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Posted by: XJapan Jul 21 2012, 02:42 AM

Hey folks, just signed up for GMC 2 days ago to pull some things to add to my own practice regime (all hail the regime ^^)

My name is XJapan (lol), I am a guitar player from Australia! I played bass for a number of years, then after seeing Paul Gilbert and a bunch of other great players, it influenced me to start playing guitar, I have been playing guitar for 2/3 years but since march last year i have kicked up practicing to at least 6 hours per day, where I practice a combination of learning/practicing all keys, playing technical exercises to my click metronome Charles (because he is a distinguished old chap) and learning/writing songs.

An assortment of my favorite Bands / Guitar players that I am most fond of are - Paul Gilbert, John Norum, Kee Marcello, Syu, Hizaki and Teru, --->X JAPAN<---, Sonata arctica, Edguy, Avantasia, BACH, MOZART, BEETHOVEN and would note Alice Cooper as a guilty pleasure.

There are 2 technical areas of my guitar playing that I am focusing on improving at the moment,

-Sweep picking-
-Alternate picking-

In the past i have preferred to lead with an up stroke, so for simplicity, a line such as this, alternate picked starting with an upstroke I can do with ease and at fast speeds , BUT reverse it and start with a down stroke and things are not so good, although some combinations of inside/outside picking I am fine with.
Also, Upstrokes at faster speeds can lose their clarity, and I will almost do a "sweep" motion rather than a "pick motion", further sabotaging my articulation.

E-15--12----------15--12-------
B---------15--12---------15--12

In regards to sweep picking, I can Sweep upwards at faster tempos with minimal noise comfortably, but downwards...a different story.
So I've seen a pattern here that I would like to correct!

but I have made progress on fixing these issues through the use of my trusty metronome!

I am also improving my

-Pentatonic Rock/metal phrasings-
-Harmonic/natural minor phrasing/Neo classical sounding lines-

Sorry for the long ramble! I thought i might as well give a detailed explanation on why I am here and who I am and bla bla bla!
Already booked marked a whole bunch of videos from instructors and will be sure to post up some feedback vids when I dive headfirst into the instructional glory.

Cheers!
-XJapan-

Posted by: Blister Jul 21 2012, 03:58 AM

Hi X & welcome to GMC! You will find out very soon that you have come to the right place. That's great that you can devote so many hours to practice. I hope you are doing proper stretching & warmups before working out so hard. I hope to see you in the forum & chats!

Posted by: Gitarrero Jul 21 2012, 05:31 AM

Welcome to GMC X!
You have a great taste, some cool german acts in your list as well

Cheers

Christian

Posted by: TreyDeschamp Jul 21 2012, 05:38 AM

Welcome to the Family! Let us know if you need anything!

This community is full of wonderful, helpful and insightful people!

Posted by: XJapan Jul 21 2012, 05:57 AM

Thanks gents, its good to know there is a nice community here, which can be a very hard thing to find!

Posted by: Ben Higgins Jul 21 2012, 11:10 AM

Hello Mr Japan and welcome to GMC !

It's good to hear your story and also helpful to know what you're looking to work on too. You've already found some lessons to work on as you said but if you need any more help just let us know.

Be sure to check out live video chats that occur during the week.. you can find the chat schedule at the bottom right corner of the main page. It might be a bit tough to catch one if you're down in Oz but it has been known to happen !

If you're working on different aspects of picking you might find some interesting things in my Practise Journal thread. You also might not but I put a few of my picking observations in there that might work for you..

http://www.guitarmasterclass.net/guitar_forum/index.php?showtopic=41813

Posted by: Nihilist1 Jul 21 2012, 11:26 AM

If you are on tomorrow between 22:00 and 24:00 GMT I recommend going to Todd's Vchat! It will definitely help you with your alternate picking quite a bit!

Welcome to the community X Japan!

\m/(-.-)\m/

Posted by: Gabriel Leopardi Jul 21 2012, 06:38 PM

Hi and welcome mate! It would be great if you can post a video of you playing to let us give you some feedback! Also check out the mentoring programs!

Enjoy GMC!

Posted by: casinostrat Jul 21 2012, 09:34 PM

Welcome to GMC!

Posted by: Sinisa Cekic Jul 21 2012, 10:30 PM

Hi man and welcome to the site !

Posted by: XJapan Jul 22 2012, 03:25 AM

Thanks guys, Ill definitely check some things out and post a feedback vid or two sometime over the next fortnight!

Cheers.

Posted by: Todd Simpson Jul 24 2012, 02:24 AM

Welcome X! Small World! I'm an X Japan Fan as well I did a documentary on X guitarist hide Matsumoto a bit back when I learned the story of his passing. Hope you dig it!

QUOTE (XJapan @ Jul 20 2012, 09:42 PM)

Hey folks, just signed up for GMC 2 days ago to pull some things to add to my own practice regime (all hail the regime ^^)

My name is XJapan (lol), I am a guitar player from Australia! I played bass for a number of years, then after seeing Paul Gilbert and a bunch of other great players, it influenced me to start playing guitar, I have been playing guitar for 2/3 years but since march last year i have kicked up practicing to at least 6 hours per day, where I practice a combination of learning/practicing all keys, playing technical exercises to my click metronome Charles (because he is a distinguished old chap) and learning/writing songs.

An assortment of my favorite Bands / Guitar players that I am most fond of are - Paul Gilbert, John Norum, Kee Marcello, Syu, Hizaki and Teru, --->X JAPAN<---, Sonata arctica, Edguy, Avantasia, BACH, MOZART, BEETHOVEN and would note Alice Cooper as a guilty pleasure.

There are 2 technical areas of my guitar playing that I am focusing on improving at the moment,

-Sweep picking-
-Alternate picking-

In the past i have preferred to lead with an up stroke, so for simplicity, a line such as this, alternate picked starting with an upstroke I can do with ease and at fast speeds , BUT reverse it and start with a down stroke and things are not so good, although some combinations of inside/outside picking I am fine with.
Also, Upstrokes at faster speeds can lose their clarity, and I will almost do a "sweep" motion rather than a "pick motion", further sabotaging my articulation.

E-15--12----------15--12-------
B---------15--12---------15--12

In regards to sweep picking, I can Sweep upwards at faster tempos with minimal noise comfortably, but downwards...a different story.
So I've seen a pattern here that I would like to correct!

but I have made progress on fixing these issues through the use of my trusty metronome!

I am also improving my

-Pentatonic Rock/metal phrasings-
-Harmonic/natural minor phrasing/Neo classical sounding lines-

Sorry for the long ramble! I thought i might as well give a detailed explanation on why I am here and who I am and bla bla bla!
Already booked marked a whole bunch of videos from instructors and will be sure to post up some feedback vids when I dive headfirst into the instructional glory.

Cheers!
-XJapan-

Posted by: XJapan Jul 24 2012, 03:00 AM

QUOTE (Todd Simpson @ Jul 24 2012, 01:24 AM)

Welcome X! Small World! I'm an X Japan Fan as well

I did a documentary on X guitarist hide Matsumoto a bit back when I learned the story of his passing. Hope you dig it!

Hi, that's Awesome work! Poor Hide, so sad.

X Japan are the best, Silent Jealousy knocked me out of my chair when i first heard it. haha.

Posted by: Todd Simpson Aug 6 2012, 08:29 AM

Gotta love X Japan RED was the first video I saw and the double harmony leads were KILLER! Great band. I almost made it to the reunion tour but missed it.

Glad you liked the vid It was more than a year of work putting it together. It's gotten a great response on youtube.

Todd

QUOTE (XJapan @ Jul 23 2012, 10:00 PM)