GT Solo Assignment - July 2008

Originally Posted by: SilimtaoI'm trying to get something out, but time has been really tough this month. I see someone used a nylon string- at first, I was thinking of using a steel string acoustic/electric, but that may seem like I'm stealing someone else's idea....

Do whatever you feel! I only used a classical because I felt like doing something a bit different for me, and anyway, I think there should be more acoustic contributions! :)

Look forward to hearing whatever you decide on...

[QUOTE=Silimtao]Damn, equator really has great ears. I can't wait to listen to your track mpaq- along with the others of course. But I'm curious about yours right now because I want to see if I can pick up what equator is talking about in your bend. I'd probably miss it, lol. Damn, I really want to play now, but I'm wilted from the heat, even with the a/c on. So I'm just gonna lay here, and maybe listen to the BT to see where my mind takes me.[/QUOTE

You and I sound a lot alike in our approach...although I think you can play a lot faster than me. Hard to tell what your style is, i havent heard enough from you yet. Ive only been playing since last November, my wife and kids bought me an Epi Les Paul for my birthday...ive since picked up a Strat as well as ive recently been learning the blues and the Strat just gives me that tone....anyhow i think i have a good base to work from, everyone tells me the "feel" is the hardest part...to me its applying the theory. I'm a "show me" kinda guy. :)

Thanks Silimtao.
Anytime you come across a maj7 chord; you can treat it as a simple major triad, and you won’t have any problems at all.
Once your ear is trained you will hear the seventh note, (same thing with notes in the extended chords) and you will be able to play cool licks over those chords, targeting their chord tones.

You are correct about A being the 5th in the Dm7 chord, so if you keep resolving back to it, that’s just fine; but, you are not in a different mode. If the backing chord was an Am7 instead of Dm7; then you would be in the A Phrygian Mode.

I like to program weird and out of the box chords in FL Studio and experiment playing different modes and scales over them. I guess you can say that’s my practicing and training.
But when it comes to recording I just play what sounds good to me.

Anyway, good luck and happy jamming, dude. :cool:

Originally Posted by: mpaq[QUOTE=Silimtao]Damn, equator really has great ears. I can't wait to listen to your track mpaq- along with the others of course. But I'm curious about yours right now because I want to see if I can pick up what equator is talking about in your bend. I'd probably miss it, lol. Damn, I really want to play now, but I'm wilted from the heat, even with the a/c on. So I'm just gonna lay here, and maybe listen to the BT to see where my mind takes me.[/QUOTE

You and I sound a lot alike in our approach...although I think you can play a lot faster than me. Hard to tell what your style is, i havent heard enough from you yet. Ive only been playing since last November, my wife and kids bought me an Epi Les Paul for my birthday...ive since picked up a Strat as well as ive recently been learning the blues and the Strat just gives me that tone....anyhow i think i have a good base to work from, everyone tells me the "feel" is the hardest part...to me its applying the theory. I'm a "show me" kinda guy. :)

You've only playing since last November? Cool! That means you have the addiction!. From what I've hear of your playing, I think you've come a long way in less than a year! Really, I think you've shown a lot of dedication, and should be proud of yourself. I especially give you a lot of credit for having the stones to put your music out there. I've always had a fear of playing in public. What makes this BT assignment so cool is, I'm going public, but I'm still anonymous, lol.

I don't know what my style is anymore. I'm really a blues/classic rock kind of guy. I wouldn't know a Metallica tune from a Britney Spears one, so metal is foreign to me. I started when I was 12, I'm 50 now, so do the math. But I haven't really played in over 10 yrs, but started again in Feb. of this year. Our approach may similar, but different. I can get the "feel" pretty easily, but I'm lousy in theory. I know that Equator and Light are pretty well grounded in theory, so I've been examining ways to get out of the box of diatonic, and that's where I have problems. I really don't like to "think". If you did a basic blues BT, I can just close my eyes and rip away, I'm not saying I'd necessarily play something good, but I know I wouldn't be thinking, "dorian? phyrgian, mixolydian?" I wouldn't be thinking at all. This is basically my approach- I'll listen to the BT, get the feel, ideas will start to flow. With only 2 mins. to play, it hard to set a theme (for me), then I start noodling around. With this month's track, I was thinking, what do I do with the C# in the A7 chord?- I *think* I've solved that situation, but I dunno. When it's time to lay down the track, I may have a rough idea of what I'm going to do, but, I forget everything, and just play. And this is where I almost got into a flame war with an instructor here. He basically was saying you need a plan so you can think ahead. I contended, that thinking gets in the way; as long as you're grounded in your mechanics, just stop thinking and PLAY. I was just offering up a different approach. Bottom line is, what is "right" is what works for YOU. We all have our own approach. I'm a self taught player (I don't count the years at Berklee; but I do wish I paid attention in theory class). So, I'm not "stuck" with rules per se, because I don't know them very well. That's good and bad. It's good because I'm already outside the box, so I let my ears be my guide. It's bad, well, because I've come full circle and now understand it's good to know music theory. But I'm not gonna sit here and say, ok, this month's track is in D-, that's Aeolian, so that's the 6th degree of F, so, so, so....SO WHAT! I'm not going to sit here and over-analyze something to the point where I'm forgetting the music. But that's just me. And as far as I'm concerned, when you're expressing yourself through music, you are putting YOU out there, not just random tones. Whether it's good or bad is subjective. Catch ya on the boards, and hopefully I can contribute something, but time has been really tight for me. :)

Originally Posted by: equatorThanks Silimtao.
Anytime you come across a maj7 chord; you can treat it as a simple major triad, and you won’t have any problems at all.
Once your ear is trained you will hear the seventh note, (same thing with notes in the extended chords) and you will be able to play cool licks over those chords, targeting their chord tones.

You are correct about A being the 5th in the Dm7 chord, so if you keep resolving back to it, that’s just fine; but, you are not in a different mode. If the backing chord was an Am7 instead of Dm7; then you would be in the A Phrygian Mode.

I like to program weird and out of the box chords in FL Studio and experiment playing different modes and scales over them. I guess you can say that’s my practicing and training.
But when it comes to recording I just play what sounds good to me.

Anyway, good luck and happy jamming, dude. :cool:

Thanks as always for your input equator. I don't have a guitar in my hand right now, and I''m took weak in theory to just fully understand what you're saying without either a guitar, or literally mapping out the music. But let me try: it would be phrygian if it were an A-7 because..A is the 3rd degree of the parent scale, F? Is that right?

As far as Maj7th chords, there is a minor triad in there no? Or am I really tone-deaf? Anyway, the only free time I'll have is this Saturday, so I really hope to get something in. Catch you later! :)

Originally Posted by: WrigglerUkDo whatever you feel! I only used a classical because I felt like doing something a bit different for me, and anyway, I think there should be more acoustic contributions! :)

Look forward to hearing whatever you decide on...

I hear ya, Wriggler. Initially, I was thinking of a classical guitar also...but I don't have one, lol. I have an Ovation electric/acoustic, but the neck or something needs to be adjusted because the action is about an inch off the fretboard. So I'm back to the electric, probably on one of my Strats. Funny thing about the Toneport- you can have the same modeling effects, but when I plug in any one of my Strats, the sound is absolutely different. It's maddening. I will have to use Audacity again, as I've had no time to learn Ableton, the recording software that came with the Toneport. Ever since my post prior to today, I haven't listened to the BT at all. I wanted to get rid of this riff in my head I couldn't shake. I'll see what I can come up with...so many guitars, too little time to play.... :rolleyes:

Yeah, you are absolutely right. A Phrygian is relative to F major.
Thinking of the Phrygian Mode as the scale built on the 3rd degree of a major scale is one way of looking at things.
But, this practice often leads to people thinking that if they play the Fmaj chord, and they start on the 3rd degree of the scale, somehow they are playing in the A Phrygian Mode. That is not correct.
You need to play an Am or Am7 chord instead of the Fmaj chord.
I know what I’m talking about, trust me I’ve been there.

The best approach to understand Modes; in my opinion, is to look at them as separate scales, and learn their structure, intervallic construction and tonality.

For example: The structure of the Phrygian Mode is (1- b2-b3-4-5-b6-b7) and its tonality is minor because of the presence of the m3. The chord built on its first degree is a minor chord.
The Phrygian Mode is different from the Minor Scale in that the Phrygian Mode includes a very unusual m2 interval.
This is how I understand Modes and how I’ve been able to use them in real situations and not just in theory or on paper.

Regarding the Maj7 chords:
They are constructed with (1-3-5-7) and the intervals there are (P1-M3-P5-M7) if you take away the root note you end up with a root-less voicing which contains the same notes as a minor triad. (I did my time learning jazzology) :rolleyes:
Example.
Cmaj7= (C,E,G,B) take away the root and you have a root-less Cmaj7 (E,G,B).
The root-less voicing has the same notes as the Em chord.
If you play those notes and the rest of the band is playing a Cmaj7 chord; then you are playing a Cmaj7 chord as well even if you play (E,G,B).

However, if the band is playing an Em chord then you are playing Em too.
This is a compositional tool and should be analyzed in the context of the piece.

Sorry for the long post. Hope that answers your questions. :)

Originally Posted by: Silimtao[QUOTE=mpaq]
You've only playing since last November? Cool! That means you have the addiction!. From what I've hear of your playing, I think you've come a long way in less than a year! Really, I think you've shown a lot of dedication, and should be proud of yourself. I especially give you a lot of credit for having the stones to put your music out there. And as far as I'm concerned, when you're expressing yourself through music, you are putting YOU out there, not just random tones. Whether it's good or bad is subjective. Catch ya on the boards, and hopefully I can contribute something, but time has been really tight for me. :)

thanks Silim for your words of encouragement. At the end of the day, i try not to get too hung up on the theory part, i know that i could develop much faster if I focus on it, but i also know it is entirely possible to know very little theory and still play very well. Theres a guy on this board that is living proof of that, his handle is Superhuman...you should check out his stuff...a wickid player and totally by ear. If I could play like him i wouldnt give a rats ass that i couldnt understand a word of theory.

I even went out and bought "Music theory for Dummies" :) that helped, but I still dont think it is that easy to apply......i understand much of what i read, but applying it is another thing all together. I probably know a lot more than I give myself credit for, if i think back to a year ago i didnt even know there was more than one scale. :)

Bottom line, is you need to ensure you are enjoying it...so i keep jumping back and forth with the theory training. As soon as i get frustrated, i just forget about it for a few weeks, then come back to it. I know im probably risking developing bad habits but if it starts to become drudgery, then the whole point is lost. You are right, music should be fun and expressive...good or bad is subjective.

Cmon guys lets hear those July submissions!!!!

I'd really love to, but right now, I've been pretty jammed up with other stuff. Haven't touched my guitar in 2 weeks. I don't want to miss the boat for submissions, but I know there's no way I can have something by tonight.

Originally Posted by: SilimtaoI'd really love to, but right now, I've been pretty jammed up with other stuff. Haven't touched my guitar in 2 weeks. I don't want to miss the boat for submissions, but I know there's no way I can have something by tonight.

No biggie, im sure Light will leave the thread open till next week, im just surprised everyone seems to have dissappeared...everyones busy with summer vacations etc i suppose......

Originally Posted by: mpaqNo biggie, im sure Light will leave the thread open till next week, im just surprised everyone seems to have dissappeared...everyones busy with summer vacations etc i suppose......

Well it's been pretty damn cold down here in Tasmania - middle of winter in the southern hemishphere...

I have a week off work and have just survived a set of 13 y/o twin girl's sleepover birthday party with 8 of their friends - whoahh...

Will try and get something done and posted tomorrow in a rush just for fun.

I don’t know how long the thread will remain open. But it’ll be great to hear some more takes.
Come on guys, let’s hear some more cool solos. :)

I have a fair number of backing tracks that ive collected over the past six months from various sites. Varying degrees of quality as would be expected but some are pretty good. Is the intent of this site to use only new homemade backing tracks for the assignments? I could always post one up if we need one...i also have some CD quality tracks that I may be able to rip and post (with permission from the artist).

We have been using backing tracks made by GT members for the most part.
Only in two occasions we tried using outside BT’s and in both cases the tracks were of bad quality and one of them had bad language.

So, we thought it would be better if we use backing tracks made by GT members only.

If you think about it...
this is a good opportunity for us to learn or experiment
recording and programming our own backing tracks. :cool:

Everybody is welcome to submit a backing track for consideration.
Contact Light487, who is the person running the monthly assignments.

OK here's a quick go at July, done this afternoon. I apologize about the noise - amp mic'd up and was humming badly for some reason. And yes I admit it's a bit sloppy with a rapidly hewn main melody and mostly improv solos that are more shred than Santana but hey - a rush job apparently called for fast fingers. ;)

GT July 2008

Now I'll have a listen to the others...

Nice take Spedzar. Really enjoyed it. :cool:

Thanks Equator!

I liked your track a lot too. Very tasteful with a great feel and some cool highlight riffs. My pick so far, closely over mpaq but you have a real affinity and an obvious personal link with this song that shines through. Cheers mate. :)

Yeah, I agree mpaq did a great job too.
Everybody adds their personal style and that is lots of fun.