Recorded Instructional Content

Art of The Riff

Al Joseph, Chief Instructor of The ShredFest Academy

This ever-growing epic course dives deep into the essence of writing riffs, drum grooves, solos and musical passages. Master the art of song form in a way that will help you take small ideas and turn them into beautiful music. You’ll also learn the art of groove writing and mixing for drums. You’ll be guided through the basics all the way to odd time signatures, polyrhythms, and syncopation.

🔘 25+ Video Lessons

🔘 Riff Arrangment Classroom

🔘 Groove Writing Classroom

🔘 Odd Time Signature Classroom

🔘 Polyrhythmic Classroom

🔘 Drum Studio Masterclass (Bonus)

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Art of The Riff

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Art of The Riff

01 Struggling with writer's block? This epic masterclass is for the songwriter-at-heart who is looking to boost their creativity without limitation. This masterclass covers song form, arranging techniques, groove writing, and even drum processing at home. You'll acquire the tools needed to write epic passages and even guitar lines by harness the power of arranging within weeks of study.

Learning Level

Beginner Guitarists

Prerequisite

some experience in songwriting and playing the guitar.

Action Plan

Applying riffs and grooves to song form to create beautiful passages.

Compose Your Best Music

02 We're going to help you write killer riffs and craft a great song. The first step is showing you how to write a full song form outline in one day as a guide, then applying different groove writing and arrangement tools to bring more color and creative elements out in your music.

Reviews of AJ's Teachings

03 "I can assure you guys, the UGP Program is totally worth it. Go for it!"

David Demetrio

ShredFest VIP Member

"I'm having the most fun I've had in a long time. Thanks, AL!"

Joey Hocking

ShredFest Member

"This program provides the tools you need to take your playing to the next level!"

Yensa Reyes

ShredFest VIP Member

"I can assure you guys, the UGP Program is totally worth it. Go for it!"

Jawan Neal

ShredFest VIP Member

"I'm having the most fun I've had in a long time. Thanks, AL!"

Pete De

ShredFest VIP Member

"This program provides the tools you need to take your playing to the next level!"

Jon Smee

ShredFest Member

"I can assure you guys, the UGP Program is totally worth it. Go for it!"

Eric Beaty

ShredFest Member

"I'm having the most fun I've had in a long time. Thanks, AL!"

Frank

ShredFest Member

"This program provides the tools you need to take your playing to the next level!"

Ocean Ging

ShredFest VIP Member

"I highly recommend working with AL because he's a phenomenal teacher and a great dude!"

Russ Edwards

ShredFest Member

"After 50 years of having a guitar in my hands, I can't say enough about this program!"

Jeff Dobson

ShredFest VIP Member

"I highly recommend AL's teachings to every guitarist out there struggling with their playing!"

Pablo Wunderlich

ShredFest Member

How It Works

04 Master Song Form

Create a roadmap for your song in one day so you can use the full extent of your creativity, breaking writer's block for good.

Integrate Arrangement Tools

Clean up transitions or connect ideas seamlessly to create beautiful melodies and chord progression.

Harness Grooves to Write More Complete Riffs

Expand on your current ideas and create a complete song out of them.

Produce Great Sounding Drums

So you have a way of field testing your riffs, making sure they sound slear and coherent for all member of the band.

Who Is This For?

05 This course is for the technicians of the instrument. The true shred enthusiast.

For the problem solver. For the outside thinker. For the action-taker.

My story starts with a record called "Surfing With The Alien" by Joe Satriani. When I first started playing I always craved more. More notes, more modes, a greater challenge that surpases my current level. This body of work spurred this craving and I've been hooked ever since.

If you've experienced something like this, then I belive this course will truly resonate with you.

If you consider yourself a hard worker yet looking to save huge amounts of time while getting immense results in your technical proficiency. Then you and I are already on the right page. Let's get to work.

Al Joseph

Chief Instructor of The ShredFest Academy

Meet Your Instructor

06 Al Joseph

Chief Instructor of The ShredFest Academy

AJ began his Professional Career as a lead guitarist after his brief time at world-renown music school Berklee College of Music. His 2013 debut record, "Out In The Open" caught the attention of Jan Cyrka, the legendary founder of Jam Track Central. This put Al along-side the worlds most prolific modern guitar artists such as Guthrie Govan, Andy James, Marco Sfogli and so much more.

After a decade of shredding heads he noticed a real need in the guitar community, that so many other guitar enthusiasts yearned to play better thus sharing their own passion for the guitar as well. Now it's AJ’s mission in life to share his knowledge of over two decades with guitarists all around the world who are striving to enhance their skills as well. Welcome to the ShredFest Academy!

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Syllabus

07 I'm confident you'll make the progress you need to make throughout this course because the same methods have worked for me. I'm no god. I'm just a nerd who loves to work hard and do what he loves.

Course Curriculum

Riff Arrangement Tools

In this section you'll uncover the tools for breaking out of writer's block. We'l cover how to create a song road map and understanding song form. Then go onto talk about how to write riffs and create transitions that bring ideas together in a listenable way. Just beautiful.

Groove Writing Part 1

Now it's time to learn how to write drum grooves and the important functions of the kick and snare drums for reinforcing heavy guitar riffs.

Groove Writing Part 2

In this section you'll learn how to fortify your arrangements with odd time signatures.

Groove Writing Part 3

We cover advanced groove writing techniques like polyrhythms and the creative use of subdivisions.

Groove Writing Part 4

We wrap this groove writing section up with the use of drum fills to add variation to your riffs.

Drum Studio Mastery

In this new addition you'll learn basic and advanced drum processing techniques that will help your your drums slap hard. this way you'll have a better idea of how your riffs will sound in the final stages of your song.