Chris S.'s Music Theory Journey, 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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Jun 15 2015, 01:50 PM
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Ok! Sounds good.
-------------------- 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 29 2015, 05:39 PM
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Hey Gab!
So I know that my vibrato has been pretty lacking - I tend to always do it as fast as I can no matter the tempo and it sounds too frantic. I decided I would try to slow it down a bit and I came up with this and was wondering what your thought were? https://m.soundcloud.com/stortzmusic/cesspool As always - thanks!!! 
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Jul 2 2015, 02:11 PM
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Hi Chris, is this your original idea? It's good to work on your own phrasing while trying to polish techniques. I think that your vibrato is natural on this one but it is note very notorious, it's weak in some moments.
Vibrato is a very personal technique so you have to develop your own way to make your playing personal, but it's cool to have different intensities of it to be able to express different feelings. Keep on working! 
-------------------- 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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Jul 4 2015, 08:30 PM
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QUOTE (Chris S. @ Jul 3 2015, 10:22 PM)  Yessir - an original idea  When you say: "but it is note very notorious, it's weak in some moments." You mean that my note choices sound weak over the backing? Once we complete the borderline program I plan on spending more time with the exercises you gave me working around the thirds of the chord changes. Thanks, mate! No, I mean that you vibrato could be more notorious, and sometimes wider. Does it make sense? -------------------- 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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Jul 9 2015, 05:06 AM
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Hey Gab!
So the cactus picture has me stumped from the creativity thread - so I came up with this instead: https://soundcloud.com/stortzmusic/goosebumps Was going for a spooky carnival kind of vibe. Thanks!
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Jul 9 2015, 07:52 PM
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This is killer mate! It's so perfect for this picture! I don't know if you have seen "Breaking Bad" tv show but I think that this tune would have been perfect for it!
What instruments did you use? It's not exactly the same, but for any reason the feel of your tune made me remember to this: -------------------- 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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Jul 10 2015, 05:19 PM
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Thanks man!!
Me and my girlfriend love Breaking Bad - the ending was so good yet so sad. Thanks again for taking time out of your days to help me and everyone else - I can see improvements in just about everything in the short time we've been working together - I appreciate it!  I do need some help with my harmony work though  I wanted to add in a harmonized guitar section but it just wasn't sounding powerful like any other harmony part I hear (Iron Maiden, Avenged Sevenfold - even Socky42's Dragonball Z cover which was awesome!) I know how to build triads/chords so I think I'm at least half way there... This is what I came up with just as an example: https://soundcloud.com/stortzmusic/harmony-example So the main theme from goosebumps looked like this: E Minor Scale: CODE E|--------------------------- B|------------------5-4-3--- G|--------2-4-5-4-2---------- D|--2-4-5-------------------- A|--------------------------- E|--------------------------- So the root note of that shape is E - and third degree of E Minor is G (which is a minor third). So I bumped up the shape to start on the G note: CODE E|--------------------------- B|------------------8-7-6--- G|--------5-7-8-7-5---------- D|--5-7-8-------------------- A|--------------------------- E|--------------------------- But it didn't really sound that powerful - then I decided to add in the first shape an octave higher so that there are now three guitars playing: CODE E|------------------------------- B|----------------------17-16-15- G|--------14-16-17-16-14--------- D|--14-16-17--------------------- A|------------------------------- E|------------------------------- I still don't it sounds that powerful - am I going about this the wrong way? Thanks Gab! |
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Jul 12 2015, 01:24 AM
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Hi mate, the problem here is that you are not harmonizing with notes from the scale. You have to mix major and minor thirds depending on the notes that belong to the scale, in order to get a diatonic harmonization... does it make sense?
Check out my Iron Maiden Masterclass lesson where I talk about this and let me know if it clarifies this concept. -------------------- 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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Jul 12 2015, 02:07 AM
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Thanks Gab!
So I think I'm on the right track, however, I use a chromatic passing tone ( D# ) that's not in the scale and that messes me up. Here is the improved take: https://soundcloud.com/stortzmusic/harmony-example-revised  At the ending I play three notes chromatically but the D# isn't in the scale: I harmonized the E with a G / I counted up two scale degrees from D# so I harmonized it with an F# / but then the D should technically be harmonized with the F# but since I already played the F# with the D# I bumped it down to an F which is outside of the scale. Does this make sense? The chromatic note D# messed me up and I wasn't sure how to harmonize it properly - any advice? Thanks! |
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Jul 12 2015, 06:56 PM
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Hi Chris! Now we are talking!
This is how you can harmonize a melody in thirds. When using a chromatic note, you get an "out" effect that will be enhanced when harmonizing it. In this case, the chromatic note is between two diatonic notes, and when harmonizing you also have 1 note between them so this is the best way to harmonize this idea. In other cases, there are not rules but you could try repeating one of the notes or maybe playing using an octave for this one... If you have read the iron maiden masterclass article, you know that you can harmonize in thirds, fifths, sixths, octaves... and you get different effects. A cool trick is to combine a bit different intervals while improvising, to get more interesting and less predictable ideas. This can work or not depending on the melody, the style, etc, but it's cool to experiment with it too. The most important thing here is our ear, the more we train our ear with this, the easier will be to think in sound instead of intervals and scales and so the more creative ideas will appear. -------------------- 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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Jul 14 2015, 05:02 AM
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Thanks Gab - Im going to try to come up with a Maiden style riff/lick to practice my harmonizing!
In the meantime, Halloween is sort of around the corner and it is my girlfriend's favorite holiday  I was thinking of doing something different this year and I thought I would take a shot at remixing/covering the Halloween theme from the Halloween/Michael Meyers movies and this is where I am at: https://soundcloud.com/stortzmusic/halloween-remix-demo I would appreciate it if you could give me as much feedback as possible - what you like and don't like - so I can have it as perfect as possible come Halloween My main concerns: 1) Do the bongos ruin it? 2)Does the guitar ruin it at the end? 3)Does switching tempo from 135 to 160 and from a 5/4 to 4/4 time signature at the end ruin it? My plan is to solo over the guitar part at the end and then switch back to the main theme at some point. Do you think I am on the right track? If so, I think I'm going to have to buy a wah pedal for the solo - I'm get a wah-wah kind of vibe in my head Thanks, friend! 
This post has been edited by Chris S.: Jul 14 2015, 05:37 PM |
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Jul 14 2015, 07:21 PM
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Hi Chris, this is a very good idea.
I think the thing that is lacking this is a better overall sound. I like the piano and strings, but I don't like the kick, bongo, drums and rhythm guitar sound. The arrangement is interesting and I don't think that the change in meter and time is a problem. But that guitar must sound killer. Try another distortion and recording it twice and panning it. The bongos sound weak, not very clear, and the kick could sound more defined and with more low end. Try this ideas and share a new mix. I'll be here to comment it.
-------------------- 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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Jul 15 2015, 05:22 AM
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Thanks Gab!
I'll let you know when I make some progress 
This post has been edited by Chris S.: Jul 15 2015, 05:34 AM |
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Jul 15 2015, 05:14 PM
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QUOTE (Chris S. @ Jul 15 2015, 01:22 AM) Thanks Gab! I'll let you know when I make some progress Ok, 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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Jul 23 2015, 03:30 PM
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Hi mate! Great to see you back! That solo is promising! I like the composition. The elements that you need to improve on this one are those that we are already working on the assignments and that are related to performance and feeling. However it's really positive to see you recording your own ideas, keep on polishing it.
-------------------- 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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Aug 14 2015, 03:42 AM
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Hey Gab!
So in the time that I have been gone I've been making a lot of changes in my life - for the better, of course! There is a whole world out there, filled with great things and great people, waiting to be seen - and it's important to make time to see them, after all - we only get one life to live. If you haven't seen this movie I strongly suggest you check it out: Into the Wild  It really changed my perspective on life, it's a pretty deep movie. Anyhoo, I've been slowly getting back into guitar and I thought I would try to come up with something to reflect the inner-battle I'm fighting: https://soundcloud.com/stortzmusic/untitled-demo-rough-edit It's kind of like a violin vs guitar sort of thing to emulate me vs my inner demons. Since I can't sing the best thing I could do was find some sound samples from a translation site for the chorus. It's supposed to be: "I love you. Do you love me, too? Please tell me. Please?" But I highly doubt the accuracy in that Glad to be back!
This post has been edited by Chris S.: Aug 14 2015, 03:46 AM |
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Aug 14 2015, 10:22 PM
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Hi Chris! Very interesting stuff! I haven't seen the movie, just heard the soundtrack which is amazing, I'll definitely watch it.
The tune composed is cool, I can feel that vibe that you are feeling and wanted to transpose into music. The translation is very close, except by the phrase "tell me" that in the Spanish version is saying something like "notify or warn"... in spanish the word would be "díme" o "cuentame" so the phrase would be "por favor dime", "por favor cuéntame". By the way, the combination of instruments with the words are very good. It's nice to see you exploring this more creative side of you. I encourage you to keep going on this direction. -------------------- 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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