Bryan's Learning Log

[bnicholson85]

Justins:

• Plan on completing Module 11 of Grade 2 today, worked through it the last day or two
• Will finish the Katana course between tonight and tomorrow

Other self-learning curriculum:

• Continuing with power chords: working on Palm mute accent patterns with power chords today.
• The upstrums with thicker than 1mm pick on powerchords using accent patterns and palm muting were tripping me up, but are starting to smooth out by being more precise and focusing on strings 4-6 on the upstrums while palm muting power chords. Continuing to practice this today

Theory:

• Started book/grade 2 of no bull, music theory for guitarist yesterday
• Continuing to practice major scales
• Moving on to additional Pentatonic shapes, beyond first 2, starting to explore modes
• Using triads from major scales to continue reinforcing being able to immediately identify where the 4ths/5ths and 3rds/6ths are for any root note
• Learned how relative minors are tied to the major key
• Learned how to quickly translate from a major key to a relative minor by shifting the chord families

Songs Learned/Learning today: - will add a repertoire/list section of songs I already know starting with the next post…: I think that will be fun to track over the coming months

• Learned last night: The White Stripes - The Hardest Button to Button
• Learning right now: Green Day - Hitchin’ a Ride
• Learning right now: Bush - Glycerine (learned it, working out some of the less basic Power chord strumming/palm muting patterns
• Re-Learning (learned it a few weeks ago, but wasn’t quite fast enough): The Calling - Wherever You Go to practice arpeggiating
• Will play through the not-easy version of Creedence Clearwater Revival - Have you Seen the Rain before bed… learned this already, but its a bit more complex with the percussive muted strumming, so I try to go through it at least twice a week, so I don’t forget and to continue to improve on percussive muted strumming

First learning log so, i’ll start by tracking my gear:
Purchased Today (13/09/2023):

• Boss RC-600 Looping Station - immediately I plan on using this to record loops of chord progression and practice scales/improvising over them, but will quickly evolve to using it to play rhythm/lead guitar parts (and as I get better with percussive playing, using the GS-Mini with Powertap Earth to record percussive parts)
• Strymon Big Sky - I am so freaking excited about this pedal - both of these actually. I have to hold off playing with it until this weekend and focus on practicing

Guitars - Acoustic:

• Seagull Maritime SWS SG Acoustic - no mods
• Taylor 414ce Custom Limited Edition - no mods
• Taylor GS-Mini Mahogany - Installed Powertap Rare Earth pups to turn this into a percussive powerhouse

Guitars - Electric:

• 2018 Lowden GL-10 KO AAAA Koa top - no mods, perfect just like it is
• 2023 PRS SE McCarty 594 SC in Blue - Upgraded tuners to Kluson Revolution Vintage non-collared 3x3 locking tuners in gold, Upgraded all knobs from stock to the black lampshades used on PRS Core/US made series
• 2023 PRS SE Silver Sky in Stone Blue - no mods yet, but planning on also installing the Kluson Revolution Vintage 3x3 non-collared locking tuners in nickel or chrome. Will try to get them for this weekend to install

Amps:

• Fender Mustang GTX100
• Fishman Loudbox Artist (acoustic)
• Boss Katana 100 MKII - This has become my go-to
• Vox VT40X
• Vox AC10c1 tube amp modded/upgraded all preamp and power tubes, removing the Chinese that come stock, and replacing them with JJs… it sounds much closer to the UK-manufactured AC30 - this is quickly becoming my new goto, though I do want to upgrade it to a AC15c1x or an AC15HWX - mainly for the FX Loop and expanded features…
• Vox 2X12 speaker cab with two vintage 30s in it (a bit warmer, I switch the AC10 to use this for output with single coils and use the built-in greenbacks with humbuckers, which keeps the tone well rounded. I also use the cab for the next item on the list
• Quilter Superblock UK - highly recommend the quilter products. Sounds 100% tube authentic

Shared Electric/Acoustic Pedals:

• Boss RC-600 looping station
• Strymon Big Sky
• PolyTune3 Noir

Acoustic pedal Board:

• LR Baggs Voiceprint DI
• LR Baggs Align Session
• LR Baggs Align EQ
• LR Baggs Align Chorus
• LR Baggs Align Delay
• LR Baggs Align Reverb
• Strymon Cloudburst Reverb

Electric Pedal Board:

• Cry Baby Wah
• PRS Horsemeat Transparent Overdrive
• GA-FC EX
• EV-5
• Boss FS-6

Studio/Pro Audio:

• Interface: Audient iD4 MKII
• Mic: Shure SM7b
• Ableton Live Suite

Studio/Video:

• Elgato hanging green screen
• 2 Elgato Key Lights
• Logitech Brio 4K Webcam
• No name ring light
• OBS (Software)

Accessories

• Peterson Strobo Clip HD Clip-On Strobe Tuner
• NUX C-5RC 5.8G wireless guitar system - forgot to add this before, because I never use it. It works perfect! And it perfectly interferes with the wireless access point in the room above my guitar area. The second I plug in, internet cuts out in the vicinity of the guitar - so I can’t play any lessons/tutorials… adding the Shure GLDX16+ wireless system to my wish list
• Acoustic strings: all Elixir Phosphor Bronze w/ Nanoweb Coating - 12/53
• Electric Strings: PRS Stock on new electric, once those wear out all use D’Addario NYXL 10/46
• Various Capos
• About every type of pick you can get… I like to play with different picks depending on the song, since some sound warmer, some have a faster or brighter attack/etc
• UETETO Metronome

Future gear aspiration list:
Guitars:

• PRS core McCarty 594 SC with TCI tuned 85/15LT+ humbuckers most likely in cobalt
• PRS core McCarty 594 Hollowbody II in whale blue
• Heritage custom Les Paul
• Eric Clapton signature Strat in white

*Amps/cabs:

• Trade up the AC10 for an AC15HWX with FX loop (no FX loop on AC10, didn’t realize until I got it home)… maybe will swap the greenback for a blue alnico in the ac10 for now, or better yet, swap the vintage 30 in the Vox cab for a blue alnico and play the ac10 through that
• Quilter Aviator Mach III Head

Pedals:

• Heather Brown Electronicals - Immaculate Mother light gain transparent overdrive
• Quad Cortex
• ReAmp

Other:

• Shure GLXD16+ Digital Wireless Guitar Pedal System - smart switching so won’t interfere with wifi, and I have this image of my head running around my house with it, pretending to be a rockstar while I shred to ‘Mary Had a Little Lamb’, or have an intimate acoustic fingerpicking session/rendition of ‘Happy Birthday’ on the balcony overlooking my dining room

Current project outside of practice and study… setting up and incorporating ableton live into my electric guitar signal chain… so I can go through my pedals, into the interface, use any plugins in ableton (ie the free neural amp modeler, which is phenomenal - and free), then outputting it from the interface through a reamp box and back into the amp I’m using.

[CD02]

Wow Bryan that is an impressive list of hardware looking forward to seeing the RC600 in action, (I have some sort of fetish over loop stations ).

Look forward to some great videos mate, good luck

[roger_holland]

Hi Bryan,
You have serious GAS problems , no pill will help with that anymore

Greetings …

[bnicholson85]

I absolutely need to start doing videos… it’s my goal for the next week. I’ve only taken a handful on my phone over the two months I’ve been playing. I have a full video studio in my office… but I hate editing, so I would just use it for work, then send it to the internal video/media team at my last job … I have premier and all the software etc… I’ll prob just start on my iPhone, then work my way up to recording more professional quality vids, maybe get one of those hats Justin wears and sneak a mic in there

The RC600 is going to be great! Getting into that this weekend

[frito]

Wow, this is one heck of an introductory learning log. It sounds like you are making wonderful progress in both your playing and learning theory, only to be topped by your accumulation of guitars and gear. . I look forward to videos of you playing. Many of us do use only our phone to record ourselves.

[TonyHS]

Hi Bryan, welcome to the group, that is some list of hardware! Looking forward to hearing you play soon.

[MAT1953]

Byran @bnicholson85
That certainly an impressive selection of gear.
Michael

[bnicholson85]

Hello to everyone!

For all the Americans, happy almost Thanksgiving!

I fell off the grid for a month or two. I hurt my back/pinched a nerve from sitting with poor posture support, where I was practicing for hours without moving each day and couldn’t sit up for two weeks to play. After falling out of the habit during that time, it took me another month after that (up to this week) to get back into the habit of practicing and playing every day. So, unfortunately, I lost over a month and a half of time to progress. I will try tracking here more frequently to keep myself more accountable.

I am finally starting to enjoy playing electric, and really love the tones I’m getting between the electric pedal board being set up and the Vox AC15HW1X I added to the collection (which immediately became my primary/goto electric amp).

If anyone else is using Quad Cortex, I bought one that will be here Tuesday - I am curious for any recommendations for playing sound. I’m going to be using headphones for now, mainly. But wondering what other people use. I will most likely get a set of Yamaha HS8 off the marketplace when they pop up for the right price - I need them to complete my studio setup. But, my studio and primary guitar space are currently in entirely separate parts of my home. I would like an FRFR cab or something similar so I can play at volume in my guitar space (separate from my studio space for now).

I’m also curious if anyone has any great pedals they like. I lead more towards clean sounds/light overdrive versus heavy distortion/hard rock. Also, I have been playing with some more ambient, atmospheric sounds with some worship guitar I’ve been learning.

I need to spend time over the next week or two fully learning the RC-600. In particular, the routing/mixing. I will create a 3rd smaller pedal board with shared pedals, including the RC-600. I want to be able to have both my electric and acoustic guitar plugged in, primarily using the acoustic for rhythm, then the electric for lead, and either the electric or fingerpicked acoustic to fill in for a piano for now until I get a keyboard. But I want the acoustic guitar/loops to route to the acoustic amp, the electric to the electric amp, and eventually have it go to the recording interface. Apparently, this is relatively straightforward once you know how. Also, I will prob add a vocal mic into the area.

Justins:

• Plan on completing Module 12 of Grade 2 today, finally continued after over a month off, and going to start Module 13 later tonight

Other self-learning curriculum:

• Going to finally start The Paul D course in parallel to continuing Justin’s. I bought it months ago. It’s a completely opposite approach to Justin’s (not detailed here’s exactly how you do this - more here’s what you should accomplish, go do it… so not a great one for beginners, but great for unlocking creativity and exploring different styles/expressions. I purchased the acoustic adventure course too for later to really unlock and get beyond ‘Campfire Guitarist’ level with an acoustic)
• A lot of fingerpicking practice lately and playing with different voicings, as well as using all barre chord shapes and the caged system
• Was able to get over the issue with upstrums with palm muting
• Working on incorporating more dynamics into strumming and fingerpicking to help build songs. Mainly focusing on using this during strummed sections for now and going beyond just accenting specific beats.

Theory:

• Working through No Bull - Caged System for Guitar book
• Taking Applied Music Theory Lessons once every 2 weeks for an hour
• Paused grade 2 of no bull, music theory for guitarist yesterday
• Memorized formulas for keys and dif chords in dif keys
• Learned
• Learned all 5 major pentatonic shapes
• Playing with 7th chords
• Practicing playing the chords in a given key down the neck in different ways, including just using the root (variating the root between the top 3 strings)/3rd, adding in a 5th to build

Songs Learned/Learning today: -still need to add the repertoire/list section of songs I already know will do this on next post and see if I can find a cleaner format.

• Learned recently: Fingerpicked vs (including melody) of Shallow from ‘A Star is Born’
• Learned recently: Fingerpicked vs Eric Clapton Tears in Heaven
• Learned recently: Dean Lewis - Waves
• Learned recently: Dean Lewis - Stay Awake
• Learned recently: Dif versions of ‘Eastside’ by Benny Blanco, Halsey and Khalid - this is a fun song with a lot of space to improvise and build it
• Learned Recently: The Fray - How to Save a Life (Strummed version)
• Learned Recently: Fingerpicked vs Ed Sheeran - I See Fire
• Started learning: Alicia Keys -

GAS/Gear:
Purchased Since Last Update:

• Neural DSP - Quad Cortex - really excited to play with this. I need to purchase a pair of studio monitors (thinking Yamaha HS8 unless someone has other recommendations for use with Quad Cortex). I am also excited to be able to bring this with me in a guitar bag with some headphones when I travel
• Vox AC15HW1X - I absolutely love this amp. Similar to when I finally got my acoustic board setup and fell in love with the sound… my aversion to electric guitar disappeared between purchasing this amp and setting up the electric pedal board
• Strymon Mobius
• Strymon Timeline (this completes the Strymon big 3… there are some other pedals I’m watching and will add below)

Will be selling some of the amps I don’t use anymore. Now that I have the hand-wired AC15 with blue alnico, I will be selling the AC10 with upgraded tubes. I will also sell the Vox VT40X and am on the fence about selling the Fender GTX100. Prob will keep it around a bit longer to see if it finds a place, but between the quad cortex, which will be arriving this week, and the Katana, I don’t see a use for it.

Guitars - Acoustic:

• Seagull Maritime SWS SG Acoustic - no mods
• Taylor 414ce Custom Limited Edition - no mods
• Taylor GS-Mini Mahogany - Installed Powertap Rare Earth pups to turn this into a percussive powerhouse

Guitars - Electric:

• 2018 Lowden GL-10 KO AAAA Koa top - no mods, perfect just like it is
• 2023 PRS SE McCarty 594 SC in Blue - Upgraded tuners to Kluson Revolution Vintage non-collared 3x3 locking tuners in gold. Upgraded all knobs from stock to the black lampshades used on PRS Core/US-made series
• 2023 PRS SE Silver Sky in Stone Blue - Upgraded tuners to Kluson Revolution Vintage non-collared 3x3 locking tuners in nickel

Amps:

• Vox AC15HW1X
• Fender Mustang GTX100
• Fishman Loudbox Artist (acoustic)
• Boss Katana 100 MKII - This has become my go-to
• Vox VT40X
• Vox AC10c1 tube amp modded/upgraded all preamp and power tubes
• Vox 2X12 speaker cab with two vintage 30s in it (a bit warmer. I switch the AC10 to use this for output with single coils and use the built-in greenbacks with humbuckers, which keeps the tone rounded. I also use the cab for the next item on the list
• Quilter Superblock UK

Shared Electric/Acoustic Pedals:

• Neural DSP - Quad Cortex
• Boss RC-600 looping station
• Strymon Big Sky
• PolyTune3 Noir

Acoustic pedal Board:

• LR Baggs Voiceprint DI
• LR Baggs Align Session
• LR Baggs Align EQ
• LR Baggs Align Chorus
• LR Baggs Align Delay
• LR Baggs Align Reverb
• Strymon Cloudburst Reverb
• Cioks DC7

Electric Pedal Board:

• Strymon Timeline
• Strymon Mobius
• Cry Baby Wah
• PRS Horsemeat Transparent Overdrive
• GA-FC EX
• EV-5
• Boss FS-6
• Cioks DC8 extension connected to DC7 on acoustic board via 6ft cable

Studio/Pro Audio:

• Interface: Audient iD4 MKII
• Mic: Shure SM7b
• Ableton Live Suite

Studio/Video:

• Elgato hanging green screen
• 2 Elgato Key Lights
• Logitech Brio 4K Webcam
• No name ring light
• OBS (Software)

Accessories

• Peterson Strobo Clip HD Clip-On Strobe Tuner
• NUX C-5RC 5.8G wireless guitar system - forgot to add this before, because I never use it. It works perfect! And it perfectly interferes with the wireless access point in the room above my guitar area. The second I plug in, internet cuts out in the vicinity of the guitar - so I can’t play any lessons/tutorials… adding the Shure GLDX16+ wireless system to my wish list
• Acoustic strings: all Elixir Phosphor Bronze w/ Nanoweb Coating - 12/53
• Electric Strings: PRS Stock on new electric, once those wear out all use D’Addario NYXL 10/46
• Various Capos
• About every type of pick you can get… I like to play with different picks depending on the song, since some sound warmer, some have a faster or brighter attack/etc
• UETETO Metronome

Future gear aspiration list:
Guitars:

• PRS core McCarty 594 SC with TCI tuned 85/15LT+ humbuckers most likely in cobalt
• PRS core McCarty 594 Hollowbody II in whale blue
• Heritage custom Les Paul
• Eric Clapton signature Strat in white

Amps/cabs/Speakers:

• FRFR Cab
• Yamaha HS8 Studio Monitors

Pedals:

• Strymon - El Capistan v2
• An octave pedal so I can use the acoustic or electric guitar to loop/track bass lines. If anyone has recommendations for this use case - let me know!
• Midi controller for pedalboard to be able to control the big 3 strymon pedals and achieve sounds configured between the 3 from a single button on the midi controller - if anyone has any recommendations, let me know!
• Line 6 Helix
• Heather Brown Electronicals - Immaculate Mother light gain transparent overdrive
• ReAmp

Other:

• Shure GLXD16+ Digital Wireless Guitar Pedal System - smart switching so won’t interfere with wifi, and I have this image of my head running around my house with it, pretending to be a rockstar while I shred to ‘Mary Had a Little Lamb’, or have an intimate acoustic fingerpicking session/rendition of ‘Happy Birthday’ on the balcony overlooking my dining room

Current project outside of practice and study… bumped this back until I get the Quad Cortex setup, still curious to reamp, but not as necessary now with the Quad Cortex purchased… setting up and incorporating ableton live into my electric guitar signal chain… so I can go through my pedals, into the interface, use any plugins in ableton (ie the free neural amp modeler, which is phenomenal - and free), then outputting it from the interface through a reamp box and back into the amp I’m using.