June 2026 Challenge Submission – Ben C – my first ever submission

[Ben C]

Hello AMers,

This is my first ever challenge submission. It falls on the two year anniversary of me relearning guitar and 5 weeks of learning the bass!

I made up the bassline first and then matched appropriate chords – the E5 and G5 chords.

I improvised over the bass and rhythm although did intend to include the fast lick and tapping parts. So it’s part improvised, part composition.

Technically I have failed my first ever challenge as the lead section contains several chords.

Thanks for taking the time to watch

[Dieter]

Great rocky feeling and excellent lead part.

Dieter

[Ben C]

Thank you kindly.

[Mark T]

Wow, that rocked, Ben 👏👏 – some impressive performing of all parts, particularly your lead playing! Look forward to more challenge responses if this first one is anything to go by – loved it – Mark 👍🎶😎

[Ben C]

Thanks Mark. Appreciate your comment

[Michael Krailo]

Ben, you knocked this one out of the park with those tasty tapping pull-offs. Very creative.

Go slow and practice correct technique, and your abilities will dramatically improve.

• This reply was modified 2 days, 7 hours ago by Michael Krailo.

[Ben C]

Thanks Michael. Appreciate it, as always!

By the way, will be sending you a direct message shortly (wasn’t sure if we get notified of direct messages or not)

[Mike W]

Welcome to the challenges, Ben. That’s a very impressive debut, bit of a masterclass really. A great performance technically and creatively.

[Ben C]

Thank you Mike. What a compliment. Thanks very much for watching 🙂

[Denise]

Great rhythm and bass groove! I like that rock style lead with these tremolos.
Sounding fantastic.
Bravo for playing 3 guitar parts.

More Blues!

[Ben C]

Thanks Denise. It was my first time playing several parts – syncing the audio was a nightmare. But it gave me a well-needed understanding of how rhythm guitar works so was worth it in the end. Thanks for watching

[JoeD1]

I was gobsmacked Ben. That was awesome. Loved the tapping.

Joe

The sight of a touch, or the scent of a sound,
Or the strength of an Oak with roots deep in the ground.
--Graeme Edge

[Ben C]

Thanks Joe! That means a lot – you’ve made my day 😄

[Jonathan Amos]

Good to see some heavy rock on AM for a change. Surprised to read you relearned the guitar, you are at quite a high level of proficiency, very few of us are tappers.

Jonathan Amos, Matsuyama, Japan

[Ben C]

When I say re-learned, I guess it’s probably more accurate to say ‘actually been playing properly for the last two years’.

I stopped when I was 17 or so, sometime after my school music teacher questioned why I had chosen to study music as I ”didn’t know how to play anything”. A friend then accidentally damaged my guitar so I gave up learning (but retained a memory of open chords, pentatonic scales and very basic riffs).

[John H]

Yeah-we need some head-baning’ rock Ben! This is tasty and soulful my friend. Love the groove. Congrats on your first submission. I really like the solo (tapping adds texture). Great work on the bass as well.

John

[Ben C]

Thanks very much John. The first of many submissions I hope!

[Martin W]

Hi Ben , Congrats on your first challenge post ,
You hit the ground running with this one !
Excellent rhythm groove with some tasty lead playing over the top , I’m liking those short phrases with the subtle space in between sounds great .
Keep the challenges coming it’s a great motivator each month.

Martin

[Ben C]

Thanks very much Martin. I’ll definitely be back for more. Hopefully the next one is good too

[Alan L]

Love the heavy groove on this, awesome lead playing too! Great first submission, keep em coming!

[Ben C]

Thanks Alan!

[Manfred M]

Welcome to the challenges, Ben! Your first submission is great! I love the driving sound you achieved. The Ben Band plays really well together. Great work! It makes me look forward to more.

Take the chance to meet your AM friends on Zoom
The next Meetup will be on July 25, 2026

For more information click here

I look forward to meet you.
Manfred

[Ben C]

Haha the Ben Band. I think I’ll be using that when I do more of this style of submission. Thanks for watching 🙂

[James B]

Hey Ben,
Great package you put together for this first challenge. Solid rhythm a cool bass line and some slick lead picking. Welcome to the challenges.

James

[Ben C]

Thanks James!

[Michael L]

Great groove Ben, and welcome to the challenges! This has some of that 60’s heavy rock vibe, and some nice licks.

[Ben C]

Thanks very much

[JoLa]

What in the world, Ben??? I had to go back to your description and double check if you really said just two years of guitar and 5 weeks of bass experience! Sure enough, and this was outstanding! Loved the heavy bass and rhythm guitar in the rhythm section, what a cool groove, almost psychedelic! Your soloing was superb, the short heavily distorted phrases reminded me of Cream era Clapton a bit. And the tapping…. whhaat?! Incredibly well done – and that includes the videography, how skillfully you organized everything into a nice visual. Excellent work, can’t wait to hear more from you – welcome to the AM Forum Challenges!

🎸JoLa

[Ben C]

Thanks so much for your comment, I appreciate it.

I think it’s perhaps a bit disingenuous of me to say 2 years guitar experience as I did learn some basics and riffs as a teenager but I wouldn’t say it was ‘real playing’. I’ve been really dedicated since relearning and this community has helped massively

[sunjamr]

Excellent job, Ben. If I’m hearing it correctly, I think the extra chords you refer to are just brief transition chords, not actual chord changes lasting for 1 or more bars. In other words, I could grab my rhythm guitar and just play a steady E chord pattern throughout your whole performance. Am I wrong?

Sunjamr Steve

[Ben C]

Correct!

[AndréM]

Welcome to the challenges.
Nice rocky vibe.
Well done.

AndréM

AndréM

[Ben C]

Many thanks

[David H]

Failed? Hardly, most excellent rocking lead work there.

[Ben C]

I accidentally included a few chords in my lead playing. But either way I had a blast!

[Michael Krailo]

Ben C wrote:

Haha the Ben Band. I think I’ll be using that when I do more of this style of submission. Thanks for watching 🙂

And lets not forget Ben Bends 🙂

Go slow and practice correct technique, and your abilities will dramatically improve.

[Ben C]

Haha love it

[Bill]

🤘🤘welcome to the challenges Ben. Don’t think I’ve ever heard anyone tap on an AM post before! Sounding good man!

[Ben C]

Haha I don’t think it’s anything I’ll add again. Will try and stick to more blues going forward!

[Alan O]

Dude, that rocked! Welcome to the challenges and that was a top shelf first submission.

Alan

[Ben C]

Thanks Alan. Appreciate it!

[Author]

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