The Eye-opening Gmc Collab, You too can write amazing melodies Options

[Kristofer Dahl]

The eye-opening GMC collab
You too can write amazing melodies

"To play amazing melodies you need a God given natural talent and... yellow slippers."

If you believe in this stuff you might want to get outta here Because in this collab we’ll explore how it’s done, and no talent is needed at all! You do need time and devotion though.

In this collab we’ll use an amazing backing track by our own Javier Aviles to build our melodies.

This collab is a perfect opportunity for you to understand how you can follow - or ‘outline’ - the chords to create amazing melodies.

You can either compose a solo/melody and use the short backing track: In this case you should strive for something melodic and minimise fast runs. I recommend you to record around 40 seconds solo. My feedback here will focus on technical, structural and musical improvements.

OR you can record an improvised take over the long backing track. My feedback will then be related to the overall flow of the improvisation and I will suggest any tricks I can think of to help you improve.


BASIC APPROACH

You can play the C minor pentatonic scale over the whole backing track and it will sound good. For more colors, play the C aeolian scale (my personal favorite!).

With this basic approach, you won’t consciously be hitting the perfect notes over the chord changes all the time, but there is a big chance you will do it accidentally.







FOLLOW THE CHORDS!

A more advanced way to solo over this backing track, is to not only play scales, but also to follow the chords. When you hear a note choice or melody that sounds too good to be true, then the guitarist is usually following the chords the way I describe below.

If we look at the two chords of this backing, we get:

Cm: contains the notes C, Eb and G

Fm: contains the notes F, Ab and C

We have two changes, let’s see exactly what you should do over these, to write super strong sounding melodies:

When the backing changes from Cm to Fm the interesting opportunities lie in:

Bend the Eb note to F. If you nail this over the chord change, people will think you’re God.
Bend the G note to Ab. Again, hallelujah!

When the backing changes from Fm to Cm:
Bend the F note to G.
Bend the C note to Eb.

These are the most obvious ones, but with some creativity there are plenty of other ways to go from chord note to chord note.

Bare in mind that as long as you bend into a strong note ( = chord note) you can actually do it from any note, even one that sounds horrible. It is a safe way to write strong material, and works for any genre in the world.

If you are not comfortable bending, you can play the notes regularly with your pick, or slide into them (etc etc)

To determine when the chord changes are happening, you should start counting the beats from the beginning of the backing track. The first change to Fm happens after aprox 6 seconds, when you have counted to 4, two times.

See the tab/pdf in the lesson for more details.

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DOWNLOAD THE BACKING TRACKS:

 eye_opener_collab.mp3 ( 2.26MB ) Number of downloads: 764

 eye_opener_JAM.mp3 ( 10.15MB ) Number of downloads: 630


* Tempo is 78 bpm
* Deadline is April 8, 2015
* Although this is an audio collab, feel free to video record yourself as this will help you get better feedback.
* When you want to submit your final take, upload files in this topic (mp3 with at least 128 kbps quality, 16 bit wav files are welcome though). We need two files: 1. Your solo without the backing track 2. Your solo mixed with the backing track for reference.

Here you can see me jamming over the backing track:



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RESLULT

>>>>> FINAL MIX <<<<<<

Participants:

Bas Cuthach, Sensible Jones, Procyon, AKRich, Todd Simpson, GeneT95, Kristofer Dahl, Monica Gheorghevici, Bleez, MisterM, Phil66 and Pzalfa.


Participants:

Bas Cutach + Sensible Jones: Creating the atmosphere
Procyon: Solo over the created atmosphere
AK Rich Solo over GeneT95 and Bas Cuthach arrangements.
Todd Simpson Solo while GeneT95 continues adding rhythm.
Kristofer Dahl Solo, Gene continues rocking.
Monica solo over Kris’s rhythm delay auto pan arrangement and also some Massive synth addition. Bas Cuthach joins in the second half.
Bleez and MisterM guitar solos interact perfectly over the backing destroyed with industrial effect.
Phil66 and Pzalfa solos go nicely together while backing fade down and Bas Cuthach once again with his delay based rhythm.

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[Todd Simpson]

Per KRIS spiff suggestions, I built a patch using a JCM 800 Marshall and a single boost (Tube Screamer). It does sound better with the backing. Thanks for the tip! Also, I trimmed down the arrangement to a single guitar. Here goes!

*P.S. This one is available to watch in full HD 1080p


Here is the link to download the patch.
http://bitly.com/1Bv9yCh


*TAKE WITH BACKING
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/2761041...WithBacking.aif

*TAKE WITHOUT BACKING
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/2761041...houtBacking.aif

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This post has been edited by Todd Simpson: Apr 8 2015, 10:49 PM

[Kristofer Dahl]

Per KRIS spiff suggestions, I built a patch using a JCM 800 Marshall and a single boost (Tube Screamer). It does sound better with the backing. Thanks for the tip! Also, I trimmed down the arrangement to a single guitar. Here goes!

*P.S. This one is available to watch in full HD 1080p


Here is the link to download the patch.
http://bitly.com/1Bv9yCh

Thanks Todd. Huge sound improvement indeed, well done!

Now there is just one thing preventing me from digging the music, and that is the level of your lead. It feels much louder than the backing - and your lines don't get any juice from Javier's amazing backing. I sense your ideas are cool, but it wouldn't be fair for me to comment on them before they are 'in line' with the music. Also, this is the ultimate test of your sound patch, can it cut through without mixing it above all other instruments? ( I think it will work).

Hey guys, I thought I would share what I have going on for my take currently. There are some mistakes here and there and I feel like part of it is rushed a bit. Also I plan on making a couple slight changes in note choice. It is still a work in progress and I plan on getting it down to where I can play it in a bit of a more relaxed way which I think is key in getting it to sound the best.
Also, I think I may try to do an improvised take with the long version of the backing as well that will most likely result in a bit of a different feel, probably a bit more bluesy sounding. Anyway, let me know what you think!

https://soundcloud.com/richatthelake66/eye-opener-collab-10

Excellent AK!

You know I like your solo construction skills, and this one is no exception. Very nice melodies throughout, and fresh licks/phrasing. And brilliant move to follow the backing melody at 00:59 - simple but super effective!

Here I have tried to list in order of priority what I think will raise your take to a new level:

* tone: Though you have done a very good job integrating your lead with the mix, your guitar tone sounds a bit digital, for lack of a better word. It's a bit 'treblish' and lacking warmth and dynamics. Nowadays there are so many good amp plugins (many which are free/low cost) so no real excuses for not addressing this. Plus I know you can recognize a cool tone when you hear it, so just tweak away.

* The very first bends don't feel that strong to me. I am actually not sure why, but maybe this is what you were referring to when you said you want to further tweak note choice? You did a very good job building anticipation by not playing throughout the whole intro, but that places huge focus on the first notes.

* 00:40 the faster passage here is very tasteful, and you almost pull it off. However the ending note is not convincing. Just as with the intro - if you only have one fast passage that one will stick out, mistakes there will somehow be more apparent.

Go AK!! You have got the ideas, you 'just' need to polish your tone and technique!

a new shoot.....

false start for the first measure, did i continue in this way for the melody ?



Laurent

Excellent Laurent, now I am seeing improvement.

Musical ideas are still good, but now I sense much more conviction/devotion in your take. Basically you played it more like you 'meant it', this time.

As for improvements I would like you to focus one single thing, even though there are various tiny stuff here and there to comment on - focusing on this one thing will raise your entire take to a new level. I am speaking about:

Timing:

There is nothing wrong with your timing, but you are almost constantly playing slightly before the beat.

This is a very common thing to do, especially when we are focusing on getting everything right. I do it all the time and I have to struggle very hard to avoid it.

Since it's a matter of milliseconds here and there, it can be a little hard to address consciously. So what i do instead is to try to 'feel' laid back when playing. And for some passages I try to really play noticeably behind the beat (it could be cool to do with the triplets at 00:42, for example).

I realize I might confuse you now. Because I first asked you to play it like you mean it, and now I am asking you to be laid back..! But music is just that: it should convey a certain kind of mood by playing aggressively like you mean it, and another mood which is more relaxed. When you can switch back and forth between those, the listener will get a wow feeling - even though most could impossibly describe why they liked what they heard.

It's like a tension and release thing, but with timing. Does it make any sense at all?

I would advise to just keep jamming and try to think of these things, you are definitely going in the right direction!

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[AK Rich]

Excellent AK!

You know I like your solo construction skills, and this one is no exception. Very nice melodies throughout, and fresh licks/phrasing. And brilliant move to follow the backing melody at 00:59 - simple but super effective!

Here I have tried to list in order of priority what I think will raise your take to a new level:

* tone: Though you have done a very good job integrating your lead with the mix, your guitar tone sounds a bit digital, for lack of a better word. It's a bit 'treblish' and lacking warmth and dynamics. Nowadays there are so many good amp plugins (many which are free/low cost) so no real excuses for not addressing this. Plus I know you can recognize a cool tone when you hear it, so just tweak away.

* The very first bends don't feel that strong to me. I am actually not sure why, but maybe this is what you were referring to when you said you want to further tweak note choice? You did a very good job building anticipation by not playing throughout the whole intro, but that places huge focus on the first notes.

* 00:40 the faster passage here is very tasteful, and you almost pull it off. However the ending note is not convincing. Just as with the intro - if you only have one fast passage that one will stick out, mistakes there will somehow be more apparent.

Go AK!! You have got the ideas, you 'just' need to polish your tone and technique!

Hey Kris, thanks for the encouraging words and great feedback!
It is interesting that you mention following the backing melody in the final moments. The ideas I had for that section in my first bunch of idea takes just seemed to clash with that melody, so I decided that working something out to compliment it would sounds much better. This is one part that I think could be just a little tighter for a final take.
And yes, I am also not satisfied with the way I played the opening lines in my take. I have some other takes where I think it sounds better but then there are always other parts that didn't sound good in those takes. Anyway I think that once I have the construction finalized, I can start to play it the same way every time and get it all to sound decent for a final take.
The same thing kind of goes for the short fast legato lines you mentioned.

As far as the tone goes. In the short term, it is just something I will have to deal with. I am running a line out from a Vox VT 120+ direct to my soundcard on my PC ,and I can tell you that if it were mic'd instead, it would sound at least 10 times better. So as soon as I can get my hands on a decent interface and start to mic my amp I think you will notice a big improvement in my tone.
I have tried some VST's in the past but I have never had much luck with them. I first tried Guitar Rig and found it to be extremely noisy. I also have some other plugins in my DAW. Le Pou and a few others but the other issue I have with using them is the very slight delay I get or the response time from when I hit a note and when I hear it. This is something I have found to be very annoying, especially when going back and forth from playing with plugins to playing thru a real amp.
So I don't really want to spend alot of time trying to dial in a plugin when I could be refining my take. I hope this makes sense.

Thanks again man!

PS: Oh yeah! I have a question for you before I forget. When I render my final guitar only take. Should I have it fade out like I do for my take with the backing , or not fade out and let whoever is going to do the final mixdown take care of that if needed?

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This post has been edited by AK Rich: Mar 29 2015, 04:51 AM

[Kristofer Dahl]

PS: Oh yeah! I have a question for you before I forget. When I render my final guitar only take. Should I have it fade out like I do for my take with the backing , or not fade out and let whoever is going to do the final mixdown take care of that if needed?

No need to do the fade out yourself, as we might not even place your take at the end, for the final mix!

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Don't miss today's free lick. Plus all our lessons are packed with free content!

Don't miss today's free blues, jazz & country licks. Plus all our lessons are packed with free content!