Is it cheating to write out your guitar solos?
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- Опубліковано 9 тра 2024
- Critiquing viewer's music with @ElliottKleinguitar !
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• The Most Expensive Pre...
Thanks to everybody who submitted!
0:00 Intro
0:17 Guitar solo over Central Park West (John Coltrane)
3:14 Chill original tune with guitar solo
5:59 Cool voice/piano original song (link in description)
9:03 Nice voice/guitar original song
Quietude by MIMI SINGS
• the quietude (demo)
(⌐■_■)
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Peace,
Adam
"Cheating"? No, music is not a sport.
Agree
I don't get how this is even a question lol
Please explain this to the improvisation teacher :v
... Or is it?
I think what they mean is that it loses a certain essence to it. Like the difference between reading about a sunset and seeing a sunset. There's a certain quality of raw emotion that comes with creating it on the spot.
That being said I'd much prefer writing a solo and then embellishing on things live. Adding a small lick or taking something out etc.
Someone asked John Fogerty (of CCR) why he played the solos the same every time they performed songs. He replied "Because that's the way I wrote them"
John Fogerty's solos are incredibly melodic, catchy and memorable, and they even require some chops to play!
Thanks so much for listening to my song! It's fascinating to hear experts like you guys naming the chords and techniques I only know as sounds on the midi roll 😭 I really appreciate it and all the feedback is so nice to hear! Thank you!
You wrote such a beautiful song! Great job!
drop ur bandcamp I wanna buy your song!!!
Please keep making music its absolutely gorgeous
Thank you for existing and having made that, it was my favorite submission
hope you know BRAIDS or Blue Hawaii, your voice reminds raphaelle's voice, so beautiful!
"Crazy" tip: Improvise your solo and record it. Then rearrange it until it's good. Then write it down and practice it. And when you can play it seamlessly, record it again. And then pick the best parts of the improvised solo and the practiced solo and glue them together. You'll get a well rehearsed solo combined with the magical first take solo.
I'm very musically noob but I do this when I'm playing with my kalimba app. Helps me practice my ear too!
Taught a friend to do that. I recorded her playing a piano solo 4 bars in a jazz piece, told her to practice what she played. It took her about 30mins to really learn her melody and perfect it, and as we went on, it was tricker for her to connect her newer solos to her previous solos. However, it really boosted her confidence on improv!
Love seeing you together, miss you both!
miss you!
“A lot of the people do this even if they say they don’t” I think this is the most accurate comment in this video. Playing confidently and that practice is so important!
I remember having a light bulb moment when my jazz band teacher in middle school said that 95% of what he plays in a solo is things he'd practiced 1000x.
If I'm ever teaching anybody something like this, I'm going to pose them this question. After all of the spelling and writing sheets you did in your early years of English, does that make you less inclined to speak the language in person?
The double upload? So based. Thank you music theory queen.
Do you listen to H3 or HasanAbi by chance?
💅💅💅
@@famatu hasfrogs under neely video world is collapsing
@@famatu I listen to Adam Neely 🥰
@@famatu PogO
Thanks for the feedback on my video Adam + Elliott! Very grateful you took the time to share your thoughts.
great job! all the best :)
At first I was like, "really, write out?" Then it hit me, "oh yeah-compose! Yeah! Why wouldn't you _compose_ your guitar solos? To prove something maybe?" Even if they are not outright "composed", many classic solos are indeed "comped" from several jammed spontaneous takes. IIRC, the Comfortably Numb end solo is among these.
Oh my god I loved the Quietude! I hope they release a full version
Where can you find the song? It’s not on Spotify or UA-cam from my quick searching
Somebody tell me when you find the song or artist. I love Joni Mitchel and this gave me the same feeling.
Same!
@@taffyrooster look in the video description, there is a link to Joli's channel.
Frank Zappa wasn't for writing and practicing solos over and over again but Steve Vai got into the band by transcribing by ear every single of his recorded solos
Edit: apparently Vai was also initially hired to trascribe Frank's solos live, he then later got invited in the band. Plus, Adam, please, when will you make a video on FZ?
I remember once reading an interview with George Harrison (who didn't read or write musical notation) who said he would often come up with his guitar solos by singing them and once he had it down he would work it out on guitar and practice it.
A few years ago I started taking basic jazz standards, and then just composing over the changes, ( without touching an instrument) and then practicing them to a backing track, what was cool is I would write stuff that I would actually never play or improvise on my own, it's a great practice for reading and getting ideas.
I get a lot more creative when writing music, rather than playing/improvising on the spot.
@@SuiTobi I actually agree, I often write much cooler things than I improvise LOL. I composed my string quartets and about 90% of my compositions away from any instrument, and I just use a pen and paper to get the ideas down.
Also for me! The guitar solos I play in my head are way more adventurous than the ones I play on guitar for real…even if they’re drawing from the same lick library so to speak!
IMO, it's also a good way to improve improvisation.
Mimi Sings' track was incredible. Perfectly composed and performed piece.
Mind blown by that track too! I love the rawness, I don't even see it as a demo, it's a finished product to me!
Would love to see more of this kind of video from you guys. Loved hearing your perspectives and the less-recognized talent.
I like to record an improvised solo, then listen back to it for stuff I like, and then do another pass where I develop that stuff a little better, and repeat until I have a solo that sounds like it knows what it's doing.
If you listen to it backwards then re-write it, you'll have yourself a John Petrucci solo.
I agree with this style though. No matter how many times you play it, it won't hit you quite like just sitting down and listening to it. You'll find so many little changes you want when you listen to your own playing.
I'm a recording guy so I write all of my solos. I'm not really experienced with improvising, so I want to choose the best possible melodies I can come up with for that section.
And that girl singing with the piano was really good. Great voice.
you guys got great chemistry, super chill episode.
Love that you're doing these again.
This was so great, both because of the contributions and the feedback. The humanity in the performance is definitely worth fighting for -- we can get pitch-corrected grid-locked music anywhere, so it feels extra special to have some of the rawness make it all the way from the performers to the listeners.
Thank you for your entertaining and educational content! Today I was teaching Music Theory, and I used your bass drop meme to help the students find the cadential 64 chord. It was entertaining to watch the students shout bass when analyzing music in groups
Yoooo, this makes me so happy. Thank you for your feedback and the feature.
Congrats to all the other submissions too.
Sounded great, I'd listen to more!
You have a great vibe, happy to get to hear your song!
@@ElliottKleinguitar thank you so much for your feedback! I appreciate it!!
@@gav_mac thanks
Wow, would LOVE to hear the full version of 'The Quietude" -- superb.
Already another upload?! What a treat, thanks man.
I love these videos. So many people you have featured give me somewhere new to explore.
Love the guests you bring in
Dang, really appreciate the perspective on the confidence of our delivery. Being self conscious about every minute detail on the guitar has probably been detrimental. But I've never had too much issue with singing. I just never think about it.
Almost 30 year guitar player here. The advice about not alternating between finger tips and finger pads when playing was so insightful! Well done sir.
god that quietude demo really hit me somewhere deep, great voice and lyrics :)
Adam! Someone in my comment section mentioned that you covered my string quartet In a live stream and I had no idea, I'm super bummed I missed it I guess it was 2 years ago... I appreciate the great music you put out and the awesome Internet content!! Although I am a little bit of a sad panda because I never got to see your critique of the 1st movement of my string quartet, But it's OK life goes on.
Incredibly based video, thank you 🎉
So true with the Berklee insights and night walk plans! Did all that stuff in my time there
Glad to see I'm not the only one. When I heard Mimi's demo...my very first thought was fretless bass, and a Brecker style sax solo......IE I was hearing "Shadows and Light"... Joni !!!
Thanks for highlighting Mimi Sings (the Quietude)... I'm heading there next. I'm a big fan of the borrowed major chord style of the B section, and of the song in general. If I was Ric Flair, I'd let out a "WOOOOO!". In fact, I just did. EDIT: Found it, under Joli (makes music) channel
Thanks!
I love Elliot's expressions right at the end :)
7:50 a suggestion i may make is not necessarily going full band, but a Joni Mitchell trick of having another instrument come in for one section or only a few bars (like the clarinet in "Hejira" or the harmonica solo at the end of "Furry Sings the Blues".) Jacob Collier used this masterfully on "Home Is", accenting the acapella arrangement with sparse harp, piano and timpani at key moments.
I didn’t even watch the video, I saw the thumbnail and thought if a guitarist can write sheet music it’s already a miracle!
🎉🎉thanks for having me!
Mimi sooting voice, lyric style and phrasing and composition reminds Joni Mitchell A LOT. Great!
I appreciated the lyrics too. How often do you hear the word “quietude” in a song? “Talk me to the wall” - cool
Interesting take on that first one. I saw that as more post-rock a la Tortoise where that solo phrasing makes lots of sense.
6:02 cool piano song reminded me a lot of Kate Bush first album, really cool!
educating and fun, thanks
Writing music is not cheating. Anything that helps you think about melodies and timing is good, and will improve your improvisation!
Two uploads in one week!
Jesus christ, two uploads in less than a week? Fucking A! Hope the next video takes as long as it needs tho, please no stresserino
The placement of the channel logo at the end was great
That mimi demo was sweet!
I actually like the 9:03 better than the very slick, smoothe, professional comparison that you mentioned at first. I love the naked soul of this voice, notice the second time she hits that special note (the 7) with a subtonal, yet soft grounge! She is just cool, she is on her own road! And the B-part is only like any standard ****-song, just without the standard "experimental" box beat.
AND I agree about a more offroad B-part!
Yeah... walking down Mass Ave across the Pike there in January.... Back when I lived in Boston, my mom's first visit was in January. Wally's was a great way to introduce her to New England; walking there from the Green Line, not so much.
Two Adam Neely uploads in just about as many days is a welcome surprise.
I really liked the B chord progression from mimi sings
I would be mortified if I had sent in a submission and had to have my teacher critique it😂 Love hearing Elliott for free.😘
🥰😍😀
You guys are very kind
My way of doing guitar solos is recording like 6 (give or take) takes across the part of the song I want the solo to be, all some random improvisation. I take parts within the 6 tracks I thought were the best and stitch them together in an order I think sounds good, then rehearse it again into one final recording take and record that. If needed, I’ll create additional transitions between parts if it sounds too jarring. Usually works every time.
I’m of the camp, as long as it sounds good, it is good. Moreover, if it sounds good, then does it really matter how you got to your final destination?
Yeah this is more or less my approach as well. Whenever there's some lead to be written (be it a fill or an entire solo), I usually give it a good 2-3 rehearsals where I would improvise (we record everything new with a Zoom recorder) and then just stich together a solo from that. Fairly often, though, it turns out that all I need is the first time around done, and then it all kind of writes itself, as I have something that grounds me in the vibe/effect I'm going for.
Depending on what type of song i'm doing, that's close to my method. On some songs I feel more comfortable just bouncing around a scale, but on songs where I feel need a really epic solo, I'll freestyle over it multiple times and whatever I like, I try to do again the next time, and after 5 or 6 reps I've usually got something i'm happy with. I may or may not record each of those iterations as I'm going through. I've also got somewhat of a formula ish that I like to reference when making solos, namely that it should have some slower parts that are more open driving rhythm, and some faster parts that are more trying to show off, and some parts where it climbs or falls steadily, and some parts where it jumps up and down. Once I've hit all 4 of those checks, just sprinkle in some embellishments like pinch harmonics or bends or octaves or triplets, and i've got something that genuinely makes me excited about being a guitarist.
David Gilmour famously used that technique when writing the solo for Comfortably Numb
Do what feels better for you. I find more hard to write It down solos and play. Usually I can't play well like the first time I played. Writing down melodies or a theme and playing it don't botter me too much as playing solos as written. Maybe I have to pratice more. Idk lol I think it's just a matter of preference anyway.
100% this was David Gilmour's approach through Pink Floyd's heyday. Can't go wrong matching the spontaneity of improvisation with the intention of practice.
I definitely agree when he said it builds your musical vocabulary. If you read or say the same phrases repeatedly soon they will become natural to you.
Watching this makes me want to write more music :)
Already watched on Nebula!
Love the Steve Lacy vibe on the second one.
I wish Cassie Pearl was on youtube. I liked "Special" so much I immediately tried to track down the full version and it's only on spotify right now.
Hey there! You can listen here! Thanks for the support 😊 ua-cam.com/video/3Fi9vhQGW9U/v-deo.html
Oh what a treat
12:00 maybe in the B section starting with an ascending melody instead of a descending one would be a really good way to add contrast
My favorite series :)
YEEEES MORE ADAM NEELY VIDEOS
Mimi's piano playing reminds me of some very old Steely Dan demo songs (from the Sun Mountain record)
I'm curious now if that the Cordoba mini bass in the background. I absolutely love mine!
That song by mimi sings is beautiful! I need it released!
(it did!)
@@humblenoob7631 thank you so much for commenting because I had long forgotten about this! Just liked it on Spotify ❤️
thank you so much for discovering to me Lianne la havas and Elliot's channel 😇
I recall reading something Prince said about soloing. He said that he prewrites many of his solos.
Omg! The Quietude!!
Sometimes, it's almost more pressure when I have something specific to play instead of it being more open. In other cases, the road map is helpful to not be directionless.
Also about Lianne La Havas : don't miss her Glastonbury 2013 cover of Radiohead's Weird Fishes. Absolutely killer
This question leaves me SHOCKED xD, I started doing hip hop/trap/electronic, etc, and currently I like to make progressive metal like Tool, it wasn't until I worked in a studio that I met several guitarists who didn't have solos for their songs, they knew musical scales, but they simply recorded take after take until they found the right one among all the chromatic melodies, and not even that, sometimes the engineers themselves told them when it was right and when it wasn't. Consulting with other friends, they also told me that this also happened in genres like trash or death metal. In my experience composing, there is no detail in your song that doesn't matter, and the solos, in my perception, do have an "established path" that each one builds according to their vision, and that is for me the way to achieve originality in music, since we can be prodigies in our instrument but it is necessary to be creative and strive for that.
Greetings Adam 👽✌🏻
Can I just point out how cool it is that people are submitting their music and having two professionals listen and critique (with an audience). I think that takes a lot of courage to do. I have a hard time showing my friends/family anything that I've made, so I think this is just awesome.
On the flip side, while I know that people willingly submitted their stuff, is it *also* weird that two professionals compare several established styles and disciplines of playing to people trying to branch out and do something different? For example, "I thought he was gonna do this, but he didn't. Maybe recognize that this established genre is what you should aim for, etc." I'm not a fan of that micro-correcting mindset. I think when you play or feel something through your instrument, you shouldn't have to first run it through a filter of established musical tropes and ideas.
I don't know if anyone else feels this way, but when someone instantly calls out a popular band and labels that your genre or idea, it's very minimizing and creates a space of expectation to perform and lean into what the listener wants to hear, instead of the artist speaking freely.
I do think that is a valid concern, but I also feel like there's not really that much else that can be done with this medium. At the end of the day, I think there are really only three major categories of artistic critique:
1) identifying technical flaws (things that the audience may notice and distract them from enjoying the art)
2) identifying traits of a work that fit into an existing cultural/historical discourse (things that the audience may notice and believe for themselves about the art)
3) helping the artists develop a unique voice (ensuring the audience picks up on the things the artist wants them to)
The problem with 3 is that only a teacher who knows the student extremely well can successfully help them become more like themself. So in a medium like this, if there's nothing to say about 1, the only professional contribution Adam and co can make is to 2. It's almost like a match-making service: "based on what you've shared, it seems like this is the conversation that your art will be most readily understood within, and here's how you can shape the way you express yourself to communicate more effectively in that context." It's then up to the artist to decide if that's really where they want their art to land. If it isn't, and they don't want the audience to associate them with that genre/style, then they will know that they have to bring to the forefront other aspects of their art that show the audience how what they're doing is, in fact, not that thing.
Perhaps the framing could be a bit better (eg "what we hear in your music" may be more accurate than "how to get good at music") but at the end of the day, even categorizing someone into a system of existing musical tropes is actually extremely helpful feedback, as long as the recipient of the critique knows that they're allowed to take it as descriptive rather than prescriptive.
@@japanada11 I really agree with you about a lot of this. Music is another form of communication and, if willing, an artist can get some feedback from their peers without it turning into a needless re-shaping of their idea. More of a guiding hand (especially in a professional sense). Existing ideas/tropes can totally help too for people searching for a way to better express themselves.
I totally agree with framing this format a bit better too. Noticing things in someone's music instead of pinning influences (Oh you definitely listen to/sound like Bon Iver) is kinder to the creative process, and dignifies the path the artist took to be inspired enough to express themselves in the first place.
Speaking in general though, and not specifically about this video's format: Not everyone out there is trying to "play better." A lot of people express themselves, for themselves. I think a lot more people need a lot less "play good, play confident." I feel that it stigmatizes creativity and turns it into competition. Art is here for all of us to appreciate, it does not have to be performative. Not everyone needs UA-cam's endless Blues Pentatonics HowTo suggestions every time they log on.
I suggest everyone who's making music or being creative to take a break and forget what they think they know, or should know, about music and listen to something completely different or go to a show and feel something instead of being tutored/shaped into confidence. Then come back and think about what sounds good or bad and see if it matters at the end of the day.
Very good points - was in the process of writing out a longer comment when I realized I was just quoting you every couple sentences, adding something to the effect of "good observation" or "yeah that's a good balance to the previous point I made," so rather than go point by point I'll just say that I appreciate the added nuance.
My goal was just to make sure it was mentioned somewhere in the thread that there is value in a "here's what your music sounds like to me" response, even for people aspiring to develop an individual sound, but at the end of the day I definitely agree with you that it's a problem if that's the only kind of feedback one gets. There's definitely a need for voices like yours to say no, sometimes you need to stop comparing and just go do something unexpected and weird and you.
@@japanada11 I love this, I’ve thought of it in more words a bunch in these videos, you’re exactly right. And said it well. When there’s no mistakes or obvious basic techniques to suggest practicing, it has to get more stylistic and norms based.
Upon listening to "Cool voice/piano original song" ((from 5:59),
but BEFORE hearing your comments:
I started thinking of Kate Bush. Then I saw
your written approval, and I was happy
on behalf of this player, who likes
a major chord where it's not at home,
and who doesn't worry about convention
- also, Joni Mittchell comes to mind.
that mimi sings song is great
(I think Peter Barber might be an interesting guest for one of these, what with his diverse musical training including opera, a capella, and edm.)
I cant read notes quick enough anyway, but i thought half my life when i started guitar, that every guitar solo was improvisation, always. This frustrated me so much because i could not do it. Imagine my feelings when i found out that diffeent versions of a song had exactly the same solo.
Anyway i can play guitar a little bit by now.
I think its the word ‘solo’ which made me think that the guitarist went solo, so he would play something that was his thing at that moment.
But in my opinion, nearly nothing is cheating in music, as long as the result is some beautiful music!
Cheating is maybe… playback but pretend its real, anything else i cannot think about.
You know all the delicate beautiful little ad libs, hooks, and elaborate keyboard solos in Toto's songs? Steve Porcaro, all composed and written from the beginning....
Im trying to find "the quietude" in platforms and youtube but couldn't find anything, Mimi PLEASE RELEASE
Thank you so much for liking my song ❤️❤️
Link in description
@@gracebevill it's really good!
ua-cam.com/video/9rAjwGvNwe0/v-deo.html
@@AdamNeely a reply from master, how generous of master🙏
MIMI SINGS- PUT THAT ON SPOTIFY!
You guys are very good together. So "Go back, Jack, Do it again!"
Adam--for your next Q&A, have you seen Clyde Lawrence's testimony at the committee hearing on Livenation and Ticketmaster? As a self-owned and managed act, does Sungazer have any viable alternatives? Did you have to deal with them for your most recent touring?
When I was at Berklee I joked with my friend that I had pretty much scoped out the best public bathrooms in the Back Bay and should create a website with all of them mapped out with little write-ups on each one. This was in 1995.
the "Unsure" song whole felt like an improv. there's a difference between solo as in a bit in a song where an instrumentalist shows off and a solo as in a lead part being integral to the arrangement.
the former can be written or can be improvised the latter definitely should be written.
the pointy guitars used to play a not pointy music is one of my favourite tropes.
Cant believe I heard Eric Johnson's name brought up. Instant respect.
Nobody asked, but my feedback on 'the Quietude' would be to try to create a little more contrast (through arranging, vocal positioning/range, piano voicing choices, etc.) between the different sections. I liked the demo a lot, but I also noticed it was getting kind of samey even after only a minute.
Tysm for the feedback! ❤️
@@gracebevill From the demo it sounded like you were doing a linear build sort of thing, more layers and ideas gradually building on each other rather than just coming at section changes, and if that wasn't intentional, I might suggest leaning into it, and perhaps even enhance it by paring down the piano very slightly at the start so you have more room to grow a little quicker without ending up blasting people's heads off by the end.
@@jamesnomos8472 fantastic idea, I'll give it a go!
writing a solo is like writing a poem. You can write it an still change the delivery every time you play it.
What have we done to deserve 2 Neely vids in 1 week.
The vocals in that _Chill original tune with guitar solo_ gave me _Something Just Like This_ by _Chainsmokers_ vibes.
Pizzicato is a thing of course, and that might under be the term you had in mind. However, I think you might have meant campanella where scalar notes ring over each other like on a harp.
Personally, writing out my solos helps me a lot. It very consistently makes them better
To answer the question, no. When I recorded, I used to improv my solos and I still think improvising is good. Those spontaneous ideas can create some really weird and unconventional results, while also expressing certain depths of emotion that are harder to get to with thought out writing. But I also had a lot less skill, and I didn't have paper to write my shit out anyways. Now that I both have tab paper (I know, I know, I should learn to read sheet for my guitar. Shut up) and more knowledge about my technique, I've been thinking about writing a bunch of ideas out instead and practicing and just seeing if can write something good. I think that's where the benefits of writing lie, is in challenging yourself to stretch your technique in a way that's tuneful and interesting. Less chaos, more control, with careful planning on just what you want to pull off in what section you want to pull it off in (ie. I want to try this whammy dive or this tapping section in bar 4 and see if it works with the rest of this melody I've written with this scale for the rest of the solo. Or the lick for "Sweet Child of Mine", which Slash originally wrote as a string skipping practice).
In short: it's not cheating, and I think it's good to both know how to write a solo out AND how to improv. You can get interesting results from both.
The second track was wayyy more Steve Lacy than Bon Iver though. Either way total vibe.
remember when your titles/thumbnails were anti-clickbait ?
I liked that
Def not cheating, its your music, no one else. Remember, you come first, then the listeners.
Second tune sounds like Standing On The Corner
Love it, for the algo
mimi sings please please release that song
I'd say for the first guy... Doing scale, arpeggio, and chromatic left-hand exercises to a metronome so that the shapes become second nature and more like chunks you've played so often they just come out without thinking and just overall know where you are.