Printable Version of Topic

Posted by: Pedja Simovic May 3 2009, 02:27 AM

Hello GMC !

Welcome to Time feel soloing collaboration final mix and comments.
I am very excited to publish this mix and make it available for you guys. It is unbelievable how many different melodic rhythmic and harmonic ideas there were over simple A minor I IV V chord progression. There were some exceptional things, there were some passing and bellow passing ideas. The point is you all learned something in this collaboration. For some of you it may be new way of spicing up your practice routine, composing and improvising in general, while some added another cool tool in their arsenal of tricks. I also hope that you learned importance of rhythm and time feel in music Most of you already know what you need to work on (half regular or double time feel) but I will talk about it more in your comments. To sum everything up, I am very happy how this collaboration went and am already excited about this months collaboration

I did different approach with mixing today (took me whole day to do it + sound card troubles), so I do appreciate if you let me know how you like your take compared to the whole mix (levels and placement).

I will now leave you to listen and enjoy final mix.
Thanks guys it was a pleasure doing this one with you all !

Number of participants : 21


Comments



berko (0:00 - 0:34)


Berko you passed the class altough if I was more grading phrasing and rhythm placement strictly here I would have to give you a lower grade.
You definitely displayed control of different values. It is evident in your whole solo that you used both slow and fast rhythms. The way phrases blended with each other rhythmically is basically everything I was looking for in this class type collaboration. Because of this, you pass this class However, I feel that your rhythm playing or phrasing if you will should be much tighter. In order words, even when you play "broken" rhythms (16th notes combined with triplets, eights, ties etc), you should be able to always know where down beats and up beats are.
This is something that you can practice and improve more with metronome, drum machine and specific drills where you just isolate rhythms that are causing you trouble to execute well. In my opinion you need to do that with faster rhythms (and this goes not only for you but for most guys here!).
Other then everything mentioned above, this take has nice techniques (tapping sounded unexpected which I liked) but your bending sounded a bit flat (so I would work on that as well).
All in all you have passed the class but you have assignment to practice and tighten up your phrasing !
Thank you for your take Berko !




coffeeman (0:34 - 1:05)


Andru couple of things about your take. You followed guidelines perfectly and did everything I asked for. I especially like how your solo was developing. Slower to faster rhythms (half to regular to double time feel). I feel that you have showed very mature playing and approach here, almost as if you were composing the solo.
Your half regular and double time feel sounded good ! I have couple things to add for your practice schedule :
- Watch out when you play syncopated rhythms ! They can be very tricky and pull you in and out of tempo. That weakens the phrasing and messes up a solo a bit. You can hear it in your take on couple of spots, especially towards the end !
This is something you can work around by practicing soloing just with one specific rhythm. Take syncopated phrase, write down rhythm , clap it , sing it, then start making melodies of it ! Play it with metronome, drum machine, one chord vamp, whole backing track. If you do this, your phrasing will become even stronger and there will be nothing that can throw you of balance !
This is really the only thing I have as suggestion for you. Sound could have been brighter a bit, or just different amp settings would have worked- but I am not grading you on that but rather giving you that as side note.
You have successfully passed the class Andru, but please work on the things mentioned for future !
Thank you for your take Andru !




Dexxter (1:05 - 1:37)


Dexxter this was very melodic and well approached solo. Structure was great as you divided slow and fast rhythms into two different sections. Towards the end you had combination of both which was also great. It doesn't hurt to mention that your melodic structure along with rhythmic was very strong. You landed your phrases on strong chord tones, and longer rhythms were used also for chord tones. For faster rhythms you choose scale and legato runs. Nice work !
I really have nothing much to add except my apologies since your take is not in sync perfectly with backing here, and your original take is tight 100% ! Overall very well done solo, I like a lot of things about it. Keep up the good work man, you passed this class !
Thank you for your take Dexxter !




enforcer (1:37 - 2:09)


Can you definitely passed this class
First 8 bars you had half time to regular time feel soloing with strong emphasis on melody. I like how you took one long melodic section (4 bars) and then did different ending over the same thing in following 4 bars. That showed that you can develop things well which I really appreciate. Speaking of time feel, you nailed everything here. On top of everything solo sounded very melodic, almost as if it was composed!
I will not comment melodic approaches as emphasis of this collaboration is on time feel, but you definitely had some great melodic and harmonic choices in your double time soloing.
All in all, this was solid take Can. Keep up the good work man !
Thank you for your take Can !



Farmer Joe (2:09 - 2:41)


Joe you have passed this class !
Your approach to whole solo was very minimalistic in a way. I am not sure of your current level of playing but regardless of that, there were things in your solo that everybody can learn and benefit from. You took ONE POSITION and did your whole solo in there (E shape). Your rhythm choice was strong and you displayed variety in time feel soloing.
Couple of things that you need to work on are Vibrato and Technique. I would like to hear more "in tune" vibrato. Practice doing vibrato where your pitch doesn't go much up or down but rather stays stable. No matter how fast or slow you move your hand/wrist/finger, note should be in tune always. Thats something you should work on. Also I would like in future to perhaps hear you use some faster rhythms when it comes to double time feel soloing. 8th note triplets, 16th notes, 16th note triplets, broken rhythms like 16th notes with eight notes combined etc. This is something that you should work on in your practice schedule when you practice scales, modes, pentatonics, arpeggios etc.
This was good example of how it doesn't have to be difficult to make it work.
Thank you for your take Farmer Joe !



GrannyKiller (2:41 - 3:13)


Dado you have definitely passed this class!
Your take had everything I asked for plus it was very musical. I must emphasize that you also used things we covered in previous collaborations (sequence and repetition in different things), and you pulled it all off pretty well.
Your double time soloing was mostly sequence based but that was fine as it perfectly fit the mood of your solo.
The only problem with your solo is your tuning, or as we determined later your guitar intonation problem. It sounded at times like your bends on B and E string were out of pitch when in fact it was your intonation that was off. I hope that you will get this fixed soon so you can continue with good work. Keep up the good work man !
Thank you for your take Dado !



JamesT (3:13 - 3:45)


Jim this was great take and you have definitely passed this class !
You have displayed time feel soloing very well in your solo and on top of that it was structured really well. What I liked about your take was development in both rhythm and melody. Repetition was there, especially in double time when you started doing sequences in diatonic thirds - that was just perfect !
I have two things to mention that you can work on here. Sound wise, I think distortion could go down just slightly as its covering low frequencies a lot. Second thing is your bending. I think it doesn't sound always 100% in pitch. Check out your intonation and tuning on your guitar before checking your take again. Get back to me about that, I am really curious whether its bending technique or something else.
Thank you for your take Jim !



Jesse (3:46 - 4:17)


Jesse this take was great and you passed this class without any trouble.
Couple of things worth mentioning here. Your sound and playing style were just awesome ! Double stops, delay, bluesy bends, acoustic like sound... Perfect man, you did well man!
If I had to pick weakest part of your solo that would definitely have to be the ending. I feel you could have done different rhythm or just melody wise do something stronger sounding. Also pay attention when you do double time soloing and keep time of down and up beats. Don't rush your phrases, take your time and things will fall into right places. Development in this solo was very well approached I just feel your melodic high point or peak was never reached as ending was week. Work on things mentioned Jesse, you are doing good man.
Thank you for your take Jesse !



jonathan (4:17 - 4:50)


Jonathan you have passed this class !
I appreciate you entering collaboration for the first time. I must say this was not the easiest one to tackle ( we had some easier ones like chord tone soloing and sequence). Taken that into consideration I think you did pretty well for first time. There are however both strong and weak points in your solo that I will point out to you now.
Your sound was great ! Notes were coming out clear and you had touch of bluesy distortion that worked great with backing track. Awesome work there. Your whole structure of the solo was great as well. I like your development and ideas. I don't think you lack anything in creative but rather technical side. Your bending needs work. Listen to your bends on top E string ? They sound flat, you should bend with support of index and middle finger to make them stronger and in tune. Also I recommend you start practicing more with metronome some technical exercises to get the feel for 8th note triplets, regular 16th notes and faster rhythms in general. This is essential as your brain needs to understand them like your ear needs to hear them and finally you can execute all of it with your hand coordination.
I hope that makes sense.
Thank you for your take Jonathan, I hope to see you in next collaboration as well !



kaznie_NL (4:50 - 5:22)


Kaz you have definitely passed this class !
If somebody surprised me with their take in this class, it was no doubt you man. Seriously you did really well, above my expectations for sure. Development was perfect, solo was very melodic and you covered all time feel requirements. There were couple minor technical difficulties with double stops and ending was weak , but other than that solo was great man. You should be really proud of your take man. You had straight and syncopated rhythm, quarter notes, eight notes, eight note triplets and even 16th note triplet at the end ! I just have to say keep up the great work and good things will come with time more and more.
Thank you for your take Kaz!



kjutte (5:22 - 5:54)


Kjutte welcome back first of all. It is nice to have you in collaboration.
I was expecting your 2nd take as we said this one was missing some things. I will give you comments for this one but will assume you were working on another one in the meanwhile (or are still working).
This take had excellent clean sound. I like how half way trough the solo you changed sound and had more raw type soloing effect. That was really cool. It is also good to see that you are using sequences in your solo and moving melodies around creating motives. Excellent work. I am more then thrilled that your ending sounded stronger then ever before in my collaborations. This is definite plus and improvement !
Whats missing in this take ? Like I said when you posted it, you need more double time soloing here. I am not hearing half vs double time or even regular vs double time feel. Whole take is blended that way so that you can't say this section is this this section is that. That is why I said you should do another one as the whole solo has same kind of rhythm balance to it - which was not purpose of this collaboration.
I just figured you should get comments like everybody else even tough you didn't hit the topic from first take.
By the way, you were one of the very few who tackled E7#9 and did something out of the ordinary. I am very happy to hear that man. Keep experimenting and leave your mind open, ideas will keep developing more and more in future.
I hope to get a new take from you when you get a chance as I know you can do double time playing well (its your style of music after all), so I will say at the end that you pass the class based on your prior knowledge but not on this take as it doesn't have double time feel in it !
Thank you for your take Kjutte !



Marek Rojewski (5:54 - 6:25)


Marek this was excellent take!!! You passed the class without any trouble man.
Excellent intro and development. Natural harmonics, half time feel (whole notes). Perfect. Then you went onto melodic approach with small type riffing melodies. Worked perfectly over second 4 bar section. Now your double time feel was awesome ! Why ? Because when you went into it your phrasing and rhythm choice was so strong and well executed that it was immediately sticking out. Really well done man, I don't have much to add except keep up the great work ! If you want extra assignment, transcribe your solo in Guitar Pro and send it to me to double check everything.
Thank you for your take Marek !



Outlaw2112 (6:26 - 6:57)


John you have passed this class!
This take had both strong and weak parts. I felt sorry to hear about your speaker problem as I know you are very determined and want to make things right. You showed me that in last collaboration when you recorded 4 takes before submitting a final version. This solo is your 2nd take and is much stronger then your 1st take. It just shows you that the more time you spend with material you become one with it.
I am very happy with development of your solo and rhythm choice. You definitely covered everything I asked for. Half , regular and double time feel was there no doubt from beginning to the very end.
Things that need work here are :
- Sound - Its too distorted and notes dont really have much sound to them as gain is pushed almost all the way. Lower the gain, change EQ settings and it will be much better.
- Phrasing - There are parts where you go of once you start doing syncopated (up beat phrasing). This just shows that you need to practice more your takes with a CLICK (metronome) before recording them with backing track.
You see John backing track can be deceiving. It gives you that extra security like everything is working out. Best way to check your take is with metronome click against it, or totally dry. If you can tap foot to your take and feel your take is 100% in time, you have done unbelievable job. This is something most guys here need to work with, not just yourself.
Overall everything I asked for was there just work on the sound and tighter phrasing.
Thank you for your take John !



Sergio Dorado (6:58 - 7:30)



Sergio this was excellent take and you clearly passed this collaboration
Solo was very melodic and it had all the time feel elements required. Wonderful harmonic and rhythm approach made it stick out from the rest of the solos. I must point out that pickup switch made huge difference in the last section of double time. Perfect execution, spot on Sergio.
For extra assignment, transcribe the solo in Guitar Pro !
I really have nothing to add about your solo just hope to see you in future collaborations again !
Thank you for your take Sergio !



Siqqum (7:30 - 8:02)



Siqqum this solo was excellent ! You definitely passed this class without any doubt
Your guitar sound was spot on as was your playing. Development was perfect, melodies were just flowing one after another and most importantly - you did everything I asked and on top made great solo. You should be proud of this take man really. Broken 16th note soloing with chicken picking type of feel - excellent work man. Double stops also worked perfect in the in the intro.
Extra assignment for you would be to transcribe that solo in Guitar Pro!
Nothing more to add for you except keep up great work man.
Thank you for your take Siqqum !




sted (8:02 - 8:34)



Sted congratulations you have passed this class!
Lets talk about your take a bit now. Your sound was very bluesy and fit backing track perfectly. You executed half and regular time feel in first 8 bars, and then did some double time soloing in last 8 bars. Rhythms you picked were combination of straight and syncopated rhythms (down and up beat rhythms). I feel however that you need to work on phrasing just a little bit more so that whole take could sound even better.
Your melodic choices were great, I really liked feel of your solo. The only thing lacking was execution in some parts (sounded like you were above or below in tempo).
I believe if you recorded this same take couple of times, you would get it perfect.
All in all, it was very simple but melodic take with wonderful feel. Work on double time more into your solos and you are all set !
Thank you for your take Sted !



superize (8:34 - 9:05)


Superize you have definitely passed this class !
Your take was very well constructed and executed. Sound with delay was just perfect man. You managed to create violin like effect on guitar with double time soloing. You did everything I asked and required and on top of that you were the first one to submit your take. Very impressive !
Development and melodic approach in your solo was just perfect man. I have couple of questions for you :

- Was your low on volume playing intentional or not every time you had double time phrasing ? Your volume goes down and guitar sounds like violin with volume effect
- Did you compose or improvise your solo ?

You had everything in your take from arpeggios, sequence and scale runs to motive development and repetition. So you basically did things that we have worked on in previous collaborations into this one.
Well done man!
Small thing to work on is that bending (on top E string) - you will hear it, its not in tune 100%. Your phrasing was mostly strong, listen to your original take and see what happens there.
I recommend for extra assignment that you transcribe your solo in Guitar Pro !
Thank you for your take Superize !



Tolek (9:06 - 9:38)


Tolek you have failed this class !
No man, you did very good and you passed of course
Your take had wonderful sound and structure to it. I think you did really good with half time and regular time feel but double time needs work. In last 8 bars you were trying to do triplet type soloing but it came off weaker or sloppy as placement of rhythms was not spot on. I believe if you recorded this same take couple of more times it would be 100% with no regrets!
Let me give you some suggestions regarding your development... When doing repetition and different endings, you should really try to put couple of extra notes second time trough or even take out some notes ! It also helps is you don't keep the same rhythm always but change it up slightly.
What I am trying to teach you here is to disguise your repetitions and make them less obvious !
Thats the only negative thing along with phrasing over double time feel. Everything else was very melodic and well approached.
Well done Tolek and thank you for your take !



Velvet Roger (9:38 - 10:10)



Roger you have successfully passed this class !
Lets talk about your take now...
Melodic approach was very strong, I really liked what you were doing especially with interval soloing. You were one of the very few people that did skips in melodies and it worked. Well done man. Your sound in this take needs to be brighter a bit I think. It sounds like you are playing trough some sort of glass. I normalized your take and added more volume to it in final mix, but it still sounded a bit in the background compared to backing track. So I think different EQ settings would have made a difference here, maybe even different pre amp settings.
Besides sound and melodic approach, rhythm choice was very strong as well. You divided half and regular time feel in first 8 bars, then you went into double time feel in last 8 bars. Good work.
Things that need work in this take regardless of my misplacement in final mix is your Phrasing. I listened to take you submitted with backing many times now and it still sounds like phrasing needs work. Sometime you are ahead sometime behind the beat. It might have to do with anxiety of recording. A lot of people get very nervous when recording button is pressed so all the knowledge in the world doesn't help them, they just need to relax and focus. I don't know if this is the case with you Another thing might just be the fact that you need to play more with metronome and make your playing tighter. I hear a lot of syncopated phrasing in your playing. I am almost 100% sure that this is where your phrasing problems are hidden. We will do in future straight vs syncopated collaboration, so you will have chance to work and correct this very soon ! In the meanwhile work more on straight type (down beat) phrasing and occasionally start putting some syncopated things in (gradually is the right word here). I am sure it will make your phrasing even stronger.
All in all, this was a solid take and I think you are improving something in each collaboration. Great assignment for you would be to transcribe your solo in Guitar Pro. It will show you how some rhythms were placed not so great and will get you thinking where things went wrong. Let me know if you need any help with that !
Thank you for your take Roger !



wrk (10:10 - 10:42)




Andy you have definitely passed this class
I must say I was expecting more double time feel from you. That is the only reason why I asked you to do another take. I felt you could have done some 16th note triplets or something that is outside of your comfort zone.
This solo is very melodic, has great development and rhythm choice is perfect. You divided half and regular time feel in first 8 bars versus double time feel in second 8 bars. There were some beautiful interval skips in your first 8 bars, and that showed you don't need to play scales up and down to make it sound melodic.
Your double time soloing was good but I felt you could have done some sequence in there to make it even stronger. You had mostly descending scale runs which is OK, but for somebody of your level I expected a bit more there.
Of course this take is great and has a everything I asked for, I am just talking about what you can work on in future.
There will be more double time oriented collaborations so you will get another shoot to really impress me there
Overall excellent take and keep up the great work Andy.
Thank you for your take Andy !




Pedja Simovic (10:42 - 11:15)




I was told by GMC team that I need to write comments for myself as well , so here I go

I approached this take with idea to show you guys wide range of rhythms that one can use in solo. I started off with whole notes to show how you don't need to play fast to make music. I used exact same rhythm and transposition in first 4 bars to determine half time feel and lead you into the solo.
Second 4 bars were actually one big melody moved down trough the scale and with different development (ending and rhythm). You will be able to clearly see it if you download the Guitar Pro and analyze the lesson when its published ! In this part I used faster rhythms to determine regular time feel (quarters and eight notes). Notice how on purpose I didn't use 6th of A minor. That lead your ear not to know whether I was in Harmonic or Melodic minor (I had G# note which is major 7th and belongs to both scales). This is very nice trick for your future solos, to leave on purpose some notes in the scale !
Now we get to double time feel section. I did straight 16th notes with idea of responding to it with interval skips. I think this worked great, but I will leave you guys to judge that I created one rhythmic motive and concept in first 2 bars, and then just kept the same idea but apply different notes and melodies in second 2 bars (over E7#9 and A min).
Last 4 bars of the solo are combination of everything. I start with long bend to switch back to half time feel, but then start increasing rhythm to half note triplets (release bend with harmonics part), and then switch immediately to double time feel but this time with 16th note triplets. This lick fit perfectly over backing track as it was totally unexpected and did great job setting climax in the ending. If you look around forum, you will find this lick and many other tapping things in Guitar Pro files I submitted for practice schedules !
The very last thing that happens is regular time feel with octave leap to root of the chord (A) and slide out.

The purpose of this solo was to help you understand how regardless of time frame you have for your solo, you can still be able to execute wide variety of rhythms and present strong time feel control.
I am not saying you should do every solo like this ! No, this is just another great tool and technique that you can use to help you improvise, compose, arrange and even do rhythm guitar parts. So if there was something I was hoping you would get out of this collaboration, it was that



Thank you all guys for participating in this collaboration. It was really great having you all in here, massive response from all of you really. I hope you will be back this month as I plan to continue with another in class type collaboration. Backing track should be posted around 10th so look out for it in the forums. For those of you who would like to auto sign up you can do that now here, send me a PM or do it anytime before or during collaboration.
Hope this was useful, fun and learning collaboration for you all.

See you in next one, until then practice !

Pedja

Posted by: Velvet Roger May 3 2009, 02:54 AM

Mix sounds nice Pedja, although I have the feeling that my take is a bit out of sync compared to my original recording

Posted by: Pedja Simovic May 3 2009, 03:05 AM

Thanks for letting me know Roger, I think couple of takes might have gone of sync for some strange reason. I had massive trouble with my sound card, and finally ended up mixing with integrated audio card. When I was listening in Nuendo they were fine and in sync, perhaps when exported something went wrong.
Please don't take any of it wrong way it was not intentional by any means !

Posted by: Outlaw2112 May 3 2009, 05:53 AM

thanks for the comments and putting this collab together.. Im battling with my timing issues and im currently trying to
beat them with my practice schedule of regular metronome practice.. I learn alot from your collabs and im looking forward to your next one..

thanks,

John

Posted by: JamesT May 3 2009, 06:05 AM

Thanks for the analysis and comments Pedja.

I'll check my intonation, but if anything it's probably the guitarist and not the guitar .
Again, this was a great collab and well worth the effort.

Jim.

Posted by: Velvet Roger May 3 2009, 10:07 AM

No worries Pedja, it's only a minor thing but I thought I mention it to you

Posted by: kjutte May 3 2009, 10:14 AM

Thanks for your comment Pedja!
I haven't had time to do a new take, unfortunately.

I'll see if I can do it and nag you for some critique later.

Posted by: kaznie_NL May 3 2009, 10:21 AM

Haha, great comment Pedja This was all in my masterplan.... first deliver a very bad take, and then the next collab make a normal one, then it looks like you did great

Thanks a lot Pedja!

Posted by: berko May 3 2009, 10:34 AM

Thank you for the feedback Pedja! I'm aware of the flat bend, but first it didn't seem that serious because of different EQ settings and only later, when exported, did it become obvious. I'm going to pay attention to that.

I have a strange relationship with phrasing. Sometimes it's obvious and the beats just come right in time. Sometimes I easliy slip away and the strange thing is that this is not due to any special rhythms. Sometimes I feel comfortable with even 6/8 and so on. I guess I'll have to practice even more to be confident all the time

I'm happy to hear that although you had many technical difficulties you still managed to prepare this final mix . The takes seem to be pretty much in sync and the diversity of the solos overall is without a doubt outstanding over such a simple chord progression.

So I very much hope that i'll be able to deliver a more prepared take in the next in-class collab... I'm already tuned for it!

thanks again man for the hard work!

Posted by: superize May 3 2009, 10:39 AM

it feels like my take is also out if sync with backing

Posted by: Jesse May 3 2009, 10:48 AM

Thank's for the comments! Nice mix, I think if you listen to everything, and read the comments, you can learn alot from that! I will be in the next collab!

Posted by: Pedja Simovic May 3 2009, 11:23 AM

Wonderful John. I will put you on auto sign up list for future ones because you requested that. Look forward to your takes man, keep up the good work !



You welcome Jim !
I hope you will be in next one as well, you did great here



Thanks for mentioning it, I will grade your take based on what you submitted with backing track



Sure thing Kjutte. I know what your level is so I look forward to hear take with more double time soloing from you.
My MSN is not starting for 10 days now so just shoot me a PM or email me the take at [email protected]
Thanks man !


Well I must say Kaz your master plan was awesome
Keep up the good work man!



Berko I know what you mean... Sometimes you can do amazing, sometimes average. As you said, phrasing can go back and forth.
When I record or prepare a lesson, I make a backing track and open audio tracks for different takes. I improvise, listen to them all and pick the best one.
Sometimes because its improvised, technique gets in the way and things can be weak in phrasing department
So no worries, just try to do more takes on single solo and you will be all set !
Thanks man


Sorry about that Superize !
I will grade your take along with Roger's based on what you submitted.



You welcome for the comments Jesse !
I agree with you but I need to write 6 more comments now so it ain't over yet hehe

See you in next one Jesse !

Posted by: kjutte May 3 2009, 12:06 PM

Regarding MSN, pedja, check your date and time. it may affect logon.
Happened to me once, it said I was in 2008, when was in 2009.

Edit: Really nice and helpful of you to induldge our nag and rewrite some comments btw, you rock pedja!

Posted by: Pedja Simovic May 3 2009, 12:20 PM

It says May 3rd 2009 1:21 pm. So time is not the problem apparently. It has to do with my wireless internet access most likely but I cant resolve it right now. Lets hope it will get back to normal sometime soon
Apparently you are time traveler, from 2009 to 2008

Posted by: Velvet Roger May 3 2009, 12:37 PM

Thanks Pedja for your valuable comments.

I certainly noticed that the phrasing was off, and to be honest I am not at all happy with that after relistening my take a few times. I recorded the take a bit in a hurry, hence part of the problem, but phrasing is really the thing to focus on for me the next couple of weeks (thanks for getting me more onto that ).

Cheers!
Roger

Posted by: kjutte May 3 2009, 12:39 PM

Sad to hear man! I hope you get it fixed.

Also, I made the take. It's not great, but I don't really know how to 'shred' with flavor in jazz.

Posted by: Pedja Simovic May 3 2009, 01:28 PM

My pleasure Roger !

We talk frequently so you already know things that need work. It doesn't hurt to repeat them anyways
Try for the next collaboration to do straight rhythms with just a bit of syncopated ones, and lets see what happens then.

Thanks Roger !



I just heard it Kjutte.
You kept 80% or so of the original take and added some faster lines towards the end. The thing is this doesnt have to be jazz shredding. You can do 8th note triplets with sequences. How about 16th note arpeggio or scale soloing ?
This is something I expect to hear from you. What you submitted just now was ok, but phrasing was weak and not precise, also melodies don't relate too well there.
I am sure you can do better job man. Take your time I am here , its no rush !

Posted by: sted May 3 2009, 01:30 PM

Hey Pedja,

Thanks for your hard work on this mate, I really appreciate all the comments and do try and take them on board, I really feel like i make significant improvemnt on these collabs, please put me down for the next one!!

Posted by: Pedja Simovic May 3 2009, 02:54 PM

You welcome Sted it was my pleasure. I will put you down on auto sign up for future collabs. There should be one happening in a week or so

Posted by: superize May 3 2009, 05:05 PM

Thanks for the comments Pedja.....

To answer your questions

No the volume on the guitar was not low i just struck the strings very gently to get that effect......

And the solo was not improvised it was written but i wrote it very fast

Posted by: Marek Rojewski May 3 2009, 06:28 PM

Many many thanks for Your kind words Pedja! Sorry I haven't answered faster, but it just wasn't possible! I don't know what more to say, the comment is to flattering

Posted by: kaznie_NL May 3 2009, 06:53 PM

what does Syncopated mean? A syncopated rhythm?

Posted by: Velvet Roger May 3 2009, 06:57 PM

Not starting on the 1st beat of a bar (e.g. when you first have a 8th rest, and then start of playing your melody). I tend to do that far too often, hence why I know this

Posted by: Tolek May 3 2009, 07:48 PM

Thanks, it is useful as usual. I´ll try to correct those problems in the next class which I´m looking forward to.

Posted by: Pedja Simovic May 3 2009, 09:13 PM

Thanks Superize !
Sounded very nice and well organized. Well done one more time - hope to see you in next collab !




I am glad you feel that way Marek, you really did great man !



It basically means you play rhythms that start on upbeat or continuously accent up beats instead of down beat in the phrases !


Something like that - see above



Please do so

Posted by: Ivan Milenkovic May 3 2009, 09:15 PM

Great job on the comments Pedja, and awesome takes everybody!

Posted by: wrk May 3 2009, 09:23 PM

Thank you Pedja for this collab and you comment !!

You are right, 16 triplets over a 120bpm backing are outside of my comfort zone. A while back i decided to avoid to play things which will surely be played sloppy. Somehow i have had enough to play things i can not control. I thought it is better to keep these things for exercises ... ... but you are right and i should start now again to take some more risks and step out of this comfort zone. Thanks for pointing this out !!!

Posted by: Farmer Joe May 3 2009, 09:43 PM

Thanks for the comments, Pedja. I appreciate the time you put into this collab and into analyzing all the takes.
My playing experience isn't very much at all, I've been playing seriously, or learning to play, since around February when I joined the site and got into the mtp program. before that, I just had a guitar but didn't do much with it lol.
I will try to work as hard as I can on the things you mentioned in my comments. I'll be working hard on 16th notes from this coming week and on, I've never really played any before. So hopefully I can improve and maybe I can join your next collab if I feel I won't suck at it again.
Thanks again Pedja, you're the man!

Posted by: Pedja Simovic May 3 2009, 10:26 PM

Thank you for stopping buy and checking it out Ivan.



No problem Andy
Its not easy playing fast and very melodic. Usually these two things dont go one with another. I get what you are trying to say tough and I appreciate you saying it. I just figured you could push yourself over the top even if it would sacrifice melody. I never really say that because I am in love with melody , but yes its worth sometimes to pay attention to technique.

You welcome for the comments and I hope you will enjoy next collab man - thanks !




Joe this is all new to me ! You joined in February and haven't played seriously before that ? Its very good work for less then two months - seriously man!!!
As I said in the comments, I don't expect you to fly all over the fretboard in a week or so. Those comments regarding 16th notes are something that you can work on in a long run. It won't happen in a day for sure, it might take months !
I don't want you to feel like you are behind anybody here. Everybody has their level and things they need to work on. I approach things that way when writing both positive and negative feedback.
You did great man and I hope to see you in next collab as well !
Thanks for the kind words, you will make me blush man

Posted by: Siggum May 3 2009, 11:05 PM

Great job on this collab Pedja, loads of very nice and inspiring takes, also thanks for comments, looking forward to next collab: )

Posted by: GrannyKiller May 4 2009, 12:32 AM

phew, I'm so glad I passed it...

timing was probably the weakest aspect of my soloing, as was note choice. and your last two collabs really helped me improve my note choice and timing and now I feel pretty confident in my playing when I want to jam with other players.

and another aspect that's starting to improve is my, hmmm dunno what to call it, musical foresight (?), cause sometimes when I improv, my mind just goes into stand-by and fingers on auto-pilot, and that can't sound good, ya know, but when I sat down and started composing solos for these last two collabs, I just sat, eyes closed, listening to the track and imagining what I want to hear. And what I imagined is exactly what I tried to reproduce on guitar, and that's very important for good improvisation.

excellent collab, as usual! and great fun too!!!

oh, and about the intonation problem...I broke both the E and B strings two days ago... but finally I got some money and I'm gonna buy a fresh set of strings tomorrow. and these were only a month old...

EDIT: oh, and great to see this turned into another lesson. I'm definitely gonna spend some more time with time-feel soloing when I'm done with school related work...

Posted by: Farmer Joe May 4 2009, 02:08 PM

Thanks Pedja Dont get me wrong, I like the way you write your comments because you mention the problems as well the good things. I definitely like that the most about your comments. I just wanted to let you know my playing level so far so that you didn't just think I slacked on the collab
Actually, once I finish the lesson I'm working on right now in the MTP program, Velvet Roger is going to get me into working on 16th notes right away He said I need to make you proud on the next collab
So if I may, please put me on auto-signup for the next collab
Thanks again man

Posted by: Dexxter May 4 2009, 02:16 PM

Thanks a lot for the comment Pedja No worries about the syncing problem, I hope your soundcard is back to normal soon

Posted by: jonathan May 4 2009, 02:19 PM

Thanks for the comments and advice Pedja, I'll keep them in mind.
It's amazing how much you can learn form just one collaboration!!!!.
Is there any lesson you can suggest regarding technical exercises to get the feel for 8th note triplets, regular 16th notes and faster rhythms in general like you said?
I'll be looking forward for more collaborations in the future.

Posted by: Pedja Simovic May 4 2009, 04:10 PM

I agree with you Siqqum
Hope to see you in next one as well !



Sounds like you are doing awesome work Dado !
Visualizing is very important process of creativity and improvisation. You are doing great, keep up the good work !

Lesson should be up any day now, I submitted it around a week ago, I hope it will be up soon





Awesome Joe
Roger is very cool guy and I am sure you will learn from him more about 16th note soloing. Lesson with my solo should be up soon on the site so you can definitely check that out as well !

You are on auto sign up for future collaborations





You welcome Dexxter !
Sound card problem is somewhat resolved but I plan to buy very quality one in near future



I agree with you Jonathan !
The lesson on my solo for this collaboration will be up very soon I hope. Look out for it on the main page of GMC. Maybe even tomorrow !
You can learn my solo, that will definitely help you with rhythm values

My next collaboration should be by middle of month latest. I am working on topic and backing as we speak

Posted by: Sergio Dorado May 4 2009, 10:53 PM

Thanks for your comments, Pedja. Great work as always, your impressions are plenty of good advices for everybody.
Also the takes are very interesting, well done students!

Posted by: Pedja Simovic May 5 2009, 01:11 PM

Thank you very much Sergio, I try to help everybody regardless of their level - hope all those things will help members improve more. Hope to see you in next one Sergio !