GT Solo Assignment - March 2008

Hey everyone..

Well I finally got the backing track finished to an "acceptable" level. It's far some studio quality but I am happy enough with it. I have run numerous tests of different style lead guitar solos over it and it lends itself well to a wide variety of styles.

It goes:
D - D/F# - G - A
D - D/F# - G - A
D - D/F# - G - A
D - D/F# - G - A
Bm - A - G - G

Not sure why I decided on this structure.. it's a little unusual but you get used to it. The beat is a 4/4 Shuffle at 120bpm. Just in case the above doesn't make it clear enough, the track is in the key of D Major.

You can download it directly from:
GT Solo Assignment - March 2008.mp3 - 7.63MB

I was going to put it on SoundClick but I wasn't sure if they down-sample the downloadable mp3's or not, so I put it on zshare.net instead. The bitrate is 320kbps, the sample rate is 48kHz, it's 3:19 long.. I did pan the audio to left and right but I don't see the point to be honest.. just thought I'd mention that I did do this in case anyone wants it..

Sounds good! I have already played to it a little bit and I have already found a few licks that sound pretty good. This is a good track for someone like me who is still not a full speed shredder (Although I am working on it every day!!!). Thanks for putting this together Light.

We need to talk to a Moderator and get a sticky put on this thread. Or Whatever it is that they do to make it stay at the top of the list. This Morning I had to go to the 2nd page to find it. For a minute I thought it had been taken off the site. I will try and send private messages to a few of the Moderators to see if they can Help.

It took me awhile to find this thread this morning. Its the very first one on the page and I have gotten so used to ignoring the first 3 threads on the first page because they have always been the same ones about the rules of the listening post. Hope nobody else misses it. :eek: Once again thanks for taking the time to make the backing track Light. I played over it some more and I am really excited about what the final outcome is going to be. :D

It really has a nice smooth feel to the track.. that D/F# chord makes all the difference in my mind. I wish I had had a bass guitar to make it sound better but I think you will agree that there is plenty of bass to it.

Hey there everyone...

I'm not seeing much activity in this thread so I thought I'd post an explanation of what this GT Solo Assignment thing is all about for those that don't already know, and for those who do already know: to remind them that it's back and running again.

Ok.. So this thing has been running for 2 years now, according to magicninja. How it works is like this:

1. A person makes a backing track of any style they want and then uploads it to a file sharing site so that anyone who wants to participate can download it.
2. Each person that wants to participate loads the MP3 into their favourite recording software and plays a guitar solo over the top of the backing track.
3. Then everyone uploads their "take" on to a file sharing site so that everyone else can listen to it and share their comments and feedback.
4. At the end of the month, everyone votes on which one they liked the best.

There's a couple of obvious rules to follow of course.. The backing track shouldn't be altered too much, if at all, to suit your needs. It should be left as close to the original backing track as possible.. it's meant to be a challenge to yourself more than a competition against other people. Also, as it is a monthly thing.. all submissions should be in by the end of the month. This adds a specific deadline to the whole process so that you have a fixed amount of time to come up with something.

Since joining GT, I have participated in 4 or 5 of these and the main thing I have gotten out of them, is it has actually improved my playing because it challenges you to come up with stuff that you wouldn't normally play because you can't change the backing track to suit you. If I had all the time in the world to finish it.. I would never finish any of the ones I did.

It doesn't matter what your level of skill is, it all about challenging yourself and comparing what you created with what other people created using the same backing track. It's a lot of fun and I would like to see more and more people participating. If we were to get enough people, we could even start to put "skill levels" into place.. would probably need 30+ people participating to get to that point though. Then we could have a "Beginner", "Intermediate" and "Advanced" voting scheme.. but we need the participation first.

This month's backing track was made by myself and is a great place to start because, as fingerspasm pointed out, you don't need to be a lightning-fast shredder to make a great solo track with it..

Just wanted to throw in my 2 cents also. I have participated in about 8 of these over the last 2 years and I had the wrong impression when I first started. Some of the backing tracks are long. I used to think that you had to shred or play as fast as you could over the whole track because to me thats what a solo was. But then I learned that you can let the song breath a little and add small lead fills here and there. When I submitted my first entry I thought I was going to throw up because I was so nervous because it was so basic and I was such a beginner. But I got nothing but support and good advice. This can be an incredible learning tool and you get get some good advice and learn lots by participating. Now I look forward to these every month. Even when work or something gets in the way and I am not able to submit and entry I still enjoy checking out other peoples entries. Like I said just my 2 cents. :)

I totally agree. Being a novice, im nowhere near being able to enter this, although I think even if i did I wouldnt be trashed. Just one of the many things i like about this board. Listening to the entries really helps me to understand the different possibilities/perspectives on a given track. Helps me to think outside the pentatonic box so to speak. Major kudos to Light for making the effort to keeping this going. I really like your idea about rating skill levels....i think maybe one reason for lack of participation is that the handful of regulars that do participate are really skilled, and so you figure what could i possibly add to that. Having levels would eliminate the possible intimidation factor and also provide a way to guage our own progress as we get critique and move up through the levels.
I would love to enter as a beginner knowing that I would be judged in that context and if at some point, you guys thought enough of my piece to bump me to intermediate, that would be really motivating.

Not sure if I'll be able to enter this month or not but I agree with the rating by skill levels too. I can imagine a novice player feeling out of their depth pretty quickly after hearing the likes of Maestro Shaz!

The whole point of the assignment to me is to get achance to come up with some lead and try some new ideas without feeling any pressure. It's nice to get the most votes but I find it more interesting to hear the different ideas people come up with over the same piece of music. Some of the best ideas, no matter how basic, have come from absolute learners. It's only lately that I've started looking at production and how to improve mixes, which is also something you get to experiment on the assignment.

This month is a good one, easy to play over and you can take it from a three note melody to monster sweep arpeggios if you want. Time is not n my side at the moment so I'm not sure if I can record anything but I'll be sure to post if I do.

Originally Posted by: mpaqI would love to enter as a beginner knowing that I would be judged in that context and if at some point, you guys thought enough of my piece to bump me to intermediate, that would be really motivating.

With the levels, I was thinking that the person submitting the piece of music would be the one to say what level they are at. The assignments are not so the GT community can "judge" others.. but more give them feedback.. So a new participant who has never submitted a GT assignment before could just as easily submit at Beginner, Intermediate or Advanced. Still could only submit one piece and at one level but it would be the submitter choosing the level, not the community.

Of course, first we need some kind of participation level to warrant having levels... :)

Mpaq - go for it! You'll get nothing but constructive comments. And it's fun. Well, sometimes...

I'm submitting this just so Light doesn't feel his effort's being ignored :rolleyes: thanks to him for taking the time.
I'm not really happy with it as a guitar excercise, I'm stuck with Superhumans' "3 note melody" syndrome, just can't get rid of the 'its a song' vibe. The damn tune's been rolling round my brain for a week now...so its 3 minutes of the same theme :( Added a bass too, I got one for Christmas, so had to use it really!

WrigglerUk

Light I'll be doing something over the track when I get some fun time. I'm sure others will to by months end.

Don't be shy people nobody is going to rag on you. Good folks here that respect your efforts.

By the way Light thanks for putting a track together.

OK! I think i'll wade into the deep end and give this thing a shot. Pray for me. :eek:

Originally Posted by: mpaqOK! I think i'll wade into the deep end and give this thing a shot. Pray for me. :eek:

Go for it!! I am hoping to find time here soon to start putting mine together. I have lots of ideas but sometimes they do not always pan out. But I am anxious to give them a try. You will only benefit from this kind of thing if you put a little time into it. It will give your playing a sense of purpose and a direction. That has been my experience with it anyway. Good Luck!

OK here is my first idea just played what sounded like it fit. Included in this tune are my playing mistakes... :o Not checking anyones tracks till I see if something less repetitive comes to me. I really should try and push myself to breakout of my same old box :mad: . We'll see what happens as the month moves on.

Bar Chord Nick

Ok I have my first rough take done.. I know it's my backing track, so you'd think I would have a perfect solo for it, right? Well no.. like anything to do with music, it's an art-form and way of expression so it's constantly evolving. There's a couple of wrong notes at around the 1:56 mark, so just ignore those for the time being and there are a few hesitations as you will hear. Also the mix isn't quite right yet.. though it's fairly close to what I was wanting the mix to sound like. I can understand you not wanting to listen to it, in case it gets stuck in your head while you are trying to make your own original solo track.. but I thought I'd submit it as an update of what I have so far...

Like every other month I have submitted stuff, I will submit my final mix by the end of the month, ready for voting and all that. I reduced the bitrate on this one, since it doesn't need to be high quality for a rough edit.

gt solo march 2008 - rough edit.mp3 - 3.05MB

BCNick - Sounded great mate, not sure why you are beating yourself up over this one.. There's heaps of variety in that.. I enjoyed it a lot.

WrigglerUK - Yeh, I see what you mean about being in a rut there. It still sounded good though, don't get me wrong.. but I understand what you mean. Hopefully you will find some time during the month to work on it some more.

I'll comment in more detail at the end of the month in the "Voting" thread once everyone's "final" submissions are in :)

OK here's my first take. I havent listened to anyone elses yet, that was deliberate so i wouldnt get a tune stuck in my head. It does sound a little repetitive also, but i tried to follow the advice of developing a central theme or hook and then building around it.

http://www.soundclick.com/bands/default.cfm?bandID=789879

Here is my entry. Not as good overall as I had hoped. May do another take before the end of the Month. Here is my critique of this track. My bends were crap in the first 2/3 of the song. Something about when I hit that red record button... I get a little tense and I can hear the difference. Ahh well more practice I guess. I like about half of what I recorded the other half is sub par. Please feel free to pick this thing apart. Not only the playing but the mix also. I could use some pointers. Now for the good part. I can listen to the other entries. :)
GTSoloMarch

Originally Posted by: light487
WrigglerUK - Yeh, I see what you mean about being in a rut there. It still sounded good though, don't get me wrong.. but I understand what you mean. Hopefully you will find some time during the month to work on it some more.

Well, I redid it, this time in one take with no attempt to add extra parts etc. Its more free-flowing, rougher and noisier, I did nothing with the EQ or noise gating. Interesting little stomp box effect over the last chorus though.
Still not great but I've had enough of it now! :p
Wriggleruk

BCN - I agree with Light, that was really good, love that tone. I happen to like the box you're in!
Light - Excellent. liked the recurring themes that weren't overused and use of the lower registers too. And super tone.
Mpaq - That was pretty good for a first take.
Good tone and I liked the way you panned the hook - simple but very effective. And some good variations in there too. I didn't care for the extravagant bends in the lead-in but thats a matter of taste only! Also you overwhelmed the BT in places. Playing-wise nowt wrong wi' it!

Originally Posted by: WrigglerUkWell, I redid it, this time in one take with no attempt to add extra parts etc. Its more free-flowing, rougher and noisier, I did nothing with the EQ or noise gating. Interesting little stomp box effect over the last chorus though.
Still not great but I've had enough of it now! :p
Wriggleruk

BCN - I agree with Light, that was really good, love that tone. I happen to like the box you're in!
Light - Excellent. liked the recurring themes that weren't overused and use of the lower registers too. And super tone.
Mpaq - That was pretty good for a first take.
Good tone and I liked the way you panned the hook - simple but very effective. And some good variations in there too. I didn't care for the extravagant bends in the lead-in but thats a matter of taste only! Also you overwhelmed the BT in places. Playing-wise nowt wrong wi' it!

It might just be on my end. But I cannot get your track to play Wriggler. Can you or someone else let me know if it works. I was going to post my comments on the tracks so far but would like to hear yours also. Thanks :)