Completed Gmc Collaborations Options

[Gerardo Siere]

PIINK FLOYD STYLE COLLAB

Hi everyone, sorry for the long wait, first off all let me tell you you all have done great, mixing was very easy and just added some eq fot some particular solos. The track has 2 chorus of the bt alone as a formal thing, then you will hear your solos in alphabetical order (I will use this and other random orders in future collabs).
Some history: this song is probably the first think I ever made with my first band in addition to playing covers of Sumo and Redondos de Ricota, so the song was the bass line repeating the melody all the time as a looping verse, then the keys where doing some relaxing and bluesy licks, and then my solo which I composed note by note ( I still do that), I will try to get some of that 1994 garage recordings (hope the keyboardist still have that record) but basically I started with a clean sound similar to the original song (Shine on you Crazy diamond) using some Gminor pentatonic in Position III (Em shape from Caged system), then i aproched the D minor emphasathing the Eb, and staying pretty much on Gm pentatonic. For chorus 2 I use the distortion channel (didn´t even have a switch pedal for my Peavey Rage 158), The first phrase started in the C of the thir string with some bend and release and raise going to the same position an entire octave, then some high bends and some fast drill with the recent discovered (for me) pick tapping.
There are 2 identical files, one is for low bandwidt conections

Now the comments.

01-Andrew Cockburn (0.44'')
You chose to let the track ring befor starting to play, and also you have a great sense of form in your playing with a simetric number of phrases (4+4)+(4+4). Your sound and playing is great and very solid, every nota and articulations is heared clearly, also you have varietty of articulations and color. As a nice detail for all of us to notice, Andrew started the second chorus using a similar phrase to the first one in the first chorus. I didn´t have to touch anithing to mix it and I wouldn´t dare, good to have you as instructor here.

02-Bali (1.28'')
The first chorus have some hesitant rythm values, like in some part you go off beat and come back again, this is very slightly. It is my personal tast but I think you should breath a little more between phrases, they are just too atached, also I would try to avoid very long single fading out notes, the amps is so compressed so the noto just stays ringing and it makes such an unnatural feeling, try this, turn on the amp and play an open E in the clean channel and let it ring, after 3 seconds you´ll hear a very unnatural very very very low releasse, we have to avoid using that in our solos unless you porpously want that efect.
Your second chorus is amazing, specially the the chordal thing making all that climax, and using also e very singable amd dramatic melody. Great playing, try to take a view on your breathing and in the long unnatural note.

03-Coffeman (2.12'')
In the first chorus you get a nice guitar and you have a nice diccion and playing. The second chorus have the same tesiture and stays pretty much in the same place, you could get more amazing results. Try this: use a wider tesiture range (using lower and higher notes), using more articulations like double stops, piece of chords, don´t stress so much the first beat, almost all your phrases start on the first beat and this is kina unusal in blues which is more fonding of pickups to the beat or just silence on the first beat, and also the little phrases seems kinda isolated, try stressing on a motive based on articulations, intervalic note etc. Yu played so nice but usually rock songs may have little space for the solo, so it is a good idea to concentrate in beind as killer as possible with solo. One time I played with a band and go to rehearshals and always improvised the solos, there were like 20 songs and the keys, forms and style where similar, so one day they called me to record, of course, the solos werent to nice, I was fired and someone else rerecorded that solos, don´t be like me in the future.

04-Gilmore (2.56'')

Great pickup for starting dude, also I like your violind like sound of the guitar, great phrases on the last beat of each chord (it is a very important and tension charged place in the harmonic time), also you use very well bluesy and hendrix-little-wing-like double stops and chords, I love those you can look at the lead sheed comping chord chard and you have at hand a lot of double stops and minichords to play and make climaxs. Also very original the violin like finel scales, congratulations.

05-Hendy Dietzel. (3.41'')
This is so amazing, two dialoging guitars, a whole arsenal of timbre resources and panning techniques, you are Jeff Beck!!!. Also nice citation to the original song in 3.51-3.56. The same singla and fantastique note to finish chorus one and to start choris 2, there is a singing bassy guitar and a high guitar making fills, for chorus 3 you add some phonograph picks sounds,, you really have taste!!!. Also 3 chorus, and odd number, in the last one you use a single guitar line full of picks articulations, so original and so nice, I am not worthy of commenting this solo.

06-Kaznie. (4.48) Nice phrasing, you have a nice sense of rythm, should check how you are plugging into the computer, the sound is kinda thin and the volume go down at the end. You may be pluging the guitar to the PC directy or your amp line out just sound like that. Let me know that detail so we can further discuss it. Well
done, when I was your age I did not know how to play guitar. Keep practacing, participaiong and having fun.

07-Kjutte (5.32")
There is a high anoying noice riding in your signal, had to aply a little noise gate and taking some of the 4kh in the eq but I¨m afraid I buried the solo in the mix a little. Liked the chordal entrance idea but I suggest a different rythm placement for it, check out Nihil solo. Nice dorian run in some parts. For the scale rush at the end of the chorus 1 I think it is a great idea, it builds a lot of tension, for some change try resolving that scale directly into the beggining of chorus 2, your solo will gain much force that way. Great solo, thank you for uploading.

08-Nihil (6.38)
Nice chordal starting, great bluesy and swinging feel and great the articulations of the last phhrase of chorus 1. Great sound like a lightly valve overdrive (you play soft, you sound clean, you play loud you sound harsher) beautiful detail at the end letting open the road for the next guitar pal.

09-Outlaw 2112 (7.21)
Nice idea the high gain sound with the autowah filter, but too much gate, your going in and out of the mix, we nedd the color of your huming amp for the silents, this gat thing also provoque that all your phrases starts the same way you like it or not. I added some eq to add a little more precence to the take which didnt cut so well trought the mix, try some more treblies and mediums (specialy mediums) in your eq for this kinf of setting.

10-Tj chep (8.07)
Love the long C note over G minor , very singed and very nice articulations, great using of the 9th in the Cm7 form chorus 2, you use greatly the harmonic tensions.
Great articulations tahnks a very wise use of the pick, even we may using compressed distortion using diferent angles, presing directions and force give us different sounds. Fabulous solo, congratulations.

11-Uncle skillet (8.52)
Nice guitar dialog, try to test some structure using range, dinamics, articulations and motives, a great solo like your could turn into amazing all time killer solo.

12-Xuestor (9.32)
Nice doble stop and the "I am here pluging the guitar noise. Solid solo, only remember that long 5 seonds compressed notes are no so good idea in blues (10.02, 10.13). Great solo anyway.

Thats all hope to make some new collab with all of you soon


THIS ARE THE FILES LINKS
https://www.guitarmasterclass.net/guitar_fo...st&id=10313

https://www.guitarmasterclass.net/guitar_fo...st&id=10318

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[Muris Varajic]

BLUE NOTE IN A COLLAB


I really enjoyed listening to your takes guys,
comments are mostly neutral cause you had all freedom
to do whatever you want,and you did it damn nice!

 Blue_Note_in_A__Collab_Final_Mix.mp3 ( 8.01MB ) Number of downloads: 368



Here we go:

Andrew Cockburn

Steady tone with delay,
healthy playing,great use of bends,
well done Andrew.


Jeff

Jeff's take was actually the lesson with some
improvised parts at the end.
Just try to do more tweaking with reverb you're using,
maybe longer but less wet,tone will cut better through the mix.
Among that,fine playing Jeff,thanks for taking a part!


Coffeeman

Beautiful melody at the beginning,I liked it a lot.
In the middle of section you kind a lost your direction,
you should follow the line you started with and make it grow.
Fine take tho.

Usaman

Great tone!
Playing was great nonetheless,
both phrasing and technique wise,well done!


Barenaked Ninja

Brilliant idea to start with power chords!
Rest of it was great too,perhaps I missed few more aggressive bands
but no big deal,tastes are different.

Ramiro Delforte

Ultra distorted sound to make this collab even more interesting!
Great picking part near the end,thanks Ramiro!


Tjchep

TJ is making a major gaps,way to go!!
I can see you're having great progress TJ,
intelligent playing indeed,liked it a lot.



Smells

Metal buddy enters the scene. cool.gif
Powerful playing,tone that cuts your nerves,
Smells deploys bluesy/shredy take,thanks mate!!


OrganisedConfusion

Perhaps my favorite take here.
I know you've had some troubles regarding to your playing recently.
I must say that you surprised me A LOT.
Lovely tone with a little bit overdrive,
catchy licks,keep working like this,no need to be confused at all.

 Blue_Note_in_A__Collab_Final_Mix.mp3 ( 8.01MB ) Number of downloads: 368



Thanks once more for participation guys,great job!

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This post has been edited by Muris Varajic: Oct 7 2008, 12:42 AM

[Ivan Milenkovic]

Hey guys, it's been a while so sorry for the delay and here are the comments of this very fine collab. smile.gif

SUMMARY:

Collab type: John Mayer Style, pop
Participants: 5
Total Length: 3m 07s

Comments:

1. Audiopaal:
Starting off with a beautiful picking, very atmospheric and goes along great with the track. Timing is great with these lines. All that in the same time with some harmonics really adds up to the vibe and putted just in right spots. In the second part you go into small solo/theme, simple but very melodic and thematic. I like the minimalistic approach on this one.
Regarding tone it is great, I really like that shimmering stereo effect you got using delay. Clean sound in general is nice as well, and in the second part the stereo is tempo synced. Cool touch.
Speaking of the structure of the take, you really did a cool job, by doing first part as more of a backing track style, and in the second part you go into that small solo. Sounds really relaxed and cool. Everything simple, and with a great timing, it turned out great.

2. TJCheep:

Nice raking bend with vibrato in the start, and followed by another vibrated note, everything very solid, a small pause, and keep using some nice phrasing elements, keeping the dynamics down, very nice. I like those melodic lines, and occasional prebended notes. THen in the second part first one nice long bend, and then going to a faster part, using a good bend, and some great blues licks, very nice and clean. After that a small pentatonic sequence downwards, again using good raking notes, vibratos, and finishing of nicely on the major key root.
SOund is very good TJ, as always you continue to use that recognizable preset, smooth, saturated, and warm. Good stuff, enables dynamics to be heard as well.
Structure of the solo is good, you tend to improvise a lot, using licks and sequences you have learned through practice. This is IMO the harder way to improve, because it takes time to really connect all the things in a natural way, but the good side of the whole thing is that it will start to sound very original as you progress. Good thing is that everything is clean, and full of emotion, spiced up with some fresh unorthodox sequences. More work is needed on the structure part, but I fear not, because it will definitely come in time, and with every recording you are improving. Good job man.

3. Kaznie:

Starting of with a nice bend, bluesy lick, then going up to high E and doing another nice bend. THen a small sequence downwards with a major scale pentatonic character, good timing there, and a couple of great bends that have very interesting timing. In the second part you go to a more of a minor vibe, and using a minimalistic approach with some bends, and bit bigger pause, and then a nice ending, using bends.
Sound is good and crunchy. It could be a bit fatter if you know what I mean, but I can definitely hear improvement in sound from previous collabs.
About the structure, I think you have a talent for melody and rhythm, just need to work on your theory a bit. From your playing I can hear that you are carefuly listening to the track and chord and rhythm changes, and really try to play according to that. This turned out pretty good, although in the end you made a bit bigger pause, but pause itself is not a mistake, it is always better to pause a bit than to do something you don't want to. Vibratos are good, a bit unprecise, and some more work on bends to make it even more tighter and faster will turn this solo to a pro sounding one. Continue to use your melody and rhythm ideas I like them, and in time it can only improve. I definitely feel how much you improved from some last collabs you did. Rock on mate.

4. Velvet Roger:

Intro is great and melodic, using some nice slide passages, and bends, then another passage similar to the first one, really adds to the great vibe, and your note sustain is excellent, I like the fact every note is just next to the other. After the second passage you even make a small prelude to the second part and going to the minor 6th of the key root, using some nce triplet hammeron/pulloffs before it. THen a nice sequence, and again some slides and melodic lines, another mini sequence, and great connecting with the outro line, with that bend that finishes of on the root. Very good.
Sound wise, everything is nice and smooth, the sound is a bit closed up, like strings are a bit older or something, or lacking a bit of presence. But that is just IMO, if you like the sound, no problem, it is very good and smooth.
Structure of the solo is very good, I like the fact you repeated two passages in your soloing. This really really adds to the quality, vibratos can be a bit wider, and that bend in the end can be a bit more effective and stronger, but all in all you really followed the melody, connected everything in a nice fluid way and it sounds great.


5. Toroso:

starting off with a bend, then a prebend, a dominant note, and a small line finishing of again with a bend and prebend, coming in nicely into the second part, on the minor chord. In there you're playing some nice lines, using bends, then a small pause, and again going up on the pentatonic scale, couple of lines more and finishing of nicely somewhere around the root.
SOund is good, clean is a bit on the thin side, but solid all in all, delay is a great touch, that really feel in a void, so a good choice for preset.
Regarding playing, it is a bit unusual but cool, in the first part we have some big pauses, but if you in that mood it is perfectly normal to play it like that. Those couple of notes can really mean a lot, when used nicely, and you did try to do that, so it is cool. I would say work a bit on your timing, it is not off, it's a bit unsctructured, almost like you searched the notes on the spot, with not enough knowledge where they are. This is normal of course, improvisation is a cool thing, and I always suggest in situations where you see you are not really sure where to exactly to go next, it is better to make a small pause, then play on note, then build on top of that ntoe and so on. If you played the whole part with that minimalistic vibe it would be ok as well. So a great effort, and continue to practice some scales, and runs in a steady tempo to improve your soling abilities, and make this solo even better. Good job.

6. My modest contribution to the collab:
I have played a solo that is basically the same as I did in my lesson on John Mayer recently, it is not the same, but very similar.


FINAL MIX

Well after a long long waiting (sorry again, for the last time smile.gif ) I give you our first video collab on this board.

COLLAB BACKING: Blues Ballad
COLLAB TYPE: Video
PARTICIPANTS: 14
TOTAL LENGTH: 10m 20s


I have a couple of words to say before you move on to the comments:

I really enjoyed in this collab much more than in any collab I did on GMC before. This is largely due to the fact that I could at last see you all guys in person on this videos. When I listened to your takes on previous collabs, and I listened to most of you for some time now, I couldn't see how you played your takes. This hasn't bothered me much, but when video takes from this collab started to arrive, and later in the mix, and today while writing comments I though: "wow! This is the real thing!"
Although this collab took some time to finish, because I had to download all video and audio material, and double sync everything in Vegas, insert transitions and fades etc, it was a big advantage to later watch you play and see exactly what you do. This made it much easier to comment some stuff I couldn't to before!
So for this collab (I hope you won't mind smile.gif ) I wrote even larger comments then before. I took me roughly 5 straight hours to watch and rewatch every video 5-6 times and write this stuff.
As always I must write a disclaimer that all that I wrote is my subjective opinion, so you shouldn't take anything in negative connotation. I tried as much as I could to keep things positive, but I'm just a human, and we all can make mistakes sometimes. If you find anything at all that you think it is not correct or I somehow told you something and you feel it is not fair or something, please write it down and I'll be sure to check it out and discuss it.

And, without further ado:

here are the brave participants that went into this video adventure: biggrin.gif


(in alphabet order)

Andrew Cockburn

PLAYING: starting great with a nice raked note, and a good solid bend, then a sharp release, and vibrato, another good bend, and going down to bass strings. then a bit more bending, a small pause, and going down to do a small ending lick, with a V note in the end, all nicely vibrated.
SOUND: very good sound as always Andrew, you seem to tend to use that smooth overdriven sound that is slowly becoming your signature tone. also, stereo delay is very nice and smooth as well, and brings a good quality sound depth to the tone.
TECHNIQUE: very good, I like the minimalistic approach, raking notes are very cool, vibrato is also great, I would prefer to be a bit wider and longer on notes, but I think it is solid and nicely executed. Notes ring clearly, and your subtle details and phrasing are also very very good, like those sharp releases, and slow bends. You seem to follow the beat very good, and use the phrasing very well in rhytmical sense.
VIDEO: chroma key is very good, and your lightning is awesome, everything is seen clearly and sharply. A bit more experimenting with chroma clipping mask and chroma blur perhaps because sometimes some edges go in, and eat away the inner sides of your figure. That custom made 3D background is a great touch indeed, nice detail with guitar and treble clef mirroring in it, gives the background a good dimension that is needed when using the chroma. Smart thinking.
OVERALL IMPRESSION: You are the men of details, everything, sound, video, technique, everything is made very neat, smooth, and with an outstanding sense for details, those small details that give the overall impression, but a bit hard to notice on the first go. Well done.



audiopaal:

PLAYING: two consecutive power chords, and moving slowly from basss trings, building your melody upwards, very good. Using more of a minors scale melody lines, rather then blues licks adds a good character to the solo. Using vibratos on all important notes, and playing nicely in beat, in the end a small sliding melody line on one string, and going up to the V. very good.
SOUND: nice and smooth, a bit fuzzy, but it doesn't sound harsh at all, it sounds very soft and warm. I haven't noticed to much reverb, so that is a good thing. If you did put any, that blended in nicely with the track, if not, the sound alone blended in nicely so it sounds great in general.
TECHNIQUE: Everything is executed with a nice feel, I liked the way you picked hard those power chord, shows some character. Vibrato is good and you execute it correctly from the wrist, but I prefer to be a bit more wider and slower. It would sound even better when wider I'm sure of it. I like the way you incorporated slides into that solo, they are really nice, steady and fast and go with the beat. this adds those subtle phrasing details that mean a lot with this kind of tunes. good job.
VIDEO: video is good, a bit dark and redish, since you used only one 100W light source, maybe another 60W I'm not sure. Nevertheless, I think video has a good definition, just lacks a bit of sharpness and has some minor noise due to lights, but that can be fixed easily by putting one 500W halogen anywhere in the room.
OVERALL IMPRESSION: you have a good honest character, I like the hat, and moving while playing in standing position reveals a good looks for playing live. You would look good on stage definitely. Keep rocking mate.



coffeman:

PLAYING: nice first blues lick with vibrato bend, followed by a good interval lick, then a nice vibrato bend, and again on the root. Then we have a nice minor line down there on the low E string V, a nice long slide, then a solid clean alternate picking pattern followed by a vibrato, and going up to to some nice repetitive lick, vibrato bend, and again nice bends to finish off.
SOUND: Sound is good, a bit ruff drive, but it's a strat sound, smooth single, just a bit compressed. Nevertheless it sounds very smooth.
TECHNIQUE: Your technique is pretty good man, very nice phrasing with those bends and vibratos, you do them nicely, but need more stability with bends and vibratos, so they can be in tempo with the track and a bit secure. I think they would sound even better like that. You did that unsecure slide, but a great vibrato after it with index finger. Also that alternate pattern is pretty good and clean and that repetitive lick in the end is also awesome. To achieve even better clarity, I suggest playing only note at a time, some notes blend with other, so watch for that. Great tone is often about hitting one note, and after it hitting the other, not allowing the notes to bleed into one another. Of course there is no major bleeding here, but with a better clarity it would sound very professional.
VIDEO: great one, very clear and sharp, colors are great, and this is mainly because of the daylight, which is really best if you can use it. Another light could be used from the (cameras view) left side to kill that shadow from daylight, but overall I think the video is great.
OVERALL IMPRESSION: good feel for the blues, nice bluesy licks, and played with a feel, but little stiffed at moments, you need a bit more security when recording these videos which is normal. Great thing that you recorded standing, and I like the fact that you listen what you play rather then just fretting away - the ability of a good soloist. Well done.



deeproots:

PLAYING: Nice first repetitive intro lick with slide down and the that slide with a vibrato, then a nice small lick on the root followed by similar bass lick but in different position down there on the bass strings which adds to the fullness of the tone. then a couple of hammered ghost notes, vibrato, slide down, couple of more ghosts, then a great bend with a nice feel to it with that repetitive picking good job there, specially in the end when bending over whole step. Then a small mistake on the C note B string, but great recovery to the B and doing that smooth slide down again. in the end we have a small basic position lick, with a nice D string bend to create that minor vibe to it, very good.
SOUND: sound is very good, tone is nice and clean, smooth and warm. really nothing to add here, I think you nailed your tone mate.
TECHNIQUE: doing a lot of slides down, and that is a good thing in general, adds a good vibe to the soloing, also picking is very clean, and I like the sound of the pick hitting the strings. Vibratos are executed correctly, but can be a bit more stable and wider. I think you vibrate nicely with the tempo, but need more security when doing vibrato so it sounds even more natural than this. Bends are on the other hand very good, on spot and in pitch, very good.
VIDEO: Video is good, a slightly better angle to yourself could be achieved, and the light source behind you is string, just need another light to the right, that part of the shot is a bit darker.
OVERALL IMPRESSION: not showing off just playing your thing, and playing it very well. Feel is great, and I think you really felt this tune and your notes, they are in place and played from your soul. good job.



Gus:

PLAYING: A couple of pulloffs there, and and big bend, then picking your way through release, then another bending lick, vibrato, and going to the root. Next we have a bending repetitive lick, that sounds pretty good, again finishing on vibrating root, and again repetiative pulloffs followed by a root. then a slide to the position, where picking a bit, and bending, then finishing on the root again. In the end we have similar lick as on the start.
SOUND: Sounds is pretty good, a bit trebly, but it is not harsh, more smooth and compressed a bit. Delay is a nice touch, and although I know you like to use this lighter preset, it is very good for leads, I think it just need a bit of low end fullness but that's just MO.
TECHNIQUE: Technique is very good, I like how you play, nice and clean, every note is heard cleanly, and in tune. the first bend was little higher that pitch, but OK, and vibratos need a bit of work to be wider. that nice arpeggio was good, but some notes bleed to one another, so try to think of that. Also I noticed that you mainly anchor your right hand heavily and rely on moving the thumb and index when picking. I think this is OK, but you should slowly get yourself used to pick from a wrist and not anchor your hand that much, I think it will sound more natural, and you will not get any strain on thumb and index in the long run.
VIDEO: Video is very good, a bit yellowish, but it turned out quite well, because you had 2 lights sources, one in front and on in the back. Add one lamp more to the right to get rid of that shadow and it will look pro.
OVERALL IMPRESSION: good playing and a bit unsecure with improvisation, you have some nice licks, and a sense for bending and repetitive licks, but need a more structured solo build up, and it will sound even better. All in all, good work.


kaznie_NL:

PLAYING:starting with a nice double bend, then picking away a bit around the basic position doing a small vibrato, and another sequence followed by a slide upwards. then involving a bit of a minor vibe and sliding to the second position, where doing a nice bending lick with a feel a finishing of on the root. then sliding away again up to the neck and doing another bend, and going again down slowly, then a small alternate pattern and picking away the interval which sounds really nice. In the end we have a bend and vibrato.
SOUND: Sound is good, a bit boxy, but clear, and on moments nice and edgy.
TECHNIQUE: very good, you improved a lot, bends are nice, and vibratos aren't that nice, but you'll get the hang of it, the most important thing is that you are doing them correctly. Picking with your right hand should be without anchoring te right hand, and more from the wrist, so focus on that while practicing, don't let the hand anchor itself during practice and you'll be fine.
VIDEO: video is good, you are nicely in the shoot, but there is a bit of noise in the video, mainly due to one 100W light source. Another light to the right and a bit closer to you would really make picture even better so consider it next time when recording.
OVERALL IMPRESSION: Regarding the fact that you are still a bit young you play great. I played a lot worse back then so you are advancing pretty good mate. I've listened to old collabs and can only tell you that you improved a lot, you do bends now, and beginning to vibrate the strings nicely. anchoring the right hand needs some time adjusting, but with this pace of progressing you are keeping I'm sure it will be pretty soon. Keep rockin.



leedbreak:

PLAYING: a couple of nice notes that are repeated, and then a small climbing following the rhythm of the track nicely, and going to IV with a small vibrato. Then a small sequence on the pentatonic scale, followed by a good long whole step bend, and alternate picking down to another bend. Then we have some more alternate sequencing, using some slides downwards. Right to the end we have some nice alternate picking sequences that goes along interesting with the beat.
SOUND: Sounds is very good, smooth and warm. It is a bit buzzy and compressed for my taste, because it lacks dynamics because of that. Other than that, I think it sounds great.
TECHNIQUE: Technique is good, need more working on vibrato technique, and bending in general, feeling a bit unsecure there. Other than that it is nice and smooth, alternate is good so are the slides.
VIDEO: I think you used here either soft daylight, or some kind of neon light, maybe I'm mistaken. Whatever it is, it is a bit dark on the video, and whole tone is kinda bluish-greenish, but all in all, the picture is very clear and I can see everything nicely.
OVERALL IMPRESSION: Good sense for rhythmic figures and building, but need more work on melodic stuff in order to sound more fluid, rather then up-down the scale. Try practicing some arpeggios, bends, and vibrato, and it will sound even better. The feel is very good and playing nicely, while listening to what you play is a good thing. Good job.



organizedconfusion:

PLAYING: starting nicely around the root, vibrating, sliding down, and then bend to the root again. On the IV we have again nicely going to the root, and then a couple of great hammered on ghost notes, followed by a bend release, pull off and root again, but on the B string now, and a nice fast slide upwards. then a couple of sliding licks, down on the neck, and vibrating with the index nicely. After that it is climbing again to the basic B position to execute some good bends, double stop and to finish off nicely in tune.
SOUND: Sounds is pretty good, lots of drive, but nice and solid, not too buzzy.
TECHNIQUE: playing is very good, nice structural building and melodic passages within hte solo. You need more security with bends and vibratos, bends are a bit slow, and vibrato as well, but you do them correctly. Right hand is pretty good. ALso more muting needs to take place, some notes were bleeding here and there so watch for that.
VIDEO: video is dark, but suprizingly, I could see your moves very nicely, largely due to the fact that it was as close up. Only daylight source was behind you right, so you needed at least one more light to the left, other than that the shot is cool and not too much noise.
OVERALL IMPRESSION: Great solo, and melodic building, needs a bit more security with bendings and vibrato to sound even better. Understanding for rhythm and where to put notes is one of your stronger sides as well. Great job.



skennington

PLAYING: nice first bend to the vibrated root, then another one, this time on vibrated V, again on the root via bend but on the same string, and some alternate sequence, a slide, then another sequence but with palm mute, and again doing some bends several times, and moving up the neck again using palm muting finishing off nicely with a vibrated bend.
SOUND: is very good, filled with delay, I would personally like slighlty less of it, but it sounds unique this way, so there's no need changing it, nice tone in general, very full and rich.
TECHNIQUE: everything sounds very good and solid, bends are pretty good and fast.As for vibrato, you vibrate the string with fingers instead of using wrist, so you should probably pay more attention to vibrato exercise to avoid creating a bad habit. Also I noticed that you pick mostly downwards and avoid alternate picking so you should probably practice more alternate runs in order to give your technique more space. My guess is that you practice a lot of downstroke powerchord songs (like Metallica, but this is just a guess!), since you use palm muting and downstrokes often. Anyway this is a good technique in general, you just need a bit more wider range.
VIDEO: Video is good, needs more light in front definitely. COntrast is pretty ruff between you and the background because there is the window and you are casting shadow on yourself practically. Also at some point I couldn't see exactly what you were playing, the hand went out of shot. Other than that it is good, there is no noise, so it is a quality shot.
OVERALL IMPRESSION: Nice rich sound, good sense for rhythm and melody as well, and nice to see that you look what you play and think about it. I think after doing some alternate runs your playing will literally explode and be even better than now. Great job.



Smells

PLAYING: vibrated root at start, and then G and B string simultaneously vibrated, very nice, then everything repeated in similar fashion, followed by a nice sharp raked bend with a feel and vibrated slightly as well, then released and down to the V nicely applying vibrato and inserting ghost notes here and there as well. Then we have a long slide, moving to position 3, and doing another some awesome bends with a great feeling, and vibrating the IV in the end, followed by 2 consecutive bends and moving to root on the string bellow. then a solid sharp raked bend and release, and slide downwards, and finishing off with great sounding bluesy lick on the pentatonics.
SOUND: sound is great, smooth and very dense and rich. Tone is accurate, so is fretting, and delay is a nice touch.
TECHNIQUE: technique is very accurate, bendings are fast and sharp, and vibrato is really good one, even without support of other finger. I would like to be even wider - this would definitely make is sound very very professional indeed. All in all everything is rock solid, and no up-down kind of stuff, nicely built solo from start to end.
VIDEO: picture is nice and sharp, you used nice amount of light form above. I would suggest another more brighter and more diffused light in front for even clearer picture.
OVERALL IMPRESSION: simply to put it - great. Everything is in balance, technique, tone and structural layout of the solo. Good improvising skills in general, nothing particularly going wrong, all you can do is fine tune that vibrato and it will sound even more killer than now. Very well done mate.



superize

PLAYING: starting from a root on the high I string in the 1 position, and sliding downwards. then again the similar lick, but this time starting to build a nice minor melody on one string. then a couple of staccato picks, followed by slide down, and again the same lick as from beginning but this time to finish off going up the string and doing a couple of slides left and right.
SOUND: sound is nice and smooth, a bit buzzy, there's a good amount of drive and compression, but it doesn't sound harsh, it is good.
TECHNIQUE: interesting approach in playing on one string and using minimalistic lines. I would like to see some vibratos on those notes using index finger, but it is good all in all. Tone in nice and clean, no bleeding, good muting with the right and left hand.
VIDEO: video is kinda bad, but that's due to webcam, not you. Better cam would be needed if you wanna achieve better framerate and have the clearest picture possible. Also lightning could be stronger, the good thing is that there are no shadows, and everything is even as far as brightness is concerned, but just need more stronger light in general.
OVERALL IMPRESSION: as I said, very good approach playing on one string, and good sense for rhythmic licks. More phrasing effects, like bending, vibrato is needed, but you make it up with nice slides. In general, very nice soloing.



Tolek

PLAYING: starting with a couple of notes, and then using harmonics a bit, then a slide from downwards and building a nice passage up, and legato run downards to the root. then a tapping lick, and using slide in it as well, very nice, followed by a whole step long bend with a feel, and another one, releasing, and vibrating with index finger on both of them. For the finish a nice couple of bends, and pickig away a small passage of notes, and sliding down, all the time vibrating the strings, and in the end doing another bend and a fast tapping outro lick.
SOUND: sound is good, a bit edgy and harsh, also the sound was from the room, so it's got a bit of a boxy sound as flutter echo with it, but it is good in general. Smooth and compressed.
TECHNIQUE: You displayed a nice array of techniques , which is very good, bends are great, but vibrating the strings, specially with that index needs work as you tend to do it up and down, from an elbow, not from a wrist. All vibrato is from the wrist, so pay more attention when practicing vibratos on that. In general every technique you did is great, love the tappings and legato run, but all that needs to be more clearer and precise, so some fine tuning is necessary.
VIDEO: video is very good, angle of shooting very professional looking, and the background is nice as well. Picture is clear, but you lack lightning. There is one light down and to the right of you, but you need one strong light in front to really bring up the picture alive.
OVERALL IMPRESSION: Very good all around solo, full of different licks and techniques, needs more fine tuning on them all. Tone has to be more clearer. All in all you have a nice sense for soloing and minor passages.



Toroso

PLAYING: starting from the root, and going up slowly to the root one octave higher. then after some thought, a nice sequence downwards involving a pinky bend on the low E and the again going up to the D string root, watching in the same time to vibrate it in tempo. On the V chord you start to build tension, by going up the neck on the treble strings, and vibrating the root on the B string, a nice sequence, bend and moving down again to the root on D string. To finish off nicely, you go again up the B minor pentatonic from 1st to 2nd position up there, and bending your way out of the solo effectively.
SOUND: sound is good, I like the slightly crunchy preset, but some space, like reverb or delay wouldn't hurt as well. The good thing is that you kept your dynamic using this preset so it sounds nice and natural.
TECHNIQUE: minimalistic approach is a good way to go here. I like the fact that you think about your moves, not just picking and fretting away. Good thing that you do vibratos in tempo, but they can be even more securely executed. Also at some points there are mistakes here and there with picking the notes, but all in all everything is executed very carefully and with a good taste.
VIDEO: Video is excellent, very professional looking. Background is awesome and lightning as well. everything is very clear. Nothing to add really, you seem to know very well how to make a video.
OVERALL IMPRESSION: good thoughtful soloing, executing with a lot of taste, and from the heart as well. A bit suspended at moments and maybe too careful for my taste, but I think that is a good thing, cause I think you are aware where you can go and where you can't and playing withing those limits nicely, with absolutely no show off or anything. This shows a character.



Velvet Roger

PLAYING: starting with a nice vibrated bend, and doing a small pentatonic sequence to the VII B minor note, vibrating it in the same time. then a small half step bend, and to the root, repeated twice nicely, followed by a nice bluesy clapton style bending lick. then we have a beautiful minor sequence on the 12th fret, a couple of octaves, and playing notes from B minor scale using triplets, and to finish of, a nice shifting pentatonic pattern, starting from VII on low E in position 5 and moving up from 1 to position 2 and doing a finishing bend at the end - bending to V of course. very good.
SOUND: Sound is good, but since it is from camera mic, it can be better of course. Clean is very good I can tell, but there's no way to escape that boxy tone and reverberation that a room produces. So although you know it already, I say it nevertheless - direct sound is always better, even from a miced amp in a room.
TECHNIQUE: playing is very good, nice bluesy licks, all executed nicely. You seem to have a bit of trouble with bendings and vibrato. Your left hand is stiffened up a bit because you leave the inners side of the hand touching the back side of the neck to much. This way you slow yourself down and practically anchoring that hand. Of course, you should keep it there while playing certain stuff, but try to keep it as less as possible so you don't create a bad habit one day.
VIDEO: picture is pretty good and clear, you have only one light source, but a daylight one and strong enough. Another light to the left would be nice to make things a bit sharper on the guitar.
OVERALL IMPRESSION: a good player you are, with a great feel for the blues, you know some excellent blues licks, just need to connect them all in a bit more natural way, which will come in time, so no worries there. Your sense for rhythm is also very natural. In general very well done.


Thank you all very much for participating and see you in the next collab! smile.gif




Hi res video cannot be uploaded here at the moment, but I will try other solutions as soon as possible.


FINAL VIDEO MIX LO RES

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[Nemanja Filipovi...]

Hi guys.Another one is finished,and it came out great.Every take has his own value and story.All I can say that every one did great.Great does not mean just fas playing and good control.It also means that you tried,give your best,and you are redy to learn more every day.

 Dark_Light_Final_Mix.mp3 ( 7.03MB ) Number of downloads: 342



Number of participants:10

Order of the takes is in order of upload.So heres the final list:

OrganisedConfusion
skennington
Oxac
enforcer
Toroso
Fatbot
Caelumamittendum
SonofDestiny
Kaznie
kjute



OrganisedConfusion:


Well OC,I think this is great take.Melody is very smart and mature.I like that you followed the melody to some point,and then just did some little bounce of of that round and id sound great and original.
Only thing is maybe to much drive for this one.But every thing else rocks.
Thanks mate.


skennington:

Great take mate,I really like that the whole take is in kind of legato mode,and that you made it like a one word story.Very good control there and nice tone.
Second part of the solo is nice too,I like that you decided to go up the range,and give the whole thing more soul.
All in all great take.



Oxac:

Very interesting take mate.There is so much that I can hear here.From metal to blues solo,witch is great.I think that you haw a great control of your tone.
But once a gain I love the dynamics of melody progression.God job mate.


enforcer:


Wow,I like this one in ever way.Tone is amazing,and melody too.I really like the additional guitar backing sounds,intervals that comes with the main solo melody.
Nothing to add,just great take mate.
Job well done!!!


Toroso:


Well,you chose to go with melody solo,witch is ok.But you haw to work on your vibrato more and tone control.And you haw some notes in the second part that are not in the scale.
Idea is good at the end,just needs a little more work on the technical side of it
I really think that this is great experience for you,and with hard work you will be better on the next collab mate.


FatbOt:


Very good take mate.i like the amount of drive you haw here and the second part of the solo,where you use arpeggios that follow the melody.
Nothing else to add here,great take.


Caelumamittendum:


Amazing technique mate.Tone is great too.
Whole melody drives up nicely and has a "soul" of its own.Nothing else to add.Rally good job mate.


SonofDestiny:


One of the best played takes in this collab IMO.But the sound quality was very bad.You need to pay attention on your Input and output signal.That is why I needed to brake volume down a bit.
But playing and phrasing is great here.I can hear that you haw a great control and technical side is great too.
Great take man.


Kaznie:


As always mate one of the most original takes,but this time technique and control are a lot better.You haw improved a lot mate.Every thing is great.From Melody to control,and dynamic of the whole thing all together.


kjute:


Great speed mate,and great tone as well.I really like this take.Nothing to add on this one.Great ending too.



Just a few words.I am amazed by progress of collaboration takes in general.Moust of you participate in my collabs from before,and I just listen to the old ones.Improvement is amazing.Not just in technical way,but more important in composing the solos and there whole presentation.
Great job every body.

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[Pedja Simovic]

Hi guys. Welcome to final mix. Before getting to your notes I would like to thank everybody for participating in my first collaboration. I am pretty surprised by various levels of players at GMC. Some of you composed while others improvised but still there are things that sounded great! However, this doesn't mean that you won't get some critique from me smile.gif I would like you to take each critique as a good thing and as means to improve and work on your musical voice even more in future. By any means I have no intention to discourage any of you – after all we all have different levels and great thing about music is that learning process never stops!
One thing worth mentioning is please let me know if your take sounds good with Final mix. You can send me private message about that. I didn't mean to raise or lower any one of you guys nor to synch you bad with backing so sincere apologies in advance if that happened with your take.
Having said all of this, I would like to get to the notes. I have organized takes in alphabetical order so feel free to read about everything or just scroll down and find your notes wink.gif



First up is Alex Levis ( 0:00 – 0:34)



Sound – Very nice distortion. It brings out the notes without too much gain.
Intro – I like slide along with fast rhythmic part. It worked very effectively. One thing I didn't like is when you bended the note it sounded out of pitch(0:04 -0:05) - other than that great intro.
Phrasing/time feel/rhythm- Very good time feel and nice connected phrases. I like it !
Development/melodic shapes – Definitely very good work with this one. It sounds like you were telling a story which I like a lot about solos.
Technique- Bending needs work Alex. Other than bending your legato is strong along with hammer on and pull offs. Good job with doing multiple guitar parts even though I felt that wasn't really needed in your solo!
Outro/ending- Great job slowing down and doing opposite from the intro. Good job ending on the root of the chord.

If you would like more detailed comments regarding specific parts send me PM.
Overall this is very good solo , it has some nice development, good strong phrases just needs work on Bending and fast shredding part.
Thank you Alex. smile.gif


botoxfox (0:34 - 1:06)


Sound – The distortion has a lot of gain hence the notes don't come out clearly as they should. I would definitely try to work on the sound and "clean" it up with some different distortion perhaps.
Intro – Cool intro, I like the bend in the very beginning as well as long notes you rest on.
Phrasing/time feel/rhythm- Overall good work with this area however in the intro part phrasing sounds a bit off. As the solo went on phrasing got stronger which is great.
Development/melodic shapes – You did great job with this one! Your melodic shapes sound great together. Its like question answer type of thing and you did it very well. Doing low melody and responding with high one and things like that. Sounds like the solo has sense and meaning to it. Great work.
Technique- Your bending is in tune which is great; I liked a lot tapping along with tremolo picking. Very nice mixture of techniques!
Outro/ending- I think personally ending could have been a bit stronger! Melodically you hit the right note at the end but before it phrasing sounded a bit weak and the note choice could have been better as well.
I feel that you need to work on phrasing just a little bit more and your playing will come out even stronger. Also practice ending your solos strong!
Again this applies to all of you guys - for more detailed comments write me on PM regarding specific parts.
Thank you botoxfox


Caelumamittendum (1:06-1:38)

Intro – Totally unexpected! If that's what you were going for - great job! If that was not for you were going for I think you need to build the intro differently with different phrasing/rhythm. Or perhaps start with one guitar and later add more etc.
Sound – Sounds like too many things going on at once. Overall guitar sound is good however if 2 or more melodies are going in the background you need to be careful how you incorporate them. I like the energy the courage you took and experimenting in this one was awesome. Sounded like you were doing poly tonal playing (two different tonalities going on at the same time etc)
Phrasing/time feel/rhythm- All the guitar parts sound in time which is great. You need to work on mixing them and not overloading them wink.gif
Development/melodic shapes – Again at certain parts it lacked development but in some it was great work! Like when you repeated the same rhythmic and melodic shape higher on your guitar - that was great work!
Technique- Legato is strong here, there is some bending, and harmonics are also refreshing here. For this solo these techniques work great.
Outro/ending- It has a nice climaxed ending with fast passages in one guitar part while the other one is going slow and ending on Root.
Thank you Ben (Caelumamittendum )


Canis (1:38- 2:10)

Intro – I like the opening riff a lot especially the repetition after. Good job!
Sound – Good work the notes come out with distortion.
Phrasing/time feel/rhythm- It feels like you need to work in this area. The phrases are behind the beat and there is tendency like you are coming in late couple of times.
Development/melodic shapes – Nice work here I like the way melodies communicate in this one.
Technique- From technical stand point not crazy stuff going on here but you sacrificed technique for melodic approach and repetition which is cool! Work on your bending just a little bit and it will be perfect!
Outro/ending- I feel you could have done something different instead of main repetitive riff on here. However I love the ending note (G over D perfect 4th) the notes before that could have been different.
Overall good work with repetition and melodic shapes, phrasing needs work as well as bends. If your goal is to incorporate in future solos some tapping and other techniques I would advise focusing on them and trying to improvise just with them.

Thanks Canis



Coffeeman (2:10 – 2:42)


Intro – Good job with ascending run and then rhythmically slowing things down and creating great build up.
Sound – Could perhaps raise it up a little bit with EQ's other than that great.
Phrasing/time feel/rhythm- Great job overall. One spot that needed work was when you were doing faster economy picking towards the end of solo. It sounds like you were falling behind the beat there. So some work with time feel is recommended.
Development/melodic shapes – I like it a lot the way you approached the solo. Great work, melodies interact very well and development is there from intro to ending.
Technique- Bending legato alternate and economy picking good job with these. For what you were trying to get across with your solos these techniques worked perfectly.
Outro/ending- Long bended notes worked great. Perhaps slide out or lowering volume on the last bend would have worked even better.
Overall very good solo that needed time feel work on certain spots but other than that approach was great.
Keep up the good work Coffeeman and thank you for the take!



Enforcer (2:42 – 3:14)[b]

Intro – Awesome intro! Loved what you did here with one riff then repeated it and developed it with 2nd ending.
Sound – Very good work with the sound, very pleasing and spot on with the style.
Phrasing/time feel/rhythm- Intro is great along with all the other parts. One thing that sounded a bit off was after tapping part that short brake you took there. Overall very strong.
Development/melodic shapes – One of the best developments I have heard in this collaboration. Different repetitions, different phrases and rhythm - keep up the good work.
Technique- A lot of cool techniques in this solo. One small thing I have to say is that first bend you did didn't sound 100% exact so I would just point you to work on that a little bit more. Tapping , tremolo picking , tremolo vibrato , regular vibrato all great !
Outro/ending- Very effective , Van Halen like ending beautiful ! (think Beat it solo wink.gif

I love this take; it has all the things necessary that make up great solo. Your understanding of melodic approach repetition is very strong and I love how you used that with some of the rock techniques and created this solo.
Amazing job, thank you for your take Enforcer!




ItsMe (3:14 – 3:46)

Intro – Pinched harmonic sounded great however phrasing was a bit off and made the intro sound weaker than it should.
Sound – It's a bit dark but the notes still come out clear. I would try to work on some highs and middles with that patch.
Phrasing/time feel/rhythm- This sounds like it needs work the most in this whole solo. There were great melodic ideas, patterns and sequences but the phrasing was not on the beat. You need to work more with backing tracks and metronome. Write up your favorite rhythmic patterns, create your licks over them, and practice them with backing track and or metronome at various tempos. This will lock down your phrasing and it will sound much stronger.
Development/melodic shapes – Very nice development however later during the climax part of the solo there was far too many technical things going on (sounded like exercise almost). So just a little more work on development you will make it sound awesome.
Technique- Good mixture of legato tapping bending even some pinched harmonics.
Outro/ending- Sounded like you ended sooner than you expected and then you waited and hit the D note up an octave smile.gif You should start working on ending your solos stronger.
Overall since you improvised I would say this is very normal to have mistakes. However, the more you improvise and focus on correcting your weak points, your playing will sound even more mature and professional.
I only wrote this much info for you because I know how you play and this was definitely not your best so I am trying to motivate you and push you to try harder next time.
Thank you ItsMe !


kjutte (3:46 – 4:18)
Intro – Great intro with added development with repetition, ending everything on the root at the end.
Sound – I am not huge fan of your sound and I feel you need to look for other types of distortion. This one sounds like its in the background and not "in your face" type of sound which would really work with your aggressive style of playing.
Phrasing/time feel/rhythm- First half of the solo is spot on. Second half has more wondering around searching for some notes which caused phrasing to drop and rush or be behind the beat. You need to work on it more by practicing various rhythmic patterns and applying your own lines to it.
Development/melodic shapes – Very good job with development and melodic shapes. Solo has low high and middle points so that's what we really needed to look for in there. There were couple wrong notes in the solo that you should pay attention to and some bending was not 100% accurate, other than that great job!
Technique- Your picking is very strong and powerful. I think with techniques you applied in this solo attitude really came out (aggressive) so I feel that you have achieved your purpose.
Outro/ending- This part really needs work more than anything. Sounded like you finished couple of seconds before the actual backing ended and then you repeated your ending to fit it in the end. I feel it would have been better if you left it without adding the last thing to the ending because it just made it worse like it didn't belong there. So again, you need to work on soloing and creating characteristic endings that will fit your style of playing. Listen to your favorite artists, transcribe their endings (phrasing especially) and then apply your melodic choices over that same rhythm see what you can come up with. When you have done that and learned from it, start creating your own rhythm for endings and practice lines with it.
Overall this was strong and good solo. There were couple wrong notes in the solo that you should pay attention to and some bending was not 100% accurate. Taking in consideration that this was improvised solo - great job!
Thanks kjutte!


Matt23 (4:18- 4:50)
Intro – Very interesting note choice in the intro. I like the first phrase a lot but then second one doesn't really respond well to the first one. So in that sense I feel the intro could have been stronger (you started strong then ended it weak).
Sound – Very good sound! It fits the backing track 100% - great job!
Phrasing/time feel/rhythm- This area needs work. With faster passages you seem to be playing behind the beat when in this style of music things should be spot on beat. Work with metronome and backing tracks slowly and build up vocabulary of your original lines/licks/motifs that you will use in the solo. Also work on rhythmic coherence and connecting phrases better.
Development/melodic shapes – Some very nice development happening here. Repetition is there as well as sequence I like that , but I also feel you could have added on some spots different ending and not just do exact repetition for couple of seconds. So that would be great to work on in future coming up with different endings for your lines!
Technique- Again techniques you used served very well in this solo and it definitely described the style. Good job!
Outro/ending- I love the idea that you had for the ending , however the phrasing was a bit weak so the ending didn't sound as strong as it would have if you played all the notes in time! Note choice was perfect.
Overall I like the energy in this solo, sound was great along with repetition and sequence but there needs to be more work in phrasing area to make all the future solos sound more mature and like from records !
Thank you for your take Matt23 !

OrganizedConfusion(4:50-5:22)
Intro – One of the best entrances in the solo! Great guitar harmony , very characteristic for the style. I loved how waited on starting your phrase didn't start on beat one ! Excellent work OC.
Sound – Great guitar sounds, fits the backing, notes are clear – nothing to add or take from it.
Phrasing/time feel/rhythm- One of the best time feels in this solo. Great mixture of both fast and slow rhythms. Just by doing that you created some sort of question answer or development. Great job.
Development/melodic shapes – Very good work with development and melodic shapes.
Technique- Techniques work great with this solo.
Outro/ending- Good ending with repetitive phrases and different endings. I feel you could have worked even more on it but it does the job in the context of the solo.
Overall there was one quick section where it sounded like you didn't pick the note. Also after very intro that ghost note picking didn't sounds as strong as it should have. With right phrasing and melodic choice it would have been incredible addition to the whole solo!
I really like this solo as it has strong rhythm good melodic choice and interesting development.
OC make sure you work on things I mentioned.
Thank you for your take OC !

Roythebattousai (5:22-5:54)
Intro – Very nice intervallic intro with some sequence happening. Good job!
Sound – Good sound however I think if you took a bit gain of it it would be even better (or boosted some highs and mid EQs).
Phrasing/time feel/rhythm- At some points phrasing is really good at some it sounds rushed. You need to slow down your rhythms and put melodies to them before speeding them up. Otherwise it sounds like its rushed or muffled and melodies don't really breathe.
Development/melodic shapes – Great development and melodic shapes in this solo. It has beginning end repetition sequence different endings – very good work!
Technique- Slide in/out was great here! Very unexpected and it work perfectly. Your vibrato sounds a bit out of pitch so this is something that you need the most work on along with phrasing. Picking and everything else was very good!
Outro/ending- Again like couple of guys it sounded like you wanted to end it before the actual ending. The rhythm you used for last two notes in ending made it very obvious it was ending (I like that a lot). But sequence you used before would suit better if it was done in the middle (development) rather than ending. So I feel you could have done better ending on this one.
Overall good solo with great development and melodic shapes, interesting mix of techniques but needs work on Vibrato and Phrasing.
Thank you Roythebattousai!


Sami (5:54-6:26)
Intro – Nice bending idea at the very beginning ! However phrasing is a bit of in the second phrase that responds to the very first one. Good idea , could sound stronger with better phrasing or rhythmic idea there.
Sound – This sound needs work. I felt like it came from some old video game  No seriously it sounds 100% digital and robotic. You need to give it some soul. For starters less gain better work with EQs and you will be half way there. The rest will be choosing right pre amp, setting up noise gate and things like that.
Phrasing/time feel/rhythm- Sounds both good and bad. Besides the intro part with the small mistake I mentioned, during the rest of the solo sounds fairly strong. So overall this is good work but there is space for improvement definitely. Work on songs, riffs solos and apply those rhythms in your improvising. Record yourself and critique your progress daily.
Development/melodic shapes – Great development. I felt at times two guitars were playing here. One asking question other responding with good answer. Half way in the solo you did this great arpeggio and then responded with harmony descending run. That was awesome!
Technique- For the approach you took in this solo techniques work great.
Outro/ending- This is a good example how long note can work well. Good job , however I feel you could have ended it earlier as its not necessary to have one note ring out for hours wink.gif
Overall I am happy with development , some interesting melodic approaches and intro, but I feel work needs to be done in general Sound as well as Ending and some phrasing.
Thank you Sami!

SonofDestiny (6:26-6:58)
Intro – Excellent intro I like it a lot. Great phrasing applied and excellent note choice, great job here!
Sound – Works well with this backing however it might be even better with just a touch of less gain. Good work.
Phrasing/time feel/rhythm- To most extent good job however after you repeated the intro riff the second ending was not strong enough (with melodic leaps). So you need to work on that in future.
Development/melodic shapes – Nice choice of melodic shapes, and I like the development in the most parts except in the very ending. Good job.
Technique – Vibrato and Bending need work. Vibrato is not really bad but I feel you can contribute to your style more if you had a little more aggressive vibrato. Bending is not 100% on pitch so you need to work on it (direct and pre bends as well). Everything else technique wise sounds like it suited the solo well.
Outro/ending- This was your weakest part in the whole solo I believe. The rhythm you chose did not match with your whole solo and things you played before hand. You could have chosen different rhythm and melodic sequence here. So I would say you need to work on creating different endings in future. Again it helps a lot to transcribe favorite players and analyze their playing. It helps even more to record yourself always and listen to your endings and correct them (edit them to perfection).
Overall this solo had awesome intro, good sound and development but needs work on some phrasing , vibrato bending and endings !
Thank you SonofDestiny!

Superize(6:58 – 7:30)

Intro – Good note choice but with stronger phrasing this would have been awesome intro!
Sound – All the notes are clear which is awesome and distortion is there however your guitar sounds out of tune compared to backing track. Your guitar on recording is a bit sharp that is. You should pay attention to these small details in future as they mean a lot when doing studio projects or recording for somebody's record or song.
Phrasing/time feel/rhythm- I like the simplicity you picked and at certain points phrasing sounds very strong. So you did good job with that but there were also places where it sounded a bit sloppy like you were unsure whether or not you should start on or off beat your phrase. So I would say practicing with metronome and backing tracks, writing down favorite rhythms and applied licks to them is a must do if you want to sound even more professional in future solos. And this goes for majority of guys here not just you wink.gif
Development/melodic shapes – Since this solo was laid back rhythmically, you did a great job developing it. I think this was far the strongest point in your solo. Great job!
Technique- Very nice use of techniques that blend very well with the approach you took for this solo. I feel you needed to add some stronger Vibrato to your melodies (ending notes especially). That would give them lot more life and meaning. So I recommend you practice ending your phrases (long notes) with different types of vibrato!
Outro/ending- Note choice was great for the ending. The phrasing also worked but I do have advice to give you here! Always try to use different type of time feel/rhythm in your endings then you did trough out the solo. So you used half notes, whole notes, doted quarters etc- why not use Triplet type of rhythm in the ending or constant eight notes or even sixteen notes? That will give definite sense to listener that you finished because variation will be there !
Overall this solo had great note choice, great example how to use longer rhythmic values in solos and melodic shapes. For future you need work on stronger phrasing (playing on and of the beat it time) , stronger vibrato and more distinguished ending !

Thank you Superize!



Tjchep(7:30-8:02)
Intro – Interesting intervallic leaps and phrasing. I didn't however like the connection between first two phrases and feel you could have done even better job with that! Overall this is good but it can be better.
Sound – This was probably your weakest point in the whole solo. The sound was full of lows and it sounded like you covered your amp with blanket or something  Seriously with the melodic choices you make when soloing your sound would bring that even more up , so I would spend some time experimenting with pre amp settings as well as EQ's and distortions.
Phrasing/time feel/rhythm- Very interesting phrasing. Sounds very advanced fusion type to same extent (thing Guthrie Govan for example). Good job however you need to have some sort of variation in it so I suggest working out more rhythmic combinations and implying them in your playing!
Development/melodic shapes – Melodic shapes were excellent but I am not happy with development! Sounded like you just wanted to play over the backing track and "make the changes". What you should have done rather is approached it like you were telling story with your solo. The story I got from your solo is like you could talk for hours like that and there was no end to it. In other words, your solo doesn't have sections (beginning middle end, climax high and low points) worked out. So my sincere advice is that you need to think about this more – especially when improvising !
Technique- Flawless technique – this was your strongest point no doubt. Great tremolo usage along with legato technique.
Outro/ending- You faded out your ending so I didn't really hear what your intention was there. Either way you could have ended it earlier or extended it but made interesting rhythmic phrase to correspond with your melodic idea. Ending could be much better.
I have heard your playing on forum TJ and I know you are talented and gifted player. However this doesn't mean that there is no place to improve – on contrary , I expect you with talent and age that you posses to work double hard than anybody here because trust me I know – this will bring great results for you in future. I hope you take all these critiques and advices from heart and I don't mean to discourage your or anybody else from improving – it should have immediate effect on you to sit down grab your guitar and get to practicing.
Overall this solo had great technique beautiful phrasing but sound of the guitar along with ending and development needs work.
Thank you Tjchep!


Tolek (8:02 – 8:34)

Intro – Very good intro. Features regular and syncopated rhythm. I like question and answer in it. Great job.
Sound – It is very difficult to judge the sound since its recorded with camcorder but I would say it has a touch of extra gain that I would take off. Perhaps boosting highs and mids on EQ would have worked as well.
Phrasing/time feel/rhythm- Some parts have great phrasing some your rushing or slowing down. In general the faster the lick is you tend to play out of time. So my recommendation is to practice all the fast passages with metronome and backing tracks slow before trying to use them in real solo. Overall you have nice combination of straight and syncopated rhythms!
Development/melodic shapes – This solo develops great. One of the best developments along with other guys mentioned. Story has story behind it and melodic shapes do the great job telling that story along with phrasing. This is your strongest point with technique.
Technique- Very cool usage of techniques in this solo. You really made me believe you were leaning in intermediate zone of a player from the tapping sliding and legato. However out of time phrasing gave you away easily there wink.gif Good job with techniques!
Outro/ending- One of the "flashiest" endings in the whole collaboration. Really shows that you sat down and worked the ending out especially for this occasion and I appreciate that a lot! Very good job.
Overall Tolek this solo was one of the best ones structure wise. Melodic shapes and development was great. Usage of techniques was very well placed. This solo needed work on phrasing/rhythm to be spot on in certain places. Other than that everything was done with great taste.
I believe if you did couple of extra takes that the phrasing would have been better as well , but that's something you have to work on in future collaborations !
Thank you Tolek !


Toroso (8:34 – 9:06)
Intro – Good ideas with repetitive melodies however the phrasing should be stronger to make it sound spot on! Good effort.
Sound – Very interesting guitar sound (effect wise). Sounds like there is some auto wah or filter going on there I really like how you used that. On the other side, your guitar sounds like its slightly out of tune (sharp). It might not be the tuning but rather your fingers- you might be pressing strings too hard into frets and this causes intonation to vary and sound sharp. So I would definitely check that out!
Phrasing/time feel/rhythm- Your phrasing is 99% behind the beat. In this style of music you have to be on top sometimes even over the top to play with energy and lead the bend. You sound like band is playing and you are trying to reach them somehow. I think it might have to do with usage of syncopated rhythm. I am sure if you choose simpler and longer rhythm like Superize you would have cruised through the solo! So my suggestion is to practice rhythms and phrasing – that was your weakest point in this solo.
Development/melodic shapes – There is some nice melodic shapes and developing is definitely happening. I feel that if you applied different rhythm to some of the notes it would be even stronger but overall good job with this one!
Technique- Your bending needs work. You need to practice to bend in and to bend out of the note (pre bend), and this you need to practice with different rhythms and tempos. Other than that techniques used were great!
Outro/ending- This part along with phrasing was the weakest in the solo. Perhaps, again, if you used different rhythm for the notes it would have sounded stronger.
I think this take is perfect example for future references for you my friend. You will very soon see how all the things I advised you on will be gone if you get to practice. I am personally very much looking forward to your future collaborations and takes as I feel you among all the players will have very obvious improvements!
Thank you for your take Toroso!


UncleSkilet(9:06 – 9:38)
Intro – Excellent! Great phrasing and the long bend with gradual decreasing to original pitch is just brilliant. I love it!
Sound – It fits nicely the backing track. Good job.
Phrasing/time feel/rhythm- Phrasing is almost perfect! You have firm understanding of rhythm and your time feel usage is great however sometimes you rush a phrase and that happens usually when you TIE a note or hold it trough the bar lines (one note for two different chords for example). This requires some "digging" in your phrasing and practicing very specific rhythmic patterns that will help you overcome that difficulty.
Development/melodic shapes – Development is definitely there. Your solo tells me a story , I like that a lot. Melodic shapes are also there. From predictable ones (intervallic runs) to unpredictable ones (question and answers with high and low phrases). Very good job.
Technique- Nice combination of techniques here. I would say that you like Satriani – correct me if I am wrong  I hear his rhythm in your legato phrases! One thing I noticed is that you tend to overuse the slide out technique when you finish your phrase. Try to restrict yourself from doing it so often. It should be used as special effect not as part of solo  Your vibrato is very shaky compared to everybody else in this collaboration. I would love to hear you in future collaborations with less aggressive vibrato!
Outro/ending- Its very good , it would have been amazing if you hit all the notes and used tremolo picking in my opinion.
Overall this is very good solo. It tells a story , uses nice techniques and good development and melodic shapes. Phrasing needs some "polishing" but other than that I am happy with this take.
Thank you UncleSkillet!


Velvet Roger (9:38 – 10:10)
Intro – Great idea for the intro I loved it. I didn't like that you extended the intro very long when you had chance to end the phrase much sooner. Great melodic choice!
Sound – Very interesting sound! I like it, its different and notes come out. It doesn't however have a lot of gain , in fact its more of a bluesy type of sound . I would add a touch of gain to it perhaps.
Phrasing/time feel/rhythm- This area needs some work. You have very nice syncopated ideas. I think that you need to use more rests in your solos and make them breathe. Also start working on some "on beat" type rhythms. When you overuse syncopated phrases then they don't mean as much as if they were balanced with on beat phrasing. This is something you need to work on.
Development/melodic shapes – I loved how you had repetition and different endings here. Excellent job developing from one idea. I think in future you would be very good jazz player as this is something that jazz players do a lot. Melodic shapes are also well incorporated with the fact that you used a lot of repetition.
Technique- Your bending needs work (double bends in particular). Other than that techniques you choose for your solo worked well with the intensity level in it! Good job.
Outro/ending- Double stops didn't sound strong (accented) as they should. Since the phrasing was similar to the whole solo, you had two options to do in your ending : 1) totally change phrasing or 2) do something different melodically or technically that will determine that passage to sound like ending.
Overall I like the ideas in this solo a lot along with that sound. I think your phrasing needs work (on beat phrasing in particular) and also bending. I see you improving a lot just by adjusting your phrasing.
I look forward to your future solos on collaborations.

Ok guys , this was it.
I hope that you enjoyed your comments and that you found them useful and meaningful to each one of you.
I would like to take this opportunity and thank you all for participating in my first collaboration at GMC. It was my honor to have you in, listen to your takes and give you my opinion on them.
Sorry about the final mix – I did the grading based on your takes you sent me with backing tracks .

Thank you for reading all this and if you have any extra questions shoot me a private message if you don't want it answered here.

Keep up the good work everybody and I hope to see you in my next collaboration.

Pedja

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[Bogdan Radovic]

Old School Rock Collab!!

Hello!

I'm back with a final mix of this collab!! I want to than you guys for playing in this collab and being part of this unique piece of music we all created together! Backing was rock ballad from 60s type and you managed to make some cool and expressive solos to go with it! I tried to give some constructive feedback on your takes.Please keep in mind that its a subjective one and that opinions may differ, collabs are all for fun and to learn something.It was really a pleasure to work with you guys!!

HERE IS THE FINAL MIX :  Old_School_Rock_Collab_Final_Mix.mp3 ( 9.6MB ) Number of downloads: 352


Participants : 16

I arranged tracks in no particular order (I think it should be similar in what order you sent your takes in) :

Comments :

Enforcer:

We are opening this collab with your solo.I liked the guitar sound , maybe there could be less gain and treble but its very healthy sounding and cuts well through the mix.I liked the solo development and note choice..Your phrasing was really good and arpeggios were nice touch.Also the second part of the solo was spot on , the melody you developed was perfect for this style (repetitive licks) and it was very memorable..I couldn't stop hearing it in my head for few days after I first heard your take.Maybe you could work on your vibrato a little more , to make those long notes even more expressive..Thanks for participating in this collab!

Fatb0t:

First thing I notice in your take is your guitar sound..I think you overdid it with gain a lot, so the guitar sound its loosing its integrity and you can't distinguish notes well..But its easy to fix , just roll it off down..Solo idea was interesting, starting with double stops and everything.Also tapping was a good idea , could be a little more tightly played but it was nice.I really liked the ending part of the solo with high bends overlapping notes on different strings.There was a cool melody played.Very nice solo overall , I would just suggest incorporating even more bends , hammer-on , pull-offs and most importantly vibrato in order to make solos like sing! Also its a good idea to record video of your performance too, its very good tool for self evaluation too... Thanks for joining this one.

Strat:

I liked your guitar sound.I suppose its a strat guitar ? You can hear its character.But I would suggest make the sound a little more clear , by adding treble and make it more bright..It was kind muffled a bit...Solo idea was nice, intro could have been a little more convincing melody vise..Incorporating double stops was a nice touch.Main theme was nice , but I would have loved to hear more development like jumping on higher positions to make small screamy melodies or something.Generally its was a cool take , I would suggest paying a little more attention to timing and also to bending (some bends were slightly out of tune)..Fun take mate, thanks for joining this one!

Kaznie_NL:

Very nice clean guitar sound Kaznie.That type of sound really suits this track well.I liked your solo idea..Though it was lacking a little more development as second part of the track was pretty much the same as the first.Melody you were going for was nice and interesting.In the second part you should have moved to higher position to make things more interesting.I would suggest also paying more attention to bending (a the beginning of the solo note was out of tune) and also to muting (there were some unwanted noises while bending the strings).And I missed a lot vibrato on those long notes.But I know you had troubles with your wrist so this take is very good considering that! Thanks for joining this collab!!

Toroso:

Your guitar tone was very clean and I liked it!Regarding the solo development your vere lacking the phrasing to make it more interesting..Also you stayed in the same position throughout the solo..I would suggest using the C major scale (and its modes) to solo over this backing utilizing notes on the whole neck.Also this type of backing really goes well with simple vocal like melody licks...They can be repetative too and that's cool.Also incorporating hammer-ons and pull-offs and vibrato really helps a solo to be more expressive..You can play 3 notes and utilizing those expressive tools make it sing! Just take your time when jamming/composing these solos and keep in mind that good simple melodies (good executed) are always leaving good impression on the listener..It doesn't need to be technically advanced to be interesting.I would suggest exploring your fingerings and trying to play ones you are not used to from exercising scales.That way you can come up with really cool licks.Thanks for playing in this one Toroso!

Kjutte:

I liked the character of your tone..I would only suggest lowering a little gain , and also some effects you used (guitar was sound a little too much "chorus like").All notes were in place and I liked how you developed the solo and melodies and at the same time blend different techniques.I would suggest paying a little more attention to bending and vibrato control to make it more precise.Great take overall , thank for joining this collab!

Organized :

Very good guitar sound choice..Clean is a good way for this type of backing and style.I liked the melodic approach you went for.You could have used in the second part of the solo a little more different phrases to make it stand apart from the previous solo ideas.Ending on high notes was cool! I would advise paying just a little more attention to the timing though and getting into the groove of the track.Very good solo overall , thanks for participating mate!

Mat23:

Nice guitar sound, maybe adding a slightly more treble to make it bright could work too.Also lowering gain a little could be nice.I liked the octaves usage idea in the intro part.After that you went for some nice licks, though I think you didn't have to use double stops to make it more clean sounding.Second part of the solo with all the harmonies was really cool! Though in some places i didn't fit what bass was playing but it was fun to listen! More vibrato in longer notes would work great in your solo.Thanks for playing in this collab!

Tj:

Great healthy sound..I can really recognize your style.Solo was interesting , though I kinda missed small slower melodies in higher registers.But I can hear this was probably the first take.All notes were in place and you know your way on expressive tools (bends , vibrato etc).Very cool solo TJ (nothing less expected from You ).Thank for participating!

Gilmore:

Ok you guitar tone was absolutely perfect ! Regarding the solo , well it was perfect too! You really captured the vibe of this track and made a clean solo in the style of 60s with utilizing all the little tricks heard in such solos (double stops etc).This was an excellent take !! Thanks for rocking this collab!

Superize:

Nice guitar tone..You got hang of using that toneport..Maybe a little less gain would be better though..Its a healthy recorded take.Though generally this is pretty heavy sounding color of guitar and backing is about 60s ballad but Its in your style so its cool.I can hear huge improvement in your playing in relation to some previous collabs we did together.You are playing the right notes and following the progression well.Solo idea was good , maybe in the second part you could have developed it even more to make it more interesting and different from what you played in the first part (for example changing both notes and rhythmically - how you played parts).Also I missed more hammer-ons and pull-offs in your solo and also stronger vibrato on long sounding notes..That would really make it more expressive..Very good playing my friend, thanks for joining this collab!

Leedbreak:

Nice guitar tone..To make it better I would suggest lowering gain pretty much.Nice intro utilizing arpeggios.You developed some cool phrases in your solo..To make it more interesting I would suggest making pauses between phrases to make your solo breath a little more.Last part of the solo was a little flat sounding because of using same note lengths..experiment with that a little more..Thanks for participating mate..Cool take overall!

Skennington:

Nice guitar tone mate.You could maybe make it more bright , it was a little muddy sounding.Solo idea is nice, starting slowly and than going for small melodies.I would suggest paying a little more attention to scale notes and also bending because they can be out of tune and need more control.Also its good to think about dynamics (how hard you hit the strings) to make a more smooth sounding solos...Thanks for jumping in this collab mate!

Col Roberts:

Excellent clean guitar sound..It was really good! I liked the ambiance on that too (delay) and the intro melodie was interesting.Also second part of the solo is sounding good and you didn't much experiment rather just go with proven type of solo (repetitive licks of the time and intervals usage)..Also octaves were nice! Its good to keep it simple yet effective!! Cool solo overall , thank Col for joining this joining this collab!

Velvet Roger:

Ok you forgot to send me the guitar only take, the one that should be that was one with just the backing solo , so I used your mix with the backing..Interesting guitar sound..A little muffled though (like your playing underwater).Intro melodies was good, in the second part you could have made it more interesting by going for something new rather using the same idea from the intro(and playing around)..Third and 4th parts of the solo were pretty good! Though be careful what notes you play (some were out of scale).Very nice take overall , thanks for playing in this one!

Son Of Desteny:

Ok we got a pleasure to end this collab with your take! Guitar sound was nice and it cuts through mix well.I liked the solo and phrases you went for..Though I feel you were having troubles with your technique to get all the notes out so I would suggest simplifying part in order to execute them well..That will always sound much more convincing than "sloppy" parts..Though you were not heaving that much troubles, I'm sure if you playing this solo one more time you would nail it.As I said note choice was nice, maybe a little more expressive tools like bend and vibrato and it would be perfect..Thanks for playing in this collab and also closing it !!

Cheers

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This post has been edited by Bogdan Radovic: Nov 30 2008, 09:54 PM

[Nemanja Filipovi...]

Hi guys,I mixed this collab with great plessure.All the takes are great in there own way,and I am very happy with how much original material this collab haw.

 Crazy_Blues_Collaboration_FINAL_MIX.mp3 ( 7.2MB ) Number of downloads: 282




Noumber of participants :7

Order of participants in the final mix is the same as the order of uploads.

enforcer:

Amazing take mate.I can hear so much original inspiration here.Every thing is crazy enough to make prefect scence.The finishing shredding is mind-blowing fast and clean.
Beginning is very melodic and at the end of the first phrase arpeggios sound great,as in the end.
Thanks for the take,really great one it is.


Toroso:

Beautiful take.You manage to make from this strange backing an amazing melodic solo.
This melody is some thing that people would sing in there spare time,this is the melody that sticks in your head for a while.
You have nice tone,and the color goes perfect with the syle of your take.
Once again,great take mate.

GuitarsANDtattoo...:

Idea is great,and execution is good.The take has that soul blues tuch.
First part is great as a melody.And you kept the vibe to the end.
I think you can improve a lot,you have the talent for sure.Not saying this is bad played take.But there are some finess and little things that can make your guitar sound great.like tone control and techique.
All in all,good take mate.

leedbreak:

Very nice take,every thing is floating and every thing is kinda connected.
I thik you had a few off scale notes, but nothing this backing could not make it right.smile.gif
I like your tone buy the way,nice amount of drive.
Good take all in all.

Kjutte:

I did my best to equalize the sounds between your take and the main backing that I use in Nuendo.Next time send me the guitar solo take alone(with out backing) and one with backing.
Now,this is one of my favorite takes.Exellent playing,phrasing,and techique.You have great melody places,you have great shread places where we can hear great speed.
All in all great take mate.

Oxac:

This is the craziest take(in a good way that is).
I can hear so many tecnicuqes here well played.This sounds like real crazy blues take.
Nothing to add mate,great one.

Alex Lewis:

Perfect playing.I like the effects that you add in some parts of the take.
Control is great,tone is amazing and playing too.
Really nothing to add mate.Great job here.

And mine little contribution for this collab.I did a first take organ solo.

Hope the comments are good enough.There are some areas that I cant go as a singer.But I really like all the takes.
Great job every one.

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[Ivan Milenkovic]

Hey Guys here's the final mix finally! I've included Sami in the mix yesterday, and rendered again, this time we will have only one resolution, and with Kris's permission and yours of course, I will put this one on YouTube. I wanna ask you do not put this mix on YouTube yourself, I will put it if we get all the green lights. Thank you!



I must say you were all great in the collab, there are some major improvements, and no set backs. It seems that everybody are progressing at a great rate! Thank you all for participating, and hopefully you will understand the comments in a positive light. After all this time, you know it is my only intention to help everybody the best way I can. As always, if somebody have difficulties understanding the comments, have a complain, advice, suggestion of anything at all, feel free to post here, or PM me so we can discuss it in detail. Thanks again guys!



STATS:

Music Genre: Rockabilly
Type: Video
Participants: 12
Duration: 7m09s
File: .AVI (XviD)



FINAL MIX AND COMMENTS:


chast
PLAYING: Starting off with some nice slide licks, followed by a vibrated note, and then moving on to some nice tapping lick, and great picking hand slide harmonics lick. Then some great 6 bends with vibrato on top, going up the neck the sound really cool, and again some tapping this time going down. After that moving to some nice pentatonic lick, followed by a long vibrated G, and going to the C in the end
TECHNIQUE: Lets start from slides, they are good and really add to the vibe of the tune, but they could be a bit more faster. They do sound OK, but if you play them even more precise, and really come fast to the fret that you are sliding into, the sliding licks will sound even more secure. Vibrato is pretty good, you do it properly, and IMO it needs just some fine tuning that's all. I'm glad to see that you play vibrato on bended notes as well, and you use nice and wide vibrato. So a bit more even vibrating will do the trick there. When practicing the vibrato, go up the pitch and stay there, and repeat that as many times as you can. In the end it will be pro sounding, considering current vibrato technique. I love the occasional tapping licks as well, they are cool sounding, and you play them in rhythm as well. Also that sliding with your pick hand is a great touch indeed.
SOUND: You sound is pretty cool, nice and thick. It is not buzzy at all, it is smooth, so no complaints there. A bit more precision in playing will make your tone shine, so be more careful about notes bleeding one into another. This is what makes a great tone.
VIDEO: Video shot is a bit to the left, but I think the video itself is pretty clear, and I can see everything that you play. Other than that light behind you from the ceiling, you could use another one to the right and in front to remove any shadows there and really shine your guitar and hands.
OVERALL IMPRESSION: You have a good sense for rhythm and know where to apply the licks to make them sound good, but a bit more work needs to be done on the solo structure. You must be aware of the key you are in and the scales on the fretboard all the time, and this will really make it easier to play and express yourself even more. No worries there, cause judging on the way you play, you're on the right track mate, just keep it up like this. The most useful things to use in this video are C major pentatonic and C minor pentatonic scales, and these 2 scales are in the same time easy to learn on the whole fretboard. They have the same patterns, only they are on different positions. So the first thing that you should do is to learn them, specially the major pentatonic one. Try to jam this track using that scale and you will know what I mean. It has a root on the C, but it is the second pentatonic box, and the root is on 8 fret (or in your case 9 since you're in Eb tuning).

skennington
PLAYING:Great first bend, and release as well, then some nice and fast legato lick, followed by a tapped D#, then a small sequence on the pentatonic scale, and another solid bend. After that we have some nice sliding repetitive lick that goes along great with the rhythm of the track and another bend. After that you go up the neck, first doing one bend in the major scale, than one in the minor scale, that sounds nice, and finishing off using a pentatonic pattern.
TECHNIQUE: You technique is cool mate, I like the way you do your bends, they are sharp, fast and precise. Vibrato technique is on the other hand a bit on the weak side, but it is good that you don't use it despite that. There are room for improvements, and I think with some focused practice on the vibrato, you will have no problems executing it, just need to practice it a bit more. I can hear that sometimes you are trying to vibrate the string but it is not working that great as other stuff, and it is good not to overuse it in that case, so smart thinking. Those legato and tapping parts are pretty good, and they go along with the rhythm nicely. One thing that you really need to work on is your picking technique. You pick mostly downstroke, and alternate pick rarely, and when you do, it sounds a bit unprecise. Try practicing some plain runs up and down, this should really give even more confident to you when playing, and with such a great technique that you already have, really add a lot to your playing. So alternate picking and vibrato are IMO the things you should focus on more.
SOUND: The sound is pretty cool, very piercing in a good way, and cuts trough the mixs great, despite having a lot of gain. I think good pickups are the key there, well defined sound. Sometimes you aren't too precise with some notes, so you get a small amount of note bleed, but that is acceptable, in general sound is smooth and very useful for leads.
VIDEO: Video is good, a true YT video, with the hat and the bedroom shot Angle is pretty good, I can see everything clearly, and visibility is solid, but can be better of course. More stronger light in front would really make everything look nice, I think 200W light would do the trick. Other than thats a cool shot right there.
OVERALL IMPRESSION: Although this kind of track is possibly not in your style you seem to get along well with it. You don't fight it, but god with the flow, and using the licks you know to create a cool vibe. I like how you wait and choose the right moment for picking or tapping the notes, this creates a lot of positive feeling to the listener. In the end you kinda go offbeat a little, but this is a minor issue. Structure of the solo is OK, but needs some work in order to sound just right, solo must have proper beginning and end just like a story. The intro and main part you did well, and I think the end could be a bit more effective. Even if you did only one of those great bends in the end in the proper time it will sound great, so try focusing more on finishing off the improvisations in a more effective way. I like the way you changed scales here and there, and in general you have a good understanding about the notes on the fretboard, just need to work on that picking hand technique in order to accomplish everything you wanna play. This should really add up to your playing mate. All in all great job on the solo.

Toroso
PLAYING: Starting off from good ol' minor pentatonic box, following teh rhythm in a great fashion and budiling a nice melody, vibrating strings as you go along. Then we have 3 bending licks followed by the vibrated root. After that you do to the box 5 and do some nice sequences, making sure that you're in time with those bends, and then going up the neck doing some bending licks in the box 2, and going down to finish off in box one C root on the D.
TECHNIQUE: I like your technique mate, it reminds me on BB King a bit, lots of minimalistic phrases on the treble strings. The good thing about your playing is that you play the stuff you really mean to play. I think you are aware of how the notes sound and that you use them in just the right order. This is why this solo has some logical progression in it. Vibrato and bands are again one thing you should be focused on, since you vibrate the string with your ring finger instead from the wrist. The movement should always go from the wrist, no matter what, this keeps the vibrato more natural. You picking technique is nice and clean.
SOUND: Sound is nice and clean, as I said your clean technique adds a lot to the tone, and it sounds very neat.
VIDEO: Video is perfect, just like the last time. I like the fact that you use this pattern as the background, adds to the quality of the shot. Also lightning is strong, and I can see everything super clear. In addition to that the light is dispersed so there are no strong shadow. Excellent mate.
OVERALL IMPRESSION: Your technique is minimalistic but neat and precise. You are thinking about your playing, and the solo structure sounds intelligent. From the previous collab you seem to mastered a bit of the boxes, so now you transfer them more seamlessly. Vibrato needs a bit more work, but in general you use it in good places, it just needs to be more secure that's all. What I would recommend is to expand your lick vocabulary, so you can insert some licks here and there. Because you are really watching what you play and where, I think you would put them in the right places, and it will really bring up the quality of your playing a lot. Even 1-2 effective but simple licks in the main part and in the end can make a world difference.

OrganizedConfusion
PLAYING: Starting with some nice and cool muted lines on the major scale pentatonic. Then we have a couple of slides down the fret, and using a root on the A string which adds to the vibe nicely. After that one lick but repeated first time in the minor and second time in the major pentatonic scale, very clever thing to do. Also the next lick with G string bended and playing on top of it a nice little line is extra cool. Then you do to C major pentatonic again, for some very cool lines, and finishing off in the minor pentatonic on the root nicely.indeed.
TECHNIQUE: Your technique is quite good OC, I think you know well where minor and major pentatonic scales are, know the theory, and apply it in a good way. Playing is nice and clean, and picking is cool. Bending and vibrato should be the things you should spend more time while practicing. bending is a bit unprecise, and vibrato is bit unsecure, but this is just some fine tuning to really get it nice and perfect. So other than those 2 things that you should focus on, everything else is pretty good, you managed to play the solo in a great fashion. Well done.
SOUND: I really like the sound, it's a bit buzzy, barely noticeable, but it can be a matter of personal preference as well the way you made the preset, so no complaints there. I like that the sound has some dynamics, and that it sounds a bi twangy - it adds to the vibe of the track, really nice.
VIDEO: Picture is good, a bit strange angle, but I can see the fretboard well. More straight angle would enable a good view on the picking hand as well. Lightning is OK, needs one more light in front of you, and the contrast is a bit low.
OVERALL IMPRESSION: You are a very solid player with a good knowledge of the scales and good idea how to use them. Also lick vocabulary is very good, and nice to see that you can apply same licks on different scales, this is very useful when improvising. Well played solo, needs some fine tuning, like more precise playing, more dynamics and feel, and better bendings and vibrato, but in general I think you really did great mate, and that you're a quality player. More work on bends and vibrato and your playing will shine even more. Great job.

Alex Lewis
PLAYING: Starting off with a great bluesy lick on the minor pentatonic scale, cool twangy picking. Then a nice legato sequence using hybrid picking, a bend, slide, going to box 2, and then some more cool hybrid picking on the intervals. Again some great fast hybrid legato lines, and another bendy line, and then followed by a great index finger bending lick that really adds to the country vibe. After that we have some ultra fast run down the minor pentatonic, and a nice minor pentatonic lick to finish off the piece effectively.
TECHNIQUE: Technique is really great, I live the dynamic you achieve both with the pick and with fingers, you really get that nice twangy tone. With pick you dig in the string nicely so you accent it properly. Fretting hand technique is just as good, but bendings and vibrato need more work. You bend and vibrate properly, but not very wide, bends and vibratos needs to be more wider and more secure. I recommend focusing more on whole step bends, and vibrato will also come after you master that.
SOUND: Cause you sent me the sound from a camera mic, it is not that good. It is muffled, and frequencies are way off, but nevertheless I think the tone you get from your guitar is great, I like the twangy vibe, and with a bit more work around recording methods it will sound great. Next time just try to record directly somehow and it will sound great. If you can't record directly into computer, try to play with the headphones and at least give the solo of your playing separately. This would raise the audio quality very much.
VIDEO: Video is good, There is a light above you, and again, one in front of you would kill those shadows that one from above is making. Also the video is with a bit too much contrast, and some parts of the video are overexposed. This means that the video information is lost, and all that is seen is white (like on the bed). Next time try to cut down the exposure of the cam so you have all the contures displayed nicely. Additional light will help that it doesn't look to dark if you cut down the exposure.
OVERALL IMPRESSION: Great playing, and good sense for rhythm. Also great lick vocabulary, and you put it in the right places. I like the hybrid picking technique a lot, and you really nailed the style of the backing - it sounds rockabilly to me. If you spend more time on those whole step bends, and if you try to make audio a bit better it will really make a world difference - it will look and sound pro. Great job mate.

Superize
PLAYING: Starting from the major pentatonic using alternate picking, doing one bend, and another one. After that we have the same lick but in different positions - it sounds great, and then 5 bends that sound pretty good. Then we have another lick that is repeating, but you play it with staccato next time, and you change the rhythm nicely, so it really sounds cool. In the end a couple of more nice lines, and finishing off effectively with a cool lick again using staccato a bit and legato lick in the end.
TECHNIQUE: You playing is nice, clean and precise. Alternate picking is neat, and the the picking is even. Bendings and vibratos need to be stronger tho, you focus on making them even more faster and precise. This should really add to the quality of your playing. I like the way you do the raking notes, and you do them a lot! This is a very cool technique and you do it very clean. This shows how much a small detail can mean a world difference in one player phrasing abilities. Focusing a bit on the vibrato is gonna make it even greater difference.
SOUND: Sound is solid, well defined, there's a distortion, and it feels a bit edgy while picking, but I think you play very cleanly, and your tone is nice and neat. This kind of preset really cuts nicely through the mix, but my personal preference would be to have a bit more dynamics. Although the preset is on the verge to sound a bit buzzy, it doesn't because the way you play - precise.
VIDEO: This was the only video I had to apply the brightness filter mate, because I couldn't see what you were playing! Sorry for changing the your clip only, but I think this way it is much better - you practically sent me a very dark clip, so you should definitely consider getting one more light for these recordings, and try to increase the brightness through some filter like I did. I presume that you recorded with a webcam, and these babies require a lot of light, so I recommend at least 100W (200W would be better) in front of you. The light from above is just to weak for the webcam.
OVERALL IMPRESSION: I think you are a well balanced player, you don't rush things and play what you do best. From the previous collab you seem to be advancing a bit with positions, because now you move through them better, and do your bends and raking nicely. In other words - your phrasing is great. What you need to work more is to expand your lick vocabulary. 1 - 2 catchy licks can make a real difference in your playing, it doesn't have to be hard, or fast, just effective. In general you managed to stay with the vibe of the tune using major pentatonic and this shows you got taste for music. Well done.

coffeeman
PLAYING: Starting with some sliding licks and a bend, and again a couple of more lines in a similar fashion. Then a cool minor pentatonic sequence down that sound nice and bluesy, and another one this time in major pentatonic, very nice. After that and awesome tapping lick down the pentatonic scale that really sound effective, and going up the frets to do some cool bending work and to finish off the solo nicely in that fashion.
TECHNIQUE: Your technique is pretty solid, nice picking all around, little unsecure, but good sounding nevertheless. Tapping technique judging by the execution of that tap lick is excellent, very nice and clean. Vibratos are done properly, but they need to be even more stable and even. With bendings it's a similar story - they are good and properly executed, but (specially those in the end) need to be a bit more precise. Other than that it's a good display or techniques all around.
SOUND: Sound is very cool, I love the neck single sound, it sounds nice and smooth. Distortion is a bit buzzy, but it can be a subjective matter. Personally I would prefer more dynamics and less drive, but this sounds pretty smooth to me nevertheless. Your playing is nice and neat, and so is the tone because of that.
VIDEO: Video is cool, I like the hat mate, it really gives the shot a cool vibe The video itself is with a bit more contrast that it should be, and mainly because you had one light on the right, and no lights on the left. One more light in the font of you and to the left would make this part of the shot look nice, and the whole shot will look more even in lighting. Try to focus in making the shot more even as far as brightness concers. Other than that it is OK.
OVERALL IMPRESSION: You have the ability to make a solo sound good and make a good structure, and execute the licks in the right time. What needs more work is your scale knowledge. You seem to go to minor pentatonic box 1 often, and used the Major pentatonic box 1 as well. I think you would really benefit in covering all the boxes evenly, so you can transfer into one another seamlessly. This is not hard to practice and it can mean a world difference. Despite that I can say that your techniques cover nicely the boxes you use, and if you learn to apply them evenly across the neck they will sound much better. When learning the boxes, never be limited by one position, always look at the boxes as one pattern throughout the neck - this helps a lot.

leedbreak
PLAYING: Starting with some nice and jumpy lines on the minor pentatonic scale, building up the melody nicely, and then going to a major scale a bit. Then a small bend, one note a bit off the scale, followed by a lick that complements that bending melody nicely. After that we have a lick that is repeating in a cool way 2-3 times, and staying in that vibe for some time, doing cool variations, then transferring to one string cool sequence, and in the end a nice effective major style run to the root - very cool.
TECHNIQUE: Technique is nice and even. Alternate picking is used nicely, but more work is needed with the picking hand in order to really go through more combinations of upstroke-downstroke when changing strings. Right now you use a lot of downstrokes, and although it sounds pretty cool and evenly played, I think spending more time with picking unfamiliar patterns will raise the quality of the playing even more. Fretting hand is great, great position on the neck, properly placed, and fingers are fretting the notes perfectly and evenly, although there's some minor note bleeds. One thing that needs more work is a vibrato, it is a bit on the weak side, when comparing to other techniques you display. A more wider bend exercises, like whole step ones are IMO a quick fix to this.
SOUND: Tone is very good, there's some crackling in the solo guitar track yo gave me, so be sure to check out what could cause this problem. My guess it's a cable or clipping of hte signal, or something, so minor issue there. The sound of the guitar is smooth and even, a bit more dynamics could make it even better, but it cuts through the mix nicely, so no troubles there.
VIDEO: Video is pretty good, a bit on the dark side, but it is super sharp, and I think all you need is a stronger light. That one from above is a bit weak. Also I think you could move to the right a bit, and move the camera up so we could see the whole guitar, but it is a minor suggestion, cause I can see clearly everything you play. So again, I like that the video is very clear and even in brightness, but you just need to increase the overall brightness a bit. The best way for this is with more stronger light, but you can also experiment with brightness filter, this can help a bit, specially with such a healthy video you have.
OVERALL IMPRESSION: Great sense for rhythm, and good way of placing those sequences. I also like your interesting way of repeating some licks - they really give the flow to the soloing. One thing that needs a bit more work are bends, and phrasing in general. Add a couple of details here and there, like a big slow slide, wide vibrato or long bend, and it really gives a whole another dimension to the solo. Your scale knowledge is quite good, you transfer the scales and positions up there seamlessly, and my suggestion to you mate is to use that advantage and start practicing some unusual picking and fretting patterns (or even a couple of licks with some phrasing) in those scales. When combining these components - you can increase powerful soloing ability even more. Great job.

kaznie_NL
PLAYING: Making you start with some cool bluesy licks, then doing a nice line on the bass strings in minor pentatonics, and then continuing up the on the treble ones and finishing on the root. Nice. Then a cool sliding lick to connect box 1 and 2, in box two you do some very cool bluesy lines, and then go to over box 3, and to box 4 to finish off nicely again in a cool bluesy type of a way.
TECHNIQUE: Your technique has greatly improved in these couple of months Kaz, and you are continuing to improve. This sounds very good! All the fretting an picking is more secure, and sounds well structured. You seem to improve the picking techniques since we talked about that hand anchoring, looks much smoother now. What needs some work are bends and vibratos. You do them right, but again they need to be more wider. I suggest focusing on a whole step bend exercises more, and this should help you to improve on that field a lot. There are some note bleeding as well here and there, nothing serious, so in general more work on bendings and vibrato is all you need ATM IMO. If you have difficulties bending and vibrating a lot, try moving to thinner strings for a month or two, and this should help.
SOUND: You seem to like to use clean setting, and this is very cool to this kind of tune. The dynamics is well preserved when not using a lot of distortion and this opens up the way for more phrasing possibilities. Very nice.
VIDEO: Brightness of the video is pretty good, you are well in the spot, but contrast is a bit high, specially on the dark side. Try to disperse this light a bit so you gon't get such high shadows. You can point it to a wall, and add another soft light from behind you - this should create a more even picture. I like that you did a close up footage, but I suggest you try to adjust the angle of you playing so that we can see both hands equally well, this is very important.
OVERALL IMPRESSION: My impression about your playing is getting better every day mate. You seem to really follow the advices, and getting better in soloing as each day passes by. This is very good. You seem to master those minor pentatonic boxes 1 2 3 and 4, and now it's time for a box 5, and major pentatonic boxes. They are the same basically, only in different positions, so this shouldn't be too much of a problem. Your solo is now well structured, notes are more in right places. My advice to you - keep practicing the way you do cause it works, the results are clearly visible.

audiopaal
PLAYING: Making a cool introduction with some major pentatonic lines, soft and smooth, and going to the root on the B string with a slide - very nice. Then another solid major type line downwards, and sort of a response to it, this time going to the root on the G string. After that you transfer to a bluesy vibe using some minor pentatonic notes combined with major third, and this sure sounds cool. A couple of variations of that and you're off again to the major pentatonic IV-V with a hammer on and a root to finish off nicely.
TECHNIQUE: Techniques you use are pretty solid and well balanced. Picking is good, could be a bit more faster, and with more dynamics but very even and precise. Also vibrato is very good, nicely executed and even, but needs to be a bit more secure and faster in execution. I think you can do all the techniques well, it's just a matter of fine tuning them, and add a bit of phrasing techniques here and there, mainly with your picking hand. Some strings could be picked harder, some softer, and some could be raked for example to create a cool accents on some important notes in the solo.
SOUND: Sound is really cool and twangy - ideal for this kind of a tune. The dynamics is good because of the clean, there isn't too much compression going on, and it sounds like a true country tone! Well done.
VIDEO: Video is just like before good, this time you did a close up sitting which is much better, we can see the guitar and hands clearly now. The hat is great you're a real cowboy mate! You could move a bit to the right so the that the whole fretboard is in the shot, other than that it is quite cool. Right side of the shot is dark, so the overall contrast is too high. Try pointing the left light into a wall, and getting another light pointing into wall to the right and reflect to you - this should create even more balanced and defined picture.
OVERALL IMPRESSION: Great improvising, you seem to be getting along great with major style tunes like this. Major pentatonic is well played, and so are the licks form minor. I like the way you change positions and slide into them seamlessly, so the next step would be to practice some runs to spice up your playing. In general I think your awareness about what to play next is great, and you know how to build a cool and not-boring melody. This is a major advantage, so when combined with a better pick phrasing and more secure bendings and vibrato it should sound awesome.

Gus
PLAYING: And here we have some cool fingerstyle licks, doing a small intervalic melody on top of the minor pentatonic scale as an intro that sounds really nice and effective. After that some cool pull off licks, and keeping it that way on the minor pentatonic box 1, pulling out some great fingerstyle twangy-picked notes. After that you move to box 2, and again you display some awesome fingerstyle licks there, then again you go to box 1 do a few more lines, and go to box 5 down on the bass strings and climb up to the root on the box 1 to finish off nicely.
TECHNIQUE: Fingerstyle that you used is great, nice use of all the fingers, not just thumb and index. ALso I like the way you played those pull off licks, they are a bit off beat because they are fast, but I think they sound great nevertheless. Also there's some note bleed there, and this is the job for both hands. More focus on muting while playing fingerstyle is needed to make it sound even more precise. There weren't a lot of bends here, but I think those that you did could use a bit more strength and speed to them. Also vibrato could be wider.
SOUND: Sound is really cool, nice and smooth, and great tone color as well, specially in the intro, very creative. Twangy vibe is achieved through playing technique, and this shows just how much your playing affects your tone. Good playing = good tone. The sound was a bit quiet tho, so I had some troubles of making it too loud in the Vegas, so try to adjust the input so it is more louder next time, and it will sound great.
VIDEO: Video is great, much better than the last one. Looks pro, and you can really see what a clear background can do to a shot. It makes it look much neater and better. Lightning is also better, more brightness this time, and angle is good as well. IMO, one more light to kill the shadows, a touch of brightness filter, and a clear background and it will be perfect.
OVERALL IMPRESSION: Fingerstyle technique that you chose for this part shows that you are a versatile player that has no troubles using techniques for different types of music. What you could really benefit from is scale knowledge. If you did some of those twangy licks but in the C major (A minor) pentatonic scale, that would really bring the quality of this solo to greater hights. IMO you should spend some time checking out how minor and major pentatonic scales relate to one another and how to combine them effectively. Other than that it's a well thought solo, and licks are great all around. Structure is good, and ending could be a bit more effective, so more focusing on outro licks should solve this problem quite easily. In general great job mate.

Sami
PLAYING: Starting off with some nice twangy lines on the major pentatonic box 5, and doing a slide on the box 1 root. After that you move up and do some lines on around 12th fret, using some out of scale notes as well, then coming back to major pentatonic box 1 and to hammer-on licks in box 5. You stay there doing some bends, and couple of more sharply fingered notes, and going up the fretboard again to do some again a couple of notes off the scale and finiss of in the root on the box 1 D string.
TECHNIQUE: You used fingerstyle for your solo which is quite nice, it brings that cool country vibe to the piece. You really picked hard some off the notes, but that's cool sounding, only I think if you use fingerpicking you should use a thumb as well. You haven't used the thumb at all, and it really plays an important role in fingerpicking techniques. You seem to have a good control of the other fingers tho. Use of ghost notes, wetter it is hammerons, pulloffs or slides is very good. Vibrato needs to be more steadier, and wider in order to really accent the note you want, so try focusing your exercise on wide and slow bends - this should help calm those vibratos down.
SOUND: Since you provided only the sound from your cam for this one, I would say the sound is not good. If you can't record directly into computer, there are two main ways to increase the quality of a video. First record so that the microphone is placed closly to the amp and cover it with a blanket or something. Also try to buffle the walls of a room with some kind of audio isolator. The other thing is to record with earphones/headphones and then you will have only your guitar solo playing. This will be a bit harder to sync, but in the end the overall quality will be much much better, and you can EQ and process the solo recording to make it better, while when it is with the backing you can't do that.
VIDEO: Video angle is great, almost perfect, I can see clearly everything. I would prefer that I don't see the keyboard, and if you put some kind of a background, like a sheet behind you this will look like a professional studio recording. Also you need another soft light in front of you to really increase brightness of the guitar nad hands. The window on the right is a bit clipped with white, but it's a minor issue.
OVERALL IMPRESSION: Good sense for structure, and rhythm, but need more scale knowledge. You know major pentatonic boxes 5 and 1 well, but as soon as you go up the neck you are confused and don't really know where are the notes. This is a common issue and not very difficult to solve. Just focus more on that area of the neck, do some easy runs, learn a couple of licks, and it will sound cool. I like the way you used the fingerpicking, it sounds nice and cool, so the techniques themselves are not that big of a problem. The overall impression is spoiled a bit with the bad audio, so try focusing on solving those issues with advices that I gave you. I think with some improvements this can look and sound very professional. Well done mate.


THANK YOU ALL FOR PARTICIPATING GUYS SEE YOU IN THE NEXT (ROCK) COLLAB!

FINAL MIX

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Funky Rock Collaboration Final Mix with Comments
Number of participants 19.



Hello everybody and welcome to Final mix!
Before getting to your comments I would like to thank everybody who recorded and submitted their take despite all the holiday restrictions. I really appreciate it guys a lot, thank you!
As in the first collaboration I would like you take you all the comments as means to encourage you to improve more. I have no intentions to make any of you feel bad or discouraged so I just hope you will take everything with clean head and open heart 
Having said all of this, now it is time to get to your notes. I have organized them in alphabetical order and added OC’s and Coffeeman’s take at the very end. Feel free to send me PM regarding your notes if you don’t feel discussing them trough forum!
I have also for the first time included Poll that will help me determine how to approach your future collaborations with comments.






First up is Berko (0:00 - 0:36)

Sound – Notes come out with this distortion although I would suggest using touch less of gain (personal taste really).
Intro – Great! First two phrases work really well together. I like the rhythmic pattern that kept it together. Excellent!
Phrasing/time feel/rhythm- Fairly strong phrasing, great choice of rhythms and time feel is there trough out the solo. There is couple of spots towards the end (where arpeggios sweep happens) where phrasing sounds a bit weaker but overall Very Good!
Development/melodic shapes – I like the development a lot in this one. It is probably one of the strongest points in your solo. You really used repetition in different aspects (rhythm and melody) and you also had variations to specific melodies. Solo sounded like it was telling a story which I really like , so this was great work.
Technique- I enjoyed techniques you used in this solo. I would just recommend to do lighter vibrato , just slightly lighter though. When I was listening to whole solo many times it was sticking out more and more and I didn’t feel it belonged in the context of solo. That’s a personal taste so you can skip this one as well if you don’t feel working on it 
Outro/ending- Interesting ending. Pinched harmonic combined with different (slower) rhythm and most importantly it fits the whole shape of the solo.
Overall I am very happy with this solo Berko. I would work more on different types of vibrato and just a slight touch on phrasing and everything should be spot on. Your technique is good but I am not aware what kind of style are you aiming to learn and play? If you like technical type music then you need to combine more runs in your solos with faster rhythms and techniques like legato, tapping etc (you get the idea 
Thank you for your take Berko!







Next up is Caelumamittendum ( 0:37 – 1:11)
Sound – The notes come out but I am not huge fan of this distortion. It sounds like it is in the background a bit. EQ’s would do much help here , perhaps different preamp or mic setup would have brightened it up a bit as well.
Intro – Nice Intro! I like the first phrase repeated (bends) followed by responding melody higher up (low + hi = question answer one of many types)
Phrasing/time feel/rhythm- Rhythm choice is good I liked that; Time feel was also there in the solo which is great ; Phrasing is the part that got me here – first part sounds strong then as you progress into the solo it starts to sound a bit weaker. It usually occurs when you play faster passages so you should pay attention to that in future more when practicing – Legato and Tapping especially wink.gif
Development/melodic shapes –Very nice development and good choice of melodic shapes.
Technique- Nice combination of techniques and they seem to blend really well in the solo!
Outro/ending- Both strong and weak ending . Tapping at times sounds in and out of time. It can be both good and bad thing. Think Van Halen most tapping and odd groupings were a bit out of time and sounded raw and original with his awesome sound and style, and then think Satriani where every single note tapped has its place and value. You make your choice ! Overall nice ending and beautiful idea to end it with tapping to introduce variety technically.

Overall I like the idea of the whole solo as it is telling me a story. I also enjoyed techniques applied in this solo. What I think needs work is phrasing on faster parts and perhaps overall Sound (a bit brighter if possible). Other than that good job !
Thank you Ben !








Next up is coloneldrew (1:12 – 1:46)

Sound – Your guitar sounds like a Violin ! I mean that in a positive way of course – if that’s what you were going for great, if not you need to brighten the sound a bit 
Intro – You choose to approach the solo with faster rhythm from very start. This is not something I particularly enjoy since you have a lot of time to develop the solo. Usually Intro should start with slower rhythm and have rhythmic connection between phrases (listen to very first solo in the mix for example).However , having said all this , in different style of music your approach , note choice is perfect and I have nothing against it. This is just a style preference nothing more nothing less.

Phrasing/time feel/rhythm- This is one of your strongest if not the strongest point in playing! I like your double time feel combined with regular time feel and odd vs even groupings that you combined. Every note had its corresponding rhythm placed to it in a very well chosen way. Excellent.

Development/melodic shapes – Very strong development and melodic shapes in this solo. I liked how you approached it and big role plays the phrasing/time feel/rhythm you choose that made everything click even more.

Technique- Mostly legato style applied but I liked how it sounded with your guitar sound !

Outro/ending- Very specific ending and I liked how you approached it with longer lead in into the final resolution note. Excellent work.

Overall I really enjoyed listening to this solo , the only thing that was sticking out was intro (lacking development for this style) and the sound that was a bit in the background. Technique was smooth, phrasing strong, note choice was great, overall very good solo.
I am glad you joined my collaboration as it was your first here at GMC. Thank you for your take coloneldrew!








Next up is Enforcer (1:47 – 2:20)

Sound – Excellent sound, I loved it really. Worked really well with the backing track !
Intro – Great interesting riff with interval leaps that later turns into ongoing motive development. Excellent work with intro.
Phrasing/time feel/rhythm- Very strong Phrasing/time feel/rhythm trough out the whole solo. The reason why it works is it has a lot of repetition in rhythm as well as melody , and variation is included which kept it interesting enough !
Technique- Very cool usage of techniques here. I enjoyed a lot when you played double stops and chords other than single melody solos , so that was wonderfully applied. Only weak point in your technique was arpeggios sweep picking that didn’t sound as smooth as it should (if you applied sweep picking that is 
Development/melodic shapes – Excellent work except the ending !
Outro/ending- I like the intervallic idea for the ending however I believe this to be your weakest side in whole solo (only because all the others were really strong and well applied!). I feel you could have done something different with intervals , however I love the lead in from B to C in synch with harmony/chords , but before that you could have used different rhythm and/or melody.

Overall wonderful solo that I enjoyed listening to. Great sound (fits backing really well), Repetition was used, motive development was there, various nice techniques, solo sounded organized and it was telling story.
Make sure you work on the ending and sweep picking Enforcer.
Thank you for your take Enforcer!








Next up howermike (2:21 - 2:56)
Sound – All the notes are clear and distortion does not have too much gain. I like it although I am sure you could have gotten even brighter sound with EQ tweaking.
Intro – Very good intro, there is question and answer between two phrases and coherence. Great work.
Phrasing/time feel/rhythm- Interesting choice of rhythms and time feel I like it. One thing that bothered me the most was phrasing which at times sounded rushed. The whole solo had lots of cool ideas and techniques but didn’t end up sounding strong as it should because phrasing was a bit off in some sections. I would recommend practicing with metronome all your tapping licks as well as any faster passages that you use in your vocabulary of lines. This should help lock them in your hands better and it will sound smoother and spot on with backing tracks!
Development/melodic shapes – Your solo tells a story and development is there no doubt with some good question and answer type phrasing. Good work !
Technique- I loved your choice of techniques in this solo. Tapping, bending , legato, economy picking – very nice combination of techniques that blended well.
Outro/ending- Ending sounded very weak since it was rhythmically rushed. When you improve your phrasing, this ending would sound awesome since it has beautiful descending arpeggio runs with interesting melodic choice.
Overall I like technique choice and this solo as well as intro and development. The thing that needs most work is phrasing which will take your playing to whole other level once you lock it in.
I know this is your first collaboration and I really appreciate you giving it a go so I would like to thank you a lot and hopefully I will see you in next one as well!
Thank you howermike!








Next up is Jesse (2:57 – 3:30)

Sound – Beautiful sound, I love it, works perfectly with backing track!
Intro – Excellent work! Slow rhythm followed by fast rhythm and then same thing moved in sequence. I am thrilled, really well done and developed!
Phrasing/time feel/rhythm- Good combination and balance of rhythms as well as time feel difference is applied. Phrasing was strong in most part of the solo but there were couple of spots where it sounded weak (towards the ending part) and you should work on that more.
Development/melodic shapes – Great work with development , question and answer type phrasing was used and melodic shapes blended really well together.
Technique- For the purpose of repetition and melodic application, technique was compensated in this solo but I have nothing against that whatsoever!
Outro/ending- This is the weakest part of your solo since you played “wrong” note that was clashing with the chord in the crucial climax of the solo. If it was improvised I will overlook it but always keep in mind chord vs note choice that you use.
Overall this was great solo with lots of repetition and development but lacked strong ending and phrasing in some parts to make it excellent.
Thank you for your take Jesse !








Next up is kjutte (3:31 – 4:05)

Sound – I am getting used to your sound more and more, but in case of funky rock collaboration doesn’t really fit although I really appreciate and encourage styles to mix and blend like in this case shred with funky rock 
Intro – One single long note, very well done I like it. Perfect note choice as anything you played after it would sound surprising to the listener.
Phrasing/time feel/rhythm- Much better work here than in my previous collaboration. More rhythms and time feel is evident in this one. Great job.
Development/melodic shapes – I like it a lot in the context of shred solo it tells me a story great job. The only thing that needs some polishing is part towards the ending as melodic choice and development could have been stronger!
Technique- Great technical control trough the whole tune. Your vibrato is aggressive but now notes sound more in tune when you bend them - good work !
Outro/ending- This is the weakest part of solo and I think you know that as well  There is definitely improvement since the previous collaboration but still note choice and rhythm you choose don’t click nor correspond to your style of playing and solo you did! That is why ending sounded weaker than anything else in the solo and this part needs most work then anything else.

Overall I am getting used to tone on your guitar and won’t comment on it as you seem to have attached yourself to it and don’t want to let it go  Technique was great in this one, you have improved your development since previous collaboration and melodic shapes have even more variety now. Only thing that needs practicing is phrasing and note choice (sequences, riffs, repetition etc) in the ending !
Thank you kjutte !









Next up is MarcMaiden (4:06 – 4:40)
Sound – I like the distortion, all the notes come out and it works nicely with backing.
Intro – Great approach, you waited and then your entrance sounded even more powerful with syncopated (off beat) rhythm. Excellent!
Phrasing/time feel/rhythm- Whole solo has a lot of syncopated rhythm in it, I would recommend including more down beat type rhythm to create even more interesting balance between phrases !
Development/melodic shapes –Beautiful approach and development, solo is definitely telling a story here and your climax of the solo was with guitar harmonies introduced with melody repeated. Great job.
Technique- For the purpose of solo, techniques you choose worked well.
Outro/ending- Nice ending, thanks to the harmony part leading into it! I would even like to hear it without repetitive B to C again but just to leave it first time as it is.
Overall this was great solo and approach, the only thing that was lacking was phrasing and rhythm as the most of the solo sounded syncopated and therefore dragging and pushing tempo around. Other than that great work.
Thank you for your take MarcMaiden!






Next up is Matich (4:41 – 5:15)
Sound – Sound blends really well with backing track, great job!
Intro – Excellent development and note choice in the intro. Repetition and variation applied. I am very impressed to say the least!
Phrasing/time feel/rhythm- I like your phrasing as there is spacing between each melody and you give them time to breathe and sink in more. Time feel is lacking here as there is mostly limited type of rhythm but if you took it away this solo wouldn’t work the way it did!
Development/melodic shapes – Development is definitely there, you really took your time and used simple ideas to build more and more from them. Melodic shapes are also used and work well with spacing that you applied – Excellent work!
Technique- Nothing spectacular in technique department but for the play rest approach you applied and intent of the solo, simple playing really work and sounded interesting!
Outro/ending- The trills you tried to apply at the end didn’t really work so I would say ending is your weakest part in the whole solo. I feel you could have used tremolo picking (picked the same note) rather than messing the ending with trills.

Overall this is excellent solo because it has development, repetition, rests, melodic shapes and sound worked great with backing track. Things that need work here are different rhythmic combinations for future solos (it sounded predictable where and when phrase would start and end!) as well as ending part. I would try to work on these things if I was you and to slowly start using other techniques in future collaborations like legato, sweep picking, alternate etc.
Taking in consideration that this was your first collaboration and you just joined GMC, I am thrilled with your take.
Thank you Matich!






Next up is Oxac (5:16 – 5:50)
Sound – Great sound, works really well with backing track !
Intro – Excellent intro, slide in idea really worked well. I liked repetition and development part a lot there. Great job!
Phrasing/time feel/rhythm- Overall very good work with everything here simply because repetition glued all the elements together. In the second section there was some weak rhythmic ideas but you will be able to correct that soon I am sure.
Development/melodic shapes – Development is definitely there and applied really well. Melodic shapes are limited because of repetition but still nice choice of shapes!
Technique- For clean sound solos techniques you choose really worked well.
Outro/ending- Ending is ok and is exact same riff that you played no less than 3 times before. I would have liked different melody at the end but your ending did the job so I won’t be too picky about it 

Overall great sound, development, repetition , question and answer phrasing and intro. Ending could use some work with phrasing in some spots (2nd section specifically).
Thank you for your take Oxac !








Next up is Sami (5:51- 6:25)
Sound – Too distorted and digital. With less gain and some reverb and/or delay would sound really good!
Intro – Great idea (triad going up with added melody) but phrasing wasn’t strong enough so it made it sound weaker than it shouldn’t be.
Phrasing/time feel/rhythm- In the intro phrasing is a bit weak but as you go along it becomes much stronger. Nice balance of rhythmic ideas and time feel usage is there. One thing that needs work is more downbeat type rhythms; there are a lot of syncopated rhythms in this solo, other than that good job!
Development/melodic shapes – I like repetition with various endings you did with main riff and then later towards the end repeated it again, that made it sound organized. Melodic shapes were ok but I know they will flow more once you get your phrasing really strong.
Technique- Nothing to give or take here, techniques served the solo well.
Outro/ending- This ending made me smile, as you did 3 octave arpeggio from one of my latest lessons  Funny enough that blended well with the solo!
Overall this solo would have been even better if there was more downbeat type rhythm in it as well as stronger phrasing. Other than that your imagination and creativity is heading into right direction and I look forward hearing more from you in future collaborations.
Thank you Sami!









Next up is SonofDestiny (6:26-7:00)
Sound – Excellent sound , I really like it, not too distorted not to clean, bluesy and fits your playing style in this one extremely well.
Intro – Excellent intro! You started with simple 3 note idea then took it further and developed it with some double stops. Repetition and development used excellent work!
Phrasing/time feel/rhythm- The way you were soloing in this one you really showed character and different styles. You were going from soft emotional touch into raw rock and blues style. You really nailed the rhythms and time feel. One thing you need to work on is phrasing – in second part of the solo it sounded weaker than the first one – otherwise solo would have been really awesome!
Development/melodic shapes – Excellent work in this area, solo was telling a story and you really had beginning development and conclusion in it.
Technique- I liked techniques you used and they worked really well for this solo. Your bending is great but on the other side your legato sounds a bit weaker and I think you need to work on it a bit!
Outro/ending-Fast rundown passage leading into ending is a bit weak and that is only real thing I would fix in that ending. Note choice was great and ending really fit the rest of the solo.
Overall excellent solo, beautiful touch, various styles presented, development was there, intro was really strong and sound was great. Things that need some fine tuning is legato and phrasing.
Thank you for your take SonofDestiny!







Next up is Tjchep (7:01-7:36)
Sound – As with kjutte I am getting used to your sound more and more, but I still think you can put it more up front with your style of playing. The latest recording I heard you on forums with your new BBpreamp was better than this one in my opinion, so try to use that as a guide for future solos.
Intro – Very nice intro, down beat rhythm used to establish the beat, and very good note choice. I like it, great work.
Phrasing/time feel/rhythm- Your strongest point in solo always as you have great choice of down beat and upbeat rhythms, you apply double time feel, and question and answer is evident in your phrasing more and more. Great work!
Development/melodic shapes – Melodic shapes are great but development could be better. It is definitely better than in the last collaboration, so you have improved and I like that. It still sounds like you are just jamming trough the chords without thinking ahead when improvising – which is essential tool of every proper improviser, you must think ahead and connect your ideas regardless of what chord change strike you. So this is something that will come with time for you Tj but if you start thinking about it now, things will be clearer and click much easier when the time comes!
Technique- Great technique as in previous collaboration, you also included legato run which was nice 
Outro/ending- Do you want me to say it or … ?  Yes, the weakest part of your improvising and playing for sure is ending. You should really sit down and start working out some rhythms for ending and phrases that fit your style of playing. I recommend you before to even transcribe your favorite artists and see what they do when ending the solo. Jamming and doing fade out will only get you so much Tj, but doing proper ending is like putting Icing on the cake  So work on it man, it will make you even better player for sure.
Overall great technique and phrasing, intro was great as well. Development (or simply put planning in real time, composing in real time) along with endings needs most work.
Thank you for your take Tjchep!







Next up is Tolek(7:37-8:10)
Sound – A bit distorted for this backing track but its hard to judge since audio is taken from camcorder.
Intro – Excellent rhythm and note choice, phrases correspond really well.
Phrasing/time feel/rhythm- Rhythm and time feel is there but phrasing needs work. Sometimes you are rushing, other times slowing down. I feel once you get your phrasing down in time, you will go long way.
Development/melodic shapes – Good choice of melodic choices and solo is telling a story so there is development happening.
Technique- Great usage of techniques unfortunately some of them didn’t come out as strong as they should because of weak phrasing.
Outro/ending- I like the idea and how it was connected with repetitive lick you were doing, but phrasing was weak so it made the actual ending sound weak as well. Note choice was perfect though.
Overall this solo has great melodic choice, development and intro, but lacks strong phrasing to make this sound great!
I know you got your Pod now Tolek so I will look forward for proper recordings from you, and hopefully phrasing improvement for next collaboration!
Thank you for your take Tolek!







Next up is Velvet Roger(8:11- 8:45)
Sound – Works with backing track nicely however it sounds a bit dry, perhaps some reverb and/or delay would have spread it out more in the mix.
Intro – Interesting rhythmic choice and notes worked really well with it. I like it!
Phrasing/time feel/rhythm- Rhythm and time feel are there but phrasing is a bit weak in some parts. I would especially emphasize faster legato parts. Also try including more downbeat type rhythm in your playing as if you do constant up beat phrases they turn the beat around
Development/melodic shapes – Great work with this one, solo was telling me a story and great choice with melodic shapes as well.
Technique- Some very interesting techniques you choose. I think legato needs work and I wasn’t particularly happy the way you used octaves split, as phrasing didn’t match the ideas to make them even stronger! Overall great mixture of techniques used.
Outro/ending- Ending would have been spot on if you haven’t played C B C at the very end! That just made whole phrase before hands sound weaker when by itself it was really strong and powerful for ending. Think about it sometimes less is more wink.gif
Overall this solo has nice sound, interesting intro, great development and melodic shapes but needs work on specific techniques and phrasing (more downbeat type phrases).
Thank you for your take Velvet Roger!








Next up is wrk (8:45-9:20)
Sound – Excellent sound, blends really well with the backing track.
Intro – Excellent polyrhythm (quarter note triplets) combined with great note choice (arpeggios never fail 
Phrasing/time feel/rhythm- Great balance of everything, phrasing is strong, time feel is there and rhythm is mostly syncopated but it sounded great as it was your main theme of the solo (quarter note triplet syncopation) Excellent work.
Development/melodic shapes – Solo was telling me a story and it had meaning to it. Melodic shapes were applied in a great way since strong phrasing was used. I loved resting and pacing trough the solo as it was certainly your strongest point and showed that you can hold back and let melodies breathe more. Excellent work.
Technique- Bending is phenomenal here I really like it. The rest of techniques fit the style of the solo really well, when you wanted to play fast passage you did it with ease so that shows the control you have when improvising. Excellent work.
Outro/ending- Very beautiful ending in which I enjoyed two very cool things; one was the syncopated melody that had motive development from very intro, and second thing was you followed chord voicing in synch and ended B to C spot on. Excellent work.

Overall this is excellent solo and I have nothing to add or take from your solo.
I am very glad you joined us in this one and I look forward to your future takes.
Thank you wrk (I mean Andy 







Next up is zynex (9:21-9:55)
Sound – Excellent sound, blends really well with the backing track.
Intro – Excellent intro, double bend followed by great response melody and then another one with double stops. Excellent work!
Phrasing/time feel/rhythm- You have everything here; I am really happy how your solo came out. One little part was when you were doing legato some notes come out week but that was more of technique issue than phrasing. Excellent work.
Development/melodic shapes – Solo has a story behind it, you knew exactly how to tell it to others. Excellent work!
Technique- Phenomenal work with bending (like with wrk), and all the other techniques used really fit the mood of your solo. One little spot that is worth mentioning for future practice routines is Legato. It sounds like not all notes are coming equally strong and like not all your fingers have developed the same strength for legato runs. I think once you have this down it will sound just great, excellent work overall.

Outro/ending- Almost perfect ending! One thing that was over the top was extra double stop you added at the very end of the track. If you left it without that it would be 100% what I was looking for.
Overall this is excellent solo with great sound, strong phrasing, excellent development and melodic shapes and great mixture of techniques.
Since this was your first collaboration Donny I have to say I am really impressed with your take and I hope to hear more from you in my collaborations in future!
Thank you for your take zynex (Donny)








Next up is OrganisedConfusion(9:56-10:30)
Sound – Really interesting sound OC, I like it as it has special depth to it.
Intro – Excellent idea that later developed both melodically and rhythmically, I like it, good work!
Phrasing/time feel/rhythm-Time feel and rhythm were great, even phrasing was awesome in most parts except in Legato sections but that technique issue not phrasing issue I am sure. Good work!
Development/melodic shapes – Your creativity never stops OC. You really did great job with development and melodic shapes. Repetition was there but just enough , and when you were changing to new melodies it always sounded connected and glued together. Excellent work!
Technique- Wonderful choice of techniques here, I really enjoyed it. From double stops, to open string melodies to legato, economy and/or alternate picking etc. There is two things that come to my mind that you need to work on; one is legato, and every note has to have exact value otherwise it sounds sloppy and second thing is bending as there were some out of pitch bends. Other than that your picking technique has improved since last collaboration and I am really happy to hear that!

Outro/ending- Nice idea and ending definitely works. I feel you could have done better one, but this one “pays the bills” for time being 

Overall this solo had really interesting sound, excellent intro, development was really awesome and wonderful choice of techniques. Things that need work are bending and legato playing.
Thank you for your take OC 








Last up is Coffeeman(10:31-11:05)
Sound – It works with backing track but I would use perhaps touch less of gain to make it bluesier.
Intro – Great note choice and entrance was really strong however you ended the phrase weak and it lost its full potential it has. I loved the idea but with stronger phrasing that would be one of the best intros no doubt!
Phrasing/time feel/rhythm- Time feel and rhythm are great but phrasing sounds weak in some parts. That is mostly the case when you are doing syncopated (off beat) rhythm. More work with metronome and it will do wonders to your solos!
Development/melodic shapes – Your solo is telling me a story but somehow I feel that climax is not there In the story. Intro and development get by but the last section is missing some more coherent melodies and shapes.
Technique- For this solo techniques you used were great. One thing I have to mention is I was having doubt whether your guitar was slightly out of tune or it was your shaky vibrato. If it was vibrato, I think you need to tone it down a notch, try more subtle one over longer rhythms and it will give more life to notes than current one you use. Bending also needs some work, but then again it might not because if guitar was out of tune those things don’t really stand 
Outro/ending- Interesting ending, I liked it but unfortunately it didn’t click with the whole solo – sounded like it was thrown in there randomly. It is only because you lost development in the last section of the solo and the ending had to be sacrificed as well.
Overall this solo has some interesting note choice and phrasing in some parts, but lacks development in the last section and needs some technique study perhaps.

I know you did this last minute Coffeeman and I really appreciate it. After all, we were all waiting for you and OC to submit your takes so things I told you two today don’t relate that hard as with other guys who had lot more time to record than you did while you were both away…








I would like to take this opportunity and thank everybody who participated in this collaboration. I really enjoyed listening, mixing and commenting your takes. I can just hope that you will take all advices from heart as I truly wish you to be successful in your guitar playing and progress every day if possible!

If you have any questions regarding your comments you can send me PM or we can talk in chat at GMC sometime soon. Either way I am very happy with all your progress and it seems to me like you guys will keep improving as I feel your driving passion to play and learn guitar trough your different takes.

Happy New Year and happy holidays everybody!

All the best,

Pedja



Link for the final mix could be downloaded HERE

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[Joe Kataldo]

PURE STEEL METAL COLLAB - JOE KATALDO - 16 PARTICIPANTS



Hi Guys Thanks For Join My First Collabs, you all made a great job

TrackList:

1] Matt23
2]Outlaw2112
3]berko
4]superize
5]Tolek
6]Caelumamittendum
7]Toroso
8]leedbreak
9]Tjchep
10]kaznie_NL
11]Marc_Maiden
12]Dexxter
13]ztevie
14]Oxac
15]kjutte
16]enforcer

In the end you will find my take at 05:09

Hi guys, sorry for the delay on comments but...even GMC Instructors are on holidays

I've tried to highlight what you have done good and maybe give you some suggestion/direction to improve, but bear in mind that to be more precise I should have know your age, how long do you played and stuff like that, so...in the ends they just represent my point of view based on recording wink.gif

 Joe_Kataldo___Pure_Steel___Metal_Collabs.mp3 ( 5.2MB ) Number of downloads: 327




Matt23

Really nothing to say here, great solo great intro and flawless playing...Good Job Matt!
Bending intonation it's good but you can improve it, same for the vibrato, spend some time with tuner for bending and a metronome for vibrato

Outlaw2112

Great intro but you get lost in the middle, ideas are good, but played, sometime, with wrong timing.
Try to tap your foot when play or record along with the baking track, and alway practice with a metronome.

berko

Same problem here good ideas, that could be great, with just a little more precise timing, picking lines are beautiful but in some parts loose their tightness because of timing.
one word...metronome biggrin.gif

superize

Great use of the phrigian mode in the begin, good modal solo in the complex maybe you over used that ascending/descending picking line too much, it's important to keep the listener interested

Tolek

Nice opening blues/rock lick and tapping, I like the open string part too, I have just one suggestion, try to use less distortion

Caelumamittendum

A dark tone as I like biggrin.gif really nothing to say here, a good mix of melody and shred with wide vibrato, and killing sweeps in the end...good job.


Toroso

Same problem as some other guys, you have very good melodic ideas, that not express their full potential because of wrong timing...try to work more with metronome and always tap your foot along with backing tracks or live bands

leedbreak

a very good structured solo, with repetitions and variation to keep the listener interested, the only suggestion I can give is try to work more on tone, specially when recording less distortion means more dynamics

Tjchep

Here it comes my favourite biggrin.gif I love the epic intro the dark tone and the opening vibrato gives me goose bumps, only suggestion is work more on bending intonation not 100% precise but nearly there
P.S.

I got inspired from you form my solo tongue.gif

kaznie_NL

A nice structured solo with call&answer phrases with surely an uncommon and unique tone, try to work more on timing wink.gif


Marc_Maiden

What could I say nice harmony, riffs, and some fusion rhythmic displacement too all played with a good tone and conviction...try to mix the guitar a little bit lower, to better fit in the mix

Dexxter

a nice solo, enough structured to give to the listener the impression that you know where are you going, good vibrato, picking technique and bending that sometime not 100% in tune but nearly there.
Unfortunately the audio quality was quite low and doesn't pay justice to you solo, maybe try to improve this wink.gif

ztevie

Nice solo here too, with a structure important to keep the listener interested, very good picking techniques cool.gif , I may suggest to experiment with more mids on your amp setting, but this is purely a matter of personal taste

Oxac

Interesting pickup intro very fluid, unfortunately got a little bit lost in the final mix because of preceding solo.
Ideas are good but lack of organization, and needs a more structured form, otherwise sometime may looks like you don't know what you are doing, work on blues soloing may help

kjutte

Majestic intro, great use of phrigian/phrigian dominat modes, good picking technique and vibrato, good control of harmonics too...probably you improvised it, but if you spend some time organizing better the ideas and give it a more structured form it could be a perfect solo for a metal song

enforcer

Impressive picking techniques and articulation, ideas are good and interesting specially the final harmony part...two things: try to work more on bending intonation and that second part at 00:13 comes in, too much disconnected from the first one, if you used overdubs, do not cut the tail of the first solo


Thanks For Joining

Joe Kataldo

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[Bogdan Radovic]

ROCK LEAD COLLABORATION

Hello!!!

I'm back with the final mix of the collab! We had a smooth rock backing with a ballad feel to it on our hands..I want to thank you all for participating and making this full track unique with your awesome takes!!! You managed to record lots of different feelings in your leads , so its very interesting to listen to the whole track throughout even though its over 6 minutes long! I tried to give some constructive feedback on your takes.Please keep in mind that its a subjective one and that opinions may differ, collabs are all for fun and to learn something.It was really a pleasure working with you guys!!

HERE IS THE FINAL MIX :  Rock_Lead_Collab_Final_Mix.mp3 ( 5.95MB ) Number of downloads: 211


Participants : 12

I arranged tracks in the order by which you sent them to me.

Comments :

1.Superize

We are opening this collab with Superize's take.I want to say that I am really impressed with your progress over short period of time..This was a very very good solo improv!!! All notes were in place and you made good development of the solo to make it interesting..Your vibrato has improved a lot from my last collab I was commenting.Of course there are some weak ones so I recommend focusing on its practice.Bends and vibrato add a lot of feeling to the solo and you used them properly.I liked your tone , stereo thing you did has made it more full and strong.(Which usually isn't needed to be done for these collabs but in this case it worked).Maybe a little less space (reverb, delay) could be used to make it less "digital sounding" but the tone was pretty healthy.Also lowering some gain should make it better too , because this was pretty strong regarding the backing track style..
Thank for participating in this one mate!!

2.Boson

Here we have a mellow solo.Its great that you started recording collabs Boson!! This was a nice start.Your guitar tone was pretty good.Try lowering gain a little bit and adding some bass frequencies , you have cut through the mix well though thanks to mids and treble! Melody ideas were cool , here are some tips how to make it better : you have played phrases in "one phrase per chord" style..Try extending phrases over several chords..Don't put the pauses just before one chord ends and start the next phrase on beat 1 of the next chord , rather extend the first phrase over second chord without pause in between.You can connect these phrases well if you learn arpeggios - those are your strong notes so landing on perfect 5th or appropriate 3rd when chord change occurs will guarantee that your solo will sound strong and than you can go into playing scale notes.Also to make your phrasing more interesting , try to experiment a little with note values..You want them to be interesting , as with note choice.Don't play all the notes the same value rather combine different ones (8th notes, quarter notes , 8th note triplets etc).To make a slow solo expressive try incorporating vibrato on longer sounding notes and adding bends here and there..Sometimes its a good idea instead of fretting the "next note" is to bend the string in order to play that same note you wanted to play..Melody stays the same but if you bend you leave more expressive feeling.All in all this was interesting solo , with some rhythm experimenting and phrases extending/placing + expression tools (vibrato, bends) this would be a really really good solo! Keep up the good work and record as much collabs as you can! It will help you progress in your playing very fast!

3. Crazytfret

Your tone was pretty strong and it cut through the mix well.I would recommend lowering a little the amount of effects to make it more natural sound (less chorus like).Also lowering gain a little would help.I liked the solo idea.Development of solo was very nice , maybe you could have made something different in the second part of the solo instead of repeating the intro phrase..Second part of solo was a little less convincing because phrasing reminded the first part.This was a melodic solo and I liked it, some really cool licks in there !!! I would recommend paying more attention to chord transitions , to accompany them by landing on strong notes (chord tones) when changes occur..That will make the solo sound much stronger! You added expression tools (bends and vibrato) and that is very good for a solo..A little work on them (to make bends precise) and vibrato strong is needed but you are on the good path! Thanks for playing in this collab Crazyfret , I enjoyed your take!

4. Berko

Here we have a really energetic take!! Your tone was very strong and pretty natural sounding..Try lowering gain more though , amount of it didn't match well the double stops you played.I really liked the solo development and diversity in phrasing you displayed.You kept it interesting from start to end and mixed different techniques well (like tapping in the very end).Also I liked the trills you played, they really added nice flavor.Only the tapping in the end of the solo could have been more convincing and have more flow (in relation to the previous solo parts) in order for it to blend in better..Wild vibrato , cool bends (expression tools are there).Very good solo overall!! Thanks for joining this collab!

5. Velvet Roger

Here we have a mellow sounding solo..Your guitar tone was pretty good, though I would recommend adding more middle frequencies.You were having trouble cutting through the mix and adding those middles would allow you to do that well! I liked the long sounding note you opened the solo with.I liked the phrasing you continued with..Combining different techniques succeeds in making the solo interesting.One tip though : after the fast run in the second part of the solo towards very end you played two almost identical phrases going straight up the scale..It could have been differently combined in order not to sound like a straight scale (practice)..Convincing solo overall , I enjoyed listening to it! Thanks for recording in this collab Roger!

6. Torben

Hey , its great you started doing collabs!! This was a very cool solo you recorded for this one!! Your tone was pretty strong, though I have to recommend using less gain in the guitar patch (it didn't suit double stops well)..Solo development was pretty good! I liked the sad mellow vibe in it! All notes were in place , regarding phrasing I would recommend trying to play fingering that you are not so used to from scale practicing.That way you will be able to come up with more original licks that won't in any way resemble up and down scale practicing..Also playing a little more with note values would insure even more interesting licks..Try adding more vibrato to those long sounding notes to make them expressive , also adding bends here and there as well as hammer-ons pull-offs would be interesting addition you your improvisation pallet.This was a very cool solo overall and I really enjoyed its vibe and listening to it! Great to have you in collabs now!!

7. Col Roberts

Here we have an interesting solo idea!! Your tone was nice , though it lacks more definition and mass..Try playing with EQ settings (adding bass and middle frequencies) and lowering gain! Tapping intro idea was nice touch though it could have been executed more convincingly..Arpeggios are good choice when following chords , I would suggest not playing them straight as you would when you practice them , rather dividing small phrases out of their notes to make them sound more original.Also its a good idea when you have longer phrases to make them colorful by not playing all notes the same value rather combining different ones to make it more groovy.I liked the second part of the solo , it was very interesting phrasing vise..Only thing to look out is not repeating the same phrase twice in a row - except if you really feel strong about it being solo "trademark"...Ending phrase was appropriate for ending..Cool solo overall ,I liked it, thanks for joining this collab mate!!

8. Kaznie_NL

I remember your solos from past well and I can hear a great progress over short period of time (as with Superize's case!)..Your tone was pretty well, try adding more definition to it by adding middle frequencies...Also I feel gain was a little to strong (maybe I'm imagining it since I tell that to everyone so far)..I just imagined cleaner , healthier guitar colors for this type of backing..Your phrasing has improved a lot! You really started strong and keep it till the end..All notes were in place.I liked how you added expression tools..Some notes were weaker but its cool - this is an straight improv right ? I would suggest paying a little more attention to vibrato and hammer ons/pull offs.Also string muting to make the solo even cleaner.You really started getting hand on improvising..Good job Kaznie , great to have you in this collab!

9.Toroso

Here we have a really soft and mellow solo! Regarding your tone , I have to suggest lowering delay and effects.Really clean sound would work really well with this type of track.Other thing I noticed when mixing were dynamics.Some notes are too loud some are really quite..Try practicing dynamics to make your playing more even.You can do that by picking one note against a metronome starting from really quite to very loud picking..In time you will get more control and be able to play loud or quite intentionally inside phrases where you want to.I liked the idea to start by playing single notes slowly..It sounded pretty interesting..Maybe you could have developed the solo a little more in the second part of it to prepare it for culmination/ending..What I would suggest is muting strings you are not playing with your left and right hands to get a really clean sound.Interesting solo idea overall , I really missed a clean solo so far so I'm glad you recorded it!!! Good job Toroso!

10.Wabba

Another first collab recording!! Its really great you have started doing collabs because they offer you a valuable recording experience,..Also you have the proof when you make a progress (if you compare old takes to new ones).Let's start with comments.You have recorded guitar pretty well..Sound is strong, maybe a little too much gain in there..Try taming it..Also adding some bass frequencies would work interesting..You had interesting solo idea.Here are some tips how to make your phrasing more interesting.Try not to play one lick/phrase per chord rather extending phrases over chord changes..That will make your playing smooth..One more idea , try constructing questions and answer phrases..In this take you have pretty much played same phrases over different chords.Think of a solo as a conversation, you need to make pauses (to breath) and there are questions and answers in your speech.Also some sentences are longer then others..Try varying length of phrases (and pauses positioning).Playing with rhythm is also always welcome (use different note lengths in phrases) to make the solo groovy.On longer notes try applying vibrato.Adding bends , hammer-ons , pull-offs will really make a solo sound interesting..This was a nice effort and I'm sure if you apply any of this suggestions that the next solo will be much better !! Great to have you playing in this collab mate!

11. Caelumamittendum

This take had loads of energy in it!! Guitar tone was nice , though a little too much distorted and muddy (lower gain)..Try EQing to make it brighter (adding middles and treble would would great).I really liked how you combined lots of techniques (shreddy!) in this take..Phrasing was very interesting from start to the end..I really have no remarks there , its sounded great.I would recommend cleaning up a little your tone (and your playing by string muting techniques).Speed burst in the very end was great for culmination of the solo! Even though track is not like that , shredding really sounded cool against it! Great solo overall , thanks for playing in this one!!!

12. Enforcer

Its great you managed to record your take for this one! You are student instructor and you know your way around.Guitar tone was really healthy !!! Only delay sounded too much to me..You got a really natural tone good job one that..Also one thing I noticed is that your take didn't need any syncing at all, I guess you got a really good recording interface!! I liked the feeling you evoked in this solo..Phrasing was really good and expressive and that shreddy ghost in the end did its thing well!!! Really cool to have your take closing this collab , thanks for joining man!!!


Cheers and see you in my next collab!!

You are at GuitarMasterClass.net

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[Ivan Milenkovic]

FINAL MIX AND COMMENTS OF CHRISTMAS ROCK COLLABORATION


Well guys, during these 3 days that took me to get this job done I learned every player and every solo almost by heart. Took me around 5 hours to write the comments alone, but I think it was well worth it. I got into some fine details providing everyone with comments that I hope you will find interesting and useful.

From collab to collab there were some major improvements, and we already now have a standard GMC VIDEO COLLAB CREW, that is doing all the collabs, so we can keep tracking their progress. I'm very proud of all of you guys, since you've been making a lot of progress from the last collab, and it really shows. Going almost in note-by-note analyze on this one really got me in-depth in your soloing skills.

Many thanks to all who participated, there will be a collab for January as well of course, and feel free to post anything you want about the way I commented your takes - good or bad. I'm open for suggestions, because I'm human as well and can make mistakes. I really tried to keep things objective and because I went into details, you may find a lot of suggestions and errors that I found. We are all good enough players to undestand that every error found in our playing by others is only a suggestion to make it better, so in that sense, all the comments are here for the best of intentions.

I made a small poll, cause I wanted to see what you think about the progress that all the members showed here. I won't vote, cause I think that they all made a terrific progress in one month, so I leave you to decide!

FINAL MIX (may not be processed yet, will be in a couple of mins! )



COMMENTS (BY THE ORDER OF UPLOAD)

OrganizedConfusion
PLAYING: Starting with a bend, and moving to the root in the B minor pentatonic box 1, then doing a couple of consecutive pinched bends on the same position, and to the root again. After that there's an interval, bended 1/4 step, and a nice sliding lick connecting the box 5 and box 1. Sounds very nice. In the second part of the solo, we have some cool lines in the box 4, followed by pinched and vibrated root, repeated onece again and then a small run again in the box 4. From that root, there's a very big nice slide, and another one, and a very cool bending lick up the neck. In the peak of the solo, we have some very cool legato licks, that go up the neck following the B minor scale, and then going to the root in the box 1 picking away every note 4 times as you go to the root. After that there are few bends in the box 1, one in the box 2 and a nice legato lick to finish off the solo effectively.
TECHNIQUE: All the techniques displayed are solid and played properly. Bending is generally good, and just need some work in order to really nail down the bended note. Usually all the bends are done a bit more than a half step, so in order to really keep them precise, more practice on them is needed. Bending technique is good in general, and so is vibrato, straight from the wrist, and bend-vibrato is done properly as well. Just need a bit more strenght in doing them, so they come out clean and precise. You legato technique is very good, and you use it often, it comes out nice, and there are some finger rolls as well, when you play the same fret on the adjacent string making sure that there is no bleed like in 0.28 Those little nuances are very cool. Picking is good, but you need a bit more practice with AP and EP runs. It doesn't matter if you don't like to play runs or not, I just think that these exercises would really improve your overall playing abilities, and you could play somethings with more ease, like those small runs and that 4 picked-notes in 0.49. You did play them with a small swing feel there, and that is cool, but I think you can achieve much better precision if you practiced more those runs. Also during those legato runs, you had some minor problems with muting, so that should be practiced in slow tempo a bit in order to really sound professional. All in all, techniques used are all in good balance, and you use them properly to make a good solo out of it, which is IMO the most important thing after all.
STRUCTURE: THe structure is usually the reflection of the players imaginaion and talent, and this structure is very good and nicely thought off. You are in the beat during the whole solo, no mistaked notes, and changing note values nicely so that there isn't any boring piece of the solo. The solo has some kind of a story, and it those slides at 0.36 are really sounding good and getting the solo to new heights in the right moment. No real mistakes in the structure, you know how to compose the solo and make it sound interesting.
ATTITUDE: Your attitude during the solo is a bit unsecure, it seemed that you really watched what you are playing and needed a bit more opened approach to the camera. That waving with your head on 0.50 tells me a bit on that, so in general I think you just need to play things without thinking what mistakes you made. Remember, sometimes good solo can have mistakes, but if it is done from the heart and really honestly throughout, the listener will appreciate that and forget about the mistakes.
VIDEO: Quality of the video is good. The shoot is generally perfect, I can see your whole figure, and this is the way it should be. If I could do something with the shot, I would:
1. move the camera more from the floor
2. tilted the cam a bit so the the horizontal line on the wall becomes horizontal
3. zoomed it just a fraction so that the guitar could be a bit more in the focus, exluding part of the legs and part of the headstock.
Lightning could be better, you need another 300W minimum from the left side (cam view) in order to really make a good brightness. That light from above is a bit weak on the camera, and it drops shadow on you and guitar body. Also the wall behind you is very good for recordings, but it would be even better if you somehow put the dryer behind you so it cannot be seen. With the dryer behind you, and another 300W halogen, you have a good quality backdrop wall for professional applications.
AUDIO: Sound is good, a bit compressed and on the verge to be buzy, but you keep it solid with your fingers and playing dynamics. I think this preset is not of good quality for someone who cannot control it, but for you it is good, since you managed to keep it in balance.
OVERALL IMPRESSION: Structure alone is enough to claim this solo excellent. So remember all the things I've said about other important components of the take. It's those subtle nuances that make you a player that you are, and work on those small details. Often listener will not notice these details and analyze them like this, but he will definitely sum them up when he's trying to decide what kind of player you are. Work on every aspect of your playing, and slowly improve thise details that needs improving and it will turn out great. Videos are improving every time, and this is the best from you that I've seen so far. So keep up the great job, and it can only get better - the results are always visible, even if you don't notice them.

Velvet Roger
PLAYING: Starting off with a slide in the box 1, goind to box 2 with a slide, and another one, then again slide in the box 1, and a small lick leading you from box 1 to box 2, where you execute the whole step bend with pinky finger, nice touch. After that in the second part of the solo, there are couple of pulloffs up theneck and some sequences using the box 1 shape. Then a tapping part involing 2 different licks on the minor pentatonic. After that some cool box 1 licks, involving bends and sliding intervals at 1.30. Then there are some consecutive bends in the box 1, one of them is pinched and then in the finish you kind slide off to B Phrygian a bit and use the C on the G string which sounds a bit strange but turned out interesting.
TECHNIQUE: Interesting array of displayed techniques in the solo. I'll start with the general problem - the bends and vibrato. We all know that these two things always need some work, and here as well I wanna recommend focusing more on them. Practicing bends and vibrato will IMHO raise your playing level more than anything else and keep your other playing techniques in balance. Slides are nicely executed and fast. Tapping is good, the first lick was played very good, but in the other one there I could hear every 3rd note. Some fune tuning on that could be in order. Although that second lick didn't come out quite as nice as teh first one, I think the tapping part gave a good dimension to the solo. You picking hand needs more work, and I recommend some AP runs in order to get used to play up-down a bit. In the second part of the solo, the picking was mostly downstroked, which is good for maintaining the sound, but upstrokes should be used as well, and some practice is in order in that sense.
STRUCTURE: the structure of the solo is generally OK. I think your structural abilities are fine but you lack patterns knowledge to really support your ideas properly. I can see that you listen to the track, and play with the beat, go into the groove, and really try to play all the things you imagine, but you really need to learn the scale patterns throughout the neck. This should IMO be your number one task, and it should drastically improve your improvising abilities. There are some missed notes here and there, and you played box 1 pattern on several places on the fretboard, which tells me you are not really sure where are the notes. Just take it easy and learn the B minor pentatonic scale boxes equally well. Start with box 2, 3, 4 and 5, since you already know box 1 nicely. Player should play equally well any box he goes to, and then playing because much more enjoyable.
ATTITUDE: you have a good feel during the solo, but as I said above the thing that makes you constrained a bit is lack of scale fretboard knowledge. If you had that I think you would play with a lot more attitude. Nevertheless, you did kept it good with the things you played, just need remove that stiffness that will go away with learning the scale positions.
VIDEO: Video is good, lightning is great. Shot is good, but I would move the camera a bit to the right, so that the fretboard is more in the front. The room behind you has some clipping in the bright areas, and in general this is not a healthy recording quality, cause in all places where the white is the color information is lost, so you can't make it better in video editing. The light/reflection in front keeps a balance, but I would recommend using stronger light in front and making that wall nice and visible instad of clipped. It would look more balanced.
AUDIO: Nice and warm tone, and the preset is on the verge to be buzzy, but it's not - it turned out smooth and compressed. As always, your sound is connected to your fingers, so IMO it is better to have a simple solo where every note comes out, than to go to some difficult patterns where not all notes come out. This is in general important because of your tapping part, so try to really make every tone in the solo comes out clean and audible. This is what makes the Good Tone in the end, not the number of notes.
OVERALL IMPRESSION: You know what I think about your playing, more work on scales and on bends, and it will raise your level quite a bit. I like the way you play, good style, and some very interesting ideas, so put yourself a strong task about the things mentioned and it will definitely be a monster progress. I already see some great progress from the previous collab, involving tapping, and some cool slides, and to keep it all together, now focus on scales.

enforcer
PLAYING: Starting off with 3 very cool and effective arpeggio patterns and finishing off very interesting on G# which is in B dorian, then a couple of hammered on lines going down the neck, and again those cool sounging arpeggios, but this time finishing on the root. As a prelude to second part we have a cool tremolo lick, and a nice bend with a feel, followed by some more cool bends in the box 1. Staying in the box 1 and doing a couple of more cool runs and bends, and then a small B minor arpeggio lick. After that it's the B dorian line again and then a cool AP up the scale at 2.08. At the finishing part of the solo, there are a couple of more bends and going down horizontaly on the neck using legato.
TECHNIQUE: Displayed techniques are are good and in balance. The only thing that could be up the notch a bit are bends and particularly vibratos. They are done properly, but just need some fine tuning. Bending needs some precision and strength, and vibratos need do be more wider,and more even. AP technique is solid, I can see that you have practice some scale sequences, and not just regular up and down. This definitely gives a cool dimension to the solo. Also there isn't too much too-fast-to-be-true runs, everything is in balance, and you keep the sound clean and even. In some areas of the solo, the sound could be more clean tho, as there are some note bleeds, specially when you go horizontaly with that legato in the end.
STRUCTURE: Nicely played solo, with a good structure. The beginning is very effective and so is transition to the part two of the solo, sounds awesome. The concept of your soloing where you take one sequence and repeat it with minor alterations is working great, and it gives the solo a meaning. The good thing is that you choose cool notes to finish off those small parts, and scale knowledge is something that helps a lot there. Great to see that you are mixing dorian mode there, which makes me feel that you have the patterns nicely layed out in your mind while playing. The horizontal movements are good sign of this. All I can recommend is to keep practicing the way you do, and to be able to connect different solo components in even more natural way, so the solo flows even more fluidly. Some slide exercises can help there.
ATTITUDE: this is the solo played with some feel, no doubt. Aside that you make funny faces which is cool and it shows that you're having no restrains, I can feel that there is no tension in the way you play as well. Some parts are really coming out great, and your attitude is responsible for that.
VIDEO: Video is good, nice backing you have, it shows a musicians evironment, which always looks cool on guitar videos. The lightning of the video can be better tho, So I recommend another 300Watter in front of you to really light you up a bit. The light from above is OK, but that's about it. One light = lots of shadows, and second light serves to kill those shadows. Also the shot could be at a more straigh angle (in front of you), but I can see you and the guitar reasonably good, so it's a small detail.
AUDIO: very nice sound, smooth and it can be heard in the mix, and there is some dynamics preserved. As I said before, there are some note bleeds, so be aware of that, with lots of distortion, player must make sure that all the notes go out clean, or if there is bleed the notes get lost in the mix quite easily. In general, preset is a good lead preset, and I like the sound of the guitar.
OVERALL IMPRESSION: when summed up, you leave the impression of a great player. This is mainly because of your approach and attitude to playing. Playing sincerely, without too many restrains, and with a smile will always leave good impression, even if you miss a note here or there. For teh audience, this is what matters, and so even this solo is not among the fastet ones it is definitely among the most effective and memberable ones.

chast
PLAYING: starting off with a nice slow slide from bellow, and vibrating the F#. After that there is a small AP sequence in the box 1, and the some cool strumming while muting with the left hand. In the second part there's the tapped arpeggio,followed by some cool vibrated bends, and then 3 sweep licks. After that there is a slide on the root, bend, and then a nice legato sequence on the box 1. After that sequence there are two cool bends, and powerchords in the end of the piece.
TECHNIQUE: you displayed several cool techniques, but some of them need a bit of work. Let's start with bends and vibratos. They need more work and practice, since on some parts you created a bad habit of vibrating with fingers instead of wrist. The vibrato and bend goes always from the wrist, so a bit more practice on that should really make the soloing even better. Tapping lick is good, but goes out of beat in the second part, and sweeps are OK, all the notes are there, but they are off beat as well, so you gotta play them with the track. IMO, you could play some simpler tap and sweep licks and still make it sound better than this, cause the off beat notes are not sounding good in the solo, no matter what the situation is. However this is not a big problem since you already play these techniques very good, a couple of days of focused practice will make it sound perfect.
STRUCTURE: Structure of the solo is reasonably good and nicely made, but those off beat notes spoil the structure a bit. Solo has a nice flow and various techniques applied ensure that it is interesting from beginning to end. With some more practicing your solo can become more fluid and in beat and this will really make it sound good. I recommend practicing how to connect different sweep and tap licks in a more natural way so that they don't sound in a lick-by-lick kind of way. Some slides or sequences to connect the licks would make wonders here.
ATTITUDE: played with some degree of feel, but my impression is that you really watched out what you are gonna play next in some areas, so this makes you stiffed up a bit. Try relaxing as much as you can while playing, and don't think about too much about fancy licks, just play whatever is natural to you. As always it's not the number of notes, it's the way you play them. If they are clean - it will sound great, it always does.
VIDEO: two light sources helped this video a lot, and it could be better perhaps if you put the light from bellow a bit to the front (cam view) of you, cause the light from the left is creating a shadow on the body of the guitar area. One thing is not clear to me - why is the image mirrored verticaly? I don't see any particular reason why this should be, it seems like you're a lefty here, so next time try to adjust the video se that it looks right. Also, putting the camera a bit more in front of you cause this could make a more natural shot on the fretboard.
AUDIO: Nice smooth lead tone, a bit lacking in presence and mids, but good overall sound, sounds modern.
OVERALL IMPRESSION: You have the good array of techniques at your disposal, you just need to work a bit on controlling them in the right way. Making a fluid solo that is in beat is a crusial task that you should be focused on IMO. Some colo composing, and practicing a bit with a metronome to get those difficult taps and sweeps down will make your soloing even better.

Toroso
PLAYING: starting with solid vibrated root, and then another cool bending lick in the box 1, this time vibrating the D. Again the similar lick but this time with alternet second part. The a prelude to second part involving some hammeron/pulloff lines. In the second part we have quarter note picks across the scale, and then some eight note triplets again across the scale in different position and a vibrated note in the end. After that, there are some cool hammered on licks, and using that technique while going horizontaly, and staying in box 2 for some more hammeron/pulloffs. For the end, we have some more hammeron/pullofs up the neck, again using horizontal movements, and in the end coming back to the root nicely.
TECHNIQUE: definitely a noticeable progress here on several fields of playing. First of all, vibratos are more natural, specially downward movement with the ring finger, which now doesn't almost require the support of the thumb - which is a good sign. Definitely an approach and direction that other fingers should follow in the future. Second good thing are more fluid neck movements, this time covering longer distances horizontaly, which is always a sign that a player has been practicing scale patterns a bit. Those AP eight triplets are also a new thing, and keep them practicing - they certainly add a new dimension to the solo, and make it more fun. There are a lot of hammered on/pulled off patterns that are repeating in different positions which is good, but I suggest making some small variations of that pattern. WIth 3 notes there are several patterns that can be played, and if you combine 2 of them it would sound even better than 1. Again, these small hammeron/pullof lines are also a new thing and I consider them a good progress, in relation to previous collabs. I'm very pleased to see that you are advancing in such a fast pace, keep it up man.
STRUCTURE: Structure is very good, good concept with paired sequences but with small alterations on the second one.
ATTITUDE: the degree of confidence has jumped a bit from the previous collabs due to practice. Again, there is a bit of stiffness while playing, but you kinda relaxed in the second part, specially with that (now already a signature ) head movement while bending. all in all, good, but could use a bit more expression IMHO. It's a matter of personal preference, of course.
VIDEO: Video is, as always - excellent. Great brightness balance, contrast, and professional looking backdrop. If there is one thing that I would change it would be to zoom up the shot to remove those empty backdrop areas to the right and above. I love the Santa hat, looks awesome, very cool idea!
AUDIO: Sound is good, but a bit buzzy. I think with a bit less distortion it could sound better. Some preset tweaking couldn't hurt. Nevertheless all the notes come out nice and clean with ocassional bleeds.
OVERALL IMPRESSION: I'm very pleased to see that you are really focusing on things that you need to work on, and the results are slowly but firmly starting to show. Well balanced solo, with a lot of new stuff incorporated is sounding pretty solid, so just continue to improve and it can only sound better and better.

kaznie_NL
PLAYING: starting with box 1 and going to root, slightly vibrating it, then doing a small bending lick, followed by a couple of notes and big slide down and up. Then we have another lick, similar to the one in the beginning, and preparing to the second part of the solo, doing a small slide upwards, and then a cool run in the box 2. coming up again in the box to, to do some more nice bending licks. After that, it's the box 3, then box 4 and in the end box 5, where you picked AP between A and B nicely on the high E string, and got into the zone. After that there are some cool bends up there as well, and finishing off the solo in a good manner, going down the scale in the box 5.
TECHNIQUE: Techniques are very good, lots of improvement as before, this time you really know your positions much better, you transfer then nicely. Bends and vibratos need some more work, if you check out those last couple of bends you will notice that they are not even. Every bend should be precisely in pitch and equal in speed with adjacent one. Also when you bend one, it is good to return to the main note, and then bend again and so on. This can sound like a minor detail but it would make a worlds difference I'm sure. Vibrato is done nicely, just needs to be a bit more wider. AP technique is much better, and I can see some cool runs up and down already. This sure is a major improvement and I can see that you practiced pentatonic patterns.
STRUCTURE: There is a good structural balance in your solo. It starts slow, and down in the box 1, and you climb it to box 5, where you finish off in the end. In the middle there are those cool runs and all in all I think you made pretty balanced structure. In the first part I would like to see more fluidness, but later you connected the notes nicely, and it sounded good.
ATTITUDE: Every time with more and more confidence, that is very good. When you play, you leave impression that you know exactly what you're doing, so this is good. You got into the zone up there on the box 5 with those bends so this is a good sign. It's always good to see someone enjoy his playing, so keep rockin.
VIDEO: Video quality is not bad, but there are couple of things that could be better:
1. try to put camera in front of you, so that the whole guitar is visible
2. get additional light from the right side (cam view)
AUDIO: Your sound is a bit raw, but it sure pierce through the mix. I personally don't like this kind of crunchy preset but if you like it I think you should definitely stick with it. It's slowly becoming your trademark, so I can only recommend to you to tweak the preset a bit and try to make a bit more softer and smoother tone. I don't mean to change it a whole lot, but just a fraction, so it sounds a bit smoother in the mix.
OVERALL IMPRESSION: Great progress in this collab as well Kaz, and you are slowly starting to grasp that pentatonic pattern in your head. It is all starting to make sense now, and I can only say that you did some great steps, when I listen to your takes 3-4 collabs before. So keep rockin and learn well all those pentatonic boxes, specially the bass note areas, and keep doign those pentatonic runs, they sure sound good.

Smells
PLAYING: Starting great, with a cool bluesy lick, and some great double half step bends, vibratin the root, and going to box 5, followed by a cool whammy lick. After that, the same theme from the beginning, but this time going to a cool fast AP lick. In the second part, there is again AP circular lick in the box 2 and finishing off on the root. After that, there is a small sweep, followed by a bend, and going down and up the scale at a fast pace using AP. In the end, there is a cool finishing run following the box 1 pattern, but up the neck in a blues manner, very effective.
TECHNIQUE: Vibrato and bendings are two thing you don't need to be concerned about at all - they are great. Nicely executed, wide, and played with ease. AP technique needs some fine tuning, specially the right hand, in order to really pick the notes evenly and that every note comes out nicely. The sweep you did in the solo is good, better than AP runs IMO, I could hear all the notes nicely. Also whammy lick from the beginning was very nicely controlled. As I said, the only thing that I would like to see is better AP control on the notes, so that each and every one rings out nicely on all the runs.
STRUCTURE: Intro is very good, has a very cool structure, same theme repeating twice, with a modification in the second one, in the second part there are many fast runs, and they are all in tempo and following tune, but need some work in order to sound just right, and that every note is in proper place. Doing more simple licks and bends between the runs made it sound more interesting, so here I have only one suggestion and that is to make the runs a bit simpler and effective so that they are balanced with one another.
ATTITUDE: You are confident in your playing, and it shows, everything is played with a great feel, and good dynamics. this is the kind of attitude the solo should have, nice and fast, with a lot of interesting techniques. This makes the solo flashy and cool to listen.
VIDEO: This is the only video that is done in wide format so I compliment this. Because of the rest of the videos were 4:3, I had to shrink it, but IMO it would be best if all made wide videos cause they are suitable for guitar display. Angle is right, and shot could be a bit wider so that the whole fretboard is displayed, but it's a minor detail, and not needed in general because I can see all that you play very clearly. Lightning is on the verge of being great, it just needs a bit of more light, but it is definitely well balanced brightness and it's a healthy image. Background is almost clear, so it looks pretty proffessional. If you somehow remove the bed at the back or mask it, I think this video would be really excellent and ready for professional application.
AUDIO: Great lead tone, lots of drive, but sounds smooth and nice. The only thing that spoils the sound a bit are the notes that are not coming out during very fast runs, or coming out unevenly because of the picking.
OVERALL IMPRESSION: All in all, solo is excellent, fast and furious, with a lot of different techniques displayed. You're progressing more and more every time and this time it is safe to say that you are great player, but need to make a balance when playing. Less notes - more clarity, or more practice - bigger clarity. I would focus more on the AP runs and picking techniqe, and really make those runs even. With some practice on the runs this would be a real professional material.

superize
PLAYING: Starting using some cool horizontal lines to create melodies which already is your signature style. COuple of these cool melodic lines, followed by a small AP run down the scale at 5.14. After that a second part where we have some more very cool melodic lines, a small run, bending lick, and another AP run at 5.34. holding on just a moment in box 1, and then doing a cool sweeped arpeggion to finish off the solo nicely.
TECHNIQUE: I can see some drastic improvements in this one. First of all you AP technique has come a long way since previous collabs. Now you do these runs very precisely, and I can see that you practiced them. Even when you play your signature horizontal lines, I can still see that you use a lot more AP moves than before, which is a good sign. Bends are also a lot better, and now are very much in pitch, just need some fine tuning to make them a bit faster. There are couple of things that I noticed could be better, and those are vibrato, and sweeps. Since now you advanced great with AP runs, it would be very very cool to make a fine balance with some vibrato technique and a bit of fine tuning that sweep arpeggios. This would increase the expressivnes of the solo a lot.
STRUCTURE: Structure is very good during the whole solo, I would say relatively simple one, but very effective and memorable. You have the ability of making great melodic horizontal passages, and after listening the solo couple of times I already remembered the melody. A bit more work on connecting different components of the solo would make it sound better IMO, so when you go from melodic passages to AP runs for example, try to connect them in a more natural way, so they blend into one another. This would make the soloing even better.
ATTITUDE: You attitude has improved because of the practice and new techniques you use - it is clearly visible. The only thing that kinda spoils the impression is the way you play those AP runs, it seems that you're struggling a bit, but I have no doubts that in some time you will play them more natuarally, and that they will become second nature, like those melodic lines.
VIDEO: With the new light added, it's already a big improvement from the last video. Now I can see you clearly, and the guitar as well. Possibly you could modify the shot so that the whole fretboard is visible. I would say this first light is a big first step, and woudl recommend even more lights to really add brightness to the whole shot. This light throws a round spot on you, and the siluethe is blurred a bit on the edges, but since there is no backdrop in the back it's a smart move. If you have another lamp, possibly try to experiment with putting one lamp behind you on the floor pointing up, so that it marks your figure sharply.
AUDIO: Sound is very good, not a lot of drive, but enough if you ask me, and you control it well because you pick the strings very precise and even. It cuts great through the mix as well.
OVERALL IMPRESSION: Very memorable solo, with a lot of new elements added gives a great impression of a player who has been practicing. AP runs, bends. great horizontal passages that are becoming better and better, cool lightning are all the things you managed to implement naturally in your playing over the period of one month! It's a great progress. Only things that I would advise to practice are those vibratos, and sweeping arpeggios in all positions.

leebreak
PLAYING: starting off up the neck in the box 4 with a nice melodic line involving bend, and then doing some nice AP sequences staying in the same position, all the way through the second part of the solo. In the second part there are some cool structured melodic lines again using AP in the box 4, and then moving down to box 1 at 6.07. After that, there are couple of picks on the root in box 1, and moving up to box 3 to do some more cool AP lines, all the way through the end, where you transfer to box 1 again and go down to the root nicely for the end.
TECHNIQUE: AP technique used durign the solo is very good, it shows that you practiced AP exercises a lot and in different positions. I like the way you transfer to several positions during the solo while playing which tells me you know your scales. There are few bends in the solo, maybe because of the style you do, but I would sure like to see them more to spice up the playing a bit. Bends and vibratos needs some more work, so I would focus on that, since AP is generally good. Rhtyhmicaly, you did play it nicely, and I can see that you know how certain notes sound on the fretboard, so you play those small call/response licks trying to develop a melody, which is a good sign of knowing the scales. About note durations, there are a lot of eight note triplets in the solo, so I recommend using quarter or eight note sequences here and there to make it more interesting.
STRUCTURE: There is certain amount of structural playing in this solo that is expressed in those cool call/response licks that you do when you build small melodic runs. This is clearly audible in the second part of the solo. Nevertheless, I think the solo needs a bit more components in order to make it even more interesting. Going for bend here and there, slowing up in the start of the solo, and then speeding up for the end are some general ideas from me. Even the simple sustained note could mean a lot from time to time, for example between those cool mini themes.
ATTITUDE: Although there are some notes that are not perfect here and there you leave the impression that you enjoy your playing and know exactly what you're doing. I like the fast that you play, listen to the track, and listen to what YOU play which is very important.
VIDEO: Video is good, nice angle on the guitar, perhaps a bit wider shot could be even better. Also additional light in front could make wonders.
AUDIO: your sound is very nice, good lead tone, not buzzy, nice and smooth. The sound could be even better with slightly less distortion IMO, every note would come out very defined. There are some note bleeds here and there that spoil the overall sound impression, but nothing big.
OVERALL IMPRESSION: Good scale knowledge, and good AP technique. These are the things that you should not be concerned about. Bending and vibrato techniques would give your playing a lot more expressivnes so I would recommend focusing on that for a few weeks. This is generaly the time that is needed to balance all the techniques down.

Caelumamittendum
PLAYING: Starting from a ghost slide from above, vibrating the root on the B string, and then another slide from bellow and another vibrated note, followed by a cool whammy lick. After that another alterned whammy lick and going into the second part with fast legato lick and vibrated bend. Staying a bit in box 1 and then moving up the neck to execute a fast and furious tapping/legato lick all the way down to the root on the second fret. After that climbing your way up to the box 1 again, and doing another cool long tapping legato lick all the way to the end.
TECHNIQUE: You show various techniques displayed here, and most of them are in a good balance with one another. Vibrato and bends are very good, and could use just little bit more exercise to make them sound even more secure. Tapping and legato are very good as well, nice and fast, and need a bit more practice to achieve better precision and really play all the notes in the beat. Taking the time to exercise with metronome those tapping and legato runs, and analyze what note goes where would make them sound awesome indeed. There isn't much AP, I think you like legato technique more, but IMO you should focus a bit on AP sequences. You don't have to use AP runs in your playing, but it will give you a better overall playing ability and good flexibility when changing strings.
STRUCTURE: Structure is pretty good - nice slow expressive start, there are couple of notes that are off the key a bit, but nothing big, then moving to the second part to do those 2 cool tap/legato runs, and in between then some nice pentatonic licks that keep the structure together. I would say it's a good concept for a solo but just need to get those note values down and analyze them, so every note is in it's proper place in tempo.
ATTITUDE: A bit uncertain in beginning, but in the second part you kinda let yourself go, and played out. With that first tap/legato you got your confidence back, and it showed so you continued that path till the end.
VIDEO: The shot angle and size is very good, I can see your whole figure and the guitar properly. The back of the shot is nice as well, showing the musicians environment which can always be a good thing if you don't use a backdrop. Picture is a bit blured, and it lacks lightning. The one light from above is casting a lot of shadows, and giving the image a yellowish look. You need one more string light in front of you, and that would make a world difference.
AUDIO: nice and smooth tone is good for your legato playing. Although there is a lot of drive it doesn't sound buzzy at all, so I'd say it's a nice lead tone. Watch out for those note bleeds tho, cause they can spoil the sound pretty fast if note controlled, specially on legato.
OVERALL IMPRESSION: Very nice array of techniques, and cool legato style. You seemed to play a lot of these stuff in you freetime, not just during practice. If you want to be able to have full control with those legato parts, break them down into smaller pieces and play with metronome. I think this exercise will make your playing sound very professional.

Gus
PLAYING: Starting off with some cool bendings in the box 1, and staying in that position for some more pentatonic lines. Going down, for a second in box 5 and again going up in box 1, using AP. In the second part you play a couple of lines in the box 2, and then going to box 3 for that cool repetitive lick at 7.26. followed by a small sequence downwards in the same position. For a second you went left to box 2, then a small slide, and finishing off the solo in box 1, where you did some cool repetitive licks, and nice bends at 7.38. and then going downwards to the root on the low E string.
TECHNIQUE: AP techniques is something you use a lot, and I think you are controlling it pretty well. At 7.26 you kinda went out of beat, and this is the only AP mistake I could hear in the solo. The problem was with the picking hand when changing strings, you kinda skipped a movement and got confused for a second, but made a fast recovery. Bends and vibratos need more workouts, bends in the beginning are pretty good, just need to be a bit stronger, and precisely in pitch. With vibratos it's the same story - very good, and properly done, but just need some more fine tuning to make them sound even and precise.
STRUCTURE: Structure of the solo is OK, and you follow the track nicely. I would recommend working more on connecting different AP components that you did to make the solo more fluid, but the overall concept is fine. Inserting slides here and there, and arpeggiated lines to connect those AP sequences would make a big difference, so this is my suggestion for future practice.
ATTITUDE: it seems to me that you need to be a bit more secure when playing. Try to relax a bit and don't think what you're gonna play next, even if you play some wrong notes. It's OK to make a sincere mistake, and go with it if you got into the groove like with that 7.26 line, than to be careful so much that you miss the fun of it.
VIDEO: I can see some drastic improvements in the video from previous times here! Looks more like a professional shooting place now. The light is good, and the shot as well. You could zoom in a bit so that there is not blank space on the left and above you. The Video itself is a bit blurred, but the main problem I see in this shot is exposure. It's too big. Try adjusting the cam exposure to smaller value so that there are no clipped white areas. For example, I can't see the edges of your guitar properly - because of the exposure that information is lost and everything is clipped to white. With these minor adjustments that I recommend it will look pro.
AUDIO: Overall good sound, nice and clean picking, and muting as well. THere are some note bleeds here and there so watch out for muting when exercising. I think reverb is a bit too much for the track, but if you like it and it is the part of your sound it's OK then.
OVERALL IMPRESSION: You are trying to make it look professional which is very good. Slowly but firmly you leave the impression of a good player ready to record himself in a proper way. A bit more practice on slides, bendings, and arpeggios would move your playing level by a notch, so as I said I recommend putting some of these exercises in your daily routines and see how it works.

Tolek
PLAYING: Starting sharply in the box 1, vibrating the root, then doing a sharp cool bend, and again on the root. After that there is a small half step bend on Dorian note, and doing a small eight note triplet bluesy line down the box 1. In the second part you start heavily with a cool long tapping lick, bend the B string to the root on the 12th fret, and tap the string while bended. Nice touch. After that there is a small legato sequence, and going down again to the box on to do a cool double bend, strumming in fast with your picking hand, and going down to the root in box 1 position. For the end we have a fast AP run until the end of the solo, to finish off effectively.
TECHNIQUE: wide array of techniques are displayed, and they all need some work. Bending is sharp and good in general, but vibrato is not always done from the wrist, which is a bad habit that needs more work. A couple of weeks and you will play it perfectly IMO. As far as tapping and AP runs goes, you are running way to fast to be able to control that much notes, so not all of them ring out clearly or evenly, and there's a lot of noise aside. In order to really control them, practice these runs and be patient and careful when you play them. sometimes the same run, played in quarter notes in this kind of (140bpm) track will sound more effective IF clean, than quarter triplets played unclean.
STRUCTURE: Structure of the solo is very good, you started great and with expressive melodic lines, I specially liked the dorina flavor. Later on the concept remained great, as you stacked components nicely up to the end to make it sound effective.
ATTITUDE: You play with a lot of attitude here, and I think you are pretty convinced in the stuff you play. I would only suggest better control of your playing in order to really sound right, cause real attitude comes from there.
VIDEO: Video shoot is very good, but I would prefer to be a bit wider in general. The light from the right is good, but I think another one from the left would be perfect. Backdrop is pretty interesting as well, but try to remove those black edges to make it look professional.
AUDIO: This sound is something that you should really work with more and experiment with presets. The preset sounded too quiet and compressed, there were no dynamics. Too much distortion in the preset made it sound like this. When you record something be aware of the fact that it will always sound more distorted and compressed in the mix, so try to make a preset with less drive and use that one to cut through the mix, and maybe later compress it if you like to. Dynamics in the signal must be preserved a bit or you loose a lot of signal information. Also mids are scooped and all that is left is a bit of presence at 7000-8000Hz which is not enough to cut through all the time and will only leave sharp piercing sounds on the high notes.
OVERALL IMPRESSION: I think you have a good technical ability in overal, but just trying to much to play too fast at the moment. I suggest take some time really nailing down those fast runs to play them exactly in tempo. Slow them down, and break them into pieces, and they will sound much more effective. There's no need to rush things if you can't hear every note - that is always the general rule in playing.

kjutte
PLAYING: Starting off heavily with a nice vi-I-ii powerchord progression, palm muting a bit, and then another powerchord line, same as before, but this time coming to the box 1 and doing some cool&fast melodic lines. After that there is a cool tapping lick, and a AP run downwards in box 1. After that there's another fast run, this time upwards, and ultra fast sweeps up the neck, followed by a vibrated bend, and in the end a cool arpeggio sequence, finishing on the root nicely.
TECHNIQUE: You show a lot of different techniques in this solo, which is very good and gives the impression of a well rounded player. However, these techniques need some more work because not all notes go out clearly. I undestant that is the part of your style and influences to play fast, and this is cool, but playing fast with not too many control can possibly lead you in the wrong direction. Precision comes before speed, so be weary of that when practicing these fast runs. Tappings turned out very good, and almost all the notes popped out, but those AP runs and sweeps lack definition, and there's a lot of noise. Approach with those exercises with more focus on muting and gradually increase speed. Let it come to yuo naturally and don't push it. Bends are good, but need to be precisely in pitch, and vibratos are strong and wide, but need to be more even.
STRUCTURE: There are several components stacked together in this solo in a good way, but you need to work on creating a nice fluid solo, so it doesn't sound lick-by-lick. Try to connect several fast runs or tapping licks with slower melodic passages and it will sound much better.
ATTITUDE: You played all the stuff with a lot of confidence, and rushed a lot, even when you didn't have control throughout the solo. The thing that is positive is that you wanna play fast, and just letting your self go no matter the mistakes. It's you and part of your style so nice to see that you are on that path, just need to work a bit on those techniques.
VIDEO: Video angle is good, but it would be good to see a more straight angle on the fretboard. Also I suggest getting another light in there so that the fretboard is even in brightness.
AUDIO: The sound is not great, it could be better IMO. It was a bit quiet when I got it, so I had to amplify it quite a bit in order to be heard on the track. Try adjusting the input on your sound card so that the signal that comes in is nice and strong. This will preserve the sound as well. Another thing that could be better is dynamics - the sound is too compressed so a lot of information is lost. Good thing is the preset is smoooth and not buzzy even with this much drive.
OVERALL IMPRESSION: Good playing, fast playing, but little control on the fast parts. Need to work on them cause I can see a lot of potential in all those licks. Those are all great ideas, and just need some practice with metronome in order to achieve better precision. ALl in all good array of different techniques, and if it were slower and more defined I would definitely say it was better - even if it had less notes.

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[Pedja Simovic]

Hello everybody and welcome to Fusion collaboration final mix.
Before getting to your comments I would like to thank you all for participating and submitting your takes on time. I think it is safe to say that most of you had a go at soloing over fusion type harmony for very first time! I took that into consideration before making final comments but in general there is a lot areas we need to work on in future and explore if you want to take your playing to next level. Having said that, from next collaboration things will change a bit as we will focus on very specific things when improvising or composing a solo. I will explain all this when time is right , for time being enjoy the final mix and comments !

Pedja


Number of participants 25


First up is Ajmurrell (0:00 - 0:30)


Sound - Very good sound, fits the backing as well as your style of playing. All the notes come out clean which is very important as well.

Intro - Excellent work! Nice double bend with descending phrase responding. Question answer phrasing applied + rest after it - perfect!


Phrasing/time feel/rhythm - Your phrasing sounds fairly strong trough out the solo. The reason why this works is because you applied a lot of rests as well as short vs long rhythms (double vs regular time feel). I would like to hear solo from you with constant type playing , with fever rests as comparison for your trough composed playing.


Development/melodic shapes - Great job with developing the solo using Question answer phrasing + rests. Melodic shapes are mostly straight and predictable - melody goes up , melody comes down , scale motion . Practice with different melodic shapes soloing and see what that can do to your soloing and composing skills.


Technique - Everything you needed in this solo you covered technically. Good job.


Outro/ending - Very good ending . Sounds like intro a bit and you managed to pull it off with that rest you used just before playing the phrase.


Overall I am very happy with your solo Adam. Question and Answer phrasing with Rests was applied trough out solo which made everything click together. I would advise you to work on your melodic shapes more in future as well as bending to some extent. In future I would like to hear trough composed playing from you as you seem to have solid control over applying rests in solos.

Thank you for your take Adam!


audiopaal (0:30 - 0:57)


Sound - Very good sound just like Adam's take. Great job !

Intro - I love it. You took one motive and created different endings for it. You also took your time and developed your ideas. It shows the professional approach in your playing. Excellent work.

Phrasing/time feel/rhythm - Very good job. Your phrasing was strong and solid as you were using Repetition and various endings to your motives. Time feel was also there as you had both slow and fast rhythms combined along with straight vs syncopated rhythm. Excellent work.


Development/melodic shapes - Excellent work. Repetition + various endings of motives = very strong development. Melodic shapes were also good but I suggest you practice mixed melodic shapes when soloing (just like in Adam's case).

Technique - Good job with technique. Nothing to technical but it served the purpose of your solo as it was meant to be melodic with hooks in it.


Overall this was excellent solo Paal. I really liked repetition and development you had trough out the solo. Your phrasing was also very strong trough out the solo. There is one thing however that made solo not so perfect smile.gif In couple of different sections you used some out of scale and avoid notes. Avoid note being note thats not strong chord tone (like playing 4th over Major chord etc). So thats one area I would advise you to pay more attention in future. Another thing is working on melodic shapes , but I will go over that in future collaborations as most people have this problem.

Thank you for your take Paal !




Berko (0:58 - 1:25)



Sound - Nice distorted sound with maybe a touch too much gain. But I like it how it fits the backing good job !



Intro - I really liked the ideas you had in the intro. One problem I had with it is very first note was flat bend (a bit out of tune). I think that messed up a bit great phrase you had going there - wonderful note choice by the way !

Phrasing/time feel/rhythm - Very strong phrasing trough out the solo. Good job. Time feel is also there along with good choice of strong rhythm figures.


Development/melodic shapes - Development is definitely happening. It sounds like you composed this solo to me as there are couple of different guitar takes in it wink.gif Melodic shapes same as for everybody mentioned - we will work on it soon.

Technique - I like what you applied in the solo from technical point of view. I have only one problem and thats unwanted string noise when shifting strings. Listen to your take without backing track and you will see what I mean there wink.gif


Outro/ending - Two things about ending. It sounds strong and fits the backing , but another thing is it sounds a bit unrelated to previous phrase (not connected). It does however sound strong as section by itself so good job with that!


Overall I really liked some melodic ideas you displayed in this solo Berko. Phrasing was also connecting your semi aggressive solo approach, technique worked well (except unwanted string noise) and there is couple of out notes that you used that ended sounding strong because of phrasing. Work on more rests in solos and more chromatic approaches to your playing.

Thank you for your take Berko !


big harry (1:25 – 1:53)

Sound – The notes come out clean but It sounds like it has lots of distortion there. I would take it down a bit, to give more sustain and clarity for notes to ring out.

Intro - I like your intro as it has repetition and different endings. However some notes don’t come out as strong as they should , so you should work on that in future .

Phrasing/time feel/rhythm – Good job with all of these. There were couple places where you were falling behind the beat , but overall it was fairly strong playing.

Development/melodic shapes – Definitely happening, I am very pleased with this area.

Technique – Trough most of the solo sound good , however in couple of sections it sounds like you are missing some notes. I suggest you work on alternate and economy picking a bit more – that should do the work!

Outro/ending – Good note choice but lack of technique made you slow down in phrasing hence it didn’t come out 100% strong.

Overall since this is your first ever collaboration and recording, I must say I am very pleased with your effort. You have been member at GMC for short period of time and managed to show me that you are real hard worker. All the lessons you posted and other videos show your improvement on immediate basis, and I must say I am very happy because of that.
Keep up the improvement and work on things I mentioned if possible !
Thank you for your take Harry!




Caelumamittendum (1:53 – 2:21)

Sound – This is your signature sounds , I hear it everywhere so I won’t take it away from you smile.gif

Intro – I like how you used development and 2nd ending of motive you started with. Great work .

Phrasing/time feel/rhythm – This was both great and not so good and here is why… Unlike most other guys, you actually used some OFF BEAT rhythms and syncopated phrases trough out the solo. You did something that’s called playing behind the beat. You were hardly on click but always behind with syncopated rhythms. That was all great stuff man I enjoyed it , but here is the problem part… If you do it a lot (like you over used it), it starts to sound like you have lack of compass in other words where the click is, so your phrasing and melodies start to sound very odd whatever you play. Solution is simple – keep what you were doing but next time combine more strong down beat type (straight) rhythms and you will have great arsenal of phrasing ideas you can use !


Development/melodic shapes – Melodic shapes are good , development could be even better , but that has to do with phrasing I mentioned earlier. More question and answer type of phrasing recommended !


Technique – Overall good work.


Outro/ending – You ended of root which is always good but I would have preferred stronger rhythmic phrase for the ending .

Overall this solo was great example of how you are exploring and discovering new things In your playing. I am very happy with how you took syncopated rhythm trough whole solo but for next time try to balance it out more and work on question and answer phrasing a bit more.

Thank you for your take Ben !




Coffeeman ( 2:22- 2:49)

Sound – Excellent distortion, I really like how all notes come out clear with it!
Intro – I love this intro. Excellent development with 2nd ending happening one octave higher than first one. Excellent work.

Phrasing/time feel/rhythm – Very good job with all of these. Your phrasing was strong, choice of rhythms was mostly downbeat but there syncopated rhythms as well. Time feel was not 100% obvious but it did happen from first phrase all the way to the last.

Development/melodic shapes – Very strong development and solid melodic shapes. Great job.

Technique – I loved what you did over G#dim7 part, really creative work!
Outro/ending – Excellent job with ending. Sounds like very first melodic idea in the intro. Very strong finish to a very good solo.

Overall this solo has a very solid structure and content in it. Phrasing is strong, sound really sticks out and ideas with it, and everything seems to be in perfect order.
One question, did you compose or improvise solo ? Just curios that’s all wink.gif
Work more on syncopated phrasing and obvious time feel change , other than that you did awesome man.

Thank you for your take coffeeman (Andru) !


David Wallimann (2:49 – 3:17)
Sound – Excellent sound, fits backing track really well.

Intro – Very strong intro even though I said you should record after click you started on pre bar. smile.gif

Phrasing/time feel/rhythm – Its evident that your solos sound strong because you have developed strong question and answer type of phrasing. Most of the times you are using simple melodic shapes as call and response (high vs low or low vs high). Time feel change happens over G# dim7 chord where you do double time feel which is good (but I will talk about note choice latter as well as other advices).

Development/melodic shapes – As mentioned above, development happens as you are using Q & A type of phrasing. Melodic shapes could be expanded to broken shapes or interrupted.

Technique – For 27 second long solo very good use of techniques. Legato was your strongest point in the solo.

Outro/ending – Strong ending again thanks to Q & A type phrasing wink.gif

Overall David this was very well executed solo. Your strongest point in playing is question and answer type phrasing that gets you by to play pretty much anything (which is great). There is couple of things I do suggest you use as you are Instructor and I have to be even more direct and exact with advices in this style of music!
One area is melodic shapes. I think you should take 3 , 4 , 5 , 6 note melodic shapes and isolate them and practice improvising with them. I will talk about examples of these shapes in next collaboration but I think you know where I am going with this …
Second thing is your melodic choice. In this solo you did use some chromatic approach, but for Fusion style to really work you have to apply Superimposing. So that being said, I would like to hear more E minor, G major, D major, B minor etc type of arpeggios over A minor instead of just regular A minor sound. Having said that I think you need to isolate specific arpeggios and practice improvising with them over basic one chord to get that outside sound. Once you have A minor sound from all different mode options (dorian, Phrygian , aeolion and all harmonic and melodic minor type modes) then its time to add some Tension to those arpeggios with dominant type chord resolutions. I will talk about all this in future collaborations also.
Third and last thing I would mention is phrasing… I don’t know what your intent is when you play solos but I hear a lot of similar lessons and solos from you phrasing wise. My advice for Fusion type of music is to listen to as much as possible PIANO and SAX players in that genre. They are the ones that really have complete control with over the bar phrasing etc. So my advice is basically if you want to be really good at this style, lay off some guitar music for a while and spend more time on Chick Correa, Weather Report, Steps Ahead, Brandford Marsalis, Joe Calderazo etc and transcribe Q & A rhythms they use and create your own melodic ideas with it.
I hope you take all this with open heart and ears man.
Thank you for your take David and for participating. I hope to see you in future Fusion collabs again!



Deleted (3:17 – 3:45)

Sound – Clean sound but it’s a bit dry for my taste. You could have added some lower EQ to it to boost it and make it warmer.

Intro – Excellent, very strong slow bend and Q & A phrasing following it.

Phrasing/time feel/rhythm – All elements are fairly strong. I think you need to work on off beat (syncopated) rhythms in order to use them more in your solos.

Development/melodic shapes – Excellent work, Q &A type phrasing kept it all together.

Techniques – No faults as it was fairly slow and build up type solo. Good job.

Outro/ending – I like how you used Bb as A Phrygian mode for ending the piece. Great !

Overall I am very pleased with Q&A type phrasing in this solo. Sound could be a bit warmer , perhaps even a different pickup would have worked. Time feel need some work if you plan to use different types of climax in your solos. Off beat phrasing needs work if you plan to have more rhythmic variety in your solos. Everything was well constructed and played , keep these advices as means to improve more like with everybody !

Thank you for your take Deleted !




Dexxter (3:45 – 4:13)

Sound – Excellent Rock Fusion type sound.

Intro – Excellent job with intro. Q & A type phrasing used, very good choice of rhythms and strong melodic ideas!

Phrasing/time feel/rhythm – Excellent , I have nothing to add here.

Development/melodic shapes – Excellent, sound like you are telling a story – great stuff !

Techniques – Very balanced use of techniques here. I was surprised with diminished sweeps towards the end : )

Outro/ending – Excellent , you used A minor arpeggio chord tones over 2 octaves with solid phrasing.

Overall I am really surprised with your take Dexxter as I never heard you play before and this is your first recording in my collaboration. You definitely nailed the backing track and it didn’t show like you had any difficulty with it. Your phrasing was spot on along with melodic choice , Q&A phrasing was there… Basically you made music with all the devices you had at your disposal.
My only recommendation is to practice superimposing and chromatic approaches if you are looking to improve your overall playing in Fusion genre.

Thank you for your take Dexxter !



enforcer (4:13 – 4:40)

Sound – I picked your 2nd take as the sound of this one fits great with backing track , and your ideas are awesome in this one.

Intro – Strong intro with Q & A type phrasing. I like how you used different endings – you did that in previous collaborations as well!

Phrasing/time feel/rhythm – Trough most part of solo this is working excellent. I noticed you seem to have trouble with faster runs where you always “swallow “ a note here and there. The assignment for you is more regular vs double time feel solo. So you basically play a bar of regular time feel (half notes for example) and then next bar (or next two bars) you do double time rhythm (constant 16th notes, triplets or anything that sounds totally opposite and like answer to your regular time feel !).


Development/melodic shapes – Development is definitely there, I like how you are approaching your solos they definitely tell a story. Unlike 99% of participants, your melodic shapes actually have a lot of variety, that’s awesome and keep up good work and imagination happening.

Techniques – You use lots of different techniques but I have to emphasize that your notes don’t always ring out or as I like to say sing out. The reason for this is you lift your left hand finger from fret millisecond before you need to hence the cut off sound. This is especially noticeable in low region and bottom strings. Work on regular vs double time feel soloing with metronome and/or backing track and you will nail this man !

Outro/ending – Interesting ending, I like it to some extent although I think you could have went with some slower rhythm to bring it down – but this ending works just as good. Great job.
Can, I know have firm understanding of what your playing strengths and flaws are about hence all the specific advices I gave you. Your phrasing and melodic shapes along with development are just great man. Your sense for melody is also very strong. My only concern is technical side of your playing, staccato and cut off that you do to notes. Work on that with metronome and/or backing track with as many as different rhythms and exercises possible. Record it (audio and/or video) post it somewhere on forum , I will be more than happy to check it out and tell you how you are doing with that.
Overall this was very melodic solo had great structure and development but lacked some technical aspect in it.

Thank you for your take enforcer (Can) !



Howermike (4:42 – 5:09)

Sound – Good distortion, all notes come out . Good job !

Intro – Very strong and specific melodic phrase. I like it, great work.

Phrasing/time feel/rhythm – Trough most of solo its fairly strong phrasing except when you are playing faster passages (legato , 16th note runs, broken rhythms etc) , then you tend to fall behind the beat.

Development/melodic shapes – Q&A type phrasing is applied and melodic shapes work with your melodic choices. Great work!

Techniques – Your melodic playing is great but your lack of legato technique is sacrificing the melody. I think you need to work more with metronome and/or backing tracks, and just play legato and build it up from slower to faster tempos.

Outro/ending – Ending is cool , sounds like mine haha, just kidding. You did great job on ending it strong , good work !

I am very happy with this solo Mike. You used some exotic scales (like Can did) and your development is just natural – your solos tell me a story and I like that about them. One thing that I noticed in this and previous collab is that you need to work more on your legato to make your style complete. It is obvious to me that you love playing legato (you did It in previous collab as well : ) and practicing it more with “click” will definitely make your playing stronger. I look forward to your future takes in collabs Mike.

Thanks you for your take howermike (Mike) !




Ivan Milenkovic ( 5:09 – 5:37)

Sound – Very good sound, fits backing track well!

Intro – BB King type opening always works as you can play anything after slide down from root. Excellent choice.

Phrasing/time feel/rhythm – I have to say that time feel change is definitely there and rhythm with phrasing. I will comment more of this later.

Development/melodic shapes – This was the weakest part of the solo, development. Sounded like you were just running licks up and down the neck, so there was definite lack of Q & A type phrasing, repetition and rests !

Techniques – Legato was your predominant technique and you used it very well trough most of the solo except couple of spots where the phrasing drops (middle and ending). Also your vibrato at the beginning is a bit shaky but that’s your style I won’t try to change that in any way !

Outro/ending – You did end on the root but everything that lead to that actual resting point didn’t make it sound distinguished and recognizable as ending.

Overall I think your sound and legato was your strongest point in this solo. I also enjoyed what you did over C minor part, that was really nice superimposing melodically speaking. The ending part however (F/G, G#dim7 A min) was not pleasing. There were out (wrong avoid) notes over the chords but that was not biggest problem I had… The thing that bothered me there was no development in the solo ; no repetition, no Q&A type of phrasing , nothing that listener can hold on to. When you repeated idea ( in the ending section) it sounded bad as you were playing wrong notes . I recommend when doing new unknown chord progressions to break them up in the little sections and work one section at the time, before trying to tackle whole piece at once.
So overall I think you could have done better job over this backing Ivan as you are one of the Instructors at GMC that students really look up to – so I expect you to hold that high standard when doing collaborations as well.
I hope you take all these advices with open ear and heart.
Thank you for submitting your take Ivan, I look forward having you in future collaborations!



JamesT (5:37- 6:15)

Sound – Distorted, fits the backing track, notes come out. I would perhaps add some more depth with it either in EQ’s or effects. Good job!

Intro – Very good intro, slide into a long note followed by another long one. Typical development trick used in all styles. Excellent work.

Phrasing/time feel/rhythm – I really like your phrasing and rhythmic ideas. Your time feel was noticeable in legato and from straight intro which I will talk about later. Your broken rhythmic figures over F#min part were perfect and very fresh compared to all other takes. Excellent work !

Development/melodic shapes – Your solo was telling me story, I like that about it. There was intro development and ending very specific as well as climax points both low and high. Excellent work.

Techniques – This area is your weakest in this solo. There were some unwanted noises when you were shifting strings , so I suggest working more on muting. Lot of people work on right hand muting but overlook importance of left hand muting. I think you need to work on left hand muting more when you are changing strings. Also your legato tends to drop your phrasing and you play a bit behind the beat (not too much tough !). So I suggest your practice more your legato techniques as you have very good melodic ideas that will come out even better with stronger technique !

Outro/ending – Excellent idea for ending! You started with slow rhythm (half time feel) and even ended with that same idea! Great work!


Overall James I really liked your melodic ideas and development trough out this solo. If I remember correctly (correct me if I am wrong please), but you were composing this solo is that right? Either way it sounds very melodic and strong. I have to emphasize legato as technical practice as well as left hand muting. You handled very well dim7 part but still in future more needs to happen over this – we will talk about it in next collaboration!
Thank you for your take JamesT !



lcssd (6:05 – 6:33)

Sound – A bit too distorted for this tape of backing track. With 10 to 20 % less gain it would fit much better. Also this much distortion prevents you from hearing all the notes clearly especially in the lower register of Guitar.

Intro – Very good intro. You applied technique that couple of guys applied. Long single note followed by response in some other range of instrument. Great work.

Phrasing/time feel/rhythm – Your phrasing started a bit weak but then as you went on it became stronger. Towards the end where you had legato part it got weaker again. Time feel is there trough the solo, great work and rhythm choice worked really well with your melodic choice!

Development/melodic shapes – Development happens trough whole solo although you have very little rests but make it up with some Q & A phrasing. Melodic shapes are very good, not just up and down but broken as well.

Techniques – This was from technical stand point toughest solo to play (if I had to transcribe it and play it now). But having said that, your technique is not flawless just yet ; ) You need to get every single note clear when you play fast and technical type of music. Otherwise, sloppy playing comes out more than anything! In your case legato and left hand muting (listen to your take without backing you will hear what I mean).

Outro/ending – Very nice ending with double bends characteristic for rock style of music. Great job.

I know this is your 2nd collaboration ever and less than a month ago you didn’t know how to record, so I must state that I am very happy to have you in this collaboration! I am sure all future collaborations will clean up your sound even more when recording and your composing skills will keep getting stronger every time. I think you are great technical player and you have a good sense for melody, I just feel you need more Q &A type phrasing, rests , or use sequences broken up rhythms and things like that to spice up your playing !
Overall I am happy with take but there were some really nice and weird OUT choices – especially over G# dim7 part !

Thank you for your take lcdds (Monte) and I look forward hearing you in future collaborations!




Paiva (6:33-7:01)

Sound – Distorted with all the notes coming out , but it’s a bit in the background ! Sounds like you used a lot of Noise Gate or that was amp cabinet you used. Overall you can make it come out more over the top with EQ adjustment and different gain boost.

Intro – Very nice melodic idea with Q&A type melodies. One problem occurs, and that’s from technical stand point not all the notes come out clear and have strong phrasing. I will talk about it later…

Phrasing/time feel/rhythm – Phrasing mostly sounds very strong, there are however couple of spots in your solo where your phrasing was rushed. Time feel and rhythm was applied very well trough whole solo. Great job!

Development/melodic shapes – Very good work with development. You applied rests, different endings, various melodic shapes. On top of everything solo sounded musical and was telling me a story. Excellent !

Techniques – This is the area where I would spend the most time for you Paiva. Legato is a bit soft and not all notes ring out well when you try to play faster passages. So I would definitely work with metronome and/or backing tracks to fix that.

Outro/ending – I like the open string ideas that lead to the actual ending. That was excellent work!

Overall I really like your creativity in this solo Paiva. You told me you composed it and it really shows as it is definitely telling story to listener. Please make sure to make your phrasing even stronger and practice technique more on daily basis with click !

Thank you for your take Paiva !




Slammer (7:01 – 7:29)

Sound – A bit distorted with lots of low eq’s boosted. I think you need to put more mid and high EQ’s to make it sound a bit brighter so all notes can come out clean.

Intro – Really nice idea I enjoyed it a lot ! Long bend as question followed by faster line as response. One problem was the phrasing was a bit weaker and sloppy but other than that ideas were awesome. Excellent work!

Phrasing/time feel/rhythm – I think you need to work most with your phrasing. Sometimes its behind sometimes ahead of the beat. Take metronome and/or backing tracks, write down rhythms that you most commonly use in your solos, and start practicing different melodic ideas with them. Record yourself , post it on forum and I can help you from there. The idea is to be in the center of the beat not around. When you have firm control of keeping time then you can go around and do polyrhythms anywhere !

Development/melodic shapes – Development was definitely there along with nice melodic shapes, but it didn't reach its full potential because of phrasing weakness. If I overlook the phrasing problem, this was actually really well approached and done!

Techniques – Strong technique control apart from part at 7:22! Sounds like unwanted noise and/or missed notes. Pay closer attention to that when recording.

Outro/ending – Very strong ending I like it!

Slammer I have never heard you before so I cannot judge your playing level and comfort based on one 27 seconds solo smile.gif All the things I said relate to this solo and this solo only but I hope to see you in future collaborations so we can compare improvement rate between that one and this one!

Thank you for your take Slammer !



Smells (7:29 – 7: 57)


Sound – Awesome distortion! All the notes are clean and you picked very good effect for your style of playing. Excellent work.

Intro – Very raw and energetic intro I like it a lot. Very strong bend with vibrato followed by responding slower paced phrase. Excellent work.

Phrasing/time feel/rhythm – Phrasing is almost perfect for most of the time. Towards 2nd part of A min groove you were behind the beat a bit. Time feel is definitely there as you had regular time vs double time with faster legato runs. Good job!

Development/melodic shapes – Great work in development section. Melodic shapes just like with everyone else – could use more expanding!

Techniques – I have to comment in this section on couple of things as I know you will take all advices openly! Your legato in C min section sounded a bit sloppy; some notes were basically missing hence your melodic and rhythmic statement didn’t end up sounding as strong as it should have. Your pedal point melody didn’t sound as strong as it could have as well. Another little thing I noticed was your bend around F#min section is a bit out of pitch… Other than those things you did great job using various techniques and incorporating them with strong phrasing!

Outro/ending – Not very original ending I must say as you could have done something different a bit. Overall it does fit into the contest of the solo , so I won’t take anything of it : )

Overall I like melodic ideas and development in this solo a lot. I think you need to clean up technique just a little bit and it will start to sound very professional in my opinion.
Great work Chris, thank you for submitting your take; I hope to see you in next ones as well!



Sondre (7:58 – 8:26)


Sound – Sondre, I like this distorted sound much more than your previous ones. All the notes are clear and it looks like your POD is doing wonders for you. Excellent work.
Intro – Chuck Berry style intro; I have to admit I never expected to hear that here – great job, very creative man : )

Phrasing/time feel/rhythm – I like how you are balanced straight vs syncopated (off beat) rhythms. I have to say phrasing could be a bit stronger in some parts, other than that great work man.

Development/melodic shapes – I like that you used rests and nice rhythms to develop your ideas. One thing is obvious; sounds like you are doing E shape for all minor pentatonics wink.gif I would like to see at least another shape in some future collaboration from you.

Techniques – Everything is great except the bend at 8:20! Just work more on bends and it will be great.

Outro/ending – I like how your ending phrase started (very strong down beat rhythm) but it ended very weak at the end. You could have ended it at A instead of going extra note to G postponing it etc.

Overall I hear from this solo very encouraging thing. You took one minor pentatonic shape , moved it around and made some music. Shows that you are creative which is great. Another thing that was good trough most of part was your phrasing. I particularly liked how you combined downbeat with upbeat rhythms.

Thank you for your take Sondre !





Tolek (8:25 – 8:53)


Sound – I love your new sound Tolek! You sound like Mike Stern only distortion is missing, Excellent job!

Intro – You were suppose to do pre bar thing but I have to admit you pulled it off great with targeting strong chord tone ending on longer rhythm. Excellent.

Phrasing/time feel/rhythm – Really good job Tolek. Your phrasing has become much stronger now compared to first collaboration you did. Excellent job man keep it up. Nice choice of rhythms, your solo didn’t really need double time feel to it as it was very melodic and greatly developed.

Development/melodic shapes – I love the development in this solo. Your phrasing, Q & A type phrasing, long notes vs short really kept it alive and interesting. Great work man.

Techniques – Everything is smooth until just before you hit F#min section. Something strange starts to happen with your guitar sound – almost as if you were playing slide guitar there : )

Outro/ending – Great idea for ending, however you never resolved it ! I like the odd vs even type rhythm vs melody you did there, but you just had to resolve it and it would have been perfect.

Tolek, I really have nothing to add to your solo except that little technical thing I mentioned. I would to here in future more trough composed solo from you as your Q&A phrasing is starting to come strong together now, so I want to see playing with lines in some future collaboration!

Thank you for your take Tolek!





Toroso (8:54 – 9:22)


Sound – Excellent sound, not too much gain and all the notes come very strong and clean. Excellent Toroso!

Intro – I like it, it starts with slow gradual bend as question and then it responds with faster phrase. Excellent work.

Phrasing/time feel/rhythm – I only have words of praise for you Toroso in this are ! Last collaboration your phrasing was a bit behind the beat. In this one you have showed already a lot of improvement. Not only that your phrasing is now on the beat, but your melodies now sound more connected and coherent ! Excellent, I am very happy for this improvement man!

Development/melodic shapes – Development is there as you are using very solid Rhythmic combinations for Q&A type of phrasing. Melodic shapes are lacking, but that’s the case for 99% participants as this Is totally new harmony and material for everyone !

Techniques – Nothing to crazy here technique wise, but solo is very melodic which is good. I think one area where you could spend some time would be bending. I suggest you support your bends with as many fingers as you can. When I bend with 2nd finger I use my 1st to support it; when I bend with 3rd I use both 1st and 2nd etc, you get the idea wink.gif

Outro/ending – The ending sounded strong although I think it would have been perfect if you ended on that F# a bit sooner.

Overall Toroso I am very happy with your improvement. Your phrasing has moved to a new level , your melodies are now doing interaction and everything is sounding more musical.
My suggestions for practice routine : bending and double time type rhythm for more variety in solos (triplets, 16th notes, broken rhythms etc).
Thank you for your take Toroso and I look forward having you in next one !




Vasilije Vukmirovic (9:22 – 9:50)


Sound – I would have preferred a bit more electric sound or perhaps adding touch of effects to your dry guitar sound ( delay and/or reverb even !). This works as well though wink.gif

Intro – Excellent example of how to determine sound of mode from very beginning. You also used repetition a lot which kept everything together. I would have preferred to build solo slower perhaps but this works too !

Phrasing/time feel/rhythm – Everything spot on, even time feel and change to double time is very well executed. Great work !

Development/melodic shapes – Q & A type phrasing + repetition with different ending = very strong development. Excellent work, melodic shapes were also very good and good example of what I had in mind to teach in future collaborations!

Techniques – Flawless technique, although your guitar sounds like it has some intonation problems – correct me if I am wrong? Also I didn’t hear almost any vibrato in your playing, sounds a bit static to some extent.

Outro/ending – Smooth jazz type ending, ending on F# as in your face note : ) I like it excellent.

Vasilije since I meet you two months ago and stayed at your place for 2 days, I have to be very careful what I will say here laugh.gif . Just kidding man, you know I will tell you what I like or don’t like always… Your melodic choice was great, from arpeggios, scale sequences, motives even chromatic lines – all very well placed! Your phrasing is also strong , Q&A type melodies are there no doubt so I have nothing to add there. There is some things that could have been better executed in my opinion. One thing that was evident trough solo was Double time to Triple time feel ! Nowhere in the solo you actually went to regular or even better half time feel soloing to calm down solo and create some resolution to your ideas. So I would recommend working more on time feel soloing in future as it will take your playing to whole other level! Another thing I mentioned was sound. When you listen to your take by itself it sound completely dry and there is even humming noise there – is that your guitar pickup, bad cable or something else, I don’t know, but I had to wash it somehow in the mix man : ) Last thing is lack of vibrato… I understand this was fast paced solo but there was 27 seconds to put at least couple of meaningful long notes with vibrato. I would like to hear that from you in future collaborations.
Everything else was great and it felt really great to comment on your take as you are both my friend and instructor buddy here at GMC smile.gif
Thank you for submitting your take Vasilije, I look forward seeing you in future collaborations !








Velvet Roger (9:50 – 10:17)

Sound – I like your sound in general but this one was very hard to fit with the overall sound of backing track. EQ’s were too weak, no matter how much I boosted it.

Intro – Excellent intro, Amin7 to min6 arpeggio, determining sound of the mode immediately. Great work Roger!

Phrasing/time feel/rhythm – Everything sounds strong except when you are attempting legato; I will discuss that later.

Development/melodic shapes – Great melodic choice along with rhythms. Your development is very well placed, excellent work.

Techniques – Everything is good but legato. That seemed to be weakest link in this solo. I recommend clearing it more up with metronome/backing tracks.

Outro/ending – Good ending but you could have just stayed with opening statement from intro + A on octave , it would have sounded awesome !

Overall very nice melodic ideas in this solo Roger. I enjoyed phrasing trough most part of the solo (except the legato part) but your development is really growing and I like what I am hearing.
Since this is new style and unfamiliar I will say good job man, but 6 months to a year from now we should be all nailing this type of backing ( goes for everybody not only for you : )
Thank you for your take Roger! You are subscribed to life for my collabs smile.gif





wrk (10:18 – 10:45)


Sound – Excellent sound, reminds me a lot of the one I used, is it the same Andy ?

Intro – Beautiful intro, I love it man seriously. You didn’t start immediately, you waited, and when you came in you were slowly building up your ideas with half time feel. Excellent !

Phrasing/time feel/rhythm – Perfect phrasing all the way until the ending part ! Time feel properly applied and used along with corresponding rhythms, excellent work.

Development/melodic shapes – Excellent development and melodic shapes !

Techniques – Your standard type playing, I like it as more and more I listen to it, I start to recognize you from whole bunch of players out there. Excellent Andy.

Outro/ending – Weakest part of solo no doubt and I mean It both melodically and rhythmically. Actually if you choose stronger rhythm and phrasing maybe that repetitive idea would have worked better.

Ok Andy I said many times here Excellent for your solo. What other students might not know is that you submitted your first take which they can all find in upload thread, which was by the way nowhere near in the quality of playing compared to this one. It also shows that you are quick learner, hard worker and talented. Lets not forget that you asked 3557 questions regarding this collab, so my answers probably helped out a bit as well smile.gif Just kidding man but seriously people need to look up to what you did with this take. In my opinion in future I would like to see more double time phrasing from your and line type trough composed improvising. Don’t worry , we will discuss everything before I publish next collaboration until then you can keep practicing and asking questions.

Thank you for submitting your take wrk (Andy), I look forward having you in next collaboration !




Zynex (10:45 – 11:13)

Sound – Funk fusion sound, I like it a lot Donny!

Intro – Typical funky bluesy approach to melodies. Great style approach and creativity there, fits perfectly over backing track.

Phrasing/time feel/rhythm – Phrasing is strong most of the time except with legato (like with most of the participants). Time feel and rhythm choice is evident, I like what you did in this solo.

Development/melodic shapes – Q&A type of phrasing and various melodic shapes (you even included full chords, great job man) made this your strongest point in solo !

Techniques – This was the weakest area. Guitar was out of tune which Is unacceptable when doing session/studio type recordings! Apart from that legato was a bit weak but everything else was strong.

Outro/ending – I don’t know what to think about your ending honestly. Did you run out of ideas for ending or you really felt like mimicking the chords in the background? If second one was the case then great job perfect, if not I am not too happy lol

Overall Donny I enjoyed your solo. Legato was weakest part along with tuning, but everything was pretty much spot on. I think you need to work over last section a bit more (F/G G#dim7 A min) to create more natural melodies in future.

Thank you for submitting your take Zynex (Donny) , I expect you in the next collaboration as well (with guitar in tune if possible ? laugh.gif )



Pedja Simovic (11:14-11:42)

Sound – Fits the backing really well with even EQ’s and interesting delay.

Intro – Short melodic shapes that latter build up (usually 2 or 3 note shapes). Works because of Q&A type of rhythm and melody.

Phrasing/time feel/rhythm – Very strong phrasing accompanied with various time feel ideas ( odd vs even type rhythms and regular vs half and double time).

Development/melodic shapes – Development very strong that’s to Q&A type of phrasing, strong melodic choices and usage of rests. Variety of melodic shapes applied !

Techniques – Legato , economy , alternate, sweep picking and slides applied.

Outro/ending – Same motive repeated up an octave with different ending (motive development).

Overall I am happy how this solo came out but maybe you guys can judge me for a change ? biggrin.gif


Thank you all for participating in my first Fusion collaboration. It was pleasure doing this with all of you. From next collaboration things will change a bit as I will introduce many new additions that will help you with your playing, recording, composing and whatever that is that you want to work on.
Look forward seeing you in my next collaboration and hope you enjoyed this one.



Pedja

Download final mix HERE

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Don't miss today's free lick. Plus all our lessons are packed with free content!

Don't miss today's free blues, jazz & country licks. Plus all our lessons are packed with free content!

[Emir Hot]

Rock Ballad Style Collaboration

I had 27 participants split in 3 goups for this one. I gave separate video comments for each participant - each video 10 min long aprox.

The link is here:

https://www.guitarmasterclass.net/guitar_fo...t=0&start=0

These are final mixes for all 3 groups

GROUP 1

GROUP 2

GROUP 3

GROUP 1

1. Audiopaal
2. Berko
3. Col Roberts
4. Enforcer
5. JamesT
6. Marc_Maiden
7. Paiva
8. Smells
9. Strat


GROUP 2

1. Ajmurrell
2. Caelumamittendum
3. Dexxter
4. lcsdds
5. OrganisedConfusion
6. Sondre
7. Superize
8. Tjchep
9. Tolek


GROUP 3

1. ztevie
2. Velvet Roger
3. utak3r
4. Toroso
5. UncleSkillet
6. Wrk
7. coffeeman
8. kaznie_NL
9. SonofDestiny

You are at GuitarMasterClass.net

Don't miss today's free lick. Plus all our lessons are packed with free content!

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[Muris Varajic]

Muris Free Collab No 1.

https://www.guitarmasterclass.net/guitar_fo...st&id=13798

ErikEklund

That is was just great, I have not much to add
knowing that you're still pretty young!
Very mature thinking and playing,
smooth phrasing, smart use of stacatto notes,
clean technique, creamy tone, bravo Erik!!



fatb0t

First 4 bars of your take were something coolest
I've heard in a while, so relaxed and chill
and just slightly "of beat" right as it should!!
To be honest, I was expecting you to keep going
in similar direction but you have chosen
the path of rock shred.
Anyhow, there were many nice ideas
but small problem with rest of the take is timing,
it's not as much tight as it should be,
specially if you play faster shreddy chops.
Pay more attention to that in the future,
good effort and thanks for participating!



Tolek

Ok, first of all I must say few things about your tone,
it was waaay too much in midds and treble
so I had to do some cuts,
please think of that next time when you record something,
listen it along with backing and hear if it
jumps too much out of the picture.
Now about playing, I can tell that you had many things
to show but you under pressure of technique,
your chops were all around but nothing to catch on imo
and mostly cause of timing you were struggling with.
Listen to your take after you record it,
does it flow, does it have constant move,
can someone remember a piece of it after one listen etc?
Those are some of the question you can ask
yourself always and questions you'll come up with
will help you A LOT!
Thanks fro effort tho, keep it up.




KaznieNL

Very rocky playing with few nicely placed
pinch harmonics which a liked a lot.
Your timing was also well guided with 16th notes
as top speed which was more then enough.
But there was a problem in last couple of bars,
it modulates into Cm key but somehow
you stayed with Bm pentatonic, what happened?




Ajmurrel

I guess this take was recorded in London
but you never know with Adam,
he's a travel agent so it might have been recorded
on top of the Great Wall as well!!!
So, tons of Gilmourish licks here which made my day,
I specially liked way the you ended most of them
with those "lost" bends at the end of licks, very cool!
Cm part was a bit over pushed, like a tapping assault!!
But you broke a recorded when you recorded
this take in like 2 mins so you're excused this time.




Crazyfret

You stayed low and away from exibitions all the time
which was VERY appreciated,
pretty different from the rest of the takes, cudos!!
Now, intonation was a bit too sharp, maybe you were
fretting too hard or it was just tuned slightly up, not sure.
All in all it was very descent playing without
pushing yourself over the limits with no reason,
I was only missing more vibrato here,
that would be real score, good work!




Berko

I can tell that you played with lot of confidence!
I specially liked part over E chord with
those repetitive rhythmic sequences, well placed.
But something weird happened over G7 chord,
I would really have to listen very closely to
figure out theoretical side of those licks
since you were "out" pretty much,
and same happened at the end of section over Cm.
Still, it was too "out" but only in my opinion,
it's easy to hear that you play each note
with courage and attitude which is good,
a bit more work on theory and you'll be there, god job Berko!





Iluha

Too much reverb, dial it down next time,
there is really no need for this much of reverb.
Playing was nice tho, timing pretty steady
which is very important when you play over shuffle feel backing.
Considering your technical level I guess
you could have done more work on constructing whole solo,
make more sense out if it, put a road map for it.
This was not bad at all but I'm sure that
you can give more "music" into your playing,
keep it up, it's going great!





Velvet Roger

This was very relaxed take
with some cool licks including
repetition in different octaves trick
which gave more color to whole take.
Last few bars with tapping were also
nicely played and you ended right on time.
There are some problems regarding bends
and timing on 3nps patterns
but it's not impossible to fix tho!
Thanks for your effort Roger, well done.




Peixe

Another creamy tone and nice phrasing!
Everything was just up to my taste
except of couple of licks.
You are at descent technical level with
lot of sense for music,
just pay more attention on how you end
each "sentence" or line that you play.
It would be shame to start with something like
"darling, you mean everything in the world to..."
and end with " who's for soda?",
I'm sure you know what I mean, good work tho!

Topic Link

Muris Free Collab No 2

https://www.guitarmasterclass.net/guitar_fo...st&id=13940

Rated Htr

I liked the beginning of your take a lot,
those repetition were the hit!
Your timing was also pretty tight
throughout whole part which was very good and appreciated.
But you did surprised me a lot and you did it twice.
First you did it at the ending of first E Lydian part,
you played small Em pentatonic bluesy
and that was very refreshing!
Then you did it again during whole second E Lydian part,
you played everything but E Lydian,
there was E Minor scale, E Phrygian and Em Pentatonic as well.
I know there are no rules and you have all freedom
on this world to express yourself,
this was very interesting to me
and someone might find it not so cool
but it was different a lot which is the thing!


Leedbreak

I can see your progress Jason, specially in picking area,
you even managed to throw one picking pattern
from Cm Picking Etude over Bb chord which was brilliant!!
I would only suggest you to pay more attention on timing,
try to follow beat and do not run away a lot from it.
Good take Jason, thanks for playing!


DeepRoots

Nice sound and execution.
There were some very interesting sequences,
legato parts, skipping, wide stretching,
Maybe the only thing I was missing
here was more wild vibrato and aggression on few notes
but that's just me and I can't help myself,
great playing DR.


Outlaw2112

You had some problems with key
since you played E Lydian all the time
while there was Bb Lydian part in the middle.
Anyhow, there was some nice ideas,
specially tapping descending line, nicely constructed.
Pay more attention to key next time and also
focus more on timing if possible,
that'll make your playing sound more "mature", sort of speak.
Regarding tone, phaser is cool effect
but not necessary all the time so you didn't have to
use it by all means, and try to dial gain and midds bit lower
next time to get more warm and sweet tone,
thanks for effort and participating,much appreciated!


Enforcer

That was some sweet use of 2 guitars, well thinking.
Your playing was overaly good,
it's just vibrato that I've found too fast and kind a nervous,
try with slower ones with wide range
for more power in your playing in general.
Oh, and ending was "what???"
You continued playing over drum break
and you ended on note F# (2nd or 9th), smooth.
Well done Can, thanks for participating!


Smells

Metal buddy enters the stage once more.
That was some neat playing Chris,
I remember you said Lydian was new to you
but I really have no idea what you were talking about.
Clean technique, lots of sweeps, tapping, picking etc
licks well constructed, good job!!

JasonT

I just admire the way you approach to everything,
precise and accurate like a razor!
Picking is going well, you move around fretboard easily,
the only thing that bothers me here a bit
is that you played 16ths runs way to long imo,
breaking timing here and there
would add some nice spice to this already brilliant take,
keep it up, you're doing great!


Topic Link

You are at GuitarMasterClass.net

Don't miss today's free lick. Plus all our lessons are packed with free content!

Don't miss today's free blues, jazz & country licks. Plus all our lessons are packed with free content!

This post has been edited by Muris Varajic: Feb 28 2009, 02:59 PM

[Pedja Simovic]

Sequence Collaboration final mix with comments


Hello everybody !

Welcome to Sequence collaboration final mix with comments.

I would like to say couple of things before I get to your final comments - if you don't mind smile.gif

This collaboration was first among many that will follow using specific topic as soloing device. It is not like other collabs we had before where you are free to do whatever you want, but you rather have to focus on one thing and do your best with that given thing. Having said that, the comments will focus on specific sequences rather than sound, development, intro ending and things we had in general (open) collabs. Ok, that was the first important thing smile.gif

Second thing, you guys did really well I am very pleased with your takes. You all demonstrated good and solid control of sequence trough your solos. It shows that you are ready for some new topics which makes my program move rather than stay in one place smile.gif

One thing that got me a bit shocked and surprised was number of drop outs in this collaboration. In the beginning there was 10 days to record your take and then I extended it for 2 - 3 more days after that. I figured that would be enough of time for everybody since all you had to do is think of 4 sequences and move them trough chords.
For some guys that dropped out I approve since they let me know via PM they would do so in advance. There were some special cases (like OC leaving GMC sad.gif and others that I don't want to get to , but still I think we should aim to do the work we apply for.
Having said all of these things, I have no hard feelings for guys that didn't make to record or dropped out. We had at least 5 or more collabs in February (Muris had 3 , me and emir one each, david , ramiro + student collabs) - so you guys were on a lot of pressure and all over the place. I respect that and thats why I have no hard feelings for anybody that didn't make it this time.

For future in class collaborations I would just like you to think before you apply, whether or not you can really do it, if you have time to do it and all the rest. I would appreciate you even more if you were honest with this since I count to help you all here and when you back out I feel bad inside a bit mellow.gif

Anyways, enough of introduction , let me thank you for all your takes and time you put into this collaboration !
In March I plan to do 2 in class collaborations and I hope to see you all in them.

Enjoy final mix and comments HERE !

Pedja

Number of participants 19


First up is berko (0:00 - 0:33)

1st sequence : Very nice idea with good rhythmic variety in it. Melodic choice was excellent - strong chord tones were placed on right spots, scale runs were done nicely.
One thing about 1st sequence is I felt phrasing could have been stronger to make it 100% perfect. Other than that excellent work !
2nd sequence : Excellent ! Love this one. Great use of repetition, simple melodic idea and strong melodic choice. Phrasing works well and sounds laid back, like you are playing a bit behind the beat - works perfect with this sequence. Excellent work !
3rd sequence : I like the phrasing in this sequence since it creates double time feel. Over B and A chords note choice worked good but over C# minor there was avoid note that you landed on at the end ( A). minor 6th interval is not good resting note when you have minor triad or minor 7th chord in this case C# E G# (cool.gif. A note clashes with G# since its half step distance. Other than that great sequence!
4th sequence : Very simillar phrasing like in previous sequence and identical problem over C# minor chord. Everything else great !

Overall very cool sequence ideas and you pass this class, just work on that note choice in 3rd and 4th sequence wink.gif

Thank you Berko !

If you have any questions ask here or send me PM I will be happy to answer them all !



big harry (0:34 - 1:06)

1st sequence : I love this sequence Harry ! Rhythmic choice was question and answer type, and you used minor pentatonic scale with great note choice to fit each chord. Perfect !
2nd sequence : Good sequence Harry. Different rhythm then previous sequence, and syncopated rhythm works well with the backing track. Melodic choice was strong, nothing to add or take, excellent.
3rd sequence : I like it, very simple but efective, 3 different notes going descending from 5th (strong chord tone). Rhythm and phrasing is a bit behind beat and sounds like you are draging the backing a bit but nothing wrong with that (we are focusing on sequences only now smile.gif. Good work !
4th sequence : Exactly the same as first one just octave higher. What was good about it was double time feel, triplet feel you put to it, that worked really well. Again here it sounded like you were playing behind the beat a bit so thats something you will work on in future I hope. Overall good work.

Harry you did great, passed the class and displayed some nice sequence ideas here. I loved your 1st sequence, everything about it was perfect ! Your last sequence was same idea as 3rd sequence; I would have liked to see entirely different sequence there wink.gif Other than that, great job Harry !

Thank you for your take Harry !



Canis (1:06 - 1:37)

1st sequence : Very nice idea here Canis. Arpeggio based idea with muting in the lower register . Strong melodic choice was applied and phrasing was very strong as well. Great work !
2nd sequence : This sequence is development of the 1st sequence ( I will treat it like that at least smile.gif. I like that you used trills but melodic choice was not correct over some of the chords. I get your vibe, Hendrix used to do that thril hamer on from minor to major 3rd so I won't hold it against you. Good work smile.gif
3rd sequence : I like tapping idea with strong chord tones, works well and sounds different (with interval tap wink.gif. Also I like how you went higher up for this sequence as it changed the mood of the whole solo. Good work Canis !
4th sequence : Sounds almost identical as previous sequence but I will consider it as development since you changed rhythm and added some things. Good work !

Overall Canis you passed the class , your sequences worked over chord progression. I think your guitar was not in tune 100 % with this backing track so thats something I would pay attention to in future as it influences the sound of the whole solo.

Thank you for your take Canis !



coloneldrew (1:38 - 2:09)

1st sequence : Great idea and almost perfect execution ! Melodic choice was perfect as was rhythmic but from technical point some bending was a bit out of pitch. Since we are discussing sequences this was excellent. You took liberty not to do sequence on the very last chord which was fine. Velvet Roger asked me that same thing and I said it would be ok to do so you are all set smile.gif
2nd sequence : Excellent sequence , I love this one. Fast scale run finishing with slower rhythm and strong melodic choice. Execution was perfect in this one. Well done Drew !
3rd sequence : Another excellent sequence with question answer type of phrasing and strong melodic choice. Excellent work Drew !
4th sequence : Very nice sequence, comonly used in a lot of solos. We could even go further and say that its a very comon lick , but regardless you did excelent job with it and provided ending in higher range. Excellent work !

Overall this was very well done Drew, you definitely pass this class smile.gif I hope to see you in some future classes as well man.

Thank you for your take Drew !



Dexxter (2:10 - 2:41)

1st sequence : Excellent sequence ! I love phrasing in this one slow vs fast and syncopated vs straight rhythms. Melodic choice was also very good altough you started your descending ideas on tension rather than chord note , it still sounded good ! Excellent work Dexxter !
2nd sequence : Good sequence, strong sounding since you used exclusively chord tones. Phrasing was again slow vs fast which made it work even better. Good work !
3rd sequence : Simple and melodic sequence. Nothing spectacular but shows that you can do sequences with very simple ideas as well. Good work !
4th sequence : I like this sequence better then previous one since its also simple but uses more melodic variety. Good work !

Overall Dexxter you passed this class ! There is nothing I can hold against you here, everything I asked for you did which was great man. I look forward having you in some future classes !

Thank you for your take Dexxter !




Emir Hot (2:42 - 3:13)

1st sequence : Excellent work with both chord tones and scale passages. Constant rhythm applied, strong phrasing as well. Well done Emir !
2nd sequence : Very strong sequence thanks to arpeggio based idea. Works really well with constant rhythm. Excellent Emir !
3rd sequence : Beautifull idea and very well executed with muting technique. Great stuff Emir !
4th sequence : I love this idea the most, yes its a cliche but most important thing here is it goes ascending while chords descend and it creates different effect then all previous sequences. Very well done Emir.

One thing I would like to mention is rhythm - perhaps different rhythmic choice would work as well but you pulled it all off with constant rhythm. Point is I don't want students to aim to play constant lines but to have rests create question and answer with rhythm not just with melodies.

Overall I think its safe to say that you failed this class and should take it again smile.gif))
No man, you are good to go, I hope you will join us in some future classes !

Thank you for your take Emir !



Enfrocer (3:14 - 3:45)

1st sequence : Beatufill idea with pedal point application ! Strong rhythm and phrasing applied as well as very strong melodic choice. Excellent work Enforcer ! (Can) smile.gif
2nd sequence : Another great idea Can. Here I liked how you had question and asnwer type rhythm ( slow vs fast) as well as strong melodic choice. Excellent work Can.
3rd sequence : I like this idea a lot ! It moves up while the chords move down, and your melodic choice was excellent here. Well done Can.
4th sequence : This sequence is just awesome in my opinion. It was first time you used constant rhythm and you used it really well. Went up trough scale and came down responding with pedal point idea and interval skiping (diatonic thirds). Excellent work Can.

Overall excellent work Can you passed this class without any problems. I never doubted your take since in previous collabs you used a lot of repetition and sequence so I could tell you have a very firm grasp of that technique by now.

Thank you for your take Can and I hope to see you in future classes !




Fsgdjv (3:46 - 4:17)

1st sequence : Simple and melodic opening sequence, works well with chords. I think you could have picked stronger melodic notes as your last note in the phrase is tension , chord tone would have worked even stronger. Other than that, good work !
2nd sequence : This sequence I like much more then previous one ! It is also 3 notes, different melodic shape, strong rhythm and excellent melodic choice. Well done man !
3rd sequence : I like how you moved up in some case here melody as chords were going down. Very strong melodic choice, but from technicall stand point when you release your bends notes don't sound as strong as they should here. Apart from that excellent work !
4th sequence : One of the best sequences and a great choice to do it as ending if I may add ! Minor pentatonic along with scale passages, typical sequence application used in a lot of solos for last 40 years or so. Excellent work !

Overall Fsgdjv you passed the class without any problems. I hope to see you in some future classes as well man !

Thank you for your take Fsgdjv!



GrannyKiller (4:17 - 4:49)

1st sequence : Very solid sequence, starting with strong chord tone. Great rhythm choice , question and answer phrasing applied. Well done !
2nd sequence : This sequence is development from previous sequence. I like what you did with it altough idea of this class was to do 4 entirely different sequences ! Great work regardless smile.gif
3rd sequence : Beautiful sequence ! I loved string skipping which created low register melody communicating with higher register melody instantly creating question and answer phrasing. Excellent work !
4th sequence : Pentatonic based sequence worked almost perfect here. As with Canis I will mention that this sort of exact sequence is something that guys like Hendrix did. Be careful with A chord, it should have D# rather then D note when you bend into E note, since we are in C# natural minor or relative E major key. Other than that little thing it was very well done.

First I must say thank you for submitting your take GrannyKiller. I have never seen you on forums before and if I am not wrong this is your first collaboration - correct me if I am wrong please. Either way you did great man, submitted your take last minute and passed class without any problems.
I hope you will join us in future classes as well !

Thank you for your take GrannyKiller !




JamesT (4:50 - 5:21)

1st sequence : I like this sequence a lot ! Idea behind it is very simple, scale run starting from root of the chord, but what made it sound great was rhythmic choice and strong phrasing. Excellent work Jim !
2nd sequence : This sequence is also very good and strong. What I liked here was question and answer type melodies. Low register question , higher register answer. Strong melodic notes applied - well done !
3rd sequence : This sequence is very typical and is quite oftenly used by a lot of guitar players. What I liked here was that unlike first two sequences this one exclusively used one rhythm and it was triplets which created odd vs even type phrasing against backing track. Great work !
4th sequence : Final sequence sounds very strong thanks to strong chord tones and arpeggio soloing. Constant rhythm applied and strong phrasing. Great work Jim!

First of all I would like to thank you for recording your take once more and submiting it with last sequence updated. That really made a difference in my ears when I listen and compare two takes.
It is safe to say that you passed this without any problems Jim. I hope to see you in future classes as well.

Thank you for your take JamesT !




lcdds (5:22 - 5:53)

1st sequence : Strong sounding sequence, simple melodic idea with bends leading into root of the chords. Great work Monte !
2nd sequence : Beautiful sequence ! I like it a lot simply because you used 7ths of the chords as resting point for your melody. That made your sequence stick out a bit and it was done with care so it worked well. Excellent work.
3rd sequence : Double time time sequence with descending scale run. Sounds very strong since you started with chord tones. Great work.
4th sequence : Great sequence, I enjoyed the fact you used 7th chords rather than just triad here. If I am not mistaken you also used your favorite technique (tapping) smile.gif Excellent work over all.

Monte, it was worth waiting for your take smile.gif
Excellent work, you pass the class without any problems. I hope to see you in some future classes as well man.

Thank you for your take lcdds !




Marc_Maiden (5:53 - 6:26)

1st sequence : Sounds very similar to my 1st sequence so I have to say great work here smile.gif
2nd sequence : You developed previous sequence and did complety different sequence in the 2nd voice in harmony. Excellent work altough that was not necessary at all smile.gif
3rd sequence : I like this sequence since its contrasting in regards to first two slower sequences (rhytmicly speaking). Very strong melodic choice and solid phrasing. Great job Marc.
4th sequence : Here you just harmonized the sequence so 2nd voice is doing exactly same idea. I would have prefer if you created counter sequence like you did in the 2nd sequence.

Overall Marc you passed the class but it sems like you really wanted to get those harmonies out man smile.gif I appreciate it, there will be in class collabs with harmonizing given melody and I think you will do great in that. For sequence collab you have passed but I feel you could have just done 4 different sequences or like you did harmony with 2nd voice doing different sequence (that was awesome!).
I hope to see you in future in class collaborations man.

Thank you for your take Marc_Maiden !




Oxac (6:26- 6:58)

1st 4 bars - Nice sequence using diatonic 3rds as well as pedal point !
2nd 4 bars - Very strong melodic choice for sequence using diatonic 5ths.
3rd 4 bars - Satriani like legato 3 note sequenced idea - great work !
last 4 bars - Excellent arpeggio idea and soloing !

Overall Oxac you were among the first one to submit your take but it wasn't exactly what I asked for. I wanted 4 sequences trough whole solo, you recorded some sequences within solo. I still accepted this take because it has very strong melodic choices in sequences and besides that I know you can play and use sequence. You still pass this class because I know you can pull sequences as I heard in your previous solos wink.gif
Good job on solo and sequences in it, I hope to see you in future in class collaborations, and please if you have questions ask in the thread, read first post and listen to my solo - answers are already there !

Thank you for your take Oxac ! (when can I get some keyboard solo from you ? wink.gif



Paiva (6:58 - 7:29)

1st sequence : Great work with this one Paiva ! I love phrasing and note choice here, very strong and melodic, almost riff like sounding.
2nd sequence : I like the melodic idea but execution is not perfect so it made it sound weaker then it should. Some bends are out of tune and you should work on that. Other than that, melodic choice was great in this sequence , great job Paiva !
3rd sequence : Pentatonic based idea that moves trough chords with interesting melodic choice (both chord tones and tensions). That was great, phrasing here was even weaker than in the first one so it made it sound weak overall. Sequence is definitely there and we are grading on that right now so you get A for sequence smile.gif
4th sequence : Very strong sequence and melodic idea since you used strong chord tones and arpeggio lines. Excellent work , same thing with phrasing as in previous one.

Overall Paiva you pulled it off and passed the class since all sequences were moved properly trough harmony. On the side note, your phrasing was a bit weak in the whole solo and I suggest you work on it for some future in class collaborations (we will soon have one that focuses on phrasing wink.gif.

One more thing , congratulations on winning the competition on Portuguese forum ! smile.gif

Thank you for your take Paiva and hope to see you in my next collaboration as well !






Sami (7:30 - 8:01)

1st sequence - Simple but at the same time very strong melodic sequence. You choose root and diatonic 3rds as two melodic notes, and they worked great over harmony. Great work Sami.
2nd sequence - I like this sequence a lot ! It sound like you builded on the previous sequence and extended it. Sounds very strong in both rhythm and melody area. Well done Sami !
3rd seqeunce - Nice ! Love this one. You used interval skips and managed to keep it interesting with strong melodic choice. Well done Sami !
4th seqeunce - Strong chord tones and arpeggio lines works well with harmony. I am just curious why your arpeggio over B chord sounds a bit odd , other than that great work.

Sami it is safe to say that you did very well and passed class. You didn't go for technical sequences but I like that you did the work and each sequence was very well executed.

Hope to see you in future in class collabs buddy.

Thank you for your take Sami !




Tolek (8:02 - 8:34)

1st sequence :Very strong sequence, add 9 arpeggio ideas always work wonders. Excellent work Tolek.
2nd sequence : I like the idea but execution is not so great. Sound has a lot of gain and low eq's so its very hard to hear what you are actually playing there. I will say good work as it is obvious that you did sequence here wink.gif
3rd sequence : Excellent sequence idea. String skipping and imediate question and answer phrasing , low vs high register. Strong melodic choice - great work Tolek.
4th sequence : Interesting ! Monte did bends into Roots you did bends into Diatonic 3rds. Both work great. Great work Tolek !

Overall Tolek you passed this class without any problems. Melodic choice was strong in all examples and sequence was there definitely. One thing that I would look for is that 2nd sequence and the execution of it. Send me a PM if you don't feel discussing it here man.
As you know you are signed up for life, so I will auto sign you for two collaborations I plan to do this month smile.gif

Thank you for your take Tolek !





Velvet Roger (8:34 - 9:06)

1st sequence : Excellent work with opening sequence. Interval skips with strong melodic choice and phrasing. Excellent work Roger !
2nd sequence : Great development of opening sequence. Just one little thing , on first chord try to avoid using minor 6th as it clashes with perfect 5th. This is especially the case if you end on weak/avoid note or play longer rhythm with it. Otherwise great job !
3rd sequence : Beautiful sequence with interval runs of diatonic 3rds. I like how you used slides in this ones to make simple melodic idea stick out more. Great work Roger !
4th sequence : Another cool slide idea but this time more of a glissando effect. Strong melodic approach and interesting execution. Excellent work Roger.

Overall Roger it is safe to say you nailed this class. I have nothing to add or take except that minor 6th advice over minor chords (avoid note good only as passing note !).
You are signed up for life like Tolek and Enforcer , so I will see you in my next in class collaboration smile.gif By the way, your sound was great here I love how it fit the backing !

Thank you for your take Roger !




wrk (9:06 - 9:38)

1st sequence : As strong as it gets, arpeggios of each chord. Well done Andy.
2nd sequence : Wonderful development. You created question and answer type phrasing with 2nd idea. Excellent work.
3rd sequence : Very similar sequence phrasing wise, but melodic choice was strong so it worked again.
4th sequence : I love this sequence better than previous one. It ends on strong chord tones and phrasing defines it very well. Excellent work.

Andy you pass the class without any problems. You and Roger were doing great with development of your sequences. Marc also did great job to some extent with his harmony parts doing different sequence vs original one.
Overall great work Andy I hope you will be in next class as well.

Thank you for your take wrk !





Pedja Simovic (9:38 - 10:10)

Feel free to grade my take - I am just submitting you link with lesson on collaboration solo. Feel free to check out spoken video as I go more in depth regarding each of the sequences.


https://www.guitarmasterclass.net/ls/sequen...aboration_solo/


Guys its been pleasure running this class, getting your takes and grading them. You all passed which makes me really happy and am very excited to see how you will handle my future classes in this month !

If you have any questions please feel free to ask here or via PM.

It was great having you in this class and I hope to see you all in next one (which will be in couple of days !!!).

Until then have fun and see you around forums !


Pedja

You are at GuitarMasterClass.net

Don't miss today's free lick. Plus all our lessons are packed with free content!

Don't miss today's free blues, jazz & country licks. Plus all our lessons are packed with free content!

[David Wallimann]

Lick construction collab - 10 participants

 Lick_building_class_collab.mp3 ( 17.8MB ) Number of downloads: 294


The melodic lick construction collab is now done! It was a real pleasure to review your entries. You all had a lot of things to say musically in here which made this very inspiring to review!
Here is the final mix followed by a deeper review of all our players.

Attached File Lick_building_class_collab.mp3 ( 17.8MB ) Number of downloads: 37


Thanks again everyone for taking time to record something on this, I hope you find the following inspiring!
You all did a wonderful job!

Matt23

There are some really nice melodic elements in your lead. I like the simpleness of your lead, although the faster shreddy type of licks at the end are a good addition.

One of the main things I suggest you work on is rhythm placement. Maybe spend a bit more time on working with a metronome playing with short simple rhythm ideas. You don't need to go fast while working on this. As a matter of fact, it's actually harder to play with much precision at slower speeds. Recording yourself while practicing this kind of thing can do wonders as it's sometimes difficult to be critical of your playing while actually playing...
A great exercise that would certainly make you progress even faster would be to learn the lead you played here and record it again lick by lick making sure every note is placed exactly where it should on the tempo. Also, if you have a guitar notation software such as Guitar Pro, I recommend that you transcribe your take. That will help you visualize what the rhythm placement shoudl sound like.

Keep up the good work!


Berko

I like the sound you chose for this. The delay and reverb give this a nice smooth atmospheric touch that emphasizes the notes you are playing.

I do hear a problem with some of the notes you used here though. Every once and a while, you are going outside of the A minor scale. It's true that sometimes, playing outside of the original key has its advantages, but in this particular case where the chord progression is slow, playing outside of the key will have a negative effect on the listener's ear. If you are not quite comfortable with the natural minor scale (Aeolian), you can always use a minor pentatonic scale. That is because the minor pentatonic scale is extracted from a natural minor scale (it just has 5 notes instead of 7).
Besides working on the different possible scale positions, I recommend that you work on hearing the scales and recognizing them before even playing them. There are several ways to doing so. I suggest you start with a good recognition of intervals. Start with simple intervals such as 3rds, 5th and 2nds. That is key to a good melodic improvisation.

You're on the right track though! You have some nice melodic lines going on in here. FIxing the off notes will surely fix the problem.


Skennington

Several aspects of your lead are very catchy and worth developing. First of all, I really liked he longer notes at the opening of your solo. They help the listener dive into your musical universe with ease. That's good! You also added a nice touch of vibrato on these notes helping them to be even fuller of meaning.

Now there are a few things that you could work on to make things even smoother. First, a few of your licks were a bit off beat. I'm thinking about the repetitive lick on bars 5 and 6. It's an easy fix. Also, a few bends are slightly flat. You can develop a very simple yet effective exercise for that by playing a note anywhere on the fretboard, then bending the note a fret or two below until it sounds exactly like the starting point. I'm sure these little problems are just because you probably improvised the whole thing, right?
My suggestion for you would be to take that lead and memorize it as a written piece. That will give you a chance to fix all mistakes making your playing even smoother next time you improvise.

Keep up the great work, you have some solid ideas well worth listening to!


Audiopaal

First of all, I need to tell you that the sound you used is very pleasing to my ears. It is not over saturated and serves your melody very well. I love the laid back feel you have when playing this. Your melodic lines are played with good control and good note choices.

One thing I would suggest for you is to work on linking these ideas together. An exercise that Paul Gilbert teaches to his student has been found very effective for that. Play a simple short lick, then answer that lick with another on starting the way the previous one ended. It's very simple, but can lead to great results in your phrasing. While improvising, your ideas will be better linked and make even more sense. You can also try that exercise without the guitar. That will be very beneficial for your inner ear and help you organize your musical ideas.

Taking this approach for anything you do musically will give you great results, keep up the awesome work!


Paiva

I liked how your lead built from simple notes in the low registry to gradually build towards higher notes on your fretboard. It was a little difficult to hear exactly what you were playing as you sound was a bit bassy and muddy, but did I hear octaves in the opening? It sounds good! I really like how you opened things up on the D minor chord. The choice of notes worked really well there.

A few things to consider for your development would be first of all to work a little on your tone. Play a bit with your EQ, a little less bass, more highs and a bit of mids might help clean things up. You can also try to lower the gain of your distortion. Sometimes when recording, pulling off the gain will help your ideas to sound clearer to the listener.
Another aspect you could work on is velocity variation. That kind of goes along with your tone. What I mean here is that all your notes sound as they were played at the same volume. Tryin to vary that will help your ideas carry a deeper meaning. You can practice that aspect of your playing by playing a scale starting with a very soft note, gradually increasing the velocity of the notes as you move along the scale. The difficulty is to keep a steady tempo while working on that. I think that will help your playing a lot!

Keep working hard like you are, you have some great ideas!


SensE

You have a nice idea going on in the intro! I like the repetitive lick there, unfortunately, I think there is a bad note in there that doesn't quite work with the key. I heard a Bb in there which is a minor 2nd. That clashes with the Major 2nd of the A minor key. Here is the formula for the A minor scale used over the backing track:
Root-Maj2nd-min3rd-4th-5th-min6th-min7th
If you are not too comfortable with that scale yet, you can use its little brother the minor pentatonic scale which is extracted from that minor scale. You have some good chops, but they don't always follow the scale used and therefore sound a bit disorganized. I recommend you take it a few steps back on the technical side and concentrate on basic things such as writing very simple ideas over a given key. That will develop your ear and give you a solid foundation to an already descent technique. I know how frustrating it is to have to slow down, especially when you already have the chops like you do, but that is the only way I know to do that. Try it and I promise that you will soon see amazing progress!

Keep up the good work!


Outlaw2112

Your lead has some cool ideas man! I like the use of artificial harmonics, the sound you are using definitely helps in that matter for sure! Your technique sounds good and seem to allow you to express yourself the way you want. I don't think that's a barrier there.What I would suggest for you is to develop more coherence between your ideas. You can read the comments left to AudioPaal concerning that subject. I would also suggest to you that you work a bit on rhythm placement, especially in your faster licks. It's nothing really bad, but just slightly off tempo every once and a while, especially in your faster licks. Just take a small segment of your lead, and make an exercise out of it with your metronome. I guaranty that a regular metronome workout like that will fix all your problems and bring you to the next level.

Overall this was a real good take my friend!


Crazyfret

You lead is so well built! I love the coherence of ideas and the way all your segments complement each other nicely. You have a good rhythm placement and nice pitch in your bends. Good job!

Here is what you could work on to make your playing even better! I would take that them you wrote here and try playing it with more of a guitarist approach. Maybe replace one note by a trill, or maybe approach one of the notes by a bend. There are tons of possibilities here. You already have the hard part which is to come up with a simple melodic theme. Now you just need to dress it up. Another approach to this would be to take a short section of your lead, and play it on a different area of the fretboard. That will force your fingers to play the theme a little differently and make some notes more "bendable" than others.

Keep practicing, your development as a musician is really good!


Toroso

I can tell in your lead that you have lots of things to say, that's a great thing! It's one of the most important things to have for a musician, and you have it!

Now, let's talk about how to covey your ideas into musical phrases. Although I get what you are saying musically, the choice of notes is a bit hindered by the control over these notes. The notes you play sound very "mechanical" and I would recommend working on your vibrato. That will make all your notes come alive and be even more musical. There are several vibrato technique available. None are really better than others, it's just a mater of personal preference. The first way is to play a note and make that string vibrate from left to right in a repetitive motion. You can also use the same kind of technique except that this time you will have an up/down motion. There is also a third way which is a combination of the previous two techniques leading you to have a circular motion over the strings.
I also suggest that you work on your pitch. A few of the bends you played are not in tune. That's an easy fix if you do it seriously. Just use a note as a reference and bend a lower fret so that it reaches that original note. Doing that in as many areas of the fretboard will be very beneficial.

Those are fairly common problems you have and they are pretty easy to get rid of. You already have things to say, all you need is to clean that up a bit. You're on the road to great success, congrats!


Sollesnes

I hear some really good ideas in your lead! I particularly like your lick on the chord change on Dm. It really opens up things a lot and gives your work a breath of fresh air.

There is one thing that I would suggest for you. Work on phrasing a little. You have some really good ideas, but because of the fact that there are almost no silences in your solo, all these ideas end up sounding a little confusing to the listener. That's a very easy fix. Try developing some of theses ideas adding some longer notes and taking more time to share them with these more repetitive motifs so that the listener can really get what you are telling him. As guitar players we need to remember that the listeners need a lot more time to fully appreciate what you are telling him musically. The greatest way to doing so is to just take your time. Repeat to him what you are playing several times with slight variations until he can fully appreciate what you are creating. Sometimes that means that you won't be able to use all the ideas you have, just pick a few and develop them.
The silences that we talked about earlier are there to give the listener time to digest what you just played. If you have that in mind while playing, you will soon be an expert at that kind melodic playing.

You are doing great there man! Good job!


Velvet Roger

You did a good job mixing nice melodic licks with faster guitarist tricks in there. Very good! I also really love the fact that you ended your lead like you started it. That is a very good thing to do to give some kind of closure to a solo. You did very good!

Now for the improvement part, I would would work basically on just cleaning up your technique a bit. The main thing involved here for you is only patience and willingness to start on very simple exercises such as finger placement and hand synchronization. That is mainly for the faster sections, the slower ones work well. Your speed is already there when you play faster stuff, that is not what I think you need to focus on. Here is what I suggest for you here: take a short faster lick that you played in your take, and play it over a metronome at a slower comfortable speed where you can play the lick almost with closed eyes. Repeat that lick over and over at the same speed to develop a strong synchronization with your two hands. It might sound mechanical doing so over and over, but that is exactly what you are trying to do. The mechanics developed here are the foundations of higher speeds. While practicing at super slow speed, spend time analyzing your movements and try to focus on placing your fingers exactly where they should on the frets. Also be aware of the fingering you are using. You'll find that for some licks it might be better to use different fingers than you would in a conventional "one finger per fret" approach.

I am certain that a regular approach like that will help you develop into the true gifted musician you already are. Keep up the awesome work!


UncleSkillet

You have a beautiful theme going on there, I love that! You have a very nice sense of melodic phrasing that is easy to follow and because of the repetitiveness of it helps the listener really get into what you are telling him. Bravo!

My recommendation is to clean up things just a little in the faster parts. Your technique is quite clean, but can always be cleaner (that goes for all of us guitar players). That is done by repetition at slow speed with a conscious effort on rhythm placement. I find it often beneficial to tab the section you want to clean up in midi or even better a guitar notation software such as Guitar Pro. Seeing what you play helps you visualize internally how things should sound in tempo.
Besides that, I don't have much to suggest besides the typical keep working on what you are at the moment as you are obviously on the road that leads to better musical achievement.

Great work!


You may also want to read the discussions we had while the collab was active here.

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[David Wallimann]

Phrase like a King video collab - 11 participants

 Full_mix.mp3 ( 11.05MB ) Number of downloads: 264


A little while back, I asked 11 of you to participate in this phrasing collaboration. I was very pleased with your takes! Here are the video comments for all participants including a few tips and suggestions on how you could improve. Great job everyone!
Sorry for the poor Youtube video quality!


Tolek


Caelumamittendum


Sted


Velvet Roger


Rated Htr


enforcer


GrindGuer


Bladzerock


Kaznie_NL


wrk


TJchep

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This post has been edited by David Wallimann: Mar 31 2009, 02:44 PM

[Ivan Milenkovic]

Hey guys, and welcome to my Stop Time Blues Collab final mix&comments thread!


Emir had this great idea for his collaboration for putting video comments, and I think it is an awesome concept. In this collab I will try to do similar thing, cause videos can be more effective.

Thank you all who participated, and I hope to see you on more collabs as well!

This thread will be open for consultations and feedback for all GMC members, and I will regularly update it with video comments. Sorry if my english is a bit bad in the comments!

I will do 1-2 video comments per day, and comments will be in the order that you've uploaded the takes. In the end, after all the comments are done, I will upload the final mix as well.

Since this is my first time of doing these kind of comments, any feedback on how to make them better will be very appreciated!
Here's the list of participants (by the upload order):

1. Toroso
2. berko
3. Matt23
4. enforcer
5. Velvet Roger
6. leedbreak
7. Sergio Dorado
8. kaznie_NL
9. Caelumamittendum

COMMENTS:

1. Toroso

PART 1

PART 2



2. berko
PART 1

PART 2


3. Matt23

PART 1



PART 2



PART 3



4. enforcer

PART 1



PART 2




5. Velvet Roger

PART 1



PART 2



6. leedbreak

PART 1



PART 2



7. Kaznie

PART 1



PART 2



8. Cael

PART 1



PART 2



9. Sergio




FINAL MIX:

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Don't miss today's free lick. Plus all our lessons are packed with free content!

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[Pedja Simovic]

Hello everybody !

Today we have final mix with comments for soloing with arpeggios and chord tones class type collaboration. Before getting to your comments I would like to say couple of things first...


Some of you guys did perfect job and played needed notes everywhere; some of you did combination of chord tones and tensions and some didn't submit takes at all
Overall I am happy to say that there is real improvement in some of your takes and I believe you can hear that to. I got many messages how this collaboration helped you develop new vocabulary, restrict yourself to solo only with arpeggios etc. In a way this was great discipline exercise if nothing more. I am proud of what you guys did (most of you at least with your takes and I look forward having you in the next in class type collaboration !

Enjoy tha final mix and comments !

Pedja

Number of participants : 23


First up is berko (0:00 - 0:33)


Let me say in the beginning that you passed the class !
In your take there were only two things I would like to talk to you about. One was rhythm (which is not graded in this collaboration but you had very weak phrasing overall here) and second one was E min7 A min7 D min7 G7 section.
If your phrasing was more on the beat, or you had chosen simpler rhythms, you would probably get 100% on this. Since the rhythm was weak the whole solo sounded like it was out of place. This is especially true for 4 bar section I mentioned above. You were anticipating chords very much in that section which means playing chord tones of next chord before that chord actually happens.

All in all I am happy with your approach, you did everything I asked just hope next time your rhythm and phrasing will be stronger ! (more question and answer type rhythms helps a lot).

Hope to see you in next collaboration Berko !



big harry (0:34 - 1:05)



Harry you absolutely 100% passed this class. I am really happy with your take. It was melodic, catchy and it followed all the rules of the class. You picked really good question and answer rhythms, and your melodies were just coming trough great. I think you are learning a lot in collabs and lessons overall. This was very good take.
Do you want to hear mistake I found ? I bet you do
You know C maj7 A min7 D min7 G7 ?
Well when you had D min7 and G7 you also anticipated G7 chord , just instead of doing it like Berko a beat earlier, you did it by an 8th note. So you played B note on the end of beat 4 of D min7 chord - just before G7 chord comes in. Thats anticipating chords, I didn't ask for it and am just telling you this for future reference - don't do it unless specified
Everything else Harry was great. Awesome take really well done and hope to see you in my next collab.




Canis (1:06 - 1:37)

Canis you passed this class without any problems !
Lets mention good things and things you need to work on man. Good things - you had lots of repetition and sequences which kept the solo together; your rhythm choice and phrasing was somewhat strong.
Bad things - you are playing too much staccato (short notes). You tend to lift your playing hand too quick from strings, thats why your whole solo sounded like you couldn't technically quite pull it off !
This is just a side note and I recommend you work on it as your solos will sound even stronger.
Overall very nice melodic choice and structure and everything was spot on.
Well done Canis.



coffeeman (1:38 - 2:09)


Andru you passed this class with 100%. Really well done job !
You displayed strong knowledge of arpeggios and your rhythm and phrasing was spot on.
There were only couple of spots where you did slide ins that made solo sound weak. The way you did it made ending of the melodies unfinished in a way especially over G7 chord. So thats the only thing I would work on.
I would like to thank you for sending me your take last moment, this was good take and I am very happy with it.
Hope to see you in next class type collaboration !




Dexxter (2:10 - 2:41)


Dexxter you passed this class as well
Your solo was nice combination of arpeggios and chord tones, I liked that. There isnt really much to say here except to work on your sound (as a side note). It sounds like you have lots of highs there, perhaps you can add some lows to EQ's and even it out ? Also your guitar sounded a bit flat to the backing track so check tuning next time before your record.
Overall you did everything I asked and I am happy with this take.
Great job Dexxter, hope to see you in next one !
Thank you for your take Dexxter !



Emir Hot (2:42 - 3:13)

Emir you passed and do I really need to say more here?
You had lots of arpeggio runs as well as chord tone soloing. I especially enjoyed arpeggios sequences, that was very refreshing.
I have nothing to ad to your take man.
Hope to see you in next collaboration !




enforcer (3:14 - 3:45)

Can you also passed this class !

There were some strong ideas in your solo. I like how you combined chord tones and arpeggios, very nice balance. You did everything I asked for but there were also some extra things.
I give you homework to listen to your take and transcribe it in guitar pro ! This homework goes for everybody I think did non chord tones so you are not alone. Also this will help you learn about your phrasing and rhythm
On the side note, that ending run was great but you didn't pull out one note and it made it sound weaker !
Hope to see you in next collaboration Can !




GrannyKiller (3:46 - 4:17)


Dado you passed this class 100 % ! I am very happy with your take. Everything was there ! Repetition, sequence + nice balance of chord tones and arpeggios.
The only flaw in whole take is actual ending when you did double stops. That didn't sound as effective as it should have, but thats all now getting into more detailed things.
For purpose of collaboration you did great and I hope to see you in next one as well !
Great to know you can use guitar pro as well - I don't mind you tabbing all your future solos for collaborations



JamesT (4:18 - 4:49)


Jim you did well and passed this class.
Your take was very melodic and had nice combination of arpeggios and chord tones. There was quite a lot of runs but thats fine since you choose distorted sound
I have assignment for you !
Listen to your take, transcribe it in Guitar pro and send me guitar pro file. I want all the rhythm values correct along with notes. When you finish that we will get into further discussion regarding some more things.

This was good Jim , I hope to have you in next one as well !




jdriver (4:50 - 5:21)



Jeff you passed this class with 100%. Excellent job with your solo. You demonstrated things I asked and on top of that made music with your take. If I had this track on album and had to pick a solo, I would put yours on it most likely.
Repetition, development, motive playing and in second section harmonic type playing (open string usage even).
Just awesome Jeff !
Hope to see you in next collaboration Jeff




kaznie_NL (5:22 - 5:53)


Kaz you passed this class, good job man. You had some nice melodies and development going on trough whole solo. For most part you did what I asked for but there were parts where you did non chord tones. Because of that I have assignment for you
I want you to write me your whole solo in Guitar Pro and send me the file. I want to hear exact rhythms as in your solo, or as close as exact. That will clear out some things for further discussions.
On the side note your sweep picking seems to be one of the weaker technique. Post a video somewhere on forum so I can perhaps help you out to make it smoother.
Thanks Kaz, you did good, I hope to see you in next one as well !



lcsdds (5:54 - 6:25)



Monte you passed this class with 100%.
Very well approached solo. It wasn't too technical (at least the first part wasn't , but you rather had great development from slower to faster rhythms. Your phrasing was very strong and you did everything I asked regarding usage of chord tones and arpeggios. There were no tensions in your solo so great job.
Extra credit assignment - transcribe your solo in Guitar Pro and send it to me !

Well done Monte and I hope to see you again in my next collab !




Marc_Maiden (6:26 - 6:57)


Marc you passed this class without any problems !
You showed some nice arpeggio runs in your solo and melodic approach was also there. If I had to pick one spot to work on it would be your phrasing. In some sections you were playing unclear rhythm which made notes sound cut off in a way. I don't know if this was improvised take or composed but either way try to work that into your practice routine.
I have extra assignment for you that may or may not do
Transcribe your solo in Guitar pro file and send it to me ! It should teach you a lot about your phrasing
Thank you for your take Marc and hope to see you in my next collab !



Marek Rojewski (6:58 - 7:29)




Marek you passed this class with 100% congratulations
You did everything I asked for and besides that there were some unexpected things happening there. I like open string, harmonic soloing approach. Only you and Jeff have done that effectively ! There was also nice balance of chord tones and arpeggios.
Your strongest section that sounds refreshing is last 4 bars of the solo in my opinion, especially chord tones that you play over C maj7 and A min7.
I can only recommend as extra assignment to tab this this in Guitar Pro and send it to me - but you already did that so you are all set
Well done once again and I hope to see you in my next collab !
Thanks Marek !



Outlaw2112 (7:30 - 8:01)


John you passed this class without any problems Well done really, your determination and hard work really payed off. I am sure you have learned a lot by going back and recording new takes, fixing non chord tones and anticipations we discussed. You really did well and it makes me really happy to see determined and hard working individuals such as yourself.
I can just recommend extra assignment for you that would include you tabbing your solo in Guitar Pro and sending it to me!
Let me know if you need any help with it.
Solo was very good overall John ! Nice combination of both chord tones and arpeggios.
Hope to see you in my next collab



Paiva (8:02 - 8:33)


Paiva you passed this class, good job man.
I have couple of things to suggest you for future collaborations. First thing, always tune your guitar with actual backing track so it doesn't sounds sharp or flat with it. Second thing you need to work on the phrasing and rhythm more. Your whole solo has ups and downs because of phrasing. If you get it to sound stronger quality of your solo will boost and come to center of attention.
I am happy with what you did in your take regarding chord tones and arpeggios.
Only thing I can suggest is transcribing it in Guitar Pro and sending me the file so we can talk more and fix your phrasing troubles
Thank you for your take Paiva and I hope to see you in my next collab !



Sami (8:34 - 9:05)


Sami well done you have passed this class successfully !
This final take is much different from original first take you sent me and it sounds like you have improved here.
I like how you are slowly building your solo and using both arpeggios and chord tones. There is also motive development and repetition in the solo, good job man !
Two things that I can suggest that should help you in future. One, work on your sweep picking ascending and descending equally. Only that way your rhythm and phrasing won't suffer. Second thing was that minor mistake at the very end of the solo where you anticipated C maj7 chord with C note before it actually arrived.
My advice, transcribe your solo in Guitar Pro and send it to me !
Great work overall Sami, hope to you see you in my next collab !


Sergio Dorado (9:06 - 9:37)


Sergio you have definitely passed this class
Your take has lots of different ideas for both arpeggios and chord tones, I like it. I also like the fact that you focused on melody more then technique here. Really well done man.
I hope to see you in my future collaborations.
Thanks Sergio !



sted (9:38 - 10:09)


Sted you have done well and passed this class. This solo is very melodic, has a very natural build up and on top of that you used everything I asked for !
Really good job !
I have one advice and thats regarding your phrasing. In some sections solo sounds weaker because it sounds like rhythm is slipping you away , ahead behind beat etc. If you made your rhythm tighter solos would get even more attention over harmony and backing tracks. I suggest you transcribe your solo in Guitar Pro and send it to me (there is something in there worth checking out) !
Thank you for signing up and submitting your take sted - hope to see you in my next collaboration as well !



Tolek (10:10 - 10:41)


Tolek you passed this class If I had to give you a grade it would be a B- or C probably. Your solo had a lot of non chord tones which were not allowed(when I say a lot a mean more than one or two notes!). I know you could have done simpler solo and stick to actual chord tones but you choose to do differently.
I am only making hard comments for you because you are mentor and need to set example to all your students here at GMC. Thats why I am letting you pass this collaboration, but I am giving you assignment to submit me your solo in Guitar Pro file.
Best thing you can do is record a new proper take without non chord tones and anticipations and upload it at this thread any time.
I know you are very talented determined and hard working but I promised you I will give critique when you deserve it - now is that time
Thank you for your take Tolek and I look forward getting extra assignment from you



Velvet Roger (10:42 - 11:13)



Roger you successfully passed this class !
Your solo was very interesting as it had similar rhythm and phrasing through the whole solo. Thats what kept it glued together and connected. Your ideas were great, very melodic and interesting shapes and you had nice balance of chord tones and tensions.
I have nothing to add to this take except suggest that you tab it out in Guitar Pro if you have some free time, so we can analyze it and talk about more in depth things.
Well done Roger, thank you for your take and hope to see you in next collab



wrk (11:13 - 11:44)

Andy you passed this class with 100%. Very well done solo !
Your timing was laid back, melodic approach was there in whole solo and just overall solo sounded very musical.
I like how you approached this in terms of slower and faster rhythms, that really made everything sound more interesting.
Extra assignment would definitely be to tab out this solo in Guitar Pro as it doesn't have typical downbeat rhythm in it.
If you want to discuss more your solo feel free to ask me here or via PM.
Thank you for your take Andy, hope to see you in next collab


Pedja Simovic (11:45 - 12:22)

I submitted lesson on this exact same solo and I hope you guys will have chance to see it soon live on main page. Until then feel free to comment on each takes and help each other out as much as you can.


I would like to thank everybody who submitted their takes. I am glad I extended the deadline in the end as there were some great takes coming in last minute.
Don't forget to ask any questions if anything is not clear to you, I am here to help remember that always

Hope to see you all in my next collaboration which should be up by the end of the week I hope !


Thank you all for participating it was pleasure teaching you this extremely useful concept in class type collaboration !


Pedja

FINAL MIX

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