Going to audition for Advance Guitar in Highschool some suggestions.

[Lambo Biker]

This August I'm going to enter my freshman year in high school. One course I wanna take is advanced guitar. I do understand that each high school advance guitar course is different but could anyone give some general advice on the audition for the class. What would be the best song to play to get in? Also are there any scales that I should be aware of in my audition. Like the guy in charge of the audition would be like play the Spanish Phrygin scale in E. In general are they judging your ability on Technical stuff like Sweep Picking or stuff like reading music? Thanks

[Disco Dave]

Re: Going to audition for Advance Guitar in Highschool some suggestions.

Where are you from!!!??? I wish my high school had a fricken guitar course. What the crap? I'm a Sophomore and my high school sucks!

[777SteveVai777]

Re: Going to audition for Advance Guitar in Highschool some suggestions.

I've never even frikkin' heard of any high schools that have courses like that.

[hollow08]

Re: Going to audition for Advance Guitar in Highschool some suggestions.

"Spanish Phrygin scale in E"

What the HELL is that?

[Number Of The Priest]

Re: Going to audition for Advance Guitar in Highschool some suggestions.

I had a beginner's acoustic guitar class at my school. I got a 91% in it, probably because I was not a beginner. The class was offered to Grade 10s, but I was in my senior year last year, but still allowed to enroll and get my credits to move on to university. There's an advanced one now for Grade 11s, but since I was in my senior year last year, I graduated before the advanced course was offered. Oh well!

I didn't have to audition. People whom I've talked to on message boards who have had guitar classes at high school didn't need auditions either. Seems a little strange to have that...

I guess my advice would be to display an all-around ability. A little bit of technical ability (a knowledge of chords, flatpicking/fingerpicking/fingerstyle, little guitar tricks like vibrato/hammer-ons/pull-offs/bending) combined with a little understanding of musical theory, and the ability to play alongside others in time and in key. And maybe your personality would have something to do with it too. [img]images/icons/smile.gif[/img]

Good luck. [img]images/icons/smile.gif[/img]

[Newc]

Re: Going to audition for Advance Guitar in Highschool some suggestions.

I took Jazz III in High School "Back in the Day" (86) but it was for Advanced players - nice of em to tell me that sh!t BEFORE I wasted their time AND mine. I expected them to teach me to play, but all I got out of it was how to read notation.
Anyways, there was no audition for my class, but I assume that things have changed since then (even in Public Schools) what with "everyone and their mother" playing guitar, the school only has a need/funding for one guitarist in the school band/orchestra (if that's what this is for), and they wanna make sure they're not holding advanced players back by putting beginners in there, and don't wanna bore the highly advanced players with redundant lessons they already know.

I'd say play everything you possibly can, in a structured/composed format - not jumping from Bach to Megadeth, but maybe gracefully alternating between the two, playing familiar popular melodies in different "feels" - like playing Traditional arrangements in a Swing or Blues or even Classical meter.
You'd be surprised how some people find Bourree' in E Minor with a Swing meter fascinating.
You can also throw other Classical pieces around in Blues or BeBop timings for shock value. [img]images/icons/smile.gif[/img]

Find out what the instructor listens to for recreation, then adopt some of that into your audition.
Just remember that if you're too advanced, they'll declare you as such and you won't get to take the course.
On the other hand, the instructor could be a real d!ck about petty things like proper elbow position, having your fingers perfectly parallel to the frets and not angled even the slightest, in which case you wouldn't want the class.

Find out if there even IS an audition first, and if so it will probably be acoustics-only (ask first), so practice your audition material only on the acoustic if it's acoustic only.
You can generally get a little rougher fingerpicking an acoustic than an electric, and acoustics depend on your technique to control the volume. If you're not used to making an acoustic run the spectrum from Concert volume to whispering notes, you'd better brush up.

Newc

[IRM]

Re: Going to audition for Advance Guitar in Highschool some suggestions.

I'm in an "advanced" guitar class in my high school. I just sort of sit in there and practice sweep arpeggios and modes and stuff while everyone else is trying to nail "House of the Rising Sun". Seeing as most young guitarists nowadays suck, you shouldn't have too much trouble getting in as long as you display basic playing techniques.

[PowerTube]

Re: Going to audition for Advance Guitar in Highschool some suggestions.

Just play Yngwie's Trilogy Suite Opus 5 with your teeth. Then, when the instructor goes to change his underwear, write your name on the "accepted" list.
[img]images/icons/grin.gif[/img]

[nor]

Re: Going to audition for Advance Guitar in Highschool some suggestions.

1.Understand the environment.
It's difficult to meet expectations when you don't know what those expectations are. Have your mom call the school and get the specifics of the course.

Information is empowering when possessed, and crippling when it is not.

2.Embrace your limitations.
Approach the audition with confidence by showcasing your strengths, as opposed to trumpeting your weaknesses. If there are prerequistes, attain the necessary skills/knowledge - then focus on what you are already good at.

Simple pieces played well - with emotion and enthusiasm - have a far more positive impact than difficult pieces played fairly. In fact, keeping it simple can more challenging (and impressive) to nail. Slapping together a 1024 note series of sweeps will have far less impact than some nicely phrased runs over a nice melody - at least for the initial audition.

A NOTE ON SWEEPING...
If you can't do it clean, with no distortion or effects - then you can't do it. Expect to be challenged on this...

3. Be yourself, and have fun!
Remember - this isn't as much about what they expect of you, as it is what you expect of them! It's your education, your future.

GOOD LUCK!

---------
..um, you can actually play, right?
[img]images/icons/grin.gif[/img] j/k

[Alexi7]

Re: Going to audition for Advance Guitar in Highschool some suggestions.

Great advice Newc and Nor!!!! Man, ill need that when i start my auditions to get into the Conservatorium of Music here in Sydney (or bachelor of music at the UNSW), next year. Ill have to mix it up between classically influenced stuff, and bluesy stuff.
Cheers

[Newc]

Re: Going to audition for Advance Guitar in Highschool some suggestions.

Just remember, most Classical fans are Puritans about it - if you saw Crossroads and expect to throw in a Blues progression at the end of something by Fernando Sor, forget it. If the instructor is a die-hard Classical fanatic, he'll either throw you out of the window or smash your guitar in disgust.
Play what the instructor likes, the way he likes it, along with something you wrote that several different people honestly like. Be yourself, but decide what your immediate goal is - expressing your individuality/artistic voice or getting in?
Remember, even if they tell you day after day that you're wasting your time playing "Rock and Roll", smile and nod at the idiots and take as much knowledge from them as you can.
My music instructor in High School was a Big Band Swing and Jazz freak - he said to me "I'll bet you in 10 years you won't be listening to that Rock stuff".
That was 16 years ago, and I've got Black Sabbath's "We Sold Our Souls for Rock And Roll" in the car, along with "Holy Diver", Triumph's "Classics", and "Powerslave", and I just bought Vice City for the PS2 and always put it on the Rock station (Twisted Sister, Lizzy Borden, Alcatrazz, Autograph, Megadeth, etc etc) - the same stuff I was listening to in 86 [img]graemlins/laugh.gif[/img]
Come to think of it, the game is set in 86.
Hmmmmm.

Of course, I also listen to Glenn Miller and Vivaldi, but I always have - even before I became a Metalhead [img]images/icons/smile.gif[/img]

Newc

[nor]

Re: Going to audition for Advance Guitar in Highschool some suggestions.

Originally posted by Alexi7:
Great advice Newc and Nor!!!!

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">For the record - it's Nor and Newc. not the other way around..
[img]graemlins/refuse.gif[/img]

[Lambo Biker]

Re: Going to audition for Advance Guitar in Highschool some suggestions.

Thanks a lot for all the info. Well I think I'm going to play two songs. The first is Eruption to show my technical skills. The second song I'll play is Romanze to show that I can play slow beatiful acoustic pieces. But I'll call the guy and talk to him about music and try to get the guy to like me. Practing isn't much of a problem cause I have no life and I play guitar for hours [img]images/icons/smile.gif[/img] Also I think I'm a pretty rounded guitar player cause I love all guitar and try to play everything from Yngwie Malmsteen to Al DiMeola. My biggest thing to remeber is to stay relaxed so I can play my best. [img]graemlins/band.gif[/img]

[Chuckracer]

Re: Going to audition for Advance Guitar in Highschool some suggestions.

Damn, Nor!
You are one long-winded MF!

...I guess I knew that. Thats why I don't call! [img]images/icons/wink.gif[/img]