# Sheets of Sound



## Jeff Flowerday (Jan 23, 2006)

This one is for you advanced guitarists.

She's a little over my head right now, so Mr. Severson is using it. Get's nothing but rave reviews from monster players on the Gear Page.

http://www.sheetsofsound.net/


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## sysexguy (Mar 5, 2006)

Yesterday was day one....page one...easy, been wanking on those for years.....page 2 yowsa....rut busted I think this book is really going to help....party's over, scalar boot camp!!!

I stole the battery out of boutique fuzz #56 and stuck it in the metronome:tongue: 

The other thing I think is great is that when one can't play regularly like a teenager, the period between warm-up and being able to control the guitar can be very frustrating. Having a regimented warm up program makes this bridge a lot easier.

Great, great book!!!

Andy


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## sysexguy (Mar 5, 2006)

Jeff you may want to get the book back. The major prerequisite is that you understand the basics of sweep picking. Not the wanking crossing all the strings stuff that nearly ruined guitar in '89 but a simple (?) method of economy of movement (think martial arts). Frank Gambale is a great teacher of this technique so hunt down some of his material.

The technique is:

when playing lines, always play an odd number of notes per string unless you are changing direction (play an even number of notes). This way the last stroke on each string is the same direction as the first stroke on the next string (hence the sweep). 

The price to pay is that often ones needs to stretch the fret per finger confort zone but this is offset by a radical increase in speed and note definition. If speed isn't a goal, remember that when swingin', every second note needs "speed" and the phrase is going to require the swingin' to sometimes cross strings.....if you're stumbling, the groove is doomed 

Hope that helps, barely a nickle tour on the subject, as I said Frank Gambale's the man. I saw him do an Ibanez clinic in the 80's and in an hour he had the whole thing covered. Maybe Youtube?

Andy


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## Jeff Flowerday (Jan 23, 2006)

sysexguy said:


> Jeff you may want to get the book back. The major prerequisite is that you understand the basics of sweep picking. Not the wanking crossing all the strings stuff that nearly ruined guitar in '89 but a simple (?) method of economy of movement (think martial arts). Frank Gambale is a great teacher of this technique so hunt down some of his material.


I have some other wood shead stuff to deal with first. Secondly when he says transpose it to the other keys in the same position on the fretboard, I'm not there yet.

Though I think Dave ran into some cash lately and should probably order his own copy. 
:tongue:


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## sysexguy (Mar 5, 2006)

I hear you....but transposing to all keys is the rule for jazz and guitar players are actually quite lucky in that regard. For instance on keys, everything changes as incidentals get added....and non tempered instruments...... 

Andy


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## jaymeister (Feb 2, 2006)

sysexguy said:


> Yesterday was day one....page one...easy, been wanking on those for years.....page 2 yowsa....rut busted I think this book is really going to help....party's over, scalar boot camp!!!
> ...
> Great, great book!!!
> 
> Andy


I've had this book for a year...great book, but I haven't been dedicated enough with it. I should really spend 1/2 an hour on it each practice session. It's amazing how muscle memory over the years is so hard to break, and this book forces a player into a totally different approach. 

For those going through this book, what practice disciplines are you using?


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## Mr. David Severson (Feb 3, 2006)

This book is really good..I'll admit it took me awhile to change my thinking. I had to work things very slowly in the beginning. I always used a metronome with all the exersices and practiced for 30 minutes per day. I find the smaller chunks of time work better for my learning style.


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## Baconator (Feb 25, 2006)

I have this book on its way. From the sounds of you guys it'll be on the 'to-do' list for a while since I have plenty of other things I need to work on that I think should come first. I'm of the opinion that even moreso than fuzz/distortion boxes you can never have too many technique books as long as you don't try to rip through all of them at same time (and that disclaimer works for both books and dirt boxes). I just bought it now because it was on sale and I'm a sucker for guitar-related sales.:tongue: 

I just took another look through The Advancing Guitarist and have found a few things that I'd like to work on in there before doing much else - especially the stuff at the very beginning which is aimed at improving fretboard knowlege. The 'unitar' excercise alone should keep me busy long past when the book arrives - playing through 7 modal vamps using just one string at a time sounds 'intriguing'.:confused-smiley-010

Cool - my 100th post!


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## Jeff Flowerday (Jan 23, 2006)

Got my copy back. Started into it again last night.


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## Baconator (Feb 25, 2006)

I got my copy last week. I don't think I've ever been so humbled trying to play scales - I kept having to tap slower and slower on the tap tempo button of my black box :tongue:. I think this book may have to sit on the shelf for a bit since I have other seemingly more important techique fish to fry, but The Advancing Guitarist is there to keep it company. It's funny though: TAG seemed waaaay out of my league when I got it a few years ago, but when I was leafing through it the other day I can see how just in the first few pages I could spend months working through some of that stuff. The difference between it and SoS is that TAG is something that I could use without worrying so much about technique per se as much as gaining more of a musical handle on modal playing - at least in the first section. Once I can motivate myself to work out some of the 'modal vamps' he suggests to get started with and record them I'll be off to the races, but that might take another year or two :tongue:.


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