Rudy Kristich for Your Story is Important!

Speaker: Rudy K.

Rudy K.: Hi, I am Rudy and I am 68 years old. I have been playing music from the age of about eight. I took piano lessons for about five years. Didn't get very far because I didn't practice too much but I could read, I can read notes. I got my first guitar around age 13 and quickly moved into playing balkan instruments. Croatian Serbian playing the lead on a tenor guitar. It's not really a tenor guitar, it's a handmade Balkan instrument that is the same size and shape as a tenor guitar has four tones to G. D. A. E. And I also play a small instrument that is similar to a mandolin. So I've been playing that for 50 years playing all, it's kind of like kind of like greek music like for example we played Zorba the Greek but we play the dance music of the Balkans. But we also always played american music. We did a lot of wedding, played a lot of weddings through the seventies and early eighties before DJs came out. So I play polkas and everything. I'll lead on this. But again, my big problem has always been, I could not improvise and make my own solos up. I would always copy somebody else's solos. Or I have been able to make some simple ones which I now see maybe I am using arpeggios and triads to make them. We play a lot of rock and roll fifties like Blue Suede Shoes. Johnny B Goode and again I can copy other people's leads. I have slowed down software and I have noted out the, the lead on, Take it Easy by the Eagles and Peaceful, Easy Feeling and Ramblin' Man, the first solo. And I play those on my tenor acoustic. And I'm looking at getting electrified. I may get electric guitar. Now I see all that you can do with the arpeggios. But my, my feedback which I gave on the previous handwritten and asked what I learned. I sent it to you is that, I have picked up. I understand now what triads are and what arpeggios are and playing the triads over the top and to the right and to the left. I understand the arpeggios with where you're starting with the root and then starting with the second and then starting with the third. I'm a bit disappointed because I don't feel I'm going to be able to make any simple solos based upon what I've learned so far in the course. Again, it would be helpful if I, if someone give me just a solo using all what we've learned and creating a solo for say Johnny B. Goode and Blue Suede Shoes so I could see how to apply what I've learned and then I just would carry that forward into the next 50 songs or whatever. Let's see what else. I did want to mention what would be helpful. I have trouble determining where, when you're playing something, what part is a push note and what part is the actual arpeggio or triad note? It would be helpful if you had a ball a circle that would be green when you hit the, when you were playing a triad note and maybe turn red when it was a push note. That would be helpful to see that. I just don't see, I have to do the element section yet. I know if there's another one after that, maybe that's going to give me some clarity. But I really question that I'm going to be able to put to use what I've learned. I mean, yeah, I think I'm going to develop my ear. I'll understand. I'll hear the arpeggios more and I'll be able to go to the note more or naturally. But I just again, don't know how I'm going to actually apply this and be able to make up my own solos. So I'm happy with what I've learned, but I'm not happy, I'm disappointed because I'm not sure I'm going to be able to apply it to what I need to do.

Rudy K.: Okay, recording too. I didn't realize they were going to be multiple recordings. So I've really said everything. I wanted to say again. I have learned again quite a bit. It's whether I can apply it actually coming up with my own solos, for example, when we jam. So I had a very good guitar player who does, country jam, country and bluegrass. He's okay. Take one Rudy and I can't, I couldn't, I don't know what to do. I have messed around with the pentatonic scale a little bit. That's helped a little bit. And I guess those would be push notes that you would say. But again, there's not, there's not enough in the course to explain the push notes, and, transitioning between chords. And you talk about the membranes when you're transitioning and I think there needs, again, I haven't really applied all everything and done all the jam tracks. So maybe this is an unfair analysis at this point. Maybe there's again something coming up in the elements or one of the other. I don't know if there's another learning session. I'm missing here, but I just don't know how I'm going to piece all this together

Rudy K.: What did I see, wasn't really expecting. I just think, Mr Stine, you are a sincere person and you care about your students. I like your little nuggets on what we should be getting out of this and and the difference between training and performing stuff like that is valuable to people, and most people miss that stuff. I did order the $39 course on practicing techniques cause I'm big on that, I've read up a little bit on that because I practice hours, you know, and because I play everything by ear, so it's got to be burned in, so I do a lot of practicing and strengthening. So again, I really appreciate the sincerity you have that, I think you really want to help people. The other thing that I was gonna say something that might help now, I can't think of it right now. What was it? I really can't think of it. Maybe I'll think of it for the next video, but again, it's helpful to have people that know what they're doing and again, I like how you say we have to know what we're doing, we just can't guess. It's good to know what's behind everything

Rudy K.: I really can't compare it to anything else because I haven't used any other online training courses. Some questions I have, I mean what is the difference between this and using the soloing course that's offered by Stine? I don't know, maybe I should have bought that one, I don't know. The other thing is I don't know if I saw where there's gonna be a lot of examples where again again application examples or even practicing exercises. I see the jam tracks and I see what we're given some things to practice, but I think you need real examples of exercises to be performed, you know, so you know with the different things we saw like playing over the top and on the sides. Okay, where is an exercise for that? Every every technique we would need an exercise rather than just a jam track and just say go do it something to copy explicitly. So I hope that helps again, maybe I'm missing something because again I kinda I'm the type of guy that wants to look at all the modules and then go back and go over them. So I kind of like went over like two thirds of it and then I went back and went over those two thirds again and went over like three or four new modules, hadn't done any jam tracks, so I messed around a little bit, but not very much. So maybe this is an unfair analysis, but I don't think there are exercises out there, I could be wrong

Rudy K.: I would tell people be careful what you're, ordering. It may not be exactly what you need, which may have happened to me. I think what you should do is when you have a new person that has never ordered from you before. You should require them to watch a video of an overview of the different types of courses you have to offer. For example, you would kind of zero in on what they are looking for. Are you looking for lead? Are you looking for retires accords? Okay. So in my case it would have been lied. Okay, so what do you want? What type of lead you want? Country do you want? Rock? Do you want? What else is there? And then explain the differences or the progression. You need to do those because you know, I'm not sure, example you know, improvisation versus actual licks, how tying, putting looks together to make a solo. I've seen videos where a guy did a great explaining how he, you've learned the basic melody, then you work around it and put notes in. Okay. Is that the same? It's different than the improvisation which which is I'm seeing in the front course or soloing course, which is maybe rock soloing is more improvisation. I mean I hear I listen to a country songs and I hear the way the notes they put around the melody and sometimes I think that's my best way of learning. Is it just it's just a note out those songs and then see what they're doing with the melody, and then to me that's kind of a lick, and then I incorporate that, into my, into my playing style, which I do with my balkan music and with some of the country I've been doing. So just to avoid people not getting what they really were looking for, again, I would give them a free course on the different types of, for example, lead soloing there are and make sure that they're getting the one they want, you know, blues versus big band versus rock versus country versus bluegrass. Okay. In my case, I play all of them, so maybe I need a separate course for each one, I don't know. See that's where your introductory video that you would offer, I guess you can't make it mandatory, but offer to somebody to make sure they're getting what they need. So, I hope this helps. Good luck