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Posted by: Pedja Simovic Jun 3 2010, 09:22 PM

Hello Tom!

I am very glad you are starting MTP again and that you choose me as your instructor. I will do my best to fit your needs and requirements.
After reading your introduction thread couple of times I decided for 1st assignment to give you something very simple but yet very effective. I will require you to create couple of different practice plans with areas you think are important to work on. Check out your assignment bellow, I think you will enjoy working on it!

Assignment 1:
Creating a practice plan and choosing priorities

- First, I would like you to write at least 5 important things that you consider important about your guitar improvement. Those things could be as specific or as general as possible. For example, Theory and Harmony could also be specific as Harmonic minor or Melodic minor study, and for Chord vocabulary you could specify 4 part harmony...
- After you have made a list of your priorities, it is time to create practice plan!
- I would like you to create at least 2 different practice plans. Lets keep it realistic and make practice plan for 1 hour a day practice with another one thats 3 hours a day. Weekend and extra hours are not counted but you could add extra things on there as well!
- You could make this practice plan in word document or do it in excel which you could print and use in future.
- Idea of creating those practice plans is to create list of your priorities, be realistic about time frame you have every day to practice and then finally fill in all those areas with material required to fullfil those goals (thats where I come in to help you with that).

I will give you 6 days to create those two practice plans and list your priorities so 9th of June will be deadline for your 1st assignment!

Look forward hearing from you about this one

Pedja

Posted by: NoSkill Jun 3 2010, 09:28 PM

I'm on it! Thanks, Pedja!

Posted by: Pedja Simovic Jun 3 2010, 09:41 PM

Great Tom, look forward to the results!

Posted by: NoSkill Jun 8 2010, 06:37 PM

Posted by: Pedja Simovic Jun 9 2010, 03:36 PM

Fantastic work Tom!

I like how you approached this assignment. Everything that you put in your practice schedule was very realistic. I do however have some suggestions that you could perhaps add or change in your schedule.

1) Recording
Recording your solos, chord progressions and general practice is great. It will serve you when you have free time at work to listen at headphones things you did. That way you can mentally notice things that you wouldn't while you play them in real time. For example, things like : "Every time I play that alternate picking exercise, I have problem making strings E and B sound smooth when picking". Those things stick to your mind and then next time you practice you pay extra attention to things that your musician and listeners ears pointed out. Not to mention how listening to your improvisations alone can help you understand more what You are doing often. So this is definitely a great way to do things and you should do your best to do it every day (it takes couple of minutes to open DAW, add audio track, and press record!).

2) Pentatonic scales
Instead of just doing Major scales and arpeggios, add some Penatonic scale studies. Major, Minor, Dominant, Minor 6 pentatonic + Blues scale. These are the most common ones, if you practice each one of them, they will be of great help to your soloing vocabulary.

3) Phrasing
Very general term but I like where you are going with this! It should be done on regular basis and you should definitely focus on things like resting in solo or using very specific question and answer rhythms.

4) Melodic approach
You need this if not every day, do it couple of days in a week. The purpose is to trough your practice sessions to focus on individual topics when improvising. One session that could be soloing with Arpeggio, next time maybe Pentatonics, time after that using Modes, then maybe do some Sequence soloing, Play Rest approach etc. Eventually all this will lead into your solo sounding more mature and professional where things will start coming out and even you will be amazed by musicality you produce.

These were just some general suggestions but is very important to work on some Ear Training (transcribing) as well as Repertoire building (learn songs, solos, riffs, harmonies that motivate you to play the instrument and like music).

Hope this helps Tom !

Posted by: NoSkill Jun 9 2010, 05:30 PM

Thanks, Pedja! The AP exercises and hand sync slots were left open for Major, Minor, Dominant, Minor 6 pentatonic + Blues scale and pentatonic studies as well. I just hadn't spent time outside of Maj7, Min7, Dom7, Pentatonic and Major scale studies. I think that time slot would be perfect for continued scale study, for sure.

The phrasing component was pretty general. It some time to work on choosing different intervals and listening to how things sound, outside of scale study. I wasn't totally sure where I was going to go with that, but it's a component to my playing that I'm not satisfied with and requires dedicated study, for sure.

Melodic approaches to soloing is a great thing to add and to focus improvisation on one topic in that session. Thank you, that's a great idea that I hadn't considered.

I started studying some classic rock and blues solos and am learning them to get a better repertoire of licks, passing notes and phrasing. I didn't add to this because it was more from a recreational playing standpoint rather than the devoted practice schedule. I agree on learning songs. It's something I haven't done, but have been complaining to myself about for years.

This was a very good exercise, Pedja.

Cheers!

Tom

Posted by: Pedja Simovic Jun 10 2010, 12:47 PM

You welcome Tom!
I am just glad this is helping you find your way and adjust practicing to fit your needs. There are more areas that you can work on but those were some pretty basic things that should happen every day.
We can work in future assignments on filling this practice plan with specific exercises and lessons. My past collaborations for example were perfect for improvising with restrictions, so we might look at some of those lessons I recorded and concepts!
Glad you are enjoying this MTP and approaching it this way. Keep an eye for your 2nd assignment!


Pedja

Posted by: Pedja Simovic Jun 12 2010, 04:22 PM

Tom here is your 2nd assignment!

2nd assignment:
Finding exercise for each area

- Based on practice schedule you provided, tab out exercise for each area in guitar pro.
- You could record these exercises in any tempo to demonstrate them as well.
- For extra work, do more then one exercise for each of the areas that are included in practice plan.
- Post your work in this thread.

Deadline for your 2nd assignment is 19th of June.

Let me know if you have any questions!

Pedja

Posted by: NoSkill Jun 13 2010, 06:21 PM

Hi Pedja,

I spent some time figuring out Guitar Pro this morning and tabbed out some practice exercises for my practice plan.

Guitar Pro Files for AP/Sync:

http://www.box.net/shared/2eoqicjpy5

I am practicing Min7, and Dom7 as well for AP/Sync.

http://www.box.net/shared/qtuq997jnc

My interpretation of Emir's Box, tabbed out.

http://www.box.net/shared/dagzhtxlr2

An adaptation of Dejan Farkas' little finger lesson but with strict AP.

Guitar Pro Files for Chord Voicings:

http://www.box.net/shared/hekf6oitej

http://www.box.net/shared/pluuimrvdl

Posted by: Pedja Simovic Jun 14 2010, 06:22 PM

Tom I am having trouble opening these ! I have guitar pro 5, is that the reason why I can't open them?

Posted by: NoSkill Jun 14 2010, 09:21 PM

Ahhh...yes, they are done in Guitar Pro 6. I'll see if I can backwards-save them.

Hmmmm...I can't save them as GP5 files. I can export them as PDF files if that works.

Posted by: Pedja Simovic Jun 14 2010, 10:01 PM

PDF would work great or any sort of midi file could work

Posted by: NoSkill Jun 14 2010, 10:02 PM

Oh cool. I'll export them MIDI. Then you can...well, you know. Doing it now.

Posted by: NoSkill Jun 14 2010, 11:03 PM

http://www.box.net/shared/5xpv0v0pls
http://www.box.net/shared/q8snyfaznj
http://www.box.net/shared/e26f5k4vzq
http://www.box.net/shared/ipcnl4z0m3
http://www.box.net/shared/xh24kheesf

Posted by: Pedja Simovic Jun 19 2010, 12:24 PM

Cool stuff Tom. I will be posting your remaining 2 assignments later today!

Posted by: NoSkill Jun 19 2010, 02:56 PM

I will record some audio/video samples hopefully today. I'm a bit displaced from my studio due to a renovation, so we are living in my parents house, but I can get back there to record some takes to post. (I hope)

As an exercise for learning songs, as suggested I should do, I tabbed out a song by Seether called Broken that I decided to learn. I did it in GP6, but have included a MIDI version. I picked an easier one to start with.

http://www.box.net/shared/2zgsgd8uuf

http://www.box.net/shared/29zb0csgp8

I've also been practicing your BbMaj Arpeggio Lesson and will hopefully be able to submit it for this month's REC...if I can get it to tempo.

Tom

Posted by: Pedja Simovic Jun 19 2010, 10:29 PM

I checked out midi file , sounds good Tom. I am about to post your remaining 2 assignments, you should be able to complete them both

Here we go with remaining 2 assignments for June!

3rd assignment :
REC lesson (two choices)

- Pick one of the these two lessons found http://www.guitarmasterclass.net/ls/arpeggio-study-in-bb-major-scale/and http://www.guitarmasterclass.net/ls/sequence_collaboration_solo/
- I am providing backing tracks for both in case you want to work on the both!
- Record a video along with backing track provided and submit it for REC.
- Post your work in this thread!

4th assignment:
Presentation of your exercises in audio format

- Record for each area at least one exercise at tempo of your choice.
- Recording can be audio and/or video.
- Make sure to submit your work in this thread.
- For extra work try to do the same exercise in couple of different keys (your choice!)


Deadline for these 2 assignments is 30th of June.

Let me know if you got some questions!

Pedja

Posted by: NoSkill Jun 26 2010, 06:04 AM

Hi Pedja,

This is my progress on the lesson for REC. I'm not able to record video where I'm at, but I will be at the house tomorrow night so I'll do some of my AP practice stuff and the lesson plan elements I'm working on.

Progress on Bb Major Arpeggio Lesson - http://www.box.net/shared/uofnfll4iq

Cheers!

Posted by: NoSkill Jun 27 2010, 04:41 AM

Progress with Bb Major Arpeggio lesson: It's a little clunky :/

Posted by: Pedja Simovic Jun 27 2010, 03:28 PM

Tom this is very good progress!
I noticed one thing with your Bb and Ebmaj7 arpeggio shapes. You are not using exact same fingerings for 3 octaves! Every other arpeggio you applied exact fingering but for this one you change it in the middle. I will just write you some fingering right now.

Bb maj7 3rd inversion : A Bb D F
Left hand fingering for all octaves : 1 2 1 4 !

Same thing goes for any maj7 arpeggio in 3rd inversion (apply it to Eb maj7 arpeggio).

Overall its very good progress I am happy with this. If you continue working more on it with metronome it will be there 100% with no mistakes. But I know you sound totally different when you record yourself so this is definitely passing material

Posted by: NoSkill Jun 27 2010, 06:24 PM

Ahhh...well, I did realize I was doing that, but now that I look at it, it doesn't make any sense to do it my way when ascending through three octaves. D'OH...easy fix. I'll record one tonight!

Posted by: Pedja Simovic Jun 27 2010, 07:56 PM

Yes, another recording should fix those things, look forward to it!

Posted by: NoSkill Jun 29 2010, 03:21 PM

Fingering changed...I hope this is okay...some noisy notes and not played nearly as well as you played it..of course.

Posted by: Pedja Simovic Jun 29 2010, 03:31 PM

I like that you changed the fingerings! It will be in sync 100% soon I am sure. This is definitely passing material, strong 8 or weak 9 maybe. Like you said some noisy notes but I would just add finger coordination with picking. It looks like you are rushing with your playing hand and your picking hand is not following it. That will come, just keep working on that one, its great exercise for alternate picking and 4 note arpeggios!

Posted by: NoSkill Jun 29 2010, 03:53 PM

Yes, this is going into my standard exercise for AP and sync. It's great for that as it gets me moving around the neck so much. A very good exercise. I will record the rest of the components of assignment 4 tonight.

Thanks, Pedja!

Tom

Posted by: Pedja Simovic Jun 29 2010, 11:38 PM

Great Tom, look forward to the exercises in audio format!

Posted by: NoSkill Jun 30 2010, 05:36 AM

Pedja,

Assignment #4 - Examples of elements of my practice schedule

Rhythm Motifs - 7th Chords - I just drag drum beats into Logic and then try and strum something to them either with chords in CAGED, or in 7th chords. I seem to like this progression so I can worry more about the rhythm and less about fingering.



Hand Sync and AP Exercise - Major Scales - Emir's famous and equally dreaded FDCAG box. I usually try and play it all the way through 5 positions and 5 fret board roots. This is an example of moving through one cycle.



Hand Sync and AP - Ostinatos. I really struggle with alternating ring and pinky, so this exercise forces me to do so. It's an AP adaptation of Dejan's lesson.



Thanks, Pedja! As you can see, I have trouble with hand sync, though I feel the last weeks have improved my AP considerably. I seem to not have to think about it as much, so it's been a very good exercise to drill it.

Tom

Posted by: Pedja Simovic Jun 30 2010, 11:17 PM

Great work Tom. I will close this thread now and open new one for you for July.