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Post by wannaplayblues on May 31, 2015 1:24:34 GMT -6
A fantastic week! I got 2hours playing each night over 5 nights - tatalling 10hours. I "Graduated" (with honors someone said  ) as I posted a recording of "All Forms Blues" that was my best work yet. I also made a start on the first piece in Rhythm And Blues You Can Use called "Easy Rhythm" - and have managed to record the rhythm section. The lead section is 95% ready and hope to record that this week and post a completed recording of both tracks as a complete piece. Essentially - it's all good  |
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Post by joachim on May 31, 2015 1:33:54 GMT -6
I am still working on the last two lessons in BYCU, I am almost ready to record them, but I won't be ready for MBYCU on June 1st (tomorrow, actually); sorry Tbone, I'll follow you guys in about a week or so.
I've also noodled around a little with a couple of metal and rock-guitar books. They're all great, but I need to lay out a plan for how to work structured on those books while keeping momentum with the BYCU series.
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Post by Phil on May 31, 2015 3:32:53 GMT -6
It looks like WPB is going to catch up with Jack in time spent practicing. I got in 5 days of practice for a total of 5.5 hrs. I didn't get in much time on the Jazz front. Mostly I worked on MBYCU Lesson 8 - "Tremblin' Tremelo." I also structured my practice time differently. Here's the layout if anyone is interested. 1). I do a 15 minute warm-up made up of 5 exercises played for 3 minutes each. I hate exercises, but I can do just about anything for 3 minutes. The exercises change weekly and even daily. I've been doing this since last August. 2). This is the new part. At the beginning of the week I pick 3 to 5 specific things to work on daily. The intention is to spend 5 - 10 minutes on these every practice session. For example, this past week I worked on the following 4 areas - "True Trem Blues" bars 13-16; "Cheap Runs" bars 3 & 12; "Big Bends Bends" bars 13 & 14; Alt. progressions 3 & 4 from BYCU. I spent anywhere from 5 to 20 minutes on each of these things every practice session. 3). Work on a study from MBYCU or Jazzin' the Blues. 15 - 30 minutes. 4). If any time is left I'll review, noodle around, or work on transcribing something by ear. By setting up my practice like this I get the most important stuff done 1st, even if it's a short session. And I actually work on problem areas that I always meant to work on, but never did. I'm continually tweaking my practice routine. Next I need to schedule in transcribing by ear and improvising on a regular basis. If I don't put something in the schedule I never seem to get around to doing it. Maybe I'll set aside 1 day per week for these and take a 1 day break from the other stuff. |
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Post by Phil on May 31, 2015 3:59:23 GMT -6
... I started with MBYCU yesterday. I nailed the rhythm part in no time an played it up to tempo almost immediately - I guess it pays that I worked through/work on BRYCU and BCYU already. The lead part is not that difficult, but considerably more difficult than any challenge John came up with in BYCU. But BYCU laid out the foundation quite well ..... T-Bone, JohnG. lures you in with the not-too-difficult "Chord-on Bleu" and then slaps you with "Drivin' Blues."  From that point onwards it is all up-hill, a very steep hill. It's going to be good to have someone else working on MBYCU to share my frustrations with. |
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Post by cunningr on May 31, 2015 5:26:35 GMT -6
Well I got in 7.5 hours this week.
I am still working on getting rockin and Rollin up to full speed, it's close but not clean yet.
I started working on blues rythmn said you can use plain old major blues, almost have it ready to record.
Did some work using a metronome.
I need to work out a better practice routin again.
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Post by jack1982 on May 31, 2015 5:57:32 GMT -6
I got in 13 hours on guitar and 3 on bass this week. Got Eight Bar Boogie recorded and everybody seemed to like it, so that was pretty awesome  I thought it sounded good on the stereo in my music room and also on my headphones, but last night I played it on my big home stereo downstairs and it sounded horrible lol (like it was being played on an AM radio from the other end of a culvert). I'll have to start recording stuff dry and then trying out different amp sim's and checking what they sound like on that stereo in the future, I think that would improve the quality of my mixes. Got started on Makin' Changes in More BYCU. Lots of chords in the rhythm part, but it's a fairly slow tempo song so that makes it a bit easier. The lead is coming along well, but it's a very beautiful and delicate song so if any bend is even 1% short of perfect it will stick out like a sore thumb; I have a feeling this may take a while I fiddled around with figuring out the bass line a bit; maybe my ears are just going wacky but it sounds like he's got a 5 string bass and is going down lower than my 4 string will allow, so I'll have to try and come up with something of my own for it. Practiced my improvising a bit and worked on a couple songs in Bass Aerobics. Browsed through pretty much every guitar in the Musician's Friend inventory as well It'll be a while before I can buy one but shopping is half the fun. Here's the three main contenders at the moment:  Epiphone Sheraton II for that awesome semi-hollowbody sound you guys are all getting, or due to my love of single coil sounds, maybe a Tele, or else that gorgeous PRS with the P-90's. |
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Post by bluesbruce on May 31, 2015 6:46:08 GMT -6
Noodled around some with Chord-on-Blue from MBYCU - sounds like I've got to get more serious if I want to keep up with Tbone on this project. My worst week of practice in a while. My parents had their 60th wedding anniversary this week, so I've had lots of family obligations, in addition to working too much... I looked at the first few studies in MBYCU, and I think what Phil said looks to be true - it ramps up pretty severely after that first song.
Bruce
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Post by joachim on May 31, 2015 10:18:00 GMT -6
Here's the three main contenders at the moment: Epiphone Sheraton II for that awesome semi-hollowbody sound you guys are all getting, or due to my love of single coil sounds, maybe a Tele, or else that gorgeous PRS with the P-90's. Those are some mighty fine axes, Jack. I'd go with the Sheraton II, I really like that guitar... |
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Post by jack1982 on May 31, 2015 11:31:02 GMT -6
Joachim, yeah I'll almost surely get the Sheraton II. I just like to look at all the other pretty ones too |
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Post by blackcountrymick on May 31, 2015 16:51:02 GMT -6
Hi all, I've somehow managed to get a good 2 hours practice every day this week and feeling pretty pleased the way my guitar playing is progressing at the moment. I'm still working on the graded pieces which are giving me plenty of rhythm playing practice. In addition I've got a Troy Stetina Rock lesson nearly ready to record and sign off and I've started the first Jazzin' the blues piece. Well, back to do a bit more before I hit the sack |
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Post by chrisnc on May 31, 2015 19:20:37 GMT -6
Ok, so my first entry into the weekly update. I managed about an hour every evening this week, with the exception of Thursday. That was spent at the 2015 Rush R40 show in Greensboro, NC. Awesome show, and I'm glad I got to see them one final time. After my introduction to the forum, I figured I should probably figure out the Soundcloud thing. After much investigation, I realized that everyone here has been using the BYCU backing track versions, instead of the ones on the lesson CD with the first version book. No wonder they sounded different. I quickly bought the backing tracks, and with the assistance of my Digitech RP360XP, into my Mac via Garageband, I was able to get the following recorded and posted to Soundcloud. Ignore the couple of choked notes, and then the one where I hit the wrong note and took a second to decide to keep on playing. Overall, I was really just trying to figure out the mechanics of the recording and such, but I'm hoping it's good for entry into the club. I've got some work cut out for me. soundcloud.com/chris-nc/true-blue-full-05-31-2015-2023/s-xJujaChris |
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Post by bluesbruce on May 31, 2015 20:12:57 GMT -6
Overall, I was really just trying to figure out the mechanics of the recording and such, but I'm hoping it's good for entry into the club. I've got some work cut out for me. Chris Chris, Way to hit the ground running! You've covered a good amount of ground just to get yourself recording over a backing track onto your computer - it took some of us years to get this far. I thought that sounded pretty darned good for a first recording. Entry into the club? Now that's an interesting concept - all you gotta do is want to learn to play some blues, and you'll be a welcomed member! Bruce |
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Post by joachim on May 31, 2015 23:58:43 GMT -6
Chris,
great job for a first recording. That sounded too easy for you; none of the studies have been easy for me, you seem to have a really solid foundation - I look forward to your next recordings!
Bruce, I like your new profile picture!
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Post by jack1982 on Jun 1, 2015 4:43:24 GMT -6
Nice job on that Chris! Nice playing and great sounding recording. About the only nitpick I can come up with is that a couple of the bends are just a tiny bit flat (I think), but absolutely everybody does that when they're getting started with Blues You Can Use.
Is that you white Strat in the SoundCloud picture? It's gorgeous, I've always wanted a white one.
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Post by bluesbruce on Jun 1, 2015 6:13:25 GMT -6
Bruce, I like your new profile picture! That's my new Ibanez, if you couldn't tell. I'm one of those "technically challenged" souls, and it took me a good while to figure out how to get a picture of it on here!  |
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Post by Phil on Jun 1, 2015 14:47:02 GMT -6
Way to go, Chris! It takes a bit of courage to make that 1st recording and put it out there for others to critique. From here on it will be easy. Your timing seems to be right on the money. Like Jack, said, some of the bends are a bit flat. Bending to pitch is one of the techniques that continue to give us all problems, so don't feel that we're picking on you.  You might want to practice bending to pitch using a tuner. I found that very helpful. Eventually you'll develop the ability to feel just how far you have to bend the string to get to the target note. I'm just hoping I'll develop that ability one of these days.  |
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Post by chrisnc on Jun 1, 2015 15:40:02 GMT -6
Thanks everyone, I do really appreciate the feedback. You are right, getting that first recording out there was a little nerve wracking, but I'm good to go now. I agree, bends are a current focus. My biggest problem is muting both while bending and then again on the release. I think I have a natural tendency to not bend as high as I should in order to keep it clean. Definitely a key element of my practice routine. Jack - that white strat on my avatar and my Soundcloud profile is exactly like my strat, but not mine. The picture was better than anything I could take. I love the Arctic White with maple. Oh, and love the movie text under your avatar. Cracks me up every time I see it... |
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Post by cunningr on Jun 1, 2015 16:10:48 GMT -6
Chris excellent first recording, timing was great which has been an area I really have been working hard on. As already mentioned some time on practicing your bends will pay off. As stated before here in an interview with Eric Clapton he said he still practiced his bends. I use a tuner to help see how close I am, but a flat bend sticks out.
I use GarageBand also, if you have any questions I might can help.
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Post by mikeherb on Jun 2, 2015 0:52:22 GMT -6
Epiphone Sheraton II for that awesome semi-hollowbody sound you guys are all getting, or due to my love of single coil sounds, maybe a Tele, or else that gorgeous PRS with the P-90's. Jack: They're all beauties. I say get the Telecaster. I just looked through the PRS catalogue - So some are made in Maryland and they also have an Asia line. They're all nice and of course you get a lot of bang for your buck with overseas guitars. Fender makes awesome guitars in Mexico. Tell em you're gonna drop the 800 bucks or whatever it is on a guitar today so they don't think you're there to practice, and go through a bunch at the store. I think you can make anything blues from single coils/buckers solid or hollow. Don't matter. Go find "The One." That Telecaster looks really hot in red, man. I think the Mexican models have this beautiful wine color out this year that's also really nice. Also... You can get a Gibson SG special in that range (If you don't mind that body style)... Or the PRS Zach Myers is a beauty, also in the same ballpark. You can't go wrong with any of your prospects. Jealous!!!! |
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Post by jack1982 on Jun 2, 2015 6:21:47 GMT -6
Yeah I was thinking of getting the Sheraton II for my birthday and possibly the Tele for Christmas, but I'd also like to do some computer upgrades; a red Tele sure would look a lot nicer under the tree than a new graphics card though |
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) as I posted a recording of "All Forms Blues" that was my best work yet.
From that point onwards it is all up-hill, a very steep hill. It's going to be good to have someone else working on MBYCU to share my frustrations with. 
I thought it sounded good on the stereo in my music room and also on my headphones, but last night I played it on my big home stereo downstairs and it sounded horrible lol (like it was being played on an AM radio from the other end of a culvert). I'll have to start recording stuff dry and then trying out different amp sim's and checking what they sound like on that stereo in the future, I think that would improve the quality of my mixes. 
