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Posted by: Ben Higgins Feb 16 2012, 08:33 PM

Task 4 : http://www.guitarmasterclass.net/ls/Picking-Arpeggios/ Record and upload your version of this lesson by next Thursday 23rd February

Oh yeah... you knew it

If you're thinking 'Are we just going to be doing the same Tasks as the advanced guys but a week or two later ?' then I can say no, you are not. However, on occasion, you may find yourself doing a lesson that has been done by those guys.

I've been saying for quite a while now that using chords, especially played as arpeggios, is a brilliant way of warming up your fingers. It also gets your picking hand wrist moving too but the main benefits for me are found with the fretting hand. In some cases, there is no better warm up than doing the thing you are going to be doing but at a lower level of intensity. It engages all the bits and pieces that you're going to be needing by expanding/contracting the bits and encouraging blood flow.

Not only is this a great warm up but you also get the bonus of stretching those unwilling sausages that you call fingers ! If you haven't managed to increase your finger span on the guitar after this week I'll be surprised. I'm always so generous in the gifts I give to you that I amaze myself sometimes

You also get the added advantage of looking back over the Advanced group's thread and stealing any bits of info and advice you may find useful.

Enjoy !!

Posted by: Gitarrero Feb 16 2012, 08:43 PM

Thank you sensei, what a great task lies ahead of us!
I am especially pleased that there are actually open chords in this lesson...I will not disappoint you

Posted by: Sensible Jones Feb 16 2012, 09:41 PM

I was going to start learning this lesson soon anyway Ben!! I'll just have to start a bit sooner is all!!

Posted by: gregc1 Feb 16 2012, 09:54 PM

Awesome! This will be a nice change of pace although challenging I'm sure. I feel confident I will get this at full speed finally.

Also Ben, I will have a slo-mo version of Task 3 posted this evening as it is still only 4:00 in the US.

Posted by: superize Feb 16 2012, 10:07 PM

Really challenging chords in this one. It will be really tough

Posted by: WeePee Feb 17 2012, 04:58 PM

Ow this is the lesson I was gonna learn but did nothing about it. You're good ass kicker hairy master bushido-man
I'll try my best.

Oh yeah that first chord is familiar from 'tallica's call of the Ktulu song. very eerie

Posted by: gregc1 Feb 17 2012, 05:33 PM

I'm treating this task (mentally) simply as a lesson to learn some new chords as this is an area that I have neglected way too much as far as breaking away from the normal major-minor-7ths.

I can play the first two positions very cleanly but the transition is tough because these shapes are so far out there. I've just started on the big stretches and can barely get those at this point but after reading some of the Advanced comments, it looks like that's normal at first and gets easier through the week.

My strategy is to go through the whole lesson and learn the chords. Then get used to transitioning through them and playing all strings cleanly when strumming. I figure if I can get that down, playing the actual arpeggios should be easy.

Posted by: Ben Higgins Feb 17 2012, 06:56 PM

Glad you guys are open to the challenge ! I always play this when I pick up the guitar to practice (by the way, it's not always perfect.. actually it's hardly ever perfect..)

Interesting approach Greg. I personally go straight to arpeggiating whatever new chords I'm learning but your way might be just as effective.. keep me posted !

Posted by: superize Feb 20 2012, 04:42 PM

I am really starting to get a grasp on the chord changes now

Posted by: gregc1 Feb 20 2012, 04:56 PM

Same here Superize. I've got the first set of changes down as well as the last set although the first change is still kind of "weird". I am still having issues getting the big stretches clean, or even getting them at all, in the middle part. Still have some time though.

Posted by: Ben Higgins Feb 20 2012, 05:12 PM

I always found the changes from 2nd chord to 3rd and back to the 1st the most difficult

Posted by: gregc1 Feb 20 2012, 05:35 PM

Hahaha, you're right Ben. Aside from the big stretches which is my largest challenge right now, that exact transition is very tough. When I go to start, my fingers go right to position for the first chord, no problem. But when I go back to the first chord from the third chord, I have a real time getting my little finger into position quick enough. The change from "2" to "3" is tough but the "3" to"1" is even tougher for me.

Posted by: WeePee Feb 22 2012, 11:21 AM

HEY just let you know that I have terrible flu right now...so I haven't touched guitar for few days.

But I'll try post something later...





(Oh and please rather break one toe instead of a finger )

Posted by: Ben Higgins Feb 22 2012, 11:53 AM

Oh Man that sucks !!! Sorry to hear that

Don't worry too much about recording something.. illness is a valid excuse, even in this Temple


How is everybody else doing with this Task ?

Posted by: gregc1 Feb 22 2012, 01:33 PM

I've pretty much got the first and last sections down. My only issue is the middle segment with the "stretchy" chords, specifically the 2nd one. Surprisingly (to myself) I have started being able to get the first one although I only hit it clean about 60% of the time currently. I'm getting closer but I haven't been able to make the stretch for the second one yet.

Posted by: Ben Higgins Feb 23 2012, 11:46 AM

Just a little reminder that today is the deadline for this Task and I will be making Task 5 available soon

Posted by: gregc1 Feb 23 2012, 01:35 PM

I'll have mine up a little later today. I was really hoping to get a REC video out of this task but I just can not make the reach yet on that 2nd chord-middle segment. I will say that when this task started I wasn't even close to making the stretch for either of the tough chords but now I can pretty much get the first (with some minor body contorting) so I'm making progress, just not quite there yet.

Posted by: Ben Higgins Feb 23 2012, 03:15 PM

That's cool Greg.. any progress is good progress Maybe the lesson will find a place in your daily warm up routine ?

Posted by: superize Feb 23 2012, 03:47 PM

I don't have the time to record anything today but tomorrow i will.

Posted by: gregc1 Feb 23 2012, 03:58 PM

Absolutely. I WILL complete this and do it cleanly.

It's funny because I have actually been a little frustrated with this one because going into this task, I was confident I would finally get one done at full speed but as I got closer to today's deadline I realized this one part was going to prevent me from accomplishing that. But....

One of the other tasks I still go back to is the Etude you had us do for task 2 I believe. After working on this new task for a few days and going back to the Etude, there is the part where you stretch from the 5th fret to the 10th. Turns out that part is much easier or more natural for me now than it was before I started this new task. So, in the grand scheme of things, mission accomplished.

Posted by: gregc1 Feb 23 2012, 06:55 PM

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOkay. Here's mine.

I actually hesitate to even post it because the middle part is such an absolute tragedy but here it is anyhow.

Posted by: Ben Higgins Feb 23 2012, 07:07 PM

Hey thanks for posting it !

It's not that bad, it just needs more time is all

I quite liked the extra plink plonk sounds !!

Nice tone as well

Posted by: gregc1 Feb 23 2012, 09:31 PM

Hahaha! Thanks Ben

I will say I am pretty solid with the plink plonks.

Posted by: GrindGuer Feb 24 2012, 01:05 AM

Hi,
here is my take. I'm not satisfied with it, but I couldn't do it better in the time given
It's really frustrating : I've been playing it for a while now, and I supposed I could do better than this. But when I've recorded the track, I figured out that there are a lot of "little" mistakes that damage the take. It's not the fear of the REC button as I've read on this site. It's just that I'm less perfectionist when I don't record myself. Surely a thing to work on.
Anyway, thanks Ben for this motivation. I've been playing the whole week to manage this, and it's been entertaining, even if the result is not as good as I expected.
Cheers,
GrindGuer
 picking_arpeggio_20120224_0057.mp3 ( 1.06MB ) : 84

Posted by: gregc1 Feb 24 2012, 01:30 AM

Man you're describing my take. Your take sounded great!

Posted by: Ben Higgins Feb 24 2012, 09:59 AM

GG, that is a solid effort for a week's work ! You should be pleased... even when I pick up the guitar and run through I get bum notes here and there !!

Great tone and timing as well..

Well done

Posted by: GrindGuer Feb 24 2012, 10:17 AM

Thank you Greg. My take wasn't that good. I feel less lonely knowing we are two with the same kind of problem

Thanks Ben. The thing is it was my best attempt on a lot of takes, not the one I did while I picked up the guitar . Anyway, thanks for your kind words.

Posted by: superize Feb 24 2012, 10:01 PM

Here it is is.

Its been a really hard task to be able to play this with fluent chord changes but it was a great

Posted by: gregc1 Feb 24 2012, 11:16 PM

That sounded really good man!

I really must have tiny hands. I just could not make those stretches that you guys are making.

Posted by: Ben Higgins Feb 25 2012, 11:40 AM

Great playing Ize ! You did really well.. which chord shape gave you the most trouble ?

Posted by: superize Feb 25 2012, 12:09 PM

Going to those chords with the wide stretches was the hardest for me, especially going to the last chord in the tune