Hello Jeroen! I'm happy to open our thread for working together on techniques and other things. You are a guitarist with a lot of energy who is all the time evolving and creating so I'm sure that this thread will be very inspiring.

You said that you wanted to start working on two hands tapping and (mini) Sweep Picking. What's your experience with these techniques? Have you worked on any lesson here or exercises?


and up the irons!!

For starters: thank you for working with me and Up The Irons!! This is gonna be an energetic and inspirational ride

(Mini) sweeps: no experience, but I like the unique sounding licks that can be played with it. I understand arpeggio's though.

I sometimes play two handed tapping, but never really practiced it through lessons. Check this video at 2:12 where I play a simple two handed tapping piece. You will immediately hear that the piece is not played in an even rhytm, that's because I never really worked with this technique.

Nice video as always! Ok, let's start working on these two techniques. Both are usually played around arpeggios but it's not the only way to use them, you can also create ideas using other notes from the scales.

Mini- Sweeps:

When I was a teenager I became obsessed with mini bends because of this amazing solo by a local neo classical guitarist called Walted Giardino. This solo has been my main workout for mastering this technique:



As you can see it's a long metal neoclassical piece with extremely fast sweeping. Then I discovered that more rocker players like Zakk Wylde, Doug Aldritche and even John Petrucci used this technique a lot and I start to use it also with Pentatonic Scales.

This lesson is a bit tricky to start but I think that it's good to start with it because it includes many shapes and patterns that we can isolate as different exercises. The idea is that you take each pattern and work on it over a drum loop or using the backing tracks, but keep on playing them as a loop focusing on your hands movements.

Sweep Picking movement should start from your wrist, but there is also a small right hand fingers movement when you reach the higher string that generates some kind of "circular" motion. Check Ben's video and you'll see what I mean. That's what you should try doing. Remember to start slowly to be sure that you are doing the right movement.

This is the lesson: http://www.guitarmasterclass.net/ls/Power-Of-Mini-Sweeps/


Tapping:

Tapping is the same than playing legato technique but using extra fingers from your right hand. This means that you have to use hammer on and pull off concepts to get a good sound when you tap.

As I had a song that inspired me and made me practice mini sweeps, I had one that made me want to practice tapping. Here we go:




To start working on this technique, let's give a try to these lessons:

http://www.guitarmasterclass.net/ls/Basic-Tapping/
http://www.guitarmasterclass.net/solo-guit...atonic-tapping/

Sounds great Gabriel, I'm starting very soon.

Perfect! Keep me updated.

I started today with practicing tapping and mini sweeps. It's very interesting. I'm enjoying it a lot. Starting to learn the notes and licks on a very low speed. First I'm trying to get a feel for it and know the notes without having to look at the tab all the time.

Perfect! That's the way! Patience and hard work. Feel free to share videos here to let me give you early feedback.

Hi Jeroen! I was wondering how are those mini sweeps and tapping exercises going. Are there any videos to check the progress?

Hey Gab, thanks for asking. I'm going a little slow, but I'll make a video to show the first basics that I'm working on. My focus was mainly on picking hand basics which I finally got to a good level. Coming week I will focus on tapping and mini sweeps.

Alternate Picking! Great decision to focus on this technique. Feel free also to share a video playing that lesson by Ben.

Some basic description and tips about this technique.

• It basically means alternation between downstrokes and upstrokes
• It can also help your timing for funk rhythms.
• It lets you use your mind to other things since the motion can be automated.
• Get in the habit of holding the pick between your thumb and your forefinger.
• Keep the exposed area of the pick to a minimum. (for precision)
• Try to do the movements the smaller than possible.


Once you master this lesson, the next step would be to start working on crossing string which makes everything trickier. In these thread you will find more tips for this technique and also exercises for AP crossing strings:

Crossing Strings I
Crossing Strings II

I have been working with Cosmin on my AP because it needed serious improvement. This is my progress recorded today:

Hi Jeroen! Thanks for the video. I can note that you need to keep on working on this technique to feel more comfortable and to be able to play this lesson tighter. Some things that I note you have to keep in mind:

- Try to do the right hand movement the smaller possible. Concentrate on it and your alternate picking technique will be more effective.

- Relax your right hand and arm, and let your arm move a bit from your elbow while you play this technique. You should feel your hand relaxed and moving as if you would have water in your hand and you shake it from your writs to quit it.

- Practice slower but trying to accentuate a bit the first note of each group of 4 16th notes. The same with the first of each group of 2 8th notes. And also with the first note of each triplet. This will define and clarify the rhythm of your AP. At first, you can do this a bit exaggerated, then you will be able to manage it depending the intention that you want to give to what you play.

I'm back from holiday and ready to practice!

Cool! Welcome back! Do you have a routine designed? What are your next goals?

I start with a couple of warm ups, then practice AP. after that I practice two handed tapping. Than improvising, songwriting, learning songs or a combination.

Any tips to improve my workout?

Hi Jeroen, the plan sounds good, but you have to define the things that you are going to work. For example, regarding improvisation, what are you going to work? What do you know about theory and scales? What do you feel you are lacking?

About technique, it's always important to have a well designed routine that covers different techniques. I would go for this list:

- Alternate Picking
- Legato
- Feeling (Vibrato, bending, dynamics)
- Tapping

And finally about composition, I consider important to divide this topic in two:

- Analyzing songs.
- Working on your own ideas.


What do you think?

Sounds very good, you know how to structure things. About improvising, I know enough scales I think and I understand what notes fit over chords. So when I improvise I take a backing track, analyze the chord progression and start jamming..

Sounds good. There are many things that you can work to improve your improvisation abilities. This is a list of topics that you should have in mind:

- Playing major and minor scales in 5 different positions.
- Playing minor and major scale using different sequences.
- Playing pentatonic scales in 5 different positions.
- Pentatonic scale with sequences.
- Combining major scale with pentatonic scale.
- Learning minor and major arpeggios.
- Improvise over a backing track following chords with arpeggios.
- Combining everything over backing tracks.
- Three notes per string shapes
- Passing notes & chromatic scale


It's also very important to do some connection between mind and fret board. Use your voice to sing melodies and then play them on your guitar. And off course, learn new licks every day, and create your own variations.

I must confess, I didn't practice much. On the other hand I made a new cover. Did you see it?

http://www.guitarmasterclass.net/guitar_fo...showtopic=52922

Awesome!! You have feedback there!

I found this one on youtube. It says it's made by you in de description box.

http://youtu.be/hj7_VH64zrE

Can I download it somewhere (on GMC?)

Hi mate! yeah! That guy has lots of views at youtube thanks to my backing!

Here you can download it: Slash Licks