GMC:er Posts: 25.297
Joined: 23-December 09
From: Atlanta, Georgia, USA
Nicely done!! This Mission is all about a single shape. It requires you to stick the landing with the pinky, which you did quite quite well, and forces the hand to be able to make a stretch on each and every string. Let's Debrief!! MEDALS OF HONOR *PINKY TORTURE: This Mission requires you to stick the landing over and over and over again. You stick the landing with the pinky each and every time. Never missed a note. Score!!! *STRETCH OF DEATH: This one requires that you make a big finger stretch and traverse every string. This is designed to let the hand adapt to a stretch at every string. As you probably noticed, the stretch feels different on the higher strings vs the lower strings. You adapted perfectly. Double Score!! *PATTERNS OF CONFUSION: The patterns in this one are similar yet each is just a pinch different. As with previous missions the purpose of this is to see if your hand wants to play the previous part instead of the new part. It's a way to prevent the brain from creating pathways that only let you play a bit a certain way. No problem here, you played each one as written. If you did have any muscle memory mistakes, I didn't see them in the vid. Triple Score!! For some folks, this Mission is a BEAR. You tore through it like a hot knife through butter. You are more than ready for the Missions ahead. This was the capstone Mission for the foundational techniques. Your picking, muting, fretting, and hand synch are all on point. You are ready to graduate to the next level of difficulty. You have earned a NEW CHEVRON on your badge. You have crossed over in to LEVEL 51!! Congratulations Soldier. I have not handed out many 5 chevron badges. Well done. You just .. LEVELED UP!!!!
GMC:er Posts: 25.297
Joined: 23-December 09
From: Atlanta, Georgia, USA
Another Battle Won Soldier!!! Very impressive work here. You have a very musical understanding of this scale which is the most important thing imho. Just having a technical understanding of a scale is not enough. Once has to understand it from a musical perspective. Let's Debrief!! MEDALS OF HONOR
REACH: You probably noticed in the warm up drill that I have you making the stretch that is part of the scale on the B string. The purpose is to give your hand repetition on that shape as it's a very strange shape that is not something that is familiar. It's an odd thing to play and requires practice. You nailed it.
THE PERFECT PINKY: This scale and many other things like it, are why I have you focus so much on the pinky. One simply can't play this scale (3 note per string version) properly unless one uses the pinky. If the pinky is weak, or not prepared, one can't stick the landing and the scale will fall apart every time. You've earned it and your pinky is more than strong/fast enough to play this! MUSICAL CONTEXT: Most importantly, you play this in a very musical way. Scales are simply the structure of notes that allow us to express ourselves musically. You show a very musical command of the scale which is great to see. Before you can get to this point, you have to be able to play such a scale, which requires all the things we have been working on, reach, pinky power, hand synch, etc. You have all the technical bits well in hand and now you have demonstrated a very musical understanding of it as well. Nice! You are picking up all the things I hope you would as you take the "Shred Journey". All these things will serve you well in the Missions to come!!
Learning Rock Star Posts: 142
Joined: 16-July 18
From: Portugal
Hello Sarge! As yesterday I did not have time for our shred game and for this reason today I spent several hours around it;) Here are the videos! Cheers and have a good weekend!
GMC:er Posts: 25.297
Joined: 23-December 09
From: Atlanta, Georgia, USA
WOW!! You just tackled 3 Missions in a row and made it look easy!! You have absorbed everything e have covered so far and these Missions are the proof!! Let's Debrief!!!
MEDALS OF HONOR
*PENTATONIC POWER: Mission 53 is all about the Pentatonic shapes and how you can integrate them with open string licks. You've been doing very well on your palm muting in previous missions which is crucial for being able to play open string licks that cover more than one string. It's very easy to let string noise creep in when moving between strings on open strings licks. Not here. You have developed a great muting technique so that things like this multiple string, traveling fret pentatonic lick, don't present a problem. You owned those licks start to finish!!! *HARMONIC MINOR MADNESS: You may have noticed in Mission 54 that we went back to the Harmonic Minor Shape. This shape, in Three Notes Per String form, is flat out awkward to play in many cases. It's not something that always flows well. That's why I used that odd shape in the licks in 54. The purpose is to see if you can handle that strange shape without your muscle memory trying to take over and force you hand to play the shapes that most scales contain. I skipped using the Harmonic Minor for a bit on purpose to see if your muscle memory would take over. The good news is that your muscle memory did not take over. You were in complete control the entire time. As a bonus, you played it in a very musical way, just as I hoped you might, and improvised on top of it. I am truly impressed with your mastery of this scale. It's not an easy scale to play and you've got it! *MARCHING MADNESS: You may have noticed that 55 is all about getting you to run up and down the neck while playing a complex pattern. You've already shown that you can march up and down the neck. The next step is to play a very complex series of notes while running up and down the neck. This is another one of those things that only needs one wrong note for the entire thing to sound wrong. Miss one note, and you get to start over. You play all of it, without missing a beat, not missing a note, flawless picking/hand synch, it's all there. You are building each time on your previous skills and using those skills to play more and more complex things. All of which will increase your control and your precision to prepare you for the path of SHRED!!!! You continue to blow me away with your aggression, precision, and skill. Keep this up Soldier. You just KRUSHED 3 very complicated Missions. You are ready for what lies ahead!!!!!
You just ... LEVELED UP!!!!!
Sarge
QUOTE (Carlos Ferreira @ Oct 12 2018, 08:21 PM)
Hello Sarge! As yesterday I did not have time for our shred game and for this reason today I spent several hours around it;) Here are the videos! Cheers and have a good weekend!
GMC:er Posts: 25.297
Joined: 23-December 09
From: Atlanta, Georgia, USA
Nicely Done Soldier! This is yet another difficult mission. Especially that last bit. It's called a "Scale Inversion". You can run any scale using this pattern once you understand the pattern itself. It makes for a very confusing run at first but you adapted to it right away. Let's debrief!! MEDALS OF HONOR
*LOOPING MADNESS: That first lick is a big loop that goes back and forth. The trick is to not lose your place. It's very easy to lose ones spot and then the entire lick falls apart. As usual, you don't miss a note. You play it in perfect time, with amazing technique and best of all play it very musically over the backing. Nice. *TAPPING TERROR: The tapping lick requires you to keep a good mute while you traverse every single string on the neck. Yet another lick that gives may folks a serious challenge. You played with grace and skill and above all musicality. It matches up perfectly with the backing. No string noise, no missed notes. Impressive. *INVERSION FOR THE WIN: This is probably the hardest lick in the entire mission. I've seen folks have to really slow down to get this correct. Not you, you play it at speed with the backing in perfect synch. You hace this lick down cold and are ready to use it in solos and songs. It's quite an achievement to play it this well. Super Perfect! You continue to blow me away with the skill and aggression you show in the Missions! Keep this up and you'll be the first one ever to break triple digits!!! You just... LEVELED UP!!!!!
GMC:er Posts: 25.297
Joined: 23-December 09
From: Atlanta, Georgia, USA
Wow. Each one of these lessons has parts in it that I've seen players really struggle with. Not so with you!! BURNED through it like a pro!!!!! This is the culmination of your work so far and it's amazing to watch to be honest. Let's debrief!!!!! MEDALS OF HONOR *ECON PICKING OF DOOM: There is an economic picking guitar rythm riff in 57 that I've seen folks stumble on repeatedly. The Econ picking thing is NOT something that every player can play. Some players really struggle to do it at all. Few can do it "at speed". You play it perfectly at the speed that I wrote the riff, which is frankly amazing.
*HARMONIC MINOR MORE:You may have noticed that strange 3 fret gap shape in both lessons that is the sticky point on the Harmonic Minor three note per string scale that we have been working on in several missions. I keep repeating this shape because it's so darn alien to what the hand normally wants to play. Most players resort to a 2 note per string version of this scale for this very reason. I however, find 3 notes per string scales flow better during lead play, so I keep presenting it in Missions for repetition. You clearly have GREAT stretch and reach and have ZERO problem playing this shape. Well done.
*HARMMONIC MINOR INVERSION: I've seen people have serious trouble playing the scale inversion that we did previously. I've seen people struggle with the 3 notes per string of the Harmonic Minor Scale. So when I combine these two things together, some people simply can't play it. You not only play it, you rip through it like a pro and play it a a solo lick, in time, in key, at pace with the backing. Impressive. You continue to blow me away each time I see new video. You are adapting to these with incredible speed. I really think you will be the one to go all the way!!!! You just.. LEVELED UP!!!!!
GMC:er Posts: 25.297
Joined: 23-December 09
From: Atlanta, Georgia, USA
Welcome to MULTI PICKING!!!!! This is a technique that I use quite often and it's a great way to add variety to scales/riffs/etc. Instead of picking a note once, just pick all of them twice, or three times, or four times. In some styles of music, such as Black Metal, Multi Picking is used almost non stop for the guitar riffs. Quad picking specifically. Looks like you have a very good handle on it. Let's Debrief!!!! MEDALS OF HONOR *MULTI PICKING MAGIC: This technique is one that I really dig. I'm very glad to see you picking it up so well and so quicklyl!!! Being able to multi pick can take a player quite a bit of time to get right. Not so here, you picked it up like you were born to it. Your playing it at the same speed I play it ad for this piece. Nice. *TRAVERSE: Multi Picking on one string isn't that tough. However, doing it with string traverse/between strings is another matter. The hand can easily get confused as to whether it should be doing an upstroke or down stroke and then it falls apart. You played the entire thing and didn't miss one pick strike. Well done. *TIMING: The timing can be a challenge on multi picking since it's easy to get just a bit behind when trying to figure out what the next pick strike should be. If this happens in a piece like the one you are playing, it falls apart. There are no gaps in this piece so you have to hit every strike in perfect time and keep moving the entire time. This appears to be no problem for you which is awesome!!!You KRUSHED it yet again. Keep this up Soldier!! You just ... LEVELED UP!!!!!
Learning Rock Star Posts: 142
Joined: 16-July 18
From: Portugal
Hello Sarge! Here is Mission 60! This is not easy, with the right hand to mute the strings near the nut is easy but so is not at all! Anyway, I did my best! Cheers!
GMC:er Posts: 25.297
Joined: 23-December 09
From: Atlanta, Georgia, USA
Soldier, this Mission is a BEAST. No way around it. In this one, I really lean hard on the left hand. It requires that you have a very strong hammer on / pull off technique or these licks just don't make any sound. You have to hammer on pretty hard to overcome the palm mute, which you did quite well! Let's Debrief! MEDALS OF HONOR *LEFT HAND ONLY : You are probably familiar with some of these scale shapes, but now you have to play them with NO PICKING!! This is a bear of a mission. No doubt about it. If you don't have enough finger power, it just won't work at all. The good news is you have great finger power and it's on display here! *AS QUIET AS THE GRAVE: This one requires that you palm mute everything so that you don't get exra string noise. So your left hand mute has to be pretty spot on or it will be non stop string noise. Your mute is quite good here. You have developed a very strong palm muting technique very quickly.
*SPEED KILLS: You play these licks with a very high degree of precision and thus speed. You played them against a backing which makes it even more difficult since you can't ever play out of key or it will stick out like a sore thumb. You are always in key and on time. This one really is one of those that separates the wheat from the chaffe and you killed it!!! keep this up Solder!!! You are just a few Missions away from getting the next Chevron on your badge!! Your progress has been astounding to watch!!! You just.. LEVELED UP!!!
Sarge
QUOTE (Carlos Ferreira @ Oct 19 2018, 12:07 PM)
Hello Sarge! Here is Mission 60! This is not easy, with the right hand to mute the strings near the nut is easy but so is not at all! Anyway, I did my best! Cheers!
GMC:er Posts: 25.297
Joined: 23-December 09
From: Atlanta, Georgia, USA
Soldier I don't think I can throw you a curve ball that you can't knock out of the park!!! Each time I think "this one snag". Nope. You krush it every time. You have dove head long in to some of the toughest bits I've yet taught and killed each and every one. You play the final licks, just as good as the starting licks. Best of all, you are able to put these licks to use in a musical context right away!! I"d be happy with just a click track, but doing it with music takes on another level of complexity. It's great to see because it means you are using the licks as musical elements, not just as hand drills. This is the ideal way to go about this. I rarely demand that folks play everything with music, as it's often difficult enough just playing the various licks. Great to see you making them in to solos!!!! Let's Debrief.
MEDALS OF HONOR
*SOLO TIME: In 61, I throw a LOT of licks at you and then hope for the best that it's possible to play all of them, hopefully back to back and hopefully with music. Honestly, I'd have taken just one by one licks to a metronome but I'm glad that you always go the extra mile. The entire point of all of this is to teach you how to express yourself musically. So playing these as a solo over a backing, helps build the intimate understanding of these pieces as "music" not just "drills". This is my fave part of your work in 61. You link all of them together, and do it in a very musical way. It doesn't sound like a bunch of drills, it sounds like a cool Solo!!!
*DOUBLE TIME: In 62, I ask you to Double PIck. This requires that the pick hand do double duty and maintain a tight synch with the fretting hand. What often happens is that the picking hand will pick strings that are not being fretted by accident. This is quite common. Part of what makes multi picking hard. In addition, we are doing a descending arpeggio shape that changes as you descend. So multi picking, fret traverse, changing shapes, and placed to music. That's a LOT to ask and you NAIL It. Always on time, in key, sounds perfect.
TECHNIQUE ON POINT: In both vids, your killer palm mute is on display. Your mute gets better each time it seems. You manage to keep your mute centered on the bridge which allows you to pick the highest to the lowest string and keep a solid mute. I can't tell you how I've seen folks struggle with this. You somehow have picked it up very quickly and have no problems at all with it. Also your picking is actually a bit beyond your badge level. It's really good. I think you are more than ready for the crazy bits on the way.
In short you KRUSHED IT!!!!!! Yet again! Also this is the last Mission at this badge level. One more and you get your next CHEVRON. I've given out precious few of these in the past 10 years. Congrats on that!!
GMC:er Posts: 25.297
Joined: 23-December 09
From: Atlanta, Georgia, USA
Drilling and Killing!!!! Yet another one for the books Soldier. You probably noticed that this series of licks requires you to make a good stretch and stick the landing each time with your pinky. Being able to reach and hit the notes you want to hit is crucial and you do a great job it. Let's Debrief!!!! MEDALS OF HONOR
*PINKY POWER: This one really makes you lean on your pinky!! If the pinky is weak, the repetitive motion landing on the pinky will eventually break down and you will start missing notes. Not the case here. You have developed a very strong pinky and you stick the landing every time!! *STRETCH FOR THE WIN: This missions requires you to have a pretty good stretch just to be able to reach these notes. This three note per string pattern is what I often use in my Natural Minor Scale runs which is why I want you to get familiar with it. You'll be seeing it again!!! You have no problem making this stretch and don't lose any timing or synch at any point. Nice!! *MUSIC IS THE POINT: Performing these licks in a musical context is always impressive to see. These licks are often hard when just played with a metronome, when played against music they get even more difficult. Any error is magnified when playing against music as any missed notes sound louder than the notes around them. You don't miss a single note, not one beat off. Everything played spot on and with musical flair. Impressive!! These shapes are the basis for an entire library of licks that we will be working through in upcoming Missions. These are foundational shapes that are the center of a huge universe of solo licks. You've got a great foundation going and great momentum!!! Keep it up!! You just.. LEVELED UP!!!! *Congratulations are in order!! You just BADGED UP to the 6 CHEVRON BADGE!I have not given many of these out. Not many folks make it this far. You've earned it!
QUOTE (Carlos Ferreira @ Oct 24 2018, 05:34 PM)
Good night Sarge! Thanks for your last comments, they are very enlightening, inspiring and motivating! here is Mission 63! Cheers!
GMC:er Posts: 25.297
Joined: 23-December 09
From: Atlanta, Georgia, USA
Well Fought!! This backing is one of my favorite backings of all time. It's written by a killer player who was an instructor here at GMC for many years named BEN HIGGINS. This is the original video that I recorded with his backing. Still one of my fave solos ever. I'm doing the fast single string lick as the first thing I play. The timing is a pinch different to what you have but you played it perfect so it's all good.
He still teaches through his web site and he releases amazing music. As a matter of fact, He and I are working on the Second Version of this song right now!!!! It's going to be released as soon as we can complete it
Let's Debrief!!!! MEDALS OF HONOR *IMPECCABLE TIMING: Getting the timing right on these open strings licks is tough as they are not symmetrical and feel a bit off balance. This is part of what makes them a challenge and why I wrote them the way I did. You rise to the challenge and knock it out with no problem at all. Watch my video to see me doing the fast version of the open string lick. I'll be money you can work up to that speed with precision in no time at all. *QUIET AS DEATH: With open string licks, string noise is always a concern. When using an open string, it wants to have a resonance by itself and with other strings. So muting becomes very very important. As I've mentioned, you have developed a VERY solid palm muting technique. Not a pinch of stringnoise.
*CONTEXT IS KING: More important than speed, precision, technique, is being able to play in the context of music. E.G. Play with a backing track and make it sound like music, and not like a hand workout. You do great job of this. With each mission you manage to find the musicality of the licks and use them in context in a very cool way.
