Printable Version of Topic
Click here to view this topic in its original format
GMC Forum _ Gabriel Leopardi _ Madfish's Thread
Posted by: Gabriel Leopardi Jun 14 2019, 03:52 PM
Hi Madfish! 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: Madfish Jun 14 2019, 06:47 PM
Hi Gabe!
- I've been playing guitar for about 7 years. However it's just last two years when I started practicing more seriously. Before it wasn't very regular.
- I don't think I have a favorite. It's lots of different stuff. To name the few: Slash, Petrucci, Andy Timmons, Ten Years After, Deep Purple, Animals As Leaders, Testament, Black Stone Cherry, Al Di Meola, RATM ...
- My general goal is just to have fun playing guitar. I have no ambition to become a professional musician at any point (I'm too old for that already 
). I want to be comfortable with improvisation to join jam sessions. I'd also like to grow my composition skills.
- I can devote about an hour a day for practice
- Live experience? Only once. I played November Rain outro at my own wedding
- Strong areas - I think my alternate picking is quite OK. Legato and music theory as well. Weak areas - vibrato. Whenever I play over a backing track I mostly go by the ear. Even though I understand the theory behind it, I lack when it comes to live application.
- All the theory basics. Scales, modes, chord construction, basic progressions. I also started digging into jazz a bit lately - concepts like secondary dominant, altered scales, triton substitution.
- Sure, I can record myself.
- Some videos:
A composition of my own:
https://soundcloud.com/adampolomski/margaerita
Posted by: Gabriel Leopardi Jun 14 2019, 11:22 PM
Great stuff Madfish!! 
Everything sounds good here. I like your composition and your take for the collab is very cool. My question is what are you expecting from the mentoring program. Do you need any guitar routines, lesson suggestions? Some structure? Would you like to share your improvisations here so I can give you some feedback?
Posted by: Madfish Jun 15 2019, 04:29 PM
Thanks for your kind words Gabe 😁. O tend to be rather critical about my own playing.
I'd be very grateful if you gave me some general directions where to go next. Whatever you see as weak spot in my playing. A specific lesson would work just fine.
Sure, I'll record myself improvising and share something whenever I find a while.
Posted by: Gabriel Leopardi Jun 16 2019, 09:31 PM
Ok! That sounds good. Let me start with some first thoughts that come to me based on the videos that you've shared:
- You have a very good base, sense of melody, rhythm, and you are able so play some nice fast licks that combine picking with legato.
- I feel that your overall playing could move to a new level if you put your focus on improving dynamics, vibrato and bending. There is more room to make these elements sound more convincing.
- I think that your tone needs work and that improving it, will help improving the previous elements listed. I think that your style of phrasing deserves a more convincing tone, warmer, fatter, closer to the type of sound that guitarists like Andy Timmons, John Petrucci, Slash, and others have. It doesn't mean that you need to copy them, but it would be good to try to emulate some of these tones at first. Using some reverb or delay would be also a second step, before improving your tone. Let's work on it!
- Blues Improvisation: Your blues phrasing is not bad, but you can continue working on this by adding more concepts to your playing to follow the chords, and get more "colours". Adding Major Pentatonics, Dominant Arpeggios and triads, Dorian and Mixolydian modes can help.
- More rhythm experimentation in your phrasing is a good idea.
Let me know what you think!
Posted by: Madfish Jun 18 2019, 03:09 PM
I think all that makes a lot of sense. My tone needs work and I'm well aware of it. Same goes for bends and vibrato! Where would you suggest to start?
Here is my short take on improvising over Wicked Games backing track. I made some changes to my tone as well. It's just a very basic chain with JCM800 - 4x12 miced with SM7 followed by delay and reverb. Is that a step in the right direction?
Posted by: Gabriel Leopardi Jun 18 2019, 04:22 PM
Good! I think that going for a simpler set up is the way to go. I would start by lowering drive on this tone to see if you can get a cleaner tone that provides more dynamics potential. This will also make you put more effort in your vibrato to get the right sustain.
I recommend you to work on one or both of these lessons:
https://www.guitarmasterclass.net/ls/The_tasty_etude/
https://www.guitarmasterclass.net/ls/Kenny-Wayne-Shepherd-Phrasing/
- Learn the licks.
- Work on trying to get a closer tone.
- Practice and record your own improvisations over these backings.
Posted by: Madfish Jun 19 2019, 10:59 AM
I recommend you to work on one or both of these lessons:
https://www.guitarmasterclass.net/ls/The_tasty_etude/
https://www.guitarmasterclass.net/ls/Kenny-Wayne-Shepherd-Phrasing/
- Learn the licks.
- Work on trying to get a closer tone.
- Practice and record your own improvisations over these backings.
I really enjoy the Kenny Wayne Shepherd style lesson. I'll spend some time on this one first.
Regarding the tone - I can't really get close to SRV without the single coil. The best I could do is using the split coil on my neck pickup and a Fender Champ emulation. Is that any good?
Posted by: Gabriel Leopardi Jun 20 2019, 09:51 PM
Hi mate! That tone is a lot better!! Well done. It still can be improved but it's awesome to see how much enjoyable is your playing with this type of sound.
Keep on the good job!!
Posted by: Madfish Jun 25 2019, 11:35 AM
Here is my first take on this. I'd love to hear your comments. There are some timing issues with the last lick. I'll work on this with the metronome.
I'm not at all happy with the tone. It's probably a step in the wrong direction It's a bit too dark and hairy for my taste. I'm still experimenting here.
Posted by: Madfish Jun 25 2019, 06:32 PM
Another take with a different tone (a tad brighter):
Posted by: Madfish Jun 26 2019, 11:55 AM
I think I'm getting much better results with a treble booster in front of my amp:
Posted by: Gabriel Leopardi Jun 26 2019, 04:26 PM
Hi Madfish!
Your playing is better from take to take. You can play all the licks at tempo with the right timing. I only think that there is room to work on expression elements like dynamics and vibrato, but this also depends on your guitar tone. I still think that you can continue improving it.
I think that the third take has the best sound. As your guitar is a bit loud, I think that it doesn't connect well with the backing track. I would try putting it a bit quieter and with a bit less treble or presence. Do you have your guitar and backing in a DAW?
Posted by: Madfish Jun 26 2019, 05:23 PM
Your playing is better from take to take. You can play all the licks at tempo with the right timing. I only think that there is room to work on expression elements like dynamics and vibrato, but this also depends on your guitar tone. I still think that you can continue improving it.
I think that the third take has the best sound. As your guitar is a bit loud, I think that it doesn't connect well with the backing track. I would try putting it a bit quieter and with a bit less treble or presence. Do you have your guitar and backing in a DAW?
Yeah, I made a DAW project out of it. I can tweak it easily.
I reduced the guitar track volume a bit, cut some treble and presence. Is it any better like this?
https://soundcloud.com/adampolomski/kenny-wayne-shepherd-phrasing
Posted by: Gabriel Leopardi Jun 27 2019, 02:18 PM
I still think that your tone is not tasty here. There is something in high frequencies that makes me think that this is a direct line take, not in a good sense. Have you tried with another amp emulation? What are you exactly using?
Compare your take with the original A/B and you'll hear what I mean.
Posted by: Madfish Jun 28 2019, 01:27 PM
Compare your take with the original A/B and you'll hear what I mean.
Yeah, I hear you.
I'm using Overloud TH-U, Fender Champ rig profiled by Slate Digital. You can hear it (among 2 other amps) here:
Maybe this will work better. It's a crunch channel of Fender Blues Deluxe + a bit of delay and reverb. I've set it so that it breaks up only if I hit the strings harder. How is that?
Posted by: Gabriel Leopardi Jun 28 2019, 02:16 PM
That video is impressive! The comparison is killer.
The new tone sounds a lot better! Work on your ambiece effects (reverb and delay) to make it sound more connected with the backing track. Adjust it over the backing.
Posted by: Madfish Jul 4 2019, 06:29 PM
This is depressing 
. Every time I try, I end up with a tone I hate. It's either thin and fizzy or pure mud. Sometimes I end up with something acceptable on my headphones but not so much on my speakers.
Anyway, enough of my self pity How is this take?:
Posted by: Gabriel Leopardi Jul 4 2019, 07:52 PM
hahaha If we compare this new take with this one: https://soundcloud.com/adampolomski/kenny-wayne-shepherd-phrasing
the improvement is AWESOME! I just think that you need to adjust a bit EQ and Effects quantity to get a very good tone for this lesson and style. For now I would try adding a bit more presence and lowering the quantity of Reverb/delay. That could be the next step, what do you think?
Posted by: Madfish Jul 5 2019, 11:32 AM
the improvement is AWESOME! I just think that you need to adjust a bit EQ and Effects quantity to get a very good tone for this lesson and style. For now I would try adding a bit more presence and lowering the quantity of Reverb/delay. That could be the next step, what do you think?
Yeah, that one sounds horrible indeed
. I think I approached rig profiles with some wrong presumptions. I played around with EQ and gain knobs as it was real amp. I guess you're not supposed to stray such drastically from what the profile gives you "out of the box".Sure, let me try that to tweak it a bit. What do you think?:
https://soundcloud.com/adampolomski/kenny-wayne-shepherd-phrasing-take-2/s-uBSjV
Posted by: Gabriel Leopardi Jul 5 2019, 01:46 PM
Can you please share your FX (rev and delay) settings and maybe any print screen?
Posted by: Madfish Jul 5 2019, 02:50 PM
Still too heavy on the reverb/delay?
Sure. Here is the screenshot.
Delay time is 175ms.
Remaining settings are more or less visible in the screenshot.
Posted by: Gabriel Leopardi Jul 5 2019, 02:56 PM
What about bypassing Reveb and adding some more presence? I would like to hear your take with that adjustment...
Posted by: Madfish Jul 5 2019, 03:07 PM
Presence up, reverb off.
https://soundcloud.com/adampolomski/kenny-wayne-shepherd-phrasing-take-3
It became quite piercing in the ears on high notes IMHO. Made some further adjustments and cut some treble. Here it is:
https://soundcloud.com/adampolomski/kenny-shepherd-phrasing-take-44
Posted by: Gabriel Leopardi Jul 7 2019, 03:58 PM
Well done! I like the second audio. I think that bypassing reverb has been a good move. You can continue experimenting with your delay settings to have the right ambience, but this is definitely on the right track, do you agree?
Posted by: Madfish Jul 9 2019, 11:08 AM
Thanks! Yeah, I completely agree.
I went ahead with 1.5 repeat kind of delay. It's very subtle. I suppose that's what works best in blues context. How is that?
https://soundcloud.com/adampolomski/kenny-wayne-shepherd-phrasing-take-5
I also tried pushing the amp a bit harder with an overdrive. Here is a take with BD-2 in front.
https://soundcloud.com/adampolomski/kenny-wayne-shepherd-phrasing-drive
Posted by: Gabriel Leopardi Jul 9 2019, 06:11 PM
Like! I think that both adjustments have been positive! Now I would continue polishing EQ.
Posted by: Madfish Jul 10 2019, 02:02 PM
Cool!
Ok, let me try that:
https://soundcloud.com/adampolomski/kenny-wayne-shepherd-phrasing-drive-2
Frankly speaking, I don't know where do go with EQ tweaking. Boosting or cutting any band doesn't make it sound better in my opinion. Any hints?
Posted by: Gabriel Leopardi Jul 10 2019, 05:27 PM
Ok! I think that now you have a very convincing tone for the lesson and backing track. This process is what you need to do to keep on improving your tone. This is also something that can (should) be practiced, so the more you do it, the more skilled you'll become.
Does it make sense?
Posted by: Madfish Jul 10 2019, 06:06 PM
Does it make sense?
Sure. I guess it's a never ending tone chase for every single guitar player out there.
I listened more carefully to few songs by Bonamassa. He has the most round, sick blues tone in my opinion. I noticed it's much less trebly and with more pushed mids. Here is where I got turning few EQ knobs and a bit more drive:
https://soundcloud.com/adampolomski/kenny-wayne-shepherd-phrasing-drive-3
I like it more this way. What is your opinion?
I know it's not exactly Bonamassa
He has some ridiculous rig worth as much as a house by the way.So where do I go now? Practice my vibrato and make another video out of it?
Posted by: Gabriel Leopardi Jul 11 2019, 02:22 PM
GREAT!!
Regarding the current lesson please dedicate some time to analyse what's happening regarding theory. Check out the chord progression and notice what's Jonathan using to play over it. Also, please do you own improvisations over the backing track using those concepts, and variations of the licks.
New lesson suggestion:
https://www.guitarmasterclass.net/ls/Steve-Lukather-Modern-Style/
PS: Your playing on Kenny Wayne lesson is good but there is still some room to improve dynamics, and vibrato. There are also a few licks that can sound tighter (mostly the higher frets ones).
Posted by: Madfish Oct 16 2019, 05:40 PM
Regarding the current lesson please dedicate some time to analyse what's happening regarding theory. Check out the chord progression and notice what's Jonathan using to play over it. Also, please do you own improvisations over the backing track using those concepts, and variations of the licks.
New lesson suggestion:
https://www.guitarmasterclass.net/ls/Steve-Lukather-Modern-Style/
PS: Your playing on Kenny Wayne lesson is good but there is still some room to improve dynamics, and vibrato. There are also a few licks that can sound tighter (mostly the higher frets ones).
New lesson is great. Fast licks are a bit over the top for me, but I'll get there.
I'll try to get a final take on Kenny Wayne and post something soon.
In the meantime I need your help. I started rehearsing with a band. Can we stray for a while and talk about composition? How do you go about creating songs? Got this riff idea. Maybe you can guide me in some direction.
https://soundcloud.com/adampolomski/prog-riff/s-tCsJy
Posted by: Gabriel Leopardi Oct 18 2019, 04:38 AM
Hi mate! Great to know that you are working on the lesson!
Composition! Ok! Let's talk about it. That soundcloud link isn't working.
What are your band's influences?
Posted by: Madfish Oct 18 2019, 09:16 PM
Composition! Ok! Let's talk about it. That soundcloud link isn't working.
What are your band's influences?
I just made it the Soundcloud track public. Hope that solves the problem.
I barely know the other band members yet
So far we mostly play 90s rock, like Garbage. Some older rock covers as well (Joan Jett). Personally I'd more lean towards progressive rock, blues rock or southern rock.
Posted by: Gabriel Leopardi Oct 19 2019, 05:16 PM
I barely know the other band members yet
So far we mostly play 90s rock, like Garbage. Some older rock covers as well (Joan Jett). Personally I'd more lean towards progressive rock, blues rock or southern rock.Well, the first thing that I would do is to have some references that you think they and you will like. That's a great starting point if you want to have success with the songs. By success I mean, to be sure that you both will like the direction of the songs.
For example... are you going in this direction? More blues rock...
of this one? more Garbage...
Posted by: Madfish Oct 22 2019, 04:40 PM
I agree. We're all into something a tad heavier than what you've shared.
At the moment, the only song I can think of is by this Polish band:
Posted by: Gabriel Leopardi Oct 23 2019, 03:53 AM
Cool reference! The band reminds me to Black Stone Cherry. Do you know them? I can also hear some Alter Bridge and Slash's recent album vibes (but darker).
The first thing that I would do is to get the most I can from some of these songs.
What structure do they use in their songs?
What Scales and Chord Progressions?
What tempos (bpm)?
One trick that works for me is to write the drum groove from any song that I like and jam some riffs over it. That's a cool starting point.
The song that you shared has this elements:
- Main riff
- Verse over Riff
- Pre-chorus + Chorus (It starts like a pre-chorus but keeps evolving).
- Solo/instrumental riff
Those are the elements that you need to compose to create your song.
Posted by: Madfish Oct 23 2019, 09:00 AM
Yeah, I guess you could call them Polish Black Stone Cherry or Clutch. They were formed in late 80s as a punk band and slowly gravitated towards southern rock.
OK, so I tried to play along with the recording to figure out all riffs/licks. I supposed they are tuned down to C# (what a surprise ).
The whole piece in C# minor. All verse/chorus/pre-chorus riffs are C# blues scale. Single notes with C# as a pedal tone or power chords.
Solo is again C# blues scale. He throws in an major third at some point. That's actually the part which I enjoy most.
Did I get that right more or less?
The first thing that I would do is to get the most I can from some of these songs.
What structure do they use in their songs?
What Scales and Chord Progressions?
What tempos (bpm)?
One trick that works for me is to write the drum groove from any song that I like and jam some riffs over it. That's a cool starting point.
The song that you shared has this elements:
- Main riff
- Verse over Riff
- Pre-chorus + Chorus (It starts like a pre-chorus but keeps evolving).
- Solo/instrumental riff
Those are the elements that you need to compose to create your song.
Posted by: Gabriel Leopardi Oct 23 2019, 03:26 PM
Exactly! Not a big secret. Pentatonic Minor and Blues Scale. Enter Sandman by Metallica uses the same concepts.
You could get into more songs like this and start jamming over a similar drum loop to get cool riffs.
Posted by: Madfish Oct 24 2019, 03:41 PM
You could get into more songs like this and start jamming over a similar drum loop to get cool riffs.
Right. Good drum groove can be an inspiration. On it!
They got a song idea with a place for a solo. I composed something over that. It's work in progress. What do you think? All constructive critique is more than welcome. Please don't worry about hurting my feelings or something
https://soundcloud.com/adampolomski/misconnection
Posted by: Madfish Oct 25 2019, 02:43 PM
I tweaked my tone. Like this one better: 
misconnection.wav ( 8.45MB )
: 81
Posted by: Gabriel Leopardi Oct 29 2019, 08:46 AM
Hi mate, it sounds good! I’ll be very strict with my feedback but this is a nice solo.
I like the fact that it sounds musical and combines double stop bends and some shredding.
Regarding the things that could be better....
Sometimes I feel that the faster patterns could be simpler. For example the first one, I would go for a simpler and smoother pattern.
I think that the faster sections still need adjustments in order to sound more convincing. I recommend you to check some Black stone cherry and Alter Bridge solos to borrow some fast passages.
Posted by: Madfish Nov 5 2019, 05:35 PM
Thanks for hearing this out and all your comments Gabe! I really appreciate that.
I've been trying to find something "smoother" for the first run. Probably I'm missing your point though and need some help. It's a pentatonic legato lick. Frankly I think it's much smoother than the run on the very end (alternate picking, harmonic minor scale). Could you possibly point me at something that you find more appropriate?
Could it be that my tone is lacking? Maybe something less harsh and more mid pushed would work better. I guess the delay also is ... set wrong.
I like the fact that it sounds musical and combines double stop bends and some shredding.
Regarding the things that could be better....
Sometimes I feel that the faster patterns could be simpler. For example the first one, I would go for a simpler and smoother pattern.
I think that the faster sections still need adjustments in order to sound more convincing. I recommend you to check some Black stone cherry and Alter Bridge solos to borrow some fast passages.
Posted by: Gabriel Leopardi Nov 5 2019, 05:54 PM
The main thing that I note is that the accentuation of your fast patterns isn't going very well with the accentuation of the backing track. This can sound weird, and maybe it's tricky to note it at first but please think on this and try to hear it.
The way to fix this could be to use different patterns, different dynamics work or maybe add or quit any notes to move a bit the pattern.
Maybe you can find some cool ideas here:
https://www.guitarmasterclass.net/ls/10-Ascending-Descending-Rock-Licks/
Powered by Invision Power Board (http://www.invisionboard.com)
© Invision Power Services (http://www.invisionpower.com)