I’d love to see a video about how you approach composing your looping backing tracks; the way you start with a deconstructed version of the groove/chords, all the ambient stuff and harmony. It’s very recognizable.
If you search, John does have a video of his process for making the backing tracks. I was surprised to learn that he's not using a looper here. He plays the parts along with a metronome and merges them together later when he adds the drums and other instruments.
The question is not how does he create them, looper or otherwise. The question is how does he compose them. How does he come up with the chord progression and the chord voicings etc… I asked this on an earlier video as well, and I would love to see a video explaining his approach.
9:30 John hearing you say this was a revelation for me. I gave up on formal instruction very early on in my journey many years ago because it just wasn’t helping me do what I was trying to do - instantly play the melodies I would hear in my head over a chord progression, just like I do when I sing. As a result I play almost entirely by ear and muscle memory. If there’s instructional material out there for how to do this, I still haven’t found it!
@@NedJeffery I used to sometimes wake up and had to write a song in the middle of the night, and when I was working in the sausage factory young I used to compose while gettin weaners into their packs, and at the short pauses used to write down lyrics /ideas....and then after23 oclock bycycling to practice hut on the way home to play the guitar..., 🥍
I cannot describe how much I LOVE your playing, and I LOVE these kinds of videos! Just one guy's opinion, but I come here because you're one of my favorite guitar players, not so much for the gear vids. I can be just as big of a gear head as the next guy I suppose, and don't get me wrong I think you bring a lot of value with your abilities and perspectives with modelers. I just think you bring a lot more value when you teach musicians things like you did in this video. If you had a course I would buy it sight unseen. Anyway, one man's opinion. Keep up the great work, and PLEASE consider putting some of your improvisational stuff out on streaming services like Spotify. Or start doing improv twitch streams or something! I'm a programmer by day and I listen to music all day and I so badly want to just put on a playlist of your improv while I code. Blessings on you sir ❤
Also I totally agree with your points. I also think playing singable lines is a big one for me. I’ll listen to the track and sometimes record a voice memo of me singing a lead and then transferring to the guitar. It takes you different places!
What helped me play in multiple keys was to play along with whatever background music was on television. As long as you don't mind alienating yourself from those around you it works well. You never know what is next, especially in the advert breaks and it makes you react quickly.
I took the same approach and as I did more of it, I discovered that there is really some amazing music; especially spooky stuff that isn't necessarily diatonic. Just trying to figure out the harmony on some of the chords is an amazing excercise.
Wonderful video and I completely agree with everything you've said here. The first time I heard someone say it's important to focus on targeting chord tones, I thought 'Crikey, I couldn't think of anything more boring'. I think what you say about the importance of melody here is spot on, cheers!
Great advice John. The targeting of notes can be really confusing. I think so long as you can play any scale anywhere on the neck, the melodies will come out and sound amazing. 👍
Great advice! I always suggest guitar players listen to anything and everything other than technically impressive guitar players. The truth of the world is that most humans don't want to hear music that jams as many notes into a song as possible. They like rhythms primarily, and melodies as a close second. Harmony, tone, and technical showing off are all waaaaaaaaaay down on the list. We like to believe that memorizing "all the scales and modes" will somehow make these other things magically manifest, but it doesn't. But wow... a person can become such a better guitar player just by picking random songs from any genre and playing along. Even if that song doesn't have a guitar in it, try to make your part fit. Amazing growth. And please, do this with things outside of western culture. Otherwise you are missing the majority of what music actually has to offer.
I deliberately went learn-by-ear almost exclusively after my 3-4 years (on tabs, able to shred quite quickly). Realized all the greats did it. Melody too ... was always attracted to it and liked learning them. Vocals especially, and you realize lots of vocal melodies repeat notes often, which is something that's relatively in technical lead guitar. Also reminds me of Marty Friedman, who got his style learning a bunch of East Asian melodies from records from the library or something to that effect.
Absolutely agree that key to sounding melodic is not chord tones, but .... melody. Circular but true. The main way to develop that is to listen to music and play music with intention.
I believe that people get the "target 3rd/5th/root" advice too serious and disregard other very important parts of melodic playing: motivic development, repeatable parts, continuity, and other concepts. The idea of targeting chord notes is to resolve the tension, but to resolve it one should create it first. I'd suggest people to treat melodies as a story telling. Try to say something with your melody: dreaminess of a natural 6th, pain of a flat 5th, anticipation of 7ths, satisfactions of different kinds with 3rds or root/5th. One can be very good at playing notes, but it does not mean that one can improvise (or even write) good melodies. The same as one who is good at writing is not a good poet by default.
My 2 pence worth- Motivic development and contrast are key. Excercises for Motivic development concentrating on things like theme repetition, variation, fragmentation, extension etc. and then contrast exercises to develop more of an arc of interest in your solo, so like when you’re talking your not talking in a monotone and at the same volume type thing. Things like changing phrase lengths, changing from Motivic to through composed, interspersing slow lines with faster lines, long phrases with short phrases, throw in some interval jumps, playing low to high etc. and then last then practice getting the connection from your brain so your playing what your singing instead of just playing what your fingers tell you. Think of a melody, then play it, rinse and repeat. Shed all that and then forget about it when your out playing and do whatever comes 👍👍👌💪
Though practicing 2 octave scales and arpeggios will improve your technique, it won't help learning how to play melodic lines, as those typically occur within the range of 1 octave. If musical notes are analogues to letters of the alphabet, then combinations of notes will form the words, and the flow of those will form the sentences of the melodies you play. Improving your melodic vocabulary will lead to more musical melodies.
This is a great idea. Although crazy obvious - once stated. I think I may well dedicate a definite amount of time to figuring out vocal melodies on guitar - including aping the expression. Just to see if I can get more feel into my playing.
Love this advice, John! I kinda used to do this and I remember it being really fun and relaxing. I'll do it more now. I'm thinking of playing along Ariana Grande and Up Dharma Down (band here in Manila, greaaaat vocalist) songs.
Great points on the primacy of melody. When it comes time to convey changes, then the simplification to playing with chord tones has its advantages, but yeah, worthless without the melody practice, me thinks. And funny hearing "gospel" and "sleazy" in the same sentence. It's the eternal dialectic of sacred and profane within the musics we play, isn't it? :) Cheers, D
I practised, because i did not had a lot of records, and it was boring to play over same records, by just turning radio on and playng along what ever music came from radio, no matter what musical style it was, and try to create melodic lines and solos over what ever song came, by improvising even when i did not had heard the song ever. It always keep you on your toes when you have not heard song before 😀
John, you seem to hold a pick with your thumb and index finger (as most of us do), and seem to use the remaining three fingers in hybrid picking patterns. When you don't hybrid pick and play let's say acoustic guitar with no pick, do you still use the same three (middle, ring and pinkey) along with thumb or switch to more convenient thumb-index-middle-ring? Thx!
they are harmonics - visualise the chord shape an octave higher above the twelfth fret and and lightly touch and pluck the string simultaneously with right hand for each note of the chord plus twelve frets :-) much fun Tommy Emmanuel has mastered this - its a bit tricky
Yeah, that's very cool. I believe this is an example of "harp harmonics" attributed to the jazz guitarist Lenny Breau. Andy Summers played some in the short break in Message In A Bottle (by The Police). One of the guitar magazines had a write-up on this back in the day. Cheers
That album by Tank is a great album recommendation! I've been on neo-soul binge lately, and another one I love is d'Angelo's Voodoo, which has the amazing Spanky Alford on guitar.
You are a great player and person. But can you play less notes time to time? I know it for sure your feel and melodies would benefit from that a lot. Let it ring. The nost important note is silence in the right moment. Silence is the best tention. God bless you dude you are awesome!
I've been teaching music (primarily to guitarists ) for 45 years. The only musicians who play melodically, are the ones who actually LISTEN to melodic music, it's as simple as that. Guitarists who never sing, just don't "get it". Like George Benson once said "It's ALL about the singing"!
![What is the Point of Improvising [and how to get better at it]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/pxso9vU6IgM/mqdefault.jpg)
![What is the Point of Improvising [and how to get better at it]](/img/tr.png)
I’d love to see a video about how you approach composing your looping backing tracks; the way you start with a deconstructed version of the groove/chords, all the ambient stuff and harmony. It’s very recognizable.
I second that. His openings are great songs in their own right
If you search, John does have a video of his process for making the backing tracks. I was surprised to learn that he's not using a looper here. He plays the parts along with a metronome and merges them together later when he adds the drums and other instruments.
@@andrewbenon thanks for sharing that, I’m quite new to his channel. I’ll look it up!
I would like to learn more about that too. Especially because I think most of the time guitarists are just playing in their bedroom
The question is not how does he create them, looper or otherwise. The question is how does he compose them. How does he come up with the chord progression and the chord voicings etc… I asked this on an earlier video as well, and I would love to see a video explaining his approach.
9:30 John hearing you say this was a revelation for me. I gave up on formal instruction very early on in my journey many years ago because it just wasn’t helping me do what I was trying to do - instantly play the melodies I would hear in my head over a chord progression, just like I do when I sing. As a result I play almost entirely by ear and muscle memory. If there’s instructional material out there for how to do this, I still haven’t found it!
There's a reason there is no instructional material for that. It's instinctual.
@@NedJeffery I used to sometimes wake up and had to write a song in the middle of the night, and when I was working in the sausage factory young I used to compose while gettin weaners into their packs, and at the short pauses used to write down lyrics /ideas....and then after23 oclock bycycling to practice hut on the way home to play the guitar..., 🥍
LoG guitar extravaganza!
Thanks! This gives me some great ideas
I cannot describe how much I LOVE your playing, and I LOVE these kinds of videos! Just one guy's opinion, but I come here because you're one of my favorite guitar players, not so much for the gear vids. I can be just as big of a gear head as the next guy I suppose, and don't get me wrong I think you bring a lot of value with your abilities and perspectives with modelers. I just think you bring a lot more value when you teach musicians things like you did in this video. If you had a course I would buy it sight unseen. Anyway, one man's opinion. Keep up the great work, and PLEASE consider putting some of your improvisational stuff out on streaming services like Spotify. Or start doing improv twitch streams or something! I'm a programmer by day and I listen to music all day and I so badly want to just put on a playlist of your improv while I code. Blessings on you sir ❤
Also I totally agree with your points. I also think playing singable lines is a big one for me. I’ll listen to the track and sometimes record a voice memo of me singing a lead and then transferring to the guitar. It takes you different places!
What helped me play in multiple keys was to play along with whatever background music was on television. As long as you don't mind alienating yourself from those around you it works well. You never know what is next, especially in the advert breaks and it makes you react quickly.
Me too bud!
I took the same approach and as I did more of it, I discovered that there is really some amazing music; especially spooky stuff that isn't necessarily diatonic. Just trying to figure out the harmony on some of the chords is an amazing excercise.
Wonderful video and I completely agree with everything you've said here. The first time I heard someone say it's important to focus on targeting chord tones, I thought 'Crikey, I couldn't think of anything more boring'. I think what you say about the importance of melody here is spot on, cheers!
11:43 THIS! I think this way might help me. Thank you.
Great advice John. The targeting of notes can be really confusing. I think so long as you can play any scale anywhere on the neck, the melodies will come out and sound amazing. 👍
Great advice! I always suggest guitar players listen to anything and everything other than technically impressive guitar players. The truth of the world is that most humans don't want to hear music that jams as many notes into a song as possible. They like rhythms primarily, and melodies as a close second. Harmony, tone, and technical showing off are all waaaaaaaaaay down on the list. We like to believe that memorizing "all the scales and modes" will somehow make these other things magically manifest, but it doesn't. But wow... a person can become such a better guitar player just by picking random songs from any genre and playing along. Even if that song doesn't have a guitar in it, try to make your part fit. Amazing growth. And please, do this with things outside of western culture. Otherwise you are missing the majority of what music actually has to offer.
I deliberately went learn-by-ear almost exclusively after my 3-4 years (on tabs, able to shred quite quickly). Realized all the greats did it. Melody too ... was always attracted to it and liked learning them. Vocals especially, and you realize lots of vocal melodies repeat notes often, which is something that's relatively in technical lead guitar.
Also reminds me of Marty Friedman, who got his style learning a bunch of East Asian melodies from records from the library or something to that effect.
Perfect! thanks for the vid John. You hit the nail on the head!!
Thanks for clarifying not LSD 😂 Johns low key humor is the best
Okay I thought that's what I heard, lol
@@blueleaftuber I feel like I’ve heard him slip beef curtains into more than one video as well lol
Absolutely agree that key to sounding melodic is not chord tones, but .... melody. Circular but true. The main way to develop that is to listen to music and play music with intention.
I believe that people get the "target 3rd/5th/root" advice too serious and disregard other very important parts of melodic playing: motivic development, repeatable parts, continuity, and other concepts. The idea of targeting chord notes is to resolve the tension, but to resolve it one should create it first. I'd suggest people to treat melodies as a story telling. Try to say something with your melody: dreaminess of a natural 6th, pain of a flat 5th, anticipation of 7ths, satisfactions of different kinds with 3rds or root/5th. One can be very good at playing notes, but it does not mean that one can improvise (or even write) good melodies. The same as one who is good at writing is not a good poet by default.
My 2 pence worth- Motivic development and contrast are key. Excercises for Motivic development concentrating on things like theme repetition, variation, fragmentation, extension etc. and then contrast exercises to develop more of an arc of interest in your solo, so like when you’re talking your not talking in a monotone and at the same volume type thing. Things like changing phrase lengths, changing from Motivic to through composed, interspersing slow lines with faster lines, long phrases with short phrases, throw in some interval jumps, playing low to high etc. and then last then practice getting the connection from your brain so your playing what your singing instead of just playing what your fingers tell you. Think of a melody, then play it, rinse and repeat. Shed all that and then forget about it when your out playing and do whatever comes 👍👍👌💪
Good morning from the US John hope all is well and I hope you have a great weekend ahead of you! 🔥🎶🎸🤜🤛🙌
Though practicing 2 octave scales and arpeggios will improve your technique, it won't help learning how to play melodic lines, as those typically occur within the range of 1 octave. If musical notes are analogues to letters of the alphabet, then combinations of notes will form the words, and the flow of those will form the sentences of the melodies you play. Improving your melodic vocabulary will lead to more musical melodies.
To play more "melodic", play "melodies." I think that makes perfect sense. Beato says if you don't know what to play, play the melody.
please we need a compilation of these intros, so i can just listen on a long car ride
This is a great idea. Although crazy obvious - once stated. I think I may well dedicate a definite amount of time to figuring out vocal melodies on guitar - including aping the expression. Just to see if I can get more feel into my playing.
Really Great Clip !!! Has to be shared ✌
i would like to know your opinion on shijie guitars
Love this advice, John! I kinda used to do this and I remember it being really fun and relaxing. I'll do it more now. I'm thinking of playing along Ariana Grande and Up Dharma Down (band here in Manila, greaaaat vocalist) songs.
Yes, PES! 👌
Great points on the primacy of melody. When it comes time to convey changes, then the simplification to playing with chord tones has its advantages, but yeah, worthless without the melody practice, me thinks. And funny hearing "gospel" and "sleazy" in the same sentence. It's the eternal dialectic of sacred and profane within the musics we play, isn't it? :) Cheers, D
I practised, because i did not had a lot of records, and it was boring to play over same records, by just turning radio on and playng along what ever music came from radio, no matter what musical style it was, and try to create melodic lines and solos over what ever song came, by improvising even when i did not had heard the song ever.
It always keep you on your toes when you have not heard song before 😀
What's that chimy bit you do at the end of your pieces sometimes? Artificial harmonics? Would love you to break that piece down sometime!
Is Matt still holding? Asking for a mate
John, you seem to hold a pick with your thumb and index finger (as most of us do), and seem to use the remaining three fingers in hybrid picking patterns. When you don't hybrid pick and play let's say acoustic guitar with no pick, do you still use the same three (middle, ring and pinkey) along with thumb or switch to more convenient thumb-index-middle-ring? Thx!
I wasnt expecting to hear about playing PES with Matt who dealt cocaine, but it just made this video even better
Man he was a character...Like 6 ft 5, skinny as a rake
@@johnnathancordy hahahaha
It's a click bait title but I don't care, because it's a good video 🤘
JC, any new patch for freeze and expression 3.6?
Thin Lizzy would be a good nickname for the ME90. It's thin and fizzy!
Thxs
Sometimes I'll tune my instrument down I have step to give me the perception that I am in a Morse non-typical key signature, As a form of exercise.
wonder if John still remembers how to play Cowboy song??
Clapton has said many times he sees his soloing like another "human" voice in a song
Check out Jack Thammarat playing Somewhere Over The Rainbow ( Jeff Beck Cover)....phenomenal use of the bar.
I 'discovered' Jack Thammarat and Vinai Trinateepakdee several years ago through Jam Track central.
They are both such melodic players
@@davidbriggs9675 Me too for both....actually working on Send Me an Angel right now....Vinai version
What was that at 3:50 😅 please show us!!
they are harmonics - visualise the chord shape an octave higher above the twelfth fret and and lightly touch and pluck the string simultaneously with right hand for each note of the chord plus twelve frets :-) much fun Tommy Emmanuel has mastered this - its a bit tricky
I know all your "dirty Secrets" 😄 ..... and i love´em ✌🥰
3:52 more of this please. Achingly pretty.
Yeah, that's very cool. I believe this is an example of "harp harmonics" attributed to the jazz guitarist Lenny Breau. Andy Summers played some in the short break in Message In A Bottle (by The Police). One of the guitar magazines had a write-up on this back in the day. Cheers
That album by Tank is a great album recommendation! I've been on neo-soul binge lately, and another one I love is d'Angelo's Voodoo, which has the amazing Spanky Alford on guitar.
You are a great player and person. But can you play less notes time to time? I know it for sure your feel and melodies would benefit from that a lot. Let it ring. The nost important note is silence in the right moment. Silence is the best tention. God bless you dude you are awesome!
I'd like to see some content on where you buy your clothes! Joking. Not joking. 🙂
lmao ...lsd tabs
The dirty secret? Lots of sextuplets?
Lol...
I've been teaching music (primarily to guitarists ) for 45 years. The only musicians who play melodically, are the ones who actually LISTEN to melodic music, it's as simple as that. Guitarists who never sing, just don't "get it". Like George Benson once said "It's ALL about the singing"!