The blog of Demetrio “Dimitry” Scopelliti, guitar player, composer, producer and instructor. Albums: The Silent Watcher, The Art of Complications, Codex Magika, Evolution, The Codex Videos, O Sole Mio Goes Metal, Yoga, News, Bio, Dates, Disco, Videos, Pics, Presskit

3 T LAW (timing, tune, touch)

by Dimitry, 09/07/2009 00:23:15, Lessons articles, read 2201 times

3 T LAW (timing, tune, touch) 8/07/2009

How to develop a great Timing.

You need to have a metronome absolutely, that will become your Best Friend.
Always practice with that.

When you are practicing a rhythm:

1 – Try to put down the speed (bpms), for example let’s think that you have a funky riff at 120 bpm in 16^th notes. Play that at 3 different speed, 60 bpm, 90 bpm and 120 bpm, low, mid, hi speed.

2 – For those who want to develop a “Great” timing: let’s think that you have 20 minutes to practice that rhythm; do that at 40 bpm for 5 mins, 60 bpm for 10 minutes, 90 bpm for 3 and 120 bpm for 2 minutes.

Do those exercises on all the rhythms you have to write, practice and play with the band or for your album etc..

In less than 3 months, working everyday like this you will get a “perfect” timing at any speed, you will get the so called “inside sync”. Guaranteed, I did that for several years and I still do that.

Demetrio Scopelliti “Dimitry”

www.demetrioscopelliti.it

www.demetrioscopelliti.it

1625 Article

by Dimitry, 02/07/2009 14:17:53, Lessons articles, read 2833 times

1 6 2 5

Second really important cadence, classic example that everybody know:

C maj7 / A min7/ D min7 / G7

We heard and played that several and several times.

Even if it looks and sounds really simple and easy to play melodies on a such chords sequence, I think it’s really important to follow some rules as for example to play Triads and arpeggios in the right way..

Some arpeggios positions on the guitar:

C maj 7

---------------------------------------------------

----------------------4------5--------------------

-----------------5---------------------------------

-----3------7--------------------------------------

----------------------------------------------------

D min 7

----------------5------8--------------------------

----------6----------------------------------------

----7----------------------------------------------

----------------------------------------------------

A min7

----------------------------------------------------

---------------------5----7------------------------

----------------7----------------------------------

----5-----8----------------------------------------

------------------------------------------------------

-------------------6------8--------------------------

---------4----7--------------------------------------

----5------------------------------------------------

------------------------------------------------------

Exercise n.1

Play every arpeggios on his own chord on a loop.

Exercise n.2

Put together all the arpeggios on the chord sequence.

Example: C maj7 (2 bars), A min7 (2 bars), D min7 (2 bars), G7 (2 bars)

All in a loop.

Exercise n.3

Here you are ready to start the “real” improvisation...

Use: Arpeggios, scales (C major or modes), chromatic scales (as connection between an arpeggios and the following one).

Exercise n.4

Make experiments.

Play the arpeggios using tapping, sweeping, string skipping, tremolo bar etc...

Build and use your own style and have always fun..

If you need some other suggestions, I’ll be happy to help you out with that..

Write to me here:

gitartimer@hotmail.com

Have fun and take care.

Dimitry

HOW TO DEVELOP YOUR OWN STYLE AS GUITAR PLAYER AND MUSICIAN

by Dimitry, 24/06/2009 16:30:27, Lessons articles, read 2067 times

-That’s actually one of the most important feature in the life of musician. To have your own style is a must for the personality of a musician.

It’s not that simple to reach that target and above all is not something that you decide to reach in a very short time, takes years spent on the instrument, on the stage, in the studio and at home practicing and practicing.

What’s the best way to get that?

1 – Consciousness of your ability and of your musical skills.

2 – Listen to music in a form of studying.

3 – Study of improvvisation and at least the principles of theory and harmony

4 - Record demos as a form of test to see improvements.

Let’s take that in the details:

1 – With that task I mean: To know yourself as musicians, know who you are and what’s your music attitude.

2 – It’s very very very important to listen different and various kind of music everyday, try to play that, studying the arrangements, the tecniques and It’s a must to include all those stuff in your own compositions and in your playing..

3- That’s important to:

- Create arrangements.

- Build melodies and solos.

- And above all how to move in the chold building.

Well, about that point I’ll post another specific article with a lot of exercises and explanation of how we can use that in the right way to our advantage.

4 – Record your compositions in a demo form to see all the improvements and all the mistake during the weeks, months, years; always keep in mind that word: Sperimentation.

That should be always in your dictionary.

All this is a little bit of what I learned during the years on the stage, in the studio, during the rehearsals with the band, nobody taught me that but anyway experience and years of music atcivities brought me there..

Dimitry

RELEASE AND DISTRIBUTE YOUR ALBUM WITHOUT A RECORD LABEL

by Dimitry, 15/06/2009 14:07:26, Lessons articles, read 3569 times

RELEASE AND DISTRIBUTE YOUR ALBUM WITHOUT A RECORD LABEL

Nowadays this is 1 of the most actual and used path.

Those artists who decide to be selfproduced are always more and selfreleased and self distributed.

Actually I really raccomend that but just if you are really enough committed in that.

- What do I mean with that?

Well there are really a lot of stuff to do working on a record before to release that, releasing that and above all after that process.

I can say that there are actually 3 main ways of distributing your own record:

1 – Sell at Gigs

2 – Sell on the web

3 – Sell in the stores

1 - Sell at Gigs - This is actually the best way in my opinion and above all if you play a lot of shows or tours..

That is working a lot because of many reasons directly connected to the way that your show impress and involve the fans attending the show

Obviousely you have to remind the crowd that your album and merchandise is on sale at the merch table, 3, 4 and even more times during the show.

To do that for everyshow you must:

- Set up a merchandise corner and a merchandise table.

- Have somebody standing there and selling the stuff during all the show, before and after that.

- Have cds, t-shirts and other little stuff on sale.

2 – Sell on the web –

Well... This is a very interesting point.

There are hundreds of websites on which you can put your record on sale.

I’ll mention some here:

www.reverbnation.com

On these websites you just have to pay a small fee to put your record on sale and those companies keep a small percentage of incomes from the sells.

I DECIDE TO OPEN MY OWN STORE ON MY WEBSITE (www.demetrioscopelliti.it) TO SELL MY MUSIC AND MY BAND’S ALBUMS, SOON THIS DISTRIBUTION WILL BE OPEN TO OTHER ARTISTS.

THAT WILL BE A REALLY BIG STEP FOWARD ; I’LL SPEAK ABOUT THAT DEEPLY IN ANOTHER TIME AND CIRCUMSTANCES ANYWAY.

3 - Sell in the stores –

Even if it sounds a little “Oldfashioned” and in same ways it is; it’s still working.

You can have an agreement with some distribution companies or you can deal directly with the stores owners.

In the 1^st and 2^nd case (sell at gigs and sell in the stores) you need to open your little company to pay taxes and be regular worker according to the law of your country and you need keep track of all the sells.

I THINK THIS IS A REALLY IMPORTANT SUBJECT, I HAVE A LOT OF MUSICIANS WHO ASK ME SOME TRICKS ABOUT HOW TO SELL AND DISTRIBUTE THEIR OWN MUSIC.

If you think you need some more deep advices about this subject please write me at this address:

gitartimer@hotmail.com

Look foward to hearing from you soon.

Have a nice day.

DIMITRY