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GMC Forum _ Ben Higgins _ Beginner Task 5

Posted by: Ben Higgins Feb 23 2012, 03:04 PM

Task 5 : http://www.guitarmasterclass.net/rhythm-guitar/basic-metal-rhythm/ Record and upload a version of this lesson by next Thursday 1st March

Greetings Warriors ! We move on from focusing on alternate picking towards rhythm playing now smile.gif

This should be quite a challenge but also in reach for you.. as always, I don't mind if you record using a slower backing track. This is a good test for your hand synch, timing and palm muting. There's also some alternate picking in there too so all of the 4 previous Tasks will have primed you for this. cool.gif

Posted by: mad Feb 23 2012, 09:39 PM

my luck smile.gif
just recorded something already for cosmin....



some sloppy parts, so I just continue with my practice on this one.
maybe you can give me some hints on how to improve my playing those sloppy parts, too.

Posted by: Ben Higgins Feb 24 2012, 10:05 AM

QUOTE (mad @ Feb 23 2012, 08:39 PM) *
my luck smile.gif
just recorded something already for cosmin....



some sloppy parts, so I just continue with my practice on this one.
maybe you can give me some hints on how to improve my playing those sloppy parts, too.


Haha, wow can you believe that ?? laugh.gif

That's really good man ! The only thing sthat realy need tightening up are some of the changes between chords could be smoother and more direct, like at 0:29 but it's only a small thing.

During the very first riffs of the song you're slightly (just slightly) rushing ahead in front of the drums with your chugging rhythm so you could just bring that back a bit to sit in the groove more.

Aside from those 2 minor points, that is really, really good and I'm super impressed with that !

I would suggest instead that you tackle the Intermediate Task 5 http://www.guitarmasterclass.net/guitar_forum/index.php?showtopic=43172

You can also share your experience and advice with learning this Metal Rhythm lesson with the guys here too smile.gif


Posted by: mad Feb 24 2012, 10:30 AM

Thank you master!

So this was my practice-routine (after tackling all single parts):
1. warm-up
2. play the whole thing at full speed
3. while playing, recognizing problem parts I can't exactly remember or play accurate
4. isolate those parts and make as much repititions to get it as tight as my playing ability allows tongue.gif

here a small "video summarization":
2. video - no problem
3. video - problem with chord switches from C5 to open D to E5 (in fact, that was really hard for me, to make this as tight as possible..), sometimes problems with E5 pm-section
4. video - no problem. just played these patterns very slow until memorized, then slowly speed-up.
5. video - no problem
6. video - some problems to switch over from octaves to power chords sometimes.. and I had to make lots of repititions with the chord-switch from D5 to G5.

hope this is a little help..

Posted by: Ben Higgins Feb 24 2012, 10:33 AM

QUOTE (mad @ Feb 24 2012, 09:30 AM) *
Thank you master!

So this was my practice-routine (after tackling all single parts):
1. warm-up
2. play the whole thing at full speed
3. while playing, recognizing problem parts I can't exactly remember or play accurate
4. isolate those parts and make as much repititions to get it as tight as my playing ability allows tongue.gif

here a small "video summarization":
2. video - no problem
3. video - problem with chord switches from C5 to open D to E5 (in fact, that was really hard for me, to make this as tight as possible..), sometimes problems with E5 pm-section
4. video - no problem. just played these patterns very slow until memorized, then slowly speed-up.
5. video - no problem
6. video - some problems to switch over from octaves to power chords sometimes.. and I had to make lots of repititions with the chord-switch from D5 to G5.

hope this is a little help..


Thanks for your input, isolating your problem areas is the most efficient way to improving ! First we have to notice the problem areas ourselves so it's good that you mentioned this !

Posted by: Olivier777 Feb 24 2012, 07:57 PM

Wow great lesson and great take Mad !
I don't know if I'll have the time to learn and practice this one as I am once again going to be travelling far away from my axe until next tuesday, but I'll do my best to post "something" before endline...

Posted by: Ben Higgins Feb 24 2012, 09:04 PM

QUOTE (Olivier777 @ Feb 24 2012, 06:57 PM) *
Wow great lesson and great take Mad !
I don't know if I'll have the time to learn and practice this one as I am once again going to be travelling far away from my axe until next tuesday, but I'll do my best to post "something" before endline...


Cool, where are you going ? smile.gif

Posted by: zoom Feb 26 2012, 01:13 PM

Okey dokey I thought I'd bring this video now for some feed back. I started out feeling confident I could nail this but after seeing Mad's take (awesome mate great tone also) I'm freaking out a bit.


Posted by: Ben Higgins Feb 26 2012, 02:28 PM

QUOTE (zoom @ Feb 26 2012, 12:13 PM) *
Okey dokey I thought I'd bring this video now for some feed back. I started out feeling confident I could nail this but after seeing Mad's take (awesome mate great tone also) I'm freaking out a bit.



Hey Zoom this is a solid take, nothing to be ashamed of here ! smile.gif

Timing and chord changes are pretty damn good so I'll turn my attention to palm muting, as that's the only area that could do with a real boost. Granted, it's not the most suitable tone for metal so you're not going to be able to get the same results anyway but one tip I'd recommend for you is to practice changing between notes or chords that are cleanly played (no muting) and notes or chords that are muted. After you've played a clean chord, immediately bring the part of your hand that mutes back onto the strings without delay...

Effectively, you'll be moving the side of your hand off and back on the strings whenever you need the difference in sound. When I do it, I find that I kind of flick my hand at the wrist whilst I pull the hand away from the strings to get the clean accented bits and then I just quickly bring it back to the strings. Takes practice of course but it's an essential feature of rhythm playing so it's worth getting the control over your muting smile.gif

Posted by: zoom Feb 27 2012, 12:41 PM

Thanks Ben will get onto that. Totally agree my muting needs work. Cheers smile.gif

Posted by: Olivier777 Feb 28 2012, 08:20 PM

QUOTE (Ben Higgins @ Feb 24 2012, 09:04 PM) *
Cool, where are you going ? smile.gif


I just got back from Paris (mostly for work mad.gif ) I don't think I'll be able to master this lesson on time as I just started it, grr so frustrating !

Posted by: mad Feb 28 2012, 08:37 PM

Hey mate, I know that feeling.. where do you have problems, maybe I can help?

QUOTE (Olivier777 @ Feb 28 2012, 08:20 PM) *
I just got back from Paris (mostly for work mad.gif ) I don't think I'll be able to master this lesson on time as I just started it, grr so frustrating !

Posted by: Olivier777 Feb 29 2012, 11:28 AM

QUOTE (mad @ Feb 28 2012, 08:37 PM) *
Hey mate, I know that feeling.. where do you have problems, maybe I can help?


Right now my main concern is to be able to do that swift change to D chord in part 2 wink.gif All the others parts are almost OK but need work. (some timing and muting issue here and there...)

Posted by: mad Feb 29 2012, 11:50 AM

That was exactly my main prob, too biggrin.gif
The only thing that helped me was noodling this specific chord change down: start very slowly from c powerchord to open d and then back and forth, until your fingers will memorize the change and find their way, then speed up. And don't get disappointed when it first works and a few hours or a day later it won't.. your fingers will have to learn it again and again, until the process of changing between these two chords won't take a long time anymore (this may take a few days or a week sometimes to get this floating when starting to play..).
Good to know, that the other parts are OK - so you're in time with this task wink.gif

QUOTE (Olivier777 @ Feb 29 2012, 11:28 AM) *
Right now my main concern is to be able to do that swift change to D chord in part 2 wink.gif All the others parts are almost OK but need work. (some timing and muting issue here and there...)

Posted by: Ben Higgins Feb 29 2012, 12:13 PM

Hey Olivier, don't worry too much if you don't have time to do this Task. Everybody is allowed a life (but only just..) and you don't have to do every single Task, you can choose how much you do and when.. so there's no pressure ok ?

However, Mad's advise is very good and I would also encourage this. Just single out the problem areas and train them at a manageable easy rate smile.gif

Posted by: Olivier777 Feb 29 2012, 03:24 PM

Thanks for these helpful tips smile.gif
It's good to feel supported in times of trouble tongue.gif

I will not be moving far away from my guitar this week so I'll go on practicing with this task while waiting for the next.

Posted by: MossRoller Mar 27 2012, 01:22 AM

OK my week's up. The take is a little slower at 127 bpm. And still plenty sloppy.
I worked hard on it though. That palm muting is tricky stuff.


Posted by: Ben Higgins Mar 27 2012, 09:23 AM

Yo, MR ! cool.gif

Nicely done, you got the main gist of it. I'm not sure if metal is really something you play so if it's not, you did a great job smile.gif

The picking/muting side was quite strong and it was mainly the left hand which contained errors. One thing that helps me to keep chords sounding staccato and nicely chopped off when they've been played is to release my fingers off of the strings after I've played the chord. This prevents the strings ringing longer than I want them too.

Another thing I noticed is that when playing those 2 note minor/major diad shapes like at 0:47, you kept your index finger fretting the A string and tried to use the underside of your index finger to fret the D string. Try to avoid this as it will make your job more difficult - you'll find it harder to fret the notes cleanly. Instead, you'll have to swap your fingers around.. it's kind of like a direct opposite swap. You go from the power chord shape (index on A string, ring finger on D) to the diad shape (index on D, ring on A).

So, although it seems like more work, ultimately it will make things much easier and improve your finger shifting to boot ! smile.gif

Posted by: alexpabue Jan 20 2013, 07:49 PM

Hi Ben. Here is my new rec. I know there are some mistakes in it. It has been really difficult to me to record this vid.


Posted by: Ben Higgins Jan 20 2013, 08:04 PM

QUOTE (alexpabue @ Jan 20 2013, 06:49 PM) *
Hi Ben. Here is my new rec. I know there are some mistakes in it. It has been really difficult to me to record this vid.



Hail, Alex.. great take !!

Ok, only some minor issues as you already probably know smile.gif Just try to hang on to the chords as long as you can before changing to the next one.. little things like that make your riffing sound tighter. Also, try not to rush in front of the beat. I know it's easy to do this when you're recording but try to just hold back from going too quickly smile.gif

That is ONE HEAVY TONE !!

Bass is a bit excessive in your mix.. but still an enjoyable take - keep riffing my friend !

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