I just mindlessly clicked on this thinking "how did I miss this one during the pandemic?" just to realize it was posted 6 minutes ago. So happy to see more of these.
As a metal head I agree, Sungazer's music is very well suited to metal concerts. Thank you so much for lots of knowledge and music over the years, dude. Much love from Leipzig 💚
@@steveloomis1 tbf, thats bc the vowel sound of the 'A' in 'barAck' isn't really an 'A' sound in british english. i honestly believe that brits pronouncing barack like americans do - like 'baroque' - are pronouncing it wrong. it's like an american saying 'king chahlz' - that's not ur accent, don't change ur accent for one word/name lol :)
In teaching English as a second language, a common technique to teach the rhythm of the language is jazz chants. It's also great if you snap your fingers or tap your toes, then you also activate your motor cortex in addition to music and speech processing in the brain.
mmm... it's not a thing actually. It was debunked about 50 years ago, and, for example, in modern "phonetcis bible" it's specifically said that the theory was discresdited. However, non-linguist ...and actually a lot of language teachers use that thing. I mean, it's a conceptiont that is easy to understand even if it's wrong
As someone who grew up going to St. Thomas Church every weekend and singing these songs you mentioned, seeing you, as a person who I very much look up to, go there and speak so positively of this place, makes me feel so warm and really shows me to what lengths you go to try and understand music as best as possible. It's amazing.
@@VivianWasntHere I started out on Musescore when it was in beta, version 0.8.0. I then tried to learn Finale but yeah, even the early version of Musescore was more intuitive. I think I looked at Sibelius once and decided it wasn't for me.
Thank you for the short little history of double bass drum! That was something that I was interested in for a while. Makes sense that it would be a "solo" or "show-off" drummer who first came up with it. Also really funny that it came from Jazz, like so much else in metal.
Man... only 3 minutes in and I gotta say you just hit the nail in the head. This explanation would have saved me years of sight reading practice, the concept has never been explained in a way that mattered to me, or at least made sense. Truly thank you, truly an inspiration and always appreciate your work. Thank you for blessing us with your time, patience and in depth look. Thank you for involving the community and I thank that community for supporting you as well for so many years. Keep shining!
been following you for a long time. am a metal fan much more than a jazz fan. I'd think you'd be surprised how many of us like the type of music you make
Thank you for including Bach in this video. My favorite composer. Listening to him everyday at least an hour. Started learn to play the piano because of his Heaven Music.
I'm always telling my students that they'll feel stupid counting out loud, but that's because it's making them smarter. I wish I could explain this as succinctly as you do in this video, but I guess life doesn't come with Final Cut Pro 😂
Damn... that short Nessun Dorma improv... it sounds so warm like someone just jamming at a fireplace whilst the sun rises again, after a long and intense night
Thank you so much for your CLEAR explanation of counting rhythm out loud while playing. I’m an amateur pianist and currently struggling to learn Arlington Jones’ Wrongfully Accused - a smash of a jazz piece! This is SO handy.
That second question was mine! Thank you so much for including it and answering :) As a Swede, it feels better to know that I don't necessarily have to spend a fortune and go to NYC to study this music when the tuition here in the EU is free lol (even though I understand it most probably would be best to study in the ''jazz-mecca'') Looking forward to my eventual trip to New York though!
I miss this type of content. Doesn't even need to be the Q+A although the breadth of topics is nice. But a bit of the old neuroscience with the timing portion, then we got a bit of world culture and jazz history. Nice
Dude, great to see your success since high school! The algorithm put this video on my front page. Another Rackey alum building their place in the performance art community with this channel.
So true that hearing music in its native land is different. Hearing baroque concerti in the courtyard of a villa in Florence was a totally different experience from hearing them in the US. The Florence Chamber Orchestra made more mistakes than I’ve heard in a professional performance. But it was also so much more musical and joyful it was astonishing.
00-04.00. You're describing my experience of playing tricky guitar parts while singing a rhythmically-unrelated vocal. It's like having a stroke, but without the headache.
I make all of my students do a series of rhythms, and step 1 is always "subdivide with your voice while clapping the rhythm." They all sound like Adam at 2:43, but they can almost all do it. It's great to know there's a neurological reason it works! (I also make them "ta" while tapping their foot, and eventually "ta" while conducting; it's amazing how many kids can eventually do all of it, almost all of them unless they have learning differences.)
Your first point about subdivisions feels similar to how i tell my piano students to freeze and keep their fingers down, plan what theyre going to do next and very slowly, and with direct focus, change their fingers and repeat. Ive always felt that muscle memory doesn't care about how long you take to do an action, but if they just rush through and make mistakes, that can become a sticking point or trouble spot. But i wonder, does muscle memory care about the time between actions, or am I on to something about making conscious and deliberate actions in sequence yet out of time.
You're on to something well proven by this point. If you want to do something well, make sure you do it well and speed will sort of come naturally. Another thing is focusing on the parts you can't get right yet. No good practicing the whole 5min song every time to try to nail down that 2 measure fill you can't get right. Practice those 2 measure's a bunch of times, then practice the other 2 measures around it and go back to the whole thing. Now it should all sound better. Especially because you may be nailing the timing for the whole song except those 2 measures, so you _need_ to practice them more slowly than the rest. If you just rush through because you can play the whole piece in full tempo, you'll never play those 2 measures well enough. A random abstract example, but hopefully a good one. Neurosciences have studied this thoroughly in the last few decades.
@@drakonyanazkar we just had a lesson last week on just this, but you tell a room with 27 high school piano students (I swear they're trying to make my job impossible) to primarily focus on meticulous, dedicated work on what is the worst aspect of their current skill level, then when it's better, switch to the next or newest thing they're bad at, and they balk. It's like saying, ok, take the thing you hate the most about your playing, and do that until it's better than the next thing you suck at, then switch to thinking all about what else do you suck at. Rinse and repeat. Musicians all talk about how much time they hit the woodshed, but no kid finds that fun or engaging. God forbid I suggest watching the music, or using their thumbs or pinkies. It's absolutely verboten to them, and I can kinda see why. Excellent example. Thank you.
@@itsmikehayden Absolutely, my dude. Absolutely. I myself only started learning an instrument at the ripe age of 22. So I no longer had *that* level of impatience (though I was clearly impatient with myself at the time). I know the challenges of teaching 20-40 students, but that's for History lessons and adjacent topics. I can only imagine what it is to teach piano playing to more than one or two students at a time. What a nightmare. But I can see you are dedicated to your work. Keep it up, comrade.
That’s exactly how I practice vocals and guitar. I play metal and it’s pretty fast. Both parts are starkly different rhythmically. I haven’t been able to do both any other way. Plus, it makes my overall rythmic understanding and ability better. Great explanation!
During Covid I dedicated myself to really learning how to sing and play at the same time. I think it really improved my rhythm. As an English teacher for non-natives, this all makes sense as I'd never really made the connection until now. Very helpful, as usual. Thanks.
The way you describe learning to play and count The Chicken is exactly what I have to do to learn to play and sing a song. I can't learn each separately and put them together, I have to figure out slowly where the syllables and notes coincide (or don't) treating the voice and guitar as a single instrument.
I just realised, while working through that syncopated counting exercise, that popping and clicking with my lips and tongue (I won't call what I do beatboxing) while humming and/or playing the tune is infinitely easier than saying the words "one, two, three, four" while playing. So, at least for me, mouth sounds are not lingual brain(!) for me until I actually have to say a *word*. and thank you for the reminder to be honest with ourselves that good time is hard and takes work!
Delighted to see Sungazer is touring the States, and, yes! coming to Phoenix, BUT, so sad it's on December 17th, the same night BEAT's playing in Tucson. Adam and Shawn, please do another stateside tour soon and, please, please, please, next time come to Tucson! We'd love to have you.
Consistent physical movement (like marching) can be another great way to improve your rhythm. I've done literally the exact same process you described here to figure out where each of my steps should hit in more complex passages. Check out a few top DCI or BOA groups to see some actual rhythmic insanity. You don't even need to play for this to work either. Just singing the part while you walk can be incredibly helpful.
This is how I've tried to learn to sing while playing. It's insanely hard, I can't understand how people do it. Adding not only more rhythmic links, but also specific words to every rhythm and then adding pitch and tone nuances to the words. "You didn't even exist back then" "Lady, how many centuries old are you?" Shoutouts to Sibelius for few reasons: that's what I encountered in high school in a local music technology school course, as well as the national composer here in Finland. I was kinda excited to see if Sibelius would come up in the discussion and it almost didn't, but then you got me at the end. I must say I approved using freaking Guitar Pro over Sibelius on my first try, so I probably second your opinion. Ironically I think often times it really does come down to efficiency. You can have the fanciest sugar coated UI and deluxe options, but if something gets your work done noticeably faster, is just really efficient for your work flow, you end up using it. So they probably had the development focus in the right place and it was some engineer who made it. But would it be too much to ask for for them to improve some things without hurting the efficiency? Talking about metal festivals, I don't know how but this Finnish joke humppa band Eläkeläiset has been getting on metal festivals, not only in Finland but all the way to Wacken. I believe metal people are oddly receptive to unorthodox or funny stuff. Oh how I wish restaurants these days had a smooth live band that doesn't get in the way of conversation yet still live music.
Very interesting about practicing the counting out of time. My drum tutor used to tell me to do this during lessons and I never really understood why, but I noticed the patterns and limb independence improving as a result. This explains it
I’m very happy and relieved right now to be an exclusive Sibelius user. There are things about the software the frustrate me, but it’s the only software I’ve ever used aside from dabbling with Logic’s built-in notation function. Since I don’t know any better, I’m satisfied.
The ability for English to be talked with a rythym is pretty handy for someone like myself who has a stutter, because stutterers don't stutter while singing (or following any kind of rhythm), so I can just imagine a rhythm in my head and keep from stuttering.
As a brass player your advice at the beginning was very interesting because while my mouth is obstructed when playing, I use the same type of process when thinking the counts in my head. I have always been taught to speak out the rhythm in a similar manner and internalize it as a conscious thought while I’m playing. So it has gotten to the point where I am processing the notes and a voice counting in my head
I've had one of those Digitech synth bass wah pedals kicking around since early on in high school when I had my first bass, I love that it has some real useful tone for stuff like you do!
I made the switch Finale to Dorico last year, working on a pit score. The first number was a slog, but by the time I got to the 40th number I was grooving faster than I ever was with Finale. It can be done!
When I was a young kid, my mom had my siblings and me name dishes rhythmically, each person could pick any dish, and we all said them simultaneously and in time. That’s how I as a very small child learned about polyrhythm. It’s a lot more fun than you’d think!
The Books is a music project that did an incredible job highlighting the rhyms of the English language. The backbone of many of their songs is found audio recordings from thrift stores of people talking, then they then deduce the rhythms of the speech and add beautiful guitar and cello, and DIY percussion like PVC pipe drums. It's hard to describe, sort of like an intricate musical collage, but very engrossing, emotional and beautiful, sometimes pretty strange
My steel band director uses phrases to match with common rhythms that we play. Matching a memorable phrase is another way to remember and accurately play back a rhythm, because it matches the rhythm in your speech!
super good tip to count out loud and leverage speech rhythm🔥an old trick from my piano conservatory days was to also count at smaller divisions (sixteenths instead of eighths for instance) since it reduces some uncertainty
I regularly count out loud if I'm playing a drum cover and there's a tricky part that needs to be broken down a bit (such as some of those juicy stops in Steely Dan songs). It's super helpful. I also jam with some friends and have been teaching myself to talk in my natural rhythm *while* still playing. It definitely has been improving my timing!
I got the idea of counting out loud from Benny Greb, I’m not a drummer but this exercise has helped me immensely regardless of the instrument, it’s how I practice everything now..
as a bassist/guitarist and finger tapping enthusiast: its kinda crazy how much easier it is for me to tap that syncopated rhythm with one hand and the beat with the other hand, than it is to tap the rhythm and Count the beat Out Loud. It's like I can feel a different part of my brain turning on when i start counting. I've always heard from music teachers that counting out loud is important, but its nice to be reminded Why that is lol
4:10 about comprehending a certain style of music. What I have studied and analyzing by listening to various type of genres such as bolero, son, salsa, jazz, funk, bossa and so, the most important thing in any genre is rhythm. let me elaborate. If you want to play bossa, you need to analyze or understand the rhythm and how the musicians phrase it. you can do it by transcribing and playing with the recordings. its very important to understand how musicians phrase and articulate the rhythm because that is the root for playing any genre
Back in the 80s/90s in The Netherlands we had a nighttime radio show, hosted by saxophone player Hans Dulfer (father of Candy Dulfer, who a.o. played in Prince' band), and he would play Sonny Rollins back-to-back with Slayer etc. explaining the similarities between styles. I loved that show. No surprise Sun Gazer does well on a metal festival.
Prog metalhead here: most of us love fusion especially if it has some oomph like you do and Sungazer pops regularly in forums/reddit recommendations. You don't have to feel out of place in festivals ;)
I bought an Ibanez Volo to use with a high C string, and you're right, it's still a bass. But having the extra range (with a 2-octave neck, too) is just lovely when I want to just play a melody. I don't have to struggle to get it heard; it's already in the range for a melody to be heard. It's fun for chord, as you note, but I find I have to step carefully with that on most of the gigs I play. It is awfully handy for reading gigs, too -- less shifting for the high notes!
There are a couple of mindblowing Hal Galper masterclass videos on TH-cam that talks about using the physical sound of the instrument-instead of a metronome-to build your relationship with rhythm and time while at the same time getting to know your instrument better.
Former classical musician turned jazz violinist. For various compelling reasons that I won’t go into here, rhythm and counting were a weak link for me. I’ve decided to do a self-designed homestudy I call “remedial rhythm studies”. It’s helping a lot, but I appreciate your experience and suggestions for how to go about metronome weaning and replace that reliance with your own internal rhythm abilities.
The counting out loud and playing thing reminded me of the total ballache of learning vocal melodies to sing at the same time as playing synchopated parts.
I discovered this on my own the past year I feel validated that you made a segment about it! Obviously I still use s metronome but taking it away when playing super slow and using my b voice helped.
I like how the "talking the rhythm out loud" thing sort of mirrors the advice for instrumental soloists to shape their solos as if they were sung (stress, pause, etc...)!
Ive also visited Leipzig for Bach, and it cemented what I already fully understood and grasped about his music. My autistic brain was already tuned to understanding his much was about community and about bringing people together
I *immediately* went to using the Voice Metronome on my synth drums. It's NOT as good as me counting off myself, but it's way better than clicks, taps, or beeps (1/8 does "1 and 2 and 3 and 4", so that's cool).
I just mindlessly clicked on this thinking "how did I miss this one during the pandemic?" just to realize it was posted 6 minutes ago. So happy to see more of these.
Yesss, finally more Q&A's! 🥳
A very old school Adam Neely thumbnail
He's done quite a few in the past year or so
Same!
NO WAY COZ I SAW THIS IN THE MORNING AND THOUGHT I HAVE SEEN IT BEFORE
The hauk "sigh" 😂
The brainrot has got to him
Greatest ad cut ever
I blushed and I'm not even an english speaking person xD
Can someone explain the joke? My decrepid old man brain isn’t what it used to be.
@@ddragonwhistler Google "hawk tuah" and I'm sorry
Not only a great drummer, his head is incredibly shiny too. There might be a correlation.
Unlike Adam, he never got big enough on TH-cam to afford hair
@@DSteinman Nice beard, though.
So many great prog drummers are bald.
As a metal head I agree, Sungazer's music is very well suited to metal concerts. Thank you so much for lots of knowledge and music over the years, dude. Much love from Leipzig 💚
Also, the fact that they toured with Plini certainly gave them some metal cred already.
I think it makes sense, prog is the metal genre that has the most clear jazz influences
@@kevinsundelin8639I recently heard "Why didn't Americans have a prog rock scene in the 60s and 70s? Because they had jazz fusion." Made sense to me.
@@KyleBGangeragreed.
@@digitaljanus Yeah that makes sense to me too
12:46 Adam! We need you to finish this cover of Nessun Dorma! It's too beautiful to not be heard!
I have an album I recently recorded with Lau Noah where we do it, it needs to be mixed, but it’ll come out soon!
And here I got all excited ‘cause I thought you were singing it…ok your bass rendition is nice, I guess.😁
@@AdamNeelycan't wait for this!
I was just going to say the same thing!
it really is beautiful
MARYLAND MENTIONED 🦅🦅🦅🦅🦀🦀🦀🦀🦀🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸 0:28
Proud marylander 💪💪💪
Adam fake Myrrhlinur confirmed, no old bay in the background of the shot.
Baltimore here :))
@@huntersoth3502 born in Baltimore and raised in Baltimore/annapolis
If only we had an old bay emote
My soul lifted from my body with that arrangement of "Nessun Dorma" 12:47 sooooooooo gooood, I'll never play a 5 string bass with a low b again
Out of nowhere with the awesome riff
Mine is in drop A 😅😅
Mary Spender be like "Baroque Obama."
For the longest time, the BBC news team pronounced his name like "barracks" without the S. And Obama was like "a bomber".
@@steveloomis1 : "Jewa Lipa"
Bruh-rack obamna
@@steveloomis1 tbf, thats bc the vowel sound of the 'A' in 'barAck' isn't really an 'A' sound in british english.
i honestly believe that brits pronouncing barack like americans do - like 'baroque' - are pronouncing it wrong. it's like an american saying 'king chahlz' - that's not ur accent, don't change ur accent for one word/name lol
:)
Came for the Q+A, stayed for Mary Spender absolutely cooking Adam over the pronunciation of baroque lmao
If it ain't baroque, don't fix it 👍
12:13
That’s me!!
Thanks again for coming to jazz lab, I was one of the electric bassists.
See you at the Sinclair
I've heard people talk about "stress-timed languages" for years now, but I've never actually understood it until today. Great example
In teaching English as a second language, a common technique to teach the rhythm of the language is jazz chants. It's also great if you snap your fingers or tap your toes, then you also activate your motor cortex in addition to music and speech processing in the brain.
mmm... it's not a thing actually. It was debunked about 50 years ago, and, for example, in modern "phonetcis bible" it's specifically said that the theory was discresdited.
However, non-linguist ...and actually a lot of language teachers use that thing. I mean, it's a conceptiont that is easy to understand even if it's wrong
I love the hawk tuah solo
That's impressive flexibility
Double spit on that thang
I’m thankful to an early drum instructor of mine who insisted I.e. required me to count out loud. He referred to it as developing 5-way independence.
As someone who grew up going to St. Thomas Church every weekend and singing these songs you mentioned, seeing you, as a person who I very much look up to, go there and speak so positively of this place, makes me feel so warm and really shows me to what lengths you go to try and understand music as best as possible. It's amazing.
I switched from Sibelius to Musescore. There was some growing pains, but I’m glad I did at this point. Now I can go much faster in Musescore
I love musescore and its a lot more intuitive. Also it crashes constantly so you should feel right at home if you used sibelius
@@VivianWasntHerelmao so true
I haven’t heard of sibelius before?
@@Wreniffer Girl it’s literally the industry standard
@@VivianWasntHereMay the old king die, and the Muse king rise.
@@VivianWasntHere I started out on Musescore when it was in beta, version 0.8.0. I then tried to learn Finale but yeah, even the early version of Musescore was more intuitive. I think I looked at Sibelius once and decided it wasn't for me.
I missed these Q&A’s so much!!
Thank you for the short little history of double bass drum! That was something that I was interested in for a while. Makes sense that it would be a "solo" or "show-off" drummer who first came up with it. Also really funny that it came from Jazz, like so much else in metal.
Man... only 3 minutes in and I gotta say you just hit the nail in the head. This explanation would have saved me years of sight reading practice, the concept has never been explained in a way that mattered to me, or at least made sense. Truly thank you, truly an inspiration and always appreciate your work. Thank you for blessing us with your time, patience and in depth look. Thank you for involving the community and I thank that community for supporting you as well for so many years. Keep shining!
been following you for a long time. am a metal fan much more than a jazz fan. I'd think you'd be surprised how many of us like the type of music you make
Thank you for including Bach in this video. My favorite composer. Listening to him everyday at least an hour. Started learn to play the piano because of his Heaven Music.
I'm always telling my students that they'll feel stupid counting out loud, but that's because it's making them smarter. I wish I could explain this as succinctly as you do in this video, but I guess life doesn't come with Final Cut Pro 😂
no way hawk tuah reached adam neely's channel
Damn... that short Nessun Dorma improv... it sounds so warm like someone just jamming at a fireplace whilst the sun rises again, after a long and intense night
Just want to say as a metalhead i absolutely love your music and you're spot on with Sungazer being needed at metal festivals :)
I love the amount of metal in this video. 🤘🏼
Thank you so much for your CLEAR explanation of counting rhythm out loud while playing. I’m an amateur pianist and currently struggling to learn Arlington Jones’ Wrongfully Accused - a smash of a jazz piece! This is SO handy.
Adam Neely Channl for life, I always comeback to it and i never had more the urge to make music after wwatching one o your videos
That second question was mine! Thank you so much for including it and answering :)
As a Swede, it feels better to know that I don't necessarily have to spend a fortune and go to NYC to study this music when the tuition here in the EU is free lol (even though I understand it most probably would be best to study in the ''jazz-mecca'')
Looking forward to my eventual trip to New York though!
If you have the time, check out New Orleans and Chicago too! They also have jazz traditions that are different from New York.
@@nagaten6350 I will try to, thanks for the tip!
I miss this type of content. Doesn't even need to be the Q+A although the breadth of topics is nice. But a bit of the old neuroscience with the timing portion, then we got a bit of world culture and jazz history. Nice
Yesss this is why I love this channel so much. Music, science, history.
The tip about speaking time out loud while playing makes a lot of sense. Hadn’t thought of it before. Thanks, Adam! Good luck with the tour!
Dude, great to see your success since high school! The algorithm put this video on my front page. Another Rackey alum building their place in the performance art community with this channel.
I know it would never happen, but seeing your band in Korea would be a dream.
So true that hearing music in its native land is different. Hearing baroque concerti in the courtyard of a villa in Florence was a totally different experience from hearing them in the US. The Florence Chamber Orchestra made more mistakes than I’ve heard in a professional performance. But it was also so much more musical and joyful it was astonishing.
00-04.00. You're describing my experience of playing tricky guitar parts while singing a rhythmically-unrelated vocal. It's like having a stroke, but without the headache.
I make all of my students do a series of rhythms, and step 1 is always "subdivide with your voice while clapping the rhythm." They all sound like Adam at 2:43, but they can almost all do it. It's great to know there's a neurological reason it works! (I also make them "ta" while tapping their foot, and eventually "ta" while conducting; it's amazing how many kids can eventually do all of it, almost all of them unless they have learning differences.)
Your first point about subdivisions feels similar to how i tell my piano students to freeze and keep their fingers down, plan what theyre going to do next and very slowly, and with direct focus, change their fingers and repeat. Ive always felt that muscle memory doesn't care about how long you take to do an action, but if they just rush through and make mistakes, that can become a sticking point or trouble spot.
But i wonder, does muscle memory care about the time between actions, or am I on to something about making conscious and deliberate actions in sequence yet out of time.
You're on to something well proven by this point. If you want to do something well, make sure you do it well and speed will sort of come naturally. Another thing is focusing on the parts you can't get right yet. No good practicing the whole 5min song every time to try to nail down that 2 measure fill you can't get right. Practice those 2 measure's a bunch of times, then practice the other 2 measures around it and go back to the whole thing. Now it should all sound better. Especially because you may be nailing the timing for the whole song except those 2 measures, so you _need_ to practice them more slowly than the rest. If you just rush through because you can play the whole piece in full tempo, you'll never play those 2 measures well enough.
A random abstract example, but hopefully a good one. Neurosciences have studied this thoroughly in the last few decades.
@@drakonyanazkar we just had a lesson last week on just this, but you tell a room with 27 high school piano students (I swear they're trying to make my job impossible) to primarily focus on meticulous, dedicated work on what is the worst aspect of their current skill level, then when it's better, switch to the next or newest thing they're bad at, and they balk.
It's like saying, ok, take the thing you hate the most about your playing, and do that until it's better than the next thing you suck at, then switch to thinking all about what else do you suck at. Rinse and repeat.
Musicians all talk about how much time they hit the woodshed, but no kid finds that fun or engaging. God forbid I suggest watching the music, or using their thumbs or pinkies. It's absolutely verboten to them, and I can kinda see why.
Excellent example. Thank you.
@@itsmikehayden Absolutely, my dude. Absolutely. I myself only started learning an instrument at the ripe age of 22. So I no longer had *that* level of impatience (though I was clearly impatient with myself at the time). I know the challenges of teaching 20-40 students, but that's for History lessons and adjacent topics. I can only imagine what it is to teach piano playing to more than one or two students at a time. What a nightmare. But I can see you are dedicated to your work. Keep it up, comrade.
That’s exactly how I practice vocals and guitar. I play metal and it’s pretty fast. Both parts are starkly different rhythmically. I haven’t been able to do both any other way. Plus, it makes my overall rythmic understanding and ability better. Great explanation!
During Covid I dedicated myself to really learning how to sing and play at the same time. I think it really improved my rhythm. As an English teacher for non-natives, this all makes sense as I'd never really made the connection until now. Very helpful, as usual. Thanks.
The way you describe learning to play and count The Chicken is exactly what I have to do to learn to play and sing a song. I can't learn each separately and put them together, I have to figure out slowly where the syllables and notes coincide (or don't) treating the voice and guitar as a single instrument.
I just realised, while working through that syncopated counting exercise, that popping and clicking with my lips and tongue (I won't call what I do beatboxing) while humming and/or playing the tune is infinitely easier than saying the words "one, two, three, four" while playing. So, at least for me, mouth sounds are not lingual brain(!) for me until I actually have to say a *word*.
and thank you for the reminder to be honest with ourselves that good time is hard and takes work!
Delighted to see Sungazer is touring the States, and, yes! coming to Phoenix, BUT, so sad it's on December 17th, the same night BEAT's playing in Tucson.
Adam and Shawn, please do another stateside tour soon and, please, please, please, next time come to Tucson! We'd love to have you.
The sigh before "the hawk talks" killed me omg this was SO funny
It's sad that the UK can't appreciate the pun "If it ain't Baroque, don't fix it"
Consistent physical movement (like marching) can be another great way to improve your rhythm. I've done literally the exact same process you described here to figure out where each of my steps should hit in more complex passages. Check out a few top DCI or BOA groups to see some actual rhythmic insanity.
You don't even need to play for this to work either. Just singing the part while you walk can be incredibly helpful.
This is how I've tried to learn to sing while playing. It's insanely hard, I can't understand how people do it. Adding not only more rhythmic links, but also specific words to every rhythm and then adding pitch and tone nuances to the words.
"You didn't even exist back then"
"Lady, how many centuries old are you?"
Shoutouts to Sibelius for few reasons: that's what I encountered in high school in a local music technology school course, as well as the national composer here in Finland. I was kinda excited to see if Sibelius would come up in the discussion and it almost didn't, but then you got me at the end. I must say I approved using freaking Guitar Pro over Sibelius on my first try, so I probably second your opinion. Ironically I think often times it really does come down to efficiency. You can have the fanciest sugar coated UI and deluxe options, but if something gets your work done noticeably faster, is just really efficient for your work flow, you end up using it. So they probably had the development focus in the right place and it was some engineer who made it. But would it be too much to ask for for them to improve some things without hurting the efficiency?
Talking about metal festivals, I don't know how but this Finnish joke humppa band Eläkeläiset has been getting on metal festivals, not only in Finland but all the way to Wacken. I believe metal people are oddly receptive to unorthodox or funny stuff.
Oh how I wish restaurants these days had a smooth live band that doesn't get in the way of conversation yet still live music.
Loved the bass rendition of Overjoyed at 12:15. :D
Was pleasantly surprised when I heard
the internal clock stuff is fascinating and also makes me feel way better about my lack of ability to sing while i play
so glad you've been uploading more, your channel is like comfort food in video form
Very interesting about practicing the counting out of time. My drum tutor used to tell me to do this during lessons and I never really understood why, but I noticed the patterns and limb independence improving as a result. This explains it
I’m very happy and relieved right now to be an exclusive Sibelius user. There are things about the software the frustrate me, but it’s the only software I’ve ever used aside from dabbling with Logic’s built-in notation function. Since I don’t know any better, I’m satisfied.
The ability for English to be talked with a rythym is pretty handy for someone like myself who has a stutter, because stutterers don't stutter while singing (or following any kind of rhythm), so I can just imagine a rhythm in my head and keep from stuttering.
glad you had fun in serbia, my man. it was great!
Nessum Dorma on bass was certainly nice!!! Much appreciated, my granddad used to sing it 😄
I really feel your take on Sibelius!
You opened this video and just causally blew my god damn mind showing us how rhythmic English is. Good stuff as always, Adam
As a brass player your advice at the beginning was very interesting because while my mouth is obstructed when playing, I use the same type of process when thinking the counts in my head. I have always been taught to speak out the rhythm in a similar manner and internalize it as a conscious thought while I’m playing. So it has gotten to the point where I am processing the notes and a voice counting in my head
Omg finally someone validating my high C take! I play a 6 string bass and have it tuned BEADGC because it just makes more sense!
Smalls! Man if there’s anything I miss about NY it’s Smalls.
I've had one of those Digitech synth bass wah pedals kicking around since early on in high school when I had my first bass, I love that it has some real useful tone for stuff like you do!
9:36 Tantacrul has been summoned
I made the switch Finale to Dorico last year, working on a pit score. The first number was a slog, but by the time I got to the 40th number I was grooving faster than I ever was with Finale. It can be done!
Loved at 1:36 that "Easier said than done" is in reference to literally saying it.
This came out as I was struggling to learn my first groove on the drums. Great help!
When I was a young kid, my mom had my siblings and me name dishes rhythmically, each person could pick any dish, and we all said them simultaneously and in time. That’s how I as a very small child learned about polyrhythm. It’s a lot more fun than you’d think!
The Books is a music project that did an incredible job highlighting the rhyms of the English language. The backbone of many of their songs is found audio recordings from thrift stores of people talking, then they then deduce the rhythms of the speech and add beautiful guitar and cello, and DIY percussion like PVC pipe drums. It's hard to describe, sort of like an intricate musical collage, but very engrossing, emotional and beautiful, sometimes pretty strange
HE'S BACK!!
My steel band director uses phrases to match with common rhythms that we play. Matching a memorable phrase is another way to remember and accurately play back a rhythm, because it matches the rhythm in your speech!
super good tip to count out loud and leverage speech rhythm🔥an old trick from my piano conservatory days was to also count at smaller divisions (sixteenths instead of eighths for instance) since it reduces some uncertainty
I regularly count out loud if I'm playing a drum cover and there's a tricky part that needs to be broken down a bit (such as some of those juicy stops in Steely Dan songs). It's super helpful. I also jam with some friends and have been teaching myself to talk in my natural rhythm *while* still playing. It definitely has been improving my timing!
I got the idea of counting out loud from Benny Greb, I’m not a drummer but this exercise has helped me immensely regardless of the instrument, it’s how I practice everything now..
You're back! ❤
as a bassist/guitarist and finger tapping enthusiast: its kinda crazy how much easier it is for me to tap that syncopated rhythm with one hand and the beat with the other hand, than it is to tap the rhythm and Count the beat Out Loud. It's like I can feel a different part of my brain turning on when i start counting. I've always heard from music teachers that counting out loud is important, but its nice to be reminded Why that is lol
4:10 about comprehending a certain style of music. What I have studied and analyzing by listening to various type of genres such as bolero, son, salsa, jazz, funk, bossa and so, the most important thing in any genre is rhythm. let me elaborate. If you want to play bossa, you need to analyze or understand the rhythm and how the musicians phrase it. you can do it by transcribing and playing with the recordings. its very important to understand how musicians phrase and articulate the rhythm because that is the root for playing any genre
Back in the 80s/90s in The Netherlands we had a nighttime radio show, hosted by saxophone player Hans Dulfer (father of Candy Dulfer, who a.o. played in Prince' band), and he would play Sonny Rollins back-to-back with Slayer etc. explaining the similarities between styles. I loved that show. No surprise Sun Gazer does well on a metal festival.
Oh, I remember listening to that!!
Thank you for a great concert last night in Vilnius, it was a blast!
That first answer was so damn helpful to me thank you adam!
Come to Uruguay! I can guarantee at least 1 fans
Prog metalhead here: most of us love fusion especially if it has some oomph like you do and Sungazer pops regularly in forums/reddit recommendations. You don't have to feel out of place in festivals ;)
10:45 These bucket hats are incredible
Dang, the Bass Synth Wah has been one of my favorite pedals for more than a decade, got it super cheap used, glad to see it getting some appreciation!
*Cries in syllable-timed French*
Looking forward to you coming back to Seattle!
29 seconds ago uploaded... sick! now i have something to do
I bought an Ibanez Volo to use with a high C string, and you're right, it's still a bass. But having the extra range (with a 2-octave neck, too) is just lovely when I want to just play a melody. I don't have to struggle to get it heard; it's already in the range for a melody to be heard. It's fun for chord, as you note, but I find I have to step carefully with that on most of the gigs I play. It is awfully handy for reading gigs, too -- less shifting for the high notes!
Oh man i missed these videos … thank you Adam!
10:45 No joke I still absolutely love your Djazz cover of The Hills and absolutely would shout that album from the hill tops if you made one
Omg so useful! So insightful. Thanks, subscribed to hear more
There are a couple of mindblowing Hal Galper masterclass videos on TH-cam that talks about using the physical sound of the instrument-instead of a metronome-to build your relationship with rhythm and time while at the same time getting to know your instrument better.
dear god that nessun dorma bit was nice, more plz
Former classical musician turned jazz violinist. For various compelling reasons that I won’t go into here, rhythm and counting were a weak link for me. I’ve decided to do a self-designed homestudy I call “remedial rhythm studies”. It’s helping a lot, but I appreciate your experience and suggestions for how to go about metronome weaning and replace that reliance with your own internal rhythm abilities.
I'm from Belgium and my fondest memory from my trip to New York was the Vanguard Jazz Orchestra at the Village Vanguard :)
love this about rhythm and metronome!
Thank you for teaching me something new today. I will be implementing the counting out of time with my elementary band kids now!!!
The counting out loud and playing thing reminded me of the total ballache of learning vocal melodies to sing at the same time as playing synchopated parts.
I discovered this on my own the past year I feel validated that you made a segment about it! Obviously I still use s metronome but taking it away when playing super slow and using my b
voice helped.
Good Lord, you are amazing. Nebula. Fascinating. Thank you.
3:59 It's purely BASS'd
I like how the "talking the rhythm out loud" thing sort of mirrors the advice for instrumental soloists to shape their solos as if they were sung (stress, pause, etc...)!
Ive also visited Leipzig for Bach, and it cemented what I already fully understood and grasped about his music. My autistic brain was already tuned to understanding his much was about community and about bringing people together
I *immediately* went to using the Voice Metronome on my synth drums. It's NOT as good as me counting off myself, but it's way better than clicks, taps, or beeps (1/8 does "1 and 2 and 3 and 4", so that's cool).
7:48 over the Hawk WHAT?
😂😂😂