build melodies as well. I think the ending can be seen as something that could make the solo a bit better if changed. The way the solo ended was a bit sudden. The problem is in the last couple of bars in fact - there should be a proper build-up that is leading the the end in a bit more natural way.
Technique: In general, your picking is very good, and even. Better dynamics is what I would hope to hear in the future tho. Some phrases need less and some more pressure with the pick. This will create a more expressive playing. Another thing to work on is the vibrato - try to make it slow and wide (playing from the wrist).
Sound: Good tone, rounded and shiny, with just the right amount of lo mids so it gets jazzy. The thing that I didn't feel it was a good addition to this was bright long-tailed reverb. Try to make it a lot shorter, cause the big tail can in general only cause problems in the mix.


whitesnake:

Rhythm: Very nice rhythmical phrase to start your solo with, I think the main phrase you chose is a very good one, and accents the rhythm of the backing quite nicely. However, in terms of rhythm, there were hardly any development at all. All the rhythmical phrases that you used were almost the same, and besides one 16 note sequence phrase towards the end, all the phrases were pretty uniform in terms of note duration content. This can be a problem sometimes, because even in the melody is different, when the listener hears something repeated with the same rhythm several times, that same listener will tend to percieve it as the same thing.
Phrasing: your main theme here was excellent, and you did a call & responce approach, with several pairs of them lasting 2 bars or even 4 bars in the second part. The way you built your melodies was quite good, but I would say it was again a bit uniform, because of the frequent root landings in the end of the "response" phrases. Remember that landing note is very important, and even if you have different melodies all together, listener will tend to remember the last note most, so if you play lots of phrases differently, and land them on the same note, they will all tend to sound similar.
Technique: Good playing in general. Judging from what I heard here, I think you can possibly work more on your bending technique to make it more precise, and to get a good tone while bending. Also, some more work with the picking hand is needed, so you can play those 16th note sequences on the same comfort level as the rest of the take, which is very important because of the tone.
Sound: Sound was pretty good, nice smooth round tone, but with more spacial effects than needed. Try to lower down the reverb level, and cut the tail down short, because it is really not needed. Reverb shouldn't even be audible that much in the mix.

Toroso


Rhythm: Good slow-paced rhythmical phrases, mostly constructed out of quarter/eight note combinations. I like the way the rhyhtmical phrases are scattered, but I can suggest the use of some other note durations as well to escape uniformity. Learning only one 16th note passage, and using pauses can really help here, cause there are many ways to combine these simple elements to form even more interesting rhythmical structure. My advice is - focus on at least one 16 note passage.
Phrasing: Very good phrases, nicely played, and nicely developed. Your scale knowledge has improved. The areas where I think there could be more improvement are horizontal movements on the neck (bridgin positions together), and also, arpeggios. Arpeggios playing will help greatly to understand how to properly finish the phrases (on what notes to land)
Technique: Very nicely played take, with slight problems regarding bending technique. Bending should be more stronger and in pitch, so I advise more work on that.
Sound: The sound was very good and round, and I liked it. What I think could be better is the reverb. It is too long and it is making the sound a bit muddy. Reverb should be very light and very discrete.

Kaznie

Rhythm: Great rhythmical figures throughout the solo. I think your solo can be divided rhythmically in 3 main sections. In the first one, there were lots of 16th notes, in the second section, you slowed down a bit, and inserted longer pauses, although 16th note sequencing is present here in short bursts. The last ending section has longer notes. In general I think this kind of a structure is very good, but I would try a bit more reversed approach so that the shorter note durations are positioned more towards the end of the solo, and in the beginning there is a nice slow leading into the story.
Phrasing: Great main theme that is nicely developed all the way to the end of the take. I think you utilized the minor scale excellent here, and really nailed the ending properly on the root. What I think could be better are some landing notes in some phrases, that didn't quite had the proper function. In some places you bended the note and that bended note was not the strong note so it gave an impression of unfinished thought. What I suggest is to try to learn the bended notes as well as fretting notes, so you can use them better.
Technique: Great use of legato techniques, and picking is good as well. There are some problems with string noise, and some of the bends could be more precise. The last bend could be better controlled.
Sound: You had a good idea for the sound, but too much overdrive made it a bit buzzy and undefined. For a lot smoother preset, try to lower down the gain a lot, and EQ the signal a bit so you remove the harsh top end sizzle. Space effects could be lowered down a bit as well.


Staffy:


Rhythm: Very good rhythmical phrases with notes that are nicely defined and on proper places. There is some sense of repetition with pairs of 16th notes that have pauses between them, but I think everything is fitted nicely. One thing that I noticed is that although passages have a good flow to them, there are some places where timing is a bit loose. I think a bit more precise picking would be very good. The first part of the solo was good in timing, but the second one a bit more loosier..
Phrasing: Great accurate phrasing techniques are displayed in this solo. I like the way you accented important notes and the way you used intervals and arpeggios to build your improvisation. Great sounding. The thing that I noticed as a listener is that some phrases were a bit glued into one another, specially the last arpeggios, although the faster legato line in the second part was a great pinnacle of the solo. So structurally, I can recommend a bit more fluidity in the way you form phrases, to make them a bit more natural in a way.
Technique: Great fluid playing, everything was on the spot, and I think the only thing I can recommend really, is to be careful when picking, so that the notes come tight in a bar where needed. This is specially important in the last part.
Sound: Great smooth tone that accents the dynamics quite nicely, and very well blended with the backing. Excellent work. Minor suggestion on the small amount of hum noise present in the beginning.


FINAL MIX:
https://www.guitarmasterclass.net/guitar_fo...st&id=19358


Funky Bluesy Collab


sted:

Rhythm: Very articulate rhythmical figures that really blend into each other nicely and maintain the flow. What I would like here tho is to here some kind of a build up, some rhythmic phrase dynamics. Use of more longer notes, and possibly some more pauses (although ones that are there are doing the job). You had good sense for rhythm on this one, I think now it's time to tame that sense, so you make a more structured rhythmic take. Simple example would be : intro - slower, outro - faster.
Phrasing: Great phrasing, good note choice in whole solo in general. I can see you practiced some pentatonics, you really nailed those faster pentatonic passages down. The thin that could be a bit better is the ending, it has to be more effective. Similar to rhythm, you kinda jumped right on the climax of the solo in the beginning, so the structure as a whole was a bit unbalanced.
Techniques: From what I heard in previous collabs, your technique has drastically improved. You're playing is now faster, better and more articulate, and you nail those notes down to the money. I'm very glad because of this, and I recommend that you keep practicing those bends and vibratos a bit, they can mean a lot. Also try to incorporate some more longer vibrating notes, it will "water down" the faster bits nicely.
Sound: Very good tone, distortion was quite good, buzzy a bit, but veeeery little. It was more smooth than buzy. The thing that bothered me is the reverb - too big tail. Try cutting it short, no need for that much reverb in general. A LOT less reverb, and if you want to make it audible, increase the level slightly, or just EQ it so it pops out somewhere in the mix where there is room.


Quibanez:


Rhythm: Great rhythmical phrasing throughout the solo. You have a great ability for syncopating the rhythm, more specifically holding the beat down and taming it with those long bends. This is very important to escape uniformity, and I think you really made a good progress in that field. One thing that I personally didn't quite liked as a listener is the fact that faster sequences were a bit scattered without strict note separation within a bar. I understand that faster sequences are something that doesn't have to be strictly in bar, but if you listen to great players, you will see that no matter how fast they play, notes will always be spot on rhythmically, and every note has this ability. If it doesn't this is done on purpose, so I suggest is just fine tuning the 16th and 16th note triplet runs a bit more.
Phrasing: Great punchy intro to the solo and good development throughout. Some great stock blues licks in there, but very nicely blended throughout the take. This is the proof of some mileage in blues jamming or natural talent for making a fluid solo. The thing that could be a bit better is possibly development in the second part of the solo. The structure here seems to get a bit loosy and uniform. I think you could also do even more effective ending with some nice long high bends for example. Just a suggestion for the ending tho. Structure needs a bit more development, so I suggest you focus more on the V-IV-I part of the blues progression. This kind of move is causing some issues I believe in this take.
Technique: Well played with a nice degree of dynamics in certain parts. I think in general your playing is solid and nothing stands out in a negative way. I can possibly suggest to focus more on those faster passages, and to really get those bends and vibratos fast and articulate.
Sound: Good clean sound that enables dynamics to be expressed via your playing. The tone is bit thin and cold, but this can be solved easily. In general it has a nice twang to it and sounds cool. The reverb is a bit box-like and shallow, sounds like a small room reverb that is unpleasant to hear in general, specially on headphones. What I suggest is inserting more deeper reverb with bigger feedback time value.


Berglmir:

Rhythm: Good rhythmic structure throughout the solo. I think the overall balance was achieved in this take, but I also thing phrases could be connected in a bit more natural way. I can recommend possibly the use of more longer notes on occasions, and use of syncopation here. Timing was in general good, but I think more precise playing could also be implemented. When doing those fast speedpicking patters, I recommend more control and putting every note into place for more effective results.
Phrasing: Good use of pentatonic scale and blues scale. In general all the phrases used were very good. The thing that could be a bit better is the accenting of the chords. Although everything was sounding very nice and in tune, I think you could build a bit more natural melody by using strong notes of each chord when they come into play. This would enhance the connection with the backing. When I take away the backing it is a bit hard for me to determine what was the music over what you played, which is very important.
Technique: Overall everything was played very nicely and precisely. There are couple of techniques that could use some fine tuning. Bending could be more in pitch, vibrato more wider and slower, and speedpicking more accurate.
Sound: The sound could be better. It lacked dynamics, but also lacked drive as well. The tone was phase shifted in unnatural digital way, and although it was heard very nicely, I think you should investigate more to find a bit more natural tone with more sustain. The tone wasn't harsh and had good space which was positive.

Rated_Htr

Rhythm: The timing was good, and the way you blended rhythm with the backing was good, but I must say the take was quite uniform in structure. The first part was full of long notes that didn't quite round up as a whole, and in the second part there were repetitive licks that didnt' quite have function in relation to the longer notes as well. I think more use of various note durations, and better structuring would do the trick.
Phrasing: Phrases used were good, and there were some nice call & response pairs during the whole take. I really liked the melody on the last couple of phrases. The thing I noticed is that you land phrases too much on the root, which adds to the uniformity of the improvisation, and makes all phrases sound similar, specially the longer ones. I suggest you analyze the chords, and start applying other important notes on the landing spots as well.
Technique: Vibrato was quite nicely controlled, wide and precise and on the right places. Bending was accurate as well, but I think yoru bending vibrato needs just a bit more fine tuning. In general everything was played good, and except from some string noise here and there your playing is great.
Sound: Good sound, a bit phasey sounding because of the digital modeling, and slightly buzzy, but it was nice and smooth. Amount of delay and reverb was too much, try cutting down a bit, to add a bit of warmth and "in-face"

FINAL MIX:
https://www.guitarmasterclass.net/guitar_fo...st&id=19359

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[Daniel Realpe]

80s Metal Riff Collaboration

 80s_Metal_riff_Collaboration_Final_Mix.mp3 ( 11.69MB ) Number of downloads: 306


Number of participants: 10

Amazing takes everyone! Thank you very much for being part of it. Here are some comments I wrote for your individual takes:

- Chris Evans: (0:00 – 0:50)

Metal as it can get!! Nailed in the head, smile.gif
Harmony works great! It’s interesting to see that the sound wave in your take looks small but sounds very loud. You probed that loudness doesn’t depend on volume many times, but EQ and amp choice.
The bass was not included on the isolated track.
Thank you for participating!

- Skennington: (0:50 - 1:39)

Nice take! You intuitively found the right harmony. I know there are not many options when you have a lead on top. I guess that’s why they call it lead. smile.gif
I liked the variation you did at the end using the 6th step of the minor scale, very metal!
Careful with your timing at the end. Also there was a sudden stop when coming back to the main riff, that makes the riff sound somewhat insecure. Tone sounds big and full.
Thank you for participating!

- Enforcer: (1:39 - 2:28)

You found another harmony for the “bridge” part! I hadn’t thought about that one, and also at the beginning you managed to throw a C there nicely!
The harmonized guitars sound big and full, good choice for the mix in my opinion. Nice tone for riffing!
You nailed the metal man! Great job! Thank you for the upload!

- Rated Htr: (2:28 - 3:18)

You added a lead on top! Props to you for that effort! I liked when the harmonized come in, go very well with the keys. They are a little loud in the mix though, the “rule” is, the more guitars the lower the volume they need to have.
There are some notes that don’t work over the BT, like the D# and the D on the bridge part.
Your tone is very 80’ish which is great for this particular genre,
Nice job!

- NoSkill: (3:18 - 4:11)

Flangered riffing! Nice! Main riff was pretty cool! Metal!
Bridge doesn’t work in my opinion. You can use a C there. Or G, there are really not many options.
Loved the octaves when coming back, nice take! Thank you for the upload.

- Jafomatic: (4:11 - 5:05)

More of a death metal approach in my opinion, nice!
The bridge part is not too clear. I noticed you used syncopation but the timing is a little off on that part. The harmony you utilized seems too work but it’s not clear. What I do and many bands do too is to pan two guitars hard L and hard R even if they are doing the same thing. With little distortion, this makes it sound very clear.
The tone can be a little fuzzy inside the mix, EQ could solve this quickly, more mids maybe, less dist.
Great take! Thank you for participating!

- Neurologi: (5:05 - 5:54)

Very interesting take! You start off with regular metal a nice chord progression that works. On the bridge there are some chords that sound really cool and interesting, but probably when the first one appears it doesn’t establish a clear harmonic background, well but that’s my perception.
At the end you opened up nicely the initial chord progression with harmony, it really gives a nice effect.
Your tone could be more open, it still sounds like it’s coming from a small amp. It lacks some highs for this type of riffing. Great take! Thank you for being part of it!

- Dexxter: (5:54 - 6:44)

Nice dist! Very maiden, you nailed it man. Little details here and there really gave life to the riff. For instance the doubled guitar an octave higher !
Thank you for participating!

- Hammerhead: (6:44 - 7:33)

Props for you for developing an idea in your head and shape it like a true metal riff!
The notes you chose are part of a scale different from the scale on the lead keyboards, so that makes it sound off. I think you chose Dm while the keys are in Em, there’s a big conflict there.
You panned the guitar to the right. If you are using only one guitar it’s better to leave in the center.
The ending is actually faded out, careful with that.
Thank you for participating and I hope you are feeling better smile.gif

- Daniel Realpe (7:33 - 8:30)

It wasn't an easy riff to write for me. It took some time the bridge part. Let's experiment with other collaborations like this in the future!

Original topic can be found here

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[Jonathan Burgos]

Hello friends! This is the final mix and comments thread for the “Hard Rock melodic soling in Am” Collaboration. Sorry for the delay friends. I had the luck of getting sick a few days but now I feel better. Here we give the results of the collaboration. This was an interesting job because the collab is divided into two groups: Those with more distorted sounds with notes faster and those with a little sound cleaner with more rhythmic notes, two ideas interesting and useful to combine them.
I'm glad to see that my recommendations have been implemented to their new works.
I recommended to learn from the outcomes and ideas of their partners.
All jobs have been good (thanks god, laugh.gif )
Merry Christmas to all and happy holidays. I wish you a super 2010 for all!
Now friends, download the file and listen to the work. Enjoy it. biggrin.gif

These are the 10 participants:

Rated – Hammerhead – Kaznie – James T – Jafomatic – Staffy – Berglmir – Uncleskillet – Alex Lewis – Nimrandir -

Comments:

Rated: (0:03 – 00:58)

You have an interesting tone on your guitar with good gain, body and delay, I really like it. You make a combination of slow with powerful phrases associated with the best style "Joe Satriani". You have control over vibrato to. The only thing I recommend is that more work on the control of bending. If I can listen correctly you have the first string out of key or your strings are old, you don´t have a problem with your technique of bending. I recommend work in this: vibrato on bending. You've done a great job, well done!

Hammerhead: (01:02 – 02:02)

You made an interesting proposal, different from most: More melody with an interesting sound, more clean. You create melodies in the beginning, is a good proposal. We did some slides. To me this is very important. If you listen closely, I apply it in all my songs because it gives the song a different sound and phrasing. well done. I advise you to work more on different proposals in the same solo, apply some bending, a sentence that surprised at the right time. I do not mean that half of the lesson are all quick notes, I refer to it at the right time. You've done a good job of just proposing another idea differentiate of others. well done!

Kaznie: (02:05 – 02:57)

Kazni, I really like your vibrato. That is a sign of professionalism, my friend. The sound is great but I must say I can see a bit of untidiness at times. Maybe if you subtract a bit of profit, you'd have better control of the guitar and you would continue a sustain. Perform rapid phrases at times! well done! Used only in the right time, to surprise. Good job my friend!

James T: (03:06 – 03:56)

James, I can see you have a modern influence and bluesy (like me). The phrasings you make are very good!. You have good vibrato and good management of bending. Good job James! Besides, your solo I found it so personal , I saw clearly your style. I recommend researching a little the sound of recording (high frequencies (-) and bass or body (+) mainly. Good job.

Jafomatic: (04:05 – 04:57)

Jafomatic! I really like your sound! very interesting. The "pan delay" is a nice tool to add in their solos (I use it too much and Guthrie Govan too). Although I use it a bit slower (400/500 ms, so that the notes are clearer). Good rhythm, good vibrato and good control of bending. You've done a good job. Well done my friend!

Staffy: (05:04 – 05:57)

Staffy, man of bluesy soul (Like me). Good vibrato, good phrasing, good control of the bending. And at the right time, execute good licks. What more can I say? Well done my friend! I recommend investigating the sound of your guitar on the recordings (and I see you have the beautiful V-99, the issue with this type of multi-effects like that they are hard to find a really sound what one wants, but you find at the end). Well done!

Berglmir: (06:06 – 06:59)

Berglmir, manages quite well your bending. The ideas when done the solos, are good. I like the phrases you used in the lesson. The sound is good too. Well done! I recommend you work on in the controlling vibrato. It's too fast, almost at tremolo. Anyway, you've done good work buddy!

Unclaskillet: (07:04 – 07:57)

Unclaskillet, you take the ideas of the original lesson you've learned to use. well done! The sound I really like, the phrases too. The bending have a lot of feeling and I must admit that's what I liked most about your job, besides, you're the only one who has used it. The vibrato is also good. You've done a very good job! Well done my friend!

Alex Lewis: (08:06 – 09:00)

Alex, I really like the melody's you've added and rhythmic figures in the beginning! very good!. Will give you some advice but keep in mind that you have much potential and already have a good command of the instrument and cool musical ideas:
- You could work for sound of recording to reach a level more pro: Of course I have in mind that this depends on many things, such as the instrument, effects, money, etc., (I mean what is within your reach)
- Find an optimal vibrato: Your vibrato is too fast, it looks like a tremolo.
You did a great job

Nimrandir: (09:06 – 09:59)

Nimraid, have done an excellent job my friend. The sound is great, the phrases are very pretty , the control of the bending and vibrato is perfect. From the first second, I realized your love for the neo-classical guitarists, the vibrato was the first demonstration. You have much potential buddy. The only thing I can recommend, and most difficult for a guitarist with the same influences as you, controlling the running speed quick notes at the right time. It is very common for that style guitarists get bored at some point because it all sounds very similar all the time. You has differentiated them. Excellent work.

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[Daniel Realpe]

Ritmo Latino Collaboration

Number of participants: 2

Hi guys and gals!

This is the final mix for the Ritmo Latino collaboration. This was an exclusive collab for Adrian and me , but it was very fun!

 Ritmo_Latino_collaboration_FINAL_MIX.mp3 ( 1.65MB ) Number of downloads: 217


Here's my comments:

- Adrian Figallo: (0:00-0:35)

Great take Adrian! You have some very tasty licks here that go very good along with the latin track. I feel that you went with a very Santana influenced type of phrasing which fits in very well. The last runs upwards sounds with lots of attitude! Thanks for participating!

- Daniel Realpe (0:35-1:12)

Original thread

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This post has been edited by Daniel Realpe: Jan 6 2010, 11:25 PM

[Daniel Realpe]

Classical Style Collaboration

No. of participants: 7

 Classical_Collab_FINAL_MIX.mp3 ( 7.52MB ) Number of downloads: 180


Original Thread

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[Santiago Diaz Ga...]

Ballad composition collaboration

Nº of participants 4

 ballad_composition_final_mix.mp3 ( 6.05MB ) Number of downloads: 183


Kyldee: Beautiful melody and generally, very good job. Talking about composition, the only thing that I think you missed is a little bit of explotion on the B part or the chorus. The sensation that I feel with this is that is a good melody, but it needs a change respecting part A. Besides this, I think that it’s still being a phenomenal work. Congrats!

Rated htr: Very good job, very good combination of melodies in both parts. You perfectly catched what I meant when explaining what I wanted you to do. What you made is a real composition, not only a solo on a balad. Technically, I would suggest you to pay more attention on the bendings. The detail is minimum, but in some runs, it lacks a bit of tune. Congratulations for your work!

Staffy: Very nice idea adding some acoustic lines to start, but I think you missed a little bit of “flight” in the chorus (maybe it could be nice to rise up a little bit the volume of the electric guitar over-recorded). Melodically, the idea is good, but for a composition, you have to accurate a little bit more the note durations, so it will sound more leveled. Apart from this, the idea is perfect, and with a little more of work on it, it could be a great song.

Sensible Jones: Beatiful melody and very good work in both parts. Through all the last collaborations, I noted a huge develop on your playing, and that makes me very very happy. The only things you should correct are little delays on the tempo, but they are very little. I like all to be perfect. Congratulations!!


 ballad_composition_final_mix.mp3 ( 6.05MB ) Number of downloads: 183

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[Emir Hot]

Collaboration - Combine Licks Into A Modern Rock Solo,
Final Mix And Comments

Jafomatic – 00:00 – 00:43
Great phrasing in this one. Very tasteful rock licks with enough breaks in between. The sound is also very nice plus the addition with staccato playing that gave it very rocky feel. There were some small timing issues in your licks but overall I like this take a lot. Make sure you play them as tight as possible. Just to remind you about exporting the track. We've already had a conversation about it in the chat room. Always import the track back in your DAW or open in some sound editing software to make sure that the track is mono, enough bitrate (256 is good for this) and the signal which should be around -6db. You muted one channel completely so if your sound had a bit of a definition on the other one (L or R) then we lost that bit. Recording and exporting in mono will always work but do check it after you export. Good work with this take.

JamesT – 00:43 – 01:22
Good concept James. It's a pretty decent take but most of the runs weren't precise. You opened with an interesting lick but then you unexpectedly stopped for like 2-3 seconds. That bit didn't really fit at all. Sounded like you didn't know what to play Your legato technique needs a bit more work. Pull offs should be stronger. This affects your timing which wasn't very precise throughout the whole take. The last long lick was sloppy. That's a very common rock lick and it only works if it's played tight. Also the last bend was out of tune. You were close to a great take with your ideas but only if everything was executed properly. I've seen many of your takes on GMC forum and you're a very talented guitarist. To be honest I did expect a bit more from you in this one but we'll leave it for the next time. Thanks for collaborating

Maharzan - 01:23 – 02:01
This is a nice modal approach when improvising with licks. I was happy to hear that you were following all those advices from MTP or at least sounds like that. There were some timing issues but nothing that dangerous. I really liked the entering to D minor chord. Even before that you started with some great phrasing and really opened the new kind of atmosphere from D minor until the end. Those are very interesting ideas with small bends and short breaks. Just the last scale shouldn’t really last that long. I thought you would stop on my last Am chord. You went all the way and cut the last note like with scissors I said before that we shouldn’t interfere with the next take. That’s why I left that last chord longer so you have time to land on your last note nicely. You sent me the clean guitar to mix I said no effects but that doesn’t apply to the distortion. I meant delays/reverbs... You have to find a good distortion so I can mix it. I used your distorted sound which had effects on it as the clean guitar doesn’t help me. Anyway, lot of nice phrases in this one. Well done.

Marek Rojewski - 02:02 – 02:41
This take has many interesting rock techniques but played very dirty. The first part (berofe D minor chord) sounded much better than the second one. Some parts reminded me of Ritchie Blackmore which of course I like In the second part you had many out of tune notes with a very nervous vibrato. You should really work on the vibrato. You need it especially in the strong rock phrasing. The next thing that you can improve is your sound. This sounds like from some kind of tight tunnel and also has some strange chorus effect or it might be just my impression. It’s just somehow too aggressive. A couple of the last long notes were way out of tune and dirty played. Those really didn’t fit in your solo structure. Some squeaky sound which was really a shock The very last lick should be played with hammer on and pull off. You picked it all but very dirty. I think I know what you wanted to play but picking is not the way to go for that one. I liked your tapping sections and some other ideas but you really need to clean up most of it. Thanks for the take.

NoSkill - 02:41 – 03:20
This take introduces some very common rock pentatonic licks. I said in my introduction post that you can feel free to use A minor pentatonic. That always works if you’re struggling with modes. There were some very common licks with bends but unfortunately hardly any of the bends was in tune. The very last note was really dirty. You should have cleaned that one up The sound was too much in some middle frequencies. I applied 2 EQs to try to warm it up a bit. The very beginning (opening pentatonic staccato phrase) strangely clipped into peak with a huge bass frequency. You can even tell by looking in the graphical view of the take. I had to draw the volume line there in the mix to kill that part like for 10db down. Warmer and more defined sound would sound better with your licks but overall this was still acceptable. To be honest I would have been pleased to hear at least 1 or 2 licks that were not pure A minor pentatonic but never mind, you can go for more spicy stuff next time. Thanks for finding time to collaborate

Rlejr - 03:20 – 03:59
This take differs from the others because of the clean sound. I said we need a nice overdriven sound but I'll forgive you here because your solo sounded great. Full of nice lines and rock licks. The opening line was really great and also some other ones. Now let me tell you about the recording technique. Not sure if you read my introduction post completely but I said that you shouldn’t use effects or if you have to then do not overdo it as I want to have some room for mixing. In this case I couldn’t touch anything as you have 10 tons of reverb and delay in your sound. There is no way for me to remove it and find a nice place for your take in the mix. This way it sounds like it floats over the backing and most of your notes lose definition because of too much effects applied. You can mix one take yourself with effects so I can hear what you want to achieve then send the solo take dry so I can try to recreate it. Remember this tip next time, that’s how everyone records and make the engineer’s life easier Thanks for the take I really liked the playing in this one.

ruben_mcn - 04:00 – 04:38
This take has some nice lines but played too sloppy. I am sure you can hear all those so I hope you know what you have to work on. These are some that I noticed. The very opening phrase with long notes had a very inconsistent or no vibrato at all. So that’s one thing that you really need to improve in order to sound much stronger. Every rock guitarist has to have a strong vibrato. That gives about 30% or more of your playing impression. The other thing is your bends which are not really in tune. The sound is over distorted so when you go for faster runs I can’t really hear all of it. This is especially case when you play on the 4th, 5th and the 6th string. There is also too much bass in the sound. I am not sure what you’re using but if it’s a POD or some kind of amp modelling software then find some warmer distortion which has a better definition. When you hit the whole barre chord over all 6 strings you should still be able to recognise all of the notes individually. When you find an overdriven sound like that then you should be ok. The take itself wasn’t bad. Some cool rock licks and lines in there. Just try to polish all these things and you’ll sound much better.

Sensible Jones - 04:39 – 05:18
Another clean sound but this time pure David Gilmour I even heard a part of the solo from "Another Brick in the Wall" That was a surprise but it did fit great into this backing. Maybe just a bit of overdrive would be nice. Even Gilmour plays that solo with overdrive nowadays. You have really good sense for making a solo which is not overplayed. Short breaks between phrases make it sound professional and nicely structured. That was a very positive thing to notice. I’ve always liked those licks in 6ths intervals like the very last one. They always sound great. Your vibrato is also very nice in all the licks. Just enough amount of it. Actually I didn’t find anything that serious to negatively criticise. Nice solo, full of tasteful licks and great structure. The only thing that you didn’t do was the mono track which I always repeat but never mind. Great work.

Staffay - 05:18 – end
Nice take Staffy. We all know that you’re experienced player and I’ve always enjoyed your uploads and youtube videos. We can call you rock/blues father at GMC Your take had some very cool pentatonic licks. I like when you stop and make a short rest between phrases. I have to say that some phrases were not clean but nearly there. The lick on 5:28 was dirty. That lick is a very common pentatonic lick and it shouldn’t be a problem for you to play it tight. Another one was at 5:41. You started really strong and powerful but you nearly lost it towards the end. I guess you just need a bit more strength when playing faster runs. The ending arpeggios were also very dirty but I know that the shred is not really your safe territory even though I liked the idea Overall very nicely structured take played with a nice rock sound. Thanks

ORIGINAL THREAD WITH THE MIX

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[Ivan Milenkovic]

Classic Rock COllaboration

Hammehead:

Rhythm: By listening to your take as a whole, I think you managed to create some interesting moments in terms of rhythmical phrasing, there are peaks and lows, with longer notes, and faster notes, and somehow it all fits in. On the other hand, in the whole take there is evident lack of timing, and this may be your biggest problem as a player. You must work on your timing to make it as precise as possible. Almost all the notes in this take didn't match up with the drums properly, and there are places where the notes are very much outside of the beat completely. You should be able to play the notes with a good understandment of where the notes will drop inside a bar.
Phrasing: You phrasing skills are good, and build up is very nice. There is a start, climax and good ending in this solo, and I like the way you transferred into higher octave in the second part. However, you didn't do very much on accenting the strong notes properly, or creating a melody or main theme, or anything catchy that will stand out in this solo. When I listen to solo on it's own I cannot hear any good melody, or structure, although the build up is there, you haven't really connected the solo with the chords in the backing. I advise more scale learning, learning diatonic scale and modes, and chords inside those scales, so you understand better how to form melodies.
Technique: Your technique is decent, and you played all the stuff nicely. You have major problem with muting techniques, lot of the noise comes from not being able to mute the strings that are not suppose to ring out. Other problem is not having proper control over the pick, so some notes are heard less loud, some more loud. This is OK for dynamics, but here it is happening randomly.
Sound: Since you told me to give you straight answers, the tone here is not good. It has buzzines, lack of mids (which prevents the guitar being heard in the mix), and has tons of unnecessary delay with very big feedback and reverb too. If you plan to use delay on this kind of track, bare in mind that feedback should be maximum 3 repeats (that is often too much as well), and level of it should be very low. Delay and reverb should also be put on separate effects track, so you can EQ then so they come out of the mix. This is the way delay is suppose to be heard, not by increasing level and feedback.

Marek Rojewski:


Rhythm: Great rhythmic structure in this solo. All the important elements are there, and there is a very cool progression towards the end of the solo. I think the playing went very good here, and the only thing I noticed is that the 16th note ascending patterns had some very small timing problems here and there. This could be the problem with different positions used, so it may be wise to rehearse all the positions equally well (some are great, 1 or 2 were not as perfect, but still solid). The very last bit was a nice finish too.
Phrasing: The phrasing in the first part was very good with cool call&response phrase pairs. In the second part there is a build up using pentatonic scale, and that went well too. The last bit was solid as well. My impression as a listener was that the first part could have better connection with the 16th notes. Possible an phrasing effect could be inserted between like a big slide or pick scratching over the strings. Another suggestion may be the use of similar notes in the end of the first part and the beginning of the 16th note part, this would create a more balanced melodic line. As for the finish it was good and effective, but I have the feeling there is one or two notes that are not needed.
Technique: In general, the take was nicely played with solid picking bending and vibrato use. When listening the guitar track I could notice that vibrato is well played, and you are trying to sync it with the tempo as well. However, more control and wider aggressive vibrato would be better. I suggest you focus more on making the vibrato wider. The picking was mostly OK, but as I said before, in the 16th part, you had some difficulties with certain positions. You could spend some time with metronome on these since they are pretty cool, and if you really nail them perfectly they are nice addition to your style whatever you play.
Sound: The guitar track had enough distortion, and perhaps a bit too much as well, cause signal dynamics was restrained. Also, the additional use of overdrive created buzzy character in the sound. EQ could be better for a lead guitar track, and accenting the mids and cutting down the lows bellow 100Hz is what I normally recommend. Another reason for the track being lost in the mix is overuse of reverb. It is too long and too dark so it kills definition and colors the entire track. Try to cut the reverb track separately and focus the sound to one particular sound range, so you don't clash with other instruments in the track. Cutting down the tail would be good as well, cause you use big depth reverberation.

Velvet Roger:

Rhythm: Well played and well structure solo in the first part, but in the second part the structure is a bit lost and the timing goes less good relative to the first part. By watching your video I can see that you have good timing, but the timing issues are caused most probably from both hands being a bit out of sync when playing shorter note passages, and the slow movement by your fretting hand when doing legato techniques. Remember, those slides should be tight and precise as the lightning.
Phrasing: The whole solo has a very nice structure with melodic passages that blend into one another very naturally, I must say I liked the way you build the solo, and then descended down to the root to finish it off, very nice. There are couple of things here that could be better of course. I think the main problem of the whole solo was overuse of notes. You could say what you wanted with less notes than you actually used, some of them didn't carry proper wight. It is always better to be more accurate with playing and accent the proper note right, than to perform several of them with less definition of rhythm and function in relation to the backing. Some degree of freedom is always cool, but here it is happening randomly. The second important thing is the ending. It could be more effective, and although I liked the way you did horizontal movement and descended to the original position, I think this descending move could be done a lot more effective, and with greater sense on where you will go after you come to that position. Again, more notes than needed here as well.
Technique: I like the array of techniques you used in this take, it shows you practice all kinds of different techniques. AP, sweep, arpeggio, scales, legato, bending, vibrato, all was used here to some extent, and this is very nice to see. I think all the things could use fine tuning in general, but bending was the best of them all, it was precise and in pitch. vibrato was good and well used but a bit shallow, gotta make it wider ASAP (since you use it very good). AP & sweep is good, but the picking hand is moving kinda lazy, and you should minimize the movements and control it better. As always, slow practice with metronome helps here. Scale knowledge is good, except I think your fretting hand would move better horizontally if you had a bit more understanding on the scale pattern on the bass notes.
Sound: The sound was well defined and cutting through the mix. There was a too much distortion here so the buzziness and lack of dynamics killed the tone quite a bit. The reason why guitar was so nicely heard is good EQ (although cutting low end would be nice), and because of proper (discrete) use of space FX.

Berglmir

Rhythm: Nicely played with a good sense for timing. The thing that bothered me the most here is the fact that you used too many 8th notes. During the whole take there are 8th notes, and although some of them are played in the shuffled manner, it still doesn't make up for the inevitable repetitive effect. The last faster sequence was note properly controlled and the notes are not defined well rhythmically. When practicing, try to practice everything using all kinds of different note durations, this will help to break out of the 8th notes a bit.
Phrasing: There are some cool phrases in this take, and they are mostly within the pentatonic scale. This itself is very nice, and structurally it all fits in very nicely, but the problem here is the connection of the solo guitar with rhythm guitar. As you know, rhythm guitar plays certain chords that contain certain notes, and for solo guitar it would be best to function within those changes in a proper manner. This is mainly done by gravitating towards those strong notes, and forming a melody that is revolving around those important chordal notes. You don't have to form the whole melody like this, but for starters it would be good to focus on the landing notes, and make the a bit more connected to the chords beneath.
Technique: Nicely played take with lots of artificial harmonics that complement the take in a very cool manner. Vibratos could be better controlled and better used, I think they were a bit too fast and nervous here. The speedpicking part in the end needs a lot more refinement, since the half of the notes came out undefined. It would be much better to use simple 8th triad run and snug the notes carefully within the bar so they lead to the root in a more defined way. Better muting would help as well since you had huge amounts of gain (and noise) present.
Sound: Sound is OK in this, and I like the use of wah, not too often I hear one on collads. However, I think you used too much distortion and the sound was fizzy with evident lack of dynamics.

Ruzz

Rhythm: Excellent rhythmical structure, with notes that are clearly developing as the solo progresses towards the end. All the notes were placed nicely within the bar, and had proper weight. The thing that I don't like is the fact that you used and accented too many notes here and there. For example you picked a lot of times one note several times while fretting it. It would be cool to just let it ring and create a little longer note duration at that point to break away from the usual rhythmical structure.
Phrasing: Great main theme in the beginning that is developing quite nicely. Very melodic and nicely made solo. What bothered me a bit is the use of the outside notes in some places. I think it doesn't sound very logical to use them. Also, the very ending has two same bended notes one after another, so a more effective leading into that bended note is needed to make it sound more fluid.
Technique: Very nicely played take with very good attention to tone control and muting. Very nice and clean. The only part you had some problems with is the 16th note part in the end which could come out more cleaner in my opinion.
Sound: Your sounds was very nice and smooth in this take, however I think you used too big reverb time, and it colored the tone quite a bit. Lowering down the reverb time (and level) will reduce the effect of reverb coloration of guitar tone.

ruben_mcn

Rhythm: Rhythmically the take was solid, with good attention to timing. Your timing was nice and accentuated most of the drum groove. The problem with your soloing here is the fact that you used too many 8th notes, and very similar patterns throughout the solo. This created a repetitive feeling for me as a listener, and I believe that the solo should have at least one "breakout" part where you play some triplets. I think 8th triplets would fit in nicely here, and it doesn't even have to be some very hard sequence, any will do the job, even 2-3 note one. The ending of the solo came out ineffective because you didn't finish when the backing ended, but instead continued to play the solo, trying to pull of a bluesy kind of a finishing that was a bit off with timing, and again using similar rhythmic pattern as before. Definitely have to create more contrast between different rhythmical parts within the solo, by altering note duration use.
Phrasing: Very similar observation comes for the melodic aspect of your playing. The phrases all sounded look-alike. Although there were some nice licks involved, I believe that you could pay more attention on the strong notes of the chords in the backing and accent them properly as the chord progression is moving. This would mean a lot to your playing because the solo would have more connection with the backing. If you take away the backing, you can hardly understand why you play the notes you play and what is the progression, so this is why it is important to accent the chord notes and understand how to connect with the music you play on top of. Learning chords and arpeggios will help a lot there.
Technique: Nicely played take. Although there isn't anything wrong specifically with it, by listening to your solo guitar track, I noticed that everything is played a bit sloppy/slow. Those notes and pickings has to be more tighter and with more precise execution, so in general I recommend more time with metronome on slow tempos, and building up gradually the speed.
Sound: The sound had way too much distortion, lots of buzzing and noise. If you cut down the distortion to at least half, on the EQ cut everything bellow 200Hz with a high pass filter, and cut above 5000Hz with low pass filter, and accent the mids just a bit, you will get much more defined tone.

JVM

Rhythm: Very cool rhythmic patterns in the first part and good development from slower to fast as the solo progresses towards the end. One thing that I must comment on is unprecise timing in the second part. It is good to try to play faster, but it would be even more effective to play all the phrases precisely within the bar. This adds that feel of well and effective played solo. With these fast phrases I recommend just playing these fast sequences with the metronome very slowly so you get the feel where the notes are in the bar. Then you can connect them together and form a great solo.
Phrasing: Great start with call & response phrases. Later on in the second part, the phrasing becomes non-structured on moments with no clear definition of notes played, and connection with the backing. The ending is good, and I can suggest finishing on octave higher, as most of the notes used in the second part were higher than the root played in the end.
Technique: Well played take. The notes in the second part could be a bit more defined, and you need to work on your muting technique as well to make it as tight as you can. In general, it is very good, and with some practice and understanding of timing of these notes and some additional muting, it would be excellent.
Sound: The overdrive ammount was good, but the tone color isn't. Although it doesn't buzz, it lacks top end very much, and it is muddy, not cutting well through the mix. I suggest cuting the bass bellow 100Hz with HP filter, and accenting the hi-mid-high region a bit. Lowering down the volume should be done too, because the take was clipping.

Jafo:

Rhythm: Very good and interesting view on the rhythm in this take. I like the staccato style in the first part, and the absence of it in the second part, nice idea. Everything was very good, but I must say your take would be even better if you kept the timing a bit more precise throughout. So in general, it's all well, but the timing needs some refinement. i would also like to hear some longer notes in this solo as well, to break the structure a bit.
Phrasing: Very nice use of pentatonic scale, and good rocking licks throughout the solo. Everything is in place, nicely connected with the backing, and tightly structured. Since you went on octave higher in the second part it sounded cool, but in the end I still got a small impression that some licks were repeated slightly more than needed. In addition to that, I didn't like the second phrase in the take was cuttoff sharply towards the end. I think in general the take was good, but it lacks fluidness here and there, probably because it was made from several parts which broke the connection a bit.
Technique: Nicely played, with good sense for muting. However, some phrases sounded a bit too much staccato-ish. Fluid playing is very important and in the pick must make fluid and minimal movements, with great attention on cutting down those micropauses between the notes while practicing.
Sound: The tone is good and punchy I like it. The crunchy tone has some buzz but it's small issue. The auto-pan effect was interesting, but slightly exaggerated. It made the guitar position a bit undefined in the mix for me from a listeners perspective.

Sensible Jones:

Rhythm: Very solid and straightforward playing. I like the whole take and timing is nice and balanced, but I think you could implement more diversity in terms of note durations that are being used. longer note here and there, and possibly some short but effective burst in the middle could make wonders and break out of the 8th routines found here. Even implementing longer triplets liek quarter or 8th ones would sound cool and refreshing.
Phrasing: Good use of pentatonic scale, and fluid movements throughout the take. The very last note was not that good choice IMO, and could be played more accurately. I general, I think it was played good, with good sense for note landings and structuring. My advice would be to try to use more diatonic pattern notes, to create richer melodic content, and to invest some time in practicing longer diagonal diatonic and pentatonic movements and arpeggios, it will help you greatly to increase the quality.
Technique: Well played, and nicely muted. During the take you had this lazy feel which I think wasn't really needed, but it turned out nicely, didn't bothered me in the end. I just think the feel could be more on or even forward instead of behind the beat. Bends were good, except the last one, but they were a bit lazy too, so I recommend making them more sharper and aggressive for that rock vibe.
Sound: The tone was cutting well through the mix, and it was in front of the backing nicely. I think the overdrive was the biggest issue here, it was fizzy and buzzy, and probably overdone. I think lowering the gain knob, and EQing a bit (removing low end completely) would sound very nicely.

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[Jonathan Burgos]

Hello friends! This is the final mix and comments thread for the “Hard Rock 80” Collaboration.
I recommended learning from the outcomes and ideas of their partners.
I just wish that enjoyed this collaboration has in this style, one of my favorites.

Now friends, download the file and listen to the work. Enjoy it. wink.gif

These are the 6 participants:

Kaznie – Miguez – Sensible Jones – Uncleskillet – Chris Evans - Noskill

Comments:

Kaznie: (0:04 – 1:28)

Kaznie, the sound what you have, I liked it. Your sustain and sounds are not saturated, it's a nice sound to solo sound. I recommend down a bit the treble; I've done with your work. You have a good control of the bending and vibrato, I really like. With regard to improvisation, I recommend you work short sentences, you recognize the notes to make small final sentences. I notice that you have knowledge of the scale and use it well, but you've confused in 2 notes at 01:03, but do not consider it a mistake or something similar. You made a good presentation. I hope my advice will help you. Well done Kaznie!

Miguez: (01:28 – 02:57)

Miguez, has made good sound for solos and I think you can improve it. I think you have good references and you're on the right track, my friend. The phrases with legatos, sliding, bending, are good resources you used. I've heard a few notes that are not in the harmony of the song. I recommend you review the scales on the guitar. An exercise that just made it up (at this moment in my head, hahaha) is to make short sentences and play around the fretboard in every possible place that allows you to scale. Will help you make the phrases for the end and giving different senses, highest and lowest of the guitar. Thanks for join in my collaboration, has done a good job.

Sensible Jones: (3:00 – 4:26)

Sensible Jones, has submitted a different proposal in your sound. A stereo chorus if I am correct. During the Riff predominates the blues scale, respecting the style. Well done. I would have executed all the notes of the blues scale for the Riff. In the first verse has made short phrases leaving silences, I like it. You've done good and different rhythmic movements, leaving the monotony. You have good movement in the bending rockers. I recommend working fast movements for sound more cleanly and work a little vibrato. Note that this is a very personal thing, does not mean that this wrong. Good job!

Uncleskillet: (4:44 – 5:40)

Uncleskillet, I really like your solo sound: clear, sustain and deep, with reverb. You have a nice vibrato, good bending, fast-moving clear, beautiful phrases and different Patters. Only find a single note out of the scale at 05:07. In the chorus, you want search the melody respecting the original lesson. Excellent work.

Chris Evans: (05:57 – 7:21)

Chris, you're a guitarist with many resources and a very powerful vibrato. Your bending is very good. Your sound is very good, but I've subtracted a little of treble. You can find and improvise phrases and you have great and fast moves. I would have added some delay and some reverb on the solo parts. Excellent work, partner.

Noskill: (7:25 – 8:51)

Noskill, has improved a lot your sound! I really like. I feel you've overcome and you have studied or those more motivated with your instrument from your last job. Good moves, very clear, fast at times. I'm proud of you and I am delighted that my lessons and tips to help you. I do not recommend anything; just keep doing what we're doing. Keep studying and playing guitar as always. Very good work!

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[Daniel Realpe]

Speed Metal Collaboration

Number of participants: 4

 Speed_metal_collab_FINAL_MIX.mp3 ( 4.18MB ) Number of downloads: 234


These are some comments on your takes guys, thanks for participating!

- Karl ss: 0:00 - 0:34

Nice harmony you did at the beginning! I think overall you created a speed metal solo that fits very well in the style. It’s very aggressive and loud!! The way it should be,
I would take care of the bending of the strings and always get them in tune because sometimes I can feel it’s outside of the scale a bit. And also some other notes are outside of the scale. Make sure you justify them very well!! Do not use them indiscrimatedly.
The guitar patch you chose to record fits nicely with the backing track and stands out in the mix. Very well chosen.

- Marek Rojewski: 0:34 - 1:08

You start off with very speedy lick and then move on to a pentatonic part. These elements are widely used in speed metal so they fit very well here. The tapping lick stands out on its own because it slows down the tempo a bit, at least it gives that impression.

I think it’s very cool that you make use of many techniques and not just stick to one, I would encourage you to keep on doing this. Stick to the drums as much as possible, there are some parts where your timing sounds a little off.

Also, you could more risks when playing the solo and not only stay in one area of the guitar.
The patch you used to record sounds ok but I think it’s a little too dark for the backing track although it stands out on its own.

- Zen: 1:08 - 1:42

Nice melodic intro, very singable. The pentatonic part has a nice direction as well, two phrases easily differentiated. Nice bends.
In the last part where you used the tapping, I feel like you could’ve thought of the notes a little more as you moved up the neck and create more surprise or anticipation.

There’s a great quote one teacher once told me: “Emotion in music comes from surprise”

The guitar sounds very good. It has a nice crisp not too dark yet it stands out in the mix. The delay gives it a nice big solo feel.

- Daniel Realpe: 1:42 - End

My take was pretty much improvised. I wanted to make something that sounded crazy and frenetic so I didn’t give it too much thought. You can hear that I made use of chromatic scale a lot and also some arpeggios as well. The whammy bar helps a lot when trying to sound crazy and very metal.

I used the pod x3 emulating a dual rectifier and a tube screamer.

Original Thread

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