Guitar Challenge (Improv) - 3, 2, 1 improvisations

Thanks Toby! I was just getting a spinning circle with my Firefox for some reason.
“3-2-1 You’re back in the room” (for those who remember ‘Little Britain’)

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Epic! What was that thing you did when you moved the pick real fast around 1:52?

Going to rock till you drop there, Phil. Some epic playing with a whole bunch of different ideas being explored, what with whammy bar and is it ‘pinch harmonics’ (not sure, may have the wrong term for the higher pitched squeal made with pick technique on the same fret, that I associate most strongly with Billy Gibbons). And loved the grittier tone.

Thanks JK - that’s what I think they call “tremolo picking” - you just alternate-pick as fast as you can!

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Thank you David. Listening back the rhythm seems a bit “same-y”, I didn’t vary it enough. The pinch harmonics are sometimes accidental :rofl:

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@Richard_close2u I see you decided we had sufficient engagement for this to become a new Challenge, Richard. Thanks for taking on the creation and porting.

And here’s a second attempt. This time I have played over one of the BTs that @TheMadman_tobyjenner provided … thanks for that Toby. It’s a double win. Firstly a good exercise to try and play to the vibe of the BT rather than repeating what I did last time. And secondly picking the short BT ensure this is an 800m rather than a full mile production :grin:

For this one I did dial the gain up but nowhere near as gritty as Phil’s post. I shall blame the BT … I kept dialing up the gain and then rolling it back as it just didn’t seem to fit. And then I think that BT inspired me to be a little lighter with the right hand, as the grit was on tap if digging in.

Let the good times roll, even if nothing to do with cars :grin:

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@DavidP @TheMadman_tobyjenner @sclay @twistor59

Some great playing on show with just those 3 fretted notes, 2 chord backing and 1 bend. It’s amazing watching the variety of the performances based on the vibe of the backing track, your ideas and personality that you put into them. Inspirational to this little grasshopper.

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David

Had to take a second listen after going off to see which of the BTs you used, 2-48 Simple Bluesy ? After splitting them all up I pretty much forgot what was what. Plus I have a Solo Blues earworm after an afternoon of RBS and failed recordings.

Good to see you trying a different track. This seemed a little busier than the last one. There were some nice phrases but a few you extended them a little more than was maybe needed. Just mho but at times my ear were anticipating a breath but you kept talking but lots of space in spite of that. I would say bends and pre-bends still need a little work to get that full tone but getting there for sure. But hey great fun !

Might go for that “smooth” track in a while but I’m going to trim some fat first as it 4:45. Most likely do that with the two other new ones but in two minds about the II V Rock track, there is a melody line being repeated which could be distracting. I’ll see what others think on that one, as it may need extracting, not sure though.

Anyway good to see this has become a Challenge and that its a bit of a honey trap at the moment. Looking forward to see what folk come up with !

:sunglasses:

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Sounding good, David, and pretty relaxed with your new guitar. I like the idea of limiting the number of notes, there’s less to think about when making music :slightly_smiling_face:

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Happy belated birthday to your wife, Toby, I hope you both managed at least a wee celebration for that milestone! :birthday:

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Really enjoyed that @TheMadman_tobyjenner , groovy and relaxed, good vibes to you!

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It’s interesting how the same few notes can have such a different feel depending on how they’re played. Very nice Shane.

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Really enjoyed that, Phil, rock on! You’ve got some very cool techniques going on, and those few notes are blazing their own trail with you :guitar:

I ran across mentions of this exercise, and I’m not closer to figuring out what you guys are doing, then I was.

What’s all the rules with the bend… This here thingie seems to be the most important part of this mystery exercise…?

Btw what’s a loodle? A drunken noodle? A little noodle? :wink:

Either way, nice job. Nice new guitar too!

:thinking:Back to what I’m apparently doing everything in my power NOT to do…

No real rules Rebecca but the non-Justin lesson that David shares in his lead piece, advises bending the 4th interval to the 5th. So the notes are A C & D, so you are bending from D to E. You do whatever you want with the rest of it, so curling the C towards C# will work but C# itself may clash, so maybe only a 1/4 semitone bend/curl. The same will work on the D to Eb which being the 5b is the “blues note”. Hope that helps !
:sunglasses:

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Ok need to find out why you’re calling me Rebecca, first…lol ?

I finally saw the link. :thinking: Gotta watch it one more time. Tried briefly with a Dorian 2 chord vamp but I keep using 4 notes lol. Had better luck on a D7 only track, using 3 I liked, but I have to slow it to 75% to do anything that sounds comfortable-ish. I’ll try again later to probably procrastinate transcribing again.

This just popped on my notifications thought it might be handy here. It helps me to hear a bunch of explanations of the same thing. It fits anyway.

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Sorry Becky :cry:
image

@Twilight_Storm

Becky, I see @TheMadman_tobyjenner answered your questions bar this one. This was my little word game. A loodle is when I make use of my looper pedal to record a loop over which I then noodle.

Thank you, I am impressed you noticed. I am enjoying it.

It does indeed. He advocates that same thing. Pick a few notes … 2,3,4 … and make music by getting into the groove (my word for his ‘pulse’) and varying up the patterns of note lengths. And implicit in that is the rests where you play nothing to let it ‘breathe’ (I have to work harder at my ‘breathing’).

As Toby said, in our 3-2-1 we are playing three notes from the minor pentatonic and using a full tone bend to sound a forth note.

It is an excellent exercise and has certainly made a difference to me in terms of exporing more lead technique, being more expressive, and getting into the groove.

Give it a go … why not …

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@Socio thanks James, appreciate the listen and positive feedback. Now if you find it inspirational then be inspired to have a go. You can take this up without having to (try to in my case) bend up to the forth note. Just getting into the groove and mixing up note lengths, phrases, rests is a beneficial exercise and surprisingly great fun.

@TheMadman_tobyjenner you got it Toby, baby steps to the Simple Bluesy than going all in to one of your funkier shares. Listening back to both, I think overall the second was better but I got a little carried away in the last 40s and played longer phrases with less breathing space, after I think doing better initially. I think one can also use this to try and get a call and response thing going.

Something I have noticed is that your touch with the left hand influences the bend to hit the pitch. Not surprising given that heavy touch can cause a note to sound sharp even if the guitar intonation is spot on. So lots of moving parts to get the bends right and I feel I have made progress and know I have a long way to go. But as you say, the journey is great fun.

@Mari63 thanks, Mari. I think not worrying about finding the ‘right’ notes frees up the mind to give attention to things like bending and vibrato as well as being more expressive, getting into the groove more. Certainly that is my experience. So I’m most definitely not done with this exercise … yup there’ll be oodles more of these loodles and noodles :laughing:

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Yowser, for sure ! :wink:

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