What Are You Working On Right Now?
- Thread starter Jarick
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TSJMajesty
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I'm getting to a point wherein tackling something new is coming much easier than it used to. That really excites me. I'm finding I know more instinctively where my fingers need to go, just by listening..., and riffs are easier to get under my fingers.
It's so much more fun learning new stuff when I can tell I'm still progressing. For a little while, I had felt like I hit a wall.
It's so much more fun learning new stuff when I can tell I'm still progressing. For a little while, I had felt like I hit a wall.
Jarick
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I've been really enjoying the "Anytune" app to slow down and learn songs. It's a pain to have to get the audio off YouTube because of DRM protection but I can really hear what's going on and focus in on the notes that are being played.
For example Saturday I had the Foo Fighters "All My Life" stuck in my head, so I spent a little time with it. It's not the most complex song but it's not all standard power chords. Slowing the song down you can hear the odd notes and then it's a matter of figuring out the most logical spot they would be played. Watched a couple videos of covers and was happy to see I basically nailed the chords and fingering.
For example Saturday I had the Foo Fighters "All My Life" stuck in my head, so I spent a little time with it. It's not the most complex song but it's not all standard power chords. Slowing the song down you can hear the odd notes and then it's a matter of figuring out the most logical spot they would be played. Watched a couple videos of covers and was happy to see I basically nailed the chords and fingering.
Mikael Dez
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I’ve been using Strum Machine which is great for custom chord progressions and it has a shit ton of folk tunes on there. Change chords/keys and tempo and you’re off to the races.
Mikael Dez
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I’m currently trying my first serious attempt at singing and playing at the same time - I think I’ve got a pretty good bluegrass/country voice and I sing this damn song on my commute at least weekly, so it was a good choice to learn to play along to it:
TSJMajesty
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Heard this today (was in the "R's" on my phone), and thought, hey lemme see if I can still do this justice, since we used to cover it.
Lot's of cool stuff, including this little riff:
@4:47
I play it, and my other guitar player's like, "That's a Brian May lick." Hmmm. Well, they were huge Queen fans....
Lot's of cool stuff, including this little riff:
I play it, and my other guitar player's like, "That's a Brian May lick." Hmmm. Well, they were huge Queen fans....
TSJMajesty
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And as I played through it, I remember how important it is to really listen to how you're playing. He plays lots of 7th's, and you gotta control your picking just right so that all 4 notes (R-5-3-7) ring out equally, w/ just the right amount of palm-mute, and there's a 2/15 B1 1/16 that with a floating bridge (which you need, to do the dives) you need to also bend that 1st string up just a bit to compensate for the trem springs, as you bend the 2nd string up 1 step.
And of course, ya gotta have the right "swing", or none of it sounds good.
Lot's of shit like that that makes it really engaging to play!
TSJMajesty
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Back on Innocence Faded solo! I've learned/memorized the entire thing, and can play it at a "decent" speed (I won't say, lol), while keeping it clean, and copping his nuances, and not only is it a blast to play, it made me think, I haven't really learned many of his entire solos, partly because I've been focused on pulling licks out of his music to use as practice routines, but also because there's usually stuff in them that..., just, fuggedaboudit.
But damn if he doesn't pack SO MUCH interesting, and musical ideas into this solo! (And truly, a lot of solos!) It's probably a big reason I love his music so much.
But damn if he doesn't pack SO MUCH interesting, and musical ideas into this solo! (And truly, a lot of solos!) It's probably a big reason I love his music so much.
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TSJMajesty
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The hardest (and slowest for me atm) part is the simplest/coolest thing! It's a Dsus to a D arpeggio. Lays right over the chords.
First I tried it as string skipping (move the B/15 to G/19), but my pinky keeps missing the 19 (short li'l digit
.)So even though I shied away from the version tabbed above mainly b/c of the 15's on the same fret, adjacent strings. Gotta do that finger-roll, which I suck at, this way is easier for me. But it's not feeling at all natural like some other swept arpeggio patterns- the sus one. The D major is easy, by the time I get to it!
But I've never seen this arpeggio before, and it's kinda strange I haven't. Lots of songs go from a sus to the major, so it's kind of an obvious choice to stick in a solo.
And really, that's in JP's solo-writing DNA- he uses this method quite a bit, simply outlining the notes in the underlying chord in some manner. (Usually while mixing up the beat divisions, laying in some bluesy bends, and the obligatory shred. Which in this solo, it's in small bursts, so I may get it.)
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AFKAEjay(retired)
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I’m practicing to play over the changes of a tune I wrote….woodshedding the changes.
Demo of the tune (only the head)
Demo of the tune (only the head)
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I still have that tab book to this day. Wore that album out!
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I couldn't play for a couple days after I recorded that "Poles Apart" solo and had to take a day or two off between learning it and recording it because my fingers were just brutalized from the bends!
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I've spent the last week trying to write one guitar solo because I slipped into the neurotic zone. After going through 3 different fixed bridge guitars I ended up tuning my JEM to drop Db because I need a Floyd. The guys in the band have been requesting divebombs here and there and I told them I'd have to fake them with my Whammy pedal until I get another Solar, but fuck it, they want me to go apeshit and I really don't think there's a better guitar out there for going apeshit than the JEM.
Hopefully I can bang it out today and move on.
Hopefully I can bang it out today and move on.
TSJMajesty
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So I can play the Innocence Faded solo at 75% tempo, and it feels SO fast for me! Just as I get at btw 75 and 80% of pretty much anything of JP's that I've been working on, I feel like, Am I ever gonna be able to get even 1 or 2 of his solos up to speed??!! I've been putting in the time!!
Dammit, it gets so frustrating. Right now, and for years now, this is what I want to be able to do, but it still feels like maybe I'm just not capable.
Either that, or I need professional intervention re how I practice. Idk... sigh
Dammit, it gets so frustrating. Right now, and for years now, this is what I want to be able to do, but it still feels like maybe I'm just not capable.
Either that, or I need professional intervention re how I practice. Idk... sigh
AFKAEjay(retired)
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Do you practice at a tempo that allows ZERO tolerance for the smallest mistakes?
Practice does not make perfect…practice makes permanent..so if you allow mistakes…
Mikael Dez
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I’m kind of lucky I guess, I messed my left hand up REALLY bad with a router, I needed hand surgery and 50 stitches (this is why I quit woodworking lol). I couldn’t use my hand for 3 months at all before I started physical therapy and started working back my muscle strength. I was able, miraculously, to get back about 98% hand function - pain gets in the way and sometimes I can’t get past it if I’m trying to shred. It was nice to build fresh muscle memory with a smarter mind though, and I became a better guitarist in the end, I just really don’t think I have it in me to get shredder fast and I came to terms with it.
Mikael Dez
Shredder
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I always say perfect practice makes perfect!
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