Advanced Vs Pro Playing #2, Still working on that extra bit of mojo which makes all the difference |
|
|
|
|
Nov 23 2014, 10:55 PM
|
|
Here is a follow-up to this topic where I identified ‘problem areas’ in my playing. Namely:
* timing. I felt my playing was bit stiff and aiming to be 100% on the beat * bending: bends were often quite a bit off So to deal with those two issues, I wrote a new song - to serve as an ‘excuse’ to practice day and night to fix those problem areas. After approx 8 months of practicing I felt things were getting absurd ( + I started to get really tired of the song). So I decided to record it and move on, here is the result: 8 months was not really enough to get full control of this song, though I feel my timing got better thanks to sseveral sections in the song which required playing ‘around’ the beat with precision. Also - it seems to me that the more technical my music is, the less I can play with feel/emotion (because I am so focused on getting the runs right). This time around I kept the runs at a manageable level so I could really dig into the music - and I think this made my playing less robotic/sterile compared to my previous thread. In this song there were mostly Yngwie inspired picking runs as far as shredding goes, and those are a bit loose timing wise, and you can more easily compensate for mistakes. The opposite would be Paul Gilbert style 16th note string skipping arpeggios, where a single mistake could easily ruin the feel of an entire take. Btw - maybe writing a technical song but try to play it with lots of emotion could be a worthy challenge for Advanced VS Pro Playing #3 ? Even though the song begins with lots of bends - and I must have played that intro section 10 000-20 000 times by now - the bends are not 100% spot on. However a good thing is that I felt I gradually got better at “masking” those incorrect bends: Subconsciously I started adding vibrato or returning to the original pitch when I messed up, this is also something I often hear singers do live. If they’re skilled it will sound more like a feature than a bug! I retrospect I feel my focus this time was accuracy of bends rather than quality of vibrato - so the later is something I should probably focus more on, to get a more controlled and wider vibrato (at least when the song calls for it). I have also recently got a taste for using hip-hop inspired beats - and I feel there is a lot of potential to further use this in instrumental music. They have a lot of qualities that can serve us guitarists, some of them are: * They can make monotonous leads sound decent (!!) - just listen to rapping..! * They provide opportunities for highly rhythmic and groovy playing, this is something I absolutely love. The principle is simple: once you have got a groove all you need is great harmony - and you have got the most important and basic musical elements. ------ Do you have any thoughts about all of this? How have you progressed the last 8 months? What do you think I should focus on the coming months? And what should you focus on? Regardless of our current level, we’re all here to progress - so it would be very cool to get some discussion going about this. |
 |
 
|
|
I can you really worked on your bends and vibrato! Seems more like Eric Johnson maybe? But beauty is in the EAR of the beholder, as they say 
|
|
|
|
|
Nov 28 2014, 10:09 AM
|
|
Very inspiring post. Many of the things you mention here are my personal guiding principles as well:
* guitar must be fun above anything. You can break any rules as long as you are having fun. * For quick progress - nothing beats gettin out there and playing in front of, or with, people. In our universe that means collabs and REC! * Picking: I am also approaching the conclusion that a perfect picking technique is just too far away in amount of hours (or should I say decades?) - but that doesn't mean we can't use some picking to add killer sounds to our playing. I constantly find new approaches to picking that don't involve the difficult paul gilbert style (playing every note kind of picking). Check out this run. You could say it uses at least 3 different approaches to fast picking, and none of those involve picking every note (although the ending part is close to it). Legato is definitely the key here and I would recommend anyone wanting to get into shred stuff to invest more time in hammer-ons and pull-offs. I must say I find your devotion amazing. Btw is there any chance you could share those early Van Halen recordings? I have never heard him from that period. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Nov 28 2014, 10:22 PM
|
|
I think that this is the one I was referring to...
Raw, un-produced, and reveals Eddie exploring some rhythmic ideas. You can hear his style as it was emerging here (or at least that's what I hear). It's funny how a lot of the commenters on this You Tube post don't think it's EVH. I think it's him for sure, but what do you all think?... Eddie at 19 In that 1974 recording (above), you can hear the beginnings of his style. And then there's all those isolated guitar tracks of Eddie out there on youtube that are truly amazing. A little more produced (probably bounced tracks here and there), but these still really do a lot to reveal Eddies playing style, tone, and creativity. For me inspiring because it is songs and song writing that will make a musician famous or successful... Jamie's Crying (1st Album) Me, I'm a definite fan for sure so these tracks might work better to inspire me than they would other people. But if you can find some isolated or early recordings of any of your favorite guitarists, they will go far to get you thinking about what you want your style and sound to move towards, and about what you want to be working on. This post has been edited by JamesT: Nov 28 2014, 10:37 PM |
|
|
|
|
 
|
1 User(s) are reading this topic (1 Guests and 0 Anonymous Users)
0 Members:
