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Ampero 2 Is Coming
Todd Simpson
Oct 8 2021, 01:47 AM
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I'm a huge fan of the Ampero 1 as you guys know. There is a VERSION 2 on the way! I got confirmation from Ari at hotone and then found this video with some details.

It looks like it's meant to compete with the line 6 HX stomp. It doesn't have an expression peadl but one can be added. It does increase the sample points for IR by about double and it featurs dual signal path that supports more blocks than the original unit. Also, it's got 3 DSP chips instead of the 2 in the Ampero. So it should be a bettter sounding, dual path version of the Ampero basically smile.gif

QUESTION: ANY GEAR COMING OUT YOU GUYS ARE STOKED ABOUT?






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Phil66
Oct 8 2021, 10:14 AM
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QUOTE (Todd Simpson @ Oct 8 2021, 01:47 AM) *

QUESTION: ANY GEAR COMING OUT YOU GUYS ARE STOKED ABOUT?


Nope, my last three purchases have completely killed my GAS. SRV Strat, Blues Deluxe Reissue and TH-U (including the FCB-1010). That's guitar gas gone, amp gas gone and fx gas gone, there's something good about getting new gear but I've bought so much stuff over time that hasn't made me play like Satriani laugh.gif or has been beyond my ability/understanding level like the Keeley Compressor Pro, (that was a fiddle fest), that I'm feeling complete with what I have, I'm much less uptight about not having the latest gear, it's almost cathartic.

No doubt something will come along one day and I'd still like a Satch Silver Surfer and an Ibanez 540R and a, Marshall Full Stack but that's just for the museum, it's not like GAS

Cheers.

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klasaine
Oct 8 2021, 03:12 PM
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The only thing I'd like right now is this Gretsch single cut ...

Attached Image

And this delay pedal ...

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Todd Simpson
Oct 9 2021, 02:15 AM
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No matter how much gear we get, it seems that there is always one more piece out there. It waxes and wanes, as you say, after a good haul I can be happy for quite some time. Then something always pops up smile.gif I'd love a 540r as well btw.

QUOTE (klasaine @ Oct 8 2021, 10:12 AM) *
The only thing I'd like right now is this Gretsch single cut ...

Attached Image

And this delay pedal ...

Attached Image

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Storm Linnebjerg
Oct 12 2021, 09:12 PM
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QUOTE (Todd Simpson @ Oct 9 2021, 03:15 AM) *
No matter how much gear we get, it seems that there is always one more piece out there. It waxes and wanes, as you say, after a good haul I can be happy for quite some time. Then something always pops up smile.gif I'd love a 540r as well btw.


There was a question asked in a studio group on Facebook the other day:

"Question of the Day: If you could go back in time and give yourself one piece of advice when you were first starting your home studio journey, what would it be?"

And a lot of people were talking about that they wanted to have good gear from the beginning or this or that piece of gear. I went in a bit of a different direction:

"A bit opposite advice to earlier in the comments. I'd tell myself to write more, compose more, be more consistent in practicing every aspect in music, and don't worry so much about gear that it becomes an excuse to not do anything cause you don't have this or that equipment. Yes, it will help you sound better, but if you're putting off learning the trade, then you'll have good gear but not a lot to do with it. A focusrite 2i2 will get you relatively far to begin with. The learning process will encourage you to buy better gear, don't let the gear become the driving force if you're not also seeking to learn and improve.

Anyway, there are a few things I'd have said and done differently. Invested more in learning, actual practicing (of whatever skill) and so on."

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Todd Simpson
Oct 13 2021, 01:48 AM
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Indeed!!! I have to agree. i'd go back and say "WRITE MORE SONGS!" not riffs, not licks, full songs with lyrics!

QUOTE (Caelumamittendum @ Oct 12 2021, 04:12 PM) *
There was a question asked in a studio group on Facebook the other day:

"Question of the Day: If you could go back in time and give yourself one piece of advice when you were first starting your home studio journey, what would it be?"

And a lot of people were talking about that they wanted to have good gear from the beginning or this or that piece of gear. I went in a bit of a different direction:

"A bit opposite advice to earlier in the comments. I'd tell myself to write more, compose more, be more consistent in practicing every aspect in music, and don't worry so much about gear that it becomes an excuse to not do anything cause you don't have this or that equipment. Yes, it will help you sound better, but if you're putting off learning the trade, then you'll have good gear but not a lot to do with it. A focusrite 2i2 will get you relatively far to begin with. The learning process will encourage you to buy better gear, don't let the gear become the driving force if you're not also seeking to learn and improve.

Anyway, there are a few things I'd have said and done differently. Invested more in learning, actual practicing (of whatever skill) and so on."

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Phil66
Oct 13 2021, 07:45 AM
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QUOTE (Todd Simpson @ Oct 13 2021, 01:48 AM) *
Indeed!!! I have to agree. i'd go back and say "WRITE MORE SONGS!" not riffs, not licks, full songs with lyrics!


I agree, and for me it's still not too late. I think you learn a lot by learning songs and it's not as "boring" as learning a little lesson full of techniques. I hate to admit it but I've only ever learnt one song from start to finish including the solo and that's Rock The Nation by Montrose. It's a nice level to manage and a great feeling of accomplishment when you play along with it for the first time without fluffing it. Learning stuff that is recognisable to others is good too, another bonus when they say "Oh I know what that is".

Posting this has made me want to learn some more Montrose tracks. My teacher at the time transcribed it for me though, I think I could do it, the solo anyway by using my DAW on slow playback and matching the notes but I struggle to match chords. Maybe that's due to a lack of chord knowledge, I just randomly place my fingers trying to find something, I guess if you understand chords more it "tells" you what it is likely to be that you're listening to. I hope that makes sense unsure.gif

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Todd Simpson
Oct 14 2021, 04:37 AM
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Well said! Thats actually how I learned to play guitar. I didn't learn scales, chords, theory, etc I just grabbed a guitar and started trying to play the music I liked listening to. It helped me develop my ear quite a bit. It was after i was playing songs that I then started to learn about actually playing guitar in a somewhat proper way smile.gif

Learning songs by ear is one of the best things one can do imho. Not only is it invaluable for developing an ear, it helps to understand how songs work by just playing through them. I think learning everything by tablature robs newer students of a vital part of their musical education. Before tabs were available online for everything, one had to just listen and play. smile.gif



QUOTE (Phil66 @ Oct 13 2021, 02:45 AM) *
I agree, and for me it's still not too late. I think you learn a lot by learning songs and it's not as "boring" as learning a little lesson full of techniques. I hate to admit it but I've only ever learnt one song from start to finish including the solo and that's Rock The Nation by Montrose. It's a nice level to manage and a great feeling of accomplishment when you play along with it for the first time without fluffing it. Learning stuff that is recognisable to others is good too, another bonus when they say "Oh I know what that is".

Posting this has made me want to learn some more Montrose tracks. My teacher at the time transcribed it for me though, I think I could do it, the solo anyway by using my DAW on slow playback and matching the notes but I struggle to match chords. Maybe that's due to a lack of chord knowledge, I just randomly place my fingers trying to find something, I guess if you understand chords more it "tells" you what it is likely to be that you're listening to. I hope that makes sense unsure.gif

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klasaine
Oct 14 2021, 03:20 PM
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QUOTE (Todd Simpson @ Oct 13 2021, 08:37 PM) *
Learning songs by ear is one of the best things one can do imho. Not only is it invaluable for developing an ear, it helps to understand how songs work by just playing through them. I think learning everything by tablature robs newer students of a vital part of their musical education. Before tabs were available online for everything, one had to just listen and play. smile.gif


So true.
Music is an aural/auditory art form.
Don't even start me laugh.gif

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Storm Linnebjerg
Oct 14 2021, 06:29 PM
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QUOTE (klasaine @ Oct 14 2021, 04:20 PM) *
So true.
Music is an aural/auditory art form.
Don't even start me laugh.gif


I do think there's value in both, as it opens up some possibilities too in regards to learning and so on. I even use a lot of notation (Guitar Pro 7) in writing songs. But I don't like the old ascii-tablature that some still use - at least not for more complicated things. In regards to learning by ear, maybe the ascii-tabs are actually more valuable than GP7, but these visual references can also open up the world of music to someone who's maybe more of a visual learner - or at least on that spectrum. I don't think I could have learned some stuff by ear, or written the way I do without GP7, however I do wish my ear was better and that I had spent more time on learning by ear through the early years. Not too late, I suppose smile.gif

And some things can be deceiving without further knowledge on tuning used, or some runs are extremely fast or whatever else we have that can create hindrances.

This is not me saying the ear shouldn't be trained, however I grew up in an era with ascii-tabs and then GP3, 4, 5, 6 and now 7. Perhaps someone using those game-like ways to learn songs will tell me the same that "ear guys" tell me. "Rock Smith is much better than tabs/standard notation, Ben! It has so many better features than notation..."

...don't get me started on that laugh.gif

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Todd Simpson
Oct 14 2021, 09:19 PM
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I agree there is huge value in being able to learn by notation/tab/etc. Anything that aids in learning is a good thing IMHO. smile.gif

I've seen too much focus on using GP have a negative impact on a students journey too often though. Often because it's just available and an efficient way to learn a song/solo etc., the student will skip trying to figure any of it out by ear. It's the struggle to figure things out by ear that actually helps train the ear imho. As in all things a balanced approach is usually best. I only wish the balance shifted back a bit toward students fighting through learning by ear just to help them get better at hearing music and understanding it instead of just reading music and understanding it. If the ear is build up along the way, composition Becomes almost second nature as a response to music.

BEN: QUESTION: How did you develop your ear? You have a great ear for melody/harmony/music. Whatever you did, it worked great. I'd like to know so I can suggest the approach to students.


QUOTE (Caelumamittendum @ Oct 14 2021, 01:29 PM) *
I do think there's value in both, as it opens up some possibilities too in regards to learning and so on. I even use a lot of notation (Guitar Pro 7) in writing songs. But I don't like the old ascii-tablature that some still use - at least not for more complicated things. In regards to learning by ear, maybe the ascii-tabs are actually more valuable than GP7, but these visual references can also open up the world of music to someone who's maybe more of a visual learner - or at least on that spectrum. I don't think I could have learned some stuff by ear, or written the way I do without GP7, however I do wish my ear was better and that I had spent more time on learning by ear through the early years. Not too late, I suppose smile.gif

And some things can be deceiving without further knowledge on tuning used, or some runs are extremely fast or whatever else we have that can create hindrances.

This is not me saying the ear shouldn't be trained, however I grew up in an era with ascii-tabs and then GP3, 4, 5, 6 and now 7. Perhaps someone using those game-like ways to learn songs will tell me the same that "ear guys" tell me. "Rock Smith is much better than tabs/standard notation, Ben! It has so many better features than notation..."

...don't get me started on that laugh.gif

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This post has been edited by Todd Simpson: Oct 14 2021, 09:49 PM
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Phil66
Oct 14 2021, 10:28 PM
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QUOTE (Todd Simpson @ Oct 14 2021, 09:19 PM) *
I agree there is huge value in being able to learn by notation/tab/etc. Anything that aids in learning is a good thing IMHO. smile.gif

I've seen too much focus on using GP have a negative impact on a students journey too often though. Often because it's just available and an efficient way to learn a song/solo etc., the student will skip trying to figure any of it out by ear. It's the struggle to figure things out by ear that actually helps train the ear imho. As in all things a balanced approach is usually best. I only wish the balance shifted back a bit toward students fighting through learning by ear just to help them get better at hearing music and understanding it instead of just reading music and understanding it. If the ear is build up along the way, composition Becomes almost second nature as a response to music.

BEN: QUESTION: How did you develop your ear? You have a great ear for melody/harmony/music. Whatever you did, it worked great. I'd like to know so I can suggest the approach to students.



This lesson https://www.guitarmasterclass.net/ls/PoorManBluesSolo/ taught me a lot about listening, the GP file had many errors and I had to rely on my ears. I'm not saying I could fully transcribe a song, I'd need a starting point to help me on my way but listening does help develop the ear.

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Storm Linnebjerg
Oct 14 2021, 10:39 PM
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QUOTE (Todd Simpson @ Oct 14 2021, 10:19 PM) *
BEN: QUESTION: How did you develop your ear? You have a great ear for melody/harmony/music. Whatever you did, it worked great. I'd like to know so I can suggest the approach to students.


I wouldn't say my ear is ALL that in terms of recognizing harmony, chords, melodies as such and repeating them, and I think that's partly due to having grown up in the tablature era. But I do recognize minor, major, some 7th, add9 and so on. But I've never actively looked that much into ear training. Mostly I've been doing it if I couldn't find a tab. So there's that, however...

...using tablature itself has also given me something. Studying notation and diving deep into guitar pro, understand how it works "visually" too, but even more so relating that to sound. You know, thinking about why a rhythm (not including harmony) work or why it doesn't, what it brings to the song. Some rhythms can create more tension, and then add polyrhythms into it and so on.

Then of course you have the harmony side of it, and I think learning scales taught me a whole lot. However once I had most of the modes in C major down (all 7 from Ionian to Locrian) instead of practicing the same runs, positions over and over in different keys, I decided to start using backing tracks to jam on. I don't know if this was a conscious choice from a learning perspective, but it felt less boring than just playing up and down scales with a metronome. And I think this also helps the ear a bit in terms of melodic choices.

There are quite a few ways to approach going from one note to another note, and that little difference is what creates some individuality on guitar, I think, along with the small ornaments and creative approaches. And some of those small approaches might alter the feel a bit too. That's a bit of spice around the melody anyway, which adds some flavor instead of it just being a very "flat melody".

I grew up learning a bit from Petrucci's Rock Discpline, some Paul Gilbert instructions, but one thing always bothered me a bit. Some of the exercises didn't sound musical to me. And my whole entrance to playing guitar was to write songs, not become the fastest or best guitar player out there, and I think that mindset has helped me a bit too. I do hear people run scales and exercises all day and they complain that their songs or riffs can sound like exercises. It's probably about the way you practice a bit too for me. If it's all technical and no writing, then when you do write it's probably gonna have shades of those exercises all over it. I'm sure it's been like that for me too, to be honest. As with all things having a balance is good.

Having the "backing track" approach to learning scales has definitely helped me though. I use it these days too. If I want to learn a new scale, such as when I was working on Melodic Minor lately, I put on a backing track for that scale on YouTube and played around with it. Not just up and down a scale, but jumping around. Carl Verheyen actually has a good video on octave displacement too. I think it's called Intervallic Rock.

But yes, as said, I'm a tab-guy, but I always felt running up and down scales very rarely sounded musical, as much value as it can have to burn the shapes into memory. But don't get too attached to those shapes.

Of course there's also a bit of theory behind it, in a way. I feel certain notes have more flavor than others. On an A minor chord, you might play the minor pentatonic, but try adding in the major 9th (cool.gif note. Or you could try playing an E minor pentatonic on that A minor chord, as that adds in the 9th too.

Then work on adding more flavors. Allow yourself to absorb what they sound like or feel like. And maybe you don't want to make a scale run up to that note, but rather jump from somewhere else down to it.

It is about knowing scales a bit, and having played near 20 years, I think I've just naturally progressed my "melodic ear". I still do way too many scale runs for my liking, but I try to be aware of it. There are numerous ways to go from one note to the next.

Then there's space, note-value rhythm wise, and if you're just playing 16th notes all through a solo that's a very specific kinda solo that can work, but maybe in more of a blues setting you want to leave more space, you want to build that harmonic and rhythmical tension too. So you mix and match a bit of all techniques to express the melodic idea you have.

I'm not really sure what else to say. People play guitar for different reasons. Some play to become the best technical guitar player, some play to write good solos or songs. I'm still searching for my style, but I feel more happy now that some years back. I don't know if this really answers you question.

Here's the Carl Verheyen video I was talking about:



Scott Henderson also has a good one called Melodic Phrasing, but it seems a bit hard to come by these days. He talks a lot about how to think of phrasing as language. There's a sample here:

https://vimeo.com/202291007

Come to think of it, I have studied and been interested in language quite a bit. Not as in learning foreign languages, but the use of language, how we speak, how we identify through language. Tone, imagery and story telllng. I think that might help too.

These of course are all more related to having a decent "melodic ear", in lack of a better term. Throw me an Eb7#11 chord and I won't be able to tell you that that is the chord (yet!), but I might be able to throw a decent little melody back at you that is note just a scale run. I think it's about trying think of other ways to go from A to B (no pun intended) and being creative in that approach, allowing your mind and ideas to wander a bit. I'm no master of it at all, but I've at least improved a bit.

Being technically impressed by someone's playing is all well and good, and I can admire the hours put into it. But I want to be moved by music and experience that elusive "feel" that no-one can really describe. And sometimes these "melodic ear" things take practice too, but maybe a different practice than scales up and down. Or even playing in thirds or fourths. Maybe an interesting approach could be to tell someone to run through a scale at any intervallic jump they want, as long as they cover all the notes. smile.gif

There's a balance to everything. Don't just run scales up and down. smile.gif

This turned out longer than I intended. Feel free to ask any questions if I didn't really answer all that well or if anyone has further questions.

Bonus video from Rick Graham related to scale practice with octave displacement:

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This post has been edited by Caelumamittendum: Oct 14 2021, 10:42 PM


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Todd Simpson
Oct 15 2021, 08:40 AM
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There was a new video that came out as a demo for the AMPERO 2. It's got a bunch more blocks than my current ampero and evidently a third chip for dsp instead of the dual chips in the ampero 1.

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jstcrsn
Oct 15 2021, 09:41 PM
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QUOTE (Todd Simpson @ Oct 15 2021, 08:40 AM) *
There was a new video that came out as a demo for the AMPERO 2. It's got a bunch more blocks than my current ampero and evidently a third chip for dsp instead of the dual chips in the ampero 1.


the 1 thing I am getting from the reviews is connectivity with an amp in a live setting is limited , at least I did not hear if that was addressed in my hurried watching of said video

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Todd Simpson
Oct 16 2021, 05:35 AM
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Wanted to thank you for your reply on this one. It's a great post! It really does come down to ones individuality in terms of playing and learning.

QUOTE (Caelumamittendum @ Oct 14 2021, 05:39 PM) *
I wouldn't say my ear is ALL that in terms of recognizing harmony, chords, melodies as such and repeating them,

This turned out longer than I intended. Feel free to ask any questions if I didn't really answer all that well or if anyone has further questions.

Bonus video from Rick Graham related to scale practice with octave displacement:


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Storm Linnebjerg
Oct 16 2021, 08:45 AM
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QUOTE (Todd Simpson @ Oct 16 2021, 06:35 AM) *
Wanted to thank you for your reply on this one. It's a great post! It really does come down to ones individuality in terms of playing and learning.


No problem! I like doing these posts smile.gif They get a bit like rambling, but I still feel there's a bit of meaningful content in there somewhere. laugh.gif I didn't plan the reply, but rather just let the thoughts on the topic flow and let the content almost write itself that way. Just sort of a train of thought on the topic cool.gif

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Phil66
Oct 16 2021, 08:58 AM
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QUOTE (Caelumamittendum @ Oct 14 2021, 10:39 PM) *
I wouldn't say my ear is ALL that in terms of recognizing harmony, chords, melodies as such and repeating them, and I think that's partly due to having grown up in the tablature era. But I do recognize minor, major, some 7th, add9 and so on. But I've never actively looked that much into ear training. Mostly I've been doing it if I couldn't find a tab. So there's that, however...

...using tablature itself has also given me something. Studying notation and diving deep into guitar pro, understand how it works "visually" too, but even more so relating that to sound. You know, thinking about why a rhythm (not including harmony) work or why it doesn't, what it brings to the song. Some rhythms can create more tension, and then add polyrhythms into it and so on.

Then of course you have the harmony side of it, and I think learning scales taught me a whole lot. However once I had most of the modes in C major down (all 7 from Ionian to Locrian) instead of practicing the same runs, positions over and over in different keys, I decided to start using backing tracks to jam on. I don't know if this was a conscious choice from a learning perspective, but it felt less boring than just playing up and down scales with a metronome. And I think this also helps the ear a bit in terms of melodic choices.

There are quite a few ways to approach going from one note to another note, and that little difference is what creates some individuality on guitar, I think, along with the small ornaments and creative approaches. And some of those small approaches might alter the feel a bit too. That's a bit of spice around the melody anyway, which adds some flavor instead of it just being a very "flat melody".

I grew up learning a bit from Petrucci's Rock Discpline, some Paul Gilbert instructions, but one thing always bothered me a bit. Some of the exercises didn't sound musical to me. And my whole entrance to playing guitar was to write songs, not become the fastest or best guitar player out there, and I think that mindset has helped me a bit too. I do hear people run scales and exercises all day and they complain that their songs or riffs can sound like exercises. It's probably about the way you practice a bit too for me. If it's all technical and no writing, then when you do write it's probably gonna have shades of those exercises all over it. I'm sure it's been like that for me too, to be honest. As with all things having a balance is good.

Having the "backing track" approach to learning scales has definitely helped me though. I use it these days too. If I want to learn a new scale, such as when I was working on Melodic Minor lately, I put on a backing track for that scale on YouTube and played around with it. Not just up and down a scale, but jumping around. Carl Verheyen actually has a good video on octave displacement too. I think it's called Intervallic Rock.

But yes, as said, I'm a tab-guy, but I always felt running up and down scales very rarely sounded musical, as much value as it can have to burn the shapes into memory. But don't get too attached to those shapes.

Of course there's also a bit of theory behind it, in a way. I feel certain notes have more flavor than others. On an A minor chord, you might play the minor pentatonic, but try adding in the major 9th (cool.gif note. Or you could try playing an E minor pentatonic on that A minor chord, as that adds in the 9th too.

Then work on adding more flavors. Allow yourself to absorb what they sound like or feel like. And maybe you don't want to make a scale run up to that note, but rather jump from somewhere else down to it.

It is about knowing scales a bit, and having played near 20 years, I think I've just naturally progressed my "melodic ear". I still do way too many scale runs for my liking, but I try to be aware of it. There are numerous ways to go from one note to the next.

Then there's space, note-value rhythm wise, and if you're just playing 16th notes all through a solo that's a very specific kinda solo that can work, but maybe in more of a blues setting you want to leave more space, you want to build that harmonic and rhythmical tension too. So you mix and match a bit of all techniques to express the melodic idea you have.

I'm not really sure what else to say. People play guitar for different reasons. Some play to become the best technical guitar player, some play to write good solos or songs. I'm still searching for my style, but I feel more happy now that some years back. I don't know if this really answers you question.

Here's the Carl Verheyen video I was talking about:



Scott Henderson also has a good one called Melodic Phrasing, but it seems a bit hard to come by these days. He talks a lot about how to think of phrasing as language. There's a sample here:

https://vimeo.com/202291007

Come to think of it, I have studied and been interested in language quite a bit. Not as in learning foreign languages, but the use of language, how we speak, how we identify through language. Tone, imagery and story telllng. I think that might help too.

These of course are all more related to having a decent "melodic ear", in lack of a better term. Throw me an Eb7#11 chord and I won't be able to tell you that that is the chord (yet!), but I might be able to throw a decent little melody back at you that is note just a scale run. I think it's about trying think of other ways to go from A to B (no pun intended) and being creative in that approach, allowing your mind and ideas to wander a bit. I'm no master of it at all, but I've at least improved a bit.

Being technically impressed by someone's playing is all well and good, and I can admire the hours put into it. But I want to be moved by music and experience that elusive "feel" that no-one can really describe. And sometimes these "melodic ear" things take practice too, but maybe a different practice than scales up and down. Or even playing in thirds or fourths. Maybe an interesting approach could be to tell someone to run through a scale at any intervallic jump they want, as long as they cover all the notes. smile.gif

There's a balance to everything. Don't just run scales up and down. smile.gif

This turned out longer than I intended. Feel free to ask any questions if I didn't really answer all that well or if anyone has further questions.

Bonus video from Rick Graham related to scale practice with octave displacement:



Been, that's one of the most comprehensive replies I've seen on here, if not THE most comprehensive reply. Thank you for taking the time to write that buddy cool.gif

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Storm Linnebjerg
Oct 16 2021, 09:11 AM
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QUOTE (Phil66 @ Oct 16 2021, 09:58 AM) *
Been, that's one of the most comprehensive replies I've seen on here, if not THE most comprehensive reply. Thank you for taking the time to write that buddy cool.gif


Thank you for reading it, Phil. I appreciate the compliment. It's definitely the type of "free train of thought" reply and post I like to do at times. I know I don't do them too often, but perhaps there'll be more of these in the future. Good questions lead to long winded answers laugh.gif

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Phil66
Oct 16 2021, 10:42 AM
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QUOTE (Caelumamittendum @ Oct 16 2021, 09:11 AM) *
Thank you for reading it, Phil. I appreciate the compliment. It's definitely the type of "free train of thought" reply and post I like to do at times. I know I don't do them too often, but perhaps there'll be more of these in the future. Good questions lead to long winded answers laugh.gif


And the best ones are the ones that just roll out of one's brain as though one was at a Q&A session. cool.gif

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