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Posted by: Velvet Roger Feb 28 2009, 11:57 AM

This thread will be used for your individual assignments and discussion

Hi Joe,

Here is your first individual assignment for the MTP:

Assignment #1 - Farmer Joe

Lesson

I am planning to do the syllabus lessons in the same order with you, as you indicated that you are completely selftaught and relatively short playing. Hopefully we can quickly progress to a bit more advanced stuff. I would suggest to start the MTP with the lesson: http://../rhythm-guitar/beginner-strumming-and-arpeggios/

Technically speaking there is nothing challenging to this lesson, however timing wise it should be spot on. Try to get it perfect with downstrokes during the arpeggio's first on low tempo and gradually speed it up to full-tempo.

I hope the lesson will be relatively easy, but take the time you need to record a good video of it

Deadline

I would like you to upload a video of this lesson in your own upload Thursday 5 March. Also if you have any questions, just ask them in this thread.

Good luck!

Posted by: Farmer Joe Mar 1 2009, 02:56 AM

Sounds good. This is actually one of the areas I am working on right now myself. I know the major chords off the top of my head, as well as A, D, and E minor, which are the three minor chords used in this lesson, so its perfect haha. I do need a lot of work between changing between the chords quicker and smoother, and I think its a perfect first lesson for me to get some feedback on. I'll probably have it recorded by tomorrow and uploaded. I'll take tonight to practice it a bit more. I like the quote in your signature, its what I will try to do. I'm not looking for the first time I get it right and in tempo, I'm looking for the time i can no longer get it wrong.

Posted by: Velvet Roger Mar 1 2009, 02:15 PM

Sounds good, looking forward to your take

Posted by: Farmer Joe Mar 3 2009, 03:26 PM

hey, still haven't forgotten about this. I didn't expect to have it come down to the deadline almost, my weekend off did not go as planned at all. I'll try to have my video up by today, tomorrow the latest. It's given me a few extra days of practice, but I'm still not there yet, so I'm not going to lie, it'll probably still be sloppy. I'm doing it at 75 bpm for now

Posted by: Velvet Roger Mar 3 2009, 09:30 PM

Thanks for the update,

Don't worry too much on the speed, I would rather like to see it at a lower speed, but played more perfect than a sloppy take at a higher speed. Speed will come naturally over time, however precision in playing is something which has to be mastered at slow speeds first in order to progress correctly.

Overall, just record a take when you think it's reasonably OK, so I can give you some pointers to pay extra attention to.It doesn't have to be perfect yet.

Cheers!

Posted by: Farmer Joe Mar 6 2009, 04:06 AM

Well, I got my hands on a dv camera that I was able to borrow for my friend, the only catch was that I had to go buy the firewire cable to connect it to my computer haha, but that's cool. I should be able to get my hands on this for all my uploads, so I don't have to use my useless webcam.

Here's my take on the first lesson. There are errors galore, Ireally need help and guidance to improve. I've been practicing this lesson for the past 3-4 days, for at least an hour each day, and I just can't get it, although I have noticed a lot of improvement since I first attempted it (if you can believe that lol.) Its just frustrating with this lesson because its chords that I know, I just had to get used to transitioning between them, and I just couldn't do it yet; however, the F major barre chord is still a little difficult for me when it comes to timing it right and trying to change to another chord. I know I need improvements in every single area of my guitar playing, I just don't know where to begin. I need help with timing right from the start, I've never tried anything this slow at 50BPM, so it was kind of hard, but then again, if i pick a faster BPM, I can't transition between chord changes quick enough. So its not a slow or fast thing, its just me needing to improve my timing and rhythm desperately.

The only thing i noticed in the video that was Not a playing mistake on my part was the very first arpeggio of the A minor chord, the 1st string doesn't ring out (in the video) when I played it, but I believe that was an audio problem between the guitar and video camera, because it did actually ring out when I played it, but other than that, its all mistakes, and not the audio capture's fault.

well here's the video

Posted by: Velvet Roger Mar 6 2009, 08:52 AM

Thanks a lot Luey,

I quickly watched it and will give you some detailed comments and pointers later on today (am at work currently).

I could certainly see that you've put quite some effort into it, and although there are some timing, picking issues (alternate / downstroke picking, which is not perse wrong although made it probably more difficult for yourself) you did a good job!

Although this lesson looks like a very basic one, these chord shapes are not always used a lot by beginning guitar players, hence the difficulty.

One request for the next video's though, could you use your own Upload thread for that

More later

Posted by: Velvet Roger Mar 6 2009, 12:53 PM

Comments to assignment #1

As already mentioned above, I think you did a good job with this lesson Luey, but it still needs a bit of work to really nail it .

There are a couple of things I would like to mention:

1) Regarding your timing: I noticed that at certain moments you are quite nicely in time with the strums and the following arpeggio's, however at several places you are not on the beat (mostly after the beat). You probably are already aware of most of them but I will just give you a couple of the most obvious ones here where the strumms are not completely in time: 0:37, 0:44, 0:58, 1:38 in the video.

2) In addition, you should pay a bit more attention to actually let the arpeggio notes ring nicely. Especially in the 2nd part of the video there were a couple of occassions in which the notes did not nicely rung too let the music 'flow melodically'. A couple of examples are: 1:19 (you started the arpeggio too late here actually) and 1:34, 1:45.

3) The reason that you still had some difficulty with the timing of strumms and arpeggio's seems to be due to the fact that you need quite a bit of time to switch the chordshapes. First of all: no worries, this will improve over time!!!! One thing I would advise you to do for those shapes you find to difficult to switch to is to isolate them a bit longer and practice those switches each day very focussed for a while (doesn't have to be very long, as long as it is focussed).

A fact is that currently I am practicing quite advanced chord shapes all over the neck of extented chords (like Maj13, Maj11 etc etc) and I am having quite similar problems when I start working with new shapes and doing an exercise similar to the one in this lesson. Believe it or not .. but at a certain moment (not so long from now), you will wake up and it will go much more smoother

4) I also noted that you used alternate picking mostly throughout the arpeggio's which is not wrong as already mentioned, but for the sake of the lesson I would like to ask you to do the arpeggio's with downstrokes for the 1st part and upstrokes for the 2nd part solely. In our group exercise you can actually use the alternate picking (so we will certainly address both types of picking).

5) Finally, I noticed during the upstrokes that you tend to stop your strum a bit too early compared with the downstrokes. This is also something quite natural and just needs a bit of extra attention. Practice just a couple of chords (both chords which cover all 6 strings (F e.g.) and ones with 5 strings (C e.g.) or 4 strings (Dm e.g.) doing an downstroke 4x on every beat and then doing the same but with upstrokes for each chord and try to have an as smooth as possible movement strumming (it doesn't have to be very hard or quick, a bit more smooth will do for this lesson, as mentioned in the thread of Lee).

All in all, well done mate and it doesn't take too long to correct a couple of things!

May I ask you to work on this lesson for a couple of days longer, so you can work a bit on those aspects mentioned above and upload a new take just after the weekend (try not to use alternate picking)? Don't worry too much about the group exercise if it will bring you into trouble time-wise

Good luck!

Roger

Posted by: Farmer Joe Mar 6 2009, 01:57 PM

Thanks for the nice critique Roger. I was actually going to ask if I could stay on this lesson for a few more days, so that's perfect. I can't let this lesson get away that easily. I'll attempt to get to the group lesson as well if this weekend isn't as hectic as last.

Posted by: Velvet Roger Mar 6 2009, 02:14 PM

Great, I like this spirit

Posted by: Farmer Joe Mar 8 2009, 04:11 AM

Hey Roger,

I just noticed you mentioned in an earlier reply to post my video in the my upload thread. My bad, I don't know why, but I thought that the upload thread was just for uploads of the group assignment. I just must have misread something somewhere haha. I will post all my future videos in that thread though, thanks.

On the subject of group assignments though, I am reading through and memorizing some of the shapes now. I won't be able to post much because this is the first day i've actually looked at it (my individual assignment has been keeping me pretty occupied), but I'll try to post my take on the first video at least ( the D chords based off the C Major shape) by sometime tomorrow. I will definitely get to the other two portions of the group assignment, and have videos up by Wednesday, I hope. I want to get some of it done at least because I don't want it to seem as though i'm just brushing off these assignments, or forgetting about them. I do appreciate your help so far man, and I want to show it by improving way beyond the skill level that i'm at now. I know that's where you're trying to lead me with the assignments you give, and I'm just trying to get them done
Also, I'm about 98% sure that i will be able to make it to the chat tomorrow, so will hopefully catch you there Roger.

peace

Posted by: Velvet Roger Mar 8 2009, 11:09 AM

Great to hear this Luey, the most important aspect I would like achieve is that you are going to get better by consistently focussed practicing. So don't worry too much if certain deadlines can't be kept, as long as you let me know how things are going and so on it's fine

Posted by: Farmer Joe Mar 14 2009, 03:25 PM

Hey Roger, whats going on? I've been working on the tab you gave me to work on my time. I've been using a metronome, but I have a couple questions. Now I've had a metronome since I bought my guitar, but really haven't used it. I've been doing the lesson at 50bpm - 55bpm so far, but I'm not sure if I'm playing to the metronome correctly. For example, When doing quarter notes do I play one on the down beat (first click), one in between, one on the up beat (second click) and then one in between? That's what I've been doing, and for triplets the same thing, so I'm basically playing (the bold refers to the clicks on the metronome ) 1-and-uh 2-and-uh 3-and-uh 4-and-uh.
That's pretty much my only question.

Posted by: Velvet Roger Mar 14 2009, 05:55 PM

The clicks on the metronome represent 'quarter notes' so (bold = note played on the click):

Whole notes: Play the note at the first click, wait for 3 more clicks and then repeat (1 - - -)
Half notes: Play the note at the first click, wait 1 more click, play the note at the 3rd click, wait 1 more click and then repeat (1 - 1 -)
Quarter notes: Play the note at each click you hear (1 2 3 4)
Eight notes: Play them like this: 1 2 1 2 1 2 1 2)
Triplets: Play the 1st note of the triplet on each click, the 2nd and 3rd note of the triplet before the next click so (1 2 3 1 2 3 1 2 3 1 2 3).

Kris made an excellent lesson on metronome use, which you can check out http://www.guitarmasterclass.net/how-to-use-a-metronome.htm

Hope this helped

Posted by: Farmer Joe Mar 14 2009, 07:31 PM

So I've basically been playing all the notes In the tab you gave me at double the speed? So like 100 bpm triplets if not more. No wonder it seemed so dificult at first, thats been my issue with timing haha I almost got it down playing like that though, just a little bit more practice on triplets. But now it'll be easier since I understand

Posted by: Velvet Roger Mar 14 2009, 08:22 PM

Great you understand it now, looking forward to see your progress

Posted by: Farmer Joe Mar 19 2009, 02:35 AM

Hey Roger, I'm not going to have the video camera until Friday probably, so I'm posting up an Audio take of the timing exercise you gave me. I figured its not too big of a deal if its just audio because as far as technique wise (picking), its pretty simple, mostly just downstrokes, except for the triplets were I used alternate picking. Plus the sooner I can upload a take of this, the sooner I can get feedback from you on what to correct, and the sooner I can get a new fun assignment

I did it at 75BPM like you wanted. I do apologize for the unwanted noise on the 3rd and 4th measure (the part of the tab with the half notes) after the first beat on each one, I just realized after I had mixed it down that I probably should've recorded another take because I guess my pick hit the string a little on each of those and didn't let the note ring out clearly, but it only happens on the first beat of the half notes. I only had a short while to record, I have to get back to my programming assignment for class, its keeping me busy I am well aware of those two little mistakes and plan not to make them ever again

 Rhythm_Tab_Exercise_01_MP3_.mp3 ( 2.2MB ) : 209

Posted by: Velvet Roger Mar 19 2009, 03:51 PM

Hey Luey,

Thanks for posting the audio take, which is fine in this case.

You did well regarding timing! You basically followed the tab correctly (with a few exceptions, mentioned below) and started on the right moments. This means that we can now continue again with the assignment and using the current progress, which enables us to work on chord transistions a bit more

A couple of comments which did go wrong:

Bar 9+10: you played the triplets instead of 3 notes per beat with same length (1/3 of a quarter note, or 1/3 of a beat) as 1 eight note followed by 2 sixteenth notes.

Bar 13+17: you played the C-note twice in these bars, whilst you only had to play it once. If you look closely to the sheet music, you can see that first C-note (8th note) is tied with the (1/2 note), meaning that it has to ring for in total 2.5 beats and it is not supposed to be picked twice in that bar

I am happy that we can get back on track, well done!

Cheers
Roger

Posted by: Farmer Joe Mar 19 2009, 04:33 PM

Ok cool, thanks man. The extra C note is easy enough to fix. I'll have to look at some lessons on triplets, hopefully there are some, because this is actually my first attempt at doing triplets. I'll have that fixed soon

Posted by: Velvet Roger Mar 19 2009, 05:52 PM

Check out the metronome lesson of Kris, which perfectly showes how to play triplets, and how not to play them. Really worthwhile doing that

Posted by: Farmer Joe Mar 20 2009, 10:36 PM

Roger, thanks for suggesting that lesson (i know you already did once or twice before, but I finally watched it and paid attention). After watching it a couple of times and then listening to my take on this exercise, I realized how wrong my attempt at playing triplets was. Actually, after watching that lesson i see how much work I need to do on timing. I'll be doing the examples from that lesson everyday for a while now

I'll try to record another take tonight, but I not sure if that would be 100% possible. So if not tonight, definitely sometime tomorrow.

Posted by: Velvet Roger Mar 21 2009, 01:27 AM

Perfect!, looking forward to it

Posted by: Farmer Joe Mar 24 2009, 12:00 AM

Hey Roger, I got another audio take of the rhythm tab again. its at 75 BPM once again, and I think I fixed my problem on the triplets from the first take, i hope If not, let me know, I must be misunderstanding something horribly haha.

I really do apologize for the harsh tone, I recorded without the audio input on, and after I mixed it down I listened and couldn't figure out why it sounded so bad. I just now found out that my wah pedal was on by mistake, and along with the GTR Solo amp software on my computer, it didn't sound good at all So my apologies if it makes your ears cringe.

 MTP_Rhythm_Tab_TAKE_2__MP3_.mp3 ( 2.2MB ) : 167

Posted by: Velvet Roger Mar 24 2009, 12:46 PM

We are getting there!

Your sound was indeed horrible , but I survived it

The main thing is that your triplets sound much more like triplets should sound like, which is a good job! What I still noticed however is that you still tend to let the first note of the triplet sound a tiny bit longer than the other 2 notes (not much, but a little). In essence, you only should play 12 notes in 1 bar in the same way as you play 8 notes in 1 bar if you play eight notes, using alternate picking all the way.

As a little sidetrack:
You can basically play triplets actually in 2 ways (either alternate picking during the whole lick or start with a downstroke, upstroke, downstroke and then the next triplet start over again: downstroke, upstroke, downstroke). You will notice that it will accent the first note of each triplet more if you play it like the latter.

Anyways, you certainly got the point how to play notes with different notations with a metronome, just keep practicing the triplets along with the other durations regularly.

It would now be a good time to go back to the original assignment and play the group exercise once more (which should not take to long to do I guess) to see whether it actually improved after this timing exercise .

After that we can swiftly move on to something you probably like: Rockin'!

Cheers
Roger

Posted by: Farmer Joe Mar 26 2009, 12:23 AM

Thanks Roger
About the bad tone, I just realized the the light to one of my overdrive pedals died, so it was on along with the wah pedal, and then I had an overdrive and a light reverb on in my GTR amp sim, that was what made the horrible tone. It took me a while to figure out the light died, I don't know how, I guess its old But I won't make that mistake again.

I will keep working on the triplets, comparing this last take to Kris' lesson I can tell that the first note of the triplets is just a bit longer, I've thrown that into my daily routine now when I pick up my guitar (and metronome now too! ), so it shouldn't take long to get it down.

I am working on the group assignment again based on your SI lesson, I've memorized the shapes for the first video of that I did (the C-Shape based arpeggios), and I've been playing them non-stop for the past few days to figure out the best and fastest transitioning fingerings for me. I'm doing it pretty well, I'd actually say very well, at 60BPM, I bumped it up to 65, and a little at 70BPM last night. That has been going ok, the only thing that is holding me back is transitioning quicker and smoother from the 1-3-2 frets on the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd strings to the 3-2-4 frets on the 2nd, 3rd, and 4th strings, but it took me a whole day, and part of another day, to get that transition right just at 60BPM, so its coming along. I'm confident that i will at least have it at 65BPM, hopefully 70, by Friday, which is when I'll post up another take on it. I've been busy with some computer programming assignments for my class, as well as a test in the same class next week, but I somehow managed to get Friday off, so I have the whole day to play my guitar.

I think I will also be able to record another attempt at Muris' Strumming and Arpeggio lesson as well. I've been practicing that as well and its coming along good at 50BPM, the only transition that still gets me is the F barre chord
still. I just can't get to it quick enough, but everything else is good. What I notice that Muris does a bit in the video at that chord is that he's already beginning his strum at the 6th string while getting his other fingers in position so by the time his strum is coming to the 5th and higher strings his fingers are set. I've been trying to accomplish the same thing, but barring the 1st fret, beginning my strum, and getting my ring and pinky fingers (my 2 weakest fingers still) into position at the appropriate frets, while also maintaining the proper rhythm is still a little too much thinking and action for me at one time Of course, Muris' skill level is light years ahead of mine lol, he is a master of his craft.

Oh yea, sorry for posting the past couple videos in this thread, I completely forgot about my upload thread.
As far as theory readings, I've finished with the Seventh Chords and Triad lesson by Andrew, what should I begin to look at next? I was already pretty familiar with those two topics, but the lessons definitely help refresh my memory, and give me a good place to go back to when I need to read up on them again.
Well, sorry for the long lecture , I'm just a little excited now that I notice a little improvement in my playing, not much, but its baby steps that help me progress. Good call on the metronome lesson again, I think that definitely got the ball rolling with my improvement

Posted by: Velvet Roger Mar 30 2009, 12:08 AM

Hi Luey,

Here is your second individual assignment for the MTP:

Assignment #2 - Farmer Joe

Lesson
We are going to continue to work a bit on your solo abilities to give you a bit more variation in your practicing.

I have chosen for a nice melodic solo, which is using pretty much the whole fretboard, but which is timing wise quite straightforward: http://www.guitarmasterclass.net/ls/jumping-around-beginner/.

What I would like you to do is to record a take, and the backing speed which is do-able for you of bars 1 to 9 of the solo (until 0:32 of the video). I have highlighted the part of the tab which you do not need to play for now.

http://www.guitarmasterclass.net/guitar_forum/index.php?autocom=gallery&req=si&img=868

You will notice that Muris is using quite extensively vibrato on all the long notes. Of course it would be great if you could try to do that as well, but don't let this be the major focus of the take. For now, I would like you to focus completely on playing the notes on time. Try as much as you can to follow the picking pattern that Muris is using (mostly downstrokes, however sometimes alternate starting with a downstroke or an upstroke).

Watch the video several times before starting to play this (in order to get the feel and picking patterns clear), and practice/memorize the patterns at a slow pace before practicing them at final speed.

Deadline

I would like you to upload a video of this lesson in your own upload thread at Monday 6 Apr if at all possible. Also if you have any questions, just ask them in this thread.

I hope you like it and good luck!!!

Posted by: Farmer Joe Mar 30 2009, 01:03 PM

Hey thanks Roger. Looks like a good lesson, it'll add some fun and variety to my practice routine. I've already memorized the part you want me to play, now to practice it for a few days to a metronome then backing track One question though, can you explain bends to me? Or are there any articles or lessons that explain this topic? I'm at work right now and haven't had time to search yet. I mean, I know how to bend, but I don't know much when it comes to how much to bend, like a half bend, full bend, 1and 1/2 bend and so on.
Thanks man

Posted by: Velvet Roger Mar 30 2009, 01:22 PM

In this lesson you have 1 bend, 1 full bend from 13th fret on the B string (which is the C note). This means that you have to bend the C note to a D note. In order to get this right try to practice the bending of this C to D note by alternating between bending and playing the 15th fret on the B string. That way you can make sure than you pitch the bend right!

You can also practice this on other strings, other places etc. so you get a good feeling how to bend in tune.

Hope this helps.

Cheers
Roger

Posted by: Farmer Joe Mar 30 2009, 03:45 PM

Ahhhh I see. A full bend basically means to bend up a whole tone. So I'm guessing a half bend is a half tone and so on. If I got that right, then cool
Thanks Roger, appreciate the help

Posted by: Velvet Roger Mar 30 2009, 07:04 PM

Yeah, that's right!

Posted by: Farmer Joe Apr 5 2009, 02:09 PM

Hey Roger, I may need 2 or 3 extra days with this lesson. To tell you the truth I haven't really played it much besdies just memorizing the part you want me to play. I've been more into writing my part for the Soul collab
I will practice this lesson a bit today, if things go well, I may be able to get a take up on Tuesday, if not, then either Wednesday or Thursday

Posted by: Velvet Roger Apr 5 2009, 02:24 PM

That's perfectly fine, if you need any help with the Sould collab give me a shout and we can work on it together for a bit! I am flying back from Philly tonight, so will be with my guitar finally tomorrow again.

I think it is great that you signed up for that one! One advice: don't worry too much about impressing everyone with as much notes as possible, I would rather like to see only a few notes which are melodically connected and nicely played (with as good as possible vibrato e.g.)!

Cheers
Roger

Posted by: Farmer Joe Apr 6 2009, 01:36 PM

Ok cool, I figured this would be a good reason to delay the assignment, it still has the soloing aspect to it And that sounds great, I'm sure I could use some help on the collab. I'm going to work on it tonight, so I'll let you know if I come up with anything. And yes, I was planning on keeping it simple, I don't think I would be able to "impress" with my "speed" at the moment anyway

Posted by: Velvet Roger Apr 6 2009, 07:09 PM

Cool, let me know how things go

Posted by: Farmer Joe Apr 10 2009, 08:42 PM

Just saw the group assignment thread for the 2nd assignment. I'll begin working on it sometime this weekend, I actually got the weekend and monday off from work so I should get plenty of guitar playing time.

Posted by: Velvet Roger Apr 10 2009, 09:11 PM

Awesome, thanks Luey

Posted by: Farmer Joe Apr 12 2009, 09:24 PM

I won't be able to post a take today, Roger. Something worked up my allergies and sinus pretty bad early yesterday, so I've just been pretty much knocked out in bed from allergy medication yesterday and today, but I'm up and better now. I'll start to write up a part in a few minutes and hopefully I can have it done by tomorrow

Posted by: Velvet Roger Apr 13 2009, 08:37 AM

Don't worry Luey, take your time

Posted by: Farmer Joe Apr 30 2009, 02:54 AM

Hey what's up Roger? Just wanted to give you a quick update on my individual lesson
I think I've got the timing down pretty good so far, the lesson isn't at a very fast as far as bpm or note lengths, so that wasn't too hard. I haven't recorded a video yet because I still can't get the bend correctly everytime I play it, sometimes it's just right, but other times it's off. I just want to take the rest of tonight to keep practicing that bend.
The vibrato I believe is decent, definitely not anywhere near Muris, vibrato in the lesson, but I believe a lot better than what I have shown in the past. I'm trying my hardest on the vibrato, especially since I know you've been working on vibrato for a while now, so I figure you'd definitely be a good judge on the topic
So if I see a nice improvement on the bend, I'll have a video up sometime tomorrow after work

Posted by: Velvet Roger Apr 30 2009, 08:45 AM

Awesome, looking forward to your take!

Posted by: Farmer Joe Apr 30 2009, 11:02 PM

EDIT: Sorry, uploaded the video to the Upload thread

Posted by: Farmer Joe May 1 2009, 02:25 PM

Thanks for the good critique on lesson 2, Roger
I will certainly continue the lesson with correct fingerings, it really was more of the vibrato with the pinky being dificult that I did not follow it in my first take. Also, I have been working really hard on keeping my thumb behind the neck because I've read that it's the best way to keep your fingers in position to move quickly, so I tried that out on this lesson. But I did try like you said with bringing my thumb around the top of the neck this morning before work, and it definitely is much easier for vibrato and bends So now I know for vibrato and bends that is the position I want to use.
I will practice this lesson again todaywhen I get out of work with the correct fingerings. I may have also cleaned the virus on my computer this morning, so I'm excited about that
I will try to have another video up by Saturday or Sunday.

Posted by: Velvet Roger May 1 2009, 02:44 PM

Great stuff! Looking forward to it

Posted by: Farmer Joe May 4 2009, 02:24 PM

Hey Roger, just wanted to let you know I saw the new group assignment I will get to work on it as soon as I can, definitely quicker than the last one.
Also, for the Individual lesson, I recorded one take Saturday, but couldn't get it off my camera, so I'll try to upload that today. I think I can do better now though, so I may just record another one today

Posted by: Velvet Roger May 4 2009, 04:56 PM

Ok, upload the one you feel most comfortable with (no hurries ).

Posted by: Farmer Joe May 31 2009, 01:33 AM

What's up Roger? Sorry about going missing for quite a while. It has been a long tough month so far. I had to do a final programming for computer class, as well as a final test. Also had to work a few extra hours for a couple weeks to pay part of my summer course tuition, and my girlfriend just had some minor surgery, so I've had to help her out a bit more. So yeah, it's been a long month
Also not getting any better on the 6 string also frutrates me lol, but it's cool. I guess anything you love will frustrate any man from time to time But I'm back now and finally in front of a computer again. I will get right back to work where I left off. Tomorrow I will upload a new take for the individual assignment. I will also look over the group assignment again, because I cant remember where I left off.

Posted by: Velvet Roger May 31 2009, 07:21 AM

Hey Luey, great to hear from you! No worries, it's not a time-contest and sometimes life requires other things to take priority on. Currently I can only play very limited as my work is asking 80 hrs a week from me, besides having a little daughter at home, but it's cool . I hope your girfriend is all fine and looking forward to see you playing again

Posted by: Farmer Joe Jun 10 2009, 02:54 PM

Hello Roger
I'm just moving the discussion over here to keep the upload thread less cluttered for you
Thanks for the tip on vibrato. It helps to know that it should be kept in tempo with the rest of the piece. I will definitely begin heavy practice on slow and vibrato.
I also somehow managed the next 2 days off from work, so I will dedicate the bulk of those days to my lessons. I'm getting the 16th notes down a bit more, so I hope to upload a take tomorrow depending on it progress today.
That was just a quick update for you

Posted by: Velvet Roger Jun 10 2009, 04:50 PM

Awesome, looking forward to it. Regarding the vibrato being in tempo I mean that it should not neccesarily mean that you have play it always in the same tempo as the backing but it can be e.g. 1/4 note vibrato (small bends) frequency or 1/8 note vibrato frequency or 16th note vibrato frequency of that particular backing track tempo (basically see vibrato as a similar thing as note values - it should be rhythmically right for the music you are playing at that moment).

Posted by: Farmer Joe Jun 14 2009, 12:31 PM

thank you Roger. That's what I was trying to say about vibrato, with it being related more with note values, I just worded horribly lol, so thanks for clearing it up 16th notes are still kicking my butt on the individual lesson, I can't understand it, it's not even that fast lol. I will get it though, I'm practicing what I can each day.
I wanted to stray a bit off point though and discuss guitar tone, if it's ok with you. I'm signed up for 4 collabs at the moment, and my tone just doesn't get me motivated enough when playing with the backings. I'm obsessed with David's A minor collab because I love the backing, but I just can't seem to get a nice roaring tone lol. I feel that would be an appropriate tone to use on the backing, kind of like the first couple of takes already submitted. I'm not trying to duplicate those tones, but I want to get around there and add my own touch, but I can't even get relatively close. Do you have an fx tips on amp sims? You probably use the amp farm sim, which is a pretty good one, I use gtr solo, which seems kind of lacking. Maybe it's my guitar too, I know it's not very good at all lol, plus the lack of experience on my part also doesn't help. So if you have any tips or some advice as to what I should be trying, that would be a great help

Posted by: Velvet Roger Jun 14 2009, 12:39 PM

Why not have a quick chat in the chatroom about it (send you a PM as well).

Cheers
Roger

Posted by: Farmer Joe Sep 4 2009, 01:38 AM

Hey Roger

I'm back again, as I let you know earlier and I would still be very interested in continuing to be mentored by you. I that no one else has posted in about 2 months or so, and with the new MTP beginning with the instructors a lot have signed up for that too. If you're up for it still, I definitely am as well.

If you are, I'll continue right where I left off with Muris' lesson and then we can continue from there. I'll be away for the weekend visiting my mom, but I'll be taking my guitar with me to keep getting a bit of practice in. After I get back I can record a video (which will hopefully finally nail this lesson lol). My bends have gotten a bit better since the last time, and I have been practicing this lesson (at least the part you assigned to me from the lesson).

But, of course, its all up to you. Its cool if not, I understand that daily life keeps us all pretty busy

Posted by: Velvet Roger Sep 4 2009, 07:11 AM

It's great your back and I would be more than happy to keep mentoring you (but it's of course your own choice in the end )! Looking forward to your video and we can take it up from there again

It may sometimes take a little while for me to get back to you currently as I am completely swamped with work and have to get a huge setlist of songs under my belt for the new band I am joining. I will nevertheless check the forum quite frequently, so it shouldn't be a long delay if any.

Cheers
Roger

Posted by: Farmer Joe Sep 4 2009, 09:00 PM

Cool to hear I'll post a video on Monday.
I understand completely about being busy with work and all, I am as well. so any response delays are not a problem with me, especially with work and your new band, please put as much time as you need into that, I just need a tiny little bit of it anyway lol. But good luck with your new band adventure, I hope that works out well. If you guys get some material online, I'd love to listen or watch