Lcsdds (monte) Mentored By Muris, CLOSED Options

[lcsdds]

Hi Muris,
I will go into detail a little more about my goals etc. a little later but I wanted to get some clips up so you can see my current playing level.







Before we get started I just want to say thanks for taking the time to help me with my playing. Means A LOT!!

BACKGROUND

I am 38 and have been playing for around 20 years by now. My favorite players when I was learning were Vai, Satch and Vito Bratta. I have been playing pretty consistently for those 20 years but in the last 2 years and especially the last 6 months I have become extremely focused and consistent with my practicing and playing. My favorite type of music is Rock and I just love instrumental guitar music.

Never been in a band and really never had any kind of contact with any musicians until I joined GMC.


CURRENT STATUS

I think my strengths are my legato and tapping. I think I can bend pretty decent and I think I can come up with nice melodies/licks etc. I think I am decent at sweep picking and economy picking as well although they could use some work as well.

My weaknesses are definitely my vibrato and my alternate picking. I don't know why I dont consistently work on this technique, although since January I have been more consistent than usual. I think it is because my legato and tapping are so developed compared to my AP that it is just easier for me to fall back into my comfort zone and rely on those techniques rather than take the time to develop a good AP technique. THIS WILL BE REMEDIED THIS YEAR!! I just need some guidance on how to do it.

THEORY

I think I have a pretty good background here. I know all my scales and triads and I understand modes etc. I know where chords come from and how to build them. In this area I feel pretty comfortable about where I am although I could always learn more.

CURRENT ROUTINE

My current routine consists of daily practice of the following techniques:

TAPPING
LEGATO
HYBRID PICKING
ALTERNATE PICKING
ECONOMY PICKING
SWEEP PICKING

I am currently working on the following GMC lessons:

Your "Phrygian advanced" lesson
I have this pretty much up to tempo except for the AP parts!! A couple of the licks in this sound better played with a different technique to my ear so I have changed a couple of them. The AP and economy picked runs at the very beginning however need to be picked so I am working on these and I am making progress.

Your "Lydian advanced" lesson
This one is just being held up by the sweep tap arpeggio and the 16th triplet hybrid picking. I also changed the last hybrid lick to tapping, just sounds better to me. I have designed an excercise to help me with the 16th triplet hybrid part and I am really close to getting it up to tempo.

Your "Sweeping Etude"
Just started this. I can sweep pretty clean and fast when staying in one position but have problems shifting around so I decided to tackle this to remedy that. Only have the first couple of parts memorized and I am really slow at it right now. This will be really good for me.

I'll post takes on both of the phrasing lessons this weekend so you can see where I am at. I haven't worked with the backing track yet but shouldn't be a problem to get a 75-80% take on both of these.

I plan on devoting 1 hour a day to whatever it is you want me to work on Muris. Just show me the way master!!

OVERALL GOAL

If I could get some AP chops, or at least pointed in the right direction out of the MTP I would be happy. One other goal I would really like would be for you to show me how to structure an instrumental. Kind of like your "final dance" entry. I don't expect to play like that but I would like to know how to structure the different parts so it sounds like a song and not just a bunch of licks thrown together.

Anything else you think I need to know I will do for sure. Thanks again Muris and let me know if you need to know anything else.

Monte

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This post has been edited by Muris Varajic: Oct 23 2009, 04:34 PM

[lcsdds]

So Muris I thought I might try to give you a little more insight into my picking issues.

I am basically an economy picker although I am not a very skilled one. I do pretty well when combining it with my legato but not so much when trying to pick every note. I had a friend back in the day when I had only been playing a few years who lent me the Frank Gambale video where he demonstrated his sweep picking technique. I worked on it a little bit but wasn't very disciplined with it because I wasn't really into any players that were known for their picking chops. When I come across an AP run, like in any of your lessons I will either play it legato or try and change the lick so it can be economy picked. This ususally consists of doubling up some of the notes so my pick is going in the right direction to change strings. To my ear this sounds OK because in my opinion when you are playing something at high speed it is just and effect and adding an extra note here or there to the beat doesn't change the overall feel of it.

I have been chatting with fellow GMC'er SonofDestiny and he pointed out that he thought my AP woes were simply a synchronization issue. I think he is right. I have decent legato so my left hand can move fast enough. I can tremolo pick just fine and I can even get some decent speed when doing single string AP runs. The problem comes when I go to change strings and sychronize my right and left hand.

To remedy this I have recently, meaning this week, started working on your AP in thirds lesson and your string skipping lesson. I have been working pretty hard for the last month or so on my economy picking and I think I am making some good progress on this.

I really want to get my AP together so I am gonna do whatever you tell me too to fix this. I have set aside an hour a day to work on whatever it is you want me to work on. Probably 2 hours on the weekends. Let me know if you want me to post me playing any kind of AP excercises. It won't be pretty but I can do it for sure.

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[Muris Varajic]

Hey Monte!!

First of all guys, pardon me for cleaning this thread a bit,
there was some random talking and I wanted to keep this space
easy to navigate over, hope you don't mind.

You said that you're pretty much interested into
composing catchy songs and solos and I like that a lot.
We'll try to talk about this subject more in next period
since we have one very concrete topic to work on atm.
Alternate Picking.

I can see that you're very good when it comes to legato,
sweeping, economy etc.
And your theory knowledge is fine as well,
we won't be having lot of problems to guide you at all.
What we need to do is to simply break your practicing routing
a little and work on alternate picking more than usual.
Since you like legato and everything I listed above A LOT
I'm sure you won't stop practicing those techniques anyhow,
that's why I'm gonna give just one lesson to start with
and it's about alternate only.

https://www.guitarmasterclass.net/solo-guit...upstroke-focus/

You'll notice that this lesson nicely prepares you for many situation
that you might run into when you play straight alternate picking.
Give it a shot and let me know how it goes.
I was thinking to give you 7 days but feel free to bump this topic
whenever you feel to, I know that you're hard worker and so
if you bump it tomorrow it's not gonna surprise me at all.

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[lcsdds]

Hey Monte!!

First of all guys, pardon me for cleaning this thread a bit,
there was some random talking and I wanted to keep this space
easy to navigate over, hope you don't mind.

You said that you're pretty much interested into
composing catchy songs and solos and I like that a lot.
We'll try to talk about this subject more in next period
since we have one very concrete topic to work on atm.
Alternate Picking.

I can see that you're very good when it comes to legato,
sweeping, economy etc.
And your theory knowledge is fine as well,
we won't be having lot of problems to guide you at all.
What we need to do is to simply break your practicing routing
a little and work on alternate picking more than usual.
Since you like legato and everything I listed above A LOT
I'm sure you won't stop practicing those techniques anyhow,
that's why I'm gonna give just one lesson to start with
and it's about alternate only.

https://www.guitarmasterclass.net/solo-guit...upstroke-focus/

You'll notice that this lesson nicely prepares you for many situation
that you might run into when you play straight alternate picking.
Give it a shot and let me know how it goes.
I was thinking to give you 7 days but feel free to bump this topic
whenever you feel to, I know that you're hard worker and so
if you bump it tomorrow it's not gonna surprise me at all.

I'm on it Muris. I'll post a take at my top clean speed ASAP and I'll be working on this lesson VERY hard!! I'm gonna post where I am at on your lydian and Phrygian lessons as well and change a few licks so you can see how I have been compensating for my lack of AP chops. Thanks.

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[Muris Varajic]

I'm on it Muris. I'll post a take at my top clean speed ASAP and I'll be working on this lesson VERY hard!! I'm gonna post where I am at on your lydian and Phrygian lessons as well and change a few licks so you can see how I have been compensating for my lack of AP chops. Thanks.

I KNOW you'll do it great.

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[lcsdds]

Alright Muris,
Went through this lesson this morning and it is just what the doctor ordered. None of these shapes are new to me, I use them all the time in my legato phrasing so the fingering isn't a problem. The hard part for me is gonna be syncing the hands and trying to remember to stick to steady alternate picking. I am constantly wanting to "sweep" when I change strings. I'm gonna work hard on this and get you a post at 100 bpm and 120 bpm by Sunday. I think I can play it pretty clean at 100 bpm but 120 bpm is where it starts to fall apart as you will see. Since I have limited practice time I am gonna keep my video posts to what you are having me work on if that is OK. I really want to focus a lot of energy on what you are having me work on so unless you request something I am going to just post this lesson for now. Thanks Muris!!

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[Muris Varajic]

Working on that lesson only atm is fine with me Monte,
we will have plenty of time to mess with other things
once we get your picking in order.

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[lcsdds]

Muris,
Could I get the backing track to the downstroke/upstroke lesson? Thanks.

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[Muris Varajic]

On its way.

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[lcsdds]

I thought I would just give you a quick update. I'm having a hard time breaking old habits. My biggest problem is training myself to stick to strict alternate picking. I keep wanting to sweep when changing strings. Right now I would say my top clean speed is 100bpm. I am taking it all the way up to 130 bpm when practicing and some of the licks I can play pretty cleanly at this tempo. The very last 2 licks where you are running the ascending an descending scales just scream to be economy picked, at least that is what my fingers are hearing. I'm gonna go through this lesson a couple more times and give you a video post tomorrow so you can see where I am at. I'll be interested to hear what you think of my AP technique. I've never posted anything with me using AP before on GMC. You'll probably see why tomorrow.

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[Muris Varajic]

I can feel your pain Monte,
playing economy for so many years
and now jumping into only alternate must be horror for you
but I'm afraid that it's the best way to do amp.
Good thing tho is that your muscles are pretty much trained already
and it won't last long for you to take AP as your own weapon.

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[lcsdds]

I can feel your pain Monte,
playing economy for so many years
and now jumping into only alternate must be horror for you
but I'm afraid that it's the best way to do amp.
Good thing tho is that your muscles are pretty much trained already
and it won't last long for you to take AP as your own weapon.

Muris I have a question for you. Why would you use economy picking when you can AP like you can? Do you really hear that much of a difference in sound? I ask because I was noticing on your Phyrigian advanced lesson that the first descending lick you use economy as opposed to AP. I am already getting A LOT more comfortable with AP. I will post a take today hopefully. I am only gonna post it at 100 bpm. This is the tempo I can play ALL the licks cleanly for the most part. Some of them I can play faster but some of them I can't. The toughest licks so far are any of the licks that inolve 3nps where you are doing a run over 3 strings or more. When I get to the higher tempos my muscle memory kicks in and I start to sweep when changing strings. I am spending quite a bit of time at slower tempos to remedy this. I think a realistic goal for me for this lesson is between 5-10 bpm increase in my top clean speed per week. My goal is to be able to play this lesson up to tempo in 3-4 weeks.

I have also started working on your AP string skipping lesson. I started this lesson a few months ago and stopped because it was so frustrating. I can already feel that I have more control on my AP chops and I am excited about this. I'll get you the 100 bpm take later today. Thanks Muris and let me know what you think about my 5-10 bpm increase per week. Do you think this is realistic or do you think I should be improving faster?

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[Muris Varajic]

Hmm, tricky question, but when you have alternate and economy
in your arsenal you just combine them as you please,
sometimes it's because of sound but sometimes it's just
cause you want it that way, period!

And as for progress, I was never following my own progress via BPMs
so I really cannot say what is the best "lap time",
make as much effort as you can and we'll see the result, agree?

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[lcsdds]

Here you go Muris. 100bpm. I don't know, I've never seen a video of me using so much AP. It looks awkward to me. I will upload again in 7 days and my goal is at least 115 bpm. Any suggestions would be much appreciated. Thanks Muris.

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[Muris Varajic]

Ehey, that was clean as it can be, well done Monte!!!!!!!!!

Now, while you're pushing up the tempo
the only thing I might eventually suggest is try
not to anchor that much with your pinky.
As you can see,you roll your entire wrist pretty often because of that
and might cause you some troubles to play faster, much faster.
It isn't that serious at this speed you presented but
on higher tempos rolling with the wrist is the problem
when you play alternate picking, you just won't be able to
roll and do fast picking movements at the same time,
not to mention string skipping including alternate.

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[lcsdds]

Ehey, that was clean as it can be, well done Monte!!!!!!!!!

Now, while you're pushing up the tempo
the only thing I might eventually suggest is try
not to anchor that much with your pinky.
As you can see,you roll your entire wrist pretty often because of that
and might cause you some troubles to play faster, much faster.
It isn't that serious at this speed you presented but
on higher tempos rolling with the wrist is the problem
when you play alternate picking, you just won't be able to
roll and do fast picking movements at the same time,
not to mention string skipping including alternate.

Thanks Muris. I will work on holding my right hand more like you do with your fingers curled in more of a fist instead of fanned like I do. I always knew I was doing something technically wrong but couldn't figure out what it was. I will post again next sunday at 115 bpm with my fingers in more of a fist hopefully. I'm gonna get this AP thing down if it kills me!! It just might too!!

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[Pedja Simovic]

Sorry don't mean to spam this topic but I just want to say great work and improvement is being done here already. I look forward to final results once mentoring is finished

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[lcsdds]

Muris,
So I started practicing the picking without anchoring my pinky. Feels strange to me but at the same time I can tell it is going to let me change strings cleaner once I get the feel for it. The licks that are holding up my progress I think are the "thirds lick" and the lick where you do the "octave string skip". I'll post a video in the next couple of days, maybe tomorrow if I get a chance. I want you to tell me if I am still rolling my wrist. I studied closely the video of you playing the lesson and I tried to curl my fingers when playing but it feels really strange. I'll get you a video in the morning of my modified right hand technique. I know if can correct this ASAP it will make it much easier to get the speed where it needs to be. BTW, could I get the backing to your string skipping AP lesson as well. I'm gonna start working on it as well. Thanks.

Monte

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This post has been edited by lcsdds: Feb 23 2009, 05:41 AM

[UncleSkillet]

Sorry to spam as well, but I am going through the same thing with changing my right hand picking technique for AP.

We can do this man!!

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[Muris Varajic]

Muris,
So I started practicing the picking without anchoring my pinky. Feels strange to me but at the same time I can tell it is going to let me change strings cleaner once I get the feel for it. The licks that are holding up my progress I think are the "thirds lick" and the lick where you do the "octave string skip". I'll post a video in the next couple of days, maybe tomorrow if I get a chance. I want you to tell me if I am still rolling my wrist. I studied closely the video of you playing the lesson and I tried to curl my fingers when playing but it feels really strange. I'll get you a video in the morning of my modified right hand technique. I know if can correct this ASAP it will make it much easier to get the speed where it needs to be. BTW, could I get the backing to your string skipping AP lesson as well. I'm gonna start working on it as well. Thanks.

Monte

It does feel strange indeed when you first change your picking hand shape
but very soon you'll get used to that, trust me!!
And of course this will NOT affect your sweeping and economy in any way,
it's just that your hand will stay more steady when doing all the job
which means less movements for better and faster execution!

Backing you are asking, is it for THIS lesson? You want full tempo backing or?

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