Printable Version of Topic
Click here to view this topic in its original format
GMC Forum _ Ben Higgins _ Mystical Sands Collab !
Posted by: Ben Higgins Sep 18 2012, 09:46 AM
Greetings, O wanderers of the guitar desert ! 
Welcome to my latest Audio Collaboration - Mystical Sands !
I've taken the backing from my Uli Jon Roth lesson, remixed it a little so it sounds bigger and beefier and presented it to you :
Mystical_Sands_Collab.mp3 ( 2.36MB )
: 316
Audio collab only so just send me your mp3's or wavs in a pm or upload the links here. Mp3's are easy to upload straight to the forum because they're small but with wavs I recommend you use something like Rapidshare to send them through to me
The chord progression is as follows:
For the first section, a riff revolving around D, D# and C. The main tonality is D and the shifts to D# give us a D Phrygian Dominant feel. Also called Phrygian Major
The slower half of the piece has the following chords :
C5, G#5, A#5, D#5, G#5, Fm, C5, G#Maj7, A#7 this repeats twice and ends on the C5 chord.
The tonality becomes C Minor so the C Minor scale, C Minor Pentatonic, C Dorian, C Blues should all work. Bear in mind that the G#5 chord gives a distinct Minor sound, not Dorian or otherwise.. so for the G#5 chord you may want to make sure you either emphasise the G# note or stick to safer intervals and avoid playing a major 6th instead of a minor..
Tempo: 110bpm
I've called this Mystical Sands because it makes me think of the desert and the Phrygian Dominant scale always conjures up mystical imagery !!
So grab those guitars and let's paint a mystical picture that Ronnie James Dio or Uli himself would be proud of ! 
Deadline is September 28th ! I know it's not long but I was late posting the collab - sorry !! 
Posted by: gregc1 Sep 20 2012, 03:16 PM
Awesome Ben. Definitely going to try and work something up for this.
Posted by: Ben Higgins Sep 20 2012, 04:30 PM
Thanks Greg, would love to have you on this !
Posted by: Gitarrero Sep 20 2012, 04:53 PM
Do I even have to say I'm in? 
Uli Jon Roth...maybe the one german crazier than me 
Posted by: Ben Higgins Sep 21 2012, 08:39 AM
Uli Jon Roth...maybe the one german crazier than me
Well you don't have to say but it's always good to know, my German friend !!
Posted by: gregc1 Sep 23 2012, 05:12 PM
Hey Ben! Here's my take. I'd like to be able to spend a little more time to pretty it up some more but I wanted to go ahead and get it in since the deadline is approaching. It's fun and kind of weird playing in the Phrygian mode, I really don't do enough of that but I do like the exotic sound. For the second part I do feel like it sounds meandering so I wish I had come with something a little better and more melodic.
Looking forward to the other takes and the final result!
Posted by: Ben Higgins Sep 23 2012, 06:01 PM
Looking forward to the other takes and the final result!
HOO-HA !! Lt Colonel Frank Slade (Retired) approves
There's a section somewhere near the end of the second part that's absolutely ass kicking !!!
Posted by: gregc1 Sep 23 2012, 08:01 PM
Hahaha! Thanks man
Posted by: Gitarrero Sep 28 2012, 06:43 PM
Here is ze german take!
Now come on guys...some takes are still missing! Don't be afraid of Ben's comments 
Christian
Posted by: Ben Higgins Sep 28 2012, 07:06 PM
Now come on guys...some takes are still missing! Don't be afraid of Ben's comments
Christian
Brilliant take, Deustchlander !!!
That speed picking is brilliant and your second section note choices are very strong too !
Right, when the time goes past Midnight tonight that's it.. it's just Greg, Gitarrero and me !!
Posted by: Gitarrero Sep 28 2012, 07:55 PM
That speed picking is brilliant and your second section note choices are very strong too !
Right, when the time goes past Midnight tonight that's it.. it's just Greg, Gitarrero and me !!
Thanks Ben
There was quite a bit of pressure on me, cause I felt like I had to deliver a great take after becoming the most improving rec student today
Posted by: Ben Higgins Sep 29 2012, 09:25 AM
There was quite a bit of pressure on me, cause I felt like I had to deliver a great take after becoming the most improving rec student today
Haha.. no, you've already got that sealed and delivered so now you can just play some terrible guitar and not put in any effort for a while !!
But not in my collabs of course
So, this collab is now CER-LOOOOOSED !!! (Closed)
Greg, Gitarrero and Myself (well, not yet) have braved the land of Mystical Sands and will compile our knowledge together in an offering to the Divine Guitar God in the Sky !!
Posted by: gregc1 Sep 29 2012, 04:42 PM
Looking forward to it! Gitarrero, sweet collab follow up to your recent REC title brother.
Posted by: Gitarrero Sep 29 2012, 05:25 PM
Thanks Greg!
Totally love your take as well...this is gonna be a great collab mix
Posted by: Ben Higgins Oct 2 2012, 03:20 PM
And here it is !!!
Mystical_Sands_Collab_Final.mp3 ( 2.32MB )
: 291
Greg - I love your tone and your phrasing, as you know ! Some really good stuff in there. You're definitely at your best when you're playing phrases with stronger lines as some of the meandering licks don't do you justice. But I'm sure you said that you weren't that familiar with these types of modes so I'll let you off
Good work and a pleasure to have you playing over my collab !
Gitarrero - The man who makes it all happen, the backbone of GMC, saviour of all collabs....... some great licks in your take. Love the speed picking and I would say the second half was really great as you've chosen some really nice notes !!
As for me, I think I had the worst tone of the lot.. not sure what happened there but I don't care because you guys were the stars of the show so well done ! Now, we get to ride our camels to the nearest tavern and celebrate !
Posted by: DeGroot Oct 2 2012, 06:00 PM
Sounds great with all the licks trading off. It blended together quite well!
Posted by: Ben Higgins Oct 2 2012, 06:48 PM
yes, I thought so too.. I thought this would work better than just have take after take
Posted by: gregc1 Oct 2 2012, 09:20 PM
Oh yes! Awesome! I love how you mixed that.
I could almost see us all out in the desert taking turns playing in between peyote waves.
On a side note, it would probably be tough to do but it would be cool to do a true back and forth kind of question and answer thing with multiple people. I know you guys had something similar going a while back in the forums but a true collab would be cool.
This was a good time Ben, looking forward to the next adventure in modal madness!
Posted by: AK Rich Oct 2 2012, 09:32 PM
Ooooo more desert madness! thats an awesome backing Ben killer job!
Edit , Oh man its over already? how did I miss this?
Great job guys! and great mixdown Ben!
Posted by: Gitarrero Oct 2 2012, 10:37 PM
I just printed this and hung it over my bed.
Great mix Ben, awesome collab (as usual, I must say!).
And a fun fact: as usual I have no idea what scale or mode I used...I just messed around and hit record after I found out which notes sounded best
Posted by: HungryForHeaven Oct 3 2012, 08:44 AM
Great playing, cool mix - good job, guys!
Would have loved to join this one.. must make sure I have time for the next.
Posted by: Ben Higgins Oct 3 2012, 08:47 AM
I could almost see us all out in the desert taking turns playing in between peyote waves.
On a side note, it would probably be tough to do but it would be cool to do a true back and forth kind of question and answer thing with multiple people. I know you guys had something similar going a while back in the forums but a true collab would be cool.
This was a good time Ben, looking forward to the next adventure in modal madness!
Glad you liked the end result ! Yeah, just imagine that.. us in the desert with our guitars just looking at each other going 'Well, what do we next ?'
That's what I like to hear
It sounded like you were harnessing the power of the Phyrgian Dominant mode for quite a bit of it
Posted by: Gitarrero Oct 3 2012, 08:52 AM
That's good to know! I guess...
Posted by: WeePee Oct 4 2012, 07:49 PM
Nice one guyd !!
Oh heck I miss all the good collabs
I'll be on next one Ben !!
Posted by: Ben Higgins Oct 5 2012, 08:33 AM
Oh heck I miss all the good collabs
I'll be on next one Ben !!
Great.. I'll reserve a spot for you !!
Powered by Invision Power Board (http://www.invisionboard.com)
© Invision Power Services (http://www.invisionpower.com)