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Posted by: Ben Higgins Feb 1 2012, 11:07 AM

Task 2 : http://www.guitarmasterclass.net/ls/Killer-Pentatonics-Zakk-Wylde-Style/

Record and upload your version of this lesson by Wednesday 8th Feb or I'll come round your house and burn one of your guitars.

You're getting a break from stretchy chord shapes (because I'm so nice) and you're diving into pentatonic shred world. These shapes are very useful and can be moved all over the neck, as you can see from the video.

Now, because you're in the lonely, cold group of advanced I am expecting you to get somewhere close to the tempo of 170bpm. By close I mean 150 and over. If you can manage 170 then that's great but it's not necessary. (150 is not really mandatory but it gives you something to aim at, and aim over..)

If you're good at picking 3 note per strings shapes then you'll notice that these types of licks feel totally different. They make use of 'outside picking' and the 2 note per string shapes mean you are crossing strings more often, which burns more energy...

So, drink plenty of water. Avoid the coffee (during guitar time). Eat well. Take breaks.

But first, join the rest of the disciples for morning exercise in the main hall of the Temple.....

Posted by: maharzan Feb 1 2012, 11:22 AM

Damn Sifu... Panda can be dragon warrior only in 3D movies. This is torture.

Posted by: Ben Higgins Feb 1 2012, 11:37 AM

The iron ore feels itself needlessly tortured as it goes through the furnace. The tempered blade looks back and knows better.

Posted by: Dinaga Feb 1 2012, 03:26 PM

At first I was AWW YEAH PENTATONICS!

Now I am just...



But I'll not disapopint you Master, I will get this done!

Posted by: AK Rich Feb 1 2012, 11:10 PM

Hahahhaa +1 !!! I am pretty good at penta's but this is pretty wild alternate picked , I have to say If I was learning this as part of a song I would cut the picking in half and do alot of pulloffs call me lazy I guess but I am always looking for an easier way.My legato basically came to be what its is from cheating like that
PS: It is kind of hard to hear what this guy is doing on this lesson because he is kind of burried in the mix so I'll rely on the tab and the breakdowns of all the parts I guess.

Posted by: jstcrsn Feb 2 2012, 02:04 AM

forgive ,please sen-say, am still struggling with pentatonic s back from your chat a few weeks back
and have been so focused there, that now my three nps have slowed
I have no video, but will see if I can try an audio
am prepared for tungue push ups for lack of video

Posted by: Ben Higgins Feb 2 2012, 10:29 AM

Yes, very true.. you'll manage the lesson though, I have every faith !



I'm almost thinking you actually want to do tongue pushups...... it will be on ice, don't forget. We may encounter a 'Dumb & Dumber' situation..

Posted by: AK Rich Feb 2 2012, 11:13 AM

Yeah after giving this a go for a while I have come to the conclusion that this is a very good excersize. Ivan's video chat lessons have been doing some excersizes very similar to this. Unfortunately for me I miss most of them because I dont always get up early enough on a sunday morning.But yeah I digest I kind of like the way this excersize is put together using all the patterns on sets of 2 strings going down then up then back down the neck again each time on a diff string set. Pretty cool Task Master Higgins!

Posted by: Ben Higgins Feb 2 2012, 11:36 AM

The Sensei knows what you need before you even know it yourself, warrior-in-training. Your increased guitar prowess is my mission here at The Temple

Posted by: maharzan Feb 2 2012, 12:50 PM

I can now do it in 120bpm. This is tough, very tough.

Posted by: maharzan Feb 3 2012, 06:15 AM

My problem master: This takes too much stamina. As I play along when I reach the hight fret, my pick moves in and I can no longer pick properly. I used to change it whenever there was a "stop" in a solo. This is uniform and I can't do that (relax my right hand for a bit). What should I do to overcome this? I suffer with this even at 120bpm, can't even imagine to higher ones. I had this problem before as well and its back.

Posted by: Ben Higgins Feb 3 2012, 10:04 AM

Hey Chandra, I think I know what you mean. You mean that the pick is moving between your fingers ? I used to get this too when picking for longer periods of time. What helped me was this:

I would forget about the left hand and just pick one note so I could concentrate only on speed picking. I noticed that as I tried higher speeds, my pick would start with just the tip hitting the strings but then as I tried to go faster it would slip down and more of the pick would hit the strings, slowing me down and making the front of the pick move outwards so I was almost playing with the side of the pick - very annoying.

So I concentrated all my attention on keeping the tip of the pick on the string and not letting it dig in too much. As you go faster, the harder it gets and it will try to make you take bigger pick strokes but you have to resist it and keep concentrating on the tip of the pick being on the string. So you've got to imagine that even though the speed is increasing, the movements are still staying small and not moving out in a bigger picking motion. This will take time to develop, but even a few days will bring great results if you try this. If you can make this improvement on just basic up/down alternating speed and maintain your picking position, then this will help you with picking anything.

As you do it, look at the pick as well because it will make it easier to keep the tip of the pick where you want it. As soon as I started doing this, I noticed massive improvements. Find a tempo that is challenging enough for you to play it and see how long you can maintain the picking for.. do it in bursts (for a couple of bars for example or until you lose the flow) and gradually try to add more pick strokes to it. If you do this every day in your practice routine, soon you'll increase your picking speed.

I've always believed this and I always will: If you can pick constantly on one string with good technique at high speeds, then you've got everything you'll ever need. You've done the hardest part. Synching it up with licks is the fun part but you've got the speed sorted.

Posted by: maharzan Feb 3 2012, 10:53 AM

Thanks Ben.

I seem to keep my right hand relaxed so my grip is kinda little loose. As there is a long picking going on, in each hit to the string, the pick seems to go inside a bit and as I am into half of the lesson, a very small tip is left, at around the end, My thumb and index finger is picking.. lol.

I am holding it tight but if I do that, my right hand becomes pretty rigid unable to pick at higher speeds. I will try one note trick and see.

Posted by: Ben Higgins Feb 3 2012, 10:57 AM

Yeah that's very similar to what happened to me. I held it very loose and the pick moved. By concentrating on the tip and the string, my grip automatically tightens a bit when I speed up but the pick stays where it is which is great. I think it's ok to grip it a bit tighter as long as our overall picking action doesn't change and start coming from the elbow or something like that.

Posted by: maharzan Feb 3 2012, 11:47 AM

Cool, will practice. This is a very tough lesson and although might not be doable this early, it has at least figured out my age old problem of speed picking. Hopefully by the end of the week, I can pick better and longer. Thanks Ben.

Posted by: Ben Higgins Feb 3 2012, 12:34 PM

Don't worry too much about the tempo either. Even if you only make a 5bpm improvement during a week, that's a great result !

Posted by: Nimrandir Feb 3 2012, 11:37 PM

My problem is also right hand stamina. At first I can pick normally, but with time my hand tenses up and I start missing notes. I've noticed that my arm gradually detaches itself from guitar body and the wrist angle changes. Then the wrist locks up and elbow performs most of the picking. This has to do with lots of string changing, as this problem is much less pronounced in 3nps picking. I'm going to learn this piece to the end and see at what tempo I can play it cleanly .

Posted by: maharzan Feb 4 2012, 05:25 AM

Hi Nimrandir,

I was searching about picking issues I had in YouTube. I didn't find any videos that explained exactly but I found an interesting video. I did watch this before too but never cared about the up/down motion on the whole arm. It might help you if you are pivoting the pinky or wrist on the guitar. He shows how to move up and down so the pick angle is always same and you can pick efficiently. I also seem to pivot my wrist and I tried this and it feels uneasy. I am learning that. Just posting so it might help you too. Jump to minute 4 or around.

Posted by: maharzan Feb 5 2012, 04:50 AM

Progress: More or less able to do at 130bpm. Picking hand is better. Theres just one part on the lower strings where I am trying both ring/index and pinky/index and not feeling that comfortable. Need to practice more. Will update soon, hopefully I can do 150.

Posted by: Ben Higgins Feb 5 2012, 09:57 AM

That's good to hear Chandra

With licks that these, it's surprising how much our fretting hand can hold us back. It's quite easy to get a lot of speed with licks that use 3 notes per string, but when you're doing 2 notes per string and changing strings every 2 notes, the fingers get really tired don't they ?

It may also hep you to do a few speed bursts at higher speeds. Maybe put the metro' at about 140bpm and see if you can put 2 reps together then stop. Then try it again and stop. This will be good for the fretting hand as well as the picking hand.

Posted by: maharzan Feb 5 2012, 03:53 PM

Actually Ben, I tried 150 bpm in the backing track and I was somewhat "able" to do half the solo (which I feel easy) pretty much clean. When I go down the neck in the lower strings is where the problem is. 130 feels easy!

Posted by: Ben Higgins Feb 5 2012, 08:15 PM

That sounds good ! How about 140 then ?

Posted by: maharzan Feb 6 2012, 04:31 AM

I just tried 140 and its coming.. not clean yet but I can pick the whole thing missing notes. need to work on hand sync now.

Posted by: Dinaga Feb 7 2012, 04:43 PM

Here's the 150 bpm take Ben, hope you like this outfit better so I don't have top do that many push-ups this time

I know it could be better but I really didn't have that much time this week I hope I'll be able to play it full speed one day!

Posted by: Ben Higgins Feb 7 2012, 04:57 PM

Wow that's fantastic Dino !!

You may have some donuts as your reward. I recommend that you take them to a quiet corner of the temple and consume them when no one is looking

The martial arts Gi definitely added power !

P.S. I've noticed how awesome your guitar sounds.. have you got some kind of stereo delay that pans from left to right etc ? It sounds huge and I need to know how you do it !

Posted by: Dinaga Feb 7 2012, 05:05 PM

YES DONUTS! From the Master himself! I already ate them Thanks Ben

About the guitar, I use the same good ol' "God's Love" Guitar Rig 4 preset for most of my solos. Sometimes I tweak it but for this take I left it unchanged. And I assume you mean the "pan" which happens at around 0:21! This was actually automatically done by Guitar Rig, because it lowers the volume when there's too much going on both rhythm-wise and solo-wise As for the delay, there is a delay and a reverb included in this preset, you should check it out

Posted by: maharzan Feb 8 2012, 01:18 AM

Wow Dinaga, stunning. Please share tips on how to accomplish that. I have been struggling.

Posted by: Dinaga Feb 8 2012, 01:38 AM

Hey mate! Believe me, I've been struggling too! It's a hard lesson and this take has mistakes, mostly because my left hand was too tired. Actually I wanted to record a better take but I was in a lot of pain and had to call it a quit for the day. My biggest problem is endurance and I had a lot of wrist injuries during this week, because of overplaying this and the insane lessons from my Insane Lessons Hunt topic.

The way I practiced is that I spent 90% of my practice time playing this lesson at 50% to 60% speed. It was sometimes fun and sometimes really boring but it helped me memorize the pentatonic patterns and also gain strength and endurance. The quote "speed is a bi-product of precision" is really true, because I couldn't do this kind of penta-licks before. Especially not with alternate picking! Before this lesson my endurance was a lot weaker and I always used to use the easy way out and play legato with the pentatonic scale. So hail Ben!

As I said, most of the time I played this lesson REALLY slow, and only today I dared to crank it up to 150 bpm which is roughly 85% speed. I made mistakes, but it worked! The hardest part for me (as for you) were the palm-muted notes on the low strings, so I hit those strings harder than the upper ones, because I didn't want them to beat me

So I think the answer is patience I hope this will help you my friend! Best of luck, I'm sure you'll nail it!

Posted by: maharzan Feb 8 2012, 02:53 AM

Thanks Dinaga. I could do it at 130 and I was trying at 150 now and then with focus on 140 but then when I went back to 130, I couldn't do it cleanly. I didn't practice it at all yesterday. It was just getting worse. Yep, this one does burn your left hand muscles. I will keep practicing. Thanks for your insights.

Posted by: Ben Higgins Feb 8 2012, 11:56 AM

Just remember that you once uploaded a take of Extreme Neo Classic at 140bpm which is a major achievement ! Btw, where can I see that again ?

Posted by: maharzan Feb 8 2012, 11:58 AM

I am concluding that speed is the state of mind. I am "serious" most of the time so my mind reacts "slowly" thus the fingers. I need to be excited. I am really wishing I could do that again..

Progress: I tried 150 today and its coming along. Maybe need few more days to get this clean.

Posted by: Ben Higgins Feb 8 2012, 12:03 PM

That's true.. to play faster you have to think faster, be faster with every fibre of your being..

It's hard to be like that when you haven't warmed up etc.. but after you've been playing for a while and you're in the zone, it's easier to reach that state.

Posted by: AK Rich Feb 8 2012, 08:25 PM

Hey Dinaga thats a great take man! Good job and well done you are the man!

Unfortunately for me my practice time this last week has been severely diminished as I have been pretty busy moving alot of snow around from a couple of storms we had roll through here so I have no take for this task, I got about as far as memorizing the lesson and playing it at about 100bpm last week and then didnt get to practice it much more after that.There were 3 days that I didnt even pick up my guitar, Super Bowl Sunday being one of them.
Sorry Bensei hopefully I can make some more practice time for the next task.

Posted by: Dinaga Feb 9 2012, 12:51 AM

Thanks a lot mate for the kind words! Really appreciate it.
Yeah, snow storms really shook up the world, and it doesn't help finger dexterity either. I guess when you become a guitarist you develop a passion for warmth I'm really looking forward that we all nail the next Bushido lesson.

Posted by: maharzan Feb 9 2012, 08:31 AM

Alright Master! Sorry for late submission but I couldn't stop submitting (Its still Wednesday in the Pacific I guess ). Its not yet perfect and I already "gave up". I woke up full of energy today (pretended) and even tried 160bpm ha! Anyways, recorded this at 150bpm and boy aren't my fingers are fast?



Awesome practice with 2nps!

Posted by: Ben Higgins Feb 9 2012, 11:11 AM

Yeah I saw the pics of the snow so you're excused Although I have to break your hand because of the rules.. nothing personal you understand

I look forward to seeing more of your high octane playing on the next one !



Great take Chandra !

That's not bad at all.. I think if you had more time with this lesson you'd have it perfect in no time. Maybe an ongoing project for REC maybe ?

How did you find playing 2 note penta shapes ? Do you think you'll spend more time practising them ?

Posted by: maharzan Feb 9 2012, 01:08 PM

I definitely will. Its been a long time I have challenged myself and this one is challenging.. will see how far I can do.

2nps is really really hard compared to 3nps, maybe I am so used to 3nps. Maybe we have to change strings so often it seems to restrict speed as well. I will keep practicing. Thanks Ben.

Posted by: Ben Higgins Feb 9 2012, 01:21 PM

Yes, you've explained it well.. all the string changes use up energy and time

Task 3 is now available

http://www.guitarmasterclass.net/guitar_forum/index.php?showtopic=42940&st=0&#entry568461

Posted by: Dinaga Feb 9 2012, 02:10 PM

HA! You got it!! Awesome take man, you ROCK! Best of luck with the next one

Posted by: maharzan Feb 9 2012, 02:38 PM

Thanks Dinaga. You too. :-)

Posted by: Nimrandir Feb 10 2012, 06:31 AM

Argh, I give up! My hands are just not made for playing guitar it seems. I probably can play this at about 130, but even then my right hand is cramped by the end. It just tenses up somewhere in the middle and I can't do anything about it. I've always had this kind of problem - both hands tensing up when playing something repetitive for (relatively) extended periods of time, but I thought that some kind of relaxation will come with practice - but I don't feel it...

Thanks for the vid Chandra! I think my RH position and technique are pretty similar (except I slide my hand up and down parallel to the bridge), but I still can't get the same positioning on the lowest strings as on highest. It's basically because part of the palm on which I'm anchoring falls down from the bridge to the guitar body when playing low E/A and the whole wrist angle changes.. It's hard to explain without photos .

And now, if you'll excuse me, I'm going to break my hand to save Ben some time (going for the right hand, it being useless anyway)

Posted by: maharzan Feb 10 2012, 07:29 AM

Nimrandir,

I know exactly what you mean. I have been there and I was there with this lesson too though I could get rid of it within the week (sort of). It comes with practice really long and tiring practice. I have up 16/17 years ago when I was in 2nd/3rd year of self learning. I tried a lot, watched every video I could grab of (Petrruccis being one which helped a lot in AP). When I joined GMC 3 years ago, I was pretty much in bad shape. I could hardly do 16notes at 120bpm. Like you said, I too suffered from "no stamina", both arms hurting pretty badly. Things have changed a little now. I can do some speedy stuff and my arms know quite a bit of stamina. When it hurts, I like it coz everytime it hurts, I know in next 2 days, I can do it.

Back 2.5 years ago, I was in MTP (very similar to this program) and I practiced few speedy licks given by the instructor. Add to that, regular REC stuff, challenging myself harder lessons every time, I was able to overcome the pain problem and it just got easier than before.

Few things I have learnt -

Practice (I practiced even if it pained a little, I didn't over do it so I was injured),

hard work ( I practiced the same lesson like 3 months before posting a REC which wasn't perfect still, I felt bored but I had no choice. If I have to overcome this speed thing, I have to do it),

Patience (3 months or even 6 months on the same lesson can lost your patience, I took a month break and tried other lessons in between but then coming back to same one),

realise, I realized what mistakes I am making, such as picking pattern. If I am concentrating on one lick, I start with down stroke but somehow when I played the whole thing, I was using upstroke hence the whole lick got screwed, left hand fingering, hand sync (I still notice my mind is slow with the left hand so I have to start few millisecond ahead of my right hand.

research, I do a lot of looking around in YouTube just to get some inspiration or if anyone had similar problem like mine. Most of the time I land on Guthrie's videos and man they are just amazing.

Anyway, I am sure you know a lot, I am just sharing my experience. I gave up on this lesson too but after a day break I started again and there I was doing 150 next day. A week is too short for new things. I have practiced 2nps before so this one came out easy.

Keep practicing!

Chandra

Posted by: Ben Higgins Feb 10 2012, 09:49 AM

I also know exactly what you mean. I try to ensure that my picking angle is the same as when I'm chugging away at a chord. That's what I developed my Stamina School lesson for, so people could dip between playing chords and 16th notes without changing hand position. One thing that's helped me with my picking is concentrating on developing more speed and stamina with just picking on one string. When you pick on one string (one note as well, no shapes) there's no hiding away from how much stamina your picking hand has. I realised that mine was pretty crap but I also noticed that if I made a conscious effort to watch the pick itself and ensure that it stayed as close as possible to the strings and not veer away with excessive movement, that I was able to increase my speed.

So I worked to concentrate all my energy and focus on keeping the tip of the pick (or at least the bottom 3rd of it) in line with the string. Imagine that the pick itself is trying to move away from the string in ever increasing movements and your job is to stop it from doing that and to reign it back in and keep the movements as small as possible. You'll find that you'll get little moments where you can go a lot faster. After a while, these moments become more frequent. In a few days I'd increased my picking speed by about 15bpm.

All picking starts with just being able to alternate up/down on one string. Everything is built from there. You'll find that if you can improve your basic speed, then anything you do that crosses strings will be helped by it.

Posted by: Dinaga Feb 10 2012, 02:02 PM

Don't give up man, and never call yourself useless! It's not true. All of us are learning here and we're getting better each day. This lesson was a lot frustrating for me too and I know I could do it a lot better only if I tried more, but the key is - never give up! Take a rest if you need, but don't think you can't do it because you can, it's only a matter of time. Chandra and Ben gave some really good advice in their lasts posts here, and I don't have much else to add technique-wise.

You can do it!