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Posted by: Todd Simpson Jun 24 2020, 03:00 AM

Welcome to SHRED BOOTCAMP! I'll be your Drill Instructor! And I do mean DRILL! As in a large power tool used in slasher films and Paul Gilbert concerts. Here is were you EARN THE LIVING DEATH out of your fingers and break through any speed bumps/barriers to become a MASTER CHIEF of Shred!
QUICK TIPS TO PREPARE YOU FOR BATTLE
*Make sure you get both hands in the shot when shooting your video*Make sure you use a metronome for the first several Missions and that the metronome can be heard.*After you complete a mission, shoot me a PM and let me know it's ready and I'll give you a debrief! These are pass / fail, so if you pass you BADGE UP and if not, I'll give you some feedback and you head in to the breach once again.
*The first several missions are VERY simple. They are just to get you used to the bootcamp process.
*Most importantly, there is NEVER a speed requirement in bootcamp. I want you to push yourself to play as brisk as you can, but NEVER at the expense of precision. If you find you are missing a note here and there, slow down a bit. Speed is just a byproduct of precision so my goal is to make you a very precise player. At that point, speed just happens.

THE MISSION

1.)Your mission is to go all the way back to the very start. The base of the mountain.

LESSON 1. http://bitly.com/gmclesson1

Which you will play SUPER PERFECT!. Speed it up bit by bit until you feel your ready to take it to WAR (Any speed, it's up to you, no points for speed, only points for playing in a precise manner as speed is simply a byproduct of precision) Shoot a video and post it as a reply to this post. Make sure to EMBED the video by clicking on INSERT SPECIAL ITEM above the smiley face and then you'll get a drop down menu. Click on INSERT YOUTUBE VIDEO and follow the instructions in the Pop Up Menu. I'll then offer a constructive and brutally honest critique.

THE AFTERMATH

Upon nailing the crap out of lesson one at a speed you didn't think possible, and playing it a clean as a freshly waxed floor, you will be given your first insignia of Rank in BOOTCAMP! You will then proceed to Lesson #2 and so forth. Here is the link to the entire 400 plus Lesson Library. https://www.guitarmasterclass.net/wiki/index.php/Portal:Techniques

Here is the link to your own PRIVATE HOUSE OF PAIN!...Er I mean.. SHRED!

https://bit.ly/icethronesboootcamp

Practice!
Sarge

Posted by: IceThrone Jun 25 2020, 08:17 AM

Geezus, you where not kidding about this being a house of pain. At first I kinda rolled my eyes, "Alternate picking pfff, what we are going to do smoke on the water next". But then I sat down set the metronome and got put in my place real fast.

Posted by: Todd Simpson Jun 25 2020, 08:10 PM

Welcome to the fight Soldier!!! These first few are just about getting used to the process of bootcamp. Also, it requires you to play over a length of ground with consistency so I can see if you have any gaps that needed tending. The good news is you are clearly well prepped for this. You will have no trouble with the first dozen or Missions. After that it will start to get a pinch tricky. Let's look at this one.

Let's Debrief!!!!!


MEDALS OF HONOR

*MUTE: First thing I"m looking for is a solid Guitar Mute. You are doing a great job of palm muting. Your mute does not drift. This will serve you well in Missions to come.

*SYNCH: Handy Synch is the second thing I'm looking at in this Mission and your hand synch is SPOT ON. If there is any drift in your hand synch, this drill will make it stick out. The good news is your synch is killer.

*PACE: Lastly I want to see if you can keep solid pace. This is harder than it sounds. Some folks tend to drift and rush/lag without realizing they are doing it. Not you! Solid as a rock.

You are coming in with a high level of skill which is great. These first few missions will seem pretty straight forward. They get tougher as you go and next thing you know we are doing really crazy stuff. Just like the Military, you get out of it what you put in so get ready to earn it Soldier!!

You just..

LEVELED UP!!!!!

Congrats on your first badge! You can add it to your signature file if you like. I made the smaller one below which fits nicely in the signature space.

Welcome to bootcamp!!!!!!!

Sarge

Posted by: IceThrone Jun 26 2020, 02:01 AM

Day 2. I'm noticing that slide sound is really hard to get rid off on the bottom strings. On the top strings not so much.

Posted by: Todd Simpson Jun 26 2020, 08:03 AM

NAILED IT!! This is one of the best takes on this I've seen in quite some time. This one is all about making your hand repeat something over and over and over to the point that the hand/fingers get confused and start making mistakes. The good news here is that your playing is so darn solid that you play this up the neck on all the strings and keep it high and tight the entire time!! I know it's exhausting to get it right. It's a great warmup workout to get your fingers moving and find out where, on the neck you may need to put extra focus. Let's Debrief!!

MEDALS OF HONOR

*FORM: First thing I'm looking for here is form. Are you striking to deep, to shallow, etc. You are showing great form and technique here. Keep it up!

*TEMPO: Secondly, I want to see if you are rushing or lagging. Nope. Not a bit. Your timing is solid as a rock. Nice!!

*AGGRESSION: I want to see you jump in and start killing git and BAM you did!!!

You KRUSHED it Soldier. These will get more challenging as you go but you are more than ready. You just..

LEVELED UP!!!!!!
[
Keep it up Soldier!!!

Sarge

Posted by: IceThrone Jul 1 2020, 06:54 AM

Playing 3 note per string is something I already practice so no real problem here. I did fell of a bit and needed to re-engage the headbang to get back into it.

Posted by: Todd Simpson Jul 2 2020, 03:02 AM

Head banging is a great way to keep time! Some people tap their foot. Some people bang heir head!! You had no problem with the 3 notes per string and your hand synch was very tight. These first few lessons are meant to be easy enough for people who had never touched a guitar to get through them. Even if they play at a very slow speed. .You are well ahead of most people to be sure. You are ready for the advanced lessons already. I'm sure you will noticed the change once things start to ramp up. .I hope you enjoy them! For now, let's DEBRIEF!!!


MEDALS OF HONOR

PALM MUTE STEADY ON: Keeping a steady palm mute without moving your pick hand all over the place is key. You have a good and centered technique here. It's something that some people really struggle with. Not you!! SCORE.

PICKING STEADY ON: Your picking is very even and solid as it should be. This is always what I'm looking for on this one. It's easy to rush or lag but you keep it tight to the timing. Well Done.

ENDURANCE: I have not had a chance to really see your endurance until this one and you have amazing endurance. I think you could keep this up all day. NICE!!

Well done Soldier! Onward!!

Sarge

Posted by: IceThrone Jul 15 2020, 03:34 AM

Bit of break. Had a bit of a flub at the very end, but rest is good.

Posted by: Todd Simpson Jul 16 2020, 02:09 AM

Well Fought Soldier!!! I wasn't expecting you to go past the 12th fret so don't worry about it. You passed with flying colors on most of the neck so you can clearly play this bit. It's a good idea to slow down the metronome a bit and start at fret 12 to get your fingers used to playing in the tiny frets. After all, tons of solo work takes place past the 12th fret to get high notes. Being able to move around in the tiny frets just takes a bit of repetition. Let's Debrief!!!


MEDALS OF HONOR

ALTERNATE PICKING: This one is non stop Alt picking designed to wear out your hand if your playing with too much tension. The good news is your hand is nice and relaxed just like a pro so you run all the way up the neck!!!

MUTE OF DEATH: Very good control of leaving your palm in one place and using your fingers to make notes. This technique is crucial and yet some folks never quite get it. You do!

TIMING: Very tight and very evenly played. Up until the tiny frets you are locked to the click as it should be. You got this. Your ready for the crazy stuff ahead

In short, you just ...

LEVELED UP!!!!

Onward!

Sarge

Posted by: IceThrone Jul 17 2020, 05:27 AM

Lesson 5. Pushing the speed boundary, climbing up the neck trying to reach that 22nd fret.

Posted by: Todd Simpson Jul 18 2020, 01:06 AM

I appreciate your aggression here Soldier!!! You are very close to KRUSHING it. Give it a listen. Some notes are not quite fretted all the way as you can probably hear on playback. Everything else is pretty solid. I appreciate that you are pushing the envelope. Maybe make a slightly slower take for Badging up and one aggressive take just so I can see how your doing playing closer to the edge of your ability? For the Badge take, make sure each note is clear and distinct. This is not easy. However, it's a foundational skill. If you don't get it now, you'll risk baking it in to your brain that you can just skip notes that can't really be skipped as they stick out to the ear when they get skipped. This starts happening past the 12th fret but there is a small flub just after you start the lick as well. But nothing that can't be fixed. I think you could use a pinch more gain here as your muting is very good and it will help the notes stick oout a bit. Don't lose heart Soldier. You are doing great in bootcamp. Once more in to the breach!!

BTW NICE IBBY!!!! Love that thing.
Sarge

Posted by: IceThrone Jul 21 2020, 08:23 PM

Take 2, slowed down the metronome and whipped out the ol'reliable warlock. Surprisingly, that is the most comfortable guitar to play in the classical position.

Posted by: Todd Simpson Jul 22 2020, 05:44 AM

NAILED IT! All the way up to the last fret. Nice. Let's Debrief

MEDALS OF HONOR


*TRAVERSE: This is NON STOP TRAVERSE. You are traversing up the neck and traversing strings the entire time. It's designed to show any flaw in your technique as you traverse up the neck. Usually there are spots on the neck that folks are simply not used to playing. At those spots, they sometimes start to get wonky on their technique. Not so here. You start way down and go all the way up. Nice.

*PACE: It's tempting to speed up on the parts of the neck that are more comfy and slow down on the parts of the neck that are more tricky. You didn't rush or lag, just stuck to the metronome like glue!!!! Score

*ARTICULATION: No elbow picking!! No hand wag! Tight palm mute and picking using the fingers/wrist. Very smooth articulation all the freaking way to the top!! MULTI KILL!!!

You just...... LEVELED UP!!!

Onward!

Sarge

Posted by: IceThrone Jul 27 2020, 04:46 AM

Little rusty after a few days of no practice. Still working on cleaning up the middle speeds but think this is a good take.

Posted by: Todd Simpson Jul 28 2020, 03:03 AM

You've got the mechanics of this down Soldier! You are missing the lick by one fret on the last note from the look of it. It's a whole step from the second to last and last notes. It looks like you are doing a half step. That last note you hit with your pinky should be two frets away from the previous note. It looks like it's only one fret away in the video. This is a small change to make. It will require a bit of a stretch, but that's part of the Mission. I've seen you make great progress here Soldier, I'm sure you can do this!

Todd

Posted by: IceThrone Jul 28 2020, 07:59 AM

I switched fingering and that made reaching farther easier. The pick chokes up a bit, but sound consistent enough.

Posted by: Todd Simpson Jul 29 2020, 05:41 AM

Now you got it Soldier!! Let's Debrief!!!

MEDALS OF HONOR

ALT PICKING: I did notice your alt picking getting stuck now and again during your take. It is not enough to prevent you from badging up as I've seen plenty of good examples of your alt picking and I know you can alt pick. For some reason, with this one lick it seems to be causing problems with your picking. You may be over committing to each strike. On a lick like this where the pick is in constant motion on one string, use very shallow picking. make sure the pick only barely goes past the string. Also, pick at a bit of an angle, not straight up and down. Also, make sure the pick is very hard and very sharp. The pick should glide off the string. If you feel it getting stuck, something is wrong. It's worth looking in to it to find out what that is. The underlying technique is still strong.

MUTE: Very solid work on the palm mute. Also critical. If you can't mute, you will get string noise. Solid mute all the way through.

SYNCH: Right/Left hand synch is the core of this drill. If your synch starts to drift, the lick falls apart. You keep it tight for the first two. Those are the ones I graded. I looked at the third take as your "pushing the edge" take, which is always good to see, but not always good to grade. It lets me see where you are going and where your current edge of ability is.

You've got the techniques I'm looking to see down cold. These are going to be very important as you move forward. Try to isolate why your pick was sticking and work your speed back up to your third take to play it more cleanly and you will reap the benefits as you continue. It's more than enough to BADGE YOU UP ! You just..

LEVELED UP!!!

Onward!
Sarge

Posted by: IceThrone Jul 29 2020, 06:01 AM

Thanks Sarge!
it's a weird I think its the lighter tension on the Ibanez i think.
I much prefer the tension of the warlock vs the Ibanez even though they both have 9, 11 and 16 gauge respectively.

Posted by: IceThrone Jul 29 2020, 08:06 AM

Another one off the press. A slight finger twist on the 8th fret, but still stayed on time. 200 was really pushing it, but gotta challenge yourself

Posted by: Todd Simpson Jul 30 2020, 03:57 AM

This is a "shred" lick Soldier. The more you play it, the faster it will get. It's based on a Paul Gilbert lick, so it's built for speed. You can play it in one spot and focus on just making it faster. I had you move it around just to stress your hand and get it ready for what's to come!!!

Let's Debrief!!

MEDALS OF HONOR

ALTERNATE PICKING MADNESS - Alternate Picking is the core of these drills. If you alt picking is weak, this will show it. If you miss one strike, it will stick out like a sore thumb You did a very good job on keeping your alt picking high and tight

TRAVERSE IN STYLE - In addition to Alternate picking, this requires nearly non stop string traverse. Each time you switch strings, you risk missing the strike, each time you change frets, you risk missing a strike, there are chances to miss all over the place. You keep it smooth the entire time.

SILENT AS DEATH - Palm muting is always critical. Any gaps in the mute and string noise raises it's ugly head. So palm muting is really important on a lick like this. You've got to keep all the string muted and just lift a pinch on the string being struck. Well done@@@d

You've got this one Soldier. Keep this in your warm up licks. See how far you can push the speed. Try it in one spot and see if you can push it faster, then start moving it around again. As for this you got it and you just..

LEVELED UP!!!!

BTW: As for tension, the Ibanez Guitars really tend to shine imho with lighter gauge strings and a floating trem. This is a very trick configuration to set up. However, once it is setup, it plays like a dream. I use the hybrid yngwie set on my Ibanez guitar and it feel great. It allows easy bending to pitch and easier vibrato. Basically just better control over the strings. It's not for everyone, but I really dig it on my ibby.

Onward!!

Sarge

Posted by: Todd Simpson Aug 20 2020, 08:20 PM

Soldier!! I look forward to your next Mission. I know this is a crazy time with the plague everywhere keeping things upside down. Stay safe and practice!!

Sarge

Posted by: IceThrone Aug 21 2020, 04:55 AM

Back from cryo-sleep and recovered (mostly) from noodle arm syndrome.

Posted by: Todd Simpson Aug 21 2020, 10:17 PM

Great to see you back in the fight, swinging that Axe!!!! Knocking em down left and right!! Blood on the fretboard!! You really tore in to this one with a vengeance! Let's debrief!!

TRAVERSE OF KINGS You may have noticed that these licks have a LOT of string traverse. It's something that feels more natural the more you do it. Your traverse is quite smooth. You are doing very well on this. it's a crucial skill and you have it pretty much sorted. Nice!

SOLID PACING Any looping lick like these is about pacing. It's to test your ability to keep a steady pace over a longer length of ground. Your internal metronome is developing nicely. It's in perfect synch to the click. Another crucial skill that you showing great skill at. Score!!

ALT PICKING FROM HELL Pretty much non stop alternate picking. The point of this is to see if you can keep up non stop alt picking without missing notes or getting the pick caught on the strings. This will come in handy when you start doing scale runs all the way up the neck. You are putting all the skills you will need in place! Triple Kill!

You really KRUSHED this one Soldier!! Impressive Work!!!

You just..



LEVELED UP!!!

Onward!!!
Sarge

Posted by: IceThrone Aug 28 2020, 05:45 AM

had metronome at 160 after 170 it started to get a little random sounding

Posted by: Todd Simpson Aug 28 2020, 06:19 PM

WOW. Soldier you have been putting some time in the woodshed!! You killed this one. Precision, speed, control. It's all there. You are more than ready for the crazy bits that are ahead. Let's Debrief!!

MEDALS OF HONOR

SNIPER Picking with the the tactical precision of a Sniper. Precision is what it's all about.

CONSISTENCY This is the most important thing you can do and your doing it well. This drill is built to give you enough room to show your ability to keep it up over a distance. You nailed it!!

MUTE TO KILL Also crucial is a good palm mute. If you have a weak mute, you get string noise. Not here!!!!

You are more than ready Soldier!!!

Keep going!
You just ...

LEVELED UP!!!

You are on a roll Soldier!!!

Posted by: IceThrone Sep 3 2020, 09:49 PM

This one was a finger twister for sure.

Posted by: Todd Simpson Sep 4 2020, 01:53 AM

In this Mission we take my favorite scale inversion and then we move it up the neck! So we have a FINGER TWISTER with constant string traverse and then we add constant fret traverse! This is tricky and you do it smooth as glass!

Let's Debrief!!!

MEDALS OF HONOR

*SYNCH OR SWIM: Hand synch is CRUCIAL on this lick. If you slip just once, it sticks out like a sore thumb as I'm sure you found out. Not a problem here. Your synch is spot on and will serve you well as you move forward in to the crazy licks.

*MUTE OR DIE: Due to the massive amount of string/fret traverse, you gotta keep a good palm mute on this guy or string noise will just wreck it. Loose the mute and you loose control but that never happens here. Nice!

*AGGRESSIVE STYLE: This is a hard lick to play. You were not intimidated by it at all. You just leaped at it like a crazed lion! Score!!

In short you just...

LEVELED UP!!!

Onward!

Sarge

Posted by: IceThrone Sep 4 2020, 04:42 AM

Thanks Sarge! Actually this really kicked my ass into playing again. Gonna attempt some rec takes eventually.

Posted by: Todd Simpson Sep 5 2020, 11:26 PM

Practice makes perfect as they say! Keep it up!! You are on a Roll! It takes heart and effort to get things moving. Keep moving forward Soldier! No retreat!! No Surrender!

Sarge

Posted by: IceThrone Sep 25 2020, 04:00 AM

Took a bit of break, back in saddle again.

Posted by: Todd Simpson Sep 26 2020, 01:40 AM

Well Fought Soldier!! This one is built to break. It's designed to torture your fingers in to making a mistake. It's really an endurance test, sort of like repeating a tongue twister over and over until your tongue slips up. I"m realy just trying to see how many reps you can pull off before it starts to blow up. The good news is you made it all the way up the neck before fatigue started to dig in. Let's Debrief!!!

LOOPY: You may noticed that I have you play licks often in a "Loop". This is so that you focus on the lick itself. Also, it allows me to see your playing over a distance of ground. If you rush/lag, it will stand out. Part of what I'm trying to teach you is Playing like a Robot in order to Shred Like a God. It's about consistency. Once you learn to play for extended periods at speed, you can then add your own dynamics and twists in there to make a lick your own and create your own style.

NON STOP TRAVERSE: As with a few others, this lick traverses strings and frets non stop. Partially to build endurance, partially to get your hands accustomed to playing long sequences of notes. It forces the hand to adapt. What I'm trying to teach with this is that your hand needs to find a way to use a minimum of energy in order to play for extended periods at speed. You are adapting quite well!

ARTICULATION: You are doing a very good job of articulating the pick and avoiding the dreaded "Picking from the Elbow". You are also keeping a good mute and keeping string noise at bay. Well done!!

You only had a little hiccup at the very end but you more than krushed it all the way up the neck. You are ready for what awaits!!

You've got this down pat Soldier!! You just...

Leveled up!!!

Onward!!
Sarge