Home Forums Progress Review Dee J's sweep picking in odd meter

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    • #19633
      superblonde
      Keymaster

      Since new weeks of the sweep picking in odd time series are probably being worked on now, I figured I’d post a mini review and soon a mini-progress recording.

      I got it to just watch the lesson, learn some more phrygian related theory stuff .. I ended up playing the lesson’s rhythm part for an hour, it’s so cool. I had my doubts about playing odd time based on my previous troubles to play in 12/8 – after a lot of time spent trying to get that 12/8 metal song down. I havent gotten into playing the odd time of Monster Power Chords 2 yet.

      The lesson worked great, now I’m playing in 7/8 time (the rhythm part). Thumbs up. The solo, I’ll leave that until later.. Great demo, along with the beat pattern graphic. This week 1 is like a Monster Power Chords 2 Plus Plus bonus edition. When I started playing the exercise riff I was automatically inserting extra picks to force it into 8/8 or something.. habit.. after about 20 mins I got the hang of the 7/8.

      Hmm, we are living in odd times. So playing guitar in odd time, seems appropriate.

      Some of the things I like about this week 1.
      .. the gp6 uses alt endings and names them (turnaround etc)
      .. the gp6 graphic overlay for the beat pattern
      .. the very clear demo of counting. finally, it makes sense.
      .. sweet solo – so, I had previously done the speed kills sweep arpeggio exercises at a slow tempo, and I am not up to going crazy learning sweeping, but this arpeggio I think is doable with a focused effort. Definitely a few weeks effort yet reachable without hair tearing.
      .. great backing track
      .. drop d is a lot of fun
      .. very very concise and tight editing, no fluff, gets right to it, and also still has each part demoed in slower-tempo.
      .. split screen for rhythm guitar to show 2nd guitar along side the lead part

      Edit to add:

      .. this is one of the few lessons that has a harmony rhythm guitar part (total of 3 guitars, rhythm, harmony rhythm, and lead part). so it’s also a cool harmony lesson rolled in there as a bonus. Also neat simply to learn that additional part for fun, to add on to the exercise.

      I'm an intermediate student of Metal Method. I play seitannic heavy metal. All Kale Seitan! ♯ ♮ ♭ ø ° Δ ♩ ♪ ♫ ♬
      And on the Seventh Day, Mustaine said: ∇ ⨯ E = - ∂B / ∂t ; and there was Thrash; and it had a ♭3; and it was good.

    • #19642
      Dee J Nelson
      Participant

      Thanks for sharing this lesson experience. It is very helpful to hear what holds these lessons together from the user end. Thanks for the in depth review!

       

    • #19643
      Sarah Spisak
      Keymaster

      Thanks for the great post, SB!  This new lesson from Dee J is awesome.  🙂

      Sweep Picking in Odd Meters -Week One

       

    • #19644
      vinay
      Participant

      Yeah, I always loved the odd meter. It makes it all feel faster and more alive. I bought and downloaded the course but I haven’t been able to practice yet due to a broke collarbone. But I must compliment you at MM for putting out some quality rhythm courses lately and I’d love to dive into this when I’m ready for it.

      • #19666
        superblonde
        Keymaster

        I hope at least that collarbone happened in the mosh pit 😀

        I'm an intermediate student of Metal Method. I play seitannic heavy metal. All Kale Seitan! ♯ ♮ ♭ ø ° Δ ♩ ♪ ♫ ♬
        And on the Seventh Day, Mustaine said: ∇ ⨯ E = - ∂B / ∂t ; and there was Thrash; and it had a ♭3; and it was good.

    • #19648
      Sarah Spisak
      Keymaster

      What happened to your collarbone, Vinay????

    • #19657
      superblonde
      Keymaster

      The question on my mind when I was doing the rhythm exercises was: Cool this is great but I wonder if this counting method holds for all songs. The riff is perfect to learn the 7/8, at least I picked it up quickly. But what if the riff is different, like |: -0-0-0-3-4-5-0- | -0-0-0-7-6-5-0 😐 – or whatever – does the counting method always go 4 then 3 or would you ever look at a riff and the musical context, and say, Hmmm I’ll count 3 then 3 then 1 for this to make 7, or count some different way. etc. Maybe it is a quick answer to include in future weeks.

      the other question that came to mind when doing the exercises was, Hmmm I wonder if professional guitarists falls back to “omg ok hold on lets see lemme count this out a couple times first, to get in the groove” right before starting a song live – you know, in those times of crazy headspace on stage. I can see myself doign that.. in which case I would literally scribble on the setlist “jackhammer — 7/8, do 4+3 first” as a reminder. Well, I still get nerves you know.

      I'm an intermediate student of Metal Method. I play seitannic heavy metal. All Kale Seitan! ♯ ♮ ♭ ø ° Δ ♩ ♪ ♫ ♬
      And on the Seventh Day, Mustaine said: ∇ ⨯ E = - ∂B / ∂t ; and there was Thrash; and it had a ♭3; and it was good.

    • #19658
      Sarah Spisak
      Keymaster

      But what if the riff is different, like |: -0-0-0-3-4-5-0- | -0-0-0-7-6-5-0 😐 – or whatever – does the counting method always go 4 then 3 or would you ever look at a riff and the musical context…

      Might want to count that as 3+4.  🙂

    • #19665
      superblonde
      Keymaster

      But what if the riff is different, like |: -0-0-0-3-4-5-0- | -0-0-0-7-6-5-0 😐 – or whatever – does the counting method always go 4 then 3 or would you ever look at a riff and the musical context…

      Might want to count that as 3+4. 🙂

      Yea that is kind of what I was wondering.. if the technique changes, 4+3 or 3+4 – but, depending on the music — vs. always trying to count in a consistent / single way.

      I'm an intermediate student of Metal Method. I play seitannic heavy metal. All Kale Seitan! ♯ ♮ ♭ ø ° Δ ♩ ♪ ♫ ♬
      And on the Seventh Day, Mustaine said: ∇ ⨯ E = - ∂B / ∂t ; and there was Thrash; and it had a ♭3; and it was good.

    • #19671
      vinay
      Participant

      What happened to your collarbone, Vinay????

      I broke it in a mountainbike crash. Usually crashes aren’t much of a problem but I still have to go back there and check what happened exactly. I must have landed on something that prevented me from rolling out which I hadn’t seen. It is my left collarbone and the surgeon installed a metal plate, so I may want to get myself a guitar strap with more padding. What I currently have is a fairly cheap narrow nylon strap.

      The question on my mind when I was doing the rhythm exercises was: Cool this is great but I wonder if this counting method holds for all songs. /quote]
      Seven is a lot to count so you will indeed want to split it up. 4+3 usually works fine. With stuff I often have in my head different counting methods work better. 3+2+2, 2+2+3, 3+4. It depends on whether you have syncopation in the riff.

      This also got me wondering what measure it would be if I count 1 2 3 1 2 3 1 2 3 4 (or 1 2 3 1 2 3 1 2 1 2). Would that be 10/4, 5/8 or do I constantly change measures? The funny thing is if it is 5/8 it would be odd time and if it is 10/4 then it isn’t. What’s in a number heh?

    • #19676
      Sarah Spisak
      Keymaster

      There are some other ways to vocalize the counting.  When first learning the riff at slow speed, counting 1-2-3-4-1-2-3 works fine.  As you start getting faster, you can simplify it to something like ‘taka taka takita” (yes-sounds silly but try it!).  Or you can just count the first four notes as “one-and-two-and”, then just play the three fretted notes without counting.  Try  that too and see how well it works.  🙂

    • #20115
      superblonde
      Keymaster

      I think this lesson could be named Monster Power Odd Meter. Or something like that, or maybe Monster Power Arpeggios.

      I'm an intermediate student of Metal Method. I play seitannic heavy metal. All Kale Seitan! ♯ ♮ ♭ ø ° Δ ♩ ♪ ♫ ♬
      And on the Seventh Day, Mustaine said: ∇ ⨯ E = - ∂B / ∂t ; and there was Thrash; and it had a ♭3; and it was good.

    • #20154
      Dee J Nelson
      Participant

      In MPC vol 2 I dive deeper into this subject of counting. For the most part I find that just about any rhythm can be reduced down to a simple group of 2 or 3 (4 just being 2 simple groups of 2)

       

      Try this for fun – Put on the song “Blackout” by the scorpions which is clearly in 4/4. Instead of counting it in 4/4 try counting the clear pattern of 3+3+2 in the rhythm guitar. Count 1 2 3 – 123 – 12 along with the guitar and you will notice that every time you say “1” he is accenting the rhythm with a chord strike. This song in particular is a very clear example of what I introduce in MPC ll.

      Let me know how this works for ya’!

    • #20169
      superblonde
      Keymaster

      Thats interesting about the accents, because this lesson has cool accenting in the rhythm part that I only really noticed after practicing it for a couple hours, the accent-strum-accent-strum-accent-strum-strum-strum (total of 7 hits in each bar to make the 7/8) where those broken-up accents really add a lot to the flavor of the crunchy goodness.

      Here’s my current progress on the rhythm part. I was going for posting a recording of 100BPM but kept being too sloppy so I went back to 80 BPM. Since the normal tempo is 150 BPM then that’s a little over 50%. The backing track I made from the GP6 file drums, lead guitar, and bass (no rhythm guitar). then I record over top in Reaper at the slowdown rate (so if the backing sounds a bit weird its because it’s being slowed down from 100BPM to 80BPM in Reaper, I’m being lazy by not exporting a proper 80 BPM wav out of GP6). I practiced this for 3-4 hrs last nite well into the evening, so much fun..

      I’m glad the lesson includes the lead part because it is great to play the rhythm part along with hearing the lead in the backing. The solo is great fun too, I’ve played the easier first bendy part so far. And broke an E string 😀 oops.

      So again this is just my rhythm guitar over the top.


      I'm an intermediate student of Metal Method. I play seitannic heavy metal. All Kale Seitan! ♯ ♮ ♭ ø ° Δ ♩ ♪ ♫ ♬
      And on the Seventh Day, Mustaine said: ∇ ⨯ E = - ∂B / ∂t ; and there was Thrash; and it had a ♭3; and it was good.

      • #20177
        Dee J Nelson
        Participant

        Awesome!!! Please keep updating on progress. Yes the accents are very helpful in reducing down what can seem like more complex patterns. These accents are precisely what make the riffs chug in the heavy fashion that they do.

      • #20178
        Sarah Spisak
        Keymaster

        Thanks for posting this, Superblonde!  We love hearing our students play the lessons.  🙂

    • #21048
      superblonde
      Keymaster

      One of the fascinating parts of this lesson is Dee J using his pinky here for the rhythm guitar chord on the 1st turnaround.. well does anyone else find it fascinating or am I just a dork, hah.

      Sweep-Picking-in-Odd-Meters-DeeJ-pinky

      I seem to find it important right now to do a lot of left hand muting, even in the palm muted parts. Not sure why, but it sounds better/cleaner. Maybe I am getting a little too excited when emphasizing those accented beats but then again it’s more fun that way too, lol.

      I'm an intermediate student of Metal Method. I play seitannic heavy metal. All Kale Seitan! ♯ ♮ ♭ ø ° Δ ♩ ♪ ♫ ♬
      And on the Seventh Day, Mustaine said: ∇ ⨯ E = - ∂B / ∂t ; and there was Thrash; and it had a ♭3; and it was good.

      Attachments:
      1. Sweep-Picking-in-Odd-Meters-DeeJ-pinky.jpg

    • #21051
      rorygfan
      Participant

      DJ’s cover tune sent out in the email blast of

      Chuck Berry was great!!!!!!  Best cover of that song I have heard.  And, you know how critical I am. lol.

      • #21057
        Dee J Nelson
        Participant

        Thanks! glad you enjoyed! My dad use to listen to chuck berry and as a lil kid I would immitate his stage moves especially his famous duck walk. Dad would always get a kick out of that.

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