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Posted by: Jim S. Nov 23 2014, 11:59 PM

Not being the first time someone asked me what kind of guitar do you play, but it always brings feelings of embarrassment with the typical answer "Im a weird kind of guitar player but mainly instrumental rock." Ive taken a break from guitar for a month because of work. When I got back playing I found that I didn't have anything to play. Why on earth would there be nothing to play? I should have something... So I do what I always do which is jamming familiar chord progressions and trying to improvise lead guitar in between the changes. I end up working out new chords and melody parts by never put it to good use.

Maybe I'm so sick of playing with headphones in my basement. The other day a plugged directly into a wobbly reverb Traynor Jazz amp and it sounded so good LOUD and I felt free to play whatever. I might need to switch things up a bit because from only practicing lessons takes away from the creative process a bit.

What are you thoughts?

Posted by: Todd Simpson Nov 24 2014, 04:21 AM

Egad!!! I would NEVER suggest that a student practice only lessons. Such a thing would more than likely result in burnout and slow progress I'd suggest taking a more instinctual approach and play whatever you feel like playing

For example. IF you find you feel like jamming to a song you like, put on that song and jam to it! Learn it and play along, or just solo over the entire thing or whatever comes to mind

Also, mix it up playing with an amp or headphones or without anything. Take your guitar on to the couch and watch a movie, Take it and walk around your house and find new places to play. Keep it interesting!

Todd

Posted by: Cosmin Lupu Nov 24 2014, 11:50 AM

Hey Jimbo!

That's entirely up to you I mean, you learn stuff so that you can put it to good use. To me, it's futile to practice like crazy and not apply those things somewhere meaningful.

What if one knows 1000 jazz chords and 1000 scales, if they don't use them anywhere in a creative fashion? Look at Zakk Wylde - he knows the pentatonic, blues, natural minor and bluegrass scale I honestly haven't heard ANYTHING else from him Does that make him a lesser player than Pat Metheny? I think not Each one has his own flavor and skills, but the one important things is - how they put their knowledge and experience to good use by creating music with it.

So - first of all:

- gather all your ideas and record them
- see which ones you like the most
- think of a structure that could include more of them together or just one which can be developed
- post the one(s) which fit in the above description and I will send my suggestions afterwards

Posted by: Jim S. Nov 26 2014, 05:35 PM

Hey Cosmin! Last night I sat down and just played, at one point I felt on fire and inspired so I stopped and started recording. By the time the red light flashed I lost all sense of what I was doing and took so long to get back into a groove.

In the meantime ive been playing a pop country song on repeat and its inspired me to sing it. I'll have to find a new place to practice if I plan on singing but the change might be very stimulating.

I think I may set up an area at my shop for my drum set and amps! No one can bother me their.

Posted by: Gabriel Leopardi Nov 26 2014, 06:16 PM

This is a very good point! Sometimes we get so obsessive with practice and we forget the main goal why we decided play guitar. The main goal of everything behind learning scales, chords, practicing exercises was and always should be playing music. This can have different meaning depending on each one. Some guitarists like playing and interpreting cover songs, adding their personalities and touch to pieces composed by other musicians, while other want to create their own pieces of music. Both things are very valuable, but both things also require practice. We need to practice playing songs if we want to play songs, and we need to practicing composing if we want to compose. (this is also applicable to other aspects like arranging or improvising).

That's why I think that it's good to focus our diary routines around what we exactly want to do. As Cosmin said, we don't need to learn 1000 scales if we want to play some blues, we don't need to learn lots of extended chords if we want to play pop rock. It always helps to have more knowledge, but becoming obsessive on accumulating information is not positive or effective, I think that it's closer to the opposite.

About the recording thing, you should find the way to make it more natural. Record yourself more often, for longer periods of time and also have your equipment always ready to start recording in 1 minute.

Posted by: klasaine Nov 26 2014, 07:17 PM

Everybody's a lesser player than Pat Metheny (kidding ... well, not really).

But yeah, as stated, knowing how to use a few things in a musical way is far better than knowing a lot of stuff that you don't/can't use.

Posted by: Jim S. Nov 26 2014, 08:47 PM

I'm just a corn-fused kinda guy Gabriel!

Posted by: Cosmin Lupu Nov 27 2014, 09:11 AM

Jimbo - work with yourself You have received great suggestions from everyone and I think you have got the right set of skills to come up with great stuff - but you need to persevere and work without letting thoughts disturb you.

I have an idea - why not hit the red light BEFORE anything else and just play until you forget it's there Things will probably feel a lot more comfy after you don't care about it anymore - what say you?

Posted by: Darius Wave Nov 27 2014, 02:18 PM

We all have thoughts similar to Yours on different fields of playing - not only doing practice stuff vs creativity workout. Thoughts like that give us a singnal to change the routine. It's pretty natural. What You learn in the lessons becomes a natural part of Your spontanious improvising. Some borrowed ideas will appear in Your playing even if not concious I think You have nothing to be afraid of. You can keep doing lessons but add some more time for fre improvisations too see what kind of profits did those lessons give You Monica can tell You something more about it - we had a conversation quite some time ago about and she had similar concerns ...I think she's best one to explain You

Posted by: Gabriel Leopardi Nov 27 2014, 02:32 PM

What does it exactly mean?

Posted by: Jim S. Nov 27 2014, 05:32 PM

I've been using my phone to post here and the site has been super wacked out. Gabriel I used Corn-fused as confused. It means that I'm not really sure what I want to play. See I love instrumental music and as I get older I'm appreciating a good lyrical songs. I feel that if I played in a band settung Id get more out of my instrument.

Years ago I joined a band and I remember that while playing with the band Id pull out techniques and ideas I practiced but never implied them anywhere. I'd like to do that again.

Ken didn't methany loose his memory of how to play guitar then relearn guitar? I have his watercolors album and it's pretty good.

Darius! Where have you been man? I'm glad you chimed in. Your right I need to push through and keep the lessons and work on myself. It's hard to practice and keep motivated when your doing it all alone.

As with recording.... I can record but my computer is really on its very last leg and I'm not sure when I can afford a new one. This last year I've spent some time with programming drums and using plugins to help me write but the crashing computer kills the whole process. That's what is so frustrating. I know what I want to do "write original music," but I need s new computer to handle the workload.

In the meantime I need to find a way to play/practice without the need of a computer. I found a place and I'll be moving my stuff there soon!

Cosmin your also right about the good suggestions here. I really appreciate this site and the mentors keeping me on track more than I would by myself. So thanks to all of you!

Posted by: Monica Gheorghevici Nov 27 2014, 08:50 PM

I had an unhealthy thinking and to be honest without Darek, which has an unbelievable patience, I would have stuck in the same place. He explained me many things, awoke me and guided me on the right way. What people don't know is that I was very stubborn at beginning and I'm still sorry for this The fact that everything Darek told me become reality, made me to have 200% trust in him. Now I will explain what was in my mind 1 year ago and how I see the things right now

My fears 1 year ago and some topics from my conversations with Darek: (i'm not proud with this )
- I didn't want to learn lessons, because I was afraid to not keep in mind a phrase and use it unconsciously in my improvisations.
- I was scare that I will not have enough time for improvisation and I will "loose" all my time making lessons.
- I said that I hate blues because are 5 notes played in different ways (this was the most big stupid thing that I said in my life). The funny thing is that all the techniques that I love and I use right now are from blues, but I realized later this thing after Darek told me "You hate blues as long As You don't know it well" Damn, had right

My current thinking:
Lessons are the best thing which made me to progress very fast. When you work for details and you learn the technique behind the lesson, this will make miracle with your playing. With every lesson my playing changed in a good way. The profit after each lesson was 100%. In parallel with lessons I compose my stuff (never stop to work for your stuff) and I try to apply every new technique that I learn. I always record when I improvise and after that I listen very carefully. Lately I realize that I start to use details without thinking to use them. I remembered that Darek told me that at some point all our work for making millions of tiny details will became natural in my playing. He had right again I have moments when I listen what I recorded and I ask myself "how the hell I played that thing". I can't explain in words how happy I am in this kind of moments and how exited to tell this to Darek. The constant results give me the power to want more

Of course I have a lot bad days when nothing sounds good, in my mind it's a big blank and I can't compose a smart thing or I'm stuck at a hard part in a lesson, but then I watch at couple of videos with my favorite guitarists and I realize that I can't afford to let a bad day to ruin my goal For me this works and in 30 minutes I'm ready to play again

I'm sure that you have just some bad days Think exactly what you want for real.
BTW I feel the same as you about playing in a band. I love instrumental music and I want to show more than I can do as a member in a band.
You have a lot of good ideas to write music and your playing it's awesome! If your dream is to write music, make this real but keep doing lessons. I will do the same. Someday we will arrive where we want

Posted by: klasaine Nov 27 2014, 09:36 PM

No. Close. That was Pat Martino. Brain aneurism and after successful surgery he was sadly left w/o his ability to remember how to play guitar. So after folks reminded him that he did in fact not only play but influenced and inspired an entire generation of jazz guitarists he decided to have all the guys that could really play just like him re-teach him how to play ... like 'him'. I 'think' a lot of it started to come back as he re-learned.

Back to the OP ...
Because I'm constantly being handed a guitar by family and friends (mostly the friends of my wife - musicians never ask you to 'play' in social situations) I have about an hour's worth of solo pieces I can play to quiet them down. I think it's good to have at least two or three songs you can play (or play and sing) for those moments that inevitably come up. Like tonight as it's Thanksgiving here in the states.

Posted by: Cosmin Lupu Nov 28 2014, 09:20 AM

I can totally relate to this situation, Ken For a bit of background - I am organizing my first fundraising event - it's a joint venture concert, featuring big names in the alternative metal scene here in Romania. We are all friends and everyone answered my call to join forces and do this charitable event to support a center called Hospice - The house of hope - a place that takes care of people suffering from incurable diseases, in their final days. This place offers them treatment and acceptance in a small society and proper living conditions, especially for children. We went to visit the place 2 days ago and the folks there, asked us to bring a guitar along. Of course, when the time came they asked us to play something and we were all like - uh oh what do we play now? I knew only one easy song that could be played without I don't know what rehearsals and all that - Nutshell from Alice in Chains and I did that one sharing vocal duties with our bassplayer - it came out very well, but there was a loooot of sweat there There was one moment exactly like the ones described by Ken - 'Here's a guitar! Now play something!'

The idea is that it's always good to learn tunes because people in a social environment don't give a rat's a... about how many complicated chords or scales you know - you need to entertain them It's actually easier than it sounds - but when we're all focused on learning scales and exercises, it can be a really big issue when you face the tiger, right?

Posted by: Todd Simpson Nov 29 2014, 12:06 AM

Great point!! Being able to just pick up an accoustic guitar and play some songs people will recognize and appreciate is a very handy skill They really don't care how articulate your scales are, they just want to hear something familiar that's well played. If you can sing at all it's huge bonus for crowd points

Posted by: Jim S. Nov 29 2014, 02:54 AM

I think getting a better grip on my Vocals is a big key to my playing and I better learn one at some point LOL. So this song which is not one that Id ever publicly admit to liking has been on repeat for days. I love it..... and my voice seems to fit nicely as I sing along. What I enjoy is the dynamic elements. For starters its very catchy but not cheesy.

I am a fool piano and this chord structure, its so beautiful. So there's that I like Piano. The words of the song can be related in some way to my life and it gave me some goosebumps.

Next the sections build and build then a mini guitar solo ends into a nice silent breakdown. When it comes back it it is charged and continues to build until the Finale.




How would you guys go about learning this tune? Any suggestions?

Posted by: Cosmin Lupu Nov 29 2014, 07:35 AM

Hey Jim I also admit on having guilty pleasures with some songs that are so not metal For instance this one - speaking of vocals and piano:



But man does this voice and augmenting piano do the trick...

I'd be curious to hear your version of the song you posted - can you also sing and play? Use simple chords and focus on staying with the groove when singing - it will be A HUGE benefit for your playing - trust me on this one, as I have been experimenting with the idea for the last almost 2 years. Your ears will be developed to a great extent and the gap between what you hear in your head and what you can play will be diminished greatly

Posted by: Jim S. Nov 30 2014, 09:11 PM

Hey Monica thanks for your encouraging words and for sharing your personal struggles. I'm happy your braking them too!


I finally broke down and devoted a corner of my auto shop to Music! Things are coming out of storage and I'm setting up a band space. Not sayin I'm starting a band but at least it's not my main goal currently. Hopefully this place will allow me to open up and write and sing. There is a plastic barrier I put to insulate me from the metal building. So far the drum set sounds pretty good too. Not boomy but full crisp. Funny thing is the high hats sound much quieter on here. Here's some pics

[attachment=40014:image.jpg]

Cosmin to answer your question this is not my forte and it is uncomfortable. However I know that my voice is good and the times I have sung before were very beneficial. 2 or 3 times I can recall my voice going into a nice mix with my guitar and I just lit up. I even wrote 1 song completely improv and the chords were not my typical chords. But I chose those ones and had to listen back to what I was playing. Luckily I got it on my phone.
Here are some old clips from years back when I just joined a band and got forced to sing. It's an original I was working on but what was so cool was soloing over my own song. I remember this moment I was really nervous and excited!
https://soundcloud.com/jim-seekford-music/killing-me-1

this is a very odd defamation of red house and probably why the band wanted to only play funk after. Lol

https://soundcloud.com/jim-seekford-music/jimmys-red-house

Posted by: Cosmin Lupu Dec 1 2014, 09:19 AM

Jim!!

I have listened to both recordings Mate - you have a tremendous advantage because if your voice Keep this in mind - the more you learn how to use it, the more you will be able to express what you hear in your head with your voice and then transpose it on the guitar. It's a crucial aspect of playing and I think you should definitely take advantage of this I have a little suggestion here - why not pick up a backing and make up some lines which you come up exclusively by singing? Record your voice singing the lines and then transpose them on the guitar - you will be amazed of how different they sound from what you are usually playing - but there's one thing to it Your voice is who you really are inside, musically speaking. Usually when you play the guitar and try to come up with lines, you will be tempted to play what you know and what you have practiced - the voice only reproduces what you hear in your head, without thinking of positions, arpeggios, scales and so on - take advantage and let me know how it goes

Posted by: Darius Wave Dec 1 2014, 11:54 PM

Ha ha! I knew I could count on Your help Monica but didn't expect that much Yes - it is all about stuff we do and practice so it later becomes a part of our natural guitar behavior

Jim - I've been busy what can I say...my explanation is still the same but only this can describe a total amount of duties I lately have But...I never forget about this wonderfull place and people

Posted by: Monica Gheorghevici Dec 2 2014, 08:04 AM

Haha...I also didn't expect that I will write all these Of course I left some of my stupid statements to remain buried forever between us

Seriously now...I thought it's much fair and easy to explain all the things from the beginning and make a parallel between my old thinking and my actual thinking Who knows, maybe what has worked for me can help others

Posted by: Cosmin Lupu Dec 2 2014, 09:39 AM

It will most likely help and inspire others As long as you can be a walking talking example of how change has worked things for the better in your case, I think it's your duty to show others that they can do it too So, Monica, congrats for taking Darius' request and making it talk, for Jim

Posted by: klasaine Dec 2 2014, 05:20 PM

I agree 100%
One of the things that makes a 'great' teacher is their ability to relate an experience in a comprehensible way that will inspire a student.

Monica's post(s) always do that. She is brutally honest about her development and can articulate it very well.

Posted by: Monica Gheorghevici Dec 3 2014, 06:57 AM

Cosmin - thank you for your kind words I'm always "in" if I can help somebody

Ken - thank you for appreciate honesty I always believe if I'm totally honest with me, I can fix the issues and go further.
You know it's a thing that I hate and it's spreads like a disease. Somehow in my country appeared too many musicians who can be classified into 2 category:
1- the musicians who say: "I always played so good, I don't need to practice, I was born like this ". Everybody knows that even if you are born with a talent without practice you can't shine.
2 - the musicians who say: " I learned to play in 15 years, I will never tell you what should not do because it's not ok for you to learn more fast than me."
But fortunately in GMC don't exist this kind of persons, just people friendly and great instructors which share from their experience

Posted by: Kristofer Dahl Dec 3 2014, 08:56 AM

Very cool thread!

I think this is the key.

However even though most people have identified their weaknesses at some point, it is unfortunately extremely common to see students ignore those weaknesses. Why? Fixing those is the key to progress. Don't they want to get better?

The reason is simple: because most of us have been taught that you either have it or you don't. If you're not born with it forget about it. I think this is one of the biggest lies in modern times. It is this lie that prevents people from getting where they want, and their birth has very little to do with it.

This lie originates from industrialism, and we must do everything we can not to convey it to future generations. It will not help them, nor society as a whole. It is just plain stupidity (more about it http://www.ted.com/talks/ken_robinson_says_schools_kill_creativity).

Posted by: Cosmin Lupu Dec 3 2014, 04:27 PM

I am underlining Kris' affirmation about having it or not People often say - I have no voice. Everyone can sing, if they take some time to train their ears. Some of us can have an easier time with that because they are more inclined to having a good sense of hearing and some less, but everyone can train their ears - the time factor is the difference here and the amount of effort put in, of course.

I think that if we would all be taught that nothing is imposible to achieve, as long as you REALLY want that and you are willing to invest in it - time, money, faith and all manner of resources, you can grow the necessary abilities to do it.

There's one other important factor here which can influence the lybra - luck Some are hard working and also have luck: the luck of being heard by someone who will help them out with something they would've taken too much time to achieve on their own - this could be one of the many examples There are many factors, but as long as you respect the line in bold writing, you are already improving your chances of success big time!

Posted by: Kristofer Dahl Dec 3 2014, 11:19 PM

Unless someone is actually diagnosed as being tone deaf (and this is quite rare) there is no physical 'inclination' that will make music harder. So does this mean everybody has the same premises for making good music? Absolutely not. But it has nothing to do with what you are given with from start.

OK so if it ain't in the genes then where is it I hear you ask? Well it's all the things we discuss here on a daily basis.

But Mozart rocked when he was 4, clearly it must have been in the genes? After all his father rocked as well (=genes). Answer: has it ever occured that his father probably gave him optimal preconditions? Especially given how eager he obviously was to have his son play/write music. I don't know Mozart's history well but there are thousands of similar stories. It is not difficult to expose a young child to music every day, have every game revolve around music etc etc. Age or genes don't matter for music.

Keep telling yourself it's in the genes and you will severely limit your ability to improve. Sure you could have been given better preconditions by your parents, society, whatever. But this should just further push you to work harder, not slow you down. And btw do you think all the people out there who made it had optimal preconditions? My research tells me no.


For sure!



I am mostly focusing on developing musical skills, not making it in the music business. However my view would be the same on both: Luck might speed up the process, but reaching your goals earlier than deserved is much more dangerous than later. Trust me

Misfortune (for example an injury) or similar can however stop you, but if your determination is strong that should not be a problem either ( we're all familiar with Django, Iommi etc).

I'd say that regardless of what you're trying to achieve, believing in luck will be a limiting factor. As you might be tempted to think lack of luck is refraining your development/career, whereas the hitch might be a strategy which needs re-thinking or refinement.

I will say it again: I do not believe in natural talent and in spite of having had this discussion with many different people, no one has ever managed to convince me in any way.

If you don't reach your goals YOU are to blame. Now get practicing.

Posted by: Monica Gheorghevici Dec 4 2014, 08:44 AM

I'm agree with the fact that everybody is born the same. But definitely a children which has the parents musicians (not necessary with a musical career) and are surrounded by instruments will be more curious to try.
Are many children which would love to play at an instrument but their parents are totally against it. Why? Because even if are parents and has some life experience they don't see the benefits in this. The only thing they have in mind is that music will not take you further. You will be like many others artists, without money which try to live in a world where people go only at free concerts where they don't pay tickets.
But for me this is a very wrong thinking. I see many advantage for a children who is exposed at music. First of all he will be more creative, will have a different circle of friends with the same interests (this is a very important thing), will be more curious and he will want to see an opera or a classical concert and it will opens the sense of beauty. I have friends who don't have any idea which is the difference between opera and operetta. But they say "I don't like, I don't go", but they never tried. Their parents never led them to operetta or to theater. It's sad how parents can forget about how to educate the creativity of a kid. But it's "funny" how they say: "my son has a bad circle of friends". How is this possible if you show him another style of life?

If you are a smart parent you don't need to force a children to do something. Just create optimal precondition and he will choose alone.
I was lucky and I was born in a family where everybody play at an instrument: my grandparents, parents and my brother

BTW Kriss.........awesome that video "how schools kill creativity".

Totally agree

Posted by: Cosmin Lupu Dec 4 2014, 09:27 AM

I totally agree with this and I've been at the point in which speeding up the process got my old band in a place from which the fall was harder we were 19-20 years old and everything seemed so fine and dandy. We were admitted to that period's greatest rock festival and we were given a very good place in the line up - because I was the student of one of the country's most revered guitarists - speaking about luck. We were prepared and everything was going great, until the vocalist got drunk (she was even younger than us) and messed up the whole thing... Well, let's say that it took us 3 years to get back into that festival's lineup

We were too young and unprepared mentally to understand the position we had been offered and regardless of the fact that we were prepared musically, we weren't true professionals in order to understand the ethics of the stage.. thus what happened was a lesson learned. For me at least, that point was the shove that showed me how privileged I was and that I should take every chance as seriously as possible.

Posted by: Gabriel Leopardi Dec 5 2014, 04:23 PM

Great posts everybody! From my own experience I can say that everything is possible with hard work and dedication. I have set many goals and dreams since I'm very younger. I remember being very young and becoming amazed by shredders like Malmsteen, Gilbert, Vinnie Moore. I noticed that the journey to reach that type of playing started as soon as my mind did a click (at the age of 15) and I though: This is possible.
I even remember the exact day when I did this click, it was at a Joe Satriani's concert. I could see him, in "real life", not on albums or videos, playing the tricky licks and I could feel that it was possible. After that, the only thing that I had to do is to practice every day. At the age of 17, I could play many songs by Malmsteen, Satriani, Blues Saraceno and many others.

I can share a similar example of hard work related to my band. It's not about practice but it can be really applied to it. 11 years ago, I've met our singer Luciana, and decided to try her voice over some songs that I had. We really liked the results, and decided to take it seriously. I've always had the dream of having a professional band, that recorded albums at good studios, share stage with my favorite bands, tour, sound on the radio, record video-clips. I can say that our environment wasn't the best one. We played a non popular style in our country, with a lady on vocals (we never had a popular rock band leaded by a girl in the past). There weren't referents here, there weren't an audience. However, we worked hard, we tried to make the best songs, the best albums, and with the pass of years, we started to reach some goals, with every new year, and every new albums these goals become bigger and bigger.

I can't say that we had luck, I can say that we worked SO hard, day and night, polishing everything to make our shows better, our sound better, our press better. As the band was growing, we used most of the money to invest on a good staff of people that takes cares of everything (management, press, merchandising, stage manager, light engineer, sound engineer). And the results have been something natural related to the hard work done.

Related to what Cosmin said, about not being ready. I can't agree more with him. It took us many years to be able to play in front of a lot of people, so, when we did it, we were ready to play the best concert of our life. We wouldn't have had that impact in people the first years as a band, so I'm really grateful that the opportunities have been appearing naturally with the evolution of us as a band.

So, when I was 11, I had the dream of playing in a band that could share stage with my idols. After 21 years of hard work, I can say that this has been possible. I can say that every day of these 21 years I did something related to this goals. And I feel that this is just the start.

Check this nice video made by a fan with some cool moments of our last concert at Buenos Aires done the past friday:



I can't be more happy, but I still know that this is just the start. There are many things to improve, much more to say, and there is always a lot of room to grow as a musician, as a band, and off course as a person. Music is infinite.

Posted by: Cosmin Lupu Dec 6 2014, 04:49 PM

Amazing story Gabi I can relate to everything and indeed, music is infinite and we are merely its servants - I totally recommend anyone here to read Victor Wooten's 'The music lesson' book. It'll change your perspective on guitar playing and music in general

Posted by: Jim S. Dec 6 2014, 08:05 PM

Alright well I'm very very excited to play with a Full Stack again!!!! This is great, I got a new spot with nice natural reverb and a nice drum set. It's crazy because at first I turned the reverb up while playing cleanly and after adding some gain the reverb sounded terrible.

Right away I started going right to shaping tone and I knew what to adjust. I have learned a bunch of stuff here at gmc and one of the things is shaping tone.

I have an old 160w peavey tube amp with a 4x12 cellestion cab and a 4x10 jenson cab. The combo make a good punch. The clean tone is very clear and a joy to play but adding a touch of tube screamer and a sans amp pedal makes this big girl sing.

Man from sitting in my basement to standing here with such power at my fingertips. Now I'm gonna set up a mic and start playing!

Posted by: Cosmin Lupu Dec 7 2014, 09:31 AM

Hah! Looks like Jim has a happy place to play the guitar and drums in

Well, enjoy it, mate - say, maybe it slipped by me, but are you the one who's going to be playing drums as well? Or are you preparing for a sort of a band context?

Posted by: Jim S. Dec 7 2014, 04:00 PM

[attachment=40100:trim.65B...3B83DDA4.MOV]

Haha! Yeah Its me.... I love drums but never had a place to set them up and they remained in storage. Here's a little clip playing after all these years. Not sure but playing drums is a great stress reliever. Even 10min of whack whack whack will definitely boost spirits.

However, it would be nice to play with other people so Yes I'd like to start a band.......

Posted by: Cosmin Lupu Dec 8 2014, 12:32 PM

Hehe! Awesome! Jim - I ALWAYS thought that playing the drums is the ultimate energy boost

Check this out - this is the drummer that I played with in Voodoo and that I play with in Domination - the Pantera tribute band:





I'm think you might like him

Posted by: Jim S. Dec 9 2014, 09:13 PM

Oh boy that would be great to play with him! That sounds like a really fun thing Cosmin, congrats.

Also congrats to Gabriel for that awesome video. You guys are nuts!

Posted by: Cosmin Lupu Dec 11 2014, 10:43 AM

Thanks man! He is a hell of a drummer! Well, you can tell Gabi in person, we will be very happy!

So, now that you have the happy place set up - what's next on the agenda - practice wise?

Posted by: Darius Wave Dec 11 2014, 02:45 PM

When reading Your firhter posts I've simply remember the opening video on GMC (when You're not logged in). I think Kris got it all in that short welcome video. I had a student once. He had no feeling of the rhythm and could not repeat proper pitch with his voice. But...he was stubborn to get some lesson even he knew he should not. And gues what? Somehow he was able to explain things to himslef in a mathematical way, so he actually was able to learn some basic "holliday singing" techniques and he did play. He put a lot of work and we both did enjoyed it....and yes I'm sure my diagnose was proper but that's an example of how much You can achieve just buy a proper attitude and hard work

Posted by: Jim S. Dec 12 2014, 12:34 AM

Well I'm not certain but I do know that I'll be working more with my voice and write songs. Tonight I recorded a vocal melody that I'd like to work out on guitar or add words and play rhythm guitar. I wish I could share my voice memo from my phone but there seems to be no easy way...

Either way I'm gonna put it in my daw and begin transcription. Actually when I do that I'll easily be able to share. The music that comes from my voice naturally has a lot going on and it's completely genuine to me. That's my goal, forming my own sound while still practicing lessons.

Posted by: Cosmin Lupu Dec 12 2014, 05:05 PM

I give it to you for best practice example Use the lessons to learn concepts which then you apply in your own creations! This is a very healthy way of thinking and I am looking forward to seeing your vids, mate - plus, what lessons are you currently working on?

Posted by: Jim S. Dec 13 2014, 02:27 AM

Well I'm not certain yet. I'm still figuring out my space and tone. Seems that the tone I get from programs is way way more clear and easier to play so.... I might have my laptop power my stack...

Here's a blues jam improv from today. This is from home.

I plan on taking 1 phrase from lessons here and really expand on them.

Posted by: Cosmin Lupu Dec 13 2014, 09:07 AM

Hey Jim - nice tone and I've heard some very interesting phrases here and there Now, Ithink that in order to expand your vocabluary, you should tackle some phrasing lessons such as:

http://www.guitarmasterclass.net/ls/jazzy-blues-phrasing/
http://www.guitarmasterclass.net/ls/Modern-RnB-Funk-Blues-Phrasing/
http://www.guitarmasterclass.net/solo-guitar/fusion-phrasing/

And also - there was a slight moment of uncertainty in note choice, around 01:24 - 01:30

Posted by: Jim S. Dec 14 2014, 01:39 AM

You are right there needs to be some phrasing improvements and I really dig that jazzy blues phrasing lessong. I may take up on that. I am still working on a lesson from Diego too.

Here is the raw vocal tune Id really like to turn into one of my own songs. This is similiar to what I'm always making up when Im away from my guitar. What do you think about the different sections and the notes Im trying to hit?

Posted by: Cosmin Lupu Dec 14 2014, 02:44 PM

Hey Jim

Glad to hear that you like my suggestions - now, about the recording - check out the video below and look at 01:52 onwards - it deals with the same technique that you have involved



What do you notice as a difference from your recording?

Posted by: Jim S. Dec 17 2014, 01:58 PM

Last night I got most of my equipment setup and got some practicing singing and playing a country song I like. It was the first time using a capo. Wow it's amazing how much moving a 1/2 step can do for your voice.

So playing like this involves a whole new skill set.

1. Learning to use my volume knob; this can change my tone from peaceful to raging angry.
2. Foot switches..... Changing channels and adding boost/gain/reverb ect.... with no delays.
3. Using a looper to solo over....
4. Singing and looking straight ahead with eyes open "my eyes are closed shut in the video I think."

I will admit that the tone from my computer is very tight and clean but playing with 160w tube amp and singing is so much more enjoyable.

Hopefully I can get a good practice refining with these GMC Lessons and live playing/singing.

Have a good day yall!

Posted by: Cosmin Lupu Dec 18 2014, 10:03 AM

Hey Jim! Nice one, man! Say, what tune is this?

All the aspects you mentioned are let's say, experienced to pro level playing things It's amazing that you are experimenting with them and if you are able to build a tone that can offer a sparkling clean with a knob rolled back and then a meaner sound when you roll it up, there you have it - a tone that can offer a wide range of expression.

I totally encourage this sort of playing - based on expression and dynamics, I mean - why not record some ideas which you come up with - just using the cam, so that we can hear the amp at work, but focusing on the aspects you mentioned above

Posted by: Kristofer Dahl Dec 18 2014, 10:07 AM

Very nice singing (and playing) Jim - you are well on your way!

Posted by: Jim S. Dec 18 2014, 03:26 PM

Sorry for these short videos but it's all I can do until i fix my computer. Last night I practiced again but first I took out 2 of my power tubes and found a sweet spot on my preamp roughly around 7-8. Whoa!!!! Some magic happens I never heard before. Omg it sounded so good..... Funny thing is after playing for 20 min of high intensity singing and playing I gave myself a migraine and a panic attack. Seriously I had to put my guitar down and run home for some medicine.

I am prone for cluster migraines which are dibilitating. Hope to God they are not coming back. Anyway right before the onslaught of panic, this video I shot. It shows a more energetic side to me both singing and playing. My guitar solo is ridiculously sloppy but,,, it doesn't matter because how much testosterone was pumping though my body. Check it out, this is near full rage amp. I set my looper and just rolled with it.

Posted by: Jim S. Dec 18 2014, 04:04 PM

Well it is a real challenge remembering where your volume knob is and where it is going. I found myself lost trying to manage all those controls. I'm thinking a pedal board I'll have to make to organize this mess.

Cosmin do you remember what started this whole tone seeking mission? You made a comment about a cover song maybe 1-2 years ago. I was experimenting with these same aspects but because my amp was not hooked up to a speaker cab my test results were pretty beat and I lost hope with this same amp. All it took was small adjustments over all the components to make it sound good. I missed that part last time and never went through each piece of the signal chain and examined them.

So thank you for pushing me to find tone in my fingers and not with a crappy pedal board with a rectified mod.

It's time to start writing music!

Kris, thank you btw! This is in response to your comments on Intermediatish Player thread about playing musical. I'm starting to really understand what your saying. See playing with headphones in a basement to a met or backing is good for working on technique but nothing musical is happening. Standing in the open with a guitar and mic forces you to create. When I'm practicing like this I feel like people are watching me and playing in an auto shop it's possible someone could walk in at any moment So..... I'm definately not practicing scales...

Have a good day yall'

Posted by: Cosmin Lupu Dec 18 2014, 05:52 PM

Hey Jim!

I can feel the energy and emotion from here, man! This is how playing should feel like - as you said, it was sloppy, but hey! It felt amazing

I am glad to hear that I managed to push you into a different zone and I will try to suggest another idea Work with the knobs on a simpler more melower track, so that you may have time literally in respect to note length - you will feel more comfortable with rolling the tone volume up and down in respect to how the track rises or falls

Posted by: Jim S. Dec 21 2014, 06:12 AM

Here is one of my styles of playing that I seem to lead toward. This is just 15 seconds because the lead work that I'm coming up with doesn't flow over the "supposed" chord, however I have no idea what chord I was to solo over because I'm just soloing and never think about those aspects.

On top of it all I believe this style of playing will help me sing. http://instagram.com/p/w2PtOrHSXm/

I'd really like to tap more into this stuff when I'm writing.


Cosmin I did start transposing that voice memo I posted earlier........ Wow that's kinda hard. Yup that takes a bit of time replicating a voice. Sort of practicing all over the place currently but feeling optimistic about being a musician.

Posted by: Cosmin Lupu Dec 21 2014, 10:23 AM

Hey Jim!

The chordal work sounds very promissing and if I were to develop it, I'd analyze what I'm doing with the chords, see what tonality and scale I am using and see what possibilities I would have from that point on.

Also, try to see what bass notes would go well over the little solo part and from those bass notes, try to derive chords. Have you ever tried that? A good exercise with whom you can develop this skill, would be to play your favorite themese on the guitar and also play the root notes of the chords that the theme is played over - in this way, you will become far more conscious of the relationship between the chords and the notes played over them

About the voice thing - It is only a matter of becoming more and more experienced with the process the more you do it, the easier it will feel. Will you record it when it's ready?