When I think of who were the "star students" at Berklee when I was there, the one's featured in all the biggest recitals with all the hype and coverage in school media...I couldn't tell you what a single one of them is doing today.
I have a full tuition scholarship to berklee and honestly the secret to getting one is to play an atypical instrument and be very fluent in straight ahead jazz. Also well-roundedness is something berklee values a lot, so being fluent in other styles is great, as well as having a great ear and sight reading skills. If you play guitar or sing, your chances are very slim
Bari Sax is my main instrument but I play tenor, alto, soprano, clarinet, bass clarinet, and flute. If you audition on basson or bass clarinet and you can play bebop, you will get an instant full tuition hahah
Chris Allison lies I auditioned on bassoon. I was very well rounded in jazz and normal bassoon styles. First time I only got a $30k, second audition(because I still didn’t have enough money) and was given NO money.
30k is pretty damn good man. It sucks that it wasn't enough but you should be proud of that. And I was probably a little wrong with the bassoon/bass clarinet thing. They will have high priority for instruments that are in demand, and right now, I can tell you that we desperately need more bari players. They are needed for a ton of projects and there isn't nearly enough supply for the demand. Bassoon is really only used for film scoring stuff and the few orchestras here, but now that we merged with Boston Conservatory, we likely don't need as many.
Congrats! I’m fourteen and thinking about going to a music college when I’m older. You got a full tuition scholarship? How hard is that? My parents most likely won’t be able to pay for prestigious music colleges, so I considered scholarships and aid as an option.
Just about to move to Boston with a Full Tuition Scholarship from Berklee as a guitarist. I was reading the comments and I wanted clarify something about the audition: I am not a straight ahead bebop player, etc. and I didn't play jazz at all for my performance section. I just played a Jeff Beck tune which I felt comfortable and expressive enough. You could understand that I have strong interest and good amount of background in Jazz from my improvisation but I just tried to make everything simple and musical. I didn't try to look like a jazz player. As a summary, I tried to be me only. I just played whatever I like, the way I loved. All the best to the future applicants! If you have ay questions, respond to this and I'll do my best to answer.
I'm a flutist, and I have been told a good flutist is rare in jazz so I think that's why I received a near-full scholarship. I couldn't believe how big the scholarship was and I feel so blessed.
I really appreciate the evolution of your channel. The way you bring is refreshing, and it's helped me fantastically as a bassist who wants to grow beyond just being a good bassist.
at 6:35 he meant to say they high pass everything below 50 hz. to low pass means you are only hearing the low frequencies. filtering out lower frequences = high pass (the high frequencies "pass" through the filter).
if you want a good jazz rendition of a classical piece you should check out Kamasi Washington's claire de lune! such a great vibe n feel from anything he does.
14:00 get musician's ear plug! I played classical piano since five and always wanted to express myself freer with Jazz and improvisation. I have very sensitive ears. I was so glad that my private teacher at 1st semester of Berklee, Laszlo Gardony, suggested me to get musician's ear plug from Northeastern University right away so that I am able to protect my precious hearing getting into the contemporary music scene! Highly recommend those!
Hey Adam, I really like your videos with information about some of your insights on music. Like your comparison video of polyrhythms and intervals was really mind-blowing for me. There are already many channels with gear reviews but the stuff you're doing with cool theory and quality application is much more scarce. Keep it up bro! =]
I would like to hear Adam discuss the idea that while music school helps develop skills that can be used to make a living: reading, facility with their instrument, etc., it does nothing and is even counter productive to creativity. I love music from the history of jazz, blues and rock. My perception is that most of the most unique voices and most important influences developed their styles outside of schools. Examples: Armstrong, Lester, Bird, Monk, Ornette, Coltrane, Bloomfield, Hendrix. I'm not saying lessons are bad but to immerse yourself in school for several years at a time when your development would allow your personal voice to emerge seems like it would have a negative impact on creating an original voice. Guitarists that have emerged in the last thirty years are all pretty indistinguishable to me. They are either pentatonic shredders or metal finger pattern speed freaks. Jazz has a history of major voices coming along that influence how others play their instruments, people with unique ways of phrasing and using rhythm or harmony. I can't think of any new, unique voices in jazz for the past several decades although there are certainly many very skilled musicians now. It seems that the technical abilities of generations of musicians build on the previous generations and technical abilities of really expanded. At least in rock and blues it seems to be about showing off now and the best way to do that is to play what everyone else is playing only better, sort of like the American Idol syndrome, music as contest or sport. While I appreciate Adam's videos, they are fun to consider and I love all that theory discussion I still worry about the state of musical creativity. I'm referring only to musical ability on an instrument, not electronic fiddling with a DAW or other sound manipulation but instrumental ability. Thanks if you actually read this far.
Adam - I discovered the OC-2/Michael League trick by accident years ago when fooling around playing high up on the neck. My theory is that by plucking exactly at the halfway point of the effevtive string length you are not allowing any of the even order harmonics to sound because you're disrupting the node that would normally exist at that spot. So you hear the fundamental, the third harmonic etc. I think it's actually the lack of the 2nd harmonic that is primarily responsible for the sound. It's different from the OC-2 which is basically a generated squarewave an octave down that is then filtered into something more round and sinewave like. Anyway, I'm really digging the channel.
Love the video as always, Adam. Great work translating all that lovely work at music school to a forum the rest of us can learn from. I'd personally love to see you review some gear that is relevant and interesting to you. I think I and the rest of us might learn some aspects we rarely get to see from proper rock dudes like the Andertons peeps and Glenn Fricker, and at the very least it'd be great to see some of the same kind of tech they do used in a totally different context.
I really appreciate your videos. As a self taught guitarist I’ve acquired a whole slough of bad habits and I’m truly trying to address these issues. Some of these issues are kind of vague while others aren’t. That being said I find just immersing myself in these kinds of discussion helps. Anyhow, thanks.
I am not a bass player but I've listened to all of your videos and can't wait for the next one. If I still lived in NYC I would definitely look you up for lessons.
Hey Adam, I really like your videos and admire your ingenuity and style of music composing. Have you ever considered making more videos (or possibly live streams) where you just compose a piece? I find these kind of thing super inspiring
It might not be that your speakers aren't producing bass, and that's why you encounter an overabundance in a car, it could be that you're physically sitting and listening at a position in your room that has a serious bass null. So you perceive much less low end than is actually coming off the speakers. I had this problem for a while, read a lot by Ethan Winer about room acoustics and tuning, and reconfigured. Made a gigantic difference.
Regarding the Harmonic Major, I remeber a class in which we had to play the E phrygian b4 over the triads /E-F-G/ to get a glimpse of flamenco. There you have a specific use for one of the harmonic major modes.
Hi Adam! Long time watcher, first time commenter. I teach a music class with 5th and 6th grade students playing in a rock band setup - drums, bass, guitar. Do you have any recommendations for group music / improv games and exercises, or even just general resources for teaching rock and jazz to beginners / intermediates? Thanks! PS - plz go bak to pronuncing the comments da weigh dey r ritten k thx bai
That thing about the low E string being 40 hz and i checked how a pure 40hz wave sounds and it is insanely low! This thing that we hear the first harmonic a octave up on the bass really changed my thinking about everything, especially about the low B string, which is B0, you shouldnt even be able to hear the fundemental at around 30 hz. Thanks!
Hi Adam! I'm a tubist primarily and also play bass on the side, and I was wondering -- How do you protect your equipment when traveling through NYC, especially through public transit? Seeing as you're visibly carrying an instrument around a large metro area, do you worry about theft? I've never lived in the "big city" but I've been looking at a few different grad schools in metro areas, and the thought of carrying an instrument around those sorts of places scares me. Any tips or advice? Thanks!
I think every mixing studio (including my bedroom) should have a full set of car speakers installed for listening purposes... The low-end in cars is way different than any off the shelf monitors you'll find.
Just a point on music college. You said that you are always surrounded by other musicians. This is true for about 30 weeks in the year. Assuming you don't do the summer semester, you are not in music school for 22 weeks. It seems to me to be fairly well balanced.
Great, Adam! Have you ever considered making a video on Messiaen's modes of limited transposition? I believe there are many ways of approaching this subject and it has a lot to do with your content. Just a suggestion.
Given the huge amount of sound systems and headphones there are, do you think it's possible to mix/master in a way it will sound good in every one of them? 😮 It looks like to me we gotta choose in what sort of equipment we want the music to sound the best and go for it. Given the huge number of people who listen to music in crappy headphones and cell phones lately, I chose to add a little extra bass in my stuff.
Hmm... Really? Do you know why car stereos exactly? Would it be because, perhaps, the majority of people listen to music while driving? 😮 I'm kinda screwed then, because I don't have a car. 😂 On a personal side note, I never really liked listening to music while driving because the ambient noise wouldn't let me notice the softer nuances in the music, plus I could never really pay the attention I like to give to the music because of traffic. 🚐🚑🚒🚕🚗🚙🚚🚜🚛 Thank you for replying! 👍 Your channel is awesome! 🙌
The reason for using a car stereo is because of a couple of reasons. It's a horrid listening environment where you can never sit close to the ideal listening spot, i.e. the centre. So getting it to sound good there means it will probably sound good on most systems. The second bit is a lot of people listen to music in a car. Also, the speakers are ill placed and all over the place which means you are sort of getting a mono representation of a stereo sound. So again, getting it to sound good in mono means it will sound ok in stereo. Those are a couple of reasons but again, testing mixes on multiple sources is always good :)
Adding extra bass won't really matter if people listen to your music on speakers that can't reproduce those frequencies, i almost always add some type of distortion to my bass to make it audible on shitty speakers. Even on really chill and clean sounding tracks i usually add a little soft saturation or sineshaping distortion.
Hey Adam, all New Agey stuff aside, binaural beats are a lot simpler than you mentioned. As you mentioned, you need two individual tones routed separately into each ear. They need to be low frequency because it doesn't work with high frequency tones. Once this is done, the difference in frequencies between the tones (which again has to be a low difference, not more than around 10 Hz I think) causes the brain to hear a beat at the frequency of the difference, in this case a beat of 10 Hz. What this does is make you high if you listen to it for a while. That's all it really is for the most part, a safe way to get high :D There is even an app called Digital Drugs for this in the Play store.
Hey Adam, I wonder how you feel about working with people who aren't as educated or trained musically. Do you ever end up in performances or groups like that, or do the people in your network generally avoid hiring someone without a music degree? Obviously I'm asking because I'm one of those people, and I'm always super intimidated playing around "real musicians". In general I find them to be encouraging in person, or casual conversation, but they don't exactly go out of their way to gig or jam with the less-experienced.
If you're serious about not being able to mix properly for sub-optimal speakers like a car stereo you should consider picking up a set of Avantone Mix cubes!
Please How to create a Practice Schedule ? I Can spend 8hours Per day in The Practice Room. But There Are so many things to Practice such as Technique, Repertoire, Scales, Chords, Improvisation, Sight Reading, Ear Training, Theory. Do I organise this things over several days and change things I Practice everyday?
I know I am only 41 years old, but I grew up with a lot of vinyl records. I love music from all different styles, and I have noticed that the pitch of everything that I used to listen to as a kid isn’t the same as it was. Is that because of the A 440 thing? My friend, who tunes pianos, also has perfect pitch. He said that since the Beroke period, the pitch has been altered. Like a middle C, for me, sounds like a Csharp, or almost in between the two, somehow. My brain can adjust to it, but I still miss the days when a C sounded like a C and Csharp sounded like a Csharp.
Only 41. My piano tuner friend said that when songs are moved to harddrives, it can mess up the pitch. I have a sister and another best friend that are older than I am, and they have perfect pitch. We’ve all been noticing the change. We were all worried we’d lost our perfect pitch. I started noticing it a lot in the nineties.
to be honest, the tuning of a piece of music doesn't really say much about the music itself. worrying about whatever D or G flat means is the performer's problem, not the listener's
Hey Adam, I've been having this doubt for a while now, and I was trying to figured it out myself, but as you are a great teacher here it goes: How does the almost free jazz improvisation works? like in Bitches Brew, and In a Silent Way by Miles Davis or even his works from the 2nd Quintet... Or Herbie stuff from the 70s, early Weather Report, John Coltrane in some stuff and jazz fusion in its begginings? They play brave and bold stuff outside the box, still you hear some kind of harmony, and you hear a lot of interplay, and I don't get how the heck they don't get lost... 'Cause in normal jazz, even if it goes to a place of playing outside the box, you still can sing in your head the melody or something, in some of the tunes of the people I mentioned, you don't really have that option. And in Free Jazz they play acording to dynamics, but freely right? like almost at "chance"... but when the two worlds combine that makes my head hurt hahaha 'cause I love that stuff, it's so bold. Thanks Adam, I'm a big fan of your channel and of Sungazer and Inside//Outside
I think by today's standards gear is becoming an important factor into how your music is delivered. The same way you compose differently using different instruments (like with a strat or an sg and so on) using an octaver, distortion, chorus or other fx can be the center of the piece.. And this concept can extrapolate a lot with computers, DAWs, Ableton, controllers etc. I mean, I don't think your mind works the same when doing a big band arrangement vs. a Sungazer song 😂
Yeah, I think honestly the correct advice would be that you can get beautiful sounds out of any gear, but they might not be the beautiful sounds you thought of when you started lmao
Hey guys, I was wondering if anyone of can tell me what is the name of the channel he recommends at 15:20. English is my second languaje so I couldn´t get the name of the channel.
If the low E on bass is below our hearing range, why does playing the natural harmonic on the 12th fret sound different from just the unfretted string?
Adam! You should look up David Larson! He is a bass singer and does a bunch of lessons on sub harmonic singing. From my understanding It is essentially using the 'vocal fry' to create the illusion of an octave drop in your voice. It is also one of the techniques that avi from pentatonix uses to hit such low tones. You should check it out, and if you find any more interesting information about it I would love to hear it on your channel! :D
i didn't know the low E on a bass is almost at the bottom of our hearing range. interesting. so is that why the lowest couple of notes on the piano sounds so messy and almost out of tune? A0 is 27.5 hz, which is getting pretty close to the cutoff of human hearing. i find the low B on a 5 string bass to have a similar effect, especially on an acoustic bass guitar. it seems like i'm hearing more of the harmonics than the actual fundamental.
If I have a loud gig I wear earplugs, either Army style with a dampening chamber or regular orange foam. If not available, I gently chew stiff paper and stuff it in. After 50 years playing gigs, very little loss of hearing
Hi Adam! Do you think that it's worth it to get a music education degree if you're planning on going into music performance as a profession, even if you're not super into teaching? Also what's your opinion on getting a dual degree from a joint or local school (if you're attending a conservatory) so you can have a "practical" degree if you ever need it? Another thing - would it be more useful to get a minor in business along with a music performance major so you have more options in the music industry to make money besides teaching? Sorry for the multiple and long questions, I'm just a bit nervous and unsure of where to go in college and in the musical field that is practical but what I want to be doing. Thanks
Hi Adam! @10:15 Can you please make a whole video of this concept? I find it very interesting, and as a fan of the old disco hits such as "I will survive" I'd like to go more in depth on the subject. Is it just random/subjective you choose a chord for a specific note, or is there a system to write faster with this technique? Also as a bassist I find it hard to write basslines when the chords are all over the place, I'm a supposed to just play the root notes of the chords the pianist/guitarist is playing? Do you have any advise on literature? Love your stuff and would support via patreon unless I was a student with no job.
Hi Adam, thank you for all the information that you share in your videos. Could you explain how Geddy Lee's right hand technique works? From what I can see he uses mainly his index finger and sometimes the middle one, isn't this going against the more traditional approach of playing bass alternating index-middle finger? On the other hand, I'm baffled by how Alex Webster from Cannibal Corpse uses three fingers all of the time. Any thoughts about this? Thanks again.
If you had groups of musicians playing the upper harmonics you could get some interesting pieces which imply fundamentals. Maybe somewhat avant-garde but applicable none the less.
You should just do your videos as usual and just make a 1-3 minute section at the end with you doing a quick summary of a new piece of gear you've tried. This way your channel can still stay with what you primary do, as well as having a secondary bonus piece at the end of your video. Idk I think that would be cool and can get you some free gear! Either way your videos are awesome and keep up the great work :)
About the gear review: couldn't you turn it into a discussion about what that piece of gear does to the electric input of your instrument and the way that affects our perception of it as sound? For example, discussing what a given effects pedal might do the waveform of the input sound, or vibrations in a speaker, and the broader musical/psychological connotations of these effects. I think that would be interesting!
Hey adam. I know my teacher got a scholarship to berlee in the 80's/90's for about 3/4 of the price. Do you really think he was one of very few people or that it was different back then? Btw, did you really pay all of that 60 grand per year for 4 years?!
I play classical flute, and hearing about the 432 hz thing throws me completely. Typically we want our instruments tuned up to 442 to give us wiggle room for tuning with an orchestra set higher, though some makers tune to 446. We can always pull out to tune down, though it can cause intonation issues, which makes me wonder what jazz flutists do if they find themselves playing with a group insisting on 432...
In my musicianship class we are having to use Curwen hand signs while we sight sing pieces of music. I really don't see the point of this. The pieces of music we are singing are super easy melodies but, when the professor had us do the hand signs and solfege at the same time the whole class just fumbled notes all over the place, as well as loosing beat. We couldn't even make it through eight measures with out a fumble. I feel that the Curwen hand should be pulled from the curriculum as it is useless. What are your experiences and thoughts on these hand signs Adam?
Adam, thanks for introducing me to Ben Levin, he's really great. Would you work with him more in the future/do you two stay in contact? Not just working on videos, but on some type of actual music. You two both are in these great "genre-less" experimental bands in a similar vein (Ben Levin Group and Sungazer), not to mention the incredible chops you both have on your instruments. It would be really interesting to see you two collaborate on some kind of composition.
Had my Berklee audition 4 months ago, played and improvised over Donna Lee on guitar, accompanied the person who saw over my audition on Stella, did good on the sight reading, did pretty good on the ear training. Got $0 on my acceptance
You were talking of jazz rendition of classical music have you heard the quintessence saxophone quintet, i don't know if you check your old vid comments but others might enjoy too anyway : )
Great job, as always. It just wouldn't be Monday without your videos. Am I correct in assuming that I won't be able to get undertones on the open strings of my cello? Do I have to finger a note to make it work, or am I just not applying enough pressure to the open strings with the bow? I can't play too loudly; the upstairs neighbors are only tolerant to a point, if you know what I mean (and I think you do). Thank you for doing what you're doing!
could you create a second channel more dedicated to gear stuff so you won't ruin the feel of this channel? I really enjoy this channel and love the way you explain stuff. (I struggle with theory and you explain it well). I'm actually not even a bass player. I'm a guitarist but I find these videos entertaining and helpful. I'm wanting to become an audio engineer and everything is really helpful. thanks
I have ventured into recordings of some of my favorite albums tuned to 432Hz. I suppose not surprisingly, I found it rather unsettling because my ears were really offput by what seemed like off-tune music. I suspect my experience might be different if hearing new music for the first time in 432.
Hi Adam, I've been playing music mostly by ear for a while now and im starting to get invited to jam sessions with more technical musicians then me. Do you have any advice on how to keep up with the jargon they use/read music more efficiently thanks! love the channel
so if everyone uses their car stereo as a base standard of how well a song sounds, what are your thoughts mixing a song on your laptop that's being played through your car stereo? wouldn't that kinda of be a solve for the discrepancies is translation between what you hear in a monitor mix and what you actually hear in a car stereo?
How do you go by transcribing something really complicated? For example I Remember by knower and snarky puppy.
8 ปีที่แล้ว +1
Hello Adam, I recently tried learning a piece in 7/8 (on guitar) and I noticed my breathing was really off, to the point that I got a bit dizzy. I'm convinced it was because I had to concentrate on the odd time signature, since it doesn't happen any other time and the actual guitar part was quite simple. Do you have any experience with this, or some tips? Thanks.
When I think of who were the "star students" at Berklee when I was there, the one's featured in all the biggest recitals with all the hype and coverage in school media...I couldn't tell you what a single one of them is doing today.
I immediately think Dream Theater when I hear of Berklee
I have a full tuition scholarship to berklee and honestly the secret to getting one is to play an atypical instrument and be very fluent in straight ahead jazz. Also well-roundedness is something berklee values a lot, so being fluent in other styles is great, as well as having a great ear and sight reading skills. If you play guitar or sing, your chances are very slim
Chris Allison what instrument(s) do you play?
Bari Sax is my main instrument but I play tenor, alto, soprano, clarinet, bass clarinet, and flute. If you audition on basson or bass clarinet and you can play bebop, you will get an instant full tuition hahah
Chris Allison lies I auditioned on bassoon. I was very well rounded in jazz and normal bassoon styles. First time I only got a $30k, second audition(because I still didn’t have enough money) and was given NO money.
30k is pretty damn good man. It sucks that it wasn't enough but you should be proud of that. And I was probably a little wrong with the bassoon/bass clarinet thing. They will have high priority for instruments that are in demand, and right now, I can tell you that we desperately need more bari players. They are needed for a ton of projects and there isn't nearly enough supply for the demand. Bassoon is really only used for film scoring stuff and the few orchestras here, but now that we merged with Boston Conservatory, we likely don't need as many.
Chris Allison what kind of jazz tune did u do? A solo or trading fourth?
I'm so happy, I got a full-tuition scholarship for bass principal. I can not believe it.
hey congrats, what did u play in your audition?
@@diegoalvarez3731 i played Havona by Weather Report. But I did my own version of the song
Congrats! I’m fourteen and thinking about going to a music college when I’m older. You got a full tuition scholarship? How hard is that? My parents most likely won’t be able to pay for prestigious music colleges, so I considered scholarships and aid as an option.
Just about to move to Boston with a Full Tuition Scholarship from Berklee as a guitarist. I was reading the comments and I wanted clarify something about the audition: I am not a straight ahead bebop player, etc. and I didn't play jazz at all for my performance section. I just played a Jeff Beck tune which I felt comfortable and expressive enough. You could understand that I have strong interest and good amount of background in Jazz from my improvisation but I just tried to make everything simple and musical. I didn't try to look like a jazz player. As a summary, I tried to be me only. I just played whatever I like, the way I loved. All the best to the future applicants! If you have ay questions, respond to this and I'll do my best to answer.
So do you think general well roundedness mixed with passion is what set you apart from other guitarists?
Got to hand it to you, your troll-handling skills are quite sharp.
(sorry, I realise this is a year old, but I couldn't resist)
Could you say they're about 8Hz too sharp? ;)
@@coryman125 This is a year later again, and I want to thank you for saying this anyway.
@@theystoleitfromus another year, another comment in this chain. Y'all are great, let's keep this going
@@Syrange13 It’s not a full year after, but I think 11 months is close enough, don’t you? I really want to see how long we can keep this going.
@@KingstonCzajkowski as it stands, the only blemish is your second comment. You delete that, I delete mine, we get the chain going again.
My daughter just got a full scholarship, she auditioned with voice. So, it is possible. She sang At last.
I'm a flutist, and I have been told a good flutist is rare in jazz so I think that's why I received a near-full scholarship. I couldn't believe how big the scholarship was and I feel so blessed.
The last Jazz Flutist I’ve know was Will Ferrell
Adam, your estimate of the Harvard endowment at $2B was a bit low. It is actually $36B.
I really appreciate the evolution of your channel. The way you bring is refreshing, and it's helped me fantastically as a bassist who wants to grow beyond just being a good bassist.
at 6:35 he meant to say they high pass everything below 50 hz. to low pass means you are only hearing the low frequencies. filtering out lower frequences = high pass (the high frequencies "pass" through the filter).
This helped clarify thank you
if you want a good jazz rendition of a classical piece you should check out Kamasi Washington's claire de lune! such a great vibe n feel from anything he does.
that's my favorite tune from the epic! really amazing rendition, brilliant subversion and celebration of the debussy.
Adam Neely say ...ain't you that guy from bassing around?
God.. I can't ever thank you enough for making me acknowledge this version of my favourite classical (well, impressionist actually) piece
Kamasi is such a painfully dull artist it's not even funny. Saviour of jazz my ass, he's just a retro fetishist.
yes ok thanks, very cool!
HAHAHAH lost it at 420 tuning
came back to this video to say I got a full tuition scholarship to berklee 🥳
what major did you apply for ? Congrats btw 💪
that snoopdogg "padadada" when you say 420 was the funniest shit
14:00 get musician's ear plug! I played classical piano since five and always wanted to express myself freer with Jazz and improvisation. I have very sensitive ears. I was so glad that my private teacher at 1st semester of Berklee, Laszlo Gardony, suggested me to get musician's ear plug from Northeastern University right away so that I am able to protect my precious hearing getting into the contemporary music scene! Highly recommend those!
Hey Adam, I really like your videos with information about some of your insights on music. Like your comparison video of polyrhythms and intervals was really mind-blowing for me. There are already many channels with gear reviews but the stuff you're doing with cool theory and quality application is much more scarce. Keep it up bro! =]
I've been to NYC precisely one time. On that trip I happened to go see Sally Ford at the Rockwood. Great little intimate venue. Highly recommend.
I would like to hear Adam discuss the idea that while music school helps develop skills that can be used to make a living: reading, facility with their instrument, etc., it does nothing and is even counter productive to creativity. I love music from the history of jazz, blues and rock. My perception is that most of the most unique voices and most important influences developed their styles outside of schools. Examples: Armstrong, Lester, Bird, Monk, Ornette, Coltrane, Bloomfield, Hendrix. I'm not saying lessons are bad but to immerse yourself in school for several years at a time when your development would allow your personal voice to emerge seems like it would have a negative impact on creating an original voice. Guitarists that have emerged in the last thirty years are all pretty indistinguishable to me. They are either pentatonic shredders or metal finger pattern speed freaks. Jazz has a history of major voices coming along that influence how others play their instruments, people with unique ways of phrasing and using rhythm or harmony. I can't think of any new, unique voices in jazz for the past several decades although there are certainly many very skilled musicians now. It seems that the technical abilities of generations of musicians build on the previous generations and technical abilities of really expanded. At least in rock and blues it seems to be about showing off now and the best way to do that is to play what everyone else is playing only better, sort of like the American Idol syndrome, music as contest or sport. While I appreciate Adam's videos, they are fun to consider and I love all that theory discussion I still worry about the state of musical creativity. I'm referring only to musical ability on an instrument, not electronic fiddling with a DAW or other sound manipulation but instrumental ability. Thanks if you actually read this far.
Adam - I discovered the OC-2/Michael League trick by accident years ago when fooling around playing high up on the neck.
My theory is that by plucking exactly at the halfway point of the effevtive string length you are not allowing any of the even order harmonics to sound because you're disrupting the node that would normally exist at that spot. So you hear the fundamental, the third harmonic etc. I think it's actually the lack of the 2nd harmonic that is primarily responsible for the sound.
It's different from the OC-2 which is basically a generated squarewave an octave down that is then filtered into something more round and sinewave like.
Anyway, I'm really digging the channel.
As an English person, I am disgusted that anyone dared to compare you to Boris Johnson. You have my apologies.
This comment now has much more impact
Love the video as always, Adam. Great work translating all that lovely work at music school to a forum the rest of us can learn from. I'd personally love to see you review some gear that is relevant and interesting to you. I think I and the rest of us might learn some aspects we rarely get to see from proper rock dudes like the Andertons peeps and Glenn Fricker, and at the very least it'd be great to see some of the same kind of tech they do used in a totally different context.
I really appreciate your videos. As a self taught guitarist I’ve acquired a whole slough of bad habits and I’m truly trying to address these issues. Some of these issues are kind of vague while others aren’t. That being said I find just immersing myself in these kinds of discussion helps. Anyhow, thanks.
I am not a bass player but I've listened to all of your videos and can't wait for the next one. If I still lived in NYC I would definitely look you up for lessons.
Hey Adam, I really like your videos and admire your ingenuity and style of music composing. Have you ever considered making more videos (or possibly live streams) where you just compose a piece? I find these kind of thing super inspiring
It might not be that your speakers aren't producing bass, and that's why you encounter an overabundance in a car, it could be that you're physically sitting and listening at a position in your room that has a serious bass null. So you perceive much less low end than is actually coming off the speakers. I had this problem for a while, read a lot by Ethan Winer about room acoustics and tuning, and reconfigured. Made a gigantic difference.
Great vid Adam. Always well done
Regarding the Harmonic Major, I remeber a class in which we had to play the E phrygian b4 over the triads /E-F-G/ to get a glimpse of flamenco. There you have a specific use for one of the harmonic major modes.
Hi Adam! Long time watcher, first time commenter.
I teach a music class with 5th and 6th grade students playing in a rock band setup - drums, bass, guitar. Do you have any recommendations for group music / improv games and exercises, or even just general resources for teaching rock and jazz to beginners / intermediates? Thanks!
PS - plz go bak to pronuncing the comments da weigh dey r ritten k thx bai
I don't know about everyone else, but I'd enjoy a gear review every once in a while.
That thing about the low E string being 40 hz and i checked how a pure 40hz wave sounds and it is insanely low! This thing that we hear the first harmonic a octave up on the bass really changed my thinking about everything, especially about the low B string, which is B0, you shouldnt even be able to hear the fundemental at around 30 hz. Thanks!
I thought the threshold for human hearing was 20Hz... I could be wrong though.
Hi Adam! I'm a tubist primarily and also play bass on the side, and I was wondering -- How do you protect your equipment when traveling through NYC, especially through public transit? Seeing as you're visibly carrying an instrument around a large metro area, do you worry about theft? I've never lived in the "big city" but I've been looking at a few different grad schools in metro areas, and the thought of carrying an instrument around those sorts of places scares me. Any tips or advice? Thanks!
What do you think about Charles Mingus ?
And could you maybe do a lesson on reharmonization ?
I want to know about reharmonization too. Like, if I play a 7th note on bass under a piano playing a Gmaj, does that make it a Gmaj7 chord?
That's also cool, but I was thinking about John Coltrane's reharmonizations.
Isn't that just a Gmaj7 3rd inversion?
How do you notate that? GM7/F#? G/F#?
Cole Johnson in a chart G/F# would work, GMaj4/2 would work too
How would you recommend avoiding writing music that would be called "Berklee Funk"?
Thank you for your amazing efforts, Adam. Love it. Very addictive... and BTW there is NO 12 step program to quit you!
As always, great stuff! And, I can generally can fit these vids in on my lunch break which is much needed by the time I get there. Ugh.
I think every mixing studio (including my bedroom) should have a full set of car speakers installed for listening purposes... The low-end in cars is way different than any off the shelf monitors you'll find.
There's a big band arrangement of the Rite too, and there's also a melodica trio version doing the rounds on Facebook at the moment :)
Just a point on music college. You said that you are always surrounded by other musicians. This is true for about 30 weeks in the year. Assuming you don't do the summer semester, you are not in music school for 22 weeks. It seems to me to be fairly well balanced.
Hi adam! I'm from Ecuador and I'm curious about knowing who is the guy you are talking about at 12:18.
Great, Adam! Have you ever considered making a video on Messiaen's modes of limited transposition? I believe there are many ways of approaching this subject and it has a lot to do with your content. Just a suggestion.
Thanks again Mr. Neely!
Given the huge amount of sound systems and headphones there are, do you think it's possible to mix/master in a way it will sound good in every one of them? 😮
It looks like to me we gotta choose in what sort of equipment we want the music to sound the best and go for it. Given the huge number of people who listen to music in crappy headphones and cell phones lately, I chose to add a little extra bass in my stuff.
True, but its long been considered the gold standard to get a mix to sound "decent" in car stereos.
Hmm... Really? Do you know why car stereos exactly? Would it be because, perhaps, the majority of people listen to music while driving? 😮
I'm kinda screwed then, because I don't have a car. 😂
On a personal side note, I never really liked listening to music while driving because the ambient noise wouldn't let me notice the softer nuances in the music, plus I could never really pay the attention I like to give to the music because of traffic. 🚐🚑🚒🚕🚗🚙🚚🚜🚛
Thank you for replying! 👍 Your channel is awesome! 🙌
The reason for using a car stereo is because of a couple of reasons. It's a horrid listening environment where you can never sit close to the ideal listening spot, i.e. the centre. So getting it to sound good there means it will probably sound good on most systems. The second bit is a lot of people listen to music in a car. Also, the speakers are ill placed and all over the place which means you are sort of getting a mono representation of a stereo sound. So again, getting it to sound good in mono means it will sound ok in stereo. Those are a couple of reasons but again, testing mixes on multiple sources is always good :)
Adding extra bass won't really matter if people listen to your music on speakers that can't reproduce those frequencies, i almost always add some type of distortion to my bass to make it audible on shitty speakers. Even on really chill and clean sounding tracks i usually add a little soft saturation or sineshaping distortion.
Hey Adam, all New Agey stuff aside, binaural beats are a lot simpler than you mentioned. As you mentioned, you need two individual tones routed separately into each ear. They need to be low frequency because it doesn't work with high frequency tones. Once this is done, the difference in frequencies between the tones (which again has to be a low difference, not more than around 10 Hz I think) causes the brain to hear a beat at the frequency of the difference, in this case a beat of 10 Hz. What this does is make you high if you listen to it for a while. That's all it really is for the most part, a safe way to get high :D There is even an app called Digital Drugs for this in the Play store.
Hey Adam,
I wonder how you feel about working with people who aren't as educated or trained musically. Do you ever end up in performances or groups like that, or do the people in your network generally avoid hiring someone without a music degree? Obviously I'm asking because I'm one of those people, and I'm always super intimidated playing around "real musicians". In general I find them to be encouraging in person, or casual conversation, but they don't exactly go out of their way to gig or jam with the less-experienced.
High-pass. Ahem
Great video as ever.
I'm so glad he ended up doing the entire Clarity cover, I just love that song, Adam's version I mean.
If you're serious about not being able to mix properly for sub-optimal speakers like a car stereo you should consider picking up a set of Avantone Mix cubes!
Please How to create a Practice Schedule ?
I Can spend 8hours Per day in The Practice Room. But There Are so many things to Practice such as Technique, Repertoire, Scales, Chords, Improvisation, Sight Reading, Ear Training, Theory.
Do I organise this things over several days and change things I Practice everyday?
I know I am only 41 years old, but I grew up with a lot of vinyl records. I love music from all different styles, and I have noticed that the pitch of everything that I used to listen to as a kid isn’t the same as it was. Is that because of the A 440 thing? My friend, who tunes pianos, also has perfect pitch. He said that since the Beroke period, the pitch has been altered. Like a middle C, for me, sounds like a Csharp, or almost in between the two, somehow. My brain can adjust to it, but I still miss the days when a C sounded like a C and Csharp sounded like a Csharp.
are you sure you're only 41? A=440 has been standard for nearly a century
Only 41. My piano tuner friend said that when songs are moved to harddrives, it can mess up the pitch. I have a sister and another best friend that are older than I am, and they have perfect pitch. We’ve all been noticing the change. We were all worried we’d lost our perfect pitch. I started noticing it a lot in the nineties.
to be honest, the tuning of a piece of music doesn't really say much about the music itself. worrying about whatever D or G flat means is the performer's problem, not the listener's
Hey Adam, I've been having this doubt for a while now, and I was trying to figured it out myself, but as you are a great teacher here it goes:
How does the almost free jazz improvisation works?
like in Bitches Brew, and In a Silent Way by Miles Davis or even his works from the 2nd Quintet... Or Herbie stuff from the 70s, early Weather Report, John Coltrane in some stuff and jazz fusion in its begginings? They play brave and bold stuff outside the box, still you hear some kind of harmony, and you hear a lot of interplay, and I don't get how the heck they don't get lost... 'Cause in normal jazz, even if it goes to a place of playing outside the box, you still can sing in your head the melody or something, in some of the tunes of the people I mentioned, you don't really have that option.
And in Free Jazz they play acording to dynamics, but freely right? like almost at "chance"... but when the two worlds combine that makes my head hurt hahaha 'cause I love that stuff, it's so bold.
Thanks Adam, I'm a big fan of your channel and of Sungazer and Inside//Outside
9:41 basically just confirmed that we'll see a full Bang Bang/Clapping Music/Jazz Reharm in the near future
Awesome video as always!
Hey a guy in the buffalo ny area got a full ride to Berklee, he's a bass player... crazy huh?
I think by today's standards gear is becoming an important factor into how your music is delivered. The same way you compose differently using different instruments (like with a strat or an sg and so on) using an octaver, distortion, chorus or other fx can be the center of the piece.. And this concept can extrapolate a lot with computers, DAWs, Ableton, controllers etc. I mean, I don't think your mind works the same when doing a big band arrangement vs. a Sungazer song 😂
Yeah, I think honestly the correct advice would be that you can get beautiful sounds out of any gear, but they might not be the beautiful sounds you thought of when you started lmao
@@bs.music.kyi9 you need to really know your gear to make it work
Hey guys, I was wondering if anyone of can tell me what is the name of the channel he recommends at 15:20. English is my second languaje so I couldn´t get the name of the channel.
Gerard Esc I know it’s a year later but I’m just seeing this video. He’s referring to JPBouvet
If the low E on bass is below our hearing range, why does playing the natural harmonic on the 12th fret sound different from just the unfretted string?
Adam! You should look up David Larson! He is a bass singer and does a bunch of lessons on sub harmonic singing. From my understanding It is essentially using the 'vocal fry' to create the illusion of an octave drop in your voice. It is also one of the techniques that avi from pentatonix uses to hit such low tones. You should check it out, and if you find any more interesting information about it I would love to hear it on your channel! :D
i didn't know the low E on a bass is almost at the bottom of our hearing range. interesting. so is that why the lowest couple of notes on the piano sounds so messy and almost out of tune? A0 is 27.5 hz, which is getting pretty close to the cutoff of human hearing. i find the low B on a 5 string bass to have a similar effect, especially on an acoustic bass guitar. it seems like i'm hearing more of the harmonics than the actual fundamental.
If I have a loud gig I wear earplugs, either Army style with a dampening chamber or regular orange foam. If not available, I gently chew stiff paper and stuff it in. After 50 years playing gigs, very little loss of hearing
How do you transcribe? Is it very useful? What is your opinion on it
Hi Adam!
Do you think that it's worth it to get a music education degree if you're planning on going into music performance as a profession, even if you're not super into teaching? Also what's your opinion on getting a dual degree from a joint or local school (if you're attending a conservatory) so you can have a "practical" degree if you ever need it? Another thing - would it be more useful to get a minor in business along with a music performance major so you have more options in the music industry to make money besides teaching? Sorry for the multiple and long questions, I'm just a bit nervous and unsure of where to go in college and in the musical field that is practical but what I want to be doing. Thanks
Hi Adam!
@10:15 Can you please make a whole video of this concept?
I find it very interesting, and as a fan of the old disco hits such as "I will survive" I'd like to go more in depth on the subject. Is it just random/subjective you choose a chord for a specific note, or is there a system to write faster with this technique?
Also as a bassist I find it hard to write basslines when the chords are all over the place, I'm a supposed to just play the root notes of the chords the pianist/guitarist is playing? Do you have any advise on literature?
Love your stuff and would support via patreon unless I was a student with no job.
Hi Adam, thank you for all the information that you share in your videos. Could you explain how Geddy Lee's right hand technique works? From what I can see he uses mainly his index finger and sometimes the middle one, isn't this going against the more traditional approach of playing bass alternating index-middle finger? On the other hand, I'm baffled by how Alex Webster from Cannibal Corpse uses three fingers all of the time. Any thoughts about this?
Thanks again.
Anybody else kind of sad that AN didn't bring up the Octocontrabass (string) with low frequencies?
If you had groups of musicians playing the upper harmonics you could get some interesting pieces which imply fundamentals. Maybe somewhat avant-garde but applicable none the less.
I learned a new violin technique from that video so I thought it was awesome
You should just do your videos as usual and just make a 1-3 minute section at the end with you doing a quick summary of a new piece of gear you've tried. This way your channel can still stay with what you primary do, as well as having a secondary bonus piece at the end of your video. Idk I think that would be cool and can get you some free gear! Either way your videos are awesome and keep up the great work :)
adam, i would really be interested in a video about bass guitar effects and bulding your board. thx!
About the gear review: couldn't you turn it into a discussion about what that piece of gear does to the electric input of your instrument and the way that affects our perception of it as sound? For example, discussing what a given effects pedal might do the waveform of the input sound, or vibrations in a speaker, and the broader musical/psychological connotations of these effects. I think that would be interesting!
I have impression that I've already seen parts of that video (I think that Adam already did video about A=432Hz in almost the same terms).
2:20 you had me at meme-filled ~a e s t h e t i c~ stuff
You could make a secound channel called "Neely & Gear" or something
I loved the subharmonic music video! Please as much experimental/cutting edge stuff as you can give!
Hey adam. I know my teacher got a scholarship to berlee in the 80's/90's for about 3/4 of the price. Do you really think he was one of very few people or that it was different back then? Btw, did you really pay all of that 60 grand per year for 4 years?!
Haha, quoted in an Adam Neely video, my internet life feels complete :)
Thank you very much for your answer, I'll try and do that :)
Cheers!
Are you still doing Q&A every Monday? Or even once a week? I swear they don't come up that much. Is my algorhythm broken?
Says the clarity cover won’t go anywhere else....oh Adam.
I play classical flute, and hearing about the 432 hz thing throws me completely. Typically we want our instruments tuned up to 442 to give us wiggle room for tuning with an orchestra set higher, though some makers tune to 446. We can always pull out to tune down, though it can cause intonation issues, which makes me wonder what jazz flutists do if they find themselves playing with a group insisting on 432...
In my musicianship class we are having to use Curwen hand signs while we sight sing pieces of music. I really don't see the point of this. The pieces of music we are singing are super easy melodies but, when the professor had us do the hand signs and solfege at the same time the whole class just fumbled notes all over the place, as well as loosing beat. We couldn't even make it through eight measures with out a fumble. I feel that the Curwen hand should be pulled from the curriculum as it is useless. What are your experiences and thoughts on these hand signs Adam?
Adam how to become session musican ?
Adam, thanks for introducing me to Ben Levin, he's really great. Would you work with him more in the future/do you two stay in contact? Not just working on videos, but on some type of actual music. You two both are in these great "genre-less" experimental bands in a similar vein (Ben Levin Group and Sungazer), not to mention the incredible chops you both have on your instruments. It would be really interesting to see you two collaborate on some kind of composition.
Thoughts on Tech Death Metal bass wise ?, I feel like their composition and technique kinda preserves the art of playing the bass in some way.
Had my Berklee audition 4 months ago, played and improvised over Donna Lee on guitar, accompanied the person who saw over my audition on Stella, did good on the sight reading, did pretty good on the ear training. Got $0 on my acceptance
hey man, when's the next livestream? I really enjoyed the last one.
You were talking of jazz rendition of classical music have you heard the quintessence saxophone quintet, i don't know if you check your old vid comments but others might enjoy too anyway : )
Great job, as always. It just wouldn't be Monday without your videos. Am I correct in assuming that I won't be able to get undertones on the open strings of my cello? Do I have to finger a note to make it work, or am I just not applying enough pressure to the open strings with the bow? I can't play too loudly; the upstairs neighbors are only tolerant to a point, if you know what I mean (and I think you do). Thank you for doing what you're doing!
Holy heck I went to Berklee 5-Week with the first commenter lol
could you create a second channel more dedicated to gear stuff so you won't ruin the feel of this channel? I really enjoy this channel and love the way you explain stuff. (I struggle with theory and you explain it well). I'm actually not even a bass player. I'm a guitarist but I find these videos entertaining and helpful. I'm wanting to become an audio engineer and everything is really helpful. thanks
maybe not the whole music but we'd still want a way to listen to it directly though😄
I like the E flat sound that megadeth uses on their first album
I have ventured into recordings of some of my favorite albums tuned to 432Hz. I suppose not surprisingly, I found it rather unsettling because my ears were really offput by what seemed like off-tune music. I suspect my experience might be different if hearing new music for the first time in 432.
6:39 highpass*
This music at the end is really dope. Can you just post that as a track?
Hi Adam! I think the guy from Ecuador you was talking about was my teacher at university the past semester haha
Greetings from Quito :D
Say hi to Miguel for me!
lol! He wasn't, my teacher's name is Sebastian haha but if I meet him someday I'll do!
I got a "full ride" to Berklee, didn't seem too impossible at the time.
Hi Adam, I've been playing music mostly by ear for a while now and im starting to get invited to jam sessions with more technical musicians then me. Do you have any advice on how to keep up with the jargon they use/read music more efficiently thanks! love the channel
Now your major and minor scales and youll be fine
so if everyone uses their car stereo as a base standard of how well a song sounds, what are your thoughts mixing a song on your laptop that's being played through your car stereo? wouldn't that kinda of be a solve for the discrepancies is translation between what you hear in a monitor mix and what you actually hear in a car stereo?
amazing content
How do you go by transcribing something really complicated? For example I Remember by knower and snarky puppy.
Hello Adam, I recently tried learning a piece in 7/8 (on guitar) and I noticed my breathing was really off, to the point that I got a bit dizzy. I'm convinced it was because I had to concentrate on the odd time signature, since it doesn't happen any other time and the actual guitar part was quite simple. Do you have any experience with this, or some tips? Thanks.