A Circle Of Fifths

This is my DREAM garden!

2009-05-15T18:57:00.000-04:00

Pretty Nasty.

2009-05-02T17:07:00.001-04:00

Still Smoking? Watch This !! - video powered by Metacafe

Here is a cover that I did of Peace of Mind by Boston. The backing track had everything but the guitars. Including Brad Delps vocals!!!

2009-04-26T00:05:00.001-04:00

Unchained by Van Halen. I played the guitar over a backing track with vocals. This dude singing sounds JUST LIKE DLR.

2009-04-25T23:56:00.001-04:00

My Cover of Tush by ZZ Top. I played this one with a thumbpick. Check out my second solo. It is my first slide solo ever.

2009-04-25T23:52:00.001-04:00

This is me playing guitar over a backing track of bass and drums. Its the Iron Maiden classic Losfer Words. I made up my own solo.

2009-04-25T23:41:00.004-04:00

This is my remix of a Jamey Bailey song called Been. It was a demo with him singing on it and I added violins, keyboards and a beat.

2009-04-25T23:29:00.002-04:00

This is a prime example of why I shouldnt drink!

2009-04-24T00:48:00.003-04:00

Here is my new song with part of my solo finished. Still working....

2009-04-17T19:57:00.001-04:00

New Song that im working on

2009-04-08T00:52:00.003-04:00

Here is another new song

2009-03-23T05:54:00.003-04:00

I came up with this tonight. Its my first recording at 96khz.

Solo into a song

2009-03-23T04:39:00.003-04:00

Ok. I decided to make my solo into a song. Im not really happy with the recording but oh well.

If you like Jimi Hendrix and/or Robin Trower.......

2009-03-17T23:15:00.003-04:00

This is a sixties sounding Hendrix jam song that I wrote. I just upgraded my studio to 196khz so im experimenting a bit. I tried to make this sound as sixties as possible. I programmed the bass and drums and played all of the guitars of course. The chain is Jackson-Pod X3 Live-Focusrite Saffire-Cpu. Enjoy

Peace of Mind (Boston Cover)

2009-02-21T17:00:00.004-05:00

I added all of the guitars to a backing track from the original master!

Guthrie Govan

2009-02-14T23:51:00.004-05:00

This man is my instructor of choice at the moment. He is just so great in so many different styles and techniques. He is jazz fusion guitarist/instructor Guthrie Govan. I have been learning from his books for over a year now and I couldn't suggest them more. You can order the two part series here

Losfer Words Cover by Monty Reece

2009-02-14T22:13:00.004-05:00

This is my cover of the Iron Maiden song. I took liberties and made up my own solo with harmonies but I used a line from the original.

Unchained Cover by Monty Reece

2009-02-14T16:19:00.003-05:00

This is my cover of the Van Halen song.

O Holy Night Cover by Monty Reece

2009-02-14T16:00:00.004-05:00

This is a cover of M Lavendells guitar lesson O Holy Night. It is a very good practice of vibrato which is something that I have greatly overlooked in my playing.

Circle of Fifths

2009-02-14T12:39:00.005-05:00

The roots and their relative minor as well as how many sharps and flats are in each key.
As guitar is a shape based instrument that constantly changes, we can think of what we should play in many ways. Take our Circle of Fifths chart for instance. Let's say that a rhythm is playing in G Major. I can play a solo over it using my G Major positions and modes or E minor positions. Both are the same. Practice until this pattern of scales up and down the neck are burned into your head. You have to practice until you get past the memorization stage. Then practice until you get past the visualization stage. Eventually you WILL get to where you will just feel half steps and whole steps coming up and instantly know what modal position you are in without having to think about it.
My favorite way to practice my modes is G Major. There are many different reasons why I choose G. It allows you to go the whole length of the neck without repeating making it easier to burn patterns in your head and also G major and E minor are two VERY important keys in guitar. I made a backing track of a G Major drone that lasts for 5 minutes. I will then Go up my Ionian (major) mode and down Dorian. Then up Phrygian and down Lydian. Up Mixolydian and down Aeolian (minor). Up Locrian and BACK DOWN Locrian again following the same up, down pattern until eventually getting back to where you started. It is essential that you go back down Locrian and not up to the next step which is major at the 15th fret. This ensures that you will play up and down each mode evenly. This way I knock out my G Major positions AND (from the chart) E minor positions at the same time. Two really important keys.
Practice like you are a weight lifter. Mondays I practice C Major/ A minor and G Major/E minor. Then Tuesdays I will practice the next two. D Major/ B minor and A Major/ F# minor. Follow the Circle of Fifths chart until you cover every key. This will give you 6 days of practice with a seventh day off to go buy strings. ha ha. Anyway. At the end of the week you will have covered every possible key and be better off for it! When practicing this make sure your metronome is set to a easy pace. Speed will come naturally. The most important thing is making it clean as possible and alternate pick EVERY note.

By the way - use normal fingerings AND 3 note per string fingerings as well and dont forget about the pentatonic scales. Keep Practicing!