Skizik's Thread, for Gab's Army Options

[Gabriel Leopardi]

Hi Skizik! Welcome to your mentoring thread. Before we start I'll need to know these things...

- 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.

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[Skizik]

[quote name='Gabriel Leopardi' date='Jun 13 2016, 04:42 PM' post='733480']
Hi Skizik! Welcome to your mentoring thread. Before we start I'll need to know these things...

- How many time have you been playing guitar?

Hard to put an exact number on this - I got my first guitar when I was 18, I'm 28 now. First guitar was electric. Over the last 10 years there have been several gaps in my playing but I played seriously for maybe a year. At one point I was going to college for music and I took 2 semesters of classical guitar, 1 semester of piano and 2 semesters of voice. I'm not very good at this point I would say I have about a year of solid experience if you bundle it all together.

- Favorite guitarists, bands and musicians.

Red Hot Chili Peppers, Sublime, A Day to Remember, Silverstein, Crown the Empire, Bring me the Horizon, Green Day, the Word Alive, Eskimo Callboy, many other similar

- What are your guitar goals?

I want to get as good as I can as fast as I can. My friends and I are going to start a band on August 1st (this is our 3rd attempt over the last 8 years). I will either be doing rhythm guitar and voice or lead guitar we are not sure yet going to see how it goes.

- How would you like to you see yourself in 5 years (related to music and guitar)?

5 Years from now I want to have started my career in music. This is what I want to do with my life and I am ready to work HARD. I don't care whether I'm in a bad performing or giving lessons as long as I am doing SOMETHING with music.

- How many time can you play guitar each day?

On work days (Fri, Sat, Tues) I am prepared to practice 4-6 hours. The other 4 non-work days I am prepared to practice 6-8 hours. This is not an exaggeration I am really prepared to work this hard and my hands are now used to playing at the very minimum 3 hours a day.

For music theory I know the basics...key signatures, timing and a feel for the different time signatures... 4/4, 3/4, 6/8 etc. some scale and chord construction, circle of fifths....the basics but enough to get going I think.

I recorded a short video of stuff I play currently. I stopped at lanigan's ball after I messed up cause I couldn't remember the timing. I was going to record another one with me playing that, because I can play that song I just forgot the timing and some other stuff with some basic open chords and stuff but no time before work - I can record more later.

I am actually better at electric than acoustic but I will not have an electric for another 4-6 weeks. I will definitely have one then though since we will be starting our band august 1st. An example of my electric skills would be that I can play the song "A Shot In the Dark" by a Day to Remember all the way through.

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[Skizik]

I kind of rushed those answers earlier, I had to leave for work quickly. I'm off for the next 2 days now though so i will be on here A LOT.

I am going to learn every single level 1 acoustic lesson on here...I figured this would be good since I do not know a lot of songs to play and these are very quick for me to learn (I just learned the drunken sailor lesson in about 5 minutes), so my goal for tomorrow is to learn as many as I can and then I will record a video of me playing everything I learned.

I tried to upload a video earlier but was having some problems...I could get it in the box after hitting browse but it wouldnt do anything when I hit upload...I will try on a few different browsers im sure ill be able to figure it out. Ill try to upload it again now since I am using a different browser but if i dont have any luck ill try a few different things tomorrow after i practice several hours.

I forgot to mention the band unwritten law, I really like the album here's to the mourning... honestly i love all different kinds of music. There are some spanish artists I like a lot too...some of shakira's spanish albums, rakim y ken-y, winsin y yandel....there's tons of stuff. Country and Jazz are among my least favorites....post-hardcore is defiitely my favorite and I LOVE acoustic versions of post-hardcore songs (Silverstein does this well and is one of my favorite bands in general, if not my absolute favorite).

I will upload more videos and answer questions more thoroughly over the next 2 days. I am PUMPED to start this band on August 1st and PUMPED to get my electric guitar at the end of July....its just acoustic until then so like I said im going to start at the very beginning with the level 1 lessons and learn as many as I can as fast as I can.

Thanks again SO MUCH for the mentoring opportunity!

Yeah I tried the upload again but it just kept loading forever...I think the file size might be too big (its a 10 min video 302MB so i think i JUST went over the max size) but I will definitely record some new videos tomorrow and thursday and get them uploaded for you.

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[Gabriel Leopardi]

Hi friend, thanks for your info! This is really helpful for me.

About learning all those acoustic lesson, you won't regret it. Just take your time to work on details and polish each element.

I recommend you to use a youtube account to upload your videos and share them here. It's the easier way to share your videos, and you can use a soundcloud account if you plan to share audios. Let me know if you need help with it.

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[Skizik]

okay thanks Gabe that sounds good I will do that tonight and tomorrow - I do have a youtube account so it wont take me long to get this going. Practice is going very well today I found a song I used to play many years ago called Minuet by From First to Last. It has been several years since I worked on this piece but I have it memorized again and can play it all the way through at about half speed. I have been practicing this a lot today since I love how it sounds and want to be able to play it perfectly. I will need a break soon since there are some big stretches in this piece and my hand is beginning to tire but after my break I will get to work on those beginning acoustic pieces so I can post to you some videos of my playing tomorrow...I also want to get to work on your Goo Goo Dolls style acoustic lesson - I love the sound of this lesson (as well as all of your lessons...you truly are a huge inspiration to me) and want to be able to play stuff like this fluently on acoustic guitar.

Back to practice now I will update you again tonight and tomorrow and will defi9nitely have some videos up for you tomorrow. =)

Joe/Skizik

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[Gabriel Leopardi]

Excellent! You make me feel very proud.

Good luck with today's work, I'll wait for your news.

Cheers!

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[Skizik]

demo 1
Demo 2
Demo 3

demo 1 - funeral for a friend - your revolution is a joke
demo 2 - malaguena
demo 3 - from first to last minuet...first time playing it on this guitar wanted you to see what kind of equip im working with

goals for the week:

learn all the number 1 lessons and post a demo for you of all of them with very few to 0 errors by next weekend...i have also been playing these with palm muting do you have any other practice suggestions?

Improve the songs in the 3 demos

Learn the last part of greensleeves and post demo

Learn the goo-goo dolls lesson

3 weeks from now im going to parkway music to browse electrics...i have a lot of suggestions to try out...
5 weeks from now ill be buying one i cant wait to get into electric again...first lets see how good i can get on acoustic by then

Questions:

As far as wanting the ability to just pick up my guitar and play improv how much time should i spend on scales as opposed to learning songs...i basically only know position 1 of the major scale...i used to know all the positions but didnt really use them and don't really do much with this guy either besides use it as a warm up/vocal warm up and play it in thirds.... what should i learn next and what should i actually be doing with these guys to get the most out of them towards overall guitar fluency?

Thanks for any suggestions

Also, any homework for the week? Homework is a good idea i think...

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This post has been edited by Skizik: Jun 17 2016, 07:00 AM

[Gabriel Leopardi]

Hi mate, nice vids!

Your goals for the week sound good but maybe that's too much. Let's try it and then you tell me how it was. The idea is not to work on a lot of things, the idea is to stay focused and work on each lesson deeply. That's why I don't think I have to add more homework to your current plan.

About improvisation, I consider very important to dedicate some time each day to improvise.

What about working on this course? LINK HERE.

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[Skizik]

okay sounds great thanks mate i will give that course a thorough look this week as well...it might be too much but yeah we will see how the week goes i will update you....like i said though i am really motivated to put the work in and i have the time to dedicate so i think i can do it...

Also...

I'm REALLY digging the new single on your band's website!!! Backup (Cortina Backup), sounds awesome!!! I see that I can purchase individual songs is there anywhere I can just buy the full CD's? And what about t-shirts or other merch?

To be completely honest i usually get my music from youtube or downloads but sometimes I make exceptions and I definitely want to make sure your band gets my support you are 100% on my exception list =)

Joe

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This post has been edited by Skizik: Jun 17 2016, 07:45 PM

[Skizik]

okay so just a quick update so you know im doing my job practicing...going well so far i got a little sidetracked from my goals playing a few other things but im back working on those level 1 acoustic lessons...

submitted my first REC video here John B. Sails

as well as began to play a few others that I have learned with the backing tracks. I'll try to get at least 2 more REC submissions in tomorrow and continue to work on the level 1s...I have them all bookmarked (I found 10 in total) and my goal is still to have a REC submission for each one by the weekend.

cheers


Joe

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[Gabriel Leopardi]

Hi mate, great job with the REC take! I've just commented and graded your take there. Check it out!

About Cirse's stuff, yes, you can order it, you just have to send me a PM and I'll give you more info.

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[Skizik]

Okay so I've been doing well practicing but some things have changed and if you could help with my practice routine a bit that would be awesome! First off I did not know about the different guitar series that were available until this week. I started the basic chord series and have gone through the chords in the keys of C, G and D major. They are quick and easy I know all or most of the chords except for the m7b5 chords. I want to practice these to improve my rhythm and to quicken my recall or knowledge of chords in each key.

I've been doing a lot of singing lately and want to begin incorporating singing and guitar playing more. Today I worked out the solfege for the John B. Sails lesson I learned so that I can sing it on top of playing the rhythm guitar chords so i can practice rhythm strumming while singing. This is an important goal of mine.

The other level 1 acoustic songs are a bit harder than I expected...I'm working on increasing my tempo on the rhythm parts for a few and the lead part for lanigans ball. I learned Whiskey in the Jar today since it is in the key of G and I am doing that in the series as well. I will solfege out the lead notes tomorrow and learn the rhythm part to this song.

I learned the C Ionian scale since I play it in john b sails and the g major scale starting on the 3rd fret of low e string (well i already knew it but im playing it more since im doing key of g in series. I noticed that house of rising sun which i have pretty down is in a-minor...i know a-minor is relative to c major so it uses all of the same notes...i could solfege out this song as well which i will probably do iin the coming days but i would also like to learn the a-minor scale....i dont know which i should learn is there a particular one this song uses between natural minor/haronic minor? I dont really know what it means that I know C Ionian scale as opposed to C major scale starting on the e note (mi) of the major scale? I really like this scale how it goes well with the open chords i want to do much more with my open chords to spice up my playing

I want to continue learning in this way so that things come together and i learn as much about music as i can...as i said i plan to sing as well and i also have played piano in the past and would like to do this again in the future after i learn guitar much better. I want a very strong knowlege of what it is im actually doing musically when i play these pieces.

I want to do another series after I do this one, but i dont know where to go....there were a few beginner ones that I saw that interested me is there a particular one i should do after the basic chord series that would be good for acoustic rhythm style? I want to keep working on the level 1 acoustics too but obviously with the things i have added im slowing my goals down a bit for the REC's of these as I learn each piece THOROUGHLY....my goal is to post 2 or 3 REC videos of these level 1 lessons at the end of 1 week from this post.

Thanks for any suggestions

Joe

okay so I found and started the rhythm guitar beginner series I think this one will be quick but helpful...also I would like to find something to do with minor key chord progressions since the series I am doing just has major key chord progressions....I cant just use the same chords as the relative major key can I? ill have to play this a bit and see what it sounds like going in ascending order.

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This post has been edited by Skizik: Jun 25 2016, 04:59 PM

[Gabriel Leopardi]

Hi mate! Great stuff!

I think that practicing both guitar and singing with this lesson is a killer training for your ear. The more you do it, the more you'll incorporate this sounds into your mind which is the the first step to then be able to compose and improvise.

In order to clarify minor keys, I think that you should check out this articles:

Relative Minors

The natural minor scale


I think that you have enough stuff to work right now. Please take your time to digest all this music that you are learning.

I'll wait for your takes to check your progress.

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[Skizik]

Hey Gabriel =)

Been a hectic week I have been doing some home repairs and painting but I have still been getting roughly 2-3 hours per day of guitar in and around the same of singing. I practiced the major chord progressions A LOT this week and posted 7 REC vids tonight for each of the major keys. I want to get into a routine where I post videos for you once a week on the same day so this week I posted on Monday what I recorded Sunday night so next week on Monday I will post new videos for you...I think I will bee getting back to those level 1 Acoustic lessons now that I have thoroughly gone through the basic chord series.


I am going to begin using these chord progressions as warm-ups for playing...I am also looking for some songs that use these chords to give me different rhythms to practice...some easier songs I have been playing include:

Oasis - Wonderwall
Anna Nalick - Breathe (2AM) and Wreck of the Day
Limp Bizkit - Behind Blue Eyes
Green Day - Good Riddance, When I Come Around

If you have any other suggestions for me I am all ears. I have also been looking at the Ionian Mode for many of these Keys. I was never familiar with Ionian mode before and I still don't really know what it means other than it seems to be the major scale of whatever key on the lowest possible position of the fret board...is there anything more to it than this??? Anyways, next week I will have some more videos for you of the level 1 acoustic lessons and also some new videos utilizing these major key progressions possibly throwing in some improv with the Ionian Mode scales and mixing up some rhythm a bit. If there is anything else I should be working on please let me know. I briefly looking at some of the minor scale stuff you posted and I will get into that more a bit later in the future...I want to keep focusing on the major scale progressions at the moment now that they are becoming second nature as I think everything is starting to come together nicely as far as ear training and singing and playing together is concerned.


Here are links to the youtube videos I have up that I also posted as REC videos on GMC. Each major key progression:

G - https://youtu.be/Fmv8Y2zGZ_Q
F - https://youtu.be/ZR2mmwxZ-c8
E - https://youtu.be/-Iq_P0FQCHM
D - https://youtu.be/rYCL160Fpko
C - https://youtu.be/og-PRb1dauw
B - https://youtu.be/syZ6Zx7a2XM
A - https://youtu.be/vRGa7EsCDZc

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[Skizik]

Wow man I cannot believe how fast I get responses from you guys here....I absolutely love GMC you guys are incredible thank you very much for your comments and suggestions I will make sure to incorporate this into my practice and next week I will post new videos of the chord progressions so that we can see the progress. Thanks again for everything mate.

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[Gabriel Leopardi]

Hi mate, great to know that my comments at the REC section worked. There are some videos that I haven't graded yet but I think that you can get the idea of which are the things you need to have in mind during the next days of practice.

About the song list, sure! It's a great idea to complement your diary practice with songs. That's the main goal, making music! Go for it.

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[Skizik]

Hey mate just a quick update so you know I'm still practicing since I didn't post any RECs last week...practice has been going very well I am making clear improvements. Tomorrow I will post RECs of Lanigan's Ball and House of the Rising Sun since I have these 2 pretty well set and I will give a longer post letting you know what I have been working on and what goals I have for the next couple weeks. Last week was kind of tough I was still doing a lot of painting and house projects but now that is done and the last few days I have been able to up my practice time by a significant amount so I will be able to progress faster now. Thanks again for the help those comments on the major chord progression series helped a lot I have greatly improved my strumming since those vids =D

-Joe

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[Gabriel Leopardi]

Hi Joe! Thanks for the update. I'm glad to know that my comments really helped. I'll be waiting for your news.

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[Skizik]

hey man I'm out of town until Saturday night I had a family emergency come up my brother got a pretty serious injury at work so we took off for an unplanned visit I'll get those RECs up when I get back either Saturday night or sometime on Sunday. I'll be getting an electric guitar fairly soon too I really want to start working on electric a bit I'm starting to get a bit frustrated and feeling stuck with the acoustic stuff but I'll talk to you more about that when I'm back I'm definitely going to need some help for this slump I'm in Talk to you in a couple days! =)

Joe

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[Gabriel Leopardi]

Hi man, I'm sorry about your brother's issue. I hope that he gets good soon. Thanks for the update. Take your time to take care of him. All the best friend.

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