Collaboration - Satriani Style Groove, FINAL MIX AND COMMENTS Options

[Emir Hot]

Hi guys

Sorry for the delay. My mom came to London to see me so I am busy with her everyday

I am very happy with what you guys played here. This one almost has no wrong notes It is very nice to hear such progress and every time you're doing better and better. I enjoyed mixing and listening to this one. Again many of you had stereo takes with effects included. Some of that was ok but for some I couldn't do much about the sound because the amount of effects included was huge. You should really avoid sending that stuff for mixing as mixing has no point with such recordings.

There were 14 participants and these are the comments:

(I will post every next one as I am finishing writting)

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Artemus (0:00 - 0:39)

You are a very skilled and talented player. This take is full of useful Satriani style licks. Your tone was really good and well defined. Sounds like there is a bit of wah included in your preset but I couldn't be 100% sure. I could hear that you have a pretty good control and your playing sounds very confident. The first part is really good and nicely balanced, not overplayed. The scale and note choice is also in Satriani style with no single wrong note. That's very good to hear. The whammy scream on 0:23 should have lasted longer to overlap the next part and then you can mix them together. I always say that the take doesn't need to be recorded all at once. You can use step recording, everyone does it, even Satriani The artificial harmonic lick 0:32 - 0:34 was a bit sloppy. You need to hamer on and pull off much faster in order to get it right. The tapping after that was very good and effective. You needed just 10-15% more concentration overall and this solo could have been top notch. I liked your vibrato, very powerful and well controled. I enjoyed listening to this one. Very well done and I hope you'll be back again to play some more stuff with us.

Dexxter (0:40 - 1:17)

This take has some great ideas for the solo. Very good way of building tension with a great solo structure overall. The first part was awesome with the opening pentatonic scale. After that you used whamy bar quite a lot but always with a careful approach and a very good control. The middle part was well defined and your note choice made it stand out a bit announcing the next section. I have always told everybody when something new is coming you need to play something different and make the border between different sections. You did a great job with this task. The closing scale was also very good with the last very powerful note - straight into your face I like those surprises, sounds really rock. The only thing I would suggest is that your tone could be just a bit brighter and less middle frequencies so it would stand out sharper and be more in Satriani style. However there is an amount of wah present and it made it sound really interesting. Well done Dexxter.


Chris Evans (1:17 - 1:54)

Very nice opening line Chris. Great theme altered with some variations in between. Typican Satriani approach and always works great. I like your scales and fast runs. Very confident and expressive playing. I like how you made a whole song out of these 35 sec. Theme, then theme with variations, then solo , theme again and nice ending. That's nearly a structure of a full song and you managed to made it all in just 35 sec. That's a very good thinking. There were some great spicey rock licks useful for everyone to borrow like this one (1:33 - 1:38). After that you played some great arpeggios and went back to theme. Everything about this solo is really great. I enjoyed listening. I was trying to find the weak points and there was almost none. Nothing that bad worth mentioning. Your sound had a great and defined color for an instrumental track. Well done Chris and come back have some more fun with us next time

Enforcer (1:54 - 2:31)

What happened man? After a great take last time now you hardly controled one line from begining until the end. You told me you weren't feeling well so I promissed I will be careful with the comment There were some great ideas but they would make sense if you only played them properly. Every of your tremolo lick didn't have a good control and you were vibrating to hard which produced many out of tune notes. You didn't have enough sustain to make all your long notes last long enough, especially natural harmonics. (1:55-1:56) one was really weak. Sounds like every lick you start great and with a nice emotions but you never finish properly. That little tapping started great but something weird happened towards the end. Wrong note plus undefined finish. I am sure you can play million times better than this. All your ideas are good but the playing this time didn't impress me. Please make me happy next time and spend some more time recording until you get it right. I have heard before that you can do it and I am looking forward to it. Thanks for joining anyway.

Gilmore (2:32 - 3:08)

Gilmore, you are a very talented player. You have a very good control and a stong expressive playing. The opening lick sounded a bit rockabilly style but that made it very interesting as I wasn't expecting those licks in Satriani style track. You went for both A minor and E minor scales. It would have been better if you went for E mixolydian but that's my personal preference. Even for the minor scale I would prefer Dorian instead of Aeolian. Your rock licks sounded vey powerful and also your vibrato is pretty well defined and consistent in this take. I heard some tremolo bar touches with natural harmonics. That's a well known Satriani type of playing where you never expect it. I liked the moments where you chose to go for it. Overall this is a very nice take and I think it could have been even better if you went for more interesting scale choices but this still sounds pretty acceptable and nicely structured. Well done.

JamesT (3:09 - 3:46)

Very nice take James. Clever developed melodies and tight execution. The intro was a great idea to start with a longer notes but I wasn't 100% happy with the vibrato. It was a bit shaky and nearly a couple out of tune notes, just on the edge. You also used both A and E natural minors most of the time instead of going for Dorian or just pure pentatonics. The same I told to Gilmore. This way it still works but it would be more in Satriani style if you went for some dorian and E mixolydian notes. Everything else was really nice. The middle section was good. After that you had some fast legato runs that were not 100% defined but nearly there. I liked the way you structured all this together. Nice balance between different parts and not overplayed. You have it all in your mind but it needs just 20% more practicing to work it all out perfectly and then press recording. I hope some of these tips will be of help. Well done for this take and of course you're always welcome to collaborate.

lcsdds (3:46 - 4:23)

What to say Monte Always great takes from you. I have seen the video you posted and it all looks and sounds awesome. You went for great scale choices and really sounds Satriani. Long notes at (3:52-3:56) were not controled 100% so it nearly went out of tune sometimes. If you are vibrating with tremolo bar you need to be careful as that thing is very sensitive. The kind of main theme you made sounded really cool. That's how pro guys do it. Develop something memorable and make variations arround it. Your taping was great all the way as always. You suggested this backing so I wasn't expecting anything else than great. You really sounded comfortable playing over this progression and rhythm. Always nice to have you in these collabs as your takes really make all the collabs higer level overall. Well done.

kaznie_NL (4:24 - 5:00)

This take was really good but sadly your tone wasn't good enough. I can tell you that you progressed a lot since I first heard your playing last year. I told you today in chat about the tone. You left a huge amount of reverb and I wasn't able to do anything with your sound. If I added anything on top of that I would have made it even worse. That's why I always request dry signal (distortion can be included) so I can find nice place in the mix for each take. I didn't make your volume too loud so that your reverb doesn't stand out that much. Please switch off all external effects from your pedals or anything else. If you want to hear some effect while recording you can put it on "insert" in you DAW and switch off when exporting the track. Apart from that I liked what you played. There were some intervalic jumps and a couple of nice rock licks. Scales were all good and your feel was kind of bluesy which I liked. You are getting better and better. Every time I can hear that you have a better control and you are obviously becoming stonger and more confident player. This is a great thing to notice and I see a bright future in front of you as a guitarist. Well done Kaznie and keep on practicing.

Berko (5:01 - 5:38)

Nice opening Berko. Very good floyd rose control in the first part. I would just advise a bit more work on licks development. They all have name but surname is never fully written I hope you can understand my way of telling phrases The middle part was a great idea but your picking needs to be cleaner. Work more on alternate picking and make the pattern with some more logic. It sounded a bit too repetitive and not very defined. I liked the idea though. After that everything was great. Well balanced licks and note choice for the last part with a nice finish. Overall very interesting take. Not very "expensive" but does the job. Your tone was really good and that made it a bit more "expensive" Good work Berko.

matt23 (5:38 - 6:15)

This is a very well developed and well structured take. Almost like a whole song in just 35 seconds. The same I told to Chris Evans. Nice theme with some variations then solo and theme again. All your notes were carefuly chosen and I like all of your ideas what you did with those notes. The middle part started great but that tapping needs to be a bit stronger. Some notes were not coming out. I am not sure if you tapped with the pick or the finger. Tapping with pick is more Satriani way of doing it and I think it is a bit easier for that fast tapped run. The last part was also very good. Still needs 20% to be perfect. A couple of sloppy notes here and there (the very last lick) but it has a passing mark The tone could be just a tiny bit brighter (more treble) and it would sound better. I'll copy the sentence from Artemus's comment which is exactly what I would say to you - "You needed just 10-15% more concentration overall and this solo could have been top notch". Well done Matt.

Superize (6:15 - 6:52)

Great opening theme Superize. Sounds much like Surfing With the Alien The whole first part was developed in an awesome way. I have to be honest and say that I was expecting something more complex in ihe middle part than just 2 repetitive lines in 8th notes. Even those 8th notes were not played very tight. Sounds like an exercise in a warm up speed. The middle part should be explosion of the licks in your solo but you'll get there as your compositional skills get stronger. I am not saying it sounded bad but the first part gave impression of some great playing so I was expecting even more than that in the middle part. The last part wasn't anything special but all the notes were correct so you passed this one as well I have to say that you did a good job because you really did but I am sure if you listen carefuly you would notice all these things and do even a better job. Anyway, well done.

Sergio Dorado (6:53 - 7:30)

Sergio this is another amazing take. Every time you play in my collabs I am always more and more impressed. This take is awesome. I have a couple of things to say but we'll get there. I'll start from your tone. This is again the best tone in the collab. You had the best tone in the previous collab as well. Frequencies, amount of drive and sustain are all perfect. This can be a great example for everybody strugling with tone how to make a good preset. It would be really useful if you tell us what you use. Now about the take. The opening line is something which would make even Satriani wonder how you came up with such beautiful lines. There were some prebended notes and all of them with a great and precise control. Your fast runs were not 100% tight especialy the one at (7:09 - 7:14). That's the only thing I noticed as the weakest point but it needs just 10% more control and it would sound perfect. The last part was also awesome. I recognised Surfing With the Alien lick at (7:25 - 7:26) and it made me smile. Great spot for that lick. I have nothing else to say but everything great about your playing. Well done and always pleasure to hear your playing.

Tolek (7:30 - 8:08)

Awesome ideas Tolek. Tone is great with a touch of wah. Your control is also on a pro level. The opening part had so many useful licks to borrow. Lick with octaves was really nice. Modes were all correct and everything was great about the note choice. Some faster licks could have been a bit tighter but you managed to escape any dangerous situation The middle part sounded just like Satriani played it. Well done for that great piece of music. The last part started great but towards the end sounds like you didn't know how to finish so I heard something randomly played. Sounds like you couldn't wait for the finish and ended a bit undefined or unfinished. You need to keep good control all the way and when you tell the story and give the conclusion you need to say "THE END", no more stories I hope you understand my point but anyway I am more that happy with what you delivered in this take. You're an awesome and very talented player. Well done.

UncleSkillet (8:08 - 8:45)

Great playing uncle. That scale that you always use to start the phrase was a great idea. That scale could have been executed tighter every time. Sometimes it sounds stronger and sometimes weaker. All other notes were great. The middle part was awesome. Something very refreshing, escaping from the theme A and announcing something different. The last part was nicely structured but the playing was a bit sloppy. If you could just get this one tighter this solo would have been awesome. Even like this it sounds really good but I always want more because I know what kind of player you are and I am sure you can do that. I am just talking about your control. You always need to know where your lick is going to end before you start playing it. If you start getting lost half way in the lick then your ending is never going to sound tight. I had this problem long ago and still sometimes have when improvise but way better than 6-7 years ago. I know you will get there but keep this in mind, it might help you realise what you should be aware of. You're an awesome musician and I have always liked your playing. Thanks for joining the collab and come back again

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This post has been edited by Emir Hot: May 4 2009, 12:26 AM