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Posted by: Gabriel Leopardi May 3 2019, 04:43 AM

Hi LEO89PRIEST! Welcome to your thread for Gab's Army, my mentoring program. Here I will guide you with your guitar practice, creating routines, practice plans, giving feedback of your playing always based on your guitar goals and musical tastes.

Before we start I would like to know a bit more about you.


- How many time have you been playing guitar?
- Favorite guitarists, bands and musicians.
- What are your guitar goals?
- How would you like to you see yourself in 5 years (related to music and guitar)?
- How many time can you play guitar each day?
- Do you have playing live experience?
- Which are your strong and weak points with guitar?
- What do you know about music theory?
- Can you record videos of you playing?
- Share here audios and videos that reflect your current playing.

Posted by: LEO89PRIEST May 4 2019, 01:57 AM

Hello Gabriel,

Wow this army thing sounds awesome

Here are my answers to your questions:

- How many time have you been playing guitar?
A: I've been playing guitar for about 10 years.

- Favorite guitarists, bands and musicians.
A: John Petrucci, Paul Gilbert, Michael Romeo, Kiko Loureiro, Joe Satriani, Van Halen, Andy Timmons, David Gilmour.
Dream Theater, Symphony X, Iron Maiden, Judas Priest, Megadeth, Queen, Rata Blanca, Kraken, Pink Floyd, Queen.

- What are your guitar goals?
A: I want to be able to play flawlessly and consistently any musical piece. At first I really want to master the basics: vibrato, hammer-ons, pull-offs, legato, bendings, slides... I'm not that bad in then but for instance I really want to play in time, clean and in tune. Then, I want to go with techniques like tapping, sweep picking, sweep tapping, etc... I know a bit of tapping but I don't feel totally comfortable with it.

- How would you like to you see yourself in 5 years (related to music and guitar)?
A: I want to record at least one album with own music, to live that experience of going to a studio and record something created by me must be something awesome to live... Also, maybe play with a band, at least small concerts.
I want to be able to properly use different tunings like Eb, or D... I'm very used to standard tuning only.
I want to be a youtuber, not sure which content to offer but in the meantime I want it to be a guitar covers channel.
Then, my dream is to make music my lifestyle so I want music to be my job, but a cool job that I can actually enjoy

- How many time can you play guitar each day?
A: About 1 hour a day.

- Do you have playing live experience?
A: No.

- Which are your strong and weak points with guitar?
A: Strong points: legato (pulls and hammers), riffing, rhythm, sometimes I guess feeling is a strong point.
Weak points: body position (my back sometimes hurts), advanced techniques, out of tune bendings, weak vibrato, fast playing (despite I consider good at riffing I have low resistance or stamina), use of whammy bar, my pinky finger

- What do you know about music theory?
A: Modes (Aeolian, Locrian, Ionian, etc.), pentatonic scale, major and minor scales, notes in the guitar (but I have difficulties identifying them quickly I have to stop and double check which note it is), intervals, triads, chords structures (for instance: 1st, 3rd, 5th grade for a basic chord) and some advanced chords formation... however, despite I know how to use a scale to create chords I have difficulties finding basic chords on the guitar, like with the chords maps...

- Can you record videos of you playing?
- Share here audios and videos that reflect your current playing.
A: Sure, I'm sending you 4 video files:
- Iron Maiden - The trooper (solo)
- Dream Theater - The bigger picture (solo)
- Own solo I wrote for a song.
- Little blues improvisation.

Posted by: LEO89PRIEST May 4 2019, 03:08 PM

Hi Gabriel,

I forgot to mention something important and is that I want to be able to play different music genres, not only rock or metal, but also jazz, funk, blues and some latin genres like salsa. I want to be as versatile as I can.

Posted by: Gabriel Leopardi May 6 2019, 06:10 AM

Hi mate!! Thanks for all this info and videos! Now I know a lot more about you.

I think that it's time start working. You said that you have 1 hour for practice. I think that you could divide your diary sessions in 3 blocks:

- Technique Practice (GMC lessons + Exercises) - 20 minutes
- Improvisation (Working on a new concept each week) - 20 minutes
- Making music (Free jamming, working on GMC collabs) - 20 minutes

What do you think? Have you been exploring our lessons? Which are your favorites?

Posted by: LEO89PRIEST May 6 2019, 05:33 PM

Hi Gabriel,

Thank you for your suggestions! I have a couple of questions:

1. For my technique practice you mentioned to go to the GMC lessons. When I go there I see a whole world of lessons, which is great, but at the same time is like I don't know where to start . Should I search by level? What would you recommend me? I want to start working on lessons and posting my takes on REC.
2. Regarding improvisation, by "concepts" you mean: scales, techniques, chords, intervals... etc? Is there a place where I can look at those concepts or could you please guide me through the theory concepts I should learn?

Thanks again!

Angel.

Posted by: Gabriel Leopardi May 7 2019, 02:22 PM

Hi mate! I can guide you here with all those things. We can choose here the right things to work each week and build routines based on those topics that I've listed.

You can find everything about theory https://www.guitarmasterclass.net/guitar_forum/index.php?showforum=25. There you can find the important topics.

Regarding lessons, you can choose style and level. You can go to "Guitar Lessons" tap and then you can choose style and level.



Other way to search is to write something in the SEARCH at the top right of the page. That opens a page where you can use Advanced Search options.



This is my suggestion for the first week:

- Technique Practice (GMC lessons + Exercises) - 20 minutes

https://www.guitarmasterclass.net/ls/Bens-Land-Of-Legato/
https://www.guitarmasterclass.net/ls/neoclassical_solo_for_beginners/


- Improvisation (Working on a new concept each week) - 20 minutes

Improvisation Course // Module 1: Major Scales

1. https://www.guitarmasterclass.net/guitar_forum/index.php?showtopic=42832&view=findpost&p=694411


- Making music (Free jamming, working on GMC collabs) - 20 minutes

Working on the current collab is a good idea for this moment. I also would like to suggest you to get into Kristofer's Jam School series and off course, watch and play along with this live streams.

https://www.guitarmasterclass.net/search/jam+school/



What do you think?

Posted by: LEO89PRIEST May 8 2019, 02:10 PM

Hi Gabriel

Wow thank you so much. That's a lot of incredible material. I started yesterday and loved all lessons. I'll let you know my progress.

Note: I don't what happened but since yesterday, whenever I click a link to a lesson which opens on a new tab or window I am inmediately logged off from the page and I have to enter all the log in information once again. The problem is that, after entering that information I get redirected to the main page, and when I go to the lesson I am logged off once again, and the loop goes on that way, so my access to the lessons is limited to the "guest" user permissions, so I can't see the whole material.

Should I tell Kris or someone else about this issue?

Thanks!

Angel.

Posted by: Gabriel Leopardi May 8 2019, 03:34 PM

Hi Angel, I'll ask Kris about this. Don't worry, we'll find a solution.

Posted by: Kristofer Dahl May 8 2019, 08:04 PM

Hi Angel,

This sounds like a corrupt session cookie. Try logging in from a different browser and if it the problem is gone, then go back to your preferred browser and erase the cookies for www.guitarmasterclass.net only (https://www.google.se/search?q=erase+cookies+for+domain&oq=erase+cookies+for+domain&aqs=chrome..69i57j0l5.3510j0j7&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8)

Let me know what happens!

Posted by: LEO89PRIEST May 11 2019, 08:01 PM

Hi Kris and Gabriel,

Yes, it looks like it was a session cookie issue. Thanks for your help! Everything is working fine now

Angel.

Posted by: Kristofer Dahl May 12 2019, 03:38 PM

Great, thanks for confirming mate 👊

Posted by: Gabriel Leopardi May 13 2019, 01:59 PM

Great! Thanks for the update Angel! How is your practice going?

Posted by: LEO89PRIEST May 13 2019, 08:50 PM

Hi Gabriel,

I've been working in these 2 lessons:

- Technique Practice (GMC lessons + Exercises) - 20 minutes

https://www.guitarmasterclass.net/ls/Bens-Land-Of-Legato/
https://www.guitarmasterclass.net/ls/neocla..._for_beginners/

Also, I've been working on Todd Simpson's Shred Bootcamp. I'm about to start lesson 3.

The Bens' legato exercise had been a challenge for me, but the good thing about it is that whenever I finish the 20-30 minutes of this practice I feel like my fingers work really great and are faster and more precise than usual. Should I post a REC take on Bens' video whenever I feel the exercise is ready? Do you check REC takes even when they belong to an old lesson like the one from Ben?

I will work on this today: 1. Major Scale (Shapes, sequences & arpeggios)

Thanks for your help Gabriel. A really great material you sent me!!

Angel.

Posted by: LEO89PRIEST May 14 2019, 02:54 AM

Hi Gabriel!

I was working on the "IMPROVISATION COURSE - FROM ZERO TO HERO ", more specifically on the "Module 1: Major Scales -
WEEK#1 - Caged System:", it looks very interesting and useful. I was learning the shapes, scales and sequences, however, I think something is missing... at the end of the thread I can see a backing track in G major, so I guess I have to apply the different scales by doing an improvisation on G major. The problem is that I'm not sure on how to apply them, it's sounding like a scale exercise and not to "musical".

When I click on the Vchat link it looks like the page is down I think that video is the place where I can see how to actually apply those concepts. Could you please double check the link or let me know if I misunderstood something?

Thanks again!

Angel.

Posted by: Gabriel Leopardi May 14 2019, 03:12 AM

Hi Angel!

The link was to see my live Vchat but that's not available anymore. However, you can ask and request here everything you need to understand each of the modules from the Improvisation Course.

The first goal here is to learn the shapes, sequences and arpeggios. You have to be able to visualise them, and to play them over the backing track following the chords. At first it will sound like an exercise, because it's an exercise. But the second goal and the most important is obviously to make music with this.

Are you already able to play Scale shapes, sequences, and triads (following the chords) over the backing track?

Posted by: LEO89PRIEST May 14 2019, 03:22 PM

Hi Gabriel!

Thanks for clearing it out for me. I am currently learning the shapes, sequences and triads. My only question so far is this: what is the reason why you chose the G major key, is there a particular reason for it? Why not to choose C major which only has natural and not accidental notes (sharp, flats)? Does the CAGED system born on the G major scale? I hope I'm being clear here.

Thanks again!

Angel.

Posted by: Gabriel Leopardi May 14 2019, 04:50 PM

That's a great question Angel!! There is not a real reason why I'm sharing this in G. This is based on the CAGED System, and one of the most important thing is to practice these shapes in all keys. I'm using G as an example, it could be C, C# and any other key. You only need to get familiar with the shapes and you'll be able to transpose this to any key.

Does it make sense?

Posted by: LEO89PRIEST May 29 2019, 01:12 AM

Hi Gabriel,

Thanks for your answer! Yes, it totally makes sense... I was thinking of my available time lately and I realize that I have to be more realistic with it, so I'm updating my free time schedule for you:
- Monday and Tuesday: About an hour each day.
- Wednesday and Thursday: Not available time.
- Friday: About 30 minutes.
- Weekend (Saturday and Sunday): About 2 hours each day

Also, related to this time, I have to tell you that my city, Bogota, has a terrible transportation system so I spend sometimes more than 4 hours on a bus from work to home (2 hours in the morning and another 2 hours on the afternoon) and most of the time, when practice time comes, I'm really tired and the practice session does not have the quality I would like it to have. I'm moving to a place closer to my job, but in the meantime is there any advice you can share with me? Is there maybe a food (natural) that can give me some energy for my practice time? Has this ever happened to you? I mean, this is a little bit frustrating to be honest.

Regarding the technique practice (bends land of legatto and neoclassical for beginners) and improvisation (major scale: shapes, sequences and arpeggios) how do I know when and I'm ready to go to the next level? Should I send you a youtube take for you to see my progress? I mean, I don't want to rush in my learning, just wanted to know how to determine I'm ready to try something harder.

Thanks again Gabriel!

Angel.

Posted by: Gabriel Leopardi May 29 2019, 03:13 PM

Hi mate!

It's good to be realist with your practice time. I understand what you say about transportation, it's very similar here in Argentina and other Latin american countries. I've been in Mexico this year, and it's a big problem as well.

Some ideas that come to mind is to use this time if it's possible. How is your journey? Is it possible to read or do some kind of fingers practice? Can you watch Youtube videos?

- If you can read, I would get some harmony and theory books.
- If you can do some fingers training, I would get something like this: http://www.shredneck.com/
- If you can watch Youtube videos, there is a lot to watch there about guitar playing and theory. I can recommend some vids.


Regarding your progress.. yes! Share vids here so I can monitor your progress and I can give you feedback and suggest new lessons to continue moving forward.

Posted by: LEO89PRIEST May 29 2019, 05:09 PM

Hi Gabriel,

Thanks for your answer! Yes, I could read during lunch time, is there any specific book you can recommend me? Maybe in spanish if possible, otherwise in english. That shredneck looks pretty interesting, I will check if I can buy one
I am subscribed to some guitar lessons youtube channels, lately I've watched some videos from "LoreMaryluGT" and "David Wallimann". Could you recommend me some? Sometimes it happens that there such amount of videos out there that I'm not sure what to watch or what to focus in.

Thanks again Gabriel!

Angel.

Posted by: Gabriel Leopardi May 29 2019, 09:18 PM

Hi mate!

Yes, I recommend you this book in Spanish: https://www.amazon.es/Armon%C3%ADa-Funcional-Claudio-Gabis/dp/B00BNEW3H0

There are other brands that sell products that are similar to Shredneck. Check out what you can get in Colombia.

About Youtube Channels... there are a lot of channels, but Rick Beato has everything you need and more...

Posted by: LEO89PRIEST Jun 3 2019, 12:37 AM

Hi Gabriel!

Thank you very much for your answers! I checked a preview of the book and it looks pretty interesting. I will check the channel as well.

Here are my takes for the Ben Higgins land of legato and Emir Hot's neoclassical solo lessons.

Regarding the legato exercise I'm having trouble shifting positions, also, I feel more comfortable when using my index than when using my ring finger. I tried at two different tempos.

The neoclassical solo I think is decent but there are some errors in there and I'm not totally happy with the tone.

Here are them:







Thanks again!

Angel.

Posted by: Gabriel Leopardi Jun 4 2019, 04:31 PM

Hi mate! Great stuff!

I'll copy all your routines here so we have easy access to them: https://tinyurl.com/y6oulblo


I can see that you are doing a good job with both lessons. It's obvious that you need more days of practice in order to master them. Here I'll give you some tips, comments and ideas for the next days of practice:

- Try to keep your left hand fingers closer to the fretboard. This habit will have very important impact in your overall playing.

- I notice that you are doing too much strength when playing legato. Try to relax your hands and to reduce pressure. Check out this video: https://youtu.be/ixcfVBdsV9I

- When doing vibrato, be sure to start the movement from your wrist and avoid to start it from your fingers. This will help you to make it sounds more consistent. Check out this video: https://youtu.be/JNDyI5b3Fh8

- Identify the most difficult position shifts in land of legato, isolate them and practice as a loop.


What about the improvisation tasks? How are they going?

Posted by: LEO89PRIEST Sep 14 2019, 08:11 PM

Hi Gab,

Wow a lot of time without talking here, I apologize with you for that

I had several problems with my ISP after I moved to my new house, when I told you they were about to install the internet one problem happened and then another and another one... at the end, my internet was installed and ready a few weeks ago.

Then the "Jam with Kris" collab was open and I found it like some kind of challenge for me... so I spent a lot of time working on the solos and understanding Reaper and how to record with my pedal.

But now I'm back to my routine (https://tinyurl.com/y6oulblo), I promise I will be really dedicated with it. I also want to participate in the current collab to jam with you and also go back with the Todd Simpson Shred Bootcamp... a lot of work, but I know is a fun work and a useful one.

Have a nice day dude.

Angel.

Posted by: Gabriel Leopardi Sep 17 2019, 02:17 PM

Hi Angel!! Welcome back mate!!

Great to know that you are connected again, and ready to continue your work here. I'll be waiting for your takes on routine tasks and the collab!

Posted by: LEO89PRIEST Sep 30 2019, 04:07 AM

Hey Gab,

Here is my new try for the Emir Hot's neoclassical solo lesson. I hope this one is a bit better than the last one, sorry for the errors.


I'm also working on the Ben Higgins lesson (Land of legato). I'll be uploading the video very soon, as well as an improvisation using the concepts you sent me (CAGED method).

Angel.

Posted by: Gabriel Leopardi Sep 30 2019, 02:33 PM

Hi Leo! Good job mate!

I can see important improvements in your new take. Your vibrato is getting better and your overall playing starts to sound more consistent. I recommend you to put some more focus to adjust timing, mostly when you do legato and trills where you tend to rush a bit. I'm sure that working on Land of legato will really help with this one, so you have the right routine for now.

Your vibrato now starts correctly, but there is some more room to make it more regular and connected with the backing track. We could add a vibrato lesson to your practice sessions soon, what do you think?

Keep going mate!

Posted by: Gabriel Leopardi Sep 30 2019, 03:24 PM

I just found this lesson that includes many elements that you need to work so it can be good to add it in the near future: https://www.guitarmasterclass.net/ls/Meet-The-Ornaments/

Posted by: LEO89PRIEST Sep 30 2019, 04:13 PM

Hi Gab,

Thanks for your feedback, you are totally right in everything you said. That's right, when I do legato I kind of lost timing, like the reference of the "metronome beat" in my head .

Also, I guess that using Reaper has helped me a lot, whenever I can identify a bit better and precisely my mistakes by listening to an audio recorded directly to the computer and not by using the cellphone, which is still good, but you know, the noise in the environment can alter a bit what you hear, so thanks again for the advice you gave me about Reaper

That lesson about the ornaments seems so cool. Should I start working on it already or do you want me to focus on land of legato and improvisation (CAGED method) lessons first?

Thanks again!

Angel.

Posted by: Gabriel Leopardi Oct 2 2019, 01:34 PM

Let's dedicate one more week to the current stuff and then you can add the new lesson, what do you think?

Posted by: LEO89PRIEST Oct 2 2019, 03:11 PM

Sure Gab, that's perfect

Thanks again.

Angel.

Posted by: Gabriel Leopardi Oct 3 2019, 01:43 PM

Excellent!

Posted by: LEO89PRIEST Oct 12 2019, 09:39 PM

Hey Gab!

I've been working on the improvisation course (From zero to hero) specifically on the CAGED system. I randomly selected a backing track from the web in C major and did an improvisation over it and tried to apply the CAGED system concepts. I apologize for the mistakes throughout the video. I'm attaching the video below:



I found this 5 scale positions pretty interesting, during the impro I thing there are some parts where I hesitate, is like I think on playing one note and in the last second I finish hitting a different one There are some parts where I feel connected and other ones where I feel running out of ideas and thinking I will sound repetitive. I guess I can do it a lot better but I'm really enjoying the process.

I will start working on the G major scale concepts (1 octave patterns, 2 octave patterns, Diatonic Sequences andArpeggio shapes), I will upload a video whenever I feel I understand the concepts and can apply them.

Thanks again Gab,

Have a nice weekend!

Angel.

Posted by: Gabriel Leopardi Oct 15 2019, 05:21 AM

Hi Leo!! This is AWESOME!!

You are doing a great job with the Improvisation course mate. It's normal to find yourself running out of ideas, and that's when we have to get inspiration from our heroes. Go and learn some Major Scale licks and phrases from your favourite guitarists. You can also use GMC lessons for that. Remember Kris Dahl's Your first phrases lesson and apply those concepts.

I recommend you checking some Satriani's or Andy Timmon's songs to get some ideas...

Posted by: LEO89PRIEST Oct 15 2019, 05:18 PM

Hi Gab!

Thank you so much! I'll check Kris' lesson, thanks for the suggestion. Regarding licks and phrases, idk exactly how to ask you, but there's a lot of phrases that I would love to apply on my improvisations, but how do I know:
1) Which lick or phrase matches in a best way an specific part of a backing track? Should I know the harmony, the chord that is sounding?
2) Which licks are majors and which are minors? Do I have to know the key of those songs where I'm taking the licks from? What if those licks are neither minor nor major?

I hope I'm being clear with my quiestions. Thank you very much for your help and precise feedback Gab

Regards,

Angel.

Posted by: Gabriel Leopardi Oct 16 2019, 03:58 PM

You learn to do this by experimenting and practicing. Knowing the chord that is sounding is always helpful but it's a more advanced improvisation technique. By now, you can focus on sounds, notes and rhythm. I think that Kris lesson, as well as the other ones from his Jam School series will really help you with this.




Yes, you have to know the key of the song. For example, that song by Satriani is in B major, so all those licks are in Major scale.