Very sorry folks, I put the wrong date in my calendar for the livestream this week. It was supposed to occur today at 2PM but that clearly didn't happen =(
Instead, we'll be meeting tomorrow for about an hour at 2:00PM CST. The link is above or can be found here:
As before, if you can't make it, just ask your questions here first. Hope to see you there!
-Jake 2020-09-22 02:51:03 +0000 UTC View Post
Happy Wednesday everyone- I got a surprising amount of requests asking for this video, but it isn't in the style of my traditional Signals content so I'm posting it on my other channel. Even if you're not a producer, you might glean some knowledge into the process and find it entertaining to see a bad vocal line get polished into something acceptable.
If you are a producer type, you'll want to note that I'm using an older version of melodyne, and Waves Audio Doubler. Everything else is ...
2020-09-17 18:24:12 +0000 UTC View Post
Hope you all had a great weekend and have some time tonight to join the live lesson and Q+A session!
The link will be here:
If you have any questions you would like answered but can't make it to tonight's stream, please leave a comment below. The next stream will be two weeks from today on the 21st at 2PM CST.
See you soon!
2020-09-07 18:01:27 +0000 UTC View Post
This is another big one folks- I'm VERY glad to announce that Riffing with the Modes #6 (Aeolian/Minor) is complete! It contains some of the more ambitious video/audio production I’ve ever shared. I think the results will be entertaining, at the very least- hopefully, there is enough insight into songwriting, theory, arrangement, and production that you learn some valuable tips along the way. Do make sure to read the video description to get a little more insight on Aeolian and some quirks ...
2020-09-04 15:10:28 +0000 UTC View Post
Hey everyone! I know a lot of you couldn't make last week's lesson due to it being too late overseas, so this one is scheduled early enough that hopefully some of you can make it.
Here's the link-
As before, this video will be available to view after the lesson. I've got a few questions I'll be answering from my inbox, but am hoping more of you can drop in and w...
2020-08-17 15:51:13 +0000 UTC View PostTrying again tonight, I do believe I have the kinks worked out- join if you can in 3 hours at 8PM CST!
We just had a massive storm blow through here and take out the power in a lot of the area, but my place seems to be spared so tonight at 8PM CST is looking good!
Here's the link to the stream:
--LINK REMOVED - READ EDIT AT BOTTOM!
If you miss out on the live lesson, you'll be able to come back to this post in the future to watch it afterwards.
See you all in about 4 hours!
EDIT: This didn't turn out well. I had audio problems and couldn't fix...
Behold, the long-awaited Augmented video! This triad had me boggled for many years- I'm hoping this guide demystifies the concept for you and allows you to easily introduce theharmonic qualities of augmented awkwardness into your music. Not gonna lie, I think this is one of the best lessons (and thumbnails!) that I've ever made. It's a tough topic but I think it comes across pretty simply- at least for the first half that is.
I've attached a 2-page PDF for printing/studying/c...
2020-08-10 15:27:41 +0000 UTC View Post
This video goes WAY past just melodies... Ooops! Here's whats inside:
-2 basic melodic concepts
-Writing a 16-bar chord progression
-Recording/Producing a Rhythm Track
-Writing a Bass Line
-Constructing A Melody (finally!)
-Rearranging a track to MIDI
This is the last of the 3 part series I planned. I did get kind of carried away throughout this process, and spent far more time working on MUSIC than just melody, so if you make it through the whole vid...
2020-08-08 03:20:03 +0000 UTC View Post
Hey everyone! In this lesson, we explore 4 extremely common melodic structures:
SRDC
Call + Response
ABAC
3 Strikes Rule
We also take a look at many many different popular melodies and how they fit the mold for these structures.
Near the end of the video, I put the concepts to use to try making a melody+chord progression from stratch.
Two comments- If you're wondering how I came to the answer of D Major for picking a key, it's because my e...
2020-08-01 00:10:24 +0000 UTC View Post
This is what I'd consider to be a "high-level lesson", even though I don't talk an ounce of music theory! It gets way into personal opinion here on composing, but I'd be betraying my ethics to not share how I actually work with melodic concepts.
It's about art, and art can't be easily boiled down to paint-by-numbers rules. It gets abstract, and that's what this first lesson on melody is all about. Taking ourselves OUT of the world of notes and into the world of story+emotion+meaning. Th...
2020-07-24 20:18:12 +0000 UTC View Post
Here we go! This video will go public tomorrow morning, until then it's just for you =)
This is a detailed guide to get you started on learning the two-handed tapping technique for guitar. There are two important skills that must be learned first: left hand legato, and the right hand tap. After that, we will break down the most common tapping pattern (heard in Van Halen’s “Eruption,” Metallica’s “One,” and countless other tracks) into three simple st...
2020-07-16 19:30:23 +0000 UTC View Post
In my video, Riffing with Modes #5 Mixolydian, I mention that the original drum part didn't sound very good and that I had to use my software to beef things up. This video is a walkthrough of what I did to get that sound.
The missing gap in this video that I'm aware of is how to actually sample/trigger/replace a snare or kick sound. Due to an software problem (mentioned in the video description), I wasn't able to go into details so I'm going to put together a separate video all to...
2020-07-02 20:42:00 +0000 UTC View PostMy last video on minor/dorian got some great feedback, and I got a request to tab out the
first solo in strict Pentatonic Minor, so I'm posting it here for everyone else as well.
The solo: https://youtu.be/m0zLzVhTPYU?t=91
It was an improvised lead, so I never had a chance to really "analyze" what I was doing, but it's always fun to retroactively go back and diagnose your improv playing.
Hello everyone! This one should keep you busy for a while- I HIGHLY recommend downloading the track and experimenting with at least one of these concepts. I feel this is a great bridge between the basics + the advanced. It certainly breaches some heavy territory, but you can take it as slowly or simply as you want- starting with pentatonics and moving up from there.
I’ve included a PDF and the mp3 along with this lesson. If you have any questions make su...
2020-06-25 14:24:55 +0000 UTC View Post
Hey everyone! Hope you're all well. I wanted to livestream this process but I've been inundated with a multitude of miniature crises this week, one of which was a monitor issue that prevented me from livestreaming. I recorded it instead, which did provide me the opportunity to teach what I was doing without too many distractions.
I know this sort of video isn’t for ALL of you, but if you do decide to watch the whole thing, please let me know what you think! I’m interested in f...
2020-06-20 14:23:26 +0000 UTC View Post
Hi everyone, I’ve got some fun news for you despite the tumultuous times. First off, I’ve just posted a new video on my YouTube channel that details how to go about composing a fast, technical lead. The idea came about through a recent discussion with Shred Master Scott from YouTube. Some of you here may know him, he’s a well-educated instructor and has a lot of great insight into Neoclassical writing. You can find his channel here:
Along with this post, I’ve ...
2020-06-10 15:44:37 +0000 UTC View Post
HI FOLKS!
Once again, I’m excited to show you what I’ve cooked up. I promised myself I would make an easy video after the last one, but instead I ended up making another song and music video and crammed it into a lesson :P.
I really like the track I wrote for this, “Salutations,” but I just don’t have the time to 100% finish it yet. I will be completing it though, and loading it on to Spotify, maybe finishing up a full music vid as well. The composing ...
2020-05-26 13:34:20 +0000 UTC View Post
In an attempt to balance out some of our knowledge, I thought a brief primer into the world of Jazz would be helpful. I'll be honest- I find the entire realm to be very confusing, and I never developed a true passion for the style. But my studies weren't fruitless, and I've distilled the fundamentals down to a 30 minute lesson for you all here.
The following videos are suggested prerequisites to understanding this lesson-
Composing with Major: 2020-05-21 18:02:53 +0000 UTC View Post
Infinite thanks for your patience over this one, I can't stress enough how much I appreciate it!!! I think you'll see why it took so long, and sincerely hope you find it educational or at least entertaining. This video is currently unlisted but will either post tonight or tomorrow morning.
The song should be on spotify and all other services in a few days, and when it pops up there, I'll post the music video separately on my YouTube channel with a few creative changes. Rendering j...
2020-05-05 17:22:54 +0000 UTC View Post
Hey everyone, here's an overdue lesson for just you. I got a great question by member Luca Ciffo about the F#7 chord in the key of E, as it occurs in Pink Floyd's "If". This quick lesson dives into diatonic chords, turnarounds, dominant chords and secondary dominants, and more.
I also talk a bit about why I haven't been as active as usual, and some info about my upcoming single / lesson / video for the Mixolydian mode.
Hope you get something out of this one! ...
2020-04-22 22:24:35 +0000 UTC View Post
This is a pretty heavy lesson but I think it's important and interesting stuff! The intro was a blast to make and worked out better than I expected... I might do a behind-the-scenes on how it was made because it's a fun blending of music skills.
This video is unlisted for a few hours and then will go public soon, and the PDF is attached with this post. Let me know if you have questions on this topic because it can be confusing!
Also thanks to everyone who joined the stream t...
2020-04-07 16:45:34 +0000 UTC View PostYou have asked some amazing questions and I'm really looking forward to answering them! This stream will be for Patrons only, and can only be accessed through THIS link. Keeping this one private means that I can focus on your questions and not worry about the youtube crowd.
If you can't make it live, that's okay! This link should still work for viewing in the future, ...
2020-04-06 18:41:22 +0000 UTC View PostThis coming Monday (April 6th) I'll be doing a livestream at 5PM CST on YouTube. Please ask your questions here in advance, then I can go through them one at a time live. It should be a fun hangout style lesson. I'll try to prepare some charts + resources in advance if need be, but it will be a more casual style lesson video than the course I posted last week.
Here's an update for my videos-
My Mixolydian video: I went way too far with this one and decided to produce an entire rad...
2020-04-04 16:28:01 +0000 UTC View PostHey everyone, if you were following along with my blues course we might have to take a day off. My comcast internet is out and I wasnt told when it would be back up, I'm posting this from my mobile connection. If its back before 3 Ill still stream, otherwise today's lesson will be postponed till tomorrow.
EDIT:
Internet is BACK so I'm going ahead with the stream, it's just gonna be a bit late :)
I'm assuming that I'm not the only one who has had their plans change recently?
Without getting into details, my Mixolydian video will be delayed. I started working on another video to temporarily replace that one, but stopped halfway through to start working on this.
I'll be teaching a free 5-day blues course live next week on YouTube, every day, streaming at 2PM CST. Each stream will begin with me teaching the lesson, then afterwards, I'll read some comments and answer som...
2020-03-21 20:32:16 +0000 UTC View Post
By popular request! What theory do you actually need? And what order should you learn it?
Of course, this video is just my opinion. But I have put a LOT of thought into this! It's actually the crux of my whole teaching syllabus.
The entire list is below but I recommend you watch the full video to hear WHY these topics are important. Enjoy!
The Musical Alphabet
The Basics of the Music Staff
Knowing the Fretboard
The Major Scale
A...
2020-03-06 21:23:05 +0000 UTC View Post
Very excited to share this one with you all! I’m very happy with the end product, and I think this lesson/demonstration has tons of little nuanced composition gems that may aide you in your own writing.
I’ve included the tabs, including the solo, and the mp3. This is the kind of track I intend to one day fully flesh out into a full song. I don’t expect to do any full band releases any time soon, but I have a lot in my catalogue that I will produce and release once I have my busine...
2020-03-01 03:34:15 +0000 UTC View Post
Better late than never- This is a response to David Kaufmann's question on how I would approach writing a solo over a set of chords. The chords are very simple but it's a unique and wonderful little progression, with an interesting modulation. It could be a real struggle to write a lead over but hopefully this video shows you all a way to simply approach these sorts of challenges, and gives you a starting point for this specific set of chords.
Very excited for my Lydian video, the...
2020-02-22 23:55:42 +0000 UTC View Post
Here's some info on writing a solo and how I compiled one for the track in my last video, War Monks.
I've also attached an updated version of the tab. There were two mistakes, one in the tapping section which was totally wrong, and one small correction in the fingers.
Expect another video on Wednesday!
2020-02-18 00:45:26 +0000 UTC View Post