Slo Bones

Like your tennis example, it is fascinating how technology has raised the ceiling in so many different areas. But, like you said, hard work is still required. I often wonder how much better of a musician I would have become if I had access to the resources available today.

This groove is badass and fits right into what I am currently working on. I must master this. Thank you!

Well, I'm sticking to my goals of improving my rhythm, intervals and modes. The progress is slow buy steady, but definitely on track. I'm starting to see the fret board differently. Instead of being solely scale focused, I'm using scales as a foundation, but targeting different notes based upon the chord I'm playing over... and I'm beginning to understand why certain notes work. Like the 3rd over a major of dominant 7th chord. To ingrain this I am using the following format as practice: 1. Create a loop of a singly chord over a drum track. Then practice just targeting chord tones. 2. Then I select the relative IV chord, create a track with just that chord over drums and practice targeting chord tones. 3. Do the same with a V chord. 4. Finally create a loop with a full 12-bar progression and focus solely on targeting chord tones at the changes. The method seems really basic and boring, but I really want to train my ear, while also changing my muscle memory of just mindlessly playing the same old licks and hoping I land on the best scale note. The other focus has been combining lead and rhythm... Here I am practicing playing different fill and licks around chords in a progression with little thought of an underlying scale. I'm getting there. HP has been posting a ton of great new content. I have watched parts of the lessons to get an idea of what to expect and can't wait to find the time to dig into them. I hope everyone is have a great new year! Cheers! Jim

Another perfect topic for my current focus. This will certainly help me reach my goals for the new year.

Very cool...when I'm ready I will definitely go for it in Blues. Then maybe classic rock.

It's amazing how your entire life can change instantly. It's obviously not a decision to be mafe lightly, but very exciting to consider the possible opportunities. Maybe consider a vacation to LA before deciding? Maybe also try other music centres like Nashville?

Yes...I was very happy to see this one post. I have already started working on it. Great practice playing through the I and V... (cool chord voicings too). It's great practice playing Major/ Mixolydian. I'm slowly improving, but my only real confort zone is still minor pentatonic/blues. Playing the anticipations are also a challenge for me. I enjoyed working on those in some of your classic rock lessons, also. Thank you for doing this lesson...it will be a big hellp for me!

Good stuff! This is exactly the type of movements I am adding to my vocabulary. Sometimes I would hit this by accident playing by ear, but usually not. Thanks!

I just stumbled upon a very interesting strategy for switching from the I7 to the IV7 chords in a blues progression... Targeting the major 3rd of the IV chord on the change! For my entire life I have basically either played the changes by ear without a strategy or if I'm really on my game I would just target the root of each change. Today I learned that the major 3rd is a viable target. So, I just spent the past hour looping A7-A7-D7-D7 to practice this change strategy. I worked though various licks targeting the D7 third at different locations. I feel like this is going to be a major breakthrough for me. It all started with me focusing on studying intervals while exploring modes. Just a quick update I wanted to share...

That's incredible! It would be interesting to know how many in the community came over from tictoc vs YouTube or other.

Wow... that's a great response on tictoc! I had no idea.

I can imagine the challenge of expanding your reach in an ever-changing environment. I was drawn to you through YouTube. So, hopefully that remains a focus. Your instructional videos are very well put together. You seem to have the formula figured out. They are the right length (usually under or around 30 minutes),you begin by demonstrating the concepts, then you present the lesson in digestable layer. I'll do anything I can to help spread the word.

Awesome story! What a great feeling to be confident to step up and be prepared with A13 without rehearsal. Reminds me of when I was first learning to play guitar some 30 years ago. I worked at a bar and this old blues man was playing. I had a hard time focusing on bartending while watching him play his vintage Les Paul on stage. When he was done I was talking to him as he was putting away his instrument. I asked him if he had any advice for a new guitar player. He said "man, the best advice I can give you is to learn ALL the chords. You'll be happy you did."

I'm glad you posted it... Because there's no way I ever set my metronome to 40 bpm on my own. Great practice.

Good lesson... Very difficult for me. I find it really hard to stay with the beat. Takes a lot of focus for me to find the groove. Great practice.

I completely agree with your Yngwie comment. I have always been impressed by him, but always assumed that I must not be musically sophisticated enough to totally get him.

I am often impressed with people who can play really fast, but speed without musical context can quickly get boring for me. For me, I prefer music with feeling. Sped can be part of the emotion, but it needs to fit in with the music to hold my attention.

This is a very interesting topic. Speed for the sake of speed alone can be impressive, but ultimately listening to it bores me after a very short time. I can't imagine the fear you must have experienced to be on stage and have those episodes! That's like the worst nightmare! I have never experienced anything to that degree (and I have never performed in front of so many people). But,I think I can understand to a small degree. When I have performed live in the past it has sometimes felt like I forgot everything on a conscious level. As if I am only able to play music that I know so well that it is a part of me.. Almost like speaking. I watched a very interesting interview with Yngwie Malmsteen last night. His life story was very interesting. He said he was so obsessed with guitar that he became an absolute "freak." He said that all he did was practice with his guitar. He also said the speed came naturally for him. Through school he learned the entire fretboard until it was second nature. Then when he would hear a violin or a horn, he would go to his guitar and just recreate what he heard with no thoughts of scales, strum pattern or even how he was holding his pick. He would just play it. Good discussion!

Well, I'm still working on learning modes (focusing on intervals) and on improving my rhythm chops. I am becoming fairly comfortable with playing the modes as scales, but I still struggle to use them in a musical sense. Once I put on a backing track, every time I try to throw in a 6th Dorean, it sounds fake and mechanical. I'm sure it will improve as I continue to work on it. My rhythm is getting tighter. Now I am trying to improve at combining rhythm and lead while "staying in the pocket." I'm finding that it's tough for me to not lose my place in a progression when switching between chords and melody lines. I am also working on playing with my fretting thumb wrapped over the low E string. I am doing this to work on playing barre chords with my thumb playing the low E. This allows me to more easily transition to melody lines between chords. It's a technique I used a long time ago when playing acoustic finger-style blues... but, never really thought to incorporate it with my electric guitar playing. It will take some practice, but I really think the technique will make my playing cleaner and help with muting unused strings. My 13 year old got a new midi keyboard for Christmas. So, now he's making tracks on Garage Band and sending them to me to put down some guitar tracks for him. We're both having a blast with it. A great way to practice while having fun with music. The journey continues... Cheers!

Life balance is so important for me. Also, strategic breaks seems to help me with whatever I am studying... Half hour to two hours of intense study... Go away and do something different...then when I come back I feel I have internalized more than if I would have gone hard for four straight hours. Also, yeah... Girlfriends, work and other obligations and be a distraction to improvement. But, I think we can have it all if we learn to take everything in moderation.

Genius meets hard work.

Wow... Amazing stuff!

A bery good and important topic. This is exactly what has happened to me each time I wander away from playing. I hit a plateau because I stop learning new things... And I get bored. I think I'm now in a good place where I have so much material to learn that I will probably play for as long as I am physically able to. What also helps to keep me motivated is having a community of people with common interests to share the journey. The HP Crazy lessons and community is the perfect combination of education, inspiration and conversation.

Thank you for the explanation. That makes sense and is a lot easier to count. It's also easier for me to count in sequence while trying to learn the ontervals/patterns. I don't think there's value in the author asking me to count 1 9 b3 4 5 13 b7. But I do see the value in extding it to understand that the 9 and 13 are important to know for chord building. For now I think I will continue studying Dorean as 1 2 b3 4 5 6 b7. And sometimes continue counting 8 9 b10 11 12 13 b14. Thank you for your help.

An update on my modes studies: I am still enjoying the approach I'm using to understanding modes. I particularly like HP's method of building from a pentatonic base for the major, minor, melodic and harmonic scales. I found a book that takes that same concept to apply to all of the modes. It takes the major and minor pentatonic scales that we all know and simply adds notes to form each of the modes. I'm still focusing on intervals. The one aspect that gets slightly confusing for me is that the author switches to using the octaves for the modal notes that are added. For example, the minor pentatonic 1-b3-4-5-b7 becomes Dorian by adding the 2nd and 6th. But, when playing the scale the author has us counting 1-9-b3-4-5-13-b7. The book spends a lot of time on each mode with several examples in all positions before moving on to the next mode. It's a good approach and is really helping my progress. I love that I am taking the time to study critical aspects of the guitar and music theory that I have neglected for so long. It really feels like a fresh start.