Not really, Michael is very open minded and will approach an idea from every perspective. Watch Vsauce's flat earth video and compare it to Adam's 432 hz video, Michael doesn't attack the (obviously ridiculous) idea with a high horsey attitude like Adam does.
@@jackorion7157 True, and they also got different haircut and even names! Like idealism says "nothing is equal to nothing else but itself"..But, pay a closer look to their similarities and maybe youll find more that you can see at first sight
The cool thing about Adam is how much he loves music. He understands theory on such a high level, but he’s spoken before about how much he loves playing pop covers and seeing people have fun. It highly motivating seeing some get excited about music as a whole and as individual parts.
Send it to him! Why not? He will be happy to help and tell you how to improve it if needed. That is if he still does that, I haven't watched him in a while..
I play bass for 20 years....after a long break I got back to it but this time I decided to study music theory. It made a huge difference for me. I can now play different scales, modes, arpeggios all over the neck. I can't stop improvising and I come up with bassline I couldn't figure out before. And knowing how to harmonize really helped me to fulfill my role a a bass player.
Mark Anthony It mean knowing which chords or arpeggios belong to a scale in a particular key. For example in the key of C the aolian mode chords Am7, Bmin7/b5, Cmaj7, Dmin7, Emin7, Fmaj7, G7. I gave you an example with 4 note. But you don't have to play the 7th you can play triads only or you can also add more notes like the 9th the 11th 13th. Knowing what notes belong to the scale is very useful because you also play notes not from the scale to add tension. If you play D#dim7 over the minor scale in A it sounds badass as it is note in the key. \m/
If you know the chords that belong to a key and the notes that belong to a chord, you can choose notes from that and, even better, choose notes that fit where you are but lead to the next chord, which makes your lines sound logical and flowing. For example, playing the blues in A and are on the A7, the chord tones are A C# E and G. It totally works to go up through the arpeggio on the quarters but when you're changing to D7 (D F# A C) that isn't necessarily the best. G doesn't really lead logically to D so you might want to start the D7 chord either on an A note (the fifth) or F# (the third) because these have stepwise motion from the G note. You can also choose to permute the A7 arpeggio or throw in some chromatic notes, like a G# going up to A, or by tritone down to the D for a bit of a surprise. The tritone substitution is another massively useful concept. Again, blues in A. The V chord is E7 which has notes E G# B D. However, a tritone away from E7 is Bb7 (Bb D F Ab), which is a half step above A7. You can swap in notes from Bb7 because they share the same tritone due to the fact that Ab and G# are enharmonic. Check out Led Zeppelin's cover of the Willie Dixon tune "I Can't Quit You Baby" for a good example of these ideas. JPJ's bass line is very simple, but really holds the song up. Lots of times it's only him and Bonham playing with Jimmy Page playing some lead or licks in a dialog with Robert Plant yet the song sounds totally full. Any tune by Antonio Carlos Jobim also has a lot of really clever uses of chords and voice leading. So yeah, knowing your intervals, chords, their relationships, and a few fairly simple things like the tritone substitution goes a LONG way.
crimfan Thank you. I never got into blues théorie much but I know the chords progression are all Dominant 7 chords (basic 12 bars blues). And because of this blues have introduced a new kind of modulation compare to classical théorie. I should get into it more. Actually that's where I am now. Use diffetent modulation in my chord progression to go somewhere else. Even If don't know all the tricks of the trade yet. Thanks to music théorie from ground up (from Ben Levin who was introduced to me by Adam) I can now understand these thing. It work in progress always and it's awesome
It's like a car: You just need to know how to drive it. You don't need to know what makes it work. But having enough knowledge to keep it running, is very important.
Great analogy! Most start playing without knowing any theory or even read music. I knew the pentatonic sound before I new it was a scale and what notes made it up. I also played chord progressions without knowing why it works. And we had FUN playing in a garage band! Having said that, as time went by, I then wanted to know more. About driving a car, yes I learned to drive it first and now I can also keep it running.
Your comment made me feel better! Cause anytime theory talk takes place it might as well be in some rare unheard language to me. I hate admitting this !!! I’ve played guitar, bass for 30 something years…. & it’s all ear to me! I’ve played with a lot of great musicians that do have theory training & they praise my playing, think I have talent, but the moment any theory talk comes about I feel ignorant! I feel very less than!
Between Adam Neely and 12Tone, I've learned a ton of theory. Problem is, I am now working music more advanced than I can play. Or maybe it's that I can't write what I do play, when I'm in the groove.
Writing music more advanced than you can play is actually pretty smart. Because rather than making music with stuffs you're already familiar playing, it forces you to learn it out of shame. So in a way we can improve without the trouble of learning other people's music. It's a closed loop! You might even adopt a style of playing unique to you.
Aldo Veraldi : I am developing my own style. But, I'd like to be able to notate my own solo experiments. I have a few on SoundCloud, but my ears aren't strong enough to help me transcribe them.
MopedOfJustice I think it's easy to overlook how not-obvious this stuff can be, it feels so intuitive that you need some kind of framework or vocabulary for it when you play music yourself, but most people only listen to it! They can say what they like or not, or what something "sounds like", but it doesn't go much further than that. It's like with art, you could look at a painting and say "that looks like snow", but you wouldn't, for instance realize that it's actually using blue and orange rather than white, cause that's how snow looks in the light. Your brain takes it at face value, "looking at thing"-mode. You're thinking "this is supposed to look like snow" and not "what about this makes it look like snow" or "how did a human do this" My mom has a story, she was gonna play piano at a wedding, accompanying a singer the couple had brought on. They hand her a sheet of paper... and it's literally just the lyrics. She's playing piano, and she hasn't heard (or even heard of) the song ever. But to them, from only listening to music, and maybe singing, it's what they think defines the song! Not saying that to shame them, it's just super interesting to know how much we all underestimate what goes into the things we take for granted, whether it's music, maths, art or what have you :)
I'm just confused at someone who implicitly already did music having not even heard of music theory before, though I guess I might have read the wrong implication from the original comment.
MopedOfJustice I feel you, still I think many start playing guitar just checking tabs or chords, just following instructions and not thinking why you play that there I understand that’s even a problem with some old classical musicians, blindly following the sheet music!
I feel like understanding theory greatly helps any musician. Trial and error works, but understanding relationships between scales and chords can make a good solo/song into a great one.
When I was little, my sister and I took piano lessons from a traditional Hungarian Nazi piano teacher. While one was in the lesson, the other was hammering out theory exercises. I hated it, but now, am so thankful I went through that. Theory IS the language of music and has enabled me to quickly "get" what is going on in a song or jamming. For example if someone says. "jam in G then drop to the relative minor and play the 1,4 and 6, I get it. I play Em, Am and C. badaboom, and so on. In composing, the concept of counterpoint was one of the biggest revelations in my musical life. I could type for a long time. You don't need to know theory to make music but it sure opens a bunch of doors that you wouldn't be able to understand without the theory. some people, like that rick beato take things too far and come off as overcomplex(ie. useless) and pompous, but the basics are golden.
Adam Neely is the best! I don't even know how I stumbled across him. All I have learned about music theory has been from university of RUclips, but the way he breaks things down is very comfortable to follow.
I'm a biologist specializing in taxonomy, which is the studies the way organisms are organized. To me it is really interesting how animals are related to eachother and most importantly WHY they are related. I think it's really fascinating this can also be done in music to a certain extent. This is a really inspiring video!
Some of the greatest guitarists were self taught and learned mostly by ear... I personally don't think Clapton was GOD but I can understand his lack of theory didn't hold him back in his early days.
To learn a language you need to learn the words in the context and practice a lot. You don't sit and memorize 10.000 words to learn a language. You can pass exams without learning speaking well. East Asian countries like Japan and Korea are an example to this. Same thing with the music.
Trey - thank you for putting into words why I love Adam's channel so much. he is making documentaries about subjects that interest me and I enjoy learning for learning's sake, even if that learning has minimal direct practical use for me. Adam's engaging and entertaining style certainly helps too though. One of my favourite programmes from my youth was a TV show called "The secret life of machines" which consisted of two blokes in a shed explaining how lightbulbs and photocopiers worked. In my life, I have never built a photocopier or a lightbulb, but it was great to learn from two guys who were interesting to listen to. That said, it was in the photocopier episode that I first learned of the practical benefits of the photoelectric effect, which I did not learn the theory of until high school physics where I learned it is a result of wave-particle duality, much like the polyrhythm-chord duality Adam has spoken of. It's all come full circle.
To all high school or grade school students: the best thing you can do to become a better musician is to learn to read music. How do you do that? You join band, orchestra, or chorus. You learn to play an instrument other than guitar. You will learn intervals that way easily. If you have the option, take AP Music Theory if its offered at your school. Then learn how to read chord charts
Theory is important. Yes you can get by without knowing too much. Intervals have helped me immensely but what nobody seems to make a focus on is rhythm. This gets overlooked a lot. Yes it’s a basic skill but myself included many musicians struggle with it. I wish there was more out there for this subject.
Check out some beginners drumming videos. If you can understand modes and chords, rhythm will be a piece of cake. If you can understand fractions your good to go, if not there's definitely other resources that teach it differently. But that's all it is, fractions of a length of time.
The more you know, the more you realize just how little you know. The less you know, the more you're convinced you know more than enough for your needs. That applies to everything. To music, too. Look up Dunning-Kruger.
10:11 This is literally me. I posted a story a while ago saying "Why do I love the phrygian dominant scale (this eastern/exotic sound) so much?? IT'S SO BEAUTIFUL I'M GONNA CRY" hahahahha Love identifing things in music. It also helps you understand yourself a bit better by understanding what you find appealing and then of course apply it in your music. Exciting stuff indeed!
It was after i thew away my notesheets around age 13 and staring learning by ear that i learned that 90% of pop and rock songs can be played with C A G and F. Start in C major for pleasant or A minor for dramatic.
So I taught myself everything I needed to know about metal and djent and all that for guitar. I knew that I was never going to use theory when I was making riffs, so I didn't bother teaching myself theory stuff I didn't think I was gonna use. So now I have very little theory knowledge, to the point where if anyone's talking about Intervals, the very first thing that pops into my head is Aaron Marshall.
There are two types of instruments. Ones you see and ones you don’t see. It seems that a lot of what you guys are talking about is referring to ones you can see. When theory awareness doesn’t have the visual leg up, one is in the realm of physical sensation. Think about this from the perspective of a wind player or a singer. The realities of these instruments are in your head and not in front of your eyes.
I feel like I need all that I know and what I don’t know. Why not know it? No reason. Just learn as much as possible all of the time and you’ll be as good as you can be.
I really despise videos that advocate for musical ignorance because most guitarists are too lazy to learn. Every musician should aspire to gain knowledge because with the internet there are very few excuses left.
I take issue with your statement: "every musician should..." I don't agree that there is anything at all "every musician" needs to do, except for maybe have fun making music. Knowing a lot of theory, and being able to talk the talk is great, but totally unnecessary for a guitarist. And I am wondering how you came to the conclusion that "most guitarists" are too lazy to learn? Is there a web site that contains data regarding the practice habits of the majority of guitar players in the world? Or did you just make that up?
@@cmacdhon You spoke some wisdom there. It's exactly this "musicians SHOULD" attitude that, in my view, ruins much of the music theory "scene" in RUclips; even if it's done unintentionally, many of those channels propagate the idea that there's a correct path for making music, and even preaching the usage of readymade formulas and recipes; like one utter bullshit video I've seen that says the minor third chord is the Saddest Chord Ever, and the I -> iii change instantly makes your song sad. Like Adam said, being able to give names to things is helpful and aids communication (which is the whole purpose of theory, you know), but if it gets out of hand, it also severely limit intuition and individual expression. Now, I don't think knowing theory is "totally unnecessary", because it's useful to be able to communicate ideas and concepts to others, and even to yourself, if you want to write down your stuff. Theory may not be strictly necessary, but it's far from useless.
@@FernieCanto Theory RUclipsrs don't try to tell you the correct way of making music, at leas the ones I've watched. Usually they'll just tell you about options and reasonings behind things you might not know about, which can only better you as a musician. The idea that most musicians "should" learn some theory is based on the fact that it's a great way for a musician to improve, since it can create connections to relate to that they might not have thought of. This isn't to say that you can't be a great musician without theory (some of the greatest don't know a lick), but knowing how things fit together can only better yourself. Getting caught up over music theory when songwriting is never the fault of the theory, but of the writer.
how do you teach yourself to recognize the difference between notes by simply hearing them? just sing all intervals asending/descending until they all become familiar by ear?
For me understanding all of the complicated theory has never been too hard. But I lack the ear training. I've practiced but still will confuse certain intervals, and the process of thinking about what interval I'm hearing is very slow. How do you think you can speed up your ear training?
I'm sure when making the video Thomann told them to pick an instrument to have and among all of the various high-end bass guitars Adam went "hey this bass/ukulele looks interesting"
Very interesting and exactly the kind of question I ask myself all the time. But why? Why are intervals so good to learn? How do you use it? How should I learn it?
Intervals are good too learn, because they make the colour. You know, most people don't hear the difference between a C and D if they hear it isolated. But everyone hears and FEELS the difference between a Major third, a minor third and an octave. And if you want to make music it's great to know which interval you can use to produce which feeling. and you simply start learning it, by taking your instrument and start playing major thirds with different root notes. And you remind your brain "This is a major third, this is a major third." And after some time your brain can instantly recognise a major third and you can start using it better, because you know how to play it and how to produce it. After that you try minor thirds, perfect fifths, octaves, etc. And don't start out with all of them at once! Take your time and give your brain the time to learn that vocabulary. I wish you some nice jamming 🎶
+Pontus Welin Okay, that's something totally different... :-D I do not and cannot sing, but I guess it would help you sing clearer and hitting the notes more precisely. But learning it... An Instrument would make it easier for sure. You could try to learn the basics on an instrument and simultaneously learn Intervals on the instrument and with your voice. But I'm not sure about that, as I said, I'm totally not a singer... :-D I wish you good luck in learning. You'll find your way and you can do it!
I’ve written and released four albums with zero theory. I wish I learned theory when I started playing guitar as I’m sure my albums would had been much better. I’m in the process of going back and learning the basics now (ugh). But zero theory is needed to make music.
Solfege is only really useful to communicate with other musicians. If you interact with a lot of different musicians and can't develop a playing bond with them then by all means you should at least know the name of the chords xD
For those interested in learning ear training check out the app Earpeggio. The paid version is worth every cent! Do it everyday for 5-10 mins (I literally do this while I release waste, brushing teeth, etc.). You’ll be amazed at how fast you will start to develop this ability. Ear training is a meta skill when it comes to music and is guaranteed to provide a huge return of investment of your time.
It's like Trey said, it's interesting to know how an atom looks and all that stuff but unless you're a physicist you don't need to know that stuff, and yet, I've met "professional musicians" that say you don't need music theory.
The problem with learning theory from RUclips is that if you're unfamiliar with the topic (which you are by definition if you're just learning), you won't know whether the tutor you're following on this Interweb thingy actually has a clue what he or she is talking about. When the only readily available source of this knowledge was printed in book form, said books were edited for errors before they were published and one could be reasonably sure they were correct. Not any more. These days, anyone can post a video with the implication that they are experts on the topic even if, as is sometimes the case, they propagate some very common misconceptions. For example: 1.) "E#, B#, Fb, and Cb aren't real notes. They sound the same as F, C, E, and B, so musicians just call them F, C, E, and B." This is blatant nonsense. E# is found in the keys of F# major and D# minor (6 sharps), and both it and B# are in C# major and A# minor (7 sharps). Fb is in Db major and Bb minor (6 flats), and both it and Cb are in Cb major and Ab minor (7 flats). When musicians are discussing a part written in F#, they don't call the major 7th "F"; they call it "E#." If they're playing in Cb, they don't call the tonic "B." Calling the former F and the latter B as some RUclips tutors claim is the case would just be confusing. This isn't "classical" pedantry, either. First, I'm not a classical musician. Second, E#, B#, Fb, and Cb are actually quite common in big band and concert band music since the parts for many instruments are written in keys other than the key that parts for concert pitch "C" instruments - such as guitar - are written in. For instance, a piece written in B for concert pitch instruments will be written in C# for Bb instruments such as trumpet and clarinet. 2.) "If you put your fingers here, here, here, and here, you have the G# major 7 chord." Wait ... what? G# major 7? A G#M7 chord would be G# B# D# and F## (double sharp). However, the maximum number of sharps or flats there can be in a key signature is seven, one for each note in a diatonic major or minor scale. A double sharp counts as two sharps. Double sharps, like double flats, are used for enharmonic purposes; they do not appear in diatonic key signatures. Since the key of G major already has one sharp, G# major would have to have 8 sharps since it's a semi-tone higher ... one more sharp than there are notes in the scale. G# major - and others that I've heard mentioned on RUclips such as D# (9 sharps) and A# (10 sharps) - are purely theoretical keys that don't exist in practice and aren't included in the Circle of Fifths. Since the key of G# (or D# or A#) major doesn't exist in practice and since chords are based on notes in a key's scale, how can we derive even a basic triad from a key that doesn't even exist? Again, this isn't "classical" pedantry; it's nothing more than calling things by what they are for the sake of clarity, not by what they aren't because one doesn't know better. 3.) a.) "Minor keys and scales are derived from their relative majors" and b.) "There are only 12 major keys, each of which has a relative minor." Not so. While it's true that the tonic of a relative minor scale is the 6th of a major scale, it's equally true that the relative major scale starts on the 3rd of a minor scale. (It doesn't matter whether it's natural, harmonic, or melodic minor since the 3rd is the same in every case. Nonetheless, it can't be emphasized enough that the minor scale from which the rest of the major scale is derived is the *natural* minor scale, not the harmonic or melodic minor.) The key word here (pardon the pun) is "relative." Minor keys don't "belong" to major keys (as I've read) and neither major nor minor is superior or subordinate to the other. Each key is unique and therefore distinct from all the others. 4.) "The easiest way to figure out minor chords is by taking the major scale and flattening the 3rd to get the minor triad and adding a flat 7th for a minor 7th chord." No, the easiest way to figure them out is to use the parallel natural minor scale and count 1 3 5 7. Simple. No flattening required. I suspect that the b3 b7 explanation is a hold-over from the misguided notion that minor keys "belong" to major keys. There's nothing wrong with using a major scale to work out minor chords - in fact, if you don't know the natural minor scales, it's the only way to do it - but it is not the easiest way to go about it. Of course, to work them out using a natural minor scale, you need to know the natural minor scale. 5.) "Major keys sound happy and minor keys sound sad." Seriously? Listen to Bach's "Bourée." It's in E minor. Does it sound sad to you? 6.) "You don't need theory to play guitar. All you need is to memorize these shapes and patterns." That's partly true; you don't need theory to "play" guitar. Millions of people are perfectly happy learning only one chord shape for each of the few chords they use, blissfully unaware of how chords are constructed or even how they can be moved up and down the neck, and never playing above the third or fourth fret. But knowing *how* to play guitar is a completely different matter. If all you're doing is replicating what you saw on RUclips without really understanding it ("It's called A minor because I'm fretting the E minor at the fifth fret." No, it's called A minor because the interval between the root and the 3rd of the triad is a minor 3rd; it doesn't matter *where* you play them on the fretboard), then all you're doing is the musical equivalent of paint-by-number. You can also bet your last dollar that any of those guitar gods who supposedly don't (or didn't) know theory - SRV, Hendrix, Clapton, etc. - knows theory. Case in point: even if they didn't know that a pentatonic minor scale, say, is called a pentatonic minor scale, how would they be able to use the identical structure in several different keys if they didn't know how it's constructed and where and when to use it? That ability requires a knowledge of theory at some level. It's like the famous story of the fellow who re-invented Calculus. He didn't know that Calculus had already been invented and thus called his version by a completely different name. The only difference between the two, however, was in the symbols and terminology. Apart from that difference, he knew his subject inside and out, so well in fact that even the mathematicians at the university he submitted it to - once they realized they were dealing with a version of Calculus - couldn't find any flaws in it. The point to this analogy is that, even if one doesn't know formal theory, knowing how and why something works (or doesn't work) in music still takes an understanding of the mechanics behind it - which is music theory in a nutshell. It is not a bag of "rules" that its detractors say it is and, no, knowing theory doesn't stifle creativity or make robots out of those who have studied it. (It actually opens gateways to greater creativity, but that's a topic for another day.) The proof is in the pudding and the aforementioned guitar gods know/knew at least enough about the mechanics behind music to know how to get the results they want and probably a hell of a lot more than that. 7.) So how much theory does a guitarist really need? Enough to get the job done and preferably a bit more. If you're content strumming away on a few chords around the campfire, then you don't need any. Enjoy yourself. Who am I to object? If you want to play at Joe Pass's or John McLaughlin's level, though, you're going to need a hell of a lot of it and be as familiar with it as you are with your own name. The choice is yours.
The main issue with learning theory from the internet is that whoever made the video didn't make it for you, therefore, you might not learn from that at all or grow an even stronger dislike for music theory.
6:49 ... I really like the sound of F minor to C major. Anyone care to explain what that is and how it can be applied in a musical context (aka "song") to a newb like me? :) I totally wanna steal the soul of that :D
aknopf hey, it's called "minor plagal cadence"... usually we call a plagal cadence when you have a major fourth degree going to the first degree... the iv minor may come from the i minor (aka C minor) or A harmonic minor (A being the relative minor)... pretty cool and common cadence, usually it's IV - iv - I (F - Fm - C). Don't look back in anger by Oasis uses it on "So I'll start a revolution from my bed". Check it out!
The Fm is borrowed from the parallel minor key. This is called modal mixture. You can write pretty epic sounding progressions by borrowing from the parallel key. A pretty basic one is a progression like Ab-Bb-C (where C is the tonal center and the Ab and Bb are borrowed from C minor). For example listen to "Kiss from a Rose". The entire song is based on the bVI-bVII-I progression. Another cool one is "Take a Bow" by Muse. The song is pretty much based on the b6 scale degree, borrowed from the parallel minor.
Adam Neely is the vsauce of music
Loren Hartman Now if only he could look more Michael... Wait we've got Nolly 😅
Loren Hartman ...or is he?
*Vsauce music plays
Not really, Michael is very open minded and will approach an idea from every perspective. Watch Vsauce's flat earth video and compare it to Adam's 432 hz video, Michael doesn't attack the (obviously ridiculous) idea with a high horsey attitude like Adam does.
That's an insult to Adam
@@jackorion7157 True, and they also got different haircut and even names! Like idealism says "nothing is equal to nothing else but itself"..But, pay a closer look to their similarities and maybe youll find more that you can see at first sight
The cool thing about Adam is how much he loves music. He understands theory on such a high level, but he’s spoken before about how much he loves playing pop covers and seeing people have fun. It highly motivating seeing some get excited about music as a whole and as individual parts.
Yeah, Jacob Collier seems to be the same from what I've seen of him.
I think he's just anti-elitist
I would be so stressed if Adam is judging my music lol
Rudy Ayoub you should do it then
Simon Gavriilidis judge my own music?
Send it to him! Why not? He will be happy to help and tell you how to improve it if needed. That is if he still does that, I haven't watched him in a while..
i'd be way too self conscious lol
Hey Adam Neely if you read this, we have Rudy that wants you to go to his channel if you have the time sir to check out his music
♫♫♩♫‿◦
Jari Satta oh my fucking _GOD_
the lick
Jari Satta AAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHH
Did you just
Doot Doot I don't get it
I play bass for 20 years....after a long break I got back to it but this time I decided to study music theory. It made a huge difference for me. I can now play different scales, modes, arpeggios all over the neck. I can't stop improvising and I come up with bassline I couldn't figure out before.
And knowing how to harmonize really helped me to fulfill my role a a bass player.
when you say harmonize what you mean
Mark Anthony It mean knowing which chords or arpeggios belong to a scale in a particular key. For example in the key of C the aolian mode chords Am7, Bmin7/b5, Cmaj7, Dmin7, Emin7, Fmaj7, G7. I gave you an example with 4 note. But you don't have to play the 7th you can play triads only or you can also add more notes like the 9th the 11th 13th. Knowing what notes belong to the scale is very useful because you also play notes not from the scale to add tension. If you play D#dim7 over the minor scale in A it sounds badass as it is note in the key. \m/
If you know the chords that belong to a key and the notes that belong to a chord, you can choose notes from that and, even better, choose notes that fit where you are but lead to the next chord, which makes your lines sound logical and flowing.
For example, playing the blues in A and are on the A7, the chord tones are A C# E and G. It totally works to go up through the arpeggio on the quarters but when you're changing to D7 (D F# A C) that isn't necessarily the best. G doesn't really lead logically to D so you might want to start the D7 chord either on an A note (the fifth) or F# (the third) because these have stepwise motion from the G note. You can also choose to permute the A7 arpeggio or throw in some chromatic notes, like a G# going up to A, or by tritone down to the D for a bit of a surprise.
The tritone substitution is another massively useful concept. Again, blues in A. The V chord is E7 which has notes E G# B D. However, a tritone away from E7 is Bb7 (Bb D F Ab), which is a half step above A7. You can swap in notes from Bb7 because they share the same tritone due to the fact that Ab and G# are enharmonic.
Check out Led Zeppelin's cover of the Willie Dixon tune "I Can't Quit You Baby" for a good example of these ideas. JPJ's bass line is very simple, but really holds the song up. Lots of times it's only him and Bonham playing with Jimmy Page playing some lead or licks in a dialog with Robert Plant yet the song sounds totally full. Any tune by Antonio Carlos Jobim also has a lot of really clever uses of chords and voice leading.
So yeah, knowing your intervals, chords, their relationships, and a few fairly simple things like the tritone substitution goes a LONG way.
crimfan Thank you. I never got into blues théorie much but I know the chords progression are all Dominant 7 chords (basic 12 bars blues). And because of this blues have introduced a new kind of modulation compare to classical théorie. I should get into it more. Actually that's where I am now. Use diffetent modulation in my chord progression to go somewhere else. Even If don't know all the tricks of the trade yet. Thanks to music théorie from ground up (from Ben Levin who was introduced to me by Adam) I can now understand these thing. It work in progress always and it's awesome
Yan Racicot how do you play for 20 years and never learn any music theory??
It's like a car: You just need to know how to drive it. You don't need to know what makes it work. But having enough knowledge to keep it running, is very important.
That makes no sense.
@@andym28 You can drive a car without knowing every tiny thing about the engine but if u want, you can learn about it.
@@andym28 Maybe your third chromosome is stooping you.
Great analogy! Most start playing without knowing any theory or even read music. I knew the pentatonic sound before I new it was a scale and what notes made it up. I also played chord progressions without knowing why it works. And we had FUN playing in a garage band! Having said that, as time went by, I then wanted to know more. About driving a car, yes I learned to drive it first and now I can also keep it running.
Your comment made me feel better! Cause anytime theory talk takes place it might as well be in some rare unheard language to me. I hate admitting this !!! I’ve played guitar, bass for 30 something years…. & it’s all ear to me! I’ve played with a lot of great musicians that do have theory training & they praise my playing, think I have talent, but the moment any theory talk comes about I feel ignorant! I feel very less than!
7:54 Adam, I believe you were looking for the word "Taxonomy"
3:50 fun mode: engaged
3:55 serious mode: activated
Between Adam Neely and 12Tone, I've learned a ton of theory. Problem is, I am now working music more advanced than I can play. Or maybe it's that I can't write what I do play, when I'm in the groove.
Writing music more advanced than you can play is actually pretty smart. Because rather than making music with stuffs you're already familiar playing, it forces you to learn it out of shame. So in a way we can improve without the trouble of learning other people's music. It's a closed loop! You might even adopt a style of playing unique to you.
Aldo Veraldi : I am developing my own style. But, I'd like to be able to notate my own solo experiments. I have a few on SoundCloud, but my ears aren't strong enough to help me transcribe them.
Love both channels! Maybe you should check Signals Music Studio as well, lots of deep stuff there, on the vein of Adam's channel and 12tone.
6:00 Adam debated whether or not to tell us to "Git Gud." Love the Suhr...looks familiar and expensive.
Finally, the video I've been looking for ever since i heard about theory
i know right?
Heard about?
MopedOfJustice I think it's easy to overlook how not-obvious this stuff can be, it feels so intuitive that you need some kind of framework or vocabulary for it when you play music yourself, but most people only listen to it! They can say what they like or not, or what something "sounds like", but it doesn't go much further than that.
It's like with art, you could look at a painting and say "that looks like snow", but you wouldn't, for instance realize that it's actually using blue and orange rather than white, cause that's how snow looks in the light. Your brain takes it at face value, "looking at thing"-mode. You're thinking "this is supposed to look like snow" and not "what about this makes it look like snow" or "how did a human do this"
My mom has a story, she was gonna play piano at a wedding, accompanying a singer the couple had brought on. They hand her a sheet of paper... and it's literally just the lyrics. She's playing piano, and she hasn't heard (or even heard of) the song ever. But to them, from only listening to music, and maybe singing, it's what they think defines the song!
Not saying that to shame them, it's just super interesting to know how much we all underestimate what goes into the things we take for granted, whether it's music, maths, art or what have you :)
I'm just confused at someone who implicitly already did music having not even heard of music theory before, though I guess I might have read the wrong implication from the original comment.
MopedOfJustice I feel you, still I think many start playing guitar just checking tabs or chords, just following instructions and not thinking why you play that there
I understand that’s even a problem with some old classical musicians, blindly following the sheet music!
I feel like understanding theory greatly helps any musician. Trial and error works, but understanding relationships between scales and chords can make a good solo/song into a great one.
I just realised how much Trey's voice sounds like Chris Pratt.
I am the magical, mysterious part of The Beard.
Thanks to Trey, this world knows what the lovechild of Chris Pratt and Will Ferrell would look like.
Bro, i just posted the same thing in another video. He talks and gesture like Chris...
i cannot unthink that
When I was little, my sister and I took piano lessons from a traditional Hungarian Nazi piano teacher. While one was in the lesson, the other was hammering out theory exercises. I hated it, but now, am so thankful I went through that. Theory IS the language of music and has enabled me to quickly "get" what is going on in a song or jamming. For example if someone says. "jam in G then drop to the relative minor and play the 1,4 and 6, I get it. I play Em, Am and C. badaboom, and so on.
In composing, the concept of counterpoint was one of the biggest revelations in my musical life. I could type for a long time.
You don't need to know theory to make music but it sure opens a bunch of doors that you wouldn't be able to understand without the theory. some people, like that rick beato take things too far and come off as overcomplex(ie. useless) and pompous, but the basics are golden.
awesome story
1:57 Adam: Imma put this down
TGU18: No you won't, we need you to advertise our stuff
Adam: Very well then.
Whenever I hear/read this question I'm always thinking: when has having more knowledge ever been a bad thing?
Knowing music theory puts music in the palm of your hand.
Adam Neely is the best! I don't even know how I stumbled across him. All I have learned about music theory has been from university of RUclips, but the way he breaks things down is very comfortable to follow.
I'm a biologist specializing in taxonomy, which is the studies the way organisms are organized. To me it is really interesting how animals are related to eachother and most importantly WHY they are related. I think it's really fascinating this can also be done in music to a certain extent. This is a really inspiring video!
I really want to learn to speak, but i don't want to learn too many words.
rillloudmother - And I want to be an intuitive painter, so why should I bother learning about colours and perspective?
Because then not sound like moron...
@TheFReeFRiesssthen you sound like an idiot because everyone knows you arent trying that hard and writes you off you lazy fuck
Some of the greatest guitarists were self taught and learned mostly by ear... I personally don't think Clapton was GOD but I can understand his lack of theory didn't hold him back in his early days.
To learn a language you need to learn the words in the context and practice a lot. You don't sit and memorize 10.000 words to learn a language. You can pass exams without learning speaking well. East Asian countries like Japan and Korea are an example to this. Same thing with the music.
"even a pop music listener" made my day
6:10 Surprised he didn't go for the lick once.
What lick?
Max Scardanelli THE LICK
@@maxscardanelli6185 do do do dooo do do dooooo. 😂
He doesn't have to as we all already hear it in expectation
Trey - thank you for putting into words why I love Adam's channel so much. he is making documentaries about subjects that interest me and I enjoy learning for learning's sake, even if that learning has minimal direct practical use for me. Adam's engaging and entertaining style certainly helps too though.
One of my favourite programmes from my youth was a TV show called "The secret life of machines" which consisted of two blokes in a shed explaining how lightbulbs and photocopiers worked. In my life, I have never built a photocopier or a lightbulb, but it was great to learn from two guys who were interesting to listen to.
That said, it was in the photocopier episode that I first learned of the practical benefits of the photoelectric effect, which I did not learn the theory of until high school physics where I learned it is a result of wave-particle duality, much like the polyrhythm-chord duality Adam has spoken of. It's all come full circle.
To all high school or grade school students: the best thing you can do to become a better musician is to learn to read music. How do you do that? You join band, orchestra, or chorus. You learn to play an instrument other than guitar. You will learn intervals that way easily. If you have the option, take AP Music Theory if its offered at your school. Then learn how to read chord charts
2:40 SO TRUE! This made me much much better. It's so good for making and learning songs!! 🎻
This was a fun watch
I've known intervals for years now and I can highly recommend following this guy's advice, it's the best advice!
Theory is important. Yes you can get by without knowing too much. Intervals have helped me immensely but what nobody seems to make a focus on is rhythm. This gets overlooked a lot. Yes it’s a basic skill but myself included many musicians struggle with it. I wish there was more out there for this subject.
Check out some beginners drumming videos. If you can understand modes and chords, rhythm will be a piece of cake. If you can understand fractions your good to go, if not there's definitely other resources that teach it differently. But that's all it is, fractions of a length of time.
The more you know, the more you realize just how little you know. The less you know, the more you're convinced you know more than enough for your needs. That applies to everything. To music, too. Look up Dunning-Kruger.
Only 12 notes?
*Laughs in traditional middle-eastern music*
10:11 This is literally me. I posted a story a while ago saying "Why do I love the phrygian dominant scale (this eastern/exotic sound) so much?? IT'S SO BEAUTIFUL I'M GONNA CRY" hahahahha Love identifing things in music. It also helps you understand yourself a bit better by understanding what you find appealing and then of course apply it in your music. Exciting stuff indeed!
Adam's bass is cool.
Kala ubass has such a great tone in an awesome form factor
It was after i thew away my notesheets around age 13 and staring learning by ear that i learned that 90% of pop and rock songs can be played with C A G and F. Start in C major for pleasant or A minor for dramatic.
This was awesome to watch and very inspiring!
I say having a basic understanding can come a long way. But getting into the more advanced stuff can definitely help in your song writing
I love that he said god forbid after bass solo
So I taught myself everything I needed to know about metal and djent and all that for guitar. I knew that I was never going to use theory when I was making riffs, so I didn't bother teaching myself theory stuff I didn't think I was gonna use. So now I have very little theory knowledge, to the point where if anyone's talking about Intervals, the very first thing that pops into my head is Aaron Marshall.
The adam under the microscope thing was amazing 😂
I m not even a musician, but I learned most of what you listed, just cause it now makes sense and it used to bug me to not understand
There are two types of instruments. Ones you see and ones you don’t see. It seems that a lot of what you guys are talking about is referring to ones you can see. When theory awareness doesn’t have the visual leg up, one is in the realm of physical sensation. Think about this from the perspective of a wind player or a singer. The realities of these instruments are in your head and not in front of your eyes.
THE OBLIGATORY HUGHES AND KETTNER BEERLIGHT AMP IN THE BACKGROUND THAT COSTS THOUSANDS BUT NEVER GETS USED
I feel like I need all that I know and what I don’t know. Why not know it? No reason. Just learn as much as possible all of the time and you’ll be as good as you can be.
I really despise videos that advocate for musical ignorance because most guitarists are too lazy to learn. Every musician should aspire to gain knowledge because with the internet there are very few excuses left.
I take issue with your statement: "every musician should..." I don't agree that there is anything at all "every musician" needs to do, except for maybe have fun making music. Knowing a lot of theory, and being able to talk the talk is great, but totally unnecessary for a guitarist.
And I am wondering how you came to the conclusion that "most guitarists" are too lazy to learn? Is there a web site that contains data regarding the practice habits of the majority of guitar players in the world? Or did you just make that up?
@@cmacdhon You spoke some wisdom there. It's exactly this "musicians SHOULD" attitude that, in my view, ruins much of the music theory "scene" in RUclips; even if it's done unintentionally, many of those channels propagate the idea that there's a correct path for making music, and even preaching the usage of readymade formulas and recipes; like one utter bullshit video I've seen that says the minor third chord is the Saddest Chord Ever, and the I -> iii change instantly makes your song sad. Like Adam said, being able to give names to things is helpful and aids communication (which is the whole purpose of theory, you know), but if it gets out of hand, it also severely limit intuition and individual expression.
Now, I don't think knowing theory is "totally unnecessary", because it's useful to be able to communicate ideas and concepts to others, and even to yourself, if you want to write down your stuff. Theory may not be strictly necessary, but it's far from useless.
James Brown knew how to communicate his own music theory to his band
@@FernieCanto Theory RUclipsrs don't try to tell you the correct way of making music, at leas the ones I've watched. Usually they'll just tell you about options and reasonings behind things you might not know about, which can only better you as a musician. The idea that most musicians "should" learn some theory is based on the fact that it's a great way for a musician to improve, since it can create connections to relate to that they might not have thought of. This isn't to say that you can't be a great musician without theory (some of the greatest don't know a lick), but knowing how things fit together can only better yourself. Getting caught up over music theory when songwriting is never the fault of the theory, but of the writer.
THE END GOT ME :D
Bring back Trey's theory corner!!
Always upvote an Adam Neely.
2:20 You can’t see an atom under a microscope... although that would be a pretty dope piece o’ gear
As a non musician I will give you the advise to check out the importance of the book
`Thesaurus of Scales and Melodic Patterns` by Nicolas Slonimsky.
How has Adam not gotten a PBS show?
He reminds me of Matt from Space Time.
Trey, out of ten how much did you enjoy that seat? You were gently rocking back and forth almost the entire video xD
The u-bass is so cool
Dude, Adam is on every channel even remotely related to music lately.
Not at all complaining about that, by the way. Dude is awesome.
I'd say learn as much as u can, u never know when you will need it.
Adam Neely is good.
He's God
delosombres beato does go pretty hard
Bald man good
how do you teach yourself to recognize the difference between notes by simply hearing them? just sing all intervals asending/descending until they all become familiar by ear?
Adam and trey you just convinced me to begin ear trainng
Wait is that a bass ukulele?
For me understanding all of the complicated theory has never been too hard. But I lack the ear training. I've practiced but still will confuse certain intervals, and the process of thinking about what interval I'm hearing is very slow. How do you think you can speed up your ear training?
I want that guitar with the fade from yellow to dark red so bad. What type of guitar is it
Next video with Adam Neely: the 5 levels of listening to music
What is that semi hollow guitar at 2:09?
I'm sure when making the video Thomann told them to pick an instrument to have and among all of the various high-end bass guitars Adam went "hey this bass/ukulele looks interesting"
Hey guys, this is a great vid!
This is cool!
Very interesting and exactly the kind of question I ask myself all the time. But why? Why are intervals so good to learn? How do you use it? How should I learn it?
Intervals are good too learn, because they make the colour. You know, most people don't hear the difference between a C and D if they hear it isolated. But everyone hears and FEELS the difference between a Major third, a minor third and an octave. And if you want to make music it's great to know which interval you can use to produce which feeling.
and you simply start learning it, by taking your instrument and start playing major thirds with different root notes. And you remind your brain "This is a major third, this is a major third." And after some time your brain can instantly recognise a major third and you can start using it better, because you know how to play it and how to produce it. After that you try minor thirds, perfect fifths, octaves, etc. And don't start out with all of them at once! Take your time and give your brain the time to learn that vocabulary.
I wish you some nice jamming 🎶
Thanks for the answer! But what about if my instrument is my voice? =)
+Pontus Welin Okay, that's something totally different... :-D
I do not and cannot sing, but I guess it would help you sing clearer and hitting the notes more precisely.
But learning it... An Instrument would make it easier for sure. You could try to learn the basics on an instrument and simultaneously learn Intervals on the instrument and with your voice.
But I'm not sure about that, as I said, I'm totally not a singer... :-D
I wish you good luck in learning. You'll find your way and you can do it!
thanks!
+Pontus Welin You're welcome :-)
I try to teach modes like the seven dwarfs happy dopey pretty accurate really
suhr model?
That Suhr looks RAD!!
Would you leave out the third in an 11th chord?
I’ve written and released four albums with zero theory. I wish I learned theory when I started playing guitar as I’m sure my albums would had been much better. I’m in the process of going back and learning the basics now (ugh). But zero theory is needed to make music.
Bloodsoaked you can't make serious music without knowing any theory
some lasaga yeah u can
Jakob Jakobovski no, you can't, it's impossible. You must have at least basic conceptual understanding.
some lasaga well we wont count time signatures since that literally the basic to record anything even singing
Jakob Jakobovski ok man, i'll just hope that eventually you'll understand your ignorance
What guitar is that?
BASS!
I want that Uke Bass. I love me my ukulele.
Solfege is only really useful to communicate with other musicians. If you interact with a lot of different musicians and can't develop a playing bond with them then by all means you should at least know the name of the chords xD
So... when did the theory lesson supposed to happen?
Can't stop staring at the flashing amp light
whats with you and 9ths?
what top is on that suhr
Adam is a total badass
9:55 I'm one of the people that does that, it is annoying to get interrupted
I like Steve Vai’s view on theory. Learn everything you can about theory and then forget it.
7:54 --the word you're looking for is taxonomy
Is that a bads ukelele
For those interested in learning ear training check out the app Earpeggio. The paid version is worth every cent! Do it everyday for 5-10 mins (I literally do this while I release waste, brushing teeth, etc.). You’ll be amazed at how fast you will start to develop this ability. Ear training is a meta skill when it comes to music and is guaranteed to provide a huge return of investment of your time.
How much theory should you learn? As much as you can!
It's like Trey said, it's interesting to know how an atom looks and all that stuff but unless you're a physicist you don't need to know that stuff, and yet, I've met "professional musicians" that say you don't need music theory.
Adam, are you able to listen to a song without thinking to theory anymore?
I tried to learn all the theory on my instrument, like diatonic harmonie, in all the keys wondering why I not get better at playing real music.... 😅
You didn't put the link to Adam's channel in your description. Just sayin'.
I also get as uncomfortable as Adam when someone says something good about me. I wonder what it's like though.
The problem with learning theory from RUclips is that if you're unfamiliar with the topic (which you are by definition if you're just learning), you won't know whether the tutor you're following on this Interweb thingy actually has a clue what he or she is talking about. When the only readily available source of this knowledge was printed in book form, said books were edited for errors before they were published and one could be reasonably sure they were correct. Not any more. These days, anyone can post a video with the implication that they are experts on the topic even if, as is sometimes the case, they propagate some very common misconceptions.
For example:
1.) "E#, B#, Fb, and Cb aren't real notes. They sound the same as F, C, E, and B, so musicians just call them F, C, E, and B."
This is blatant nonsense. E# is found in the keys of F# major and D# minor (6 sharps), and both it and B# are in C# major and A# minor (7 sharps). Fb is in Db major and Bb minor (6 flats), and both it and Cb are in Cb major and Ab minor (7 flats). When musicians are discussing a part written in F#, they don't call the major 7th "F"; they call it "E#." If they're playing in Cb, they don't call the tonic "B." Calling the former F and the latter B as some RUclips tutors claim is the case would just be confusing.
This isn't "classical" pedantry, either. First, I'm not a classical musician. Second, E#, B#, Fb, and Cb are actually quite common in big band and concert band music since the parts for many instruments are written in keys other than the key that parts for concert pitch "C" instruments - such as guitar - are written in. For instance, a piece written in B for concert pitch instruments will be written in C# for Bb instruments such as trumpet and clarinet.
2.) "If you put your fingers here, here, here, and here, you have the G# major 7 chord."
Wait ... what? G# major 7? A G#M7 chord would be G# B# D# and F## (double sharp). However, the maximum number of sharps or flats there can be in a key signature is seven, one for each note in a diatonic major or minor scale. A double sharp counts as two sharps. Double sharps, like double flats, are used for enharmonic purposes; they do not appear in diatonic key signatures.
Since the key of G major already has one sharp, G# major would have to have 8 sharps since it's a semi-tone higher ... one more sharp than there are notes in the scale. G# major - and others that I've heard mentioned on RUclips such as D# (9 sharps) and A# (10 sharps) - are purely theoretical keys that don't exist in practice and aren't included in the Circle of Fifths. Since the key of G# (or D# or A#) major doesn't exist in practice and since chords are based on notes in a key's scale, how can we derive even a basic triad from a key that doesn't even exist? Again, this isn't "classical" pedantry; it's nothing more than calling things by what they are for the sake of clarity, not by what they aren't because one doesn't know better.
3.) a.) "Minor keys and scales are derived from their relative majors" and b.) "There are only 12 major keys, each of which has a relative minor."
Not so. While it's true that the tonic of a relative minor scale is the 6th of a major scale, it's equally true that the relative major scale starts on the 3rd of a minor scale. (It doesn't matter whether it's natural, harmonic, or melodic minor since the 3rd is the same in every case. Nonetheless, it can't be emphasized enough that the minor scale from which the rest of the major scale is derived is the *natural* minor scale, not the harmonic or melodic minor.) The key word here (pardon the pun) is "relative." Minor keys don't "belong" to major keys (as I've read) and neither major nor minor is superior or subordinate to the other. Each key is unique and therefore distinct from all the others.
4.) "The easiest way to figure out minor chords is by taking the major scale and flattening the 3rd to get the minor triad and adding a flat 7th for a minor 7th chord."
No, the easiest way to figure them out is to use the parallel natural minor scale and count 1 3 5 7. Simple. No flattening required. I suspect that the b3 b7 explanation is a hold-over from the misguided notion that minor keys "belong" to major keys. There's nothing wrong with using a major scale to work out minor chords - in fact, if you don't know the natural minor scales, it's the only way to do it - but it is not the easiest way to go about it. Of course, to work them out using a natural minor scale, you need to know the natural minor scale.
5.) "Major keys sound happy and minor keys sound sad."
Seriously? Listen to Bach's "Bourée." It's in E minor. Does it sound sad to you?
6.) "You don't need theory to play guitar. All you need is to memorize these shapes and patterns."
That's partly true; you don't need theory to "play" guitar. Millions of people are perfectly happy learning only one chord shape for each of the few chords they use, blissfully unaware of how chords are constructed or even how they can be moved up and down the neck, and never playing above the third or fourth fret.
But knowing *how* to play guitar is a completely different matter. If all you're doing is replicating what you saw on RUclips without really understanding it ("It's called A minor because I'm fretting the E minor at the fifth fret." No, it's called A minor because the interval between the root and the 3rd of the triad is a minor 3rd; it doesn't matter *where* you play them on the fretboard), then all you're doing is the musical equivalent of paint-by-number.
You can also bet your last dollar that any of those guitar gods who supposedly don't (or didn't) know theory - SRV, Hendrix, Clapton, etc. - knows theory. Case in point: even if they didn't know that a pentatonic minor scale, say, is called a pentatonic minor scale, how would they be able to use the identical structure in several different keys if they didn't know how it's constructed and where and when to use it? That ability requires a knowledge of theory at some level.
It's like the famous story of the fellow who re-invented Calculus. He didn't know that Calculus had already been invented and thus called his version by a completely different name. The only difference between the two, however, was in the symbols and terminology. Apart from that difference, he knew his subject inside and out, so well in fact that even the mathematicians at the university he submitted it to - once they realized they were dealing with a version of Calculus - couldn't find any flaws in it.
The point to this analogy is that, even if one doesn't know formal theory, knowing how and why something works (or doesn't work) in music still takes an understanding of the mechanics behind it - which is music theory in a nutshell. It is not a bag of "rules" that its detractors say it is and, no, knowing theory doesn't stifle creativity or make robots out of those who have studied it. (It actually opens gateways to greater creativity, but that's a topic for another day.) The proof is in the pudding and the aforementioned guitar gods know/knew at least enough about the mechanics behind music to know how to get the results they want and probably a hell of a lot more than that.
7.) So how much theory does a guitarist really need? Enough to get the job done and preferably a bit more. If you're content strumming away on a few chords around the campfire, then you don't need any. Enjoy yourself. Who am I to object? If you want to play at Joe Pass's or John McLaughlin's level, though, you're going to need a hell of a lot of it and be as familiar with it as you are with your own name. The choice is yours.
Thank you so much!
Sounds like a bunch of classical pedantry.
The main issue with learning theory from the internet is that whoever made the video didn't make it for you, therefore, you might not learn from that at all or grow an even stronger dislike for music theory.
That bass is adorable.
2:20 Lol, good one! 😆
Does anyone know what brand/modelo the orange gradient guitar on Trey's side is? Thanks in advance
Ibanez AZ
Suhr
Thanks!
I really like this cross-pollination of vloggers...subscribed.
6:49 ... I really like the sound of F minor to C major. Anyone care to explain what that is and how it can be applied in a musical context (aka "song") to a newb like me? :) I totally wanna steal the soul of that :D
aknopf hey, it's called "minor plagal cadence"... usually we call a plagal cadence when you have a major fourth degree going to the first degree... the iv minor may come from the i minor (aka C minor) or A harmonic minor (A being the relative minor)... pretty cool and common cadence, usually it's IV - iv - I (F - Fm - C). Don't look back in anger by Oasis uses it on "So I'll start a revolution from my bed". Check it out!
Hey André, thank you very much for the thorough explanation. I will defenitely keep my ears open for that. Awesome!
aknopf no worries man!!! really glad I could help
The Fm is borrowed from the parallel minor key. This is called modal mixture.
You can write pretty epic sounding progressions by borrowing from the parallel key. A pretty basic one is a progression like Ab-Bb-C (where C is the tonal center and the Ab and Bb are borrowed from C minor). For example listen to "Kiss from a Rose". The entire song is based on the bVI-bVII-I progression.
Another cool one is "Take a Bow" by Muse. The song is pretty much based on the b6 scale degree, borrowed from the parallel minor.
Also Creep by Radiohead uses this change playing C-Cm-G and it's really amazing!
You don't need ANY music theory at all, to write your own original music . It's about feeling .
taxonomy, syntax and semantics
three cool words
the most important bit of theory to learn is two 16th notes and an 8th note =/= a triplet
+Dave B. did you see the =/= in the original comment
What Tele is that on the wall by Adam?
alexanderswisher Looks like an Schecter Fastback