Robbiej's Composing Workout, for Gab's Army |
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...the thing is, I need you to start progressing faster then ever, but to achieve that I need your help:
* Don't know where to start? Just pm me and we will sort it out directly, I am online every day.
* Join My Army. Sounds aggressive? It is! We can study anything from the most fearsome picking techniques to bombastic songwriting. A medal of honor awaits the brave. Seriously, this is an opportunity for you to get a personalised learning experience...what are you waiting for?!
* Join my next video chat! GMC startpage holds a video chat schedule. We always cover a lot of ground and have fun. Remember that you don't need any previous knowledge, and you can be passive in the chat.
* Jam with me - you will find active collabs here.
* Post a topic on this board, guitar related or not - doesn't matter! You will find that chatting with instructors boosts your motivation to practice.
* You haven't missed my latest video lessons, have you?
* Finally I want to tell you a secret. Nah I changed my mind - pm me instead ;)
Robbiej's Composing Workout, for Gab's Army |
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Jan 16 2015, 08:41 PM |
Hello RobbieJ! Welcome to our thread for Gab's Army, my mentoring program. Based on some info that Bogdan shared with me, you are interested in developing you composition skills, so that's what we will work here!
Before we start I would like to know a bit more about you. Please tell me about your musical tastes, favorite musicians, things and situations that inspire you, and also a bit about your music theory and technique knowledge. Do you have experience with band? Have you ever composed a song? Do you have some riffs or ideas on progress? Any video of you playing? And off course feel free to share here everything you think that can help me to know you and your goals more. I hope you enjoy our work here! -------------------- My lessons
Do you need a Guitar Plan? Join Gab's Army Check my band:Cirse Check my soundcloud:Soundcloud Please subscribe to my:Youtube Channel |
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Jan 16 2015, 11:21 PM |
Hi Rob! Thanks for your info!
I agree that you need to work in parallel on your playing and your composing skills, but the main goal here is to keep both things connected most of the times. Everything should be seen in a musical way because we hear to learn to play and make music, not just do some guitar gym. Based on your comments, I think that it could be really good to organize a plan that covers this things: Soloing - Work on a musical GMC solo lesson. The idea is that you choose a solo lesson that you like and learn it. This will be a good way to start here. The idea is that you learn the licks, check the instructor's explanations about how he created the licks. Play the lesson using the backing tracks. Create variations of the licks, and combine them with your own improvisations using the scale suggested by the instructors. This workout will also let me check which technique need more work, so then I'll assign specific lessons or exercise for it. If it's possible, record yourself playing the lesson, and share the video here. Let me know what lessons you have in mind and I'll help you choose. Composition - Learn some basic harmony theory Reading one topic each day from this board is enough. Please read it and play the ideas and examples in your guitar. LINK HERE - Analyze a song (Structure) On this first week, we will focus on song's structure. Please choose 5 songs that you like and analyze the structure of them. (Intro, verse, chorus, etc). Share your analysis here. - Start creating your library of ideas. Create a folder in your computer and start to record and save there all the licks, riffs, or progressions that you create and you like. Start building your library of ideas. Put a name that identifies each idea to find it later soon to continue it or to using it for a song in progress. -------------------- My lessons
Do you need a Guitar Plan? Join Gab's Army Check my band:Cirse Check my soundcloud:Soundcloud Please subscribe to my:Youtube Channel |
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Jan 17 2015, 02:44 PM |
Great! You can post your video here, or also at REC program and notify me here. The difference is that your takes are graded and commented by other instructors besides me at REC. This is an advantage because you have more feedback and more points of view. However both options are ok for me.
-------------------- My lessons
Do you need a Guitar Plan? Join Gab's Army Check my band:Cirse Check my soundcloud:Soundcloud Please subscribe to my:Youtube Channel |
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Jan 18 2015, 06:46 AM
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Wow Gab...the 165BPM for the Zakk pinch lesson is FAST. Holy cow.
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Jan 18 2015, 03:48 PM |
Hi mate, please check this video with tips to record guitar videos:
and let me know if you can apply it and works. -------------------- My lessons
Do you need a Guitar Plan? Join Gab's Army Check my band:Cirse Check my soundcloud:Soundcloud Please subscribe to my:Youtube Channel |
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Jan 20 2015, 03:07 AM |
Hi Robbie! I'm glad to know that the video helped! Looking forward your videos.
I can say that the intro song is very promising. I like the groove, the note choices, and that turnaround idea that includes a higher melody added by an extra guitar. I'm not totally convinced of the drum kick, I wonder if the pattern used will be followed by bass. So the next step would be adding some bass to this one (You can use a virtual instrument if you don't have a real bass) to see how the whole band works for this intro. About the repetitions, I think that once or twice would be ok, then the verse should start. Do you have some ideas for the next part? -------------------- My lessons
Do you need a Guitar Plan? Join Gab's Army Check my band:Cirse Check my soundcloud:Soundcloud Please subscribe to my:Youtube Channel |
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Jan 20 2015, 11:34 AM |
Hi Robbie!! Congrats on your first video!! You look very confident in front of the camera! I can say that your take is VERY good, there is nothing very important to mark, and one thing that attracted my attention is how wide and balanced is your vibrato on this take. You have a good sense of timing and both your is very consistent. Great job!!
Zakk's lesson is also sounding really good. The harmonics sound good and the overall rhythm, except in some little section is played totally tight. You also have a good rhythm technique! Well done. I think that your guitar tone could be better, it's a bit noisy and not very clear. What are you using to record it? This lessons doesn't show weak points yet so I think that you are ready for more advanced stuff. Do you have any lessons in mind? -------------------- My lessons
Do you need a Guitar Plan? Join Gab's Army Check my band:Cirse Check my soundcloud:Soundcloud Please subscribe to my:Youtube Channel |
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Jan 21 2015, 02:46 AM |
Hi Rob!
Well, I think that you have the right equipment and software to get a good tone. Tone set is also something that requires practice, so my recommendation is to keep on exploring but also keep simple. Don't add lots of effects, processors, pedals, go simple, turn on an amp and a cabinet, and experiment with its settings. Most of the tones that you hear on albums and live are based on this basic combination, and many times guitarist only add a overdrive (tube screamer or similar). About your question, that's a very important question! Let me give you my point of view. There are many kinds of musicians, and as each of them is a person, each one has different tastes, different goals, different thoughts and many other things, because each of us is a unique person. So I cannot say that you will or won't be a better musician if you just practice songs by other persons. If your goal as a musician is to interpret music and not compose it, maybe the answer it yes. Based on your question, I assume that one of your goals is to be able to write and perform your own music. In this case, learning to play songs by other people or lessons will give help you just with one dimension: performing. This is not a small thing, great composers like Beethoven, Mozart, and even guitarists like Steve Vai or singers like Fredy Mercury are/were incredible performers. However, if you also want to become a good composer, improviser, arranger or all of that, you have to analyze what you learn, the theory behind, pay attention to structures, tools to arrange songs, scales used, chord progressions, rhythms and all the things that can make you understand what you are playing. GMC lessons include description with comments about how the ideas are composed and the theory behind them, mostly when we are talking about "musical" lessons. The most technical ones focus more on technique explanations. If you also learn songs, you should also do the same, analyze the structures, progressions, scales, arrangement tools, etc, in order to then apply this concepts into your own compositions. At the same time, there are two things that I consider very helpful to train your creativity: - Use the lesson's backing track to improvise your own ideas using the suggested scales, and combine them with licks from the lessons, and with variations of these licks. - Start composing your own ideas and songs. You don't need a lot of knowledge to start, you can do it now! -------------------- My lessons
Do you need a Guitar Plan? Join Gab's Army Check my band:Cirse Check my soundcloud:Soundcloud Please subscribe to my:Youtube Channel |
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Jan 21 2015, 12:25 PM |
Gab, excellent words of advice!! I was actually thinking the same thing about taking the lesson backing and changing it a bit to start tapping in to my creativity. The first time I might only change a couple of notes....the second time I will change more.....but my goal will be to change something...anything, a little bit every day....until the solo is something completely my own. EXCELLENT advice!! I also like the thought about not simply playing the lesson, but spending time to actually dissect it and understand the scale structure being used for the lesson. Another fantastic tip. This is exactly why you totally ROCK!!! I'm going to work on Lian's love song and change a few things...I will re-record it and post it for you to check out. That will be my homework. Thanks!!! Rob That's exactly what I mean. I'd really like to hear your variations and own versions so feel free to share it here too. -------------------- My lessons
Do you need a Guitar Plan? Join Gab's Army Check my band:Cirse Check my soundcloud:Soundcloud Please subscribe to my:Youtube Channel |
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