Members GreatDane Posted February 12, 2013 Members Share Posted February 12, 2013 i was just sitting here trying to break through a bit of a rut in terms of my lead phrasing. in the last couple of weeks, i've taken a step back and am now in an effort to slow things down, focusing on letting more notes decay (versus cut them off at the end of a pattern or phrase) and introducing some new space into my lead lines. what are you working on these days? you are still playing guitar, right? oh, and this thread isn't a weak ploy to whore out another one of my pics, but here's the guitar I'm playing right now. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Elias Graves Posted February 12, 2013 Members Share Posted February 12, 2013 I still can't post pics. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members GreatDane Posted February 12, 2013 Author Members Share Posted February 12, 2013 Elias Graves wrote: I still can't post pics. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Elias Graves Posted February 12, 2013 Members Share Posted February 12, 2013 Indeed. My favorite of all my tunes still hounds me. I can't figure out the music to save my hide. Every time I think I'm on to it, I realize I subconsciously lifted it from elsewhere or something goes haywire. The timing on the lyrics is goofy as hell and I have yet to figure out how to work the music around it. Usually when stuff like that happens, I'll go back to the drawing board and tweak my timing til I can make it work out. Thing is, I KNOW the timing works. I can can count it out to the T but fitting music to it is challenging. I keep on, though, cuz I know it'll be killer when it does come together. "Mule Named Jack" is a light hearted little ditty but its turned into a pretty good toe tapper and I need more of those in my set. Next on my list is a good old fashioned party tune called "Whiskey On Ice." Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mark Wein Posted February 12, 2013 Share Posted February 12, 2013 I've got a handful of songs for my album that are harder to sound "in command of" than I had thought when I wrote them. I was a little ambitious in my writing I've discovered but its for the best... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Special J Posted February 12, 2013 Members Share Posted February 12, 2013 I've got 4 different projects going. One is my new band. We just started tracking an EP on Sunday. We've got half a dozen songs to put down. I've got to finalize solos for 5 of them. I'll probably use several guitar/amp/pedal combos in the process, but so far with this project I've mostly been playing my Ovation Preacher through a Hiwatt Custom 50. I also have a new found love for the proco rat pedal. Another is an old unfinished album from a band that dissolved several years ago. The bass player and I have decided to finally finish the album which mostly just involves mixing, though I will want to redo a few guitar parts which means relearning those songs. I'll probably use my Strat and my bassist's Jazzmaster through Fender amps which is what I already used a lot of on that album. The other two projects I'll most likely be playing more drums than guitar. One is another recording project, the other a for-fun cover band we put together yearly for a friend's big party. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Flintc Posted February 12, 2013 Members Share Posted February 12, 2013 Working for the last couple of years on chord solos. These are trickier than they look if you haven't tried to construct them. The melody note should be the highest pitch, but sometimes there is no voicing for the right chord that puts that note on top. So you learn lots of chord substitutions, odd inversions, altered chords and the like. It is not intuitive yet, but if Joe Pass could do it... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Elias Graves Posted February 12, 2013 Members Share Posted February 12, 2013 If Joe Pass could do it, I probably can't. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Strung_Out Posted February 12, 2013 Members Share Posted February 12, 2013 Been working on trying to add more licks and better phrasing to my lead play lately, so I've been studying my favourite solos and learning them lick for lick in an effort to figure out what makes them great. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Jkater Posted February 12, 2013 Members Share Posted February 12, 2013 I just invested in a complete overhaul and reconditionning of my french horn and it plays "like butter" (only thing, i don't play like butter myself....). And I'm in the process of choosing a new mouthpiece. I bought five of them online and trying each over a few days (horn mouthpieces are very "player specific and only trying many works) then pick one, send the others back and stick to that one i picked for a while.... and practice, practice, practice.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members mistersully Posted February 12, 2013 Members Share Posted February 12, 2013 been playing the electric upright....i bought a new hardware compressor (La2a), and this bass sounds great through it i'm working on a bunch of stuff right now though Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Jkater Posted February 12, 2013 Members Share Posted February 12, 2013 mistersully wrote: been playing the electric upright....i bought a new hardware compressor (La2a), and this bass sounds great through it i'm working on a bunch of stuff right now though Lovely bass! Looking forward to hear how that sounds. Did you get my PM? We're not notified with a pop up anymore when a PM is sent. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Faber Posted February 12, 2013 Members Share Posted February 12, 2013 ii-V lines in both major and minor, or more exactly to gain fluency in those lines. I'm slowly working through the David Baker Bebop book vol 2, taking each line and learning it in every CAGED position, and transposing each major line to a minor ii-v line also. Takes quite a while. I'm not sure which will come first - fluency or boredom Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Marko Posted February 12, 2013 Members Share Posted February 12, 2013 Practicing guitar, strictly rhythm and singing. Not dance stuff, though (well, some slow-dance maybe), but listening/folk-type songs, which I enjoy. Only guitar I play/practice with is an Agile AS-820 semi-hollow, natural-finish (I love this thing), because it Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Ancient Mariner Posted February 12, 2013 Members Share Posted February 12, 2013 Hardly played last 12 months, so trying to get some strength back into my hands and feeling back to my playing. Also re-jigging the pedal board to try to make everything fit on what's basically a very small board for 8 pedals + volume pedal and power supply. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Elias Graves Posted February 12, 2013 Members Share Posted February 12, 2013 @jkater... Didn't know you played French horn, too! I played those accursed things for several years. Very difficult in comparison to trumpet. I always equated it to the violin of horns in that there's no "ok" tone with those things. It's either a choir of angels or a cat in a bathtub. Nothing in between. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members humbuckerstrat Posted February 12, 2013 Members Share Posted February 12, 2013 I got this book for Christmas, it's pretty good and easy. I'm on my 6th riff right now Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Jkater Posted February 12, 2013 Members Share Posted February 12, 2013 Elias Graves wrote:@jkater... Didn't know you played French horn, too! I played those accursed things for several years. Very difficult in comparison to trumpet.I always equated it to the violin of horns in that there's no "ok" tone with those things. It's either a choir of angels or a cat in a bathtub. Nothing in between. Lol. I used to play it a while back and I had a better horn back then. The one I have now is ok but has some flaws. gotta make do with it. I also had a trumpet at one point and yes, the horn is much less forgiving. And I hate the weight of it. Btw, I don't play those instruments particularly well, just a hack. I do intend to get my horn playing to something half decent by giving it a bit of time every day. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Flintc Posted February 12, 2013 Members Share Posted February 12, 2013 Faber wrote: ii-V lines in both major and minor, or more exactly to gain fluency in those lines. I'm slowly working through the David Baker Bebop book vol 2, taking each line and learning it in every CAGED position, and transposing each major line to a minor ii-v line also. Takes quite a while. I'm not sure which will come first - fluency or boredom Those David Baker lines are great, good way to expand your vocabulary of licks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members sxyryan Posted February 13, 2013 Members Share Posted February 13, 2013 Well, it's looking grim for my band, so I'm trying to become a better singer so I have a better chance of getting into something fun later on. I'm the lead guitarist in my current band, so I never focused on vocals so much. I started recording covers and originals and stacking harmonies on top. I'm starting to get really into arranging/writing vocal harmonies. This hobby has made me a way better singer than say a year ago, and it helps as a just a general ear training exercise, which is helping me be a better guitarist too. Sorry for the occasional out of key feel and hokey production value. I love recording but I can't say the same for video editing. Plus this is mostly just a practice exercise. . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members PurpleTrails Posted February 13, 2013 Members Share Posted February 13, 2013 Believe it or not, just working on traditional blues progressions and turnarounds. I normally avoid playing straight blues, as pentatonic wanking tends to bore me to tears. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Alecto Posted February 13, 2013 Members Share Posted February 13, 2013 On guitar, I'm learning my Harmonic Minor modes via The World of Scales by Don J. MacLean. I have most of the fingerings down, but it's a matter of internalizing the sounds so that I can hear where I can use them. Honestly, I doubt it's ever going to get used in any of my current projects but learning something new keeps me fresh. Otherwise, I'm transcribing a bunch of tunes for my covers band just by listening to the song a bunch of times. Nothing too strenuous, but it's a good way of keeping my ear trained.On bass, I'm teaching myself how to slap-n'-pop. Again, it's unlikely I'll use this because (a) the only gig I play bass on I'm using a P-Bass with flats and (b) not much call for slap-n'-pop in church. :robotlol: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members BydoEmpire Posted February 13, 2013 Members Share Posted February 13, 2013 PurpleTrails wrote: Believe it or not, just working on traditional blues progressions and turnarounds. I normally avoid playing straight blues, as pentatonic wanking tends to bore me to tears. Um, blues is not "pentatonic wanking." Guys who don't know how to play blues try to substitue pentatonic wanking for it, but it's not the same thing. It's like the difference between heavy metal and some kid at guitar center playing a minor scale (poorly) at 200bpm through a loud marshall. Good on you for working on progressions and turnarounds, though, there's a lot more to the genre than I IV V shuffles. A big toolbox of turnarounds is super handy for songwriting. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members sxyryan Posted February 13, 2013 Members Share Posted February 13, 2013 PurpleTrails wrote: Believe it or not, just working on traditional blues progressions and turnarounds. I normally avoid playing straight blues, as pentatonic wanking tends to bore me to tears. I have found a lot of the time, that some really decent players don't know how to do good (or at least really boring) rhythm parts or turnarounds. That can really help make a jam a lot more interesting.I've been working on stuff like that too. My band is based around my lead singer/rhtyhm player. He's a chord based strum strum strum guy. I play lead, and I have found working on different turnarounds and moving the chords around (or playing partial chords in different places) helps us sound a lot more original. It's way more fun too. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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