Gmc Lesson Plans, Don't know where to start? Can't find the lesson you want? Che |
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Jul 8 2008, 09:40 PM
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----------------------------------------------- Posted by RIP Dime Basic Metal/Rock Song Writing This is for the people trying to get out of their beginner phase and trying write some songs, take what you learn here about riffs and apply them to your own songs. Think of these techniques as tools, barre chords, power chords, open chords, pedal notes, strumming patterns, chord progressions, tapping, basically every guitar technique under sun is a tool for you to use at your disposal when writing songs. This is going to be structured a little differently than my normal lessons, I'm going to post lessons containing techniques that I think are either important or cool to use in songs, and explain some of their uses. I'm also separating them into 3 groups, increasing in difficulty to use in songs. So first watch the lesson, learn the technique, then read what I have to say about how to use it in a song. Or you can read the explanation first to see what you'll be doing with the technique. *Disclaimer: These are just easy, basic places, and ways to use these techniques, this is by no means the only way to go about writing, the possibilities are endless, this is just meant to help. 1) Kris-Power Chords Kris-Barre Chords Lian-Death Metal Toni-Octaves Joe-Arpeggiated Chords Joe-Firewind Ok, here we go the meat and potatoes of songwriting. Firstly, metal and power chords go together like Americans and Hamburgers. Check out Kris' lesson for great explanations. Power chords, or 5 chords(example: A5) are very easy to use in riffs, you can see the use of them in Lian and Toni's lessons above. They are basically used to get a strong punch out of the amp, and they sound great with distortion. Palm muting a single power chord(usually a low chunky one), and playing it rhythmically can give you the basic metal breakdown, not great as a main riff, but it has it's place in a song's structure. Strumming 3 or 4 different power chords after each other is also an easy way to establish a chord progression, useful for a chorus, verse, or solo backing(listen to any pop punk song and you'll hear this somewhere). Or you can just let the power chords ring out one after another to create your popular power metal chorus riff. A basic progression you can use is I V VI IV, 1 5 6 4, or in the key of D: D5 A5 B5 G5 is great for pop punk or power metal. You can try any combination you like, and use it in your song. Those are a couple ways to use power chords to create very simple but effective parts of a song. Now crap on a donkey and give it your bowtie. (just seeing if anyone is reading this)  Barre chords can be used in a similar way to power chords, except they contain 1 more note, the 3rd, or the note that makes the chord minor or major. Try different combinations of these to make a progression by ear or you can go by a chord scales. Barre chords work great clean or distorted, so try both, and if you like the way they sound, use it! You can also create arpeggiated chords from barre chords, as shown in Joe's lesson above. Arpeggiated passages work great for any section of a song, really. Also look up finger picking, as this is a way of getting the arpeggios faster than with a pick, and also allows you to do more complex patterns. *As you probably noticed, I've left out open chords, but as these should be one of the first things you learn I left out a lesson on it, but if you aren't familiar with open chords, look it up in the lessons section, or if you want a recommendation of how to learn it just let me know and I'll help you out. Open chords can be used in the same fashion as power, and barre chords, but allows you some freedom as you'll probably have a finger not assigned to a string, so it allows you to do some fancy legato, or maybe just to add a note here and there, but that is all just icing on the cake, and we're focusing on the baking of a cake here. I added Joe's Firewind & Lian's lesson to display note pedalling, witch is a great way to establish key, and allows your left hand total freedom to add extra notes in between the pedal notes, or do like Lian did, and add power chords in between to make a sort of choppy chord progression, it doesn't establish a chord progression as clearly as just using chords, but it works. These riffs also work as easy backings to solo over in one scale. These work great as main riffs, but they also create this crawling, beastly vibe that can work anywhere you want that sound. Octaves are easy to use for thick melody lines, as shown in Toni's lesson. These little octave riffs can be used again, anywhere, but are easiest to use as bridge riffs imo. 2) A little harder here, I'd like to talk about melodies, these are ways for guitarists to voice their creativity is a way similar to the way vocalists do. There are many ways to play melodies, just search the word "melodies" in the lessons section and you'll see what I'm talking aboot(look I did it for you, how easy is this!), all of those lessons show ways that you can express yourself in a song. Now melodies can go almost anywhere in a song as well, you could actually make non repetitive melodies and use those in place of vocals! How crazy is that! But if you're looking for a place to put a melody, try a bridge, or chorus first. Melodies aren't actually techniques, they can contain basically any technique, but you can practice those on you own, melodies are the application.  3) Now I'm goin to talk about difficult techniques, these basically can take the basic, boring, tools I've talked about so far, and transform them into something unique and interesting. David-Lead & Rhythm interaction First up, lead and rhythm interaction, the concept here is more important than learning what is being played. Pretty self exclamatory, being that David explains it!  But what I have to add here is be careful not to litter your songs with lead bits. Sometimes it is more fitting for you to step back and let the singer do some of the melody section stuff.Lian-Prog Now if you are the only guitar player you will have to master making riffs that can stand alone and be interesting. These palm muted one notes lines achieve this fairly easily. And for other techniques to make stand alone interesting riffs, I highly recommends delving into the expansive amount of prog lessons here(look, I've done it for you again! I should get a cookie). If you've come so far that you can play these lessons I'm pretty sure you can extract these techniques and apply them to your playing all by yourself! I know, it will be tough without my long winded explanations.  But hey! if you're having a hard time, ask! Make a thread, we are all here for each other. One thing I would like to point out is the use of wierd diads, such as the b5 chords (ex: E:5 A:6 D:7), major diad (ex: E:5 A:4 D:7), minor diad (ex: E:5 A:3 D:7). You can take those shapes and move them around, also the note on the D string is just an octave of the root, so it's not nessicary to play that. Often you can use these in place of power chords to get a more washed out sound, and next time the riff comes around use the power chords, to give it more punch. But these can really open up the sound of your metal chug chug riffs. And really, adding all this "icing" to the cake really makes your music stand out, just make sure you have the "cake" or the meat of a good song, or there will be no nutritional value to the song, it will just be pretty. I'm not saying you have to conventionally structure your songs, because you don't, I guess what I'm saying is make the song have a purpose, nothing more.Ok, now nearing the end. If you got 2 guitar players, use them! Try not to have both of them playing the exact same thing all the time, or else it pretty much deafeats the purpose of having two. You can harmonize, you can have the guitars flowing in and out of each other, or have them complimenting each other, whatever the case, there is no point to having 2 guitar players if there is no dynamic between them, unless you just want the other guy to look pretty onstage! But you also don't want cacophony(the band and the term), well, I don't like that. Having the guitarists lock up at certain points yields great advantages as well, it can create a bigger contrast for the dynamic between them. I haven't really found a lesson yet that has two guitar players interacting with one another at the same time(other than lead, and rhythm guitars). But listen to Mastodon, Protest The Hero, Opeth, Testament, etc...and you'll get it. 4) Lian-Power Metal Concepts Ivan-Songwriting I highly recommend these lessons to add to this lesson plan. Have a nice day! 
This post has been edited by RIP Dime: Jul 9 2008, 01:40 AM --------------------  |
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Jul 11 2008, 10:26 PM
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Fantastic topic!!!!! ...and cool ideas!
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Dec 21 2009, 07:56 PM
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Alexiaden93's LESSON PLAN BEGINNER GUIDE DEVELOPING ESSENTIAL SOLOING TECHNIQUES LEVELS 2 - 6 Hello everybody. I have been looking at already made lesson plans and I've seen some very good ones so far. I would like to post a very thorough lesson plan for anybody who's somewhere around level 2 and wishes to get to somewhere around level 5. The lesson plan will consist of a PATH OF POPULARITY to follow, consisting of melodies incorporating several techniques and aspects of guitar playing, as well as a PATH OF ENLIGHTENMENT designed to develop one or two techniques - focusing on your weakness in other words. I recommend you practise the lessons within each category following the order of appearance. ======= PATH OF POPULARITY ======= LESSONS WORTH PRACTISING LEVEL 2 - Making Great Leads the Easy Way - David Wallimann (level 2) - - Jumping Around - Beginner - Muris Varajic (level 2) - - Minor vs Major - Beginner - Muris Varajic (level 2) - - John Frusciante Style Lesson - Gabriel Leopardi (level 2) - - Melodic Solo in Gm - Carlos Carrillo (level 2) - - Slow Melody Lesson - David Wallimann (level 2) - - Jazz Swing Lead Lesson - Muris Varajic (level 2) - LEVEL 3 - Rock Solo - Beginner - Trond Vold (level 3) - - Slow Soloing Lesson - Trond Vold (level 3) - - Guitar Loves Piano - Piotr Kaczor (level 3) - - Harmonic Minor for Beginners - Muris Varajic (level 3) - - Pentatonic Licks - Beginner - Muris Varajic (level 3) - - You Ready? - Collab Lesson - Marcus Lavendell (level 3) - LEVEL 4 - Pentatonic Rock Cliches - Gabriel Leopardi (level 4) - - Creating an Atmosphere - Ivan Zecic (level 4) - - Volume Control - Phrasing - Piotr Kaczor (level 4) - - Beginner Solo in D - Muris Varajic (level 4) - - E Minor - Melodic Solo - Muris Varajic (level 4) - - Iron Maiden Style Lesson - Gabriel Leopardi (level 4) - - Combining Different Scale Positions - Ivan Zecic (level 4) - - Epic Metal Rhythm Guitar - Lian Gerbino (level 4) - - Themes from Quarterworlds of Fantasia - Emir Hot (level 4) - - Eddie Van Halen Style - Muris Varajic (level 4) - - Three Level Solo, Beginner - Marcus Lavendell (level 4) - - Neoclassical Three-Level-Lesson - Beginner - Marcus Lavendell (level 4) - - Nocturnal Visions - KMC Metal (level 4) - - O Holy Night - Adolphe Adam - Marcus Lavendell (level 4) - LEVEL 5 - Historical Failure - The Riffs - Marcus Lavendell (level 5) - - Iron Maiden Style Lesson 2 - Gabriel Leopardi (level 5) - - Hammer On Dude - Marcus Siepen (level 5) - - Neoclassical Etude #1 - Marcus Lavendell (level 5) - - John Petrucci Melodic Solo 2 - David Wallimann (level 5) - - Slow Rock Guitar Solo - Jose Mena (level 5) - - Heavy Metal Rhythm & Solo Exercise - Hisham Al-Sanea (level 5) - LEVEL 6 - Steve Lukather Style Lesson - Muris Varajic (level 6) - - Iron Maiden Masterclass - Gabriel Leopardi (level 6) - - Iron Maiden: The Trooper - Gabriel Leopardi (level 6) - - Neoclassical Etude #2 - Marcus Lavendell (level 6) - - Paganini Inspiration - Lian Gerbino (level 6) - - Jumping Around - Intermediate - Muris Varajic (level 6) - - Neoclassical Three-Level-Lesson, Intermediate - Marcus Lavendell (level 6) - - Three Level Solo, Intermediate - Marcus Lavendell (level 6) - ===== PATH OF ENLIGHTENMENT ===== TECHNIQUE & THEORY NEEDED - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - GETTING STARTED - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - KNOW YOUR GUITAR - (level 1) - First Steps (series) - Andrew Cockburn - In this series Andrew introduces you to the guitar world. Go through all of it:you know have the opportunity to strengthen your terminology and basic knowledge to facilitate further learning. ADJUSTING & SETTING UP YOUR GUITAR - (level 1) - Guitar Tuning (tutorial) - Ivan Milenkovic - - Restringing the Guitar (tutorial) - Ivan Milenkovic - - Changing Pickups (tutorial) - Marcus Siepen - Although this is an optional section, knowing how to fix your guitar will save you both time and money, so I strongly recommend taking a look at these two tutorials. SOFTWARES - (level 1) - Exploring Guitar (tutorial) - Juan M. Valero - - GuitarPro 5 - Use these softwares to learn scales, chords and songs, and don't forget to compose music yourself; this way you can apply your musical knowledge and adapt the song to your technical level. STUDIO & RECORDING - (level 1) - Recording Lessons 1 & 2 (tutorial) - Kyle Logue - - GMC Video Recording (tutorial) - GMC Community - Setting up your studio can be tricky, but with some advice, recording both audio and video can become very simple. Here you can learn how to record audio (for songs) as well as video (if you want to post something on YouTube or for the REC programme) WARMING UP - (levels 2-3) - Warming up (tutorial) - Marcus Siepen (level 2) - - 3 Minutes Warmup (lesson) - Dejan Farkas (level 3) - As explained very well by Marcus, warming up is crucial, both for your performance as well as your hands' health. Warm-up strategies vary amongst musicians, so feel free to make your own warm-up routine. Here is Chris Evans' warm-up schedule: - Warming Up Etc, How I o it (forum) - Chris Evans - FINGER WORKOUTS (levels 2-5) - Right Hand Basics (series) - Danilo Capezzuto - - Hands Synchronization (series) - Danilo Capezzuto - These two lesson series are actually set at levels 3-5, but in my opinion they should be used no matter what level you are at. If it's too difficult, slow down: the main thing to remember is that these are exercises to build up strength and coordination in both hands. - Finger Independence (series) - Danilo Capezzuto - - Little Finger Work-out (lesson) - Dejan Farkas (level 2) - - Pinky Exercise (lesson) - Sinisa Cekic (level 4) - - Little Finger Etude (lesson) - Dejan Farkas (level 4) - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - TECHNIQUES - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - ALTERNATE PICKING - Speedpicking/alternate picking basics (101 - tutorial) - Kristofer Dahl (level 3) - - Speedpicking/alternate picking practise patterns (101 - tutorial) - Kristofer Dahl (level 3) - Make sure that you follow both of the lessons to understand how alternate picking works. When you feel confident enough to carry on, here are a few lessons to develop your technique by application. - Alternate Picking - Thirds (lesson) - Muris Varajic (level 4) - - Alternate Workout (lesson) - Muris Varajic (level 5) - - Picking Exercise (lesson) - Trond Vold (level 5) - - Alternate Picking - My Approach (lesson) - Jose Mena (level 8) - Although Jose's lesson is rated level 8, his spoken video (#1) is very helpful, and you can always practise the song at a lower tempo. ECONOMY PICKING - Economy Picking (series) - Danilo Capezutto - - Economy Picking Mechanics (lesson) - David Wallimann (level 6) - These lessons may seem advanced, but again: practise at low speeds to get the general feel for the technique. Don't rush things. SWEEPING - Sweeping Basics (tutorial) - David Wallimann (level 4) - - Sweeping Basics Lesson (tutorial) - Pavel Denisjuk (level 5) - - Triad Arpeggios Etude (lesson) - Ivan Mihaljevic (level 5) - - Sweep Picking Lesson - Muris Varajic (level 3) - TAPPING The lazy man's guide to speed. - Tapping Lesson 1 - The Basics and Beyond (101 - tutorial) - Kristofer Dahl - - Tapping Lesson 2 - Randy Rhoads style variations (101 - tutorial) - Kristofer Dahl - - Tapping Lesson 3 - Two-Handed (101 - tutorial) - Kristofer Dahl - - Clean Tapping Etude - Lian Gerbino (level 4) - - Van Halen Tapping Style - Beginner (lesson) - Joe Kataldo (level 4) - - Power Metal Tapping (lesson) - Lian Gerbino (level 5) - - Tapping Lesson - Gabriel Leopardi (level 6) - LEGATO Legato is basically playing multiple notes without picking every note, creating a flow in your playing. Legato can be sliding and bending, but most people think of hammer-ons and pull-offs. Using legato you can play faster and smoother, but it takes time for your fingers to become strong enough. You need to practise both hammer-ons and pull-offs before adding them together to get a complete legato phrasing going on. - Pull-offs Lesson - Muris Varajic (level 3) - - Left Hand Only Exercise (lesson) - Dejan Farkas (level 4) - - Legato Lesson - Muris Varajic (level 3) - - Little Finger Etude (lesson) - Dejan Farkas (level 4) - - Legato Exercise (lesson) - David Wallimann (level 5) - - Legato Etude (lesson) - Pavel Denisjuk (level 6) - - Legato and Picking (series) - Muris Varajic - BENDING & VIBRATO Have you seen Marcus Lavendell's videos ? If you have, then you will probably know what a controlled vibrato will do to your music. Start practising this technique, as well as bending, early on, and you won't regret it. - Vibrato (series) - Marcus Lavendell - Check out part 1 of Lesson 3 in this series to hear what the master has to say about vibrato. - Classical Ballad Bending Techniques (lesson) - Ivan Milenkovic (level 4) - - Hard Rock Bending & Vibrato - Ivan Mihaljevic (level 5) - - Expressive Touch (lesson) - David Wallimann (level 5) - Anything can be played with vibrato. Use it as much as possible, and remember: USE YOUR WRIST AS MUCH AS POSSIBLE ! You will feel an almost tickling pain at first, but don't give up. With regular practice, the pain will become smaller and eventually go away, at the same time as your vibrato becomes more controlled and wide. Use a metronome, and stop if it becomes painful. You need time to get used to the motion. This post has been edited by Alexiaden93: Dec 28 2009, 02:04 PM -------------------- My YouTube Channel
Lost in all the 2000+ GMC lessons? Check my Lesson Plan Guitars Fender American Standard Stratocaster - Olympic White body, Maple fretboard, White Pearl pickguard, 21 frets, SSS Yamaha Pacifica Amplifier Marshall 15CDR, 45 watts Recording equipment/software Line 6 POD Studio GX Logitech QuickCam Pro 9000 Reaper v3.04 Sony Vegas Pro 8.0 |
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Dec 21 2009, 08:43 PM
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Wow, this is an awesome plan Alex, very nicely done. I will bookmark it!
-------------------- - Ivan's Video Chat Lesson Notes HERE
- Check out my GMC Profile and Lessons - (Please subscribe to my) YouTube Official Channel - Let's be connected through ! Facebook! :) |
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Dec 21 2009, 09:35 PM
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QUOTE (Ivan Milenkovic @ Dec 21 2009, 08:43 PM)  Wow, this is an awesome plan Alex, very nicely done. I will bookmark it! Thank you Ivan ! I doubt it's going to help you, but sure 
-------------------- My YouTube Channel
Lost in all the 2000+ GMC lessons? Check my Lesson Plan Guitars Fender American Standard Stratocaster - Olympic White body, Maple fretboard, White Pearl pickguard, 21 frets, SSS Yamaha Pacifica Amplifier Marshall 15CDR, 45 watts Recording equipment/software Line 6 POD Studio GX Logitech QuickCam Pro 9000 Reaper v3.04 Sony Vegas Pro 8.0 |
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Dec 21 2009, 09:40 PM
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This is quite good, Alex. Bravo!
--------------------  Still looking for my soul mate, guitar. |
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Dec 21 2009, 09:42 PM
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QUOTE (NoSkill @ Dec 21 2009, 09:40 PM) This is quite good, Alex. Bravo! Thanks a lot, Tom ! Hope it helps in some way
-------------------- My YouTube Channel
Lost in all the 2000+ GMC lessons? Check my Lesson Plan Guitars Fender American Standard Stratocaster - Olympic White body, Maple fretboard, White Pearl pickguard, 21 frets, SSS Yamaha Pacifica Amplifier Marshall 15CDR, 45 watts Recording equipment/software Line 6 POD Studio GX Logitech QuickCam Pro 9000 Reaper v3.04 Sony Vegas Pro 8.0 |
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Dec 21 2009, 10:02 PM
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Awesome Alex, I'll have this added to our wiki soon
-------------------- Guitars:
Fender American Deluxe Stratocaster, Ibanez RG2570MZ, Epiphone SG G-400 Amp: Vox AC4TVH head + V112TV cab Effects: Vox Satchurator, Vox Time Machine, Dunlop CryBaby, Boss MT-2, Boss CE-5, Boss TU-2, Boss ME-70 Recording: Line-6 POD X3 + FBV-Express, Pandora PX5D GMC wants YOU to take part in our Guitar-Wikipedia! Have a good time reading great articles and writing your own with us in our GUITAR WIKI! Share your playing and get Pro-advice from our Instructors: Join REC |
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Dec 21 2009, 10:07 PM
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QUOTE (Fran @ Dec 21 2009, 10:02 PM) Awesome Alex, I'll have this added to our wiki soon Wow, thank you Fran ! That would be a great honour, and I hope it helps somebody !
-------------------- My YouTube Channel
Lost in all the 2000+ GMC lessons? Check my Lesson Plan Guitars Fender American Standard Stratocaster - Olympic White body, Maple fretboard, White Pearl pickguard, 21 frets, SSS Yamaha Pacifica Amplifier Marshall 15CDR, 45 watts Recording equipment/software Line 6 POD Studio GX Logitech QuickCam Pro 9000 Reaper v3.04 Sony Vegas Pro 8.0 |
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