That girl surely has a magic God's gift!!! I bet she's a lot popular in Romania!!

Thanks for sharing!

Unfortunately, she is barely known ...

Hey guys! Just wanted to let you know that this week's session has been re-scheduled on Sunday, September 30th at 7 PM London time, as this Thursday I am gigging with Voodoo.

See you on Sunday!

Cosmin

Good luck with ur gig... kick some arsess!!

Just dropped by at home for a few relaxing minutes before hitting the stage Thanks Slav!

So, gentleman and ladies - Jessi and Grace and ...do we have other ladies attending? Please do attend

I have prepared a very dear topic - combining riffs with melodies in one take and enriching the riffs thus with a melodic touch, plus a bit of a surprise element in the riff structure! Check out the PDF and GP files attached and I will see you this Sunday at 7 PM London time!

Cosmin

Captain's log - October 1st, 2012

Mates, this Thursday, we shall be debating another one of my favorite topics: combining guitar lines by using intervals!

What shall we work with? Why, famous vocal lines in choruses of course

Take a good listen to these here and we'll see the opportunities we can use, this Thursday - October 4th, 2012:





Don't think pop music Just think MUSIC

Cosmin

Captain's Log, October 8th, 2012

As we have discussed in the last session, this Thursday we shall continue our journey with the lines harmonizing and takee a look into the world of Alice in Chains. These guys have amazing vocal harmonies so let's see what's what in the next session with one of these tunes! I have chosen 5 of my favorites out of which we will see various passages where we encounter the interesting harmonizing.











Looking forward to seeing you all there!

Cosmin

Why Cosmin Lupu Would(?) you do that?

Repeating the same video has No excuse(s)

Why would(n't)?

Smooth, very smooth Ok! 'Would' can also be on the list

Ok! We'll also add 'Would' as i have unintentionally doubled 'No excuses'

Captain's log, October 18th 2012

Ahoy mates, as I was telling you a few days ago, I am starting my preparation for the Pantera tribute gig and thus, today, we'll be discussing on the song 'I'm broken' which happens to be among my favorite tunes. I still have the solo to figure out, so we'll take a look at the structure and the riffs and we'll tackle the solo next time. Check the song out, here:

Captain's Log, October 25th, 2012

My friends, I am still in the learning process of Dime's most exquisite solo in 'I'm broken' so, I'll explain it but I need some more time to get it up to speed, and I also wanted to share some more stuff with you - one of my solos in the PRS Demo I am currently preparing so, stay tuned at 8 PM London time!

Cosmin

]

Awesome! I want to hear that PRS Solo!

I also want to see the Akerfeldt guitar!

The Akerfeldt guitar is coming in December I got a SUPER DUPER deal for it - almost 35% discount!

Must...Become...COosmin..and get PRS to make me....deals...on guitar!

Congrats Cosmin. I envy you in good waY!

Long Live PRS!

You're far too kind man Thank you!

Captain's log, November 1st 2012

Gather' round ye merry players
And listen to this bard's ol' tale
For this day's special as ye know it
And 8 PM is when I ring the bell

A magic circle we shall see
Of fifths and fourths made up
And interesting things we'll talk
When we'll all meet and talk and.... stuff

Alright, enough with the poetry already Well, since you guys were curious about the circle of fifths, we shall discuss about it at the video chat session and in order to get in the medieval mood, how about using this one?

Captain's Log, November 5th, 2012

Mates, I want to draw the most important conclusions from last week's chit chattering and prepare you for the next set which I'll post tomorrow:

Ways to navigate the circle:

- If we go clockwise, we discover the apparition of sharps and that each note is followed by its 5th
- If we go counter-clockwise, we will discover the apparition of flats

You can use a funny sentence to remember the disposition of the notes on the circle:

- clockwise, such as 'Fat Cows Go Down Around Every Barn' or, my favorite: 'Frankly, Cool Guitarists Do Absolutely Everything Better'
- counterclockwise: 'Boiled Eggs Are Darn Good'

You can find which are the sharps in each key, if you know that starting with the first one (G major) each major seventh is a sharp and it adds the previous found ones until you reach F#

If you want to get rid of the nasty notes, which inevitably appear once you reach F# on the circle, simply transform F# into Gb and you will start losing alterations as you continue to navigate the circle, clockwise.

You can find out which flats disappear after transforming F# into Gb, by simply looking at the next key after Gb and considering its major 7th as an unaltered note. For instance, in the case of the Db major scale - Cb would be the major 7th, but it will transform itself into C. If you don't believe me, apply the major scale formula for Db and you'll see The same goes until we reach C major and there are no more alterations!

You can discover a progression just by knowing the relationships between the notes on the circle

Clockwise: F C G D A E B means IV I V ii vi iii vii
Counterclockwise: C F Bb Eb Ab Db Gb means I IV bvii biii bvi bii bV

Now, imagine that if you decide to make ANY note a root note for a major scale and you harmonize the notes so that you may obtain chords, the above relationships remain valid, whatsoever We'll discuss more on Thursday!

You can also discover the notes making up a scale for instance

Check out the upper right region of the circle and think of C as the root note - what do you discover? C G D A E - these are the scrambled notes of the C major pentatonic scale! Formula: 1 2 3 5 6. Notes: C D E G A It's valid in the order discovered above, for EVERY root note

More to come...

See you this Thursday at 8 PM London time!

Cosmin

Captain's Log, November 15th 2012

As we have discussed so far, the Circle of fifths has proven itself to be a great, useful and easy to understand tool.

Let's recap our latest discussion:

- our friend, Tim, has discovered that each minor relative is the third of the previous note found on the outside of the circle, if we navigate from 5th to 5th
- when navigating anti clockwise, we discover that each 4th becomes the new b and the 7th degree becomes the next scale's new 4th
- when navigating clockwise, the M7 of each scale becomes the new # and the 4th becomes the new 7th
- if we navigate clockwise, we discover that we can find very popular progressions such as: V I, ii V I, I vi ii V I for instance

A good exercise here, would be to pick up a certain progression such as the simple G C (V I) and then move it on the circle and figuring out the chords in various tonalities Then, upgrade the progression and see how fast you are in figuring it out on the circle in a different tonality

Now, in the next session we will discuss about chords and the way you can deduce and work them once you get to master the circle!

See you this Thursday, at 8 PM London time!

Cosmin

Captain's Log, Thursday, November 22nd 2012

Alrightie guys! Since we have been dealing with progressions the last time and we dabbled with moving various progressions on the circle. I would like you guys to take a look over these progressions and try to play around with them in as many tonalities as possible:

I-IV-I-V7-IV-I - example in C major: Cmaj Fmaj G7 Fmaj Cmaj
I-IV-vii°-iii- vi-ii-V-I - example in C major: C maj Fmaj Bdim Emin Amin Dmin Gmaj C maj

And I would also like you to look over the progressions in The Beatles song called - Hey Jude - there's something interesting happening in there and this will be a little harmonic test for you to work with on the circle, but we'll deal with it during tonight's session.

Another important aspect we will be discussing are chords and how to discover very close chord positions (that means very little finger movement) in neighboring scales on the circle! A set of simple rules and a lot of fun - tonight at the v-chat!

See you at 8 PM London time!

Cosmin

Captain's Log, November 28th 2012

Heya guys!

Today, since we spent almost all month long discussing the Circle of 5ths, I decided to take you into the world of riffing!

We will write short drum grooves together for various time signatures and invent riffs to go along with them! Let's use the video transmission from both sides to swap ideas and build TOGETHER!!

Looking forward to see you all!

Cosmin

Captain's Log, December 6th 2012

Guys and gals, it gives me a great pleasure to announce that tonight we are starting to prepare the December collab TOGETHER

It will be a nice medley of traditional Christmas carols which we will orchestrate and discuss this evening! Here's the list so that you may noodle around with a little research:

Jingle Bells
Deck the Halls
We wish you a Merry Christmas
Silent Night

Each of them will have a different flavor and style, BUT more details tonight on how to build such a backing track!

See you at 8 PM London time - that means in about 3hrs and 45 minutes!

Cosmin

Captain's Log, December 13th 2012

Ahoy mates! Please take a look over the ideas included in the GP and PDF files below, so that you may get a glimpse of the stuff we'll be discussing tonight. Developing lead ideas out of the main themes of the Christmas carols for the collab will be our main topic.

Please also check out the collab thread below, for the backing track:

http://www.guitarmasterclass.net/guitar_fo...showtopic=47035

Here are the chord progressions:

Deck the halls (all power chords) we'll be dealing with it together

C5 A5 G5 C5 G5 C5 x 2
G5 C5 A5 G5 D5 G5
C5 A5 G5 C5 G5 C5

Jingle Bells

Chorus: CM7 FM7 D7 or Dm7 - it's up to u G7 CM7
Verse: CM7 FM7 G7 CM7 - the part which we will be dealing tonight

See you tonight at 8 PM London time!!

Cosmin

Captain's Log, December 20th, 2012

Continuing last Thursday's ideas, I made up a little drill involving major 7th arpeggios, a little scalar run and all in all shuffle groove sweeping If we may call it like that

Check out the tabs and bring on yer mics, cams and axes for an evening drill at 8 PM Tonight!

Let's shuffle...errmm rock And don't forget, you have until this Sunday to come up with collab takes for the 'Christmas Collab' which you can find here-> http://www.guitarmasterclass.net/guitar_fo...showtopic=47035

Cosmin

Captain's Log, December 27th, 2012

Merry Christmas mates! Tonight we will have a discussion based around all sorts of solutions which you can apply when being in mid performance and having to face the unexpected: technical failures, mistakes, emotions and all sorts of things which might prevent you from taking your part to the end. We will discuss the rhythm playing perspective as well as the lead playing perspective!

Stay tuned tonight at 8 PM as usual!

Cosmin

Captain's Log, January 3rd, 2013

Happy new year amigos and amigas!

It's time for the first video chat session in 2013 and because you liked the riff that we created last week, I turned it into a COLLAB It is called 'The new year's race collab' and it is available starting today - will post the details in this thread in a short while! But until then...

....since I was into some wild bends and vibrato plus a little fast lick which I came up with for this collab, we will discuss them and focus on articulation control tonight! Check out the licks in the attachment! I will explain everything tonight at 8 PM London time so stay tuned and join me for a fun session!

Cosmin

PS: Check out the licks and the slowed down versions in the attachment

Here's the collab thread as promissed -> http://www.guitarmasterclass.net/guitar_fo...showtopic=47355

Captain's Log, January 8th, 2013

Guys How about having a little contest in this v-chat session?

I will play random themes from famous movies, cartoons and TV shows and you have to guess them We will of course discuss on how they are being built and played! Get your ears ready!

Cosmin

Captain's Log, January 17th, 2013

We will continue analyzing interesting themes - so it's part 2 from last Thursday's session Come join me at 8 PM London time and we'll have loads of fun together!

Cosmin

PS: Let's not forget the homework -> http://www.guitarmasterclass.net/guitar_fo...showtopic=47519

Captain's log, January 24th, 2013

Tonight, we'll take a look into the world of modulation A very murky concept, which is based on some principles as you may see below, but all in all, in the end, you are allowed to try anything, as we will see in the examples I will show you depicted from famous hits songs featuring modulation to spice up the piece and wake the listener up from his sleep

Well - modulation is basically a key change within a song and there are a few types:

- Phrase modulation - this means we end a phrase and begin the next in another key
- Pivot modulation - this uses a pivot chord, which belongs to both keys and is usually followed by a chord that confirms the modulation (this second one belongs only to the new key)
- Sequential modulation - this one deals with having several key changes in a song until reaching a certain key in which the song may stay.

More on this and some awesome songs dissected - in 30 minutes in the chat room!

See you there and take a look here: Tim and Dian are the heroes of the day: http://www.guitarmasterclass.net/guitar_fo...mp;#entry629270

Cosmin

Hehe! Don't forget about the homework

http://www.guitarmasterclass.net/guitar_fo...showtopic=47617

Captain's Log, January 27th, 2013

Ahoy mateys! First things first - this week's session is moving on Wednesday, 8 PM London time and we will continue our little analysis regarding modulation found in famous songs, so check out the thread below for a collection of nice songs which have a lot of chances to be featured in the v-chat session

http://www.guitarmasterclass.net/guitar_fo...showtopic=47606

...and don't forget about the homework - add your suggestions, so that more nice songs will come up on Wednesday

http://www.guitarmasterclass.net/guitar_fo...showtopic=47617

On today's list:

Soundgarden, Michael Jackson, Dusty Springfield, Peggy Lee, United artists for Africa and maybe something more

Did you know that there are certain directions which are often encountered when dealing with modulation?

Usually, we end up modulating to a dominant (the 5th scale degree), the subdominant (4th scale degree), relative major or relative minor, but as I said, each artist/ songwriter ends up with very interesting combinations which are the result of having to 'dress up a vocal line' I suppose. It depends on each person's way of writing music

I chose these songs as they belong to very different styles of music and the modulations are diverse as well Hope this will be fun

See you tonight at 8 PM London time!

Cosmin

Captain's Log, February 7, 2013

Ahoy mateys!

Because the Pirate collab is up, I decided to give my take a go and come up with a piratey way to use the various modes that can be applied over the chord changes

We'll discuss on this tonight, but until then, take a look at the tabs below!

See you at 8 PM London time!

Cosmin

This is an invitation for next Thursday and some nice homework activity

http://www.guitarmasterclass.net/guitar_fo...showtopic=47842

I'd be happy to see you guys there

Cosmin

Captain's Log, February 14th, 2013

Yo ho, once again!

As we discussed, I took the track and dug some more into the land of modes and pirate music

Check out the attached tab and for a change - I have inserted the harmonic minor mode into play, but in the same time, I have modified the backing track a bit:

The first progression will not stay aeolian, but it will also have some harmonic minor influences How, what and when - in about 2 hours and a half in the chat room! 8PM London time as usual. And in the mean time, check out the tab and modified backing track!

See you in the chat room amigos!

Cosmin

Captain's Log, February 21st, 2013

Just came up with an interesting track that deals with some nice layering and a nice time signature I'd like to discuss it with you guys - song writing aficionados - you are in for a treat!

Check out the PDF/ GP tilll 8 PM London time when we'll see each other in the chat room!

Cosmin

Captain's Log, February 28th 2013

Ahoy boys and girls!

I have prepared yet another track for you - orchestration and song wiriting focusing on drop tuning ideas for beginners - understand what's what with those interesting chord shapes, tonight at 8 PM London time

Here are the GP. PDF and backing tracks, so check em out - both Drop D and Drop C!

See you in 1h30 minutes!

Cosmin

Captain's Log, March 5th 2013

Hola amigos! As I was writing in the forum last week - this Thursday, I am inviting you at an interactive session in which we can have fun by imitating one another with our guitars! Check out more details here: http://www.guitarmasterclass.net/guitar_fo...showtopic=48071

See you on Thursday at 8 PM London time!

Cosmin

Captain's Log, March 11th, 2013

Mates - I will let the video do that talking!

Homework - Video Chat Session - March 14th

Ear training task - Internalizing a scale

Hey guy and gals, as promised - Check out your assignment for next time and post your takes in this thread

Captain's Log, March 20th, 2013

Mates - simple fun and joy awaits us tomorrow evening! Because the Southern Metal Collab is taking flight with a pair of dragon wings out of what I notice, we should jam a bit over it right? So who's with me at 8 PM London time tomorrow? I'm throwing a party and you are ALL
invited!

Here's the collab thread! -> http://www.guitarmasterclass.net/guitar_fo...t=0&start=0
Cosmin

AW MAN!!! I was actually gonna have time for this one and I forgot about my doctor apt.! Gotta get this wisdom tooth yanked out... its killing me... Literally I think... Man, how'd I even forget that?

Ah, the teeth, well, next time?

We will let the track flow and share ideas over it, I've never done a jam session v-chat so it's gonna be an experiment An interesting one I hope

Captain's Log, March 28th 2013

Since in the last v-chat you guys wanted to hear some other approach on Metallica songs, I want to share some ideas on transforming a Metallica electric song into an acoustic one that you can play in any occasion! Cool sounding and not boring - at least I like to think so - we will discuss on a general approach on transforming any song with a full band orchestration into a version that can be played by one person.



Curious? Come join me in the chat room in exactly 2 hours from now! 8 PM London time!

Cosmin

Captain's Log, April 3rd, 2013

Ahoy mates!

This evening at 7 PM London time, I will see you in the video chat room for a session on chord progressions. We will discuss examples of major chord progressions based on well known songs - hope I will have nice surprises for everyone! How we will do it?

- analyze the chord progression type
- analyze some of the melodies in the songs which use notes from the scale out of which that progression is based upon as well
- find various positions for the chords in each chord progression and transposing them to other keys using the circle of 5ths

Are you ready?

Cosmin

Captain's Log, April 10th, 2013

Hello ladies and gents!

Continuing the previous session with minor progressions this time! We will follow the same drill:

- analyze the chord progression type by breaking down the chords and see where they came to be there from
- analyze some of the melodies in the songs which use notes from the scale out of which that progression is based upon as well
- find various positions for the chords in each chord progression and transposing them to other keys using the circle of 5ths

I have prepared a lot of nice examples from bands hailing from the 50s till the 00s

See you tomorrow at 8 PM London time!

Cosmin

Captain's Log, April 18th, 2013

Hey mateys! Tonight as a response to a request from our friends Korblitz, in last Thursday's video chat session, I have prepared a few arpeggio over chords based applications, involving tapping and legato.

I will be in the chat room this evening at 8 PM London time to talk about them and practice them with you guys. Check out the GP file and the PDF version of the exercises, alongside the backing track attached to this thread

See you tonight!

Cosmin

Looking forward to this video chat.

Captain's Log, April 25th, 2013

Time for some modal licks tonight I will follow a melodic and simple to execute approach for some of the modes, each being represented by a lick.

Take a look here to be familiarized with the positions and we will talk about the possibilities once we get together tonight at 8 PM London time!

C Ionian

                                                            ~
    E S S S S E  S S S  S S S  E   S S S  S S S  S S E S  S Q
||----7-8p7----------------------|-------------------------------|
||----------8--------------------|-------------------------------|
||------------9-10p9p7----7------|--------------------------7----|
||---------------------10---9----|-----------------7-7-9-10------|
||----------------------------10-|-7-8p7----7-8-10---------------|
||-------------------------------|-------10----------------------|


  E S  S E  S S a S S E  E S S    E E S S E S S E     
|---8s10s8----------------------|---------------------||
|---8s10s8------8-----8---------|---------------------||
|----------10---7h9---7----5----|---5-----------5-----||
|-----------------------10-5h7--|-7-5-----------5-----||
|-------------------------------|-----7s5-3-5s7-------||
|-------------------------------|---------------------||

C Dorian

                                                ~        ~    ~
    S S  S  S S S  S  S S S  S  S  S     S  S   Q  a S S E  E Q
||----8----11---------------------------------|------------------|
||--------------8----11-----------------------|------------------|
||--8---10----------------8----10-10b11--7----|-7--7s5---5----5--|
||------------8---10-----------------------10-|--------8----8----|
||----------------------8---10----------------|------------------|
||--------------------------------------------|------------------|


                                                         ~~
  S S S S S S S S S S S S S S S S   S    S S E S S S S E E.  
|---6---8-------8-----------------|---------------------------||
|-----------6---------------------|---------------------------||
|-5---8-------8-----5---8---------|------5---5---5-5-5-8------||
|---------5-----------------5---8-|-8b9----8---8---------5----||
|-----------------6---8-----------|---------------------------||
|-------------------------6---8---|---------------------------||

D Phrygian

                                              ~~~~~~~
          |----6----|
  H    Q  S S S S S S     E     +E  S S S S S S +S  S a S S S S
|---------------------||--------------------------------------5-|
|---------------------||------------------------------------6---|
|---------------------||----------------------------------7-----|
|---------5p3p0-------||--3b3.5-(3)-------------------6s8-------|
|---------------5p3p0-||------------5-3---5---5-(5)p3-----------|
|---------------------||----------------------------------------|


                ~~~~~~
                       |----6----|
  S S S S S S S S +Q   S S S S S S  3x
|-8-6---5---6-----------------------||
|-----------------------------------||
|---------------5-(5)---------------||
|----------------------5p3p0--------||
|----------------------------5p3p0--||
|-----------------------------------||

F Lydian

                              ~~
    S S  S S S  S S S  S S S  S
||---------------------------12---|
||--------------------12---10------|
||-------------12---10----9--------|
||------12---10----9---------------|
||----10----8----------------------|
||--8-----------------------------|


   a  S S  S  S S  S  S S  S  S S  S  E
|-12s13-10-12----10------------------------------|
|------------13---12-13-10-12----10-12-12b13-----|
|----------------------------12----------------|
|----------------------------------------------|
|----------------------------------------------|
|----------------------------------------------|

C Mixolydian

                           ~
    S S S    S S S S S   S E      S S S S  S S  S Q  S S S S
||-----------------------------|---------------------x-------|
||--8p5------------------------|------6-8--6-8s10-6--x---x-x-|
||------7b8r=5---5-7-----------|----7----------------x-------|
||-------------8-----8b9---5---|-/8--------------------------|
||-----------------------------|-----------------------------|
||-----------------------------|-----------------------------|


                             ~
  S S S    S S S S S   S S S E       S S S  S       S  E        E   
|--------------------------------|----------------------------------||
|-8p5----------------------------|-------8-10b11====8-11b13========-||
|-----7b8r=5---5-7---------------|-----9---------------x------------||
|------------8-----8b9---5---5---|-/10-----------------x------------||
|--------------------------7-----|----------------------------------||
|--------------------------------|----------------------------------||

Captain's Log, May 2nd, 2013

Hey guys and gals - since we have one lick left from last time - the Mixolydian one, I'd like to use talk about this one (it is in the tab above) and then use the chord progression I found, in order to talk about bending and vibrato on improvised licks. I noticed that a lot of you guys have some issues when bending in REC takes, so every now and then, a bending chat is welcome I think

See you in 5 minutes in the video chat room!

Cosmin