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Posted by: Jose Mena Feb 12 2009, 05:47 AM

It was a long time ago I started this, not everyone that signed up uploaded their takes, and I waited wanting everyone that signed up to be in it. For those that made it here are the comments. My intent here is to help you improve your playing, and tell you what I think you should work on, or what I liked about your take.

Some of the ideas were very interesting, I learned a lot listening to your takes, and now that I have analyzed them, I feel I can make a kick ass solo, using ideas from each of you, maybe an upload or a lesson for the future, giving credit to each member for the contribution.

Here are the comments:

Organized Confusion

Liked the way you started the solo, seems like you used the whammy bar you have good taste for guitar tone, I really liked it. however nice use of delay, although I wantes a completely dry take to add delay myself, but you had a nice tasteful amount of delay that didn't bother me at all when mixing. Only thing that popped out was the A# note you played when bending at 0:22 you should have done a whole tone bend to A, A# belongs to A phyrgian and not a suitable scale for this progression. Then you end up with crazy noises ala Steve Vai this is an interesting approach to guitar playing that definitely can be explored, and can add a lot of expression. I don't know if at the end you tried to do a chromatic run or you simply were sliding your finger, it sounds more like the second, if the intent was a chromatic run, you should work on your alternate picking to achieve the desired effect (I only say this because it seems that you told me that you tried to do a chromatic run here).
I'd be happy to help you if you post a video of what you did and if I see anything you should correct. Overall good effort.

Marc Maiden

You have spend time developing your technique, clear and accurate picking, at around 1:03 you start a nice idea, of some kind repetitive pattern what goes up in pitch every time you play it, great idea, doing such things makes the listener kind of guess what is coming next, making the solo enjoyable. Good work.

Berko

You explored a few other scales rather than A pentatonic minor, which is something I wanted to hear in this collab, you play you play the minor scale with a sharp 6th which makes it dorian, this sounds nice and adds different color to the solo. At 1:32 your tone changes, I guess you punched in and it doesn't feel like the same person playing, it is OK to redo the parts you didn't but when doing it you want to make sure your tone is the same or that it sounds like a natural transition. At 1:43 you star play a few notes that seem out of place, I guess you were thinking on what to do next, that is OK, but since you were punch recording you probably could have edited those as well.

Dexxter

One of my favorite takes, you start simple and then you move on to very memorable phrases starting at 2:26, the pentatonic run followed ending in a chord and then the pull offs on the A string were brilliant, makes me thinking of redoing my solo. You also played the #6 (dorian), and played a major 3rd momentarily, would have liked to hear some more of that stuff, but you did OK. Nice Take

Enforcer

Nice way to start, very typical in this type of music, your vibrato sounds a little crazy, I am guessing you used the whammy bar here. Wouldn't have expected a sweep picking arpeggio here, you inserted it nicely. I would work a little on the vibrato, for my taste it is a little wild, but hey guitar playing is about experimenting and creating your own sound.

Oxac

You also explored with the major third, which is something I wanted to hear in this collab. I can hear Paul Gilbert influenced runs towards the end at around 4:01, you definitely have been exploring this style and have accomplished a great deal, you are almost of to shred. Nice take. Keep it up

Bluesrock

Nice way to start with the silences in between the first phrases, you kept it simple technique wise and didn't mess with other scales other than A minor, and seems I almost heard the #6, but if you played it, it was brief and almost unnoticeable, the bends at 5:19 seem a little weird. Overall I want to tell you that it is a good approach to play it safe, but here we are learning and feel free to try different things on these collabs.

Supersize

I liked the way you star with emphasis on the major second, I use that not a lot as well, it creates tension and sometimes has to be used carefully, doesn't always work, you did nice here. It seems you picked A minor for the whole solo, the use of 6th sounds a little weird, this is another note that has to be used carefully. The idea you start at 5:10 was very nice, I would have elaborated more on that, nice take, keep rockin.


Crazyfret

Liked the starting lick, your solo take was funny, you made reference to the tune they play at horse races, at least it sounds like that to me, if this was the intention with this A major arpeggio let me tell you this is a good idea when soloing because it makes people recognize the melody and it is ear catching.

Posted by: UncleSkillet Feb 12 2009, 06:03 AM

Nice job everyone!

Straight ahead blues collab. Sorry I missed it.

Nice backing track bro!

Posted by: Crazyfret Feb 12 2009, 10:11 AM

Hey Jose thanks for the comments.

I'm glad you saw the humour in my take especially the A major arpeggio it sort of fell out when I was jamming to the backing .

I may have over done it by repeating it but I found it funny too so it kind of stuck

I'm looking forward to the lesson to see your take.

Posted by: OrganisedConfusion Feb 12 2009, 11:36 AM

Thanks for the comments Jose. I was trying to make it sound like a chromatic run up and down but I can't pick anywhere near that speed. Not even half that speed I doubt as I'm rubbish. Hence the more sliding my finger down a string whilst picking all the notes I pass. I've given up learning guitar properly and just do what I can manage.

Posted by: Jose Mena Feb 12 2009, 02:29 PM

The lesson about this was posted long ago, but I feel liking doing a new solo based on the ideas you and the other participants gave me.



Hey OC, the tempo of the backing is 140 bpm, speed picking at this tempo would require 16th triplets, very fast, 16th notes don't sound fast enough, so it is a difficult tempo to shred on, solution is groups of 5, but very hard to do timing wise, so don't beat yourself up. If you are willing to post a video of what you did, I'll be happy to post a video reply explaining what I see.

cheers

Posted by: OrganisedConfusion Feb 12 2009, 02:47 PM

My take was completely improvised. I don't particularly remember what I did. I can probably record that bit doing something similar but I doubt I could do it the same.

Posted by: Dexxter Feb 13 2009, 02:23 PM

Thanks for the comments, Jose! Looking forward hearing your new solo, if you record a new one

Posted by: enforcer Feb 13 2009, 03:34 PM

Thank you Jose, I am working on problems you mentioned.

Very good collab, looking forward to you next one...

Posted by: Oxac Feb 13 2009, 03:51 PM

Thanks for the comments Jose. I'm hoping to participate in your next one

Posted by: Jose Mena Feb 13 2009, 11:30 PM

You are welcome, maybe it will be a new solo lesson with the same backing track, have to put my ideas together, asi I would grab something from each of you.


Not really problems enforcer, just personal preference as far as the vibrato.


You are welcome Oxac, so where those PG licks?

Posted by: Oxac Feb 13 2009, 11:36 PM

Dunno, you tell me

I improvised that stuff.

Posted by: Jose Mena Feb 16 2009, 04:25 PM

Well, there were a few in there than sounded like the Paul Gilbert legato-alternate combined licks.

Posted by: Marc_Maiden Feb 17 2009, 09:54 PM

thanks!


i totaly forgot about this one hahahaa