NeilES335

A Forum for General Comments and Questions on the Learn and Master Guitar Course by Steve Krenz. If you have a question or comment specific to a certain Learn and Master Guitar Course Session, please post it there under that Session number.

Tips on Soloing; Reproduced here is an article from the old Learn and Master Guitar website, courtesy of Posted 07 March 2008 - 05:31 AM The following article was written for 7th to 12th grade music students and contains some good suggestions: Taking the spotlight with an improvised solo isn’t as difficult as it might seem. In fact, with a little bit of knowledge and a bit of “go for it” gusto, soloing can be exhilarating for you and your listeners. By Dianne Spoto There’s nothing more exciting for a performer than having that moment in the spotlight to shine. One way performers show their stuff is through improvising and taking solos. Solos allow a musician to have the spotlight all to him or herself, and to compose on the spot and express their own unique musical voice. Improvisation gives players an opportunity to show off instrumental prowess, musical intelligence and spontaneity. However, for some, soloing on stage makes the thought of a root canal seem like fun. Either way, giving improvisation a go can enhance your confidence and build self-esteem, which translates directly to lots of other areas in your life. How can you go wrong with that? Read on for some hands-on tips and tricks to help you dig into the art of the solo and “let ’er rip!” Practice Techniques: Tried and true prep exercises for before you hit the stage. 1. Listen Listen to great solos on record. Crank up the volume on some rip-roaring, live solos from your favorite band. Now listen carefully and ask yourself these questions: What catches your ear with this solo? Is it the speed of the notes? The tone? Perhaps there is an incredible amount of expression or rhythmic complexity that makes the solo engaging. Discover for yourself what makes a solo exciting to you. 2. Transcribe Take that solo that you dig so much and try to memorize it note for note. You can do this by learning to play or sing along to it by ear. But one way to learn the music on an even deeper level is to transcribe the solo by writing down every note and chord change on notation paper. This way, you will learn melody and chord structure and be able to play your own solos over those very changes in time. 3. Record While you’re in your room practicing alone, turn on the recorder and let it run while you jam. You may be surprised to hear differences between the actual recording and the way you think you sound as you play. Listen to your solo and ask yourself the questions from step No. 1. You might just be pleasantly surprised with your answers! 4. Write Here’s a fun way to tackle the art of improv: write down five random notes, any notes, and play them on your instrument. Try playing the five notes in as many different ways as possible. For example, play the notes slowly with a beautiful tone. Play them short, staccato and forte. Play them with various rhythms. Play the five notes in a different order each time. Create a melody and rhythm out of the notes. Think of a specific emotion while you play the notes and try to express that emotion as clearly as you can. 5. Jam Create an avant garde improvisation group! Gather some friends (they don’t have to be trained musicians) and get together with instruments, or hand percussion instruments, and just jam. Make stuff up as you go along, but do it while listening to each other and try to react to each other’s playing. Take turns accompanying as you all take a turn at soloing. Don’t be afraid to let it sound really abstract or even borderline strange! In fact, try to make it sound as wacky as possible. This will open up your mind to allow fun and free thinking without censorship or self-judgment. 6. Riff A riff is a catchy, repeated chord or series of chords. Most of our favorite songs are built around riffs. Listen to the repeated guitar or keyboard motifs underneath the verses of your favorite recordings. Try to emulate some of your favorite riffs, and make up your own simple riff on piano, guitar or another stringed instrument. Play it over and over and then allow a note or two to come out of your mouth as you accompany yourself with the riff. Enjoy the notes you are singing. As you vamp on the riff, some variations will most likely emerge as your melody organically forms. Performance Techniques: Now that you have practiced and brushed up on your improvising skills, turn your focus to the stage! 1. Melody Building Take a section of the melody of the song in which you’re soloing and add notes to it. Use the melody snippet as a base for your improvised solo. 2. Pitch Switch If you are looking to add momentum or intensity to a solo, try going higher and higher in pitch. 3. Volume A lot of times when people solo, they automatically increase the volume with every note they play. There is nothing wrong with this, but for variety and surprising intensity, try playing a solo quietly. 4. Safe Landings Audiences tend to focus on certain notes in a solo, so try breaking up fast, technical passages with long, sustained notes. It will add flavor to your solo and give the audience something to focus on aurally. Liken this to climbing a hill and stopping on a peak to enjoy the view. 5. Know Your Chords Playing by ear is a gift, but playing by ear to chords that you are knowledgeable of is a skill. Learn the chord structure of everything you solo over and be aware of the notes that make up each chord. That way you can intentionally pull notes out of the chords to put in your solo and avoid “clinkers.” Coda At the end of the day, improvising and soloing aren’t about being “right” or “wrong,” or “good” or “bad,” at music. It’s about expressing who you are as a person and musician, and sharing it with others. Though soloing can seem daunting to some, the idea of having a chance to express your particular uniqueness to the world is exciting! Like snowflakes, no two of us are exactly alike; we each have qualities that are completely special and unique. Next time you improvise, think of your musical voice as a snowflake, entirely original and special, like nobody else. Go for it! In Tune Monthly is the only magazine written exclusively for music making students in grades 7 - 12 and their teachers. Used by teachers as an in-classroom text, the magazine focuses on enriching and broadening the traditional music curriculum in middle and high schools and appeals to the independent player as well. @Wim VD And another great SOLOING TIP FROM STEVE KRENZ; Here's a quick soloing tip for you that came up with one of the guys who was frustrated with coming up with musical solos. He had the tools of pentatonic scales, blues scales and the theory down but had trouble putting it all together into a musical solo. Have been focusing on the lead patterns pentatonic but looking for more melody notes in my solos. Am trying to combine some blues scale notes in my solos as well. Give me the 30 second guitar lesson on how to get your solos to the next level? Pentatonic plus..........30 second soloing lesson...Well, the pentatonic scales are good building blocks and the blues scales are good building blocks, and knowing the theory behind the chords helps a great deal.Here's a quick tip. If you're trying to figure out an improvised solo to a particular song, put your guitar down, grab a recorder of some sort, put the song on and sing little ideas for the solo. Then go back and listen to it and try to figure out on your guitar what you were singing.I know this sounds like a bit of work. But, if your stuck in the swamp of familiar finger patterns when it comes time to solo, then this little exercise circumvents your brain from automatically going into familiar scales or patterns. It forces you to come up with a melodic idea that is then developed.Your creativity and ear then gets into the driver seat forcing your fingers to try to play what your brain is telling them to play. This is completely different from when the solo comes and your fingers start running down the treadmill of familiar patterns to your creative frustration in creating a musically meaningful solo.Just a quick thought. Keep up the great work!Steve Krenz

In the original, non-Gibson, Learn & Master Guitar Course in Session 18 for the Bonus Workshops, Steve improvised a short fingerstyle Jazz song in the key of Bb. This improvised song was explained in the July 5th Live Lesson. (you;ll have to check the archives) Here are the chord forms used in that short song. These are main Jazz chord forms that can be used and applied to any Jazz chord progression.

By shedding the consumer electronics businesses and simplifying their instrument line up for 2019, they should be back on the road to profitability again, provided they focus on quality and what the consumer wants from them ; great instruments! ps maybe I should have said "great instruments that at least some can afford".

Gibson Brands announced today the appointment of a new CEO and leadership team. Taking the place of long-standing chief officer Henry Juszkiewicz, James "JC" Curleigh will serve as both CEO and president and comes to the company from the Levi Strauss & Co corporation. Could this mean a Blue jeans finish Les Paul? (tongue firmly planted in cheek :-)

One day it will suddenly fall in place for you Doug.. Suggestion? Practice the major scale in that key first before playing the song. Your fingers and ears will tell you where to go next.

@flobbadob Thanks for your update Bob! We need fellows like you to give us u pdates. It stimulates responses and more activity on the "the board" which we can certainly use in the LMG section . I'm about to enter S17 myself so I'd love to hear how you're doing. I actually learned the 1st Form of 3 note/string some time ago, but haven't memorized the other forms as yet. S 17 is a HUGE session! I expect it will take a while. Even our sterling and talented teacher said it took him 3 months of DAILY practice on these forms before he was confident at them. I know the notes on the fretboard reasonably well... by memorization and referrence to strings the 6th and 5th strings (up 2 over 2 ; voila) but the "desert" zone on the 4th, 3rd, and 2nd string above the 5th fret is still a bit vague, as it is with most guitarists. Like you I will conquer this challenge, in due course. Hammer - on , Pull- offs; the former, no problem, the later, not so well. and as we have seen demonstrated with the 3 note scales the speed can me impressive.... you're right this takes lot's of practice. I need to use the "nome too. I have a related resource that could help you (I got it from Steve K long before I could use it) It used to be in Steve's store. It's called "Guitar Seeds" by Jack Grassel. www.jackgrassel.com Steve crdited this book for his through understanding of scales and freat https://www.jackgrasseljilljensen.com/store/p38/GUITAR_SEEDS.html This book offers numerous exercises, among them 3 note /string scales... DEFINITELY not for the faint of heart. It's tough, but thats were I started. ALL NOTATION, NO TAB. If your reading needs work (mine sure does) and you want to know scales, modes, improv, " ii - V's " , "" ii - V - I's " , etc. this is it. All the Best; Neil Guitar Seeds has been turning out great guitarists since 1973. Now, improved and in it’s fourth printing. Contains Jack’s 20 position scale system combining horizontal and vertical movements to liberate the player from the limitations of position playing. Turn your neck into one big position. For improvement of reading ability, technical facility, improvisation, and expression. Contains rhythm and melody chord systems, pentatonic scales, polytonal arpeggios, chord substitution theory, technique for playing bass lines and chords simultaneously. Has been used as text book in guitar schools for decades.

@Triple-o Ah ha... a lightbulb moment... Many many dedicated "blues guys" not only use but rely on " jazz" chords, phrases and progressions to spice up the ol' 1- 4- 5. Use of 9ths , 11thths and 13ths , Dim 7ths 6/ 9 's etc . are common and differentiate the player from the norm... (Robben Ford is a prime example...) Do yourself a favour and pick up a copy of Steve K' s Fretboard workout Jazz chords, and watch how adding these beautiful sounds brings a fresh appoach to any style you choose.

I confess I am not an expert on this... I wonder if the lifted fretboard is a result of the bowed neck which obviously needs a truss rod adjustment. If the price is right and you want it, I'd suggest you check first to see if the truss rod is working.

@Triple-o I was wondering... what strumming pattern do you use for " Autumn Leaves" ? ie ; All fours ? (4 downstrokes on the beat) A syncopated rythym?

And I thought I was the only skeptic?

A very helpful lesson on what to do (or not) at your first jam. Interestingly on my 1st time a few months ago this is basically what I did and it went very well. (they asked me to come back some time so i guess I was Ok). The listening part was the key, and only playing when you have something to contribute. If you're not sure, remaining silent listening is the "cool" thing to do.

Im not really a Fender guy and dont own a Squier either (dont think Ive ever picked one up) but I hear that if that's your cup of tea, then some of the Squier's can be very good value for money. I believe Jack Pearson plays an off the rack Squier Strat (?), just because he likes it; no modifications either; and you can't really argue with his playing much.

While playing this song tonight I realised the E2 chord is a perfect substitution for the 1 chord Emaj . Im surpised the Allmans didn't use it.

Nice one @DianeB ... very sweet as you've said,I actually play this chord often... like on an acoustic when you want that open string ringing sound. Sometimes I use it as a substitution for other Emaj7 shapes (like the 5th string or 4th string root ) The F#m11, with 6th string root is a favorite also be never really thought about it in this open form. Both were suitable candidates for the Money Chords in E. Here's Marty with a song tutorial on Sweet Melisa to put the song into context;

@zeus7625 Well done "Pops" ! You're making good progress and getting into a level where you will indeed sound much better. You should be able to play a few simple songs by now... I encourage you to pick up a beginner song book of whatever genre'' you like and have a go at those... Studying the mechanics of playing is great and very necessary. Do yourself a favour and be sure you have a solid grasp of the basic theory too as you move along. Enjoy S7!

Found a great song to play that fits right in with " Advanced Strumming" while browsing YT . "Don"t Dream It's Over" by Crowded House. I really liked this song but wasnt really into music as much on the "80s" . Now its fun to find out I can actually learn and play it ??. Not really hard... any intermediate player should be able to handle it. Check it out. ps Kinda stalled on S16 for the moment... A detour into "The Money Chords" ( and then theres always the arpeggios to finish.. got 4/7)

A very logical and simple method. You could call it "The Reference Method" ie; all the other notes in relation to C. Another way is to memorize the notes on the low E and A. The corresponding note on the 4th D and 3rd G is 2 frets up and 2 strings over. Except the 3rd B which is 2 strings over and 3 frets up. The high E you know as the same as the low E. Voila.

You're welcome Mandy @Nutty 1 Based on this test that mains outlet you used previousy has reverse polarity and while not dangerous, should be changed by a qualified electrician.

Mandy; this might sound like a long shot... Do you get the same issue regardless of which electric outlet your amp and /or computer are plugged into? ( i think youd call it the "mains ") Or if its just one outlet, its possible that outlet is not properly grounded, or has " reverse polarity" ( meaning the black and white wires are on the wrong terminals on the plug. outlet) A simple cheap tester from a hardware store will tell you.

So in other words, good luck trying to exactly reproduce the recording?. Thanks for the link; an interesting history of the group.

I always thought... it must get a bit crowded in there!?

Ive been working on this song too. I havent used any effects on it yet. The recording sounds like a tremelo (likely a pedal) to me. The speed of the sound "wobble" would be really tricky on a Wah Wah pedal i think.

Very professionally done Ian?

@Magnit You might want to take a look at a series of highly regarded instructional books by Jamie Aebersold, recommened by Steve K. I have the Jazz Guitar 1 adaped for guitar by Corey Christensen. ( book plus 2 playalong CD's under $25) "The most widely used improvisation method on the market" . Although it is focused on Jazz improvisation, regardless of your style preferences Im sure you' d get a lot out of it. Congrats btw... you'e obviously worked very hard to learn much more than the average or even advanced player.