Q+A #37 - Is Synesthesia ACTUALLY real?
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- Опубликовано: 6 окт 2024
- Many thanks to Chris LeMond, TheHarmonicPulse, SAMUCA CHIODINI, Jim Haugland, Denis, bj7xtas1, thebudsofmay, Zippy Leroux, user name, Yhoda, Joe Turgeon and Daniel Proctor for your insightful questions!
0:14 What’s the deal with Fanned Frets? Also, how does an understand of physics relate to music?
2:23 Is Synesthesia real, or just some BS you made up?
5:11 What is the function of the Fm7 in the chorus to Sir Duke by Stevie Wonder?
8:08 How do you come up with melodies?
10:06 How do you keep so relaxed with your technique on bass?
12:02 What are your thoughts on NOT recording to a click in a modern DAW environment?
14:01 On modern jazz big band music
14:09 How do you approach memorizing large amounts of music?
15:01 Can Adam submit a song for US to review?
15:11 HOW MUCH DID THE 440 CONSPIRACY PAY YOU TO MAKE THE ANTI-432 VIDEO?!?!
15:48 Can I get away with not doubling if I’m a woodwind player looking to make a career in NYC?
17:21 How do I start a career in TEACHING music?
SYNESTHESIA RESEARCH
(Cognitive Neuroscience)
www.ncbi.nlm.n...
(Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience)
www.mitpressjou...
cogprints.org/6...
(Yale journal of biology and medicine)
www.ncbi.nlm.n...
(Biological Psychiatry)
www.biologicalp...
(Neuropsychologia)
www.sciencedire...
(Consciousness and Cognition)
www.sciencedire...
(Neuron)
www.cell.com/ne...
Psychology of Music
mobile.www.days...
American Journal of Psychology
www.jstor.org/...
(Others)
journals.plos.o...
www.ncbi.nlm.n...
www.ncbi.nlm.n...
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Peace,
Adam 
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Hot damn, that 432 Hz comment is absolutely brilliant. It takes a special kind of mind to come up with that. "I am fully awake and unplugged from the Matrix" had me rolling
waterguyroks I knew it was coming because I read your comment first, and I still laughed my ass off
Screaming funny yup :)
"Compalcency in cynicism is just as dangerous as complacency in credulity"
Such an excellent way of putting it. Definitely stealing that.
I'm fully awake and unplugged from the matrix.
Well plug back in baby cause it runs on a 432Hz processor!!!
Beat me to it
Gawd that was hilarious, wasn't it?
🤣
To add to the final question on teaching music.
I own a successful music school in Tokyo.
I've taught at small private schools, public high schools, and universities. Finally opening my own school was by far the best thing I've done in my teaching career. Of course it takes a lot of work to eventually open a school - but it's well worth it.
Having a web site helps. Though we don't advertise much online. As Adam stated, word of mouth is extremely important. I also get quite a few students during gigs. I often hang out with people after playing and music education might come up.
But, one of the biggest draws to my school is really simple. Outside my school we keep various music instruments laying around - common instruments, unusual homemade instruments, and collected instruments I find while traveling around the world. We have a sign encouraging people to play. My school became known throughout my community because of this. Especially during the weekend all kinds of people stop and jam out, or simply try out some of the instruments. We teach various kinds of music, but I advertise that our specialty is unconventional methods of composition and improvisation. I'd imagine that it might be a bad idea to leave many instruments outside in some parts of the world - that's one good thing about having a school in Tokyo. Nobody is going to steal anything! Coming up with a unique approach like this can do wonders for a business!
So the synesthesia connection to Absolute Pitch is because absolute pitch is right brain dominant and based on holographic information access through the vagus nerve. This is also how frission or the music chills works from the nonlinear overtone and subharmonics resonance activating the vagus nerve to increase dopamine. The Mozart Effect is like when Adam Neely said he learned the Bach cello piece - the slow movement of Baroque - is 60 bpm - that resonates the heart as a theta REM waking trance state for increased holographic visualization that is right brain dominant. This is why poetry as epic history was song as right brain dominant frequency memorization - before written language. So the left side vagus nerve does not connect to the right brain whereas the right side vagus nerve connects to the left brain and the right side vagus nerve sublimates up the neurohormone energy. This is why time slows down externally while the brain's frequency perception increases from a huge spike in adrenaline via the kidneys to the pineal gland as a positive feedback. There is then a vagus nerve parasympathetic rebound reaction as a deep right side vagus nerve that spikes serotonin and alpha brain waves - this is the Mozart Effect that enables vast holographic memorization and also synesthesia. So the pineal gland is a transducer of reverse entropy - called quantum relative entropy energy as acoustic phonons, the hidden momentum of light. We exist within the 5th dimension as noncommutative phase - from the secret of real empirically true music harmonics - the Octave, Perfect Fifth/Perfect Fourth are noncommutative phase as infinite energy resonance. So proprioception works via the vagus nerve and pineal gland transduction of the sound-current ether as reverse entropy entanglement phonons from light being "turned around" at time zero. Hearing is faster that Fourier Uncertainty since listening is nonlinear - the middle ear flexes to hear the highest pitch externally that resonates the brain microtubules as ultrasound resonance splitting water into superconducting protons - that are entangled through precession that resonates with the schumann ELF subharmonics. This is called Phonon-Hydron, discovered by CIA mind control scientist Dr. Andrija Puharich when he developed implants for internal voice transduction through ultrasound. The Hypersonic Effect activates the vagus nerve creating the ELF subharmonics as a reverse entropy energy that is quantum entanglement consciousness from the future - so not only is synesthesia real - for example the original human culture, the San Bushmen, can smell death as rotting flesh and smell can be non-local - like smelling over the phone - all the senses are transduced through the Hypersonic Effect, as Sony even patented this matrix holographic technology in 1995 and the Special Forces use proprioception as the Brain Port based on ultrasound electromagnetic transduction of the five senses.
Great idea. I can see how this would work well in Japan. There might similar ideas that would work in other countries, but have to adapt so instruments don’t keep disappearing!
My form of synesthesia causes me to see 432hz sycophants as poo colored.
Dafuq!
Where does the color come from doe
@@fsmfiat It's a joke
the joke is making fun of the pseudoscientific belief that music tuned to A=432 hz rather than A=440 hz is better for you
This video further backs up my perception of Adam as a profoundly intelligent and well-rounded person. I appreciate every insight I've heard from him on musical and non-musical topics. He's humble, so he won't like if I say he approximates the concept of a academic polymath he discusses in this video, but I'll say it regardless.
How to stretch fingers or reach more easily, with a relaxed hand using the edge of your phone is a great way of explaining without needing an instrument. Thanks Adam for another useful and entertaining clip.
QUESTION:
What is doing taxes like as a freelance musician? How do you keep track of all your different avenues of income and what work related purchases/investments (e.g. instruments/software/newlaptops) are you eligible to write off?
My solution to this was marrying an accountant!
Seriously, I'm horrible with money and she has my permission to control it all.
First, consider purchasing a program like Quickbooks so you can have one place to record transactions. This will also allow you to generate reports monthly and when tax time rolls around. You will also be able to track profit and loss (P & L) and the return on investment (ROI) of your business related investments. Second, consider getting a credit card specifically for business expenses. This way, if you fail to enter some transactions into your accounting software in a timely manner, you will still have a record every month to aid you in filling in the missed transactions. Finally, meet with a tax planner to discuss the best ways to maximize deductions. You may think that this is too expensive or you don't make enough to matter, but it isn't and you do. Even some clothing can be a write off, as well as the the miles you drive to and from gigs. This is all money in your pocket.
^ and also how do you get health insurance?? Is there some sort of musician club? Lol or do you have to be part of an orchestra or big group, because I doubt the average musician can pay for private insurance.
Insurance comes in many forms and there is still some government assistance available to very low income people. If money is an issue, you basically want coverage for catastrophic circumstances - you have a heart attack, cancer, brain aneurysm, etc. These insurance products typically have a low monthly payment but a very high deductible (e.g. You will have to pay for the first $10,000 of expenses before insurance kicks in, and then they may only pay 80% after). If you are working and are young, healthy, and nonsmoker then this will probably be affordable. Be aware that there is a tax penalty in place for NOT having proof of health insurance. Regarding organizations, I found a few things with a Google search ("group health insurance for musicians") that indicate that there are group plans for musicians, but they probably vary from state to state. A good place to start is by contacting an independent insurance agent, one that does not represent any particular company but rather is able to shop you around to several to find you the best deal. They don't charge you for this service and you are not compelled to buy from them. The state you live in will have a lot to do with what you pay. If you have been following the news, you have heard that there is a lot up in the air regarding health insurance, and it will likely change within the next year. Many musicians have part time jobs outside of music. Some companies, I believe Starbucks is one, offer access to their health plan to part time employees. You may consider getting a part time job with flexible hours with a company like this just so you can have affordable healthcare. I know this is long so I will finish with this: Medical expenses are the #1 cause of bankruptcy in the US. Even just having "catastrophic" insurance can save you from a lifetime of debt. I am not an insurance agent, but I am an otherwise healthy man in my forties that needed a pacemaker 5 years ago. Thankfully, I had insurance or I would be shackled with incredible debt. Hope this helps.
I mostly kept two different google excel spreadsheets. One was for income, one for expenses. The income one was split into columns based on the income source. For example, teaching at a music studio, teaching on my own, gigs, church playing... I suppose you could go crazy and have a different column for each student, but hat seems crazy to me. I liked the way I had it set up because it automatically tallied each column at the bottom the spreadsheet, which is a sobering way to find out exactly how much money you make from each avenue of income. Just like Bach back in his day, most musicians nowadays make the majority of their money from teaching and playing at churches with gigs to supplement (sometimes a lot!).
Understanding a moderate level of physics has been helpful for playing woodwinds for me - I can understand a lot of how techniques work like how altissimo works etc. Also it was helpful for understanding instrument repair. So I agree basically, with what you said, it can help you understand your instrument, even if it doesn’t help me actually play it
I think I can speak for all of us 'Neelyaics ' when I say we would love to see you cover that back cello peice
Back to Bach.
Thanks for what you do, Adam. I'm glad those negative comments aren't stopping you. Most of us appreciate your work. Your channel is outstanding!
so... how do you "see" microtonal notes ?
La Tortue PGM he doesn't "see" notes, he sees LETTERS in color. It was explained it details in his video on synesthesia, so please refer to that.
Yeah, so it would probably depend on the notation used. For quarter tones it's moderately common to just use "+" to indicate when something is a quarter tone sharper, so presumably C+ and F#+ would be colored in relation to however he normally views C and F.
As he said in that video Synesthesia is different for everyone so the answer might be complicated. But musical pitches are a spectrum, just like colors. How do you see the color between Red and orange? you can call it red-orange(like the crayola crayons!) and its easy to distinguish from both red and orange. Now how do you see the color between Red and Red-orange? It starts to get hard to tell at that point in the spectrum; its gonna look mostly red but a slight bit more orange(if you can even tell). So how would someone "see" a C thats a few cents sharp? My guess is they would see mostly whatever color they associate with C, but it would feel a little bit off. Synesthesia isnt superpowers, its just your brain associating certain senses with others; It doesnt mean you can see in vivid detail every pitch in the spectrum as a color....Unless you also had savant level Absolute pitch along with very pronounced synesthesia
+user name
Smells like someone's been eating a jelly sandwich...
"more unique"--lel
That second answer was such a punch in the face!
Gotta love the, "I find your scientific evidence hard to believe," crowd. Always good for a laugh.
Very good response to the melody creation process. Humble and hopeful.
I lost it at "Bastions of new-age, unscientific thought" LOL
Being a guitar player myself, I always thought that learning music theory on a guitar or a bass is much less intuitive than a piano. For one the notes themselves are laid out in a logic manner on a piano but on a guitar it takes a lot of memorization and muscle training. Do you think that music theory is simpler to learn on piano, or am I just being a whiny guitar player?
Nicolas Jalbert
It definetly is easier on a piano. A string on a guitar pretty much resembles a piano starting on a particular note.
I definitely agree with you on that. Guitar suits itself very well has an easy way to accompany a singer or any other instrument by simply using a capo to change the key of open chords. However I think that a majority of beginner piano player understand let's say the component of a chord they are playing but if you were to ask intermediate guitar player most would not understand fully what the G shape chord is composed of. They know it's a G chord because they learned the shape not the individual I,III,V notes. Probably because most could not tell you what each note is because of the complicated memorization needed.
Yeah guitar is more intuitive for me because there aren't black and white frets. A third is a third no matter where you are on the neck (of course accounting for the G-B string exception).
Honestly maybe you are but is normal, When I was beginning on to play (academically) electric guitar on Escuela Superior de Música de Baja California I was really confused about the theory, it doesn't seem appealing but I think that learning theory on guitar is somewhat boring because we are used to tab, is more easier but that's it, it does not tell what note are you playing. For theory you need to learn to read music scores for better understanding of it or first sight reading (at least it worked for me) because you have the fundamental part of theory: the notes on a score. Try to learn chord voicing and Jazz Harmony, it's really useful on guitar for composing and for knowing some cool voicing in general. I dunno, maybe it helps you m8
Nicolas Jalbert I play guitar for years and I'm still struggling to apply theory on the whole finger board.
Lately, I finally started playing piano and it instantly helped me to assimilate my learning in music theory.
The thing I like the most I think is the fact that every key have a different position. It force you to know in what key you are playing so its harder to get lost.
The second thing I like the most is the fact that every note are in order an just appear one time. Its easier to built chords and it simplified a lot the learning of interval. I find it particularly helpful for ear training.
7:05 I was listening to this video in the background but "Welcome to the Black Parade" woke me up ahahah
What you said you learning vocal melodies to help learn bass line was incredibly close to what I do. I've been a melody player for a huge portion of my music playing days (cause I basically just played classical piano). Then I made the transition to more comping stuff when I joined an ensemble. The easiest way to learn the chord changes was in reference to the melody (even when there were no words) and I honestly thought that was how everyone did it.
Definitely agree about the value of overlapping "spheres of knowledge" and striving for well-roundedness in your foundation. Of course, in addition to going as deep as you can into some specific specialty for the purpose of trailblazing new research in order to advance the state of the science in your field of choice.
Don't try and force interdisciplinary ideas into your field though. Like how fluid modelling mathematics is a requirement for economists to be published, even though there's fuck all evidence to suggest it actually works.
I've been binging on your channel lately. Amazing stuff. Your 432 responses slay me.
Hey Adam! I hope this can be a question for your next Q&A:
I am from the Philippines and I will be going to LA and New York in October. I am not interested in going to Disneyland or Six Flags or other tourist spots etc but I'd much prefer to watch my favorite musicians play live, including you as I am a huge fan of this channel. 1 - any tips on where i can find lists of free entrance gigs in LA and New York and 2 - how do i know where you will be playing? Do you post your gig sched somewhere? Thanks a lot and hope I get to watch you!
of what?
Thanks for the response!!!! Very thoughtful as always :)
Hey Adam, love your videos. Just a reminder to do that video about locking in with the drummer as per Q&A #36
Really starting to thoroughly enjoy your videos. I really enjoy the comedic, sarcastic interludes dedicated to rude commenters 👍🏼
Did that comment say "I'm fully awake and unplugged from the matrix"? I'm fucking done, that's hilarious
Tempo maps are also an option when it comes to playing to a click. You could record a take you like and either make a tempo map or have one made, then use that to record to. It's more work, but maybe worth it.
my friend/brother (r.i.p.)was a music prodigy. he saw shape/color within music related to the instrument and human. he could play over thirty instruments flawlessly. he learned them all ;well could play them amazingly, within immediately to minutes. sax took him a day. synesthesia is real and i have observed it in glorious reality.
These are some of my favourite vids, your insight to music really opens up alot of thought for me, cheers!
I can definitely agree with doubling on multiple saxophones. While I'm not a professional musician, I play in several college ensembles. Throughout my college years so far, I've had to play Alto, Soprano, and Tenor in order to be a part of certain ensembles. Being able to have this flexibility is very important, especially for a sax player.
I've enjoyed all of your Excuse Me Kind Sir But What The Devil Is It That You Are Doing Here videos, so my question is:
Are you planning to do more Excuse Me Kind Sir But What The Devil Is It That You Are Doing Here videos? There are still a few more Sungazer songs that haven't been given an Excuse Me Kind Sir But What The Devil Is It That You Are Doing Here video as of yet... I love the Excuse Me Kind Sir But What The Devil Is It That You Are Doing Here format and the way Excuse Me Kind Sir But What The Devil Is It That You Are Doing Here shows the composition process, and I'd love to see more Excuse Me Kind Sir But What The Devil Is It That You Are Doing Here content on this channel
I've always been curious about that third chord in the All-Star but never looked into it, so glad that came up.
When I took physics and learned the science of flageolets and how they're nodes in vibrating strings or air and why they have a different pitch than when you would press the finger down on the string it was very fun and made try to explore all the flageolets on my cello(of which there technically are way too many but still). I don't know about whether it increased my skill by making m understand, but that understanding still feels like something that's nice to have.
I have to add my 2 cents on two of these:
1) Writing melodies: I've found that a good approach is to write melodies without an instrument at hand. Instead I'll just record my voice basically doing a scatty type of thing ("ba-dee-dah de dop, dah dah dee dap dap dee" etc.). Then I'll go and transcribe that melody using a notation software. If this is from a blank page, that's where I'll figure out harmony and what the rythmic backbone is going to be. Then I go to my instrument and will usually improvise some variations after learning the basic melodic idea.
2) Clicks vs. static tempi. I think a click and a static tempo are often confused and in your video you make the same error. All daws can deal with tempomaps and you can generate them fairly easily. Once you have a Tempo map, you also have a click that has a varying tempo. You could've saved yourself a lot of work by just adding a MIDI-keyboard and tapping out the beat during the session, which would then have allowed for an irregular grid, which still retains the ease of editing (you can still snap to beats etc.) but allows the tempo to be non-static. In the early deays of multrack recording - i.e. before digital editing was even a thing click tracks would often be played by the drummer prior to recording the track. If the recording is at least partly overdubbed and there are parts where the first instruments to record aren't playing this becomes vital. In other words: A click doesnÄt have to be metronomic.
you cover a lot in 10minutes ! I've been taking medicine to make my synesthesia less strong but then I miss it so today I'm just enjoying it.
Please can you tell me what medicine you are taking? Thanks.
lamictal and doxepin
Thank you!@@LibrariansRus
Would you consider doing a music podcast other than the Q&A feed? I love the way you explain things quickly but deeply and would definitely listen.
The chord in Love On Top isn't a minor 7 flat 5, it's a dominant 7 flat 5. The lead sheets all say otherwise, but don't believe their lies. (I only happen to know this because the 7b5 is possibly my favorite chord and I get disproportionately excited whenever I find it)
I think synesthesia is real, but I also think some people WANT the damn disorder (disorder? Abnormality? Both sound bad lol) that they trick themselves into thinking they have it. Because of how Adam described it in the previous video (iirc), the numbers and their FEEL of a color (as opposed to the number visually always being that color) can definitely give way to a confirmation bias. If I'm really thinking of the number 7 with a light blue tone, I will FEEL that blue-ness because it'll confirm my preexisting thoughts that 7 has a light blue tone. I'm not saying synesthesia doesn't exist, but I feel some people are tricking themselves into having it (at least temporarily. If you think you have it but don't experience these cross-sensory perceptions on a daily basis, you probably don't). Just a thought, though. Would be curious to hear others' opinions. Great video.
I experienced it before I knew it existed. I thought everyone was experiencing the same things I was so I never mentioned it to anybody. Then the numberphile video on synaesthesia popped up on my recommended for whatever reason and I realized it wasn't something everybody experiences.
It's real. By definition it's not really provable with our current understanding of the brain, because it's based purely on symptoms themselves. So, it depends on your definition of "real" but I've associated the same colors with the same letters and numbers with flawless consistency. It's completely involuntary and it happens whenever I look at any piece of writing (yes, even right now). It might as well be real.
Yeah, man. I totally see your point. I´m very skeptical by nature, so it´s kind of hard for me to accept it. But I gotta tell you, the way Adam describes his synesthesia is precisely how I feel it too. For example, I play harmonica and when I pick up an A harp, it´s definitely yellow (though it has exactly the same color as the others). If I pick up a G harp, it “feels” green, and so on (though F# and C# are also colored, it´s hard for me to describe them, I can´t, probably because I don´t use them as much). The same happens on guitar, if I am playing a solo on A, it´s like very subtle yellow veil drops down over my eyes and I see everything in that solo as yellow. I have two guitars, one tuned standard E, the other Eb. The first tuning I see as brown, the later as light brown. The C major chord is kind of blue grayish. As Adam says, if I draw the notes with the wrong colors, it´s a bit stressful, and if I correct it, it´s a relief. I mean, in the end, I don´t see (up until now) much use for it. But those colors are soooooo clear to me, that it´s hard to deny the association, even though it is totally involuntary. It´s so normal to me that until seeing Adam´s video I thought everybody had it too. It´s not a big deal in any case, more of a curiosity I would say.
You know you have synesthesia when you just assume everyone else has it too. And then you learn it’s actually a thing and not everyone is processing information like that
I presumed everyone attached personalities/characters to numbers, days of the week, months, etc. Then at some point I came across an article on synesthesia, and I told a friend of mine, "I think I might have this", and she said, "Of course you do. Wait, you didn't know?"
My friend knew I had synesthesia, but didn't think to tell me because she'd presumed that I knew, while I hadn't even known that was a thing. I'd just thought that my experience was universal. And I still doubt myself because I grew up bullied and with abusive parents, so I doubt myself about absolutely everything. I know it's a thing now, but because I have ordinal-linguistic personification, which is kind of the most uncool kind of synesthesia, if you ask me, it often seems to me like "oh, it's just feeling things, it's just emotion, it's not an actual condition". It doesn't help that people doubt its existence or doubt that you have it, because that just makes me doubt myself more. I wish I could have a brain scan that could factually prove I have it, then I wouldn't have to doubt myself, and I could show it to anyone else who might doubt it.
There is no normal. Also everyone has a sense of mixing of semantics anyway 'loud shirt', 'bright melody', 'punchy bassline', 'thick sound' etc
Great tip about thinking of the melody to memorize music.
I was terrified the first time I had to play Eroica because the conductor wanted to do the Herbert von Karajan "No music stands at rehearsal" thing the week before performance.
Internalizing the melody in personal practice time and "getting" Beethoven's approach to composition just made the piece flow like water. The double bass doesn't carry the melody in many spots in that piece, especially compared to other Beethoven works.
I don't think I saw an image of the sheet music once in my head during rehearsal and didn't bother turning pages come performance time. Crazy how the mind can make those kind of connections.
Oh god. I need a video on A=432 now. I forgot about how some of my friends who I studied music with were talking about how it "unlocks the universe" and "restores music's healing properties." Even on videos here on RUclips where people upload classical pieces at that frequency, you get people acting like the illuminati changed it to 440 to dumb down the population or something.
+ChocolateMilkMage I have one! I go at lengths to debunk it.
Thanks Adam, your Q&As are always interesting, even to the musically inept.
I was expecting that 432 screed to incorporate "grounded in reality and full of real world problems"
"What, you mean literally any time I post anything on you tube?" Bwahahahaha! Right on man. Very good.
Chunking backwards always helps with memorization. Starting at the last chunk, then starting at the 2nd to last chunk through the end, and so on
Regarding tempo and clicks: That problem is usually solved in studio with tempo mapping, which can simulate the natural tendency of musicians to speed up as a song goes on. I generally use an increase of around 10% of the original BPM throughout a song, but you can use more or less depending on how much excitement you want to build.
Hey, Adam! Loved your video about synaesthesia and as I'm currently writing my bachelor thesis about that topic I think these additional Articles could be interesting for you:
Leeuwen , Singer, Nikolic 2015
Braganca , Fonseca, caramelli 2015
Rothen, Meier 2014
Chun, Hupe 2015
Dixon, smile, merikle 2004
Mroczko, metzinger , singer, Nikolic 2009
Dixon et al. 2006
Simner 2013/2010
Ward,wright 2012
As I'm concerned these are all studies you didn't mentioned yet. I probably got a little bit too excited.
Best wishes from Germany
I think a simple answer to the fanned fret thing is that it allows the tension to be consistent between strings. You have 3 variables to set the pitch, and you can try to homogenize any one (or two) of them and then use the others to set the pitch. You could have all strings with the same mass and then change the lengths and tensions to set the pitch (but obviously that would be ridiculous). I have a "charlie hunter -esk" guitar that I built that has parallel frets, and it creates a problem for the large range (4 octaves over 7 strings). I overcome this by using a really wide range of string gauges (i.e. mass), but its not ideal and it definitely affects how you play it.
Unrelated but I just wanted to say that this is the video I was watching when I finally realised that the lick is your segue. Nice.
6:44 - 'Parimonious Voice Leading' - finally caught it!
Man, those negative comments are so black/light green with a touch of bright red, that i can't even.
"in fact it's a lot harder to play to a click accurately and with feel" That's the sort of thing I said about playing "Guitar Hero". The game claimed I sucked just because I didn't hit the notes EXACTLY on time. But I've been a real guitar player for decades, and I've never heard anybody complain to me about being off rhythm, prolly because millisecond accuracy is extremely seldom necessary to sound good.
Hey Adam,
you mentioned in another video the importance of the rhythm section (bass/drums) locking and communication. My ensemble drummer and I are developing this. We are aware of the basics: keep the feel, timing, locking groove, playing with the kick, resting on the snare, stage communication/cues etc. Elaborating on this what other helpful advice would you give a couple of Bachelor of Music students? I'm sure we are both playing instinctively, yet the break down and analysis of the rhythm sections "groove" is intriguing. Would love to improve not only in our performance but in stage craft/presence too.
Love your videos.
P.S. We are both chicks so that contributes to your 4% of female RUclips viewers.
How many years will it actually take for me to learn jazz without going to college again and studying music? I have apx 1 hr per day and practice all i can. I foolishly majored in philosophy. So, now I'm a 37 year old truck driver trying to learn all of the theory and tunes I've neglected over the last 20 years in which I've attempted to play bass and guitar. I suppose it took way too long for theory to gel within my mind.
Right there with you bro. Same age. But try not to think of it in terms of "how long will it take me to do X". Just tackle all you can within the amount of time you have access to it. I went out and got several books on theory--starting with the appropriately named Music Theory for Dummies or Idiots Guide To Music Theory, then moved my way up from there. Although I don't intend to delve as deep in to theory as Adam may have had to in his academic career, because I am interested more in compositional techniques and other similar aspects of songwriting, arranging, and sound designing. I just make use of every resource I have at my disposal--mainly the internet (youtube!) and, again, books.
I also love to improvise so at least some basic music theory is a must for that
Hey Adam! :D Question for a following Q&A:
Concerning being a working musician in NY (and in other places you might know), how does having a musical degree affect the dynamics of making money with music?
You always say that life in music university boosts your networking (apart from teaching you useful musical concepts :p), but do you feel that people tend to respect you/remember you more easily in the scene because of that?
I've been thinking about that because you yourself have two academic degrees and I wonder if this is the norm in the music scene of NY or if you get to meet and play with people who have no degree or even no formal education (self-taught) in any frequency. (and, if that's the case, how do these people experience the scene differently from you?)
Love your vids, keep up the good work!
It's also worth mentioning the chorus of Sir duke's melody has D#-F#-|F#-D#-F#-D#-A#-G#-A#-G#, and since it would be logical to have a G#m (vi) on that chord, as the notes A# and G# function as a 2-1-2-1 over the chord. Stevie Wonder gives these notes a new context that otherwise would fit in a diatonic context, a new context, respelling the pitches as Bb-Ab, which he applies to the Fm7 chord. The Fm7 chord also works because the F and C from the chord work as an appoggiatura to the Emaj7 chord, sustaining the Ab/G# and Eb/D# of both chords
Hey Adam, on an earlier video you said your least favourite music to play was evangelical Christian music. Outside of the lyrical content, what would you change about it if anything? Love your videos man
So real. Thanks for all that you do, Adam.
hey adam,
I'm four years into playing guitar and sometimes write some songs, but i have a little problem. everything i write is in minor. my mindset has been set to the Aeolian mode basically. i really like how other modes sound and am learning things in say, the major scale, or the diminished scale, etc. Any tips on being able to write more in different scales and stuff? thanks in advance! love the content
thanks Adam!
very helpful
5:11 That chord also exists in:
Coldplay - Sparks (intro and bridge)
Mac DeMarco - Ode to Viceroy (intro chord/verses, watch out though that recording's in A half sharp)
Thundercat - Is it Love? (first chord)
Bobby Caldwell - Take Me Back to Then (chorus)
Bobby Caldwell - You Promised Me (chorus, second chord)
Jacob Collier - Danny Boy (passing chord from vi to bV or w/e it's called)
I kinda do actually see it as a light form of "negative harmony" just because of what Adam said about moving as little notes as possible, and not only that but what I've noticed from experimenting with this concept before is that moving the fundamental bass note is always going to have a less extreme effect than if the "outside" note/s were instead somewhere the middle of the voice leading or in the melody, and then it becomes hella plagal if you have more than one note out the scale etc. Really you can find these spots just by moving the bass note up/down the major scale chromatically.
Btw I didn't know about the Parsimonious term at all so cheers, maybe that's a more suited applicable term than "light from of negative harmony".
Also completely forgot to mention it's a diminished chord up a perfect 4th from Locrian in the major scale, which has a diminished sound as well, that relationship is kinda key me thinks, bad pun intended.
Oh ffs one more comment, just remembered that Thundercat song actually starts out with a kind of tritone sub dominant 7th chord, not a m7b5.
Hey Adam - Uh oh ! The parsimonious voice leading for Fm7 to EM7 led to parallel 5ths, oh my (I know I know even Bach did it sometimes - my theory teacher let us do it if we were aware we were doing it)
PS - loved the way you handled the grumpy scientistic trolls, with only mild sarcasm, and pointing out that they're every big as guilty of sloppy thinking as any new ager.
I'm pretty sure that chameleon speeding up over time was an intentional move by Harvey Mason, I could absolutely be wrong though.
that answer for whether synesthesia is real was one of the biggest educated in yo face I have seen in a while!!
Hello, Adam. I've been teaching at a music store for about a year. And I'm currently working on a thesis about how children learn music. What questions do you personally have on how children learn? Your channel is great and it makes me smile.
I like how Gorguts recorded their most recent album in terms of their sentiment towards tracking to a click. To paraphrase...: "when the music called for it, we used a click. When the music called for not using a click, we didn't use one." I try to apply that to my own music.
The only things on guitar that demand those uncomfortable backward flexing of the finger tips are ridiculous chords in which all 4 fingers and possibly the thumb are needed and like two of which are bar-ing something, which can usually be worked around by playing in a more comfortable inversion or by changing the tuning to alleviate this.
"Unplugged from the Matrix". Priceless.
So I'm a young bass player, but I could only afford a full scale bass. Problem is, with proper bass technique (straight wrist and stuff) I find that I can't really reach my 3rd fret without curving my wrist a little, just because my hands are so small. Do I compromise good technique now and adjust it when my hand gets bigger? Or just deal with it?
Edit: I am using the 1-2-4 method. I can't get my pinky that far
If you are a new bass player, just keep playing. When I started, I was unable to reach the third fret for like a week. Your hands might need to get used to the size of the bass.
Emmy Rota Are you using the one finger per fret system?
Emmy Rota keep an eye on your local pawn shops. cheap instruments happen, if you're patient and diligent. I've had three guitars under $25. there has to be a short scale bass out there for you somewhere.
also, maybe try holding the neck up higher. bass players often like to look cool by holding the bass as low as they can, but the head of the instrument should be level with your head. if your arm is reaching up instead of down, you don't have to change direction. with smaller hands, you will have a temptation to squeeze the bass and get that pressure on the strings from your thumb, but you want the pressure to come from the fretting fingers, and the thumb should really just kind of hang there and relax as much as possible.
when you are limited by a still-developing body, that is exactly when you *don't* want to compromise strong technique to cover your limitations. you're young, your hands are smaller, and that's fine for now. don't ruin your wrist to play something you're not ready for. your hands will be bigger later.
I suspect you're using "1 finger per fret", which, even for many adult players I know, can be too much of a stretch.. Consider also using what's known as Simandl technique, which is adapted from double bass. Effectively you use 1, 2 and 3&4 together. Whilst I'm also a fan of one finger per fret, this is "3 finger" technique is much more useful down the neck.
It also depends on what you're playing. For a lot of octaves for example, using 1 & 3 doesn't really make much sense. Its waaaay more comfortable to use 1 and 4. And in putting down 4, you should also put down 2 & 3 as well. The fingers all learn to support each other.
As others have mentioned, also try repositioning your bass. There is generally a sweet spot where its not too low for your fretting hand, and not too high for your plucking hand. Move the bass up or down from there, and one them starts to bend unnaturally.
The main thing is you learn to play without getting hurt.
Can you do a lesson/"talk" on the requirements of playing Musical Theater is - gear guide, theoretical know-how, basics of how to read a conductor, etc?
Adam, your mom called and asked me to remind you to raise the pitch of your speaking voice a bit so you aren't bottoming out in vocal fry as often. Love all your vids!
As a Colombian (The nation) I thank you for the lower third clarification.
Knowing How Your Body Moves. Sounds like a good title for a song. Or maybe a band name.
Hey Adam , I am going to travel to NYC in a few months and I'd really like to see some live jazz presentations while I'm in the city . Which places do you recommend for me (I'm also a musician) to enjoy some jazz ?
P.s: It may be helpfull for you to know that I am only 17.
Thanks
Hi Adam,
You should write a song by choosing several colors that you think go well together (like a small color pallet) and then match each color to their corresponding letters (well what you perceive, it would probably be different for me) , you could create a short melody or motif, and then base a song around that.
My reply to 432hz enthusiasts (to put it nicely) is that in the times when we actually used such tuning the world was not a better place; people lived shorter lives, there was more racism, antisemitism, machismo and fascism, fewer children were able to go to school, and I could probably go on. If tuning does in fact make a difference (which I'm pretty sure it doesn't), we should try 448hz, because the previous 8hz change was surely worth it.
So you answered a question that asked if you needed to double as a wind instrument if you wanted to get into more gigs and you said yes. I was wondering if the same goes for brass or maybe even bass/guitar. Thank you
Hi, I don't know if the question was asked before but: Can you make a video about brief history of 'the lick'? how it started? why it works everywhere? basically, what's the deal with it? Let more people hear that everywhere they go :)
dumb people say "Synesthesia is bullshit" then Adam comes and show countless scientific articles. I love you Adam!
The smae chord progression is used in Bruno Mars' When I Was Your Man, I always thought it was a D7 to Dm7 to C but didn't quite get the harmonic function there, at least now it sounds as a different version of using the tritone as passing chord to the fifth.
The link to the study you shared "Four Cases of Pitch-Specific Chronesthesia in Trained Musicians with Absolute Pitch", by George L. Rogers, was intetrsting. The results that stood out to me were the percentages that these 4 musicians had with their ability to correctly identify pitch. 60%, 80%, 90% and 100%.
My personal conclusion from these results (though, as George mentioned, 4 people is not a decent size group to have an accurate amount of data to make anything but a generalization) is that many professional musicians who think they have absolute pitch don't.
I have found this to often be the case myself. I have met someone with absolute pitch. He definately didn't have synesthesia. He was born blind so had no colour reference. He was never wrong about the note. A Q&A question i am curious about is
'Is it more common for people who are blind from birth to have absolute pitch?
When I say absolute my personal definition is 100%, unlike the shared studies definition.
Synesthesia can be experienced via LSD. Just sayin'
On 'what to improv over this', I'd mix up mixolydian in there for an ambiguous use of the major/minor 3rd.
YES, several psychedelics can induce it:) Only once have I experienced any synesthesia, with MDMA; burgundy (the colour, not the wine;)) tasted..well, if I say "sweet" it sounds wrong cuz it wasn't a sugary sweet..more like a deep, warm, savory sweet? I hesitate to compare it to anything I've ever actually consumed, but..I'd recognise it immediately if I tasted it again anyway 😅🤷
Hey Adam,
I found your comments on multi-instrumentalist interesting! What did you mean by "scale" based on number of instruments? I've done a number of music productions as a multui-pit/stage musician in Minneapolis and never heard about this before. This might be helpful for myself and others negotiating wage in the future for productions.
Thanks,
Luke
During the intro song & corresponding sheet music graphic, in the second measure, the notes indicate an 8th-note subdivided syncopation, but the music sounds more like a straight triplet...WHAT GIVES?! :D
Fantastic, thank you sir!
Hey Adam, thanks a lot for all these videos! Do you have any advice about instruments every bass player should own? Like a 5 strings, a fretless, a JB, double bass, moog synth etc? And maybe insights about gear in general, and what to bring for a gig or a session? Keep sharing your experience, you're awesome!
Adam, in another video you mentioned that bass solos are not appropriate for most songs because they tend to kill the momentum of the song. You mention that this occurs because when the bass begins soloing, it is no longer providing a foundation for the song, and people lose interest. Can you think of any examples of recorded bass solos that do not kill the momentum of the song and actually add to it? Great channel, by the way! I love your videos.
Hey, Adam. Nice videos. Keep up the good work.
I have a question:
Let's say there's a bassist who has been playing for 10 years and has no music education whatsoever, never read anything about music theory or harmony, doesn't know a single scale. Suddenly he becomes obsessed with jazz music and wants to learn walking jazz bass lines.
Would you rather:
a) tell him to pick up easy jazz standard (Autumn Leaves?), learn how to play it and then go for music theory/how to build chords/harmony etc. OR
b) tell him to pick up music theory first and then to grab the bass?
Which one and why? Or maybe you see it another way?
Hey Adam! With how good music technology is getting (DAWs, synths, the ability to tweak any sound, etc.) what do you think the role of a traditional musician becomes? Will those of us who have spent time learning physical instruments become obsolete and get replaced by machines? If so, what kinds of skill sets do you think the musician of the future needs to develop in order to stay relevant?
If you really feel like getting nerdy with it, you could still do speed up slow down stuff with click. I swear that cam from disfiguring the goddess programs different volumes into his snare hits so the sixteen note blasts sound more human, like the drummers arm is getting tired.
13:49 And the recording sessions can be longer too. A lot of the people who refuse to use a click when they record their demo in someone's home studio also haven't practiced effectively enough to nail the performance in as few takes as they can. Here's a little story for ya:
I was gigging drums with a band in LA and the band leader booked a session with decent enough "pro home" studio. I was continually fed with excuse after excuse (surely concocted by the band leader and not the studio engineer) about why i could not have a click sent to my mix from the board. In the end i used my own click, figuring that anyone in post production could do proper editing if need be to the songs once they established the BPM and exact starting point. Then again maybe not because the guitar player set their amp right next to my drums. The bandleader insisted that playing to a click would prevent any magic that might happen during recording (we did zero improvisation). Meanwhile, the bass player did not listen to the drums and instead was more focused on dancing around the room during takes. By the way ... i have degree in Audio Engineering ... what the f*** do i know, right? xD
Hey Adam, I really enjoy when you analize harmony in your Q&As, not many channels do that. Do you know other sources for harmony analysis? You could do some videos analyzing songs in your very didactic ways. Regards from South America.
I play guitar and do understand how one could do like a 5-fret spread and such without having the wrist of the fretting hand not straight. I can only spread my fingers when I bring the wrist down and thus have a right angle between hand and arm with the thumb in the middle of the backside of the neck; Classical guitar style. I have the thumb parallel to the fret direction pinching the middle finger basically.
BTW love the new NPR-style outro.
a friend of mine was teaching drums and instead of offering students a free lesson he offered a deal to music-store SALESPEOPLE: if a salesperson referred a student and the student came four times, he would send the salesman 100% of the fourth lesson. It turned out to be a successful idea because the salespeople were pretty motivated to make some extra cash.
"I'm fully awake, I'm unplug from the matrix." HAHAHAHA what the actual
"Complacency and cynism are just as dangerous as blindly embracing new age concepts". Yes! Great synthesisia answer.
Come for the music theory, stay for the philosophy and being a better human wisdom 🌈
Hey Adam,
I hope this might become a part of next Q&A:
Someone wise once told (I don't really remember who it was, yet I think his or hers quote is one of the best ways of describing what the world is about) that 80-90% of everything is sh*t. That's why I approach new things with suspition of it being sh*t and I was unable to find indications of your channel being such. That's rare, your videos are actually just great. Please take these words of admiration from a mildly drunk fan.
And as for the question - I consider myself quite an adequate lyricyst/songwriter, yet a passable, at best, guitarist/singer/performer. Of course I'm always striving to be as good as I can and I practice what I lack in skill, yet, even not sure if my performance is "perfect", I perform, just because I like it very much. What is your approach on the subject, do you think one should practice until they are "ready" or forge they skill "along the way"? And, also, do you think lyrical content is important or do you consider it just a "topping" to a good piece of music?
best regards,
Sebastian
I think I have developed some kind of synesthesia when I was little. Since my childhood I have perfect pitch, and I naturally associate notes to vowels ( I learned the scale as Do Re Mi and so on). Even though Mi and Si are an "I" vowel, I can differentiate them by how open the vowel sounds, some kind of coloration to the note.
These tow videos helped me identify this phenomenon. Tks!
I don't agree that recording without a click will necessarily make post production more time consuming. If you aren't trying to Frankenstein rhythm takes together, using no click could even be faster. It really depends on how much live tracking vs overdubbing you plan on doing
Excellent my friend 👏👏👏