Tom51's Practice Thread, for Gab's Army |
HEY MAN, I really need your help...
...the thing is, I need you to start progressing faster then ever, but to achieve that I need your help:
* Don't know where to start? Just pm me and we will sort it out directly, I am online every day.
* Join My Army. Sounds aggressive? It is! We can study anything from the most fearsome picking techniques to bombastic songwriting. A medal of honor awaits the brave. Seriously, this is an opportunity for you to get a personalised learning experience...what are you waiting for?!
* Join my next video chat! GMC startpage holds a video chat schedule. We always cover a lot of ground and have fun. Remember that you don't need any previous knowledge, and you can be passive in the chat.
* Jam with me - you will find active collabs here.
* Post a topic on this board, guitar related or not - doesn't matter! You will find that chatting with instructors boosts your motivation to practice.
* You haven't missed my latest video lessons, have you?
* Finally I want to tell you a secret. Nah I changed my mind - pm me instead ;)
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May 2 2015, 04:26 PM
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Hi Tom! Good job with the intervals! It's perfect!! Yes, I decided to just use 3 intervals but not clarify it to make things more difficult. As the main difficulty of this week was to be able to recognize intervals from different roots, I thought that it would be ok to get back to the first intervals that we covered.
There will be a new assignment on Monday. That's a very nice video with tasty playing and tone. That's basically finger picking rhythm, I don't know another name for this kind of playing. -------------------- My lessons
Do you need a Guitar Plan? Join Gab's Army Check my band:Cirse Check my soundcloud:Soundcloud Please subscribe to my:Youtube Channel |
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May 3 2015, 05:17 PM
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Finger picking rhythm...ah thanks. Its a great thing to take the guitar, play some rhythm and solo over it what you feel right in this moment.
So back to beginners tracks  Legato It is a tough thing and I split it into small intervals of about 10min twice a day. Fingers and mind get tired to soon with such exercises. So unfortunately not much progress here. https://youtu.be/Ixl_JdzI0dk Rhythm and Chords I need the practice the chord changes of the middle part. They do not sound clean and as I am fully focused on my left hand finders my right hand looses the rhythm. https://youtu.be/JIgUswQDUps Bending and Vibrato Was trying a few times to play with full speed. But that is still too soon. Too many things that need polish (string noise - not enough muting, note is not ringing - too much muting and also timing issues. But it feels a bit better now. https://youtu.be/ZZ9l3GMpUX8 Cheers Tom This post has been edited by Tom51: May 3 2015, 05:22 PM |
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May 4 2015, 03:17 PM
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Hi mate! Thanks for the new updates!
The lessons are evolving well and you already commented and noted what you need to improve on each of them. I understand what you feel with the legato lesson, and I was thinking that it's time to let it just for a few minutes of practice every day and focus on more musical stuff. I think that you'll feel more motivated if you play musical solos and lessons and let these kind of more technical stuff just for some training at the beginning of your sessions. So what about searching for some lessons that include licks that you like and share them here, I'll help you to choose. It's time for change, what do you think?  -------------------- My lessons
Do you need a Guitar Plan? Join Gab's Army Check my band:Cirse Check my soundcloud:Soundcloud Please subscribe to my:Youtube Channel |
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May 4 2015, 04:13 PM
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Ok, so we discussed this at the chat-room, and I agreed that this lesson suggested by you is a great idea: https://www.guitarmasterclass.net/ls/Buckethead-Style-II/
-------------------- My lessons
Do you need a Guitar Plan? Join Gab's Army Check my band:Cirse Check my soundcloud:Soundcloud Please subscribe to my:Youtube Channel |
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May 8 2015, 03:20 PM
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Hi Tom! Good job with the intervals, there are only 2 wrong ones. Could you please re-check everything?
-------------------- My lessons
Do you need a Guitar Plan? Join Gab's Army Check my band:Cirse Check my soundcloud:Soundcloud Please subscribe to my:Youtube Channel |
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May 10 2015, 04:42 PM
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Hi Gab - so here are the news from my side. Right now with all lessons and ear training I work 2hrs. So I shouldn't add more. I really need 30min per lesson to get familiar with everything. I also work on the recording with cubase. But as this add more things to prepare and later extract the audio from the video and replace this with the recorded one I would only do all that once I am able to show a decent take (REC level). Then I would also improve my tone. For ear training I spend 20min and 10 for warmup with legato and 6 string barre chords.
Ear Training Its a shame but I am not able to clearly identify the 2 wrong intervals. There are two where I am not sure: #7 M7 (could be an octave too but I still hear M7) #10 M6 (as I do not find the same interval on my guitar - could be M7) But thats all guessing. For all other I am relatively sure that I got it right. Vibrato/Bending - Etude Now first take at full speed. This is good as I can play together with Jonathan which helps to improve timing and phrasing. Now I noticed how long he let the vibrato notes sound... During exercise I play mostly the difficult phrases where I often get lost. https://youtu.be/DTC0XXzAgi0 Rhythm and chords At "full speed" too. Yeah, the middle part is still not smooth yet. That is the part I practice most of the time and it gets slowly better. I get used to it that with me improvements come is small steps only. https://youtu.be/iMaZU6-hXWo Buckethead lesson Still exploring. Working on rhythm guitar and the first part of the lead guitar. I really love it !!! and regret that my time is limited to work on it. About recording: there is the final 90bmp for download but it has already the rhythm section in it. The 80bmp has not. How should I record this? Is there a 90bmp without rhythm guitar. I wanted to record rhythm in cubase first and once I got enough practice the lead at 90bmp over it. Please advise. Thanks much! Cheers Tom This post has been edited by Tom51: May 10 2015, 07:13 PM |
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May 11 2015, 03:45 PM
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Hi Tom! Good job this week!
About the ear training assignment. You're right about the #7, it's an octave. The other one that it's wrong is the #5. Please check it with your guitar, you'll notice which 2 intervals are giving problems and confusion. The vibrato and bending lesson is also evolving really good. It's cool to see you playing it over at the normal tempo, this shows a big progress in your playing. I'm not totally convinced of the position of your index and thumb fingers of your left hand. They are totally extended and I've never seen a guitarist using them like this. I'm not saying this because you must change it, but please have it in mind, and if possible ask other instructors here to know what they think. There is normal way of holding the pick which is the most used, you can check it on most on the guitarists, but there are also exceptions like Van Halen, Steve Morse and Marty Friedman who use a different way and works great for them. Regarding the rhythm lesson, it's also on the right track, just keep on practicing it to be able to play all the chords clean and tight. You show very important progress on this one too. I have checked my archive and as Buckethead lesson is a very old lesson, I don't have the original files to do a remix of the backing without the clean arpeggio. You can play it over me, or you can take the slower backing and make it faster with any kind of software. You should ask Bogdan to send you the file. This software is great for that: Amazing slow downer. -------------------- My lessons
Do you need a Guitar Plan? Join Gab's Army Check my band:Cirse Check my soundcloud:Soundcloud Please subscribe to my:Youtube Channel |
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May 11 2015, 06:24 PM
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Oh...yes. Did not realized that my pick holding fingers are so extended. Seems that my fingers choose the relaxed position themselves....I will try to get the right position with the first finger and thumb. What I do not feel comfortable with is making a closed fist (like instructor Dave Walliman does). Will try to emulate something like you do but with 3rd and pinky more extended. lets see next week if that is better.
Got the 80bpm track from Bogdan and made it faster with an open source software "audacity" to 90bmp. Seems to be a cool product with vst support too. http://web.audacityteam.org/ This post has been edited by Tom51: May 11 2015, 08:34 PM |
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May 12 2015, 05:59 PM
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Hi Tom! This sounds good, please practice with the new fingers position and share a video the sooner possible to let me check the change. Also thanks for the link, as it's a free software I'll try it since it can be good for many GMCers. Thanks!
-------------------- My lessons
Do you need a Guitar Plan? Join Gab's Army Check my band:Cirse Check my soundcloud:Soundcloud Please subscribe to my:Youtube Channel |
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May 22 2015, 03:11 PM
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Hi Tom, thanks for the update! The ear training answers are perfect! Good job!
About the lessons, great to know that you are working on them. Keep on the hard work. 
-------------------- My lessons
Do you need a Guitar Plan? Join Gab's Army Check my band:Cirse Check my soundcloud:Soundcloud Please subscribe to my:Youtube Channel |
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May 24 2015, 12:21 PM
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Hi Gab, here are some thoughts and videos from my current practice. Please let me know what you think.
Ear Training Great to hear that - for me harmonic intervals were easier to recognize than melodic. I also tried to play some fingerpicking rhythm with some intervals to make that more interesting. I am curious about what is coming next . Etude Seems I am at a dead spot right now. During the week I felt I was much better than my current records shows. But as long as you see a little progress I would continue as I do not get bored (yet). Next week I will do this lesson for 2 months and we can decide how to go on. I don't thing that I will get this to REC at my current playing level. If I listen to Jonathan - thats a different world. https://youtu.be/qK3a-KjBQ9M 5 String Barre Getting better and here I feel I can make it to REC (just refer to REC as a level that describes a decent take) in a week or two. I would try next week to record with cubase and replace that audio. Still have not find the right tone yet. OK? https://youtu.be/GismAyyLkO4 Buckethead Style This lesson is so much fun to work on. This is my first lesson where I learned the notes "automatically" and immediately knew when I played a wrong one. I got the general idea but of course this is the first bumpy take. I also played the rhythm guitar but only as cubase audio (forgot to record video). The tone is not good - too much distortion - and timing not tight yet. I will send the link if you want? https://youtu.be/anABJa8-XTM within future my practice (once we are done with the above) I would to include some "how to get the right tone" as well as fingerpicking. Maybe a little later some simple jamming over a backing track. Good idea? This post has been edited by Tom51: May 24 2015, 12:21 PM |
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May 24 2015, 10:53 PM
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Hi Tom! Interesting stuff!
If you feel that any lesson is boring you it's time to quit and go for a new lesson! There are lots of things to learn here and it doesn't make sense to practice something that you are not enjoying. I checked your videos and I notice that on both the etude and buckethead lesson you need to focus on details related to vibrato, timing, bending and dynamics. I think that working on both lessons at the same time is too much since the topics are similar but there are many licks to polish so maybe you can switch to buckethead lesson during this week an combine it with some technique exercises to polish bending and vibrato. The chords lesson is on the right track, you just need to continue practicing it to e more comfortable with all the different shapes used there. I also think that you'll be able to share a good rec take soon for this one. Your ideas about things for the future sound good for me: - Tone - Improvisation - Fingerpicking Do you have some lessons in mind? -------------------- My lessons
Do you need a Guitar Plan? Join Gab's Army Check my band:Cirse Check my soundcloud:Soundcloud Please subscribe to my:Youtube Channel |
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May 26 2015, 03:06 PM
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Hi Tom! Great stuff!
I agree that using lessons to work on tone is a good idea. In my experience, there are two ways that helped me to develop my tone. The first one has been trying to emulate other guitarists tone with my gear, this happened when I recorded backing tracks, or when I record covers and lessons. This is a great training for my ear and to get familiar with the gear settings and possibilities. Other thing that always helped me has been to see guitar rig videos or read articles from my favorite guitarist where they describe what they use and how... there are lots of these videos at youtube and there is always something to learn from them... John Mayer? Blues? Finger picking? Here are some suggestions: https://www.guitarmasterclass.net/ls/Easy-Fingerstyle-Blues/ https://www.guitarmasterclass.net/instructo...cola-Mandorino/ https://www.guitarmasterclass.net/ls/John_Mayer-Neon/ https://www.guitarmasterclass.net/ls/John-Mayer-Style-Ballad/ and off course all lessons in the style of Hendrix, SRV and Ford.
-------------------- My lessons
Do you need a Guitar Plan? Join Gab's Army Check my band:Cirse Check my soundcloud:Soundcloud Please subscribe to my:Youtube Channel |
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May 31 2015, 01:17 PM
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Hello Gab, first track has been recorded with Cubase and GuitarRig
Chords https://youtu.be/YaCR5ZfDrGo I used a patch that was available and sounded good to me and did not change anything first. Or should I go from scratch and choose an amp first and then later add FX step by step? [attachment=42085:Bildschi...13.44.32.png] On the playing side the long change from Am7 to B7 is still not clean yet but getting better. Overall I am better with the groove now too. Bending and Vibrato (only Video) Second take, some wrong notes and timing was corrected  Also tried to get that subtile vibrato you show. Bends: first two are ok, the two D-E bends at the end are over pitch. (just to see if I hear it right) Have not made much about the tone yet - just picked very gentle at the first part add added some gain as 2nd. https://youtu.be/q331Q5aCv40 Improvising, Blues ... Still searching about the right way to start. I thought some rhythm first might be a good idea. I do not have the courage to try a level 4 lesson now which is the John Mayer Neon lesson. https://www.guitarmasterclass.net/ls/John_Mayer-Neon/ Although I know you like pushing students out of their comfort zone So maybe something like this would be a good idea https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BC54wHDKLd4 Its just some chords over a backing, but later some interesting phrasing will be added likes additional notes (9th, 13th) or slides into chord, some small licks and so on. And this is could be developed step by step. If you do not like this idea above I would try to start with that very nice but tricky lesson: https://www.guitarmasterclass.net/ls/Poor_Man_Blues_Solo/ Please let me know our thoughts. Ear Training Will be the next thing I will do - Its VERY hard. I spend about 30min last 3 days and still do not find the chords. Today I will try a different way with playing first chords like P5 on many positions to get the sound in my ears. Later I will listen to you assignment 6 again. Maybe that is better than trying to find the interval you played on my guitar. This post has been edited by Tom51: May 31 2015, 01:44 PM |
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May 31 2015, 06:15 PM
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Hi Tom! Great stuff!
Congrats on your software upgrades! I can note a big improvement in your videos sound thanks to this. Well done! It's ok to start with presets at first to experiment with all the possibilities that the plug in offers, then you can experiment tweaking the presets or starting one by yourself. There is no a right or wrong way to find your tone. Experiment! Chords: I like the tone for this one, it's a bit dirty but it sounds cool for me. Your playing is also good, but you need to focus on timing to make it sound better. Buckethead: This one is on the right track, and now it's time to continue polishing the different riff focusing on things based on this order: - timing - picking and muting (everything sounding clear and clean) - Bending and vibrato - Dynamics Practicing over the original lesson a bit can help. But it's also important to practice over the backing as you did on this video. About blues lessons and rhythm, I think that everything you suggested is great. The neon tune is tricky but if you feel motivated to work on it, it's ok! The andy timmons video is great! and it can work as a good complementary work since it's most based on sharing ticks and inspiring ideas that can be added into your own playing, so you won't regret working on some of those concepts. I also think that working on the first fingerpicking blues lessons from this instructor could be very helpful: https://www.guitarmasterclass.net/instructo...cola-Mandorino/ Finally the poor man solo is also really good. So to summarize, I would divide the time between some rhythm playing (timmons, mandorino) and lead (poor man solo). -------------------- My lessons
Do you need a Guitar Plan? Join Gab's Army Check my band:Cirse Check my soundcloud:Soundcloud Please subscribe to my:Youtube Channel |
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Jun 1 2015, 12:08 PM
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Hi Gab! Thanks much for your comments!
Blues rhythm - ist this the one you mean? https://www.guitarmasterclass.net/ls/Finger...Blues-Patterns/ Maybe I as an acustic guitar way played I did not look at that. Seems to be a great basic lesson to learn some blues rhythm and fingerpicking. But I would not add the Poor Man Solo in addition as I need min 30min per lesson to improve a little till the next video. So 3 lessons, +ear training, +legato, + some old things like open chords and 6 string barre fits my 2 hours/day perfectly. If i add too much I will end up doing everything a little but nothing right. So blues lead would be added once I finished the 5string Barré chord lesson. OK? Cheers Tom! |
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