Looking for some honest opinion and some advice

Re: Looking for some honest opinion and some advice

I made a point of listening to all of the Sound-cloud clips, and then the video, before I looked to see what anyone else was saying, so I wouldn't be influenced by their opinion. I'm also a bit hesitant to comment, because I haven't posted a clip in a long time. Your first clip is "cortez jam". If you weren't a forum bro, I'd have stopped listening halfway through that clip. It almost sounds like the lead guitar isn't in tune. Some of your string bends needed to go a millimeter or two farther. Having said that, all the rest of the clips sounded fine. The video was good too.

Don't know what advice to offer. Just keep on playing.

Artie
 
Re: Looking for some honest opinion and some advice

Something obviously went wrong on Cortez, lol. Normally I'm pretty proud of how I play that song, but I guess I really need the drums and bass. If I recall correctly, I may have been experimenting with some exotic scale stuff that I have no clue how to properly use on that one. Or I could have just been playing poorly. Or both, they aren't mutually exclusive ;).
 
Re: Looking for some honest opinion and some advice

The way I would describe what's going on is someone who can handle him/herself driving a racecar at high speeds but "whiteknuckles" (grips the wheel too hard). In some places it feels a bit stilted. All you need to do is limber up, open that sound up a bit more (I heard the word fluidity mentioned, I concur with that). The way you would hone in and find the groove while playing rhythm guitar, do the exact same thing with leads which is something that George Lynch goes into in his lessons. Other than that, the only thing I can think of is you could infuse more attitude/emotion into it. Give it sh!t or misery or energy or whatever it is you want to imply musically.

You're definitely not incompetent so don't take that guy's opinion personally. Unless he can tell you exactly what those mistakes are in a way that you can clearly identify and improve on, he's not worth listening to. That's a big sign that he knows the real reason he didn't want to consider you was stupid so had to make up something vague. You can tell when that happens because the minute you ask exactly what you did wrong in specific details, it falls apart.
 
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Re: Looking for some honest opinion and some advice

Btw, is that you doing the vocals on the video?
 
Re: Looking for some honest opinion and some advice

Nope, that's our 2nd guitarist. It's his song.
 
Re: Looking for some honest opinion and some advice

I came here by happenstance, don't really visit this room often. From checking out Cortez Jam and the Archer song (2nd one), I would say kinda 'rudimentary', playing one note at a time, and scale-excercise sounding.

I suggest stop listening to blues, and start listening to fusion. Greg Howe and Scott Henderson are a must to check out. Get your ear accustomed to dissonant tones like b9, 7, 6. You know theory so you should know what I am talking about.

Good luck!
 
Re: Looking for some honest opinion and some advice

I could not disagree more ^^ for you

I think I laid out pretty well why in my last few posts.
 
Re: Looking for some honest opinion and some advice

Kamanda~SD said:
I could not disagree more ^^ for you

I think I laid out pretty well why in my last few posts.
Click to expand...

No worries mate, if you aren't comfortable getting out of the blues box and venture into unorthodox, 'outside' notes, don't despair. You are not alone. Millions of people prefer to be stuck in the comfort zone by playing blues their whole life. Peace out!
 
Re: Looking for some honest opinion and some advice

I know it sounds like it based on the samples, but blues is not even a top 5 genre for me at this point. About the only bluesy stuff I listen to is Gov't Mule and Tedeschi Truck Band. Everything else is country, bluegrass, folk, rock type stuff. I'm not a huge fusion guy, I've just never really been into it. I am, however, thinking about taking jazz or western swing lessons, something a little more out of my comfort zone than what I've been playing.
 
Re: Looking for some honest opinion and some advice

Think/ play not in terms of scale, but chords. So the notes you play must be based on the respective chords to emphasize the character of the chords. If you are fluent with this, you don't even need to play the root yet the listeners are able to recognize the chord you play.

Rock and blues players essentially think in terms of scale and tonal center. They are spend hours studying and memorizing modes and scales. But you know what? Screw all those Ionian, Locrian, Aeolian, what else...Babylonian, Draconian? Whatever. Thinking in terms of scales/ modes limits your creativity, like "Let's see, right now I am playing in D Dorian...hmm...does this note belong to D Dorian? Nope, take it out."

Chords are in general major or minor. Even diminished is closer to minor. So, you only need to think in terms of whether it's major or minor, and then throw in some 'outside' notes that don't belong in the chords, and voila! You sound completely different from average. It's that simple.

Fusion in essence is jazz with distortion pedal and keyboards thrown in.
 
Re: Looking for some honest opinion and some advice

Obsessive compulsive - No need to get all conceited mr fusion man. I am simply trying to help the OP given his situation (not just, DO WHAT I DO). Part of his problem (in my opinion) is he is already thinking too much about trying to integrate advanced theory stuff when he should be developing his ear and getting comfortable developing what he already knows.

Plus listen to the music he's playing, do you really think throwing in dissonant tones is key here? You need to think of the context of the song, not just what off notes you can throw in to sound 'different'
 
Re: Looking for some honest opinion and some advice

I was, by letting him know that I think your approach isn't the best way for him to get where he needs to go
 
Re: Looking for some honest opinion and some advice

Obsessive, Kamanda. Stop. Please. Doesn't help in any way and there are no wrong answers in music.
 
Re: Looking for some honest opinion and some advice

Beer$ said:
Obsessive, Kamanda. Stop. Please. Doesn't help in any way and there are no wrong answers in music.
Click to expand...

Ok Officer. :nervous:

OP - have you found anything that you think is going to work for you? / identified what you want to work on?
 
Re: Looking for some honest opinion and some advice

Absolutely. Number one is getting my bends in tune, that's just unacceptable. Number two is to get more clips that are a better representation of my diverse style, I'm much more versatile than these clips imply; and displaying that is going to be necessary if I want to be able to provide a good sample set to potential bands. Three is to keep attacking phrasing and fluidity using a variety of things mentioned here and some things I've already been doing.
 
Re: Looking for some honest opinion and some advice

I listened to parts of all the souncloud clips and watched the video.

Most everyone can improve their playing in the area of note selection, but I think the greatest need for improvement lies in your phrasing. You play predominantly quarter notes and eighth notes and, with the exception of a few bends, pick every single note. The effect is a very staccato presentation that sounds like you are punching notes rather than playing them. Try tying more notes together with hammer-ons, pull-offs, and slides and then further break up the somewhat mechanical feel by adding some triplets or evn blast out a few 16th notes. It's really not about speed. It is about adding interest with some fluidity and variety. I think someone mentioned before ... listen to some songs with melodic vocal lines and learn to play what the singer is singing. Listen to stuff you wouldn't necessarily want to play. I mean, listen to an Adele song, for example. Also, there's absolutely nothing wrong with "stealing" a lick or phrase from another guitar player and adapting it to your genre and specific style. Remember too that the time set aside for a lead does not have to be filled with notes. Someone mentioned letting it breathe. I agree 100%. Think of a well placed silence as a valuable component of any musical arrangement.

By the way, I like your rhythm playing a lot.
 
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Re: Looking for some honest opinion and some advice

Yeah I like your note choices and you can improv over chords very well which is a virtue. However I did feel there was a lot of going up and down scales which can sound very boring. Try learn some solos of various songs and you'll see how people avoid that.
 
Re: Looking for some honest opinion and some advice

Lazarus1140 said:
I listened to parts of all the souncloud clips and watched the video.

Most everyone can improve their playing in the area of note selection, but I think the greatest need for improvement lies in your phrasing. You play predominantly quarter notes and eighth notes and, with the exception of a few bends, pick every single note. The effect is a very staccato presentation that sounds like you are punching notes rather than playing them. Try tying more notes together with hammer-ons, pull-offs, and slides and then further break up the somewhat mechanical feel by adding some triplets or evn blast out a few 16th notes. It's really not about speed. It is about adding interest with some fluidity and variety. I think someone mentioned before ... listen to some songs with melodic vocal lines and learn to play what the singer is singing. Listen to stuff you wouldn't necessarily want to play. I mean, listen to an Adele song, for example. Also, there's absolutely nothing wrong with "stealing" a lick or phrase from another guitar player and adapting it to your genre and specific style. Remember too that the time set aside for a lead does not have to be filled with notes. Someone mentioned letting it breathe. I agree 100%. Think of a well placed silence as a valuable component of any musical arrangement.

By the way, I like your rhythm playing a lot.
Click to expand...


It's funny, a lot of what you are saying was stuff my ex used to tell me I needed to improve upon in my playing, especially the quarter and eighth notes thing. For all her other faults, she's a hell of a musician, I should have listened to her. I know exactly where that comes from in my playing. For about 5 years I played almost nothing but bluegrass, and most bluegrass is straight quarter and eighth notes. You get frowned at if you play triplets (or even a minor chord in some circles, forget a 7th).

That's clearly a habit I didn't rid myself of as thoroughly as I thought, I'll work on that some more.

I've worked on my rhythm playing quite a bit over the years. I've never thought of myself as a rhythm only guitarist, but I've also always felt that a strong basis in rhythm playing essential for good lead playing.


This thread has been incredibly enlightening to me over all. I now have a direction to focus on for the next few months. I had been planning on picking up the Dobro this fall, but maybe I'll wait until I can smooth out a few of my problem areas on guitar first.
 
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