Five Hundred Days Plan, Gloria victoribus! Vea victis... |
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Aug 7 2015, 11:40 AM
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The five hundred days plan Greetings again venerable GMC members. Over a year ago, I reached the “tone guru” level on REC, and was very happy about that (and rightfully so!  ). I thought that I am bit too focused on numbers, REC titles and other stuff that is more related to my ego than to music, so I tried to work with Gabriel on composing/recording and also tried to learn a bigger number of easier lessons, to improve my taste more than my technique. The plan didn’t work too well, mainly because I got too distracted by my real life, work and also my practice was “underfocused” – instead of one hour of 100% focused guitar + metronome practice, I tried to practice three hours, watching twitch.tv at the same time. I knew that it was a bad idea, because of common sense, Zen Guitar book and Ben + Cosmin sharing much wise advices at the time, but somehow still tried to go that way  Thankfully I abandoned those wrong ways, and now my practice is better. I will turn 29 years old this December, so by the end of next year, 500 hundred days from today I’ll hit the 30 years mark, which feels very bad, I still feel like a spoiled kid, but it turns out I’m getting old  I want to achieve more before that happens. Times of being a lazy git must end!  That is why I decided that instead of fighting my desire of a website titles, I will cherish it and suck as much motivation out of it as possible. I formulated a simple plan, choosing a number of lessons that I want to learn, record and pass on REC, that will bring me higher REC titles, which I can treat as a worthy achievement and proof of my improvement as a guitar player. It is ambitious, but the one thing that GMC taught me well, is that patience and discipline will yield results. If something looks impossible, turn on the metronome, set the speed to “turtle” and begin. After some time impossible will be possible. I’m not sure how to proceed with the plan, because there are some lessons/techniques that I want to work with, such as whammy bar (never used one before, but my new guitar has it, so I should develop my skills in this department) and wah pedal. I avoided lessons with stuff that is totally alien to me, because I would have no hope of learning them in a acceptable amount of time (considering that it is somehow a race with time….) First part of the plan is to reach Guitar Hero level, which I aim to complete by the end of this year. Maybe it is too much, because there’s less than half a year before new year, but that way the second half of the plan will seem more doable and put less pressure on me. Second part is of course reaching the Guitar Lord level, which I’ll try to achieve by recording level nine lessons, maybe throwing in a level 10 lesson. I am having a hard time believing myself what I am writing, but I guess if I can learn the level 9 lessons that I’ll list under, there is no reason to think level 10 will be beyond me… I think that I will practice one lesson at a time, everything should work best that way, unless progress won’t be too slow, than problems can arise, as “creative juices” are in danger if one thing is practiced for too long. I want to share my progress with everyone on this topic, treating a bit like a “blog”. PS: this plan would never be born if not for the members and instructors here on GMC, that are my greatest guitar inspiration since the first day I signed, many years ago. So thanks everyone for being here  Plan of the Guitar Hero First lesson was already submitted, and passed REC. This was one of my all time favorites https://www.guitarmasterclass.net/ls/i_want...ay_in_megadeth/ Second was submitted not so long ago. It is another Gabriel lesson, consisting a bit of everything, rhythm, sweeps, picking and even tapping https://www.guitarmasterclass.net/ls/Testam...-Guitar-Lesson/ That leaves me with three more lessons to fulfill my 2015 idea, so these are the three choices for now: This one was on my mind for years, and I feel that I’ll be able to learn it now, will feel like a miracle ! https://www.guitarmasterclass.net/ls/Ozzy-Z...de-Miracle-Man/ If progress with Miracle Man won’t be fast enough, I may try to learn this in order to prepare myself for Miracle Man https://www.guitarmasterclass.net/ls/Killer...kk-Wylde-Style/ Two more choices, the insane one and the easier one: I’m not sure if my brain will process this one, but I have to try! If not I will find an easier replacement:P https://www.guitarmasterclass.net/ls/Metalcore-Chops-2/ This one I include, because it was a while since the last time I recorded a full rhythm lesson, and I don’t want to forget how to riff \m/ https://www.guitarmasterclass.net/rhythm-gu...-rhythm-lesson/ Plan of the Guitar Lord First to fall shall be the alternate picking + tapping + sweeping + rhythm mayhem https://www.guitarmasterclass.net/ls/Chris-...llitteri-Style/ To release the Yngwie inside of me, this Emir piece shall be practiced, although the sweeps do look difficult https://www.guitarmasterclass.net/ls/yngwie...een_style_solo/ This one has both vibrato and super fast lick, so fun fun fun  https://www.guitarmasterclass.net/ls/John-Sykes-Style/ Some more Gabriel and some more ass kicking face melting https://www.guitarmasterclass.net/ls/Power-...ng-Timo-Tolkki/ Zsolt was one of the GMC powerhouses for a long time, and also made a lesson about one of my favorite Megadeth solos https://www.guitarmasterclass.net/ls/Megade...-The-Cure-solo/ I think this one can help my brain become more familiar with deliberate change of speed through a solo https://www.guitarmasterclass.net/ls/mixing...ngs_in_soloing/ Plan of the Guitar God – lessons suitable to replace one of the Guitar Lord ones… I have no idea how difficult will this one be, but maybe with patient practice, this will be doable… https://www.guitarmasterclass.net/ls/Michae...lo-Batio-Style/ Being a long shoot, mastering this lesson would bring me closer to reaching the Guitar itself! https://www.guitarmasterclass.net/ls/Need-for-Speed/ There can be no plan that omits Gabriel in it, so prepare to unleash some Zombie minions! https://www.guitarmasterclass.net/ls/John-5-Style-Lesson/ Warming up shall be combined with previously learned lessons, so I won’t forget the stuff I learned. Slowly playing the licks from previous lessons, in different neck positions is my current idea. I don’t have any structure for composition/improvisation practice, this won’t be the main focus of this plan, so I don’t know how to cope with that… I know I could use help with planning my practice regime, it is something I have a problem with. Mainly because I feel that when you have little time, for example 1,5 hour to practice, if I split it into warm up, lesson practice, improvisation and theory, than the progress in the lesson/REC department will be SLOW, after all, how much can you improve in 30 minutes? :/ It already takes a long time to learn and record a lesson, and now 90% of my practice time is “lesson grind’. Please share your thoughts and tips, I need your help guitar brothers and sisters. I know my plan is on the ambitious side, but “if we aim at the stars, in the case of failure we can at least touch the sky “ Just listen to Arnold motivation speech, get into the choopa and roll! |
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Aug 7 2015, 12:42 PM
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Go for it, man - you've got the potential!
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Aug 10 2015, 07:12 PM
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Wou! This is really cool mate!!
You have showed here that you have passion and discipline so I know that you are the one for this plan! The overall plan looks very good and inspiring so you have my thumbs up with this one, as well as my help, feedback and comments every time you need it. This is a very long program so keeping motivated is fundamental to keep it happening. I wish you all the best with this program. Please keep us updated on this thread about your progress. -------------------- My lessons
Do you need a Guitar Plan? Join Gab's Army Check my band:Cirse Check my soundcloud:Soundcloud Please subscribe to my:Youtube Channel |
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Aug 10 2015, 08:27 PM
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I wish you all the best with your plans Marek. I'm interested in hearing what advice is given, I too only get 1.5 hours to practise and sometimes life steals it from me
 I'm sure you will succeed, think "Arnie", pure inspiration. Go for it! -------------------- SEE MY GMC CERTIFICATE  “Success is not obtained overnight. It comes in instalments; you get a little bit today, a little bit tomorrow until the whole package is given out. The day you procrastinate, you lose that day's success.” Israelmore Ayivor |
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May 2 2016, 09:51 AM
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Hello everyone. I just want to share my sad "news"...
I've been practising diligently since the start of this thread, and could almost play the awesome llitteri-Style lesson For the last 3 months I also started practising historical saber fencing, and it turned out that the strain I've put on my fingers was too much. I don't know if the blame should be put on practising too fast/difficult guitar lessons for too long, or on saber trainings, where you must tightly grip the weapon for long periods of time. After few consecutive days of intense guitar playing and fencing I "developed" this ugly thing - Trigger finger At first I thought that a week off will help, but after 3 weeks of it "growing" instead of going away I went to a doctor. He said that it shouldn't be a big problem and prescribed 10 rehabilitation session. I am after 4 of them and not sure if they are helping or not... I was aware that I may not be able to achieve what I planned in this thread, but felt that reaching lvl 9 or at least recording few lvl 9 lessons was possible. Now I am unsure what will happen with my playing and also even if my fingers start to work properly again, I suspect I will be anxious to push my limits in the former way  I really wanted to share some progress with you all, always postponed posting stuff here for the moment when I could share a recording, but considering the current situation  Guess I will look for trigger-finger topics on GMC forum now, maybe there are some tips how to help myself. PS: the problem is for the two weak fingers of my left hand, the small finger and the fourth finger. I still can move them, and have hope that they will be treated sooner or later. Just saying that, because the wiki photos and description look and sound more dire that I think (hope) than it is... This post has been edited by Marek Rojewski: May 2 2016, 09:58 AM |
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May 2 2016, 12:14 PM
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QUOTE (Marek Rojewski @ May 2 2016, 08:51 AM)  Hello everyone. I just want to share my sad "news"... I've been practising diligently since the start of this thread, and could almost play the awesome llitteri-Style lesson For the last 3 months I also started practising historical saber fencing, and it turned out that the strain I've put on my fingers was too much. I don't know if the blame should be put on practising too fast/difficult guitar lessons for too long, or on saber trainings, where you must tightly grip the weapon for long periods of time. After few consecutive days of intense guitar playing and fencing I "developed" this ugly thing - Trigger finger At first I thought that a week off will help, but after 3 weeks of it "growing" instead of going away I went to a doctor. He said that it shouldn't be a big problem and prescribed 10 rehabilitation session. I am after 4 of them and not sure if they are helping or not... I was aware that I may not be able to achieve what I planned in this thread, but felt that reaching lvl 9 or at least recording few lvl 9 lessons was possible. Now I am unsure what will happen with my playing and also even if my fingers start to work properly again, I suspect I will be anxious to push my limits in the former way I really wanted to share some progress with you all, always postponed posting stuff here for the moment when I could share a recording, but considering the current situation Guess I will look for trigger-finger topics on GMC forum now, maybe there are some tips how to help myself. PS: the problem is for the two weak fingers of my left hand, the small finger and the fourth finger. I still can move them, and have hope that they will be treated sooner or later. Just saying that, because the wiki photos and description look and sound more dire that I think (hope) than it is... Damn!!!! I'm really sorry to hear this, Marek...... Since it arrived, have you ceased or reduced the activities of guitar and/ or fencing? Reducing only one of those might not have made a difference if the other one continues to aggravate the injury. It would be interesting to know if any of the other fencers have experienced the issue. If not, then it could be a combination of intense guitar work which was not helped by the extra use of those digits. Instead of the digits getting rest to strengthen and repair, they're getting used even more. Even if you had not started fencing, it sounds like you could have been doing too much intense guitar practise possibly. Annoying as it is, time away from those activities seems to be the only logical solution until it heals. You won't lose as much progress as you think and it's worth it for the health of your hand. |
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May 2 2016, 09:29 PM
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Hi Marek,
I'm so sorry of knowing this mate. I have no experience with trigger finger, but unfortunately I think that the only way to avoid making this worse is stopping your practice and doing that treatment that the professionals suggested. Here I've found an interesting site about it: http://www.eatonhand.com/hw/hw022.htm I hope that you get better soon mate. -------------------- My lessons
Do you need a Guitar Plan? Join Gab's Army Check my band:Cirse Check my soundcloud:Soundcloud Please subscribe to my:Youtube Channel |
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But no matter, the Guitar Hero level has been reached and now the way to Guitar Lord is open! We shall see if I can make the second half of the plan work with 10 weeks of time to go \m/
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Oct 8 2016, 12:48 PM
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By all means share your new found skills in the SUNDAY SHRED CHALLENGE!
I'd love to hear how far you've come!!! !!! SUNDAY SHRED FEST X-21 !!!! *New in this weeks video, I"m not playing. Instead, I'll put the two scale tablatures we are using and you can practice using the video  Direct Link to this Challenge : http://bit.ly/sundayshredfestx21 QUOTE (Marek Rojewski @ Oct 7 2016, 04:54 AM) Thanks for your kind words and ongoing support Monica! Your development is also an example and inspiration for me, so reading your comments is a great pleasure and motivates me to go on
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