Overheard at a Party City in New York: "Do you have any decorations for a farewell party?" "Nah, this is New York, if you're gonna leave, just get out."
To what or not to what. 'How' is the whats' what. Without the how there is no why, it's only a what if. What is it? It's it. What is it? It's it. You what it all, but you can't have it.
I love how Adam has already listened to most pieces referenced in his Q&A's. It's like: "Hey Adam, I wonder how this progression from a 2011 song only on UA-cam with 3 views works." And Adam will go "Yeah man, that was actually me, I watched it three times cause I loved it that much" and then explain it. It's so awesome.
i subbed from a reddit post showing how you don't clickbait, you answer the title question thoroughly, and you give a short answer in the thumbnail in case we don't want to hear the full in-depth answer. Amazing design, very rare in this day and age.
That's crazy, I found him the same way at around the same time as you and was inspired to start playing guitar a few months later! Even though I still only understand about half of what's going on in some of these videos it's been tons of fun learning all about music theory
Adam--very late to the conversation. That musical director who hired you for the off-B'way gig? He was wrong. That's called lack of leadership and lack of integrity. You don't leave out crucial information like that when you hire someone. I know about the politics of the bandstand and the politics of whether someone is fired or they are asked to quit, as a union musician. That all being said, no one who is a contractor, a band leader, or a musical director should ever put someone in that situation. And if the guy says something like, "well, man, you gotta understand, it was a stressful, busy week!", well....too bad. It's not your job to be able to read his mind. If he needed special skills, it was his responsibility to communicate that from the first time he talked to you. And if he is that disorganized or stressed out as an MD, well, he shouldn't be doing that gig. Sorry you had to pay for someone else's incompetence. Respectfully, PMH
A note on this is that English -sucks- when talking about music and instruments. Seriously. How can you (with extra words for clarity, sometimes) use the same word for the classical standing instrument and the electric guitarr looking instrument?! It makes it really annoying when looking for instruments online or using youtube looking for instruments or sounds.
Im interested in the story of how he screwed that up? Guy: Hey I need bass Adam: BASS Guy: no screw your bass, go fire yourself cause youre too powerful for me to do it.
Exactly. Especially these days, egotistical attitudes in music is stupid. There are no gatekeepers anymore - I'm a hermit but even I make money from albums I've released online.
I get embarrassed thinking about the few times a band rejected me. Because I would take it so personally. Even if I didn't like what the band was about. Like one cover band, I auditioned with them, and one of the songs was black magic woman, Santana's version. And as I usually do, I knew the basic intro solo, but I improvised the rest of the solo, because that is more interesting to me. And they felt I didn't know the song, because of that. And they were concerned about how long it would take to learn the songs. Back then, I was like 23. I didn't have a strong enough sense of self, to be like, I don't want to play in bands like this, or tell them before I even met them, that I wasn't into jukebox playing. But I got so upset, I was nearly crying, because my self-esteem was based on acceptance, though I didn't do anything to fit into their acceptance models.
23:08 Thank you for this. I can't say I've never felt that sense of "betrayal" or whatever, but I eventually had to face how irrational and simply immature that line of thought ultimately is. You're obviously not the first person to express it, but I'm seriously impressed by how you were able to address it head-on without condescension or dismissiveness. Props!
Music theory isn’t a theory because it’s used to describe patterns that exist? I guess I’ll tell that to the theory of gravity, or set theory or germ theory! Good to know they aren’t theories either.
Without the context of its use, it isn't meaningful to say that X-TET music is "limited". If you're playing music conceived in a 22-TET scheme, obviously 12 tones is insufficient. If you're only playing a pentatonic melody, it's more than sufficient. The claim that 12-TET is somehow inherently limited presupposes some really subjective and narrow ideas about the purpose of music.
@@teddydunn3513 I think you're misunderstanding the term "theory". Common mistake, most people don't know the actual definition of theory. You're thinking of hypothesis. Theory is an idea that has been proven, hypothesis is one that has not. This is the easiest way I can explain it. But there you go. Now you can laugh the next time you hear someone say, "Well, maybe that's true in theory..." 😉
Hi Adam! I am a bassplayer and working Psychologist from Norway. Thank you for sharing your knowledge! Your Mentalisation of music seems to me at a high level. Passion, knowledge and your humble attitude makes you a treasure for all that loves music!
I love how the cat is sleeping through it all. It is not into detailed music theory. But I am learning so much in such a fun way from your videos. Thank you, Adam Neely!
The amount of interesting, valuable and straight-up mind blowing information presented in this video is absolutely ridiculous! Keep it up! Pristine content!
You and Rick Beato and have become my 2 favourite UA-cam channels for music education and appreciation, I love your content, keep it up! Best wishes from North Wales, UK!
"This is not an airport: You do not need to announce your departure." DAMN ADAM. Coming at him with straight heat! Great video by the way. Loved that ending haha
Also if you want to hear some accessible microtonal music in a rock context, check out the Australian band King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard (great fucking name), and their album the Flying Microtonal Banana. Great, low budget garage rock with microtonal instruments. Also check out some of Dolores Catherino's "polytonal" music on her channel dolomuse, it sounds like looking into the distant future of electronic music and harmony.
King Gizzard's album Gumboot Soup features some pretty heavy microtonalism too, and their collaboritive tape with MHC has a few tracks with some as well.
Pretty much every MD I’ve ever experienced is really disorganized. I was called to do a show and the MD said it was tenor and bari sax, but when I got there it was like 70% clarinet, 15% bass clarinet, 10% flute and 5% bari.
need to agree with this. But, as mentioned below, some MDs and producers are a little disorganized, or too busy to answer basic/simple questions, or honestly don't KNOW what they are trying to communicate to the musicians....
Oh my! I didn’t like the last comment at all. It unsettled me before bedtime. I can’t imagine life without you now Adam. I stay up late on a Monday eagerly waiting for your upload (UK time here). I appreciate people might not like everything, all of the time, but surely everyone can enjoy something in every video it’s so so good what you do.
12tone is awesome, but does he do what Adam said he does? I've only really seen him analyze things with normal harmony and rhythm, not any of this tuning/harmonics stuff
He covers a very wide variety of stuff. Here's two of the ones on microtonality/xenharmony. ua-cam.com/video/RuT6Y53LYH4/v-deo.html ua-cam.com/video/KwLeCO2w9H4/v-deo.html
See: "George Secor's Miracle Scale" ua-cam.com/video/DpKXQR2PtNg/v-deo.html "Harry Partch And The Genesis Scale" ua-cam.com/video/KwLeCO2w9H4/v-deo.html There maybe others, but those are the ones I've seen.
as a classical bassist, I do _not_ envy your experience. I've slowly started learning more and more on electric bass and I still struggle a lot, so I can't imagine what it's like having to switch to a completely different style of bass practically overnight and try not to look bothered by it. it's hard to bridge that gap (regardless of which direction you're going) and pit orchestra scores are extremely demanding. massive amount of respect for your effort, man.
Adam! I love all your videos. They are SUPER informative and are so well done. Love how articulate you are at explaining things. The bit about you getting fired might be my favorite clip so far. Most of the time all we see in videos are successes. It's sobering and refreshing to see someone go: 'yep, I screwed that one up!'. Kudos to you and please keep the amazing videos coming!
Literally everything that Adam recommends I listen to it. I'm hooked on Sevish now. It's outer-worldly but also conventional... Amazing. It's tonal music but with microtones... I can't explain it, you have to just go listen to it.
I remember seeing that childish comment and wondering if the guy was serious. I knew it would wind up in the next Adam vid getting destroyed, but I had no idea how awesome Adam's destruction of it would be.
I suppose "Leon Herperger" thinks that reply was a weak and slow burn on him, and not the neutron bomb it actually was, assuming he even figures it out.
This is the best question I've ever heard. But seriously, pop music is nearly all in 4/4 because marches were in 4/4. If we had three legs and marches in 3/4, it would be highly likely that pop music would be mostly in 3/4.
Well, until around 1300-1400 or so, most western music was related to the church, and a lot of it was im rhythmic groups of 3s, since that’s the divine number or something along these lines. Around the ars nova period, 2-rhythms became a lot more common while church music also took a step back.
I actually like all UA-camrs because I learn so much from each of your perspectives and find myself improving as a composer as a result. Thanks a million!
I think I immediately saw the Fm7 chord in Sir Duke as the reharmonized stand-in for G# major, which adds this mysterious, colorful VI sound to it. Very blues-y to me. One of my favorite things about the song. Stevie never fails to deliver.
Nicely done on the initial question. When I was studying jazz with Joe Diorio he taught me a few tools in terms of functional harmony when improvising (how to find a way to survive thru any complex harmony) : 1. Chord "pluralities" - any jazz chord can be perceived of as one of (at least) 4 chords depending on which chord tone you use as the root. Ex. A13, Gmaj7b5 (or #11), C#m7b5, Em6 2. Almost any chord progression can be somehow broken down into a standard one like I, VI, II, V etc. 3. Any chord that doesn't fit the bill can be seen as either a standalone I, IV or V Can't even count how many times that saved my ass. Love you Joe, you will always be my mentor, my friend, and a true inspiration.
RE: "out of tune" music. I remember watching an interview with an aged British prog musician several years ago, where he talked about how much he loved punk bands that wouldn't or couldn't keep their instruments in tune because "they were playing the music in between the music."
I'm always the sound engineer trying to make a concert perfect. I know a lot of fellow sound engineers that simply say "Okay play me XYZ and I'll cue you in" but don't do a lot of things during a concert. What I like about sound engineering is that you actually become a part of the band, because you, as a sound engineer, have the job of bringing the music to the people and therefore also use methods like pulling the lead guitar up during a solo, and use reverb and delay according to the needs. While you brought it up I had to think of an ambient band I've mixed about a year ago that had a lot of tunes that were written precisely for reverb and it was magically standing behind the desk and pulling up the reverb just in the moment where the vocals had this one last tone of a chorus or so and, using reverb, I froze these sounds for some time afterwards. It was just beautiful and I think that sound engineering is about that: Feeling the music, reacting to it and mixing it so that all dynamics and tension comes to full fruition! Problem is that most engineers simply don't have the resources to always completely feel the music because they have to mix like 20 bands per week and through this you're emotionally blunting to sound, which is sad. (That's why I'm happy that I'm not a full time engineer. And this is why a sound engineer is either break it or make it, because it depends on how his/her week has been so far :/)
Do you know of the Turkish mictrotonal guitarist and UA-camr Tolgahan Çoğulu? He has a lot of interesting videos about Turkish and Arabic Microtonal music. Sevish and 12 Tone are good outlets, but I find Tolgahan Çoğulu to be a very interesting artist and performer of Turkish classical guitar. Both you and him have inspired me in the realms of non-western and non-standard musics. Thanks!
Excellent mention! I quite enjoy Tolgahan's approach to the guitar as well (as a matter of fact, I'm planning to convert my spare classical into a fretless nylon, let's see how that goes...) Edit: Oops, forgot to mention, Tigran Hamasyan is absolutely fantastic as well.
The Maqaams (please forgive my spelling) in Arabic music are extremely interesting. I once saw a man playing the violin in an ensemble of various Arabic instruments and it was really interesting to see how he used the 'maqaams' in the same manner that in western harmony, musicians use modal interchange. I know that it seems like a very simple concept, but to hear it is something completely different.
make sure you leave the marks of the frets , that's where is the correct note will be & start with Maqam Rast , its a C major with lowered E and B ( quarter notes ) i also advice buying an Oud you'll get the whole idea faster with that .
Sound engineer playing the room... This is what I spent decades learning about as a pipe organ technician and sometime church musician, and I found it immediately applicable when I signed on as volunteer techie for a community musical production. I'd just like to add that if you start by creating a comfortable, well-balanced acoustical environment for the musicians onstage, they can then use their own musical sensibilities to fine-tune their performance and reduce your workload, in adjusting the house mix, to a fraction of what it otherwise would be.
Man, I'm pushed by your great videos to go deeper into the theory. Truth is I don't put the time in to fully grasp it all. I love your stuff, discovered it a couple of weeks back.
You have a magnificent breadth and depth of musical understanding! I have been watching/listening to your stuff for a few years and I so appreciate your spot-on clarity, brevity, and insane depth of knowledge. I recently wrote up Sir Duke and I just chalked that F-7 up as a passing chord and moved on but you unearthed some very cool shit on that dirty little chord. I loved the story about getting fired. Every working musician has been there and it fucking stings! Great stuff Adam!
Adam, thank you for sharing your "theatre experience." :) Your humility and honesty are shockingly refreshing, and instructive! You're a good man, and have blazing potential as an arranger/producer/performer and teacher. Best wishes! sf
Great video. Loved your answer to the last question. It takes wisdom (as you said) to give such a respectful (maybe undeserved), honest and focused answer to that guy. Respects from rainy Costa Rica!
Back in the late eighties with the rise of personal computers I had the idea maybe someone could program a synth so that the tuning was chord dependent. The algorithm would calculate each note's frequency based on the other notes being played and attempt to make intervals as close to their theoretical ideals as possible. I would love to hear how that sounds. Of course, back then I was thinking that such an instrument could only play by itself. But these days there's no reason you couldn't link several synths via some kind of master pitch controller. So, I've been sitting on this idea for over 20 years. I checked out some books on tuning theory when I first had the idea and one look at the maths involved made me realise that I didn't have the education to pull it off. I hear-by beg, plead, cajole, and politely request that someone do this so I can satisfy this long held curiosity. Cheers.
I was thinking about this the other week. I worry that it might need some human help tuning chords that are enharmonic to one another in 12TET, or at least some clever rules that must be manipulated by the performer.
Probably something you can build with Reaktor - I'd have to check the voice functions to see if it's feasible. The question is how to approach the "theoretical ideals" part. After all, music just doesn't work out (you go up by perfect 5ths and get a term in the form (3/2)^n, which at some point should equal octaves 2^m. But there is no solution for (3/2)^n=2^m where both m and n are integers).
Simon Gunkel Yup, that’s one thing that was pretty clear, compromises always have to be made. Deciding how to go about that is key. I took a quick look at hermode tuning, mentioned above, and the way they seem to solve this problem is by having different settings that allow you to choose which intervals get priority.
Hey Adam! Long time watcher first time commenter, just wanted to say that I absolutely loved this analysis of Sir Duke--it's a progression I've always wondered about but never looked at closely. Keep up the good work :)
You do if they really are good. I saw a band called Purson play in a local pub. I was kind of dreading it as the venue is very small and usually that means that excessive volume drowns any possible dynamics. Purson have a great sound on their albums but the singers voice really benefits from clarity in the mix which I was worried would be lost in the aural melange that is the usual pub gig sound. My fears were unwarranted however as the band sounded absolutely amazing. So much so that I made a point of finding the sound engineer and thanking him personally for making the gig such a success. He was really pleased that someone had noticed his efforts and left with a massive smile on his face.
No way! The bad ones contrast the good ones, so you notice them more! A big thanks to all those sound dudes out there that are considerate and try to do their job well.
as a listener to the music, a sound man is doing his job right if it's like he was never there, same with roadies. i thank Brutal Legend for that randomly profound nugget of philosophy.
Love this post, (even the complicated stuff), but especially for reiterating that FEIST wrote "Limit To Your Love." All respect to James Blake and his production of the cover, but that lady is amazing!
This is super interesting! Sir Duke is one of my favorites! I personally favor the 2nd explanation. I always viewed the Fm7 as a sort of tritone sub, but without the b5. I still sort of feel like it functions that way with the voice leading. It's definitely interesting to analyze the underlying chord progression and harmony! So cool! Thanks Adam!
Q and A question! Have you ever thought about making a video relating to Barbershop harmony (quartet or otherwise)? It seems relatively simple from the outside but has a lot of nuance that makes it a fascinating deep dive.
Hey man, just wanted to say I really love your videos. I'm kind of in a lull after playing guitar and bass for 4 years, and I've been looking to seriously advance my playing. Watching your channel has expanded my knowledge of theory and just music in general. Keep up the good content!
Regarding Sir Duke: There is another possibility that you are missing but one linked to playing ability not theory. I was played professionally with someone who produced a couple of Stevie Wonder tracks the following is a story he relayed. This person was a keyboard player and asked Stevie "how do you play X" he said, "like this" and started playing. The person telling the story realized he would never be able to play like Stevie because he held his hands differently so he could find the keys, due to his blindness. His fingering style is completely alien to a piano player, due to his compensation for lack of eyesight. So your third theory may actually be closer to the truth, but for an entirely different reason than you stated, he probably heard the G#7 (9,13) but played it as the Fm7 because that's how he could play it within the framework of his keyboarding style. This is conjecture of course, but based on some second hand knowledge I was fortunate enough to privy to. Cheers!
I like the 3rd explanation. It fits better within the context of the lyrics as the song is a tribute to big band music and Duke Ellington. Stevie was probably thinking how he could bring Ellington's flavor and practical application of dense music theory back to popular music. It's like an inside joke hiding in plain sight. There's all this crazy harmonic complexity going on but to the average person it just feels good. "you can feel it all over...people"
The second example of Fm7 11 is definitely how stevie was thinking. Its a very gospel movement to go flirt with chord b5 before chord 4 and is pretty much the most common gospel trick when playing any song. i recommend trying it on Amazing grace. you will go ahh that sound
Thanks for the square-peg-in-round-hole firing story. It brought painful memories but also good ones about reaffirming my own role as a musician. I'm hooked as a subscriber. Keep it coming!
It is based off of logical truths of the universe, such as the circle of fifths and harmonics, etc. So only part of it is fake (equal temperament). It is built to be pleasant and harmonious.
@@bananalimemusic-yourlifesb7420 The circle of fifth isn't a "logical truth", that phrase doesn't even make sense. That's like saying graprefruits are a logical truth. Tuning traditions vary wildly across cultures, and the particular one we have in the west isn't some cosmological gift--just a fun mixture of biology and culture.
I'm amazed at how much there is to know about music. I do software engineering and interested in stuff like physics, but I can't help but be blown away when looking into music theory (and how much you know about it, really). Also, great video quality improvement.
23:06 Wow. Adam is always so cool and collected, did we just see him actually get upset at somebody's comment? I think that's the most intensity I've ever seen in his videos, and he was still totally under control, polite, and keeping it classy. Great response to somebody's pee in your cornflakes, and more civil than many tend to be. You're awesome Adam.
I was sight singing the melody on your shirt and racking my brain "where have I heard that melody!??!" And then the Q&A started *Doh!!!!!* right there in front of my face. At any rate- you do good work and I enjoyed your videos!
I studied music harmony in a private music school in my teens but now study something else. Your videos and your analysis make me wanna drop out and go for music studies full-time. And you know what they say, "If you love what you do for a living, you won't work a day in your life.."
That last answer was really good. I hadn't really thought about how I or anyone else might build a part of my sense of self on an outside source that doesn't owe me reinforcement of my identity. It explains a certain intensity of the negative reaction, because to have one's self-image challenged is very stressful ... but it's still, as you implied, not a just reaction.
Hey Adam, Just wanted to let you know that my computer blue-screened as soon as you played the G vs G# harmonic. I suppose that is what happens when you tempt the Electronica Gods.
I really appreciate you sharing that you encountered a situation where you could not play the music. I felt guilty saying to one of the bands I am a drummer in that I don't have the ability right now to go in a certain direction, I felt like a failure. That's not to say I don't want to, I certainly want to develop. But I have always felt like a failure, but then again as of writing this I have only been playing for 2 & 3/4 years and even my drum instructor keep suggesting I learn to forgive myself!
The function of the Fm7 chord is that you can feel it all over.
huehuehuehue
Huehue brbr?
@@dinifabio kkkkkk brbrbbr
this comment wins
I see what you did there and I love it
"Skip to 8:20 if you don't want to hear a lot of convoluted music theory." What do you think we watch your channel for?
the analysis of sir duke was amazing, and the shadow progression is an amazing thought
🤣🤣
Like duh! Lol totally agreed
The liiiiiccccckkkk
@toph Jrmartin WHOMS'T
"This is not an airport; you do not need to announce your departure."
10/10
Definitely can't be, because he would never have been able to fire those shots there.
Overheard at a Party City in New York: "Do you have any decorations for a farewell party?" "Nah, this is New York, if you're gonna leave, just get out."
Boom!
Laetitian Madhatter NOOO LMAO
As an airport worker, I fricking loved it hahahaahahah
Everyone always asks “what’s the chord progression” not “hows the chord progression” :(
:'(
I'll do you one better: why is Gamora?"
"why's the chord progression"
actually why IS chord progression.... why is anything...
To what or not to what. 'How' is the whats' what. Without the how there is no why, it's only a what if. What is it? It's it. What is it? It's it. You what it all, but you can't have it.
@@sideoutside Thanks, you made me lose my brain
I love how Adam has already listened to most pieces referenced in his Q&A's. It's like: "Hey Adam, I wonder how this progression from a 2011 song only on UA-cam with 3 views works." And Adam will go "Yeah man, that was actually me, I watched it three times cause I loved it that much" and then explain it. It's so awesome.
literally he knows everything, everytime a song is published he can sense it
Sir duke is a bonafide classic
Referring to limit to your love, george.
i subbed from a reddit post showing how you don't clickbait, you answer the title question thoroughly, and you give a short answer in the thumbnail in case we don't want to hear the full in-depth answer.
Amazing design, very rare in this day and age.
"Anti-clickbait"
And he still gets crazy views
That's crazy, I found him the same way at around the same time as you and was inspired to start playing guitar a few months later! Even though I still only understand about half of what's going on in some of these videos it's been tons of fun learning all about music theory
“This is not an airport. You don’t need to announce your departure.” 😂😂😂 brilliant! This was a really good Q&A!
That Stevie Wonder section was like an entire episode in itself.
And an AWESOME one at that!
It's a Shadow Episode
Music is a world within itself
Yungblut Winning!
adam:
double bass music: i’m about to end this man’s whole career
nowledge no one: I want to hear nowlege’s retarded asinine joke
Nowlege: ReDiToRS
@nowledge This joke originated on Twitter.
Lmao I play Double Bass
normal brain: 8 minutes of theory can explain stevie wonders interesting choice of chords on sir duke
high iq: he played it by accident cuz he blind
Lame.
Hahahahahaha
Bruh
@@martinsohnlein5591 Steves not going to see it don't worry.
@@BenJamin-eh7rq 😂
"I've my cup of Joe here, and I've got my G#7-13-9 here"
You should make that into a shirt.
I still had that Fm7 stuck in my head during that bit.
No joke, I would buy this
I lived for that very moment. XD
“How Stevie Wonder probably... thought about it”
I see, I mean, I hear what you did there!
Moses Pippenger ha! 😅😎 I get it!!
7:47 sounds like the part of one summer's day by Joe hisaishi when the melody first starts
I dont get it
Ayush Aripirala Stevie Wonder is blind
Stevie Wonder jokes about his 'vision' himself, even at a funeral... ua-cam.com/video/-dpkGnkvmgI/v-deo.html
(1min39)
Adam growing back that 2011 hair
Great Mallard ha! 😂
It was one of his new year resolutions!
Great Mallard why he shaved for so many years ? Just styles ?
Right now his hair looks more like his 2012 hat.
Augusto I know, I think he looks better this way
Adam--very late to the conversation. That musical director who hired you for the off-B'way gig? He was wrong. That's called lack of leadership and lack of integrity. You don't leave out crucial information like that when you hire someone. I know about the politics of the bandstand and the politics of whether someone is fired or they are asked to quit, as a union musician. That all being said, no one who is a contractor, a band leader, or a musical director should ever put someone in that situation. And if the guy says something like, "well, man, you gotta understand, it was a stressful, busy week!", well....too bad. It's not your job to be able to read his mind. If he needed special skills, it was his responsibility to communicate that from the first time he talked to you. And if he is that disorganized or stressed out as an MD, well, he shouldn't be doing that gig.
Sorry you had to pay for someone else's incompetence.
Respectfully,
PMH
Ya. Wouldn't you put Contrabass / Strings for the listing?
A note on this is that English -sucks- when talking about music and instruments. Seriously. How can you (with extra words for clarity, sometimes) use the same word for the classical standing instrument and the electric guitarr looking instrument?! It makes it really annoying when looking for instruments online or using youtube looking for instruments or sounds.
Maybe he had someone else on mind for the gig, that's why didnt specified.
Im interested in the story of how he screwed that up?
Guy: Hey I need bass
Adam: BASS
Guy: no screw your bass, go fire yourself cause youre too powerful for me to do it.
Exactly. Especially these days, egotistical attitudes in music is stupid. There are no gatekeepers anymore - I'm a hermit but even I make money from albums I've released online.
I love how you almost said that Stevie Wonder "saw" a song in a certain way. XD
🤣🤣🤣🤣
This is one of the best Q&A videos I've seen in a long time. Lots to digest and discover. Thanks for opening the envelope.
I'm falling back in love with music theory thanks to you Adam, it's just so fascinating !
JAZZ
I get embarrassed thinking about the few times a band rejected me. Because I would take it so personally. Even if I didn't like what the band was about. Like one cover band, I auditioned with them, and one of the songs was black magic woman, Santana's version. And as I usually do, I knew the basic intro solo, but I improvised the rest of the solo, because that is more interesting to me. And they felt I didn't know the song, because of that. And they were concerned about how long it would take to learn the songs. Back then, I was like 23. I didn't have a strong enough sense of self, to be like, I don't want to play in bands like this, or tell them before I even met them, that I wasn't into jukebox playing. But I got so upset, I was nearly crying, because my self-esteem was based on acceptance, though I didn't do anything to fit into their acceptance models.
:(
Crngw
Cringe
"This isn't an airport, you do not need to announce your departure..."
Love that line!
The fragile ego needs to be missed.
23:08 Thank you for this. I can't say I've never felt that sense of "betrayal" or whatever, but I eventually had to face how irrational and simply immature that line of thought ultimately is. You're obviously not the first person to express it, but I'm seriously impressed by how you were able to address it head-on without condescension or dismissiveness. Props!
The concept of Shadow Progressions has me more S H O O K
than that mounted cam.
Wait, the lion king had microtones?
ua-cam.com/video/KwOdsHc4h7s/v-deo.html
ua-cam.com/video/_VxN4rnOpho/v-deo.html
Music theory isn’t a theory because it’s used to describe patterns that exist? I guess I’ll tell that to the theory of gravity, or set theory or germ theory! Good to know they aren’t theories either.
Adam Neely Oh my god you responded to my comment I’m so happy aaaaaaa
Without the context of its use, it isn't meaningful to say that X-TET music is "limited". If you're playing music conceived in a 22-TET scheme, obviously 12 tones is insufficient. If you're only playing a pentatonic melody, it's more than sufficient. The claim that 12-TET is somehow inherently limited presupposes some really subjective and narrow ideas about the purpose of music.
@@teddydunn3513 I think you're misunderstanding the term "theory". Common mistake, most people don't know the actual definition of theory. You're thinking of hypothesis. Theory is an idea that has been proven, hypothesis is one that has not. This is the easiest way I can explain it. But there you go. Now you can laugh the next time you hear someone say, "Well, maybe that's true in theory..." 😉
how stevie wonder probably -saw- thought about it
how stevie wonder probably wondered about it
How did you do that line? Never saw that in youtube comments
I saw that coming miles away
Juan Zavala Stevie didnt
the words he avoided was "visualized it" makes more sense in the context. just trying to be fun at the party over here
Hi Adam! I am a bassplayer and working Psychologist from Norway. Thank you for sharing your knowledge! Your Mentalisation of music seems to me at a high level. Passion, knowledge and your humble attitude makes you a treasure for all that loves music!
I love how the cat is sleeping through it all. It is not into detailed music theory. But I am learning so much in such a fun way from your videos. Thank you, Adam Neely!
The amount of interesting, valuable and straight-up mind blowing information presented in this video is absolutely ridiculous! Keep it up! Pristine content!
You and Rick Beato and have become my 2 favourite UA-cam channels for music education and appreciation, I love your content, keep it up! Best wishes from North Wales, UK!
"This is not an airport, you do not have to announce your departure"
Gold.
I'm SO stealing this line for when I mod on Twitch!
"This is not an airport: You do not need to announce your departure." DAMN ADAM. Coming at him with straight heat! Great video by the way. Loved that ending haha
"This is not an airport"
OH MY GOD PEOPLE, CAN YOU FEEL THAT CLASSY BURN?!
Gotta love Adam Neely.
YES so great to see Sevish getting attention! His stuff really underappreciated so thanks for shouting him out!
I unsubbed the second you started letting your hair grow out.
LOL Have you got a wee "flutter" in yer heart for Adam? Love your channel as well Aimee, been a sub of yours for quite a while
Straight out of the ball park.
Lee Sanderson whoa i didn't even notice till you pointed it out 😂
Really? I arrived for the music, stayed for the hair!
Nah he looks better with longer hair
Also if you want to hear some accessible microtonal music in a rock context, check out the Australian band King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard (great fucking name), and their album the Flying Microtonal Banana. Great, low budget garage rock with microtonal instruments.
Also check out some of Dolores Catherino's "polytonal" music on her channel dolomuse, it sounds like looking into the distant future of electronic music and harmony.
King Gizzard's album Gumboot Soup features some pretty heavy microtonalism too, and their collaboritive tape with MHC has a few tracks with some as well.
Never heard of them but that name has sold me. I'm off to find their stuff.
My fav King Gizzard album for sure
Joshua Connor As soon as I heard this, I downloaded the album. Thanks for the heads up.
Yep, came here to comment this!
Last answer was the best answer on this subject I ever heard. Bravo. Keep on keeping on Adam!
"I don't owe you your sense of self..." Consider me subscribed. Beautifully done.
They were VERY unprofessional! They should have given you a heads up about it being a double bass.
Yngsatchvai yea
Pretty much every MD I’ve ever experienced is really disorganized. I was called to do a show and the MD said it was tenor and bari sax, but when I got there it was like 70% clarinet, 15% bass clarinet, 10% flute and 5% bari.
need to agree with this. But, as mentioned below, some MDs and producers are a little disorganized, or too busy to answer basic/simple questions, or honestly don't KNOW what they are trying to communicate to the musicians....
Oh my! I didn’t like the last comment at all. It unsettled me before bedtime. I can’t imagine life without you now Adam. I stay up late on a Monday eagerly waiting for your upload (UK time here). I appreciate people might not like everything, all of the time, but surely everyone can enjoy something in every video it’s so so good what you do.
yessssss
12tone is THE thing
jerckï72
i literally scrolled down to say exactly the same thing. exactly lol
ya! 12tone!
12tone is awesome, but does he do what Adam said he does? I've only really seen him analyze things with normal harmony and rhythm, not any of this tuning/harmonics stuff
Joshua Anderson He has some videos about tuning
He covers a very wide variety of stuff. Here's two of the ones on microtonality/xenharmony. ua-cam.com/video/RuT6Y53LYH4/v-deo.html
ua-cam.com/video/KwLeCO2w9H4/v-deo.html
See:
"George Secor's Miracle Scale" ua-cam.com/video/DpKXQR2PtNg/v-deo.html
"Harry Partch And The Genesis Scale" ua-cam.com/video/KwLeCO2w9H4/v-deo.html
There maybe others, but those are the ones I've seen.
as a classical bassist, I do _not_ envy your experience. I've slowly started learning more and more on electric bass and I still struggle a lot, so I can't imagine what it's like having to switch to a completely different style of bass practically overnight and try not to look bothered by it. it's hard to bridge that gap (regardless of which direction you're going) and pit orchestra scores are extremely demanding. massive amount of respect for your effort, man.
Adam! I love all your videos. They are SUPER informative and are so well done. Love how articulate you are at explaining things. The bit about you getting fired might be my favorite clip so far. Most of the time all we see in videos are successes. It's sobering and refreshing to see someone go: 'yep, I screwed that one up!'. Kudos to you and please keep the amazing videos coming!
Literally everything that Adam recommends I listen to it.
I'm hooked on Sevish now. It's outer-worldly but also conventional... Amazing. It's tonal music but with microtones... I can't explain it, you have to just go listen to it.
agreed
LMAO @ "This is not an airport....."
I remember seeing that childish comment and wondering if the guy was serious. I knew it would wind up in the next Adam vid getting destroyed, but I had no idea how awesome Adam's destruction of it would be.
I suppose "Leon Herperger" thinks that reply was a weak and slow burn on him, and not the neutron bomb it actually was, assuming he even figures it out.
DESTROYED
It's the name of a Facebook group. facebook.com/groups/221772305030316/about/
Question for your next Q&A. If humans had 3 legs would marches be in 3/4?
Thanks!
This is the best question I've ever heard.
But seriously, pop music is nearly all in 4/4 because marches were in 4/4. If we had three legs and marches in 3/4, it would be highly likely that pop music would be mostly in 3/4.
Wouldn't it be 6/4, as the 4/4 was two walk cycles?
Well, until around 1300-1400 or so, most western music was related to the church, and a lot of it was im rhythmic groups of 3s, since that’s the divine number or something along these lines. Around the ars nova period, 2-rhythms became a lot more common while church music also took a step back.
Rather, I think the result would be that waltzes would turn into marches.
I actually like all UA-camrs because I learn so much from each of your perspectives and find myself improving as a composer as a result. Thanks a million!
I think I immediately saw the Fm7 chord in Sir Duke as the reharmonized stand-in for G# major, which adds this mysterious, colorful VI sound to it. Very blues-y to me. One of my favorite things about the song. Stevie never fails to deliver.
It's always a good day when I see a video from Mr Neely pop up!!
I absolutely love that painting on the wall behind you man.
quality content.
at this point I’m not even watching for information I’m just watching to hear the occasional crunchy chord with some words in between
The best kind of music
the words "crunchy chord" revived my soul, thank you for that
Nicely done on the initial question. When I was studying jazz with Joe Diorio he taught me a few tools in terms of functional harmony when improvising (how to find a way to survive thru any complex harmony) :
1. Chord "pluralities" - any jazz chord can be perceived of as one of (at least) 4 chords depending on which chord tone you use as the root.
Ex. A13, Gmaj7b5 (or #11), C#m7b5, Em6
2. Almost any chord progression can be somehow broken down into a standard one like I, VI, II, V etc.
3. Any chord that doesn't fit the bill can be seen as either a standalone I, IV or V
Can't even count how many times that saved my ass.
Love you Joe, you will always be my mentor, my friend, and a true inspiration.
I really appreciate the time-stamps in the description, I just remember you showing an amazing chord in some video and I found it :)
21:17 please dont subconsciously implant all star lyrics into my brain thanks lol
Hehe, got that too!
You're the smartest man on UA-cam - at least what I know and I really like your openness and honesty. All the best to you, Adam!
RE: "out of tune" music. I remember watching an interview with an aged British prog musician several years ago, where he talked about how much he loved punk bands that wouldn't or couldn't keep their instruments in tune because "they were playing the music in between the music."
Stevonicus The great Robert Wyatt. He was making a comment on the surge of punk and their practices, not necessarily professing admiration for it.
thanks for still preaching the good word! haven't been here in a second and you are rippin it better than ever! This isnt an airport!
I'm always the sound engineer trying to make a concert perfect. I know a lot of fellow sound engineers that simply say "Okay play me XYZ and I'll cue you in" but don't do a lot of things during a concert.
What I like about sound engineering is that you actually become a part of the band, because you, as a sound engineer, have the job of bringing the music to the people and therefore also use methods like pulling the lead guitar up during a solo, and use reverb and delay according to the needs.
While you brought it up I had to think of an ambient band I've mixed about a year ago that had a lot of tunes that were written precisely for reverb and it was magically standing behind the desk and pulling up the reverb just in the moment where the vocals had this one last tone of a chorus or so and, using reverb, I froze these sounds for some time afterwards. It was just beautiful and I think that sound engineering is about that: Feeling the music, reacting to it and mixing it so that all dynamics and tension comes to full fruition!
Problem is that most engineers simply don't have the resources to always completely feel the music because they have to mix like 20 bands per week and through this you're emotionally blunting to sound, which is sad. (That's why I'm happy that I'm not a full time engineer. And this is why a sound engineer is either break it or make it, because it depends on how his/her week has been so far :/)
Do you know of the Turkish mictrotonal guitarist and UA-camr Tolgahan Çoğulu? He has a lot of interesting videos about Turkish and Arabic Microtonal music. Sevish and 12 Tone are good outlets, but I find Tolgahan Çoğulu to be a very interesting artist and performer of Turkish classical guitar. Both you and him have inspired me in the realms of non-western and non-standard musics. Thanks!
Excellent mention! I quite enjoy Tolgahan's approach to the guitar as well (as a matter of fact, I'm planning to convert my spare classical into a fretless nylon, let's see how that goes...)
Edit: Oops, forgot to mention, Tigran Hamasyan is absolutely fantastic as well.
The Maqaams (please forgive my spelling) in Arabic music are extremely interesting. I once saw a man playing the violin in an ensemble of various Arabic instruments and it was really interesting to see how he used the 'maqaams' in the same manner that in western harmony, musicians use modal interchange. I know that it seems like a very simple concept, but to hear it is something completely different.
make sure you leave the marks of the frets , that's where is the correct note will be & start with Maqam Rast , its a C major with lowered E and B ( quarter notes ) i also advice buying an Oud you'll get the whole idea faster with that .
Tolgahan and Tingram. gotta check them out now. thanks :)
Any advice on how to find a good Oud?
Sound engineer playing the room...
This is what I spent decades learning about as a pipe organ technician and sometime church musician, and I found it immediately applicable when I signed on as volunteer techie for a community musical production. I'd just like to add that if you start by creating a comfortable, well-balanced acoustical environment for the musicians onstage, they can then use their own musical sensibilities to fine-tune their performance and reduce your workload, in adjusting the house mix, to a fraction of what it otherwise would be.
"This isn't an airport" I'm so gonna use that at some point 😂😂
"This isn't communism, you don't have to share. Keep it to yourself."
Onkel Pappkov yes!
Good news everyone!!!
Man, I'm pushed by your great videos to go deeper into the theory. Truth is I don't put the time in to fully grasp it all. I love your stuff, discovered it a couple of weeks back.
You have a magnificent breadth and depth of musical understanding! I have been watching/listening to your stuff for a few years and I so appreciate your spot-on clarity, brevity, and insane depth of knowledge. I recently wrote up Sir Duke and I just chalked that F-7 up as a passing chord and moved on but you unearthed some very cool shit on that dirty little chord. I loved the story about getting fired. Every working musician has been there and it fucking stings! Great stuff Adam!
Thanks for the theory analysis Adam, its nice to listen to the science side of music.
Adam, thank you for sharing your "theatre experience." :) Your humility and honesty are shockingly refreshing, and instructive! You're a good man, and have blazing potential
as an arranger/producer/performer and teacher. Best wishes! sf
I think anyone who rolls their eyes at long explanations of theory left this channel years ago.
Great video. Loved your answer to the last question. It takes wisdom (as you said) to give such a respectful (maybe undeserved), honest and focused answer to that guy. Respects from rainy Costa Rica!
It's very rewarding to see Adam get excited about a question.
(23:05)"I'm leaving, in a HUFF!"
Cool! Music theory, performance, professional advice, and psychological analysis.
I like it.
More and more I believe that the cat is actually the one running this channel.
Eoin Hayes 😂 I died
That cat conjecturally used to belong to Shrodinger; it's controversially colored past furthered by a spell of cryogenic incarceration.
Back in the late eighties with the rise of personal computers I had the idea maybe someone could program a synth so that the tuning was chord dependent. The algorithm would calculate each note's frequency based on the other notes being played and attempt to make intervals as close to their theoretical ideals as possible. I would love to hear how that sounds.
Of course, back then I was thinking that such an instrument could only play by itself. But these days there's no reason you couldn't link several synths via some kind of master pitch controller.
So, I've been sitting on this idea for over 20 years. I checked out some books on tuning theory when I first had the idea and one look at the maths involved made me realise that I didn't have the education to pull it off.
I hear-by beg, plead, cajole, and politely request that someone do this so I can satisfy this long held curiosity. Cheers.
Fossil Fishy That sounds pretty interesting. I'll have to look into that.
It exists. It's called hermode tuning.
I was thinking about this the other week. I worry that it might need some human help tuning chords that are enharmonic to one another in 12TET, or at least some clever rules that must be manipulated by the performer.
Probably something you can build with Reaktor - I'd have to check the voice functions to see if it's feasible. The question is how to approach the "theoretical ideals" part. After all, music just doesn't work out (you go up by perfect 5ths and get a term in the form (3/2)^n, which at some point should equal octaves 2^m. But there is no solution for (3/2)^n=2^m where both m and n are integers).
Simon Gunkel Yup, that’s one thing that was pretty clear, compromises always have to be made. Deciding how to go about that is key.
I took a quick look at hermode tuning, mentioned above, and the way they seem to solve this problem is by having different settings that allow you to choose which intervals get priority.
the last one (question) was profound and delivered so well .
great episode!
Hey Adam! Long time watcher first time commenter, just wanted to say that I absolutely loved this analysis of Sir Duke--it's a progression I've always wondered about but never looked at closely. Keep up the good work :)
You never notice a good sound engineer, only the bad ones :)
I notice and thank them after spending a bit of time on the other side of the desk. It is worth noticing. Magic ones are a rare and precious gift.
You do if they really are good. I saw a band called Purson play in a local pub. I was kind of dreading it as the venue is very small and usually that means that excessive volume drowns any possible dynamics. Purson have a great sound on their albums but the singers voice really benefits from clarity in the mix which I was worried would be lost in the aural melange that is the usual pub gig sound. My fears were unwarranted however as the band sounded absolutely amazing. So much so that I made a point of finding the sound engineer and thanking him personally for making the gig such a success. He was really pleased that someone had noticed his efforts and left with a massive smile on his face.
No way! The bad ones contrast the good ones, so you notice them more! A big thanks to all those sound dudes out there that are considerate and try to do their job well.
as a listener to the music, a sound man is doing his job right if it's like he was never there, same with roadies. i thank Brutal Legend for that randomly profound nugget of philosophy.
Underrated comment.
“Let’s first take a look at it the way that Stevie Wonder probably... thought about it.”
GENIUS
I'm glad you mentioned Sevish. His stuff is amazing and pretty addictive.
Love this post, (even the complicated stuff), but especially for reiterating that FEIST wrote "Limit To Your Love." All respect to James Blake and his production of the cover, but that lady is amazing!
This is super interesting! Sir Duke is one of my favorites! I personally favor the 2nd explanation. I always viewed the Fm7 as a sort of tritone sub, but without the b5. I still sort of feel like it functions that way with the voice leading. It's definitely interesting to analyze the underlying chord progression and harmony! So cool! Thanks Adam!
Adam: [7 min tirade on music theory]
Me: Hmm yes I see so that's how it is (actually does't get it at all)
Nice pop team epic reference
Q and A question! Have you ever thought about making a video relating to Barbershop harmony (quartet or otherwise)? It seems relatively simple from the outside but has a lot of nuance that makes it a fascinating deep dive.
"I don't owe you your since of self" damn you dragged him to the moon!!
Man, the entire answer to the question in 23:07 was enlightening. I've always searched for it.Thanks. .
Hey man, just wanted to say I really love your videos. I'm kind of in a lull after playing guitar and bass for 4 years, and I've been looking to seriously advance my playing. Watching your channel has expanded my knowledge of theory and just music in general. Keep up the good content!
Regarding Sir Duke: There is another possibility that you are missing but one linked to playing ability not theory. I was played professionally with someone who produced a couple of Stevie Wonder tracks the following is a story he relayed. This person was a keyboard player and asked Stevie "how do you play X" he said, "like this" and started playing. The person telling the story realized he would never be able to play like Stevie because he held his hands differently so he could find the keys, due to his blindness. His fingering style is completely alien to a piano player, due to his compensation for lack of eyesight.
So your third theory may actually be closer to the truth, but for an entirely different reason than you stated, he probably heard the G#7 (9,13) but played it as the Fm7 because that's how he could play it within the framework of his keyboarding style. This is conjecture of course, but based on some second hand knowledge I was fortunate enough to privy to. Cheers!
I wonder if somebody could upload a video to demonstrate that “blind style” of Stevie. That would be cool to see his mindset on piano
+++++ I'm loving this analysis the deeper it goes.
I'd say your explanation is to why he chose it and Adam's is to why it works. I like your analysis.
thunderfoot11 I'm curious to see if Adam replies to this thread.
Regarding the Stevie Wonder song, in layman's terms I think he just put it there because it sounds cool. 😉
That's essentially what Adam said
i like to think that his blind ness had a bit to do with it. he had a different way of playing the keys because of his lack of sight.
Indignant Wellington yeah that definitely influenced it
I like the 3rd explanation. It fits better within the context of the lyrics as the song is a tribute to big band music and Duke Ellington. Stevie was probably thinking how he could bring Ellington's flavor and practical application of dense music theory back to popular music. It's like an inside joke hiding in plain sight. There's all this crazy harmonic complexity going on but to the average person it just feels good. "you can feel it all over...people"
"crazy harmonic complexity".. :/
The second example of Fm7 11 is definitely how stevie was thinking. Its a very gospel movement to go flirt with chord b5 before chord 4 and is pretty much the most common gospel trick when playing any song. i recommend trying it on Amazing grace. you will go ahh that sound
Louis Pearson amen
I really appreciate you talking about what sounds like a devastating experience and how you came back from it.
Thanks for the square-peg-in-round-hole firing story. It brought painful memories but also good ones about reaffirming my own role as a musician.
I'm hooked as a subscriber. Keep it coming!
I enjoyed the less-edited style on this one. Gave it a little more breathing room, made everything a bit more naturalistic. Keep up the good work!
*_T U N I N G I S A S O C I A L C O N S T U C T_*
School fucked us all over
I’ve thought about this a lot
It is based off of logical truths of the universe, such as the circle of fifths and harmonics, etc. So only part of it is fake (equal temperament). It is built to be pleasant and harmonious.
Constuct? XD
@@bananalimemusic-yourlifesb7420 The circle of fifth isn't a "logical truth", that phrase doesn't even make sense. That's like saying graprefruits are a logical truth. Tuning traditions vary wildly across cultures, and the particular one we have in the west isn't some cosmological gift--just a fun mixture of biology and culture.
I'm amazed at how much there is to know about music. I do software engineering and interested in stuff like physics, but I can't help but be blown away when looking into music theory (and how much you know about it, really).
Also, great video quality improvement.
23:06 Wow. Adam is always so cool and collected, did we just see him actually get upset at somebody's comment? I think that's the most intensity I've ever seen in his videos, and he was still totally under control, polite, and keeping it classy. Great response to somebody's pee in your cornflakes, and more civil than many tend to be. You're awesome Adam.
I was sight singing the melody on your shirt and racking my brain "where have I heard that melody!??!" And then the Q&A started *Doh!!!!!* right there in front of my face. At any rate- you do good work and I enjoyed your videos!
There's actually an Ebm7 chord in between the Emaj7 and C#m7 chords in Sir Duke (it's played under the Ab and Gb, or G# and F# of the melody).
sebYB67 D#m7 would be the chord name if we are in B major.
I'M HAIR BACK ANSWERING ALL YOUR QUESTIONS
UA-camIsGay thanks! I hate it
Yay! My question got featured! I asked about out of tune music. (17:47)
That was pretty much the best question in this video. Seriously.
Thanks!
Just telling the truth! :D
Haha! I was reading your comment while he was reading your question.
I studied music harmony in a private music school in my teens but now study something else. Your videos and your analysis make me wanna drop out and go for music studies full-time. And you know what they say, "If you love what you do for a living, you won't work a day in your life.."
That last answer was really good. I hadn't really thought about how I or anyone else might build a part of my sense of self on an outside source that doesn't owe me reinforcement of my identity. It explains a certain intensity of the negative reaction, because to have one's self-image challenged is very stressful ... but it's still, as you implied, not a just reaction.
When you read that "someone once told me" as *"somebody* once told me" - I was ready for a YTP meme incoming.
Don't do me like that bro.
*Hears Adam mention 32’ organ stop*
Me: Immediately perks head up.
( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)
Hey Adam,
Just wanted to let you know that my computer blue-screened as soon as you played the G vs G# harmonic. I suppose that is what happens when you tempt the Electronica Gods.
Not sure why I'm back here, but I'm glad. Hope you're continuing to weather things well.
I really appreciate you sharing that you encountered a situation where you could not play the music. I felt guilty saying to one of the bands I am a drummer in that I don't have the ability right now to go in a certain direction, I felt like a failure. That's not to say I don't want to, I certainly want to develop. But I have always felt like a failure, but then again as of writing this I have only been playing for 2 & 3/4 years and even my drum instructor keep suggesting I learn to forgive myself!