Modulation Music Theory? | Q+A #46
ฝัง
- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 12 ก.ย. 2024
- Also, how to deal with critique, how to get a clean, punchy bass sound, and what fuels our rhythmic perception of time.
Many thanks to Squiggledig Animations, Antonio Rivera Torres, oddboy18, Jacob Ingram, Sambba83, Émile St.Pierre, Mario Christofi, maidpretty, Graham Connor Hudson Jameson, Anna Maxwell, rolfvdhulst, Zach Howarth, and Asmodean Underscore for your insightful questions!
Steve Lehman thesis
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Black Angels
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Evan Marien x Dana Hawkins
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Jojo Mayer Nerve
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0:14 What’s the deal with George Crumb’s Black Angels?
1:30 Does modulating up a half step make a “brighter sound?”
3:52 Is working with Sibelius a good way to learn music notation?
5:37 What guitar parts should I play on songs that don’t have guitar on them?
6:56 How do you get a clear, punchy bass tone?
8:16 What tips do you have for me in arranging a pop song in a jazz context?
10:34 What groups are similar to your band, Sungazer?
11:34 NAMM is comic-con for musicians
11:47 Why don’t you teach at University?
12:27 How do you deal with critique?
14:39 What fuels our rhythmic perception of time? Is it common physical activities?
15:41 What are the modern trends in jazz and classical music?
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Peace,
Adam
Dear Adam, why did you cut off your bald?
It grew too much
i just realised this guy chose to be bald in his 20s lol
@@onesyphorus just in case you still don't know, he went bald because it was cheaper.
jciyk, after 2020, various supplies in USA have risen significantly, aka inflation @@GoobyShears
11:47
When the name is so long the lick has to improvise
Prästen LMAO I HEARD IT AND I HAD TO SEE IF ANYONE ELSE NOTICED
yeah immediately came to the comments :D
Prästen I didn’t catch this. Thank you so much!!!
That name is actually slightly tongue twisty.
LOLLLL 😂😂😂😂
Question for Q&A:
If your name is Adam Neely, why are you always sitting in these videos? Thanks!
Wow.
It's not Adam Kneely, you know
Yeah, it doesn't add up
HAAAAAA puns
If this were reddit, you would have gotten some gold.
Dude... you look great with hair
Right?
... I actually think he looks better without it.
Wow thanks! I’m glad you feel that way about me!
@@jeim376 😂
Holy shit, hair.
I am hair to answer all your Questio... what?!
He looks good with Longthony Hairtano
Hairy shit, hole!
Wait. What?
Hairy hole, shit.
He killed a raccoon and stole its pelt.
I only JUST realised that the music that plays when you start the questions is the lick. That took way too long to notice.
Me too
Both of you can turn your credibility in at the door on the way out. Thank you (jk - it's so flaky and flouncy I missed the first time I watched a Q & A).
How can you miss that, it’s like the main reason I watch these Q&As :P
this is why aural classes are necessary
Hee hee, I realized that the FIRST time.
A Q for your next video: This is totally hypothetical, but what new music genres do you see in the future? Its easy to look at the history and se why certain music got popular. Most radically different genres has their beginning in new types of instruments or techniques that has been developed IMO. Distortion -> Metal, Electric guitar -> Blues rock, Production -> Pop, Syntheziser -> Synth. But before the syntheziser was invented it would be a enormous leap to envision what synth music would sound like. So, that said, 10 years from now, what do you see happening musicwise and would it fit within our definition of music?
Lars-David Zackarias Nordin super interesting question! I second this!
AI-generated music, maybe?
Garage pop.
depends if there's still humans around by then, or if so, what level of "civilization" we have by then; maybe electricity will become such a scarse commodity that acoustic will be the norm again.. But yeah, interesting question!!
@@kristofwynants wow, I never thought about electricity and Music in the future.
On the subject of accepting criticism.... It's hard hearing things initially, but you would be shocked at how you feel about those criticisms over time...
I'm a music producer and because of that I'm constantly submitting my work to artists, labels, other producers and even blogs. In m case what always happens is that I'll submit a song I produced, get rejected or criticized, and then just feel bad, confused, disheartened and often disagree with the reviewer. However as weeks or months go by, fixes for those critiques manifest in those productions and new productions. Over time, I realize that I may agree with the criticism once my emotions and defensiveness has become numb to it.
You don't have to agree with all criticism, but you should be open to the idea that your ego is working against you in this facet of your craft. Given enough time with any valid critique, you may realize how much it helps you.
Dude whats that thing in your head
gabriel77196 his brain
His follicles djent! Question answered.
gabriel77196 black angels
gabriel77196 lol
raptor feathers
I absolutely love how Steely Dan incorporates mu chords in their songs!
don’t we call them add 9?
Did you say Dadam Neely? At the beginning.
Hose Dadam Neely.
Nice hair!
Guess he's a surrealist
Holy Shit, He did that!
Steely Dan? Neely Dam.
What do you think about Rocksmith as a way to learn bass? I find a lot of people knocking it, but when I ask why they give really absurd reasons that lead me to believe they don't know anything about it and just demean it because it's a "video game."
Everyone is different, but for me as a life-long gamer and one who doesn't learn through structured teaching well, it's more my speed. I am very visual and game-ifying my experience has kept me motivated. I also get to stream it on my Twitch channel to my viewers as "gaming content." I understand that it won't teach me theory, or be as comprehensive as if I had a teacher such as yourself (:P), but I think it is certainly better for ME than a random rickety old tutor I could find here in Vegas.
I just started watching your stuff and I appreciate the bass info combined with the philosophical discussion. Your brain is sexy. :D
I'd recommend it. It's pretty much guitar hero with a real instrument. It's fun, and I think it would be a good learning tool. It doesn't have much for music theory, or correct hand positions (it tries to do this), or having a straight wrist blah, blah. If you are having trouble with a part, it can't help you figure out how to play it better, only tell you that it isn't hearing the right notes at the right times. I think Rocksmith plus something else would be good.
Hey! I know this was posted years ago but I used Rocksmith to start on bass (eventually decided I prefer guitar), and it was amazing. Mostly it sparked interest and got me to learn the basics, but it can go even beyond that into more difficult songs. No one should knock it if it works for you
i thought i was a lesbian. then i saw adam with hair. guess not.
OliviaPi
You got me !
Ahahah 😂😂😂
I mean he kinda looks like a lesbian soooooo that might be why you find him attractive lmaoooo
Pretty sure I'm gay. Then I saw Adam with hair. Yeah, definitely gay.
I thought I were straight...
I thought I was bi but then I saw Adam with hair and nothing changed.
13:30 This discussion on ego, critique, and performance is just so excellent... and applicable to all professions. Awesome. Thanks.
question and answer time with Adam Hairy
byrne You forgot the 'Ya'!
Long time lurker here. I took part in a perfomance of Black Angels by Pacifica Quartet as Front Of House Engineer. The score is a masterpiece even to look at and Crumb managed to make it incredibly clear even if it includes non musical sounds and notation on how to apply reverb dynamically to the perfomance. Even if that was years ago it's still one of the achievements I am most proud of. Thank you very much Adam for making me think of it!
Thanks for another informative video. I wish we had something like this when I was "up and coming" (that would be the late 1960's). Keep up the good work; I always look forward to your new releases.
Thanks again for answering my question! It's really helpful to hear your perspective on music. Keep up the good work
Hey, Adam
I'm an aspiring composer, and I have loved watching your videos, and thanks to all the things you've taught me about music, and life in general. That being said, I do have a few questions about composing and music in general. (P.S. I'm still leaening music theory so excuse me if I use the wrong vocab at any point)
First one is an easy one. I heard from a friend that an easy way to make a harmony is to have another voice play two whole steps down from the main melody, essentially creating a third. (I.e. in the key of C major, having a melody play the notes G E A G in the upper voice, and in the lower voice have them play E C F E) I've been using this method for most of my compositions and it seems to work, though I would like to know a professional's opinion.
Secondly, I've found that lately I tend to want to create music as opposed to playing music. (I play the cello and piano). I usually play the cello fine, because I have to in an orchestra, but as for piano, I'm self taught, so everything I do on it is my choice. I'm just wondering if It's a good thing that I'm focusing on the technical and composition aspect, or should I be worried and try to play more music? Thanks
Hey Adam - Here's a question for the next Q&A
I am a music teacher here in NYC. A few weeks ago I was introducing my 6th graders to the concept of Musical Form. It turned into a very rich and enjoyable discussion; they eventually arrived at the questions "Does all music have form" and "If not all music has form, then how can you tell if a piece DOESN'T have form"? My response was that "if it has repetition, it has form". I know that is a reductive answer, but it was the best I could do on the spot. I realized that while I can very comfortably explain what form IS, it is much more challenging to describe what form ISN'T (especially since "repetition" is a subjective term). What are your thoughts on this? What constitutes form? Is there such a thing as truly "formless" music?
Thanks for the videos!
Woo Yay....it's Monday and Adam's posted something
Great job as always. I’m catching up! One of the best things about music is that there’s always more!
Thanks Adam,
Josh
Adam, thanks for doing what you do.
For the next Q&A:
One of the things you harp on a LOT is proper hand placement when playing bass. Recently I started playing bass in a couple different bands, and I'm noticing that it's nearly impossible for me to play octaves (with the index finger on the root and the pinky two frets and two strings up) way down low on the neck (G or F) without bending my wrist a lot. It hasn't been a problem in my traditional guitar playing, but one of the bass songs I'm doing requires me to alternate between G and F octaves (using a pick to strum all four strings, but muting the A and G strings). I started to get carpal tunnel symptoms this week and I immediately thought about your videos. How do you play octaves that low on the neck properly? Thank you!
Rob Agocs I have the same issue I hope this gets answered
(just posting an answer here in case of an update)
Thank you for your videos. You are a light of genuine curiosity. You have awoken my spark for music. Please keep doing this!
I don't understand the "brighter" vs "darker" at all, when talking about going around the circle of 5ths. I feel like the octave range chosen and the closeness of intervals within a chord affects brightness way more than the fact that you added one more sharp/natural to the key signature. Is it all relative to the key that you "started" in?
Does it "reset" once you hit the bottom of the circle? (Gb/F#)?
And if it doesn't reset, that makes it even more confusing--take for example Scenario (a.) you start in F Major. You go in the "brighter" direction and eventually modulate the G major. G major is brighter! However, take Scenario (b.) You start in G major and modulate in the "brighter" direction around the circle until you finish in F Major. Now F major is the brighter one? Can both be simultaneously true? Were you "constantly getting brighter"? What if you modulated through all 12 keys, are you even brighter than when you started or are you back at square one? Help me Adam.
I guess I can help with that. It's not relative to the key you "started" in, it's relative to the key you were just before the key you are now. This answer the first and the scenario (b.) question, I will explain that better. It doesn't reset once you hit the bottom of the circle. (unless you have absolute pitch, or even, actually I don't know how people with absolute pitch feel about it) There's no absolute value of brightness for each key, the brightness is always relative to the previous key. The brightness is more related to the *movement* of modulating, more than with the key itself. About the scenarios. (a.) If you start in F major and go to G major it will be brighter, it's clear. But for scenario (b.) it's actually two scenarios, if you go directly from G to F, it will feel darker, but if you go around jumping in brighter direction going from G to A, to E, to F#, to Eb and then F, you will have to ask this question for each modulation and each one will be a brighter type of modulation. I'm saying it based on the what I understand of the simplest explanation I saw (the major key happy video) and from what I really feel when I try myself to explore modulations. I can really feel what's this brightness and darkness feeling and I'm sure you can feel it too, just don't know that "that special little feeling" is exactly that, you know what I mean? I suggest to you to listen to a song called "Grow Wings" by Maxo, it's a really electronic song with many modulations. At the end (around 2:41 when the woman sings "on my mind") he starts a series of modulations in the bright direction. Try to feel that!! let the song carry you, like when you go to the beach you can force to stay firm on water but you can also relaxe and let the water carry you where it wants you to go. It's hard to explain, but I can both don't feel anything when I listen to that and I can also get carried away if I let and feel really faaaaaaaaaaar. I don't know how to explain that very well, but that moment of the song is a perfect example for that.
I think it comes down to context again? Like if you started in Gmaj and modulated clockwise, it might feel brighter when you end Fmaj, it may feel brighter, but is because before you got to the F, you've been on D♭ which would be much darker than either, so comparatively F now feels much brighter than when you started, but only because you've went much darker first. I saw a video with Jacob Collier the other day and I think he was saying that he finds that harmonic progression can express major/minor or dark/bright better than you can by playing a Cmin rather than Cmaj or an Amin rather than Cmaj. I think?
I think the deciding factor during modulation is not the color (brightness/darkness) of the keys but, as you said, the octave range and direction of modulation. If you modulated up 12 times by half step, you would be back at square one but a whole octave higher, which would be very tense. Rather than thinking about modulating to a key for its inherent brightness, think about modulating in a direction for more or less tension. How smoothly you modulate (direct modulation versus pivot chord) is also a factor.
The brightness/darkness analogy makes the most sense imo when talking about keys individually, statically. Should I make my song in the key of A minor? That would be somewhat bright. If you instead transposed the whole song/piece to Bb minor, as a whole it sounds darker. But having a direct modulation in the piece up a half step? That would introduce a lot of tension, which dwarfs any slight difference in brightness.
Doug Nulton I don't think I've seen your hair this long since your early lessons
I think we have to forget a little the real definition of the words "brightness" and "darkness". There's something that changes one way with clockwise modulations and changes in another way in another direction. Musicians call it "brightness", but because there's no other word to describe it. You guys are talking about what you feel as "brightness" and not exactly what we call "brightness" in the context of modal modulation. And I agree with you. Octave range and spread of voicing is really a key definition of brightness, but this is not the same brightness, it's just one word to describe two different things. The first thing is something we all understand as brightness, the second thing is something different but similar to what we understand as brightness and which is really difficult to describe and that by lack of better word it's called brightness, but, as far as know, it's officially called brightness.
About modulating up 12 times by half step, it doesn't necessarily lead to an octave higher, mostly we want a nice voice leading that the notes aren't going in the same direction, and we don't need to modulate to the same mode in each key if we want the best result possible. Half-step is a really far modulation, the first one will already be very tense.
Allan, you're awesome. You help me (and others) to learn more or wander about different subjects even when the subject is not one of my concerns. Thanks a lot man, I hope you keep up the great work for years! I'll colaborate with your patreon ASAP. Hugs from Brazil!
Like you said at the end of the video jazz influence has really spread in the last 20-30 years. From pop songs with some jazzy bass lines to fusion genres with electronic and personal favorite jazz metal. (Athiest and cynic are killer)
The way you approach music is phenomenal. I hope you realize that your ear and empathy encompass the things that people like me who do not have the back ground to access jazz culture and knowledge much less academic insight to composition unless we seek it out via school and thus $$. Bc of you I can hope to be one of the musicians that understands what he is hearing in any genre and is then able to put it back together in a new way that will allow us to find whatever is the next cultural music shift like what it was with rap or blues/rock. You're translating the Bible to vernacular for musicians and I hope you become the Martin Luther of jazz and music education. Much love, a fan and hopefully soon a patron.
Jojo Mayer is one of my idols. Creativity overflows in his work.
Congratulations on getting to lead your first team to notable performances! Leadership gives you the opportunity to really draw out what is good around you.
Hey Adam, thanks for your helpful tipps and advices, I really respect your knowledge and your work that you put into these videos. My question is: Do you have any advice on how to get into the music business/scene? How did you became a professional musician after graduating at berklee?
Thanks for these videos Adam! I always learn something new! Keep it up my friend!
How about dyeing your hair pink?
PanosOsbourne and becoming a rapper
PanosOsbourne and playing bari sax
Yea Nah that Wouldnt go Well with his eyes. Navy Blue fucboi-dropfade is where It’s at
PanosOsbourne but like not super dark navy just dark blue
luchadorito
Burgundy would work well.
Great videos Adam! Keep up the great work. You’re a huge source of inspiration and knowledge!
Hello Adam, I just saw your comment from 9 months ago on one of Tolgahan Çoğulu's videos. What are your thoughts on maqam music (like Tolgahan plays) and microtonal music in general?
Thank you so much for the thoughtful answer, Adam. Maybe one of these days I'll submit a piece for critique!
Hi there, I've just gone back to see this video and really liked your question. Hopefully Adam's advice has helped you! I thought I'd give a piece of advice that my old housemate (now a very successful drummer) once gave me. He said that to receive a criticism or constructive feedback is the highest form of compliment that a musician can receive. For someone to be able to help (and WANT to help) you improve means that they, as an audience member, were listening so closely to what you were playing, how you were performing and everything else that goes along with that, that they were able to pinpoint aspects that can be improved on. For them to give criticism means they had to be significantly engaged in your performance.
So don't necessarily think of it as a point against you, it's that they were paying great attention to you and are giving you their input on how you can improve yourself.
All the best, Jordan.
For the next Q & A:
I'm a trombone player and I've always wondered something and you may be able to answer it. Like any instrument there are partials, starting with "pedal Bb" for trombone. However an interesting thing about trombone is the "false tones" series. These do not exist in the harmonic series. (Here's video if you're interested in hearing what they sound like: th-cam.com/video/SosHHLJ8Skk/w-d-xo.html) They don't sound as nice as the normal partials but they still have a clear pitch.
Knowing the basic physics behind partials, I'm wondering how these "false tones" exist and if there are other examples in other instruments/sounds.
It may have something to do with "subharmonics," I have an older video where I talk about that stuff! "Subharmonic Music"
Adam Neely Thanks! I'll go check it out!
are you referring to notes below pedal E, or notes between low E and pedal Bb on a straight trombone? Either way, I think this is mostly taking the nearest fundamental and bending it down, which can go very far because the partials are so far away down there.
EDIT: replying to OP not Adam
Billy Garvey it doesn't feel like bending down tho. it feels like an entirely different partial. if it were bending down i could create infinite partials technically
engifear I'm a trumpet player and I know my way around a trombone. I'm guessing the reason most bends feel like they do is because you're balancing lowering the pitch with stopping it from slipping into the next partial. When this barrier is removed, it feels much more open and easy. This could be entirely wrong, or there could be more to it, but this is my take on how false tones work.
And yes, bending down infinitely will create lower pitches, but is limited by physics and personal skill, for the same reason you can't ascend infinitely
Hey Adam, I don't have a question, but I just wanted to say thank you for you and your channel for essentially getting me back into music again. I had several crises in the past and decided to quite writing and playing altogether for some years. Thanks to your channel I have been inspired to write again, and I've found myself more actively listening to music (mainly prog rock, but some classical and jazz) and getting those influences going again. Keep up the great work!
Hair. Wow
woW .riaH
Hey Adam, how are you :-) This morning when I decided to play your new video as "light watching" during my breakfast, it struck me that I have been folloing you for almost a year now and that there are so many more topics in one given video now that I can understand lol. Made me feel quite happy and pleased with myself for all the study that I have done over the past year, and then I arrived at the moment in the video where someone asked wether you would like to be a university teacher. That is quite interesting because recently I have also watched a couple of Berklee online videos and I feel that what you are doing is so much more valuable. Not that there wasnt the odd useful bit of information in the Berklee videos that I have seen, there was, but on the whole I feel that every LECTURER that I have seen was totally replaceable and in fact some non-academic youtubers have explained similar content better. What you are doing on the other hand is very unique as far as I can tell, I dont know anybody who could replace you. As I said above, when I started following you, I had a really hard time to understand many of the things you were saying because I had next to no theoretical background. And at the same time, you are not focussing on one topic, you seem to be jumping around to whatever you find interesting or what your followers ask you, so this is a lot like the idea of a "Studium Generale", expanding ones horizon for the sake of becoming more knowledgeable, not for the sake of getting this or that done, and I think that is beautiful. Also I have been thinking many times that you have a really good screen presence which is probably why I have managed to stick around in spite of finding a lot of your content intimidating at first, and to go back once again to my experience of watching Berklee online videos, a lot of these peoples screen presence struck me as ludicrous, very much "teacher on telly" like. So my suggestion would be, if you want to expand your work beyond your current youtube videos, maybe you could think of working as a presentor for other contents as well. Dont do "classical" teaching, it would be such a waste of your talent lol :-D
I always wanted to play the guitar
But the beginning always seemed so slow and frustrating
godtoHrD it is. It only becomes fun when you can play a song you know, then moving on to harder songs until you are relatively dexterous
Yousician
whoosh
Just been down the PMJ and Dirty loops rabbit hole...Wow! Has to be said one of my favourite aspects of this channel, is all the pointers i get here, to music that i would never have discovered on my own. Great stuff, as ever, Adam.
Question for your next Q&A:
Recently, i've been arranging various modern rock and jazz music for wind/marching ensembles for personal use, and i've noticed that a majority of online arrangements transpose from the original key. Is it normal for wind/marching ensemble arrangers to not keep the original key? If so, then why do they do that?
Hey, as a classical musician very much involved in contemporary music in Europe, I thought I'd point out a few of the "trends" in contemporary classical music since, err 1970. In Europe, the use of extended techniques (Lachenmann comes to mind), the greater integration of live electronics and tapes into pieces (Tombeau de Messiaen by J. Harvey is a great example of that and the use of just intonation, among other things) and so-called musique spectrale (Grisey's partiels, for example) seem to me to be some of the more dominant techniques and ideas. I hope this helps
Plus, what is often referred to as 'neo-expressionism' (Wolfgang Rihm's Lied cycle op. 1 is an excellent introduction) and the related 'new complexity (I love Ferneyhough's bone alphabet)
Hi Adam! Question for your next Q+A:
I just visited Boston and auditioned for Berklee on trombone and Tuba for the composition major. I love write for Wind Ensemble, Orchestra, Mixed Choir etc. but in the tour they gave me the focus seemed to mostly be guitar, bass, drumset, and vocal instrumentation and the classical scene wasn't even addressed. For example, they mentioned writing with Ableton live and FL Studio but the idea of primarily using finale or sibelius seemed taboo when I asked about the programs. I loved the campus and the overall feel of the school but I'm beginning to think that maybe Berklee doesn't cater very well to classical composers. Can you attest to this? Would really help with my college decision. Thanks!
I didn’t go to Berklee, but I have friends and colleagues who went there. I can say that other institutions will have much more of a focus on classical and modern concert music in contrast to Berklee which has a much more industry focused approach. That isn’t to say that Berklee won’t give you a good education, but if you’re looking to explore more traditional (Even if on the experimental or electro acoustic side) you might be better off somewhere else. Just my humble opinion.
Ryan Meredith I’m curious as to what you decided. I wish I’d seen this a year ago because I went to Berklee and I’ve had a lot of students ask me about the experience of going there. Did you also check out other music schools? Since you were considering Berklee, does that mean you’re in the Northeast? Did you check out NE Conservatory, BU, or others in Boston? One benefit of the Boston schools is the Pro Arts Consortium, which is the association of six colleges there, including Berklee, that makes it possible to take courses from any of the other schools. So, if you found yourself at BU and wanted to take specific classes from Berklee, that option would be open to you.
in response to reading piano roll notation, I have a friend who played keyboards in a showcase for a well-known film composer, and he used piano roll printed out on paper because he couldn't read standard notation. Definitely takes just as much practice as reading standard notation, but if you're already used to it from working in a DAW, it may give you an early advantage
re 5:44 - what do guitarists do when there are no guitar parts ... watch Queen live tracks. Dr. May was pretty good at this.
Lots of Japanese anime music has modulation but usually at the 3rd chorus. Examples are Kagerou Days and, for a jazzy style, Yuukei Yesterday
I think it's pronounced more like "myu" than it is "mu"
You are correct, sir!
'myu' is the inexplicable English mispronunciation of the Greek letter μ, which the Greeks pronounce as 'mee'
@Lydia, that's Greek to me! Seriously, thanks for your reply, I didn't know that... but I don't think the "correct" pronunciation is going to connect with non-Greek speakers.
You just wait till you hear about π, φ, ψ, and θ
@@victorslin1327 the whole e/η connection is actually quite a thing in erasmic pronunciation, as is the b/β connection, leading to a joke often made by my mother:
"How did the sheep go in ancient Greece?"
"βη βη"
I've seen your videos, just not enough to sub. But when i saw you in the youtuber collab, and especially as a natural "project leader", you inspired me. I love the kind of bosses like you, and i strive to become one. Much love and thanks for being a boss instead of an asshole.
what's the best (if there's one) book that explains the concepts of jazz fusion harmony like in Dirty Loops?
I wanna know too
20th century harmony
Congratulations for hitting 1m subscribers! Keep up the great work!
Hi Adam!
Question For your Next Q&A:
If you write a soundtrack for a movie (Ex:Horror) how would you apply the "anxiety" feeling inside the compositional theory!
Can you give an example please?
P.S: Love your videos!!!
P.P.S: sorry for the bad english =/ !
Tonny Teixeira you could start by studying twelve-tone row composition, using strings with high notes would give the feeling fragility and using really low notes with a dissonant melody would give the feeling of danger. There are many many many others techniques to invoke all kinds of feelings, the best thing is taking the best horror soundtracks and trying to analize them. See what they are doing and why and then try your own experiments.
Obviously not Adam, but I would recommend looking into microtonal music or tone clusters. Check out Pendrecki's "Threnody" or Ligeti's "Harmonies for Organ" to see what I mean
Your answer to the "critics // ego- problem" actually were a very motivating speech to me. Thank you so much
More like Adam Hairy
Regarding your answer to the key modulation question - it seems rather than thinking about it in terms of 'left is dark, right is bright', thinking about it in terms of clockwise and counter-clockwise makes more sense and fits with the examples shown and their apparent brightness changes.
Who are you?
God
A new american pie character lmao
he kinda resembles a guy named Adam Neely that has a nice channel about music, you need to check him out
I'm the lover of your mommy.
who, who... who, who.
Hey Adam! Love the channel. Question for the next Q&A:
You’ve mentioned many times that pop musicians do put a lot of work into their songs, yet I still see that so many people have differing opinions on them. The only exception that comes to mind is Bruno Mars, who I at least haven’t heard many complaints about. Was this the same for jazz musicians decades ago? I can’t imagine it was, since I feel like whenever I listen to famous jazz musicians like Miles Davis and John Coltrane, these people seem like they got famous for being the best on their instruments. The only exception that comes to mind is Bruno Mars, who I at least haven’t heard many complaints about. So why is it that the most famous musicians nowadays don’t seem to be generally accepted as ‘good’? Is it because they don’t have as much talent as Davis and Coltrane? Is it the lack of actual musical instruments, which have been substituted for almost all electronic sounds? Are people today just more mean? Has music overall become more subjective than it was 60 years ago? Has everything I’ve said been completely wrong? Thanks so much and sorry for the long question.
btw it's called Mu Chord because the Greek letter it's signified by is also used in physics to mean "micro"
Hermes Ahhh, friction
Yeah, and it’s pronounced like “mew” with a “you” sound.
Hi Adam, a question for your next Q & A video:
In multiple videos, you reference that you have an appreciation for the skill that goes into crafting pop music, but simultaneously, that the genre is often simple in composition and redundant at times. Can you think of a recent occasion that you found yourself truly impressed by the composition of a piece of pop music, or is the production/performance the only way that such music can surprise you, given your musical background?
Can you do a video abot math rock
Comics Goblin Try to count this one if you can... it is a Time Out for the modern day.. (hint: you can skip first one if gou want, I added it from end of previous album so you can see where the intro on the first song comes from... comment on vid #ProfesorNeelyBass if you get to hear it.
Hey Adam,
Maybe a question for your next Q & A:
I'm a drum teacher and would like to know if you have any approach to this: Some of my students, that already play for some time, have trouble to make the music "feel good" - they can play the note values alright and so on, but it just feels stiff and uninspired. I'd say that their microtiming and microdynamics isn't quite under control yet - you'll propably not know how to deal with the microdynamics in drums, but what's your take in practicing microtiming, since the locking of drums and bass may have a similar approach?
Keep up the good work and greetings from Germany!
Hey Adam, I asked this question last night on your last Q and A, what is a good book to start learning music theory?
Hey Adam. Your voice is wondrous. Please do a video with you ending each sentence with the word 'jazz' or 'world'.
Thanks.
Hey nice try, you're not Adam, Adam doesn't have hair like that!
Anna Maxwell! Thank you for that question. I'm right there with you. I have a knee-jerk defensiveness so severe that I asked Ms. Fishy to never comment on my playing and composition. Not because I don't value her opinion, but because I know I won't respond rationally to it. And knowing how seriously fucked up that is hasn't helped.
And Adam: I'm 52 years old. I have nowhere near your depth and breadth of musical knowledge despite being obsessed with music making for almost longer than you've been alive. But that's cool, time, money, circumstances, and temperament account for that. But with this answer you just taught this middle-aged fool something about emotions. You've made me think about my emotions around music making in a very useful way. Cheers man!
Fossil Fishy It's not just musicians, or artists in general, who have that problem. I'm still trying to get some vestige of self-confidence back after my last programming job. A very wise man, Gerald Weinberg, came up with a very useful notion: egoless programming. Even if you don't program, it's worth reading about. Maybe we need egoless music.
Ikea 2x4 Kallax in white? You and me both, homie.
Timesink w o a h
Why'd you notice that over anything else
(Also have one i love the kallax)
Hey I can only stare at Adam's dreamy eyes for so long! Start to wander around the frame after a bit.
I had also previously thought of teaching at university, and am now leaning more to keeping it on TH-cam precisely because of the creative and editing freedom
If you had the chance to take a tour gig with a major pop-artist, would you?
You omitted the role that numerology plays in Black Angels. The number 13 is everywhere. Also, in the Fallen Angels movement, he is quoting Schubert's Death and the Maiden as sort of a homage to innocence and death. The form and design of these elements is something to appreciate. The music on the surface is crazy to listen to, but with these ideas in mind it cultivates a more cerebral experience - especially if you see it live.
nice hair adam
Hey Adam, question for your next Q and A: How do you apply transcribed solos to your own improvisation in jazz? I’m at the point where I feel like I can transcribe just about anything because I’ve trained myself to have good tone memory. I transcribed Gene Ammons solo on Autumn Leaves from the album Boss Tenors, and he has a lot of licks and good ideas, but when I try to improvise with them I either sound bad or I only sound good because I’m just playing his ideas verbatim. Do you have any advice for learning how to improvise with transcribed ideas without completely copying the original player? Thanks
Dude you look overworked, you ok?
He's not used to having to brush his hair yet. In time.
Pratyaksh Gautam he's working so hard his hair is falling back in
I think he's just sober. Am I the only one who thinks Adam looks drunkish in a lot of his videos.
Adam mentioning j dilla just made my week!!! I generally assume classically trained musicians don't like hiphop because all the ones I know don't but I'm slowly realizing that's not true. Also Kamasi Washington and his crew are definitely pushing modern jazz forward, whoever asked that should definitely check him out.
Question for Q&A:
What are your thoughts on Black metal? Specifically Depressive Suicidal Black Metal (DSBM)?
DSBM? I prefer BDSM ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)
charwhick haha you make the funny. that joke has never been made before hehe!
Question for next Q&A :)
Hi Adam,
I've recently made the realisation that I'm more a bassist than a guitarist, and due to the kind of play I'm adapting into, I'm finding myself struggling down avenues I feel would be great for my progression. The one I want to focus on and hopefully get answered is this...
When I am playing guitar, I find a lot of melodies or chord progressions resolve around a specific note, and both finish on an E for example, however playing a lot of funk and soul on the bass, I'm finding it's not the same; and lots of melodies, especially when soloing, resolve (and sound delicious) on notes that differ by a half step. That's not the question, as I understand the modes but the question is why don't certain melodies that resolve on the same note sound good together, even if the rest of the melody is in the same key and follows a similar pattern? The straw that broke the camels back was a two bar bassline that resolves firstly on an Eb and then on a D. If the second bar resolves on an Eb, it doesn't sound good. I don't know how to be more specific so hopefully you can see what I'm getting at, but there's definitely something different about the way that guitar and bass parts for funk or soul resolve there melodies, and I can't see how...
Thanks :)
U HAZ HAIR!!!1!
Hi Adam, love your videos, keep it up!
I have a question for the next q+a: is it necessery to have double bass instead of electric bass in progressive bluegrass (for example: Punch Brothers)? Are there any cases, where you should have one type of bass isntead of the other?
(sorry for possible mistakes, i'm not a native speaker)
Hi, I already commented several times regarding that 5 hour video where you were practicing C major scale all around the neck. Idk if you read my comments and simply ignore them, but I’m gonna keep trying to rech to you. I wanna practice along that 5 hour video. But I cannot figure out what fingering and frets you are using for the C major because the bottom part is cut off. Can you provide the tab please? I watch and like every single video of yours, help your bassist fellow too!
Protoss Zerg Idk just go to all-guitar-chords.com search for all notes of a scale and ignore the hi B and e strings on the chart
luchadorito i know the music theory. I just want to know what frets and fingers he is using exactly
Dude just transcribe it
I can. But still, I cannot fully understand where exactly on the neck he is playing it, especially down the neck. I wanna use his fingering specifically
There's no way he's gonna write up tabs for every exercise in that video (I know you're only asking for C major), that's 5 hours of content. He is likely using the same fingering to shift up/down the neck as he would in the other keys.
You could figure out something comfortable for yourself rather than focusing too much on Adams style. Or if you're struggling with comfortable fingering there are probably other tutorials on youtube or other sites that could help you out with it.
As for sheet music vs. piano roll, I personally prefer HookTheory's style of presenting music for practicing on musical instruments. They use a piano roll for the melody, but they use relative notation and chord names for the chords right under the melody. The melody notes and chords are color-coded too, so it's easier to see the relationships between notes and chords.
Hair
Question for next Q+A
Hello, Adam. Thank you for all the stuff you're talking, it's really interesting and useful.
I have two different questions:
1. Thesis of dark and bright tonalities is clearly understood but what are we going to do with enharmonic tonalities as F# major and Gb major? and what are we going to do with tonalities beyond circle of fifth like D-double sharp major (in theory of course).
2. What books about jazz composition can you recommend for studying?
Thanks from Russia!
i didn’t know Elon Musk made youtube videos
Hey, Adam. I've got a question for you. I've been playing music for 5 or 6 years now and from the start I was addicted to writing my own music. When I got my first electric guitar I was a fan of Sunn-O))) and other experimental stuff, so you can imagine, how exitied I was over my first distortion pedal. All that spooky loud sounds etc. But then I wanted to create something more deep and entertaining. And the thing that bugs me since then is how to write music responsibly, and not to leave everything at the mercy of improvisation. Yeah, I know a whole lots of chords and scales and other stuff, I've read 20th Century Harmony (btw, thanks for that suggestion, it was really enlightening), I know many jazz standarts and how they are constructed. But all I can do - is create some weird AABA\Verse-Chorus harmonies and shit melodies that noodle around chord tones, and every time I try something more elaborate it turns out to be overweight with sound layers. The question is - what I am doing wrong? Is it the absence of live perfomances, poorly developed hearing or the lack of some arkane knowledge that only top musicians are aware about?
P.S. Your channel is the best thing happened to musical segment of TH-cam since the original video of Tunak Tunak Tun)
If I made an Adam Neely meme would you watch it? Haha
Love your videos and seeing you in collabs!
@the shitposting of jazz to come
Regarding "sheet" notation and piano roll notation, I started with piano roll, and wasn't until recently that I started learning theory, and I feel it is easier to follow and learn from the analysis you see at the top of the staves. This is especially so when you start doing things like secondary dominants and relative 2nds, which are really cool techniques, or, start doing things like compound minor. The problem with piano roll, for me at any rate, is you have to sit and figure out what chord you are actually looking at. Especially if you start getting into inversions or tension substitution.
57th
14:30 It's hard hearing something you dislike about yourself reflected out there in the real world. I like how he acknowledges that it's hard - it's okay that it's hard. Hard things can make us stronger and better when we don't let them break us or rob us of our worth.
I'm the 666 view :v
David Gómez me too
same 😫🙌🙏💪🎅
did u modulate to the down side of the circle of the fifhts? :V
Hey Adam!
my Q for the next Q&A is on "natural harmonics" /;-)/ :
in my early "musical tryouts" I got obsessed by natural harmonics(NH) and since than wrote bunch of riffs where lead guitar tracks quasi entirely consist of NHs. And I have kinda feeling that when you play, for example a G & F# together via natural harmonics (like on 3rd&2nd string) and let them ring for a while, smth weird happens..sonically I mean /;-)/.. they kinda.."fight"?.. "resonate"?.. agains each other and create modulations and harmonies in keys where you normally wouldn't expect them to "work". My music theory knowledge is limited to a music school not academy,.. and I just wondered maybe there is an explanation of this phenomenon? Thanks!
P.S. here are examples of what I described supra (it would sound more prominent outside the mix of course.., ..sorry my laziness.. but I'm sure You get the idea..)
th-cam.com/video/4_RP8jszEIU/w-d-xo.html
th-cam.com/video/lwsl0cNiEuc/w-d-xo.html
A question for a future Q&A:
I just watched "The making of Dread Machine", in which you stated to not usually write/compose with together with other musicians. I sort of got the impression that your approach was a tad bit more analytical or at least had a different level of "theory-awareness" than of some others. Did the group struggle to communicate/verbalize musical ideas and how were these issues solved? Also I would assume that finding common aesthetics with so many musicians, although very talented, is rather difficult. To which extent was the songwriting process an intuitive one? Or did you struggle combining individual ideas into a whole? The concept was very interesting, I believe many of us would love to hear your perspective on that.
Thanks for the great content!
I rarely comment... love your channel. Learning lots. Thanks for all your work.
Greetings, Bass-Master. Recent discoverer of your YT channel here, and would like to say thank you for all you continue to contribute. You are where I wish I were with skill and theory knowledge, so I'll continue to soak up everything you give to us. You have an enormous catalogue of videos which I am making my way through, so if these have been answered already then please accept my humble apologies. First, is there a music theory compendium of sorts that you recommend for those of us with some formal training who wish to continue our education? Second, will you consider doing breakdowns of your Sungazer pieces, specifically what patterns or progressions you used to inspire their construction? Many thanks.
I got over the performance critique anxiety by acknowledging my compositional skills and knowing performance is hard and some days you don't show up as well as other days. Just relax and don't take it so seriously :)
Hi Adam,
I have 2 intertwined questions for your Q&A that trouble me night and day.
I'm a composition student (and a practicing folk musician) having a hard time finding my place in the framework of the academic contemporary music circle or rather meeting the expectations of it. I spent 4 years studying classical composition on pre-university level, was in the end disappointed by the dogmatic nature of the aesthetic expectations and left to another university to study history instead, but continued playing and writing music. During that time I developed a golden rule of music for myself: if a piece makes one happy, it is objectively entitled to existence. Q1: What is your opinion on this rule?
Now I took up (electronic) composition studies again and for a while managed to maintain confidence in what I'm doing, but as I go on, I drown in doubts that I should embrace and apply (=learn) everything new and questionable (as suggested by professors here) rather than maintain my own preferences/taste in what I am doing in terms of composing music. Q2: Having studied composition yourself, what do you think when should one open up to try to endlessly explore new aesthetics and when to trust my own intuition when all these little moments of decision come up in the creative process?
Your videos are a treasure, a thousand thanks from Estonia
Hey Adam. I really dig your Sungazer project as well (what there is of it, anyway. please: more of! and longer!) and thanks for the suggestions on more artists exploring jazz and electronic in similar veins. I was actually planning on asking that very same question posed in the vid, so thanks also to that viewer and to yourself for being secret wizard intelligence spies and not only reading, but responding to the contents of my inner thoughts. Anyways, lately I've been on a kind of deep-dive looking for music that straddles jazz harmony/composition and electronic production, but more importantly also explores each style meaningfully, and not just as some lazy, crass and/or inept mashup of the two. It's been difficult to find stuff that adequately scratches the itch, but I wonder... if fantastic, inspiring, formative musical discoveries weren't rare, would they be as powerful?
Also, thanks for the videos, generally speaking. I stumbled on your channel only recently, but it's one of the finer shows on the topic, and I've enjoyed the opportunity to sink into a meaty back catalog (don't you just love discovering something you like and learning there's a lot of it?). Yours is perhaps not the most instructional, but I find it much more thought-provoking and insightful, things far too often overlooked by all but the best kinds of teachers, and which are so important for our education as students AND as people.
Btw, I also have a music suggestion for you in line with the original question, if you'd like. There's a fellow by the name of Aaron Wheeler out of the UK who runs a small label called Lydian Label that is home mostly to his own projects. His solo stuff is released under the name Laszlo and he has one or two other one-off collab projects and assorted miscellany. More recently, he's spent a year or more workshopping a 4-piece live ensemble calling themselves the Lydian Collective, and have finally begun releasing stuff. I'm almost certain you'll fall in love if you haven't already been hipped to this guy's output: soundcloud.com/lydianlabel
P.S. Do yourself a solid and make a special note to check out this album he put out called Cartoon Hero. It's a baffling and incredible work of art where he deftly lampoons yet lovingly pays homage to the cheese and melodrama defining any given 1980s cartoon music score (and, broadly speaking, the common music production values of that time period as a whole). It's really quite an achievement. He hits all of the right strokes, but rather than merely being a thorough, technically skillful but ultimately soulless reproduction (or worse, some ironic "haha, remember cartoons from the 80s?" shtick) he's somehow managed to make something that you (or at least I) actually want to listen to. Something /beautiful/. I hope you check him out because I haven't found anyone else who can significantly appreciate it on a compositional or sound design level (alas, I don't really know any other music theory nerds or IDM hipsters like myself).
Hey Adam, I actually did play Bad Romance on guitar with a pop band for my college end-of-year show, and I did play big massive power chords during the chorus, and used tremolo in the bridge as if it was a black metal song, because it's actually a very soft of black metal melody, there. It sounded killer, and my lecturer complimented me after the show.
Questions for Q and A. What was it like for you as a jazz musician to make and perform a metal song? What do you think about metal from a musical standpoint? Also me being a junior in IB, what was your experience like and what did the program do for you in your life?
I absolutely love Black Angels. It is just so sort of pleasantly unsettling and comfortingly shaking.
hey adam,
if you haven't heard them, i'd definitely recommend hiatus kaiyote to you. they have some incredibly interesting music.
So dope