Week 70. Inconsistent Hotel California Solo

Hey guitar chefs!

Didn’t have much time to practice this week, so I just have been taking the guitar and playing Hotel California solo once in a while. I implemented everything Caio told me the last time, so some things became easier to play or just better.

Now I have 3 parts where I mess up the most, so I’ll be focusing on them more. However the main issue is consistency. I still had to record for 20 minutes to get this take, which is by itself not ideal. So, a lot more work and time needed to be put into practice in order for this solo to sound good. No progress on the 2nd guitar part as well. I kinda know it but never really practiced or recorded its lines.

See you next week guitar chefs!

P.S. I’ve uploaded a new video with me learning KULT by grandson by ear. Feel free to check it out if you’re interested: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCkdXARiH62xXKWD7By0pMgg

Week 69. Complete And Messy Hotel California Solo

Hey guys!

This week I was focused on recording video for the YouTube channel. There’s already re-recorded abcdefu video out there and I’m in the middle of editing something else with way better picture quality. Still a lot of editing needs to be done, but hopefully it’ll be done by tomorrow evening. Here’s a link if you want to check it out: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCkdXARiH62xXKWD7By0pMgg

Also I’ve finally learnt the last part of Hotel California solo, but it’s really tricky to play from start to finish without any major mistakes. So I’ve been recording for 25 minutes and only got 2 mildly decent takes. They are still a work in progress, and a lot of practice needs to be put into the solo. But I’m happy that I finally can play it completely. (I also learnt the second guitar part, but haven’t practiced it at all yet)

Maybe next week I’ll practice it enough for getting a clean take. But at this point it’s all I’ve got. See you next week!

Week 68. Slow C Blues Arpeggios

Hey guys!

A lot of guitar unrelated stuff happened this week, so the results are quite poor. However I started practicing Module 42 routines and figured, that it’s really hard for me to remember all the notes of the chords that I was playing over. So I decided to play only arpeggios in order to get used to the shapes and chords transitions.

The performance is not perfect, there are some mistakes here and there, but it’s much better in comparison to what it sounded like in the beginning. Maybe next week I finally do some proper improv over this C blues.

See ya!

Week 67. Hotel California Riff

Hey guitar chefs!

I haven’t learnt the last part of the Hotel California solo, but instead spent some time on learning the main riff of the song. I recorded 2.5 minutes of me playing it, and it’s not always 100% correct but yet pretty consistent, which I’m glad about. More practice needed though, as always 😀

Also I’ve increased the speed of playing modes in 3rds to 140 bpm. Not a big deal, just some progress I had this week.

I watched Module 42 videos, but haven’t practiced soloing over 12 bar blues at all. Hope to have some time for it the next week!

See you in a week guys!

P.S. I came up with the idea for the YouTube videos and not sure if it’s gonna be enjoyable to watch. So I’ll need your help on that, guitar chefs! But that’s something for another post 🙂

Week 66. Finally Finished It!

Hey guys!

I started Module 41 on the first week of December, and made a decision to practice improvisation at the pace of one mode per week. I won’t say that it was a mistake, but I’m really glad that it’s now over and next week I’ll move on to the next module ?

Other than that, I’ve been practicing modes shapes in 3rds this week. Got all of them at 120 bpm, next week I’ll either continue to increase the tempo or try to play them in 4ths instead.

And finally, the Hotel California solo. Not much to say here. I’ve been playing it trying to get to playing it consistently. And I kinda did it – this time it took me only 8 minutes to get the final take that’s in the video instead of 25+ min. But I won’t say that it got noticeably better. Some parts sound cleaner and others don’t, so a lot more practice needed to polish it to perfection.

Have a nice one!

P.S. Yep, today’s not Thursday indeed. Tomorrow I won’t be able to record and edit, so I decided to post one day prior this week ?

Week 65. Hotel California Solo Pt.1 & Pt. 2

Hey guitar chefs!

I finally continued learning the solo and managed to play the second part of it. I’ve been recording for 25 minutes straight and yet the best take was much closer to the beginning. It’s not perfect, some notes are missed and some bends are not completely in tune. Next week I’ll be polishing it and (maybe) learn the next part.

Also I’ve been improvising in C minor, but I didn’t record it, so next week I’ll do Aeolian and Locrian modes at ones for the weekly video.

At last, I did every mode in 3rds, but the tempo is 100 bpm, and they’re not clean enough to show the results. Again, will try to share my progress next week.

Cheers!

Week 64. Mixolydian Improv

Hey guitar chefs!

I’m back home and have skipped my Thursday upload. The reason for that was that I didn’t want to post another video when I’m on vacation, that’s not what the group was meant for.

Also I decided to just sit down and record 3 improvisation sessions over C mixolydian backing track and choose one of them as my weekly video, because I started getting sick of the improvs and want to move on, but my perfectionist mind won’t let me 😀 So I need to finish these modes improvs by any means, and that’s my decision for this week.

Finally, I’m home, and this means that I’ll continue working on Hotel California solo as well as start practicing scales in 3rds, or/and 4ths, 5ths, 6ths. See you next week guitar chefs, hopefully on my usual Thursday!

Week 63. Lydian Improv

Hey guitar chefs!

Last Thursday I made a mistake of biting off one of my calluses causing inability to play with my middle finger… It is almost fine now but I haven’t practiced the Hotel California solo at all. So here’s my lydian improvisation session with the new backing track Brandon sent me on one of the livestreams.

The improv is still not so great, I can’t get through my patterns I’m used to play, so at this point I just want to go through all of the modes and switch to the next module hoping that the things that are there will help me override my playing behavior 🙂

Also I wanted to start practicing scales in 3rds, 4ths, 5ths and 6ths in order to get used to playing them and hearing wider intervals, but my finger wouldn’t let me do it. So I hope that next week I’ll have some time for that.

Also I’m planning on going snowboarding the next week so maybe all these plans will shift for a week 🙂

Anyway, here’s the video. Cheers!

Week 62. Hotel California Solo Pt.1

Hey guitar chefs!

No fancy editing this time. Started learning the solo from Hotel California. Always liked the sound of it and it seemed not as hard to play at it ended up being ?

Anyway, I’ve learned the first part of it and managed to record it and choose 3 clean-ish takes from the video. Had to skip a day or two due to calluses after that bends 😀

I also tried improvising in C Phrygian but nothing new on that front, not much to show. Next week I’ll switch to Lydian mode.

Cheers!