The Eye-opening Gmc Collab, You too can write amazing melodies Options

[Kristofer Dahl]

The eye-opening GMC collab
You too can write amazing melodies

"To play amazing melodies you need a God given natural talent and... yellow slippers."

If you believe in this stuff you might want to get outta here Because in this collab we’ll explore how it’s done, and no talent is needed at all! You do need time and devotion though.

In this collab we’ll use an amazing backing track by our own Javier Aviles to build our melodies.

This collab is a perfect opportunity for you to understand how you can follow - or ‘outline’ - the chords to create amazing melodies.

You can either compose a solo/melody and use the short backing track: In this case you should strive for something melodic and minimise fast runs. I recommend you to record around 40 seconds solo. My feedback here will focus on technical, structural and musical improvements.

OR you can record an improvised take over the long backing track. My feedback will then be related to the overall flow of the improvisation and I will suggest any tricks I can think of to help you improve.


BASIC APPROACH

You can play the C minor pentatonic scale over the whole backing track and it will sound good. For more colors, play the C aeolian scale (my personal favorite!).

With this basic approach, you won’t consciously be hitting the perfect notes over the chord changes all the time, but there is a big chance you will do it accidentally.







FOLLOW THE CHORDS!

A more advanced way to solo over this backing track, is to not only play scales, but also to follow the chords. When you hear a note choice or melody that sounds too good to be true, then the guitarist is usually following the chords the way I describe below.

If we look at the two chords of this backing, we get:

Cm: contains the notes C, Eb and G

Fm: contains the notes F, Ab and C

We have two changes, let’s see exactly what you should do over these, to write super strong sounding melodies:

When the backing changes from Cm to Fm the interesting opportunities lie in:

Bend the Eb note to F. If you nail this over the chord change, people will think you’re God.
Bend the G note to Ab. Again, hallelujah!

When the backing changes from Fm to Cm:
Bend the F note to G.
Bend the C note to Eb.

These are the most obvious ones, but with some creativity there are plenty of other ways to go from chord note to chord note.

Bare in mind that as long as you bend into a strong note ( = chord note) you can actually do it from any note, even one that sounds horrible. It is a safe way to write strong material, and works for any genre in the world.

If you are not comfortable bending, you can play the notes regularly with your pick, or slide into them (etc etc)

To determine when the chord changes are happening, you should start counting the beats from the beginning of the backing track. The first change to Fm happens after aprox 6 seconds, when you have counted to 4, two times.

See the tab/pdf in the lesson for more details.

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DOWNLOAD THE BACKING TRACKS:

 eye_opener_collab.mp3 ( 2.26MB ) Number of downloads: 764

 eye_opener_JAM.mp3 ( 10.15MB ) Number of downloads: 630


* Tempo is 78 bpm
* Deadline is April 8, 2015
* Although this is an audio collab, feel free to video record yourself as this will help you get better feedback.
* When you want to submit your final take, upload files in this topic (mp3 with at least 128 kbps quality, 16 bit wav files are welcome though). We need two files: 1. Your solo without the backing track 2. Your solo mixed with the backing track for reference.

Here you can see me jamming over the backing track:



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RESLULT

>>>>> FINAL MIX <<<<<<

Participants:

Bas Cuthach, Sensible Jones, Procyon, AKRich, Todd Simpson, GeneT95, Kristofer Dahl, Monica Gheorghevici, Bleez, MisterM, Phil66 and Pzalfa.


Participants:

Bas Cutach + Sensible Jones: Creating the atmosphere
Procyon: Solo over the created atmosphere
AK Rich Solo over GeneT95 and Bas Cuthach arrangements.
Todd Simpson Solo while GeneT95 continues adding rhythm.
Kristofer Dahl Solo, Gene continues rocking.
Monica solo over Kris’s rhythm delay auto pan arrangement and also some Massive synth addition. Bas Cuthach joins in the second half.
Bleez and MisterM guitar solos interact perfectly over the backing destroyed with industrial effect.
Phil66 and Pzalfa solos go nicely together while backing fade down and Bas Cuthach once again with his delay based rhythm.

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[bleez]

This is what Im currently playing for it

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[Kristofer Dahl]

This is what Im currently playing for it

Excellent!

Since this is all good music from start to end, there is no need to change/improve the ideas. But I have some execution related feedback.

When I hear your take I get the feeling we have a well rounded rock guitarist playing in a slightly uncomfortable style. Namely two things stick out:

Your timing is straight forward rock n roll:ish whereas your phrases are softer/jazzier. I think these exact ideas would benefit tremendously if you could play slightly behind the beat. If this feels tricky, then just try to play the last note of each phrase a little too late. That should give you a good starting point. If you do that for a while you will start to get a feel for when its appropriate to 'play behind'.

Vibrato: You actually don't always need to add vibrato, and sometimes it can be just as cool to leave it out. However because guitars by the their nature always have slight intonations problems, it is often required to add vibrato not hurt the listeners' ears. But here is a trick: Don't add vibrato immediately, wait aprox one second and then add it. Or even cooler, add it gradually (increase vibrato depth gradually). More versatility with your vibrato would add a lot of finesse to your take, and make it sound less rock n roll:ish.

I am anxious to see how this works out for you. Sometimes it can be surprisingly easy to master new styles if you are already comfortable with [at least] one.

Ok, here's my first attempt. My favourite part is at 00:37. As usual, I don't have many licks so I end up noodling around

[attachment=41373:Eye_Open...21032015.wav]

https://soundcloud.com/gmcphil-1/eye-opener-21032015

Please advise.

Thank you. I really enjoy "making music" in these collabs.

Phil

Thanks Phil. Your approach here is excellent - you develop simple motives, gradually adding variations. This is very effective as you don't bombard the listener with ideas (this is very common guitarist problem). Also it's difficult/impossible to play longer solos while constantly coming up with new ideas, so developing a motif is a crucial skill for any guitarist wanting to learn improvising.

Having said this, your take would benefit from some kind of memorable melody. If you have trouble coming up with one, try borrowing one as a starting point.

My most important feedback for you this time, is however not related to your playing but rather to your sound which works to your disadvantage. The backing track has a lot of depth and it is cleverly done with time based effects (= reverb / delay).

Your sound is almost completely dry to my ears, and this makes it nearly impossible for you to play a lead which integrates well with the backing. I don't know what gear you are using, but I recommend you to spend some time experimenting with delay and reverb.

With reverb - find a room size/type which you like. Turn the reverb up to the point that you can hear it, and then back it off a little. Its easy to overdo the reverb settings.

Delay - this is my preferred effect. Lots of possibilities here - but you could test with an 8th note delay. If that doesn't make sense to you don't worry, just spend some time experimenting with presets and you will start to get a feel for what works.

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[bleez]

Your timing is straight forward rock n roll:ish whereas your phrases are softer/jazzier. I think these exact ideas would benefit tremendously if you could play slightly behind the beat. If this feels tricky, then just try to play the last note of each phrase a little too late. That should give you a good starting point. If you do that for a while you will start to get a feel for when its appropriate to 'play behind'.

Vibrato: You actually don't always need to add vibrato, and sometimes it can be just as cool to leave it out. However because guitars by the their nature always have slight intonations problems, it is often required to add vibrato not hurt the listeners' ears. But here is a trick: Don't add vibrato immediately, wait aprox one second and then add it. Or even cooler, add it gradually (increase vibrato depth gradually). More versatility with your vibrato would add a lot of finesse to your take, and make it sound less rock n roll:ish.

I am anxious to see how this works out for you. Sometimes it can be surprisingly easy to master new styles if you are already comfortable with [at least] one.

Thanks Kris, those are really good pointers. After reading your comments I totally agree with you and I see exactly what you are saying. I'll work on those areas you've highlighted for sure.
Im a little surprised that playing behind the beat isn't more natural for me seeing as Im such a big (early ) sabbath fan! I try to aspire to play in a bit of a 1970s hard rock / stoner kinda style so I totally need to get that behind the beat vibe down.

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[Kristofer Dahl]

Im a little surprised that playing behind the beat isn't more natural for me seeing as Im such a big (early ) sabbath fan! I try to aspire to play in a bit of a 1970s hard rock / stoner kinda style so I totally need to get that behind the beat vibe down.

Often we tend to rush things when we're not completely comfortable (anybody remember their driving lessons?!). So the more comfortable you get with this solo, the easier it will be for you.

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