Welcome to the Guitar Challenges. Each ‘challenge’ is basically an open invitation to anyone and everyone to play a song, an improvisation, a study-piece etc and post a recording – just for the fun of it.
So, whether you are a relative beginner learning the basic chords and strumming pattern of a song, a more experienced player adding a little fancy fretwork, if you want to do a little finger-picking, or you want to sing and play at the same time … you can join in with these challenges.
Important:
The challenge is to yourself.
These are not competition threads.
There are no prizes for making the ‘best’ recordings.
There is no shame for being at the beginner stages.
This is for FUN!
If you do want some constructive advice and feedback on your playing then that is cool. Just ask. Otherwise this is all about positivity, encouragement and having a go.
Goodness me, Richard, you are putting in an unbelievable effort to migrate content from the Forum. I can’t imagine the hours it must be taken to sift through a topic and create the consolidated postings of the legacy.
Showering you with just doesn’t show enough appreciation.
@Richard_close2u
Yup, I saw that, Richard. A supplementary to Justin’s Blues Lead course. I shall get back to focus on blues lead as opposed to just lead/improv in due course.
Consider it revived. I’ll definitely give it a go as part of my Grade 2 Consolidation. I was wondering with the backing tracks can you upload these onto loopers like the Boss RC-500? I enjoy the Trio Plus but like the idea of being able to download and save a backing track to a looper, if possible. If so I presume the output can be connected to an audio interface to record the performance?
So, after a chat in the community quite a few of us were ready for soloing challenges.
As I went forward and said to make the first step even if time was sparse, here is some ad-hoc improvisation.
I’ll take more time on the next challenge (or possibly make another recording after finishing my task that I have to finish for this Blim in a few days.
I am glad to receive honest criticism - forget the “be nice” forum rules and talk straight to me, please!
You won’t make me stop guitar playing anyway!
By the way, for any who follow and want to know, the track speed is 84 bpm.
Thanks Dominique for taking the initiative to revive the community challenges. And it’s cool to hear you improvise, I really enjoyed it!
Community challenges are a great learning opportunity. This got me to pick up my guitar again—which I hadn’t played recently due to work —and just let my improvisation flow for fun. Honestly, I wouldn’t have done it if it hadn’t been for the vibe of doing something together as a community.
One thing I noticed while improvising is that I really need to practice a lick about a hundred times for it to come naturally when I’m jamming (BLIM’s pet licks, I guess!). The ones I’ve learned recently are nowhere near automated yet, so I’m going to give this challenge a go a few times over the next few weeks.
Shane, thank you so much for listening and giving me feedback!
I’m glad I got this far, but I know the path is still long
(which is nice… to have something to aspire to!)
Hey Mathieu, I am glad this made you pick up your guitar and even post your imrovisations!
Wow, you’re playing lots of nice licks! I recognized many from Blim, but there are quite a few cool others too! While playing, you get more into the groove after some time - great! I’ll listen to it later again and try to steal some licks
Oh, me too - it takes me ages. Some click easier with me, but most are hard work and then, I forget them too quickly!
@domi7
Dominique, you have some very good ideas and you follow changes nicely, as Shane mentioned. This is a major improvement compared to the time when you started, it really shows!
I think you need more confidence with execution and a bit more focused lick work. At times, it sounds to me as if you are randomly playing notes from Am pentatonics. Also, I don’t hear a guiding idea in your improvisation, it all sounds too disconnected through these 3 minutes. I would focus on only 1 or 2 12 bars for start.
@math07
Mathieu, you came a long way! Some very cool licks and I like how you show your acoustic blues work. At parts, it sounded exactly like BLIM medley, and some repetitions were too much. It is more coherent, but sounds a bit mechanical in how you link those licks. I do the same most of the time.
@Boris1565 Boris, it’s nice to see you in here!
Thanks a lot for your honest critique!
Yes, before recording I really didn’t think about how long I’d like to play and just played. Afterwards I felt like it was a bit long
There are some licks I lately learned and used - and some random notes too (I think).
I found it interesting that you mentioned it, because I don’t feel like I could all the time choose something thioughtfully at this point.
Or maybe I could at a lower speed? I’m not sure. Do you decide on everything you play shortly before you do? That would be inetersting to know.
So sometimes I think I hit more or less random notes but have the feeling that most often my hands know where to go as a reaction to the note.
Maybe it’s just my own feeling and it sounds not so good for others
On your playing: Yes, I definitely like the tone!
To me it doesn’t sound like you’re only using very few licks so it would be boring!
Maybe it’s yourself who knows your licks and what you’re going to play!
I recognized a part of it, but to me it doesn’t sound boring.
If I have to criticize I would say you could improve the timing here and there ( (by a little bit) and increase some interest via dynamics or phrasing. But then, you know… it’s from me who is not as good as you at these things myself, so it would be better to have someone more knowledgeable make an assessment!
Edit: Oh my - I missed to say clearly above - great effort and nice playing!
No, I don’t decide everything before I play. However, I played these licks many time and I do have general idea how it will sound. It is always somewhat different, but I also hear the same/similar things on the same chord changes. That is why I mentioned it sounds predictable and boring to me. Rarely I surprise myself, but happens sometimes.
I tried not to play exactly on 1, but to be ahead or behind a bit. Still some work to do to make it effective, obviously.
Thank you very much for your comments Dominique!
Thank you very much Shane! I started practicing triads recently. I am still going through shape excercises. I am trying first to learn shapes and changes from one to another well, before expanding to notes surrounding them.
My blues are a bit rusty! So it’s a good excuse to give it a go.
As is often the case with me, hyper lo-tech - backing tracking playing in the room from my laptop, guitar plugged straight into an amp and iphone recording the room sound.
