Lukas

For “More Than a Feeling,” focus on the following areas:

  • Practise moving from bar 102 into bar 103, with particular attention to the coordination in bar 103.
  • Make sure you understand how the eighth-note subdivision in bar 102 connects to the sixteenth-note subdivision in bar 103.
  • Review bars 115 and 119 carefully. These bars are similar, and their muscle memory occasionally became mixed up during the play-through.
  • Practise bars 115 and 119 back-to-back. This will force you to switch quickly between the two patterns and help you recognize exactly how they differ.

Next week, we will play through the entire song. Please also choose the next song you would like to learn.

Finn

We spent most of today’s lesson notating the chorus pattern for “Imposter.”

The main areas to practise are:

  • The two-bar fill at the end of the chorus
  • Identifying the single 2/4 bar that appears immediately before the fill

The shortened 2/4 bar may feel confusing at first, so keep counting carefully and notice how it changes the length of the phrase. We will spend more time identifying and feeling this metric change next week.

Once the chorus feels comfortable, we will begin connecting the sections and playing through the entire song.

Aleksander

We focused on the guitar-solo section of “Smooth Criminal” today. Please study this section carefully at home, especially the second line.

  • Follow the notated sticking closely so that you do not become tripped up by the passage.
  • If the coordination feels difficult, separate the hands from the bass drum.
  • Learn the rhythm with the hands first.
  • Once the rhythmic material feels familiar, add the bass drum back in gradually.

Guitar Solo Sticking

Koel

We played through the entirety of “YYZ” this week. Most passages are flowing nicely and being played accurately, but the tempo is not yet consistent between sections.

This often happens when moving between eighth-note and sixteenth-note patterns. Make sure you are subdividing carefully during every transition.

  • Isolate the transitions between sections.
  • Practise them with a metronome at a slower tempo.
  • Make sure the pulse remains unchanged when the subdivision changes.
  • Gradually increase the tempo only when the transitions feel stable.

Koel mentioned that he sometimes plays a section faster to accommodate the double-bass-drum part. If that is the necessary tempo for the double pedal, use it as the tempo for the entire song. Practise all the other sections with a metronome at that speed so the whole performance remains consistent.

Next week, we will play with the recording and choose a new song to learn.

Renaud

We polished the main groove of “Back in Black” and played it with the recording.

Renaud can maintain the groove until the vocal enters, when the guitar riff becomes more difficult to hear. Continue listening carefully for the guitar:

  • Use the guitar riff as your rhythmic anchor.
  • Notice how the drum pattern connects with the guitar.
  • Keep the pulse steady even when the texture of the song becomes busier.

We also introduced the chorus pattern and discussed the lyrics that can act as cues for preparing the fill.

The goal for next week is to play from the beginning of the song through the end of the chorus. We will then begin looking for a new song.