Thanks bro, I hope to record a 90% version next update!

How's it going Kris?

I am working on 90% speed currently, I hope to have update for you guys soon!

As you pointed out earlier, things are a bit slower now that I am getting closer tot he original speed. I need to be super careful in order not to try advance too fast, and get some bad technique habit along the way.

Yeah I know, it's usually at this point I start to get bored because it can be played well just not at the speed of the lesson. I sometimes wonder if there's a mental block at 90% and even if the track was 10% slower I would still hit that wall at 90%. I now make my target speed 100%

Looking forward to the next update

Update 5: (90% of original tempo)

I'm impressed

Obviously I have zero experience with this style but can you try lowering the bridge pickup a tiny (very small, like maybe bit less than 4/1 screw turn) bit? I felt the "spank" response of the guitar maybe could be improved to make things a bit easier for you.

Cool, will try for sure - thanks mate 🙏

I will start to focus on tone now that the final recording is approaching

Wow....that's awesome!!! I hardly waited your update 5.

You lost a little from the excitement that you had in the previous updates. Don't loose the motivation. The progress is also highly visible when you are in the polishing things stage.
I personally enjoy more this part of the "game" because even if it's quite boring, has a particular beauty and it change the final result in an amazing way.

The differences between your takes are huge and the progress it's truly impressive!!!
I love how good and clear sound now the lick from 0:50 - 0:55. You were afraid that this particular lick, will gives you troubles at fast tempo. Look how good you play this at 90%.

Where did the video go????

Weird! Restored now



Thanks Monica! Yes you are right about the excitement - but now I am back on track because I feel I am close to nailing it up to tempo (much cleaner than this take hopefully). And that feels exciting! I am actually already pondering what to do next - I feel like tackling new genres, and material I am uncomfortable with, might be a working strategy for me considering where I am now.

And yes that particular lick is the one I have practiced the most - glad it shows!

+1 on what Monica said, but you are doing an outstanding job buddy.

I've been trying a new tactic, new for me anyway, I set GP to 70% and each loop increases by 2% or sometimes 1% and I play through the whole cycle three or four times. I found that there was an area of speed, around 88%-92% where I was less tight than the slower tempos (as expected) but also less tight than the higher tempos.

Maybe give it a try, it may help with the tedium a little bit.

Keep up the good work.

You will nail it, we all know you will.

@ Cool Phil - that's an interesting strategy to loop while slowly increasing speed!

Currently I am dying to get some practicing time because I feel I am really close on this one!

This is really sounding cool. It's got a lot of pop to it which is perfect. your hybrid pickin
is really serving you well on this. You rawk!!

Thanks a million Todd! 🙏

Here is my first attempt at 100% speed, it's taken me roughly two months! 😅

That's brilliant Kris,

Obviously there are a few tiny glitches in there but I am amazed how well you've got it down in a couple of months, any estimate on the hours?

You really have the twang of the original and I think it would go down a storm at the local open mic night.

I think you should now go for the whole GMC experience just to get a full student experience and post a proper REC take for Gab, Darius and Todd to critique, it would be interesting to see what the big guns say and what score they give you plus you would know how we feel in the hot seat

Well done buddy, you are an inspiration. We should make this a feature maybe alternating instructors if they are up for it, I think it is good for students to see instructors putting the time in to achieve a result, many students think that instructors have a "gift" and that they'll just be able to pick something up in an hour or so, it's a good reality check.

Thanks again for doing this.

Stay safe.

Phil

Wou!! Congratulations Kris!! It's great to see you playing this one at 100%! I've been following your progress here and I have to say that this whole thread is very inspiring! This is a very demanding lesson and style, and even more if you are not familiar with it.

At this point, I only think that you need more days of practice. Sometimes I feel that you are able to play the licks tight, but that your hands get tired and that's why it doesn't sound precise. Am I right?

Now I want to give this one a try. I'm not familiar at all with Shofner's style so I think that this could make an important impact in my overall playing as I'm sure that is making it in yours.

Again, congrats on your amazing job!

That's an awesome progress!!! It's visible how much work you have put behind. To be able to play this killer lesson at full speed it makes you already a winner.


I will point only two things (I hope you will don't mind) which for me make visible the difference between your take and the original take.

1. Definitely you became so friendly with this speed that you have moments when you hurry a little. I think this "hurry" thing it comes from the fact that you put some accents and you play some licks rhythmically different than in the original lesson.

2. Also at this tempo you make things sound more like are played with a normal hybrid picking than chicken picking (I don't know if this make sense for you). I mean, are licks where you should use that sharp attack (snappy) on some notes (as an example...the part after the bends from 0:55).
I think if you will use more strength in the right hand things will sounds more close (exactly as you made at slower tempo). At this moment your right hand make things sound a little too soft for this style.

Few more days of practice and things will shine. You are almost done with this. Anyway....you already have proved how awesome player you are!!!

You are doing a great job! And I'm also very impressed by your work. It is interesting to see your improvement in this and also hear about your practice tips.

I have to say it has been inspiring to see you play this since its a style you are not familiar with and you are playing it so well

That is def still the plan. However for various reasons I suspect I will still not get quite the same experience as a student..

I have received an insane amount of comments on various platforms since I started out on the web more than 10 years ago. And although some of it has been really harsh, it is still nowhere near my own opinion about my playing. So in my case, I def think I give myself the hardest critique... for better or worse



Yes maybe they do get tired. I think I am relaxed though, but the problem is that I am not yet ready for this tempo. However if I only record when I have got it all down I don't think this thread will provide as much value (plus the wait would be looong 😅).



This is a very good point, I must admit I have not focused much on this yet. That's the kind of polishing I see myself doing the weeks before the final recording. Also my nails/fingers tips on the right hand are kinda worn out, so popping harder is the last thing I want to do 😅




In the beginning of the solo I am not playing on time. This is a classic problem we see among students trying to play something fast before they are ready for it. Instead of grooving along and feeling the tempo, I just dive head-on into something I am not yet prepared for.

After a while though, I do find the right pulse - but by then it's a little too late since I have already messed the intro which kinda disqualifies me 😅



Thanks mate! 🙏

This solo has been a hell of journey. And if this is like any of previous learning I have done, I predict that a couple of months after i have stopped practicing this - I will start seeing elements from this style appear in my "natural" repertoire.

I think we're all like that buddy, I know I am definitely my own worst critic. I think you've done an AMAZING job on this though, it's been inspiring all along, nice one buddy

Thanks mate for the support 👊

WOW. Impressive. I don't think I could do this if my life depended on it.

Thanks Todd - but I think you could, however let's hope we never have to put you in that situation 😅

Here is my second attempt at 100% speed:

I can see it now! Play hot country using all your fingers or you die right now!!! That's a tough one. You are doing great on this. I can see how much progress you've made and it's killer. You had a good head start with your hybrid picking technique and it's turned in to a great new path of creativity. I see what you mean about using the arm for this type of play.

When i'm shredding at high speed I'm mostly using the thumb/first finger and some wrist but that's only using one string at a time. When i was playing classical guitar, and using multiple strings at the same time, using multiple fingers to pick multiple notes, my arm had to come in to play. It was very much from the shoulder down where as my shredding is from the fingers back to the wrist and I keep my arm relaxed. What your doing here looks much closer to what I experienced playing classical than it does to more linear shred type stuff. Then again I don't use hybrid picking at all when I shred and I notice that you sometimes do! so your always doing a somewhat classical picking approach that needs more arm to help leverage the fingers. Your doing great work on this style. Congrats!

I was just wondering how you were getting on and then I came across this.

Incredible Kris, I am seriously impressed, I only spotted a couple of minor mistakes. I reckon this would get a 9 at REC, 9.5 if half points were allowed.

This is inspiring buddy, thank you for sharing

Thanks much mate for the support 🙏

I have to disagree about the the REC grade though, to me this is a probably 6-7. But then maybe I am not the best person to judge myself.



Good point here, the arm movement is mostly needed when string traverse is involved. For "one string" speed picking the only reason to use the whole arm would be to generate a lot of volume - ie on a steel string acoustic guitar.

Thanks Todd - this sure has been an amazing challenge in terms of progress for me 🤩 And it's not over yet!

That's an amazing take!!! You get closer and closer and from my point of view this is your best approach for this lesson.
What I love most is the fact that you started to work at details and this change the overall feel of the take.
Also I love the fact that you play with much more confidence and you succeed to transmit a good feeling. That's a very good thing and personally it give me a good mood.

You are definitely much cruel with yourself but from my point of view that's a very good thing. For me this take it's somewhere between 7-8.
At this moment I would give 7 for technique because you have some timing issues (I can't close the eyes on this area ), some notes that can't be heard and other tiny details but these are NORMAL things that appear in the polishing stage.
It's clear that you are focused to play more aggressively (which I love because it takes you much close to Chris's original take) and that's why when you play some snappy notes you get off timing.
For the attitude and the feeling that you transmit I will give you a 7.5-8.

But it's a REC grade simulation just for fun because the take it's not finished and I know how huge is the difference between a take not polished and a take polished. I'm pretty sure that your final record will sound absolutely killer.

You're probably more right than me buddy, I'm only just getting up to level four lessons, my ear isn't as good as yours and it all happens so fast is have to put it into my DAW and slow it down to hear the timing errors.

You're doing an amazing job mate, very inspiring and as I've said before, it's comforting seeing you having to work for it, I don't mean I take pleasure from your struggle but it makes me feel like I'm not as bad as I thought when it takes me weeks to get a lesson to even score a 7 in REC. With only around an hour a day it's quite good really.

We should get Todd and Gab to do one now. Something nice and slow for Todd, to challenge his runaway hands

Thanks for doing this Kris. It's a great incite into a top player's skill set.

Stay safe

Thanks Kris for sharing this experience...

It's really nice for us, beginners, to see that hard work always leads to progress! And that we share the same challenges when tackling a new difficult lesson (of course, for me a difficult lesson is level 3...)
You made a great work and it was a great idea to share this!

Laurent

Agreed Monica, now is where gets really interesting - as I work on the tonal and stylistic aspect of this solo.

If I can get this down, these licks are much more likely to stick with me. Because anytime I sit down to play something I try to hear an awesome line in my head, and if the line does not sound awesome - I am not likely to use it "just because it's country".

So fingers crossed I will be able to nail this one!


Thanks mate and don't underestimate your skills 👌 being able to understand/hear fast rhythms is not a very important part of music in general, although it is something we guitarists tend to focus on!

I can definitely recommend anyone to go public with their guitar struggles like I have done here, it is incredibly rewarding... And if any instructor wants to submit their REC take that is also really cool 😎



Thanks Laurent - and agreed. The struggle is there regardless of your level, you just have to keep at it! Keep up the hard work 👊

Hey Kris
When you isolate the licks do you include the 1st note of the next lick to make it easier to join them together?

Cool question!

I can't say I generally do that, but sometimes yes.

When I isolate a lick, any chunk that I can repeat to a steady pulse and that focuses on the problem area is fine.

If it turns out I also have problems connecting the lick to the next one, I might create a larger chunk, OR one that specifically focuses on the the new problem area (the notes that connect the licks)

Ok, so I think this is the final version:



I have submitted it for grading here 😱

Huge congrats Kris. The result it's amazing!!!

I love the fact that you polished a lot of things and definitely this make your take shine.
I'm curious what instructors will say in REC. Are few details that can be pointed but comparing with your last take I can hear a huge difference. I'm pretty sure that the grades will be somewhere between 8-9.

I really enjoyed this topic. Was truly awesome to see your approach in learning a lesson.
Thank you because you done this. I love the fact that you never say no when it's about a challenge.

this was so much fun , I had started to do this lesson , but morphed back to my style as I wanted to master shred before ,so hopefully soon I can get these 9 lessons I been practicing up

Thanks Monica and thanks for the support throughout 👊

To be honest I can't quite listen to the original because I feel my take is sounding so far from it, but that's probably just because I have spent the last months listening to all the details (and I just hear all the misses). I am sure if I give it some time I will be really proud and happy of this take.

I also think Gab gave me some good advice to keep playing this one 1-2 twice every day - I tend to drop things as soon as I am done with them, though it would be really cool to get these ideas into my improvs as well.



If you already have 9 lessons going that seems more than enough indeed 😅 Of course nothing is preventing you from stealing a lick here and there, that's what I typically do 😼

This has been an amazing and inspiring journey Kris. Thanks for doing this. This final take is probably as close as it can be, I bet Chris couldn't hit a 10 every time.

Well done buddy, you my friend, are inspiration personified


Stay safe

Phil

Super congrats on this! Your existing finger pick style certainly came in handy and this is just some tricky playing no matter how once slices it. I hope to see this stuff work it's way in to your solo bits!

You might just be good enough to quit your day job
in all seriousness thats really well playe Kris!

Thanks mate 👊and thanks again for your feedback which always makes these community ideas better 👌



Indeed, without my experience from hybrid picking this would def have taken longer! Thanks Todd 👊


hehe 😁 Thanks bro 👊