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Posted by: Gabriel Leopardi Jun 6 2019, 05:38 AM

Hi Farine54! 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: Farine54 Jun 6 2019, 06:38 PM

Hi Gab,

I play guitar since 14 years old (I'm 48), but by alternating periods, I think I can say that it's like I played for 5 years.

I like all musical styles but with great preferences for the classic rock, hard rock, and the blues. (Beatles, Gary Moore, Thin Lizzy, ACDC, Heart, Led Zep, Creedence, Metallica, .....). I like many musicians, but the ones I love the most are Paul McCartney, Scott Gorham, Jeff Healey, Dr John, Mari Boine, Jake E. Lee, John Lord, Paul Rogers and.... the list is so big.

My goal is above all to enjoy playing songs that I like and also improvise (but I do not know anything about theory ...), even if I do not progress quickly.

I know that to progress quickly it's necessary to work often, but it's impossible for me. I play guitar about 2 times a week.

I've never playing in live.

Which are your strong and weak points with guitar ? I can not answer this question

I know nothing about musical theory, and I think we need to know a minimum

Yes, I can record audios and videos of my playing, Here's examples :

personal composition for fun (all instument) :

https://soundcloud.com/user-718941923/nuclear-disaster-1

Vidéo for 50's Collab :



I am currently working on this lesson, :
https://www.guitarmasterclass.net/ls/Diamond-Head-Style/

and I'm still far from a correct rendering :




Thanks Gab

Posted by: Gabriel Leopardi Jun 7 2019, 02:29 PM

Hi mate! Great stuff!

I've enjoyed your tune. It's has a very cool dark feeling, and reminds me to some instrumental stoner rock bands.

Based on your what you've said, I think that it's a good idea to cover Technique and Improvisation Concepts in your guitar sessions. The fact that you only play twice a week can make progress a bit slower, but having a very well organized routine is the key to get the most of it. By the way, please have in mind that even dedicating 10/15 minutes the other days can make an important difference.

I have some more questions:

How much time do you practice those two days?

What do you know about Pentatonic Scales and the CAGED system?

Posted by: Farine54 Jun 7 2019, 09:23 PM

Hi Gab,

In average, l would say that I play 4 hours by a week.

I know minor and major pentatonic scales, major and minor natural scales (I remember theme by diagram, but not by theory) , idem for CAGED system. I know notes of every frets.

I can try to record you some short impro if it can help you better define my needs

Edit :



Hi Gab, here is my work of the week for this lesson : It's better, but still not good

Posted by: Gabriel Leopardi Jun 10 2019, 03:57 AM

Hi mate,

Good job with the lesson! There are only a few details to improve here:

- There are some little rhythm sections that could sound more consistent. I notice a few power chords that can sound clearer, and very small timing issues around 00:40 and00:50.

- The melody during the intro riff is lacking vibrato.

- In the solo section, there are many bends that don't reach the pitch well. You definitely need to work more on this technique. I usually recommend doing the first exercise from this video on a daily basis: https://youtu.be/JNDyI5b3Fh8

- The last open string pedal note riff and also the faster descening pentatonic lick have some timing issues. These are the trickier parts so I recommend you to isolate those parts and work on them as loops over metronome.


Recording yourself improvising over a backing track is definitely a good idea. Let's go for it!

Posted by: Farine54 Jun 19 2019, 08:22 PM

Hi Gab,

I've working on the rythm guitar according to your advice (also the guitar solo but i'm not ready). So, I'm sharing my video record to have your comment and advice. I hope it's better than before

Posted by: Gabriel Leopardi Jun 20 2019, 10:14 PM

Hi Farine! Great job here!!

Your power chords sounds flawless now and you timing is very precise! It's also nice to see that you are adding vibrato to the intro melodies. This vibrato can be stronger and more consistent, but it's close mate, well done!

Looking forward your solo work!

Posted by: Farine54 Jul 5 2019, 06:23 PM

Hi Gab,

I don't understand, but the more I work solo and worse it is
I'm going to put a little work this side (without dropping), for a little fun on the proposed collab, it will allow me to change naked ideas

Posted by: Gabriel Leopardi Jul 7 2019, 03:56 PM

Hi Farine, great to hear from you!

That's a good decision! If you feel that you are not enjoying your practice, you definitely need to change or adjust anything. Focusing on having fun and making some music is a good idea.

Posted by: Farine54 Jul 18 2019, 09:51 PM

hi Gab,
I took the lesson slowly, to get to play the solo, and in parallel I work also a recovery (war pig).
Here is the progress of the solo, it's far from good, but I would still like your opinion

The tempo is 140 (5 less)

Thanks Gab

Posted by: Gabriel Leopardi Jul 19 2019, 04:51 PM

Hi mate! Great to see you working hard!

The main thing to improve here is timing. You are going before the beat most of the time, so you are like "hurried". This means that you can play the lesson at this tempo, but you need to breath and relax while playing it, and try to connect more with the tempo.

There are some fast licks that require special attention, like the one at 00:07, but timing is the first thing to polish. Just check out the first bends and you'll hear how both are "hurried" before the beat.

Posted by: Farine54 Jul 26 2019, 05:25 PM

Hi Gab,
is there a quick way to warm your fingers?
I try to spread a little my guitar parts on the week (2 x 1hr + 3hrs), but it takes me 20 minutes to feel comfortable !!! (Grrr)

Posted by: Gabriel Leopardi Jul 27 2019, 09:29 PM

What do you do to warm up?

Posted by: Farine54 Jul 28 2019, 08:01 AM

5mn of chromatic scale

Posted by: Gabriel Leopardi Jul 28 2019, 07:30 PM

I use different repetitive licks. If my hands are too cold, I usually try this massages first:




Then, if my hands are still cold, I start with chord shapes, followed by legato and alternate picking exercises.

These are just examples that I've found but I play many variations of these ideas:

Posted by: Farine54 Aug 18 2019, 08:08 AM

hi Gab,

I will have to put my guitar aside for a few months because I have big work to do at home.

I am therefore withdrawing from GMC for this period, but I will come back as soon as I can.

I will try to practice guitar when I have breaks in my schedule to not lose too much.

I thank you for your advice and support, and I will have the pleasure of seeing the community later.

Thank you for everything.

Posted by: Gabriel Leopardi Aug 19 2019, 10:43 PM

Hi Farine, I'm sorry to hear it, but I hope that this is just a short hiatus to get back to guitar soon!

I'll be here ready to continue the journey.

Posted by: Farine54 Nov 3 2019, 09:01 PM

hey Gab,

I'm back and ready to play again.
The top of the wave of my obligations has passed, although there is still some birch, but now I have more time for my passions

I'll go back to where I left off.

The advantage of not having too much time for recreation and that our spirit reminds us of what we particularly like.
Also, it reminded me to my good memories a band that I particularly like, it's Thin Lizzy.
I particularly like the game and the melodic sense of scott graham, he is one of my favorite guitarist.
Then I would like to learn this great song that is "Romeo and tne Lonely Girl". Without pretension because it's far from my level, but if I can play it at 80% of its tempo, I will be very satisfied.



The work will be quite complicated for me because I have not found a partition apart from bad on the net, so I will look for all by the ear.

happy to see you again

Posted by: Gabriel Leopardi Nov 5 2019, 05:49 PM

Hi mate!! Welcome back!!

It's great to see you here again. Let's continue our work here! Please re-check all the things that we've been working and let me know your current status with that stuff so we can keep going!

That song sounds great. It's always helpful to learn songs by ear, you should do it all the time, so go for it!

Posted by: Farine54 Nov 9 2019, 10:21 PM

I take the lesson of Diamond Head style again. Here is today's catch after working hours on it (BPM=135, Lesson is 145).

I lost in cleanliness and precision, but I feel like I have a more tight timing.
I think this lesson may be a little too difficult for my level! what do you think ?



I also worked on "Romeo and the L .....", it is too imature for the moment (I dissect the notes). If I get stuck, I'll ask you for advice.

Thank you.

Posted by: Gabriel Leopardi Nov 11 2019, 01:38 PM

Hi Farine! Thanks for the update!

Yes, Diamond Head lesson is tight but there are off course many licks to polish there. It's normal if you haven't been training your technique too much. Have you been trying those John Petrucci's warming ups? I think that adding them to your diary practice can be positive.

Regarding the song... that's not an easy song to start, but this is what I would do:

- First learning the roots (bass notes). This is a big first step. Start diving the song in parts (song structure) and try to learn the roots of each part.

- Then, a second step would be to identify if the roots are part of a major or minor chord.

Are you able to do this?

Posted by: Farine54 Nov 11 2019, 08:04 PM

Hi Gab,

for the Diamond Head Style lesson, I agree to still have a lot of work. The parts wide gauge are difficult for me because I have very small hands, but I'm hanging on because I like this lesson.

For Romeo and The Lone .... I think I can do what you say.

I will try to write a Guitar Pro tab

Posted by: Gabriel Leopardi Nov 12 2019, 10:57 PM

Excelent!! Keep me updated!

Posted by: Farine54 Nov 13 2019, 08:39 PM

Hello Gab,

I've working Diamond after my job, I don't now but I have the impression of having passed a course ... So I've make a tape quickly (Bpm like lesson).
There is this difficult passage from 0'14'' to 0'17'' who I've to work on

I realize that it is not always clean but can you tell me if you have the same feeling as me ?

Thanks Gab

Posted by: Gabriel Leopardi Nov 13 2019, 08:49 PM

Hi Farine! That's a lot better man! Good job!

There is some room to polish the licks to make them sound tighter and cleaner but that's a lot better!

We can add a new lesson... do you have any favorites here?

Posted by: Farine54 Nov 14 2019, 07:00 PM

There are some nice lessons, so I've selected several:

https://www.guitarmasterclass.net/ls/C-Minor-Soul-Blues/
https://www.guitarmasterclass.net/ls/Ethnic-Country-III/
https://www.guitarmasterclass.net/ls/Jefferson-Airplane-Style/
https://www.guitarmasterclass.net/ls/Emotional-Soloing-Over-A-Ballad/
https://www.guitarmasterclass.net/ls/Vintage-Rock-2/

The one that I like the most is this one, but it seems out of reach for my level :

https://www.guitarmasterclass.net/ls/Ethnic-Country-Rock/

I would like to have your suggestion on this small list, depending on my level ?

Posted by: Gabriel Leopardi Nov 15 2019, 02:26 PM

Hi Farine! Cool list!! I would start with these ones: (in this order)

https://www.guitarmasterclass.net/ls/C-Minor-Soul-Blues/
https://www.guitarmasterclass.net/ls/Emotional-Soloing-Over-A-Ballad/
https://www.guitarmasterclass.net/ls/Vintage-Rock-2/

Posted by: Farine54 Nov 16 2019, 12:30 PM

Ok Gab, let's go for the first one

Posted by: Gabriel Leopardi Nov 16 2019, 09:56 PM

Excelent!

Posted by: Farine54 Dec 20 2019, 12:38 AM

hi Gab,
here is where I am with the lesson "C minor soul blues", I have a lot of trouble with timing on this lesson

thank you for your advice

Posted by: Gabriel Leopardi Dec 21 2019, 03:22 PM

Hi mate, great to see you practicing this one!

I see that you tend to rush tempo in many parts. I think that the reason is that you already know the parts but you need more time to feel more comfortable with all those phrases.

The next step would be to work on smaller sections again, but this time focusing on details like timing, dynamics, and other expressive elements. This can take the same or maybe more time than learning the parte but it’s what will take your playing to a new level.

Posted by: Farine54 Dec 30 2019, 01:40 PM

Hi Gab,


thank you for your advice, I have been absent lately.

Should I learn the lessons one by one or more at the same time?

Posted by: Gabriel Leopardi Dec 30 2019, 05:23 PM

Hi Farine! What lessons are you planning to work at the same time?

Posted by: Farine54 Dec 30 2019, 05:55 PM

I think to "Vintage Rock 2".

Like that I work solo guitar and rythm Guitar. It changes that to do only solo

Posted by: Gabriel Leopardi Jan 6 2020, 03:03 PM

Yeah, working on solo and rhythm lessons at the same time is a very wise decision. We need to keep our lead and rhythm skills always in shape so go for it!

Posted by: Farine54 Feb 1 2020, 04:26 PM

Hi Gab,

It's been a while since I have not really been diligent for the guitar, because I devoted myself to other things. I did not leave everything aside, I played so as not to forget what I learned.

I took note of your last advice to work on my lesson in Cm soul Blues.
I would like to know if there is an evolution on the positive side?

As I was nice in 2019, Santa Claus offered me a pair of monitoring. I find it much easier to manage a recording than with headphones, and I find it an improvement in listening.

thank you for your advice

Posted by: Gabriel Leopardi Feb 1 2020, 10:13 PM

Hi Farine! Nice to hear from you!! Congrats on your new monitors!

I have to say that this is a very good take! Your tone and overall feel is very close to the original lesson. If you would like take this one even further, you could put more emphasis on dynamics during the first part (melodic sections). Besides that, the solo section is flawless.

Then, the triads are sounding clean but I notice that there is still some more room to improve rhythm/groove. It seems that you still need to feel more comfortable with the changes and then put your focus on timing.

So, what's next?

Posted by: Farine54 Feb 2 2020, 04:55 PM

If you think that this work would pass to the REC program, then I would like to propose it

Otherwise, I worked on "Romeo & the lonely girl", I will ask your opinion on this one a little later, the time to record a video.

I haven't started the lesson https://www.guitarmasterclass.net/ls/Vintage-Rock-2/ yet, I'm going to do it

Posted by: Gabriel Leopardi Feb 7 2020, 03:16 PM

I would give this take a 7 but I can't assure what other instructors will do. By the way, sharing takes at REC is always helpful!

Posted by: Farine54 Aug 27 2021, 05:56 PM

Hi Gab,

I am trying to return to the guitar and therefore to GMC as well.

Finger joint problems have made me stop playing the guitar for about a year now. I was very frustrated at not being able to play anymore, so I picked up a bit for 2 months despite the pain caused. And I said to myself why not go back to school. So here I am

My index finger and right middle finger are the only ones affected but they are important because I am left-handed ... My doctor and the various examinations have not yet found the source of the problem, I hope that one day it will be cured!

So, I was fed up and I ended up telling myself to hell with the pain and let's play Rock '& Roll.

I would see what that gives.

I'm glad to see you again and play the guitar again.

Farine.

Posted by: Gabriel Leopardi Aug 30 2021, 03:14 PM

Hi Farine! Welcome back mate!! I'm sorry to hear about your fingers issue. I hope that you never have to stop playing guitar again. It's very important to start slowly and take care. Don't force your fingers.

Would you like to continue working on the last lessons that we've covered here? Or maybe you have a different idea and goal now?

Posted by: Farine54 Aug 30 2021, 04:51 PM

Hi Gab, over time I couldn't really think about what I was learning, and well I lost a bit in velocity (already that I was not a fast: D).

I found a lesson that I like but I don't know if I'll succeed because it has a level 5 ...
It's because when I'm looking for a lesson, I mostly focus on what I like and if it's not too fast.

I hope I'll get there, otherwise I'll see my claims again

It's this one : https://www.guitarmasterclass.net/ls/Pedal-Steel-Guitar-Country-Solo/

I will already start by learning the melody, is that also allow me to judge if it is accessible to me or not

Posted by: Gabriel Leopardi Sep 2 2021, 03:42 PM

Hi Farine, how are you?

That's a very nice lesson. Could you start with the melody? How is it going?

The lesson is level 5 because it's full of small details that make the solo more expressive. However, you can start with the melody and then add the details gradually.

Posted by: Farine54 Sep 3 2021, 11:59 AM

Hi Gab, I have the notes in mind, and the performance and tempo are abysmal.

Here is my first take to give you an idea of ​​where I am.

Posted by: Gabriel Leopardi Sep 3 2021, 04:50 PM

Great! This is a good base. The first element that you should focus is timing. Try to adjust the rhythm and timing of each phrase first, and then work on other elements and details.

Posted by: Farine54 Sep 12 2021, 05:57 PM

Hi Gab,

I couldn't work on the lesson this week (I was in holiday), but I spent a lot of time there today.

Always tempo issues, and I think my bends should be faster. The vibratos are also to work, and a few other points.

What do you think ?

I also signed up for Todd's BootCamp to work on speed and tempo tracking, I think that's a good way.

Thank you,
Olivier.

Posted by: Gabriel Leopardi Sep 13 2021, 06:31 PM

Hi Farine! Welcome back to practice!

You already know the two elements that need to be improved here: Timing and bending. I'm sure that you'll be able to master this lesson soon. Everything sounds on pitch, and the overall rhythm feels good. You just need to work on polishing the things marked.

Well done!