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GMC Forum _ PRACTICE ROOM _ Where To Go From Here?

Posted by: everlost Dec 19 2007, 04:20 AM

Hi everyone. I'm new to GMC since about a week now.

I used to play guitar constantly (a few hours every day) from 12 years old to about 18 years old. Then I'm not sure what happened but I lost interest. I still kept playing once every few months...but hardly worth mentioning. I'm now 27 I wanted to start practicing regularly again. So I went and bought a new guitar and amp, signed up to GMC and here I am.

Since I've signed up I've practiced a few lessons here and there. Some I found easy and some difficult. It seems like most rhythm based lessons come real easy to me...but it's not so with the solo/lead based lessons.

It seems like I can remember the rhythm lessons easier. Whereas if I practice a lead based lesson which let's say is broken down into 5 steps...by the time I get to step 5 I have no clue what step 1 was. I never have a clue to where the following notes are going...whereas with rhythm it just comes naturally. I there a way to get around this? Or am I sounding crazy? blink.gif

Posted by: Kapto Dec 19 2007, 11:55 AM

QUOTE (everlost @ Dec 19 2007, 05:20 AM) *
Hi everyone. I'm new to GMC since about a week now.

I used to play guitar constantly (a few hours every day) from 12 years old to about 18 years old. Then I'm not sure what happened but I lost interest. I still kept playing once every few months...but hardly worth mentioning. I'm now 27 I wanted to start practicing regularly again. So I went and bought a new guitar and amp, signed up to GMC and here I am.

Since I've signed up I've practiced a few lessons here and there. Some I found easy and some difficult. It seems like most rhythm based lessons come real easy to me...but it's not so with the solo/lead based lessons.

It seems like I can remember the rhythm lessons easier. Whereas if I practice a lead based lesson which let's say is broken down into 5 steps...by the time I get to step 5 I have no clue what step 1 was. I never have a clue to where the following notes are going...whereas with rhythm it just comes naturally. I there a way to get around this? Or am I sounding crazy? blink.gif

Welcome Everlost
I have the same issue but like everyone else I guess. We can't compare rhythm to Lead. Rhythm is something catchy and sticks to your brain easily. Lead needs to fit into that rhythm which is a different story besides while playing solo you have to listen to the rhythm and make sure you are not out of tune or tempo. So I know the feeling . What I do is to play a loop of the 1st 2 bars till I get it right and leave it then another 2 or 3 bars then practice the 4 or 5 bars and so on. If the solo is 140bpm tempo I start at 90bpm once I have the whole lot memorize I increase the speed by 6 or 10bpm and see how it sounds.
I never try to learn a solo in one day. In my opinion solos need to be practice in a different way
I am not trying to sound like an instructor (my playing is around 2-4 lvl)
Hope this helps a bit wink.gif

Posted by: Smells Dec 19 2007, 12:44 PM

Yes can be a bit tricky sometimes to memorise the leads, heres what I do on say a lead lesson thats broken into say 5 parts.

obviously start with the first part, and play it over and over for a bit, then I try with the lessons backing track at a slow tempo, jsut to get the feel of how it fits, then I move onto the second box doing the same, but everytime I play the second part I add the first part too, again, put the backing on to get the timing etc , then move on to the third part, again adding the first and second parts and I carry on building up the lead to the fifth part, by the time I reach there the first four parts are (usually) firmly there in my memory then its just a case of practicing the whole piece over and over again, working on the trickier sections seperatly to iron out the techniques involved.

thats how I work on them, just methodically and lots of repetition smile.gif

Posted by: everlost Dec 20 2007, 04:40 AM

Thanks for your help guys. I'll give your suggestions a try and see how it goes.

It's also nice to know that it's not just me with this problem. wink.gif

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