adamneely

Indie-rock brass band gig (ABDERDEEN) | Gig Vlog #18

Hey everybody!

Gig Vlog coming atcha, I played a fundraiser event for an ecofarm in Puerto Rico, and I got to do it with the kickass brass band Aberdeen. Hope you enjoy!

Adam

What is the most DIFFICULT piece of music?

Hello to all of you Patreon people!

First of all, I'm actually done with a video a couple days before my Monday deadline! I've been working on so many things simultaneously for so many months that I never seem to be able to work ahead long enough, but today...I have a video ready a whole 2 days-ish early. Amazing!

Anyway, this video was originally supposed to be kind of a "filler" video meant to bide my time in between more substantive videos, but like basically everything that starts as...

PATREON fee restructuring?!

Hey guys,

I understand that some people are unhappy with the Patreon fee restructuring, and I am too! If the goal was to make sure creators received a larger cut of what our patrons were giving, it doesn't seem to have really worked out that, since I see a bunch of you guys canceling pledges. I don't blame you at all! This was news to me - I was informed of this change the same time you guys were.

I very much believe in the mission statement of Patreon. I've had a chance to meet some of ...

Nobody can play that fast... (feat. Ben Levin) | How to Not Suck at Music #5

Hey everybody!

The latest episode of How to Not Suck at Music is up, this time with my buddy Ben Levin.

By the way, I do realize that that this title is clickbait. I notice that when I do it my videos get almost 2 times the number of views than when I name them more traditionally, and when it's a serial show like this one, I have to title it something eye-catching. It's annoying, for sure, but I hope that the 16 minutes of content is worth it. 

Hope you enjoy! We had a lot of ...

Q+A #42 - What IS music?

Hey guys!

A quick Q+A this week, hope you enjoy! I actually have a ton of thoughts on what music is, so my answer to the title question of this Q+A is just scratching the surface, but it's something that I find absolutely fascinating. The language analogy pops up frequently when I talk about music, and this time is no different.

Adam

Thanksgiving Patreon livestream

I’m just wandering around the suburbs near my parent’s place in Maryland, come ask a question or just learn more about what I have coming up.

Thanks for being my Patron!

Love,
Adam

100 METRONOMES (poème symphonique)

Hey Patreon!

Last week when I was in Germany I got a chance to take part in a performance of Ligeti's Poème Symphonique, a slightly obscure, somewhat absurdist work from the mid 20th century that involves setting off 100 metronomes at the same time. It was a lot of fun, and a little bit weird. This is a sort of vlog/essay on my experience.

Ligeti's music is interesting, because it's both instantly accessible (weird spooky film music!) and also impenetrably dense. This is one of the hard...

7 guitarists in one band (Shubh Saran's Haze) | Gig Vlog #17

Gig vlog coming atcha!

Unfortunately, everybody here is going to have to wait until Friday to hear the actual live session we recorded, because that's when Shubh is going to release the live session on his channel, but this is a fun behind the scenes vlog that I just finished editing, so I figured I'd release it to you fine Patreon folks first.

Thanks everybody!

Adam

Q+A #41 - How do you get a synth tone on bass guitar?

Hey everybody!

I'm in Berlin, and just recorded a Q+A for this coming Monday. Hope you enjoy it!

Adam

The LCCTO

Yes, this Monday upload is late...but technically its still Monday!

I had a chance to hang out with Rick Beato this afternoon, and we talked about some hardcore jazz theory stuff. It was fun!

Adam

Q+A #40 - Why does modal interchange work?

Hey guys,

Here is tomorrow's Q+A...today! Enjoy.

Adam

Your rhythms make my eyes bleed! | How to Not Suck at Music #4

Hey guys!

Another "how to not suck at music" video coming your way! I had so many submissions for this series it was difficult to pick. I ended up having to choose the ones which fit this extremely narrow format the best. 

Enjoy!

Adam

Anthem

This is a video essay exploring some of the musical, political and social aspects of the national anthem of the United States, the Star-Spangled Banner. I try to remain as impartial as I can, but its hard not to get political with something that's...well, political.

Enjoy!

Adam

Q+A #39 - Is Spotify right to censor music they deem to be offensive?

Hey everybody, here's a Q+A! 

I do realize that my Q+A's are somewhat of a "filler" in between beefier, more researched/edited videos, but they're pretty essential for me staying sane, and not getting too burnt out. I do try to make sure they're well-done, and I hope you enjoy them!

Adam

American Rhythms are Superior

Clickbaity title, I know, but I've been meaning to make a video on the divide between British and American English when it comes to naming rhythms. Americans get a measurement system right, for once. Fractional music notation is superior to Latinate notation, and the history behind each is absolutely fascinating. To me at least.

The inspiration for this video came when I got a HUGE number of comments on my offbeat quarter note triplet video complaining that I used the American naming syst...

Q+A #38

Hey Everybody!

Just finished editing this week's video, a Q+A fer ya. A full 8 hours early! 

Enjoy.

Adam

ELEMENTAL ARRANGING - clarity in orchestration

This video was kind of a hodgepodge of several videos in one, but hopefully I was able to blend the ideas together. A ton, and I mean a TON of people requested a video explaining what was going on with my Clarity cover, so I combined that with a video I was working on about general compositional strategies.

The concept is "elemental arranging," which is really a term I made up to describe the process necessary for creating a successful synthesis of "plagarized" musical material. 

Ho...

Gig Vlog #15 - Little Kruta @ Rockwood Stage 2

Hey guys!

That collective project that worked on my last video had a gig, and I gig vlogged it. Hope you enjoy!

Adam

Adam Neely x Little Kruta - CLARITY (Zedd Cover ft. Hannah Sumner)

Hey Patreon,

I just finished up edits on a music video/vlog for a project I did with the crowd-funded orchestra Little Kruta - a really awesome collective of my musician colleagues run by cellist Kristine Kruta.

Over the next week I'm going to piece together a video explaining in detail the compositional and arranging concepts that went into making this, so if there is any specific questions you guys have, ...

Q+A #37 - Is Synesthesia ACTUALLY real?

It is!

Adam

| s y n e s t h e s i a |

I've been wanting to make this video essay for a while. I explain my grapheme-color synesthesia (an involuntary pairing of senses), and relate it to metaphor and language. Basically, we're all a bit synesthetic, and it's difficult to pin down how to communicate experiences with other people because of the explanatory gap.

I take a bunch of detours in this one, but I'm really proud of how it came out.

Just on a personal note - this essay-style videos are getting to become more and more of...

How to not suck at music EPISODE 2

Hey guys,

More user submitted videos of people playing music! More of me being a pendant. I'm truly sorry if I didn't include yours if you submitted, I really can only do the videos I feel like I can reasonably comment on and be helpful on. Even still, I've gotten MANY submissions, and I can only reasonably do 4-5 per episode before the video spirals out too long.  

Hope you enjoy!

Adam

A = 432

Man.

I had to read some absolute junk in researching this topic, which has been requested quite frequently. Basically, I tried to create the definitive video on all of the reasons tuning to A=432 really isn't a thing. I mean, you could if you wanted to, but literally none of the reasons have anything to do with 1) math, or 2) sacred geometry. 

I admit, I was a bit hesitant to do a deep dive into this topic, because so much has been said before about it. It also feels like almost too...

The Coltrane fractal

Hey guys!

This is a video celebrating 200k subscribers on the channel, and it's...well, kinda all over the place. I explore much more of that musical fractal idea I often ramble about, harmonics, math, science, the physiology of the ear, and more. 

Hope you enjoy!

Adam

Q+A #34 - What is your opinion of music critics like Anthony Fantano?

Hey guys,

Here is this week's Q+A! The Q+A's are now back and available as podcasts on the iTunes store, so go nuts!

Adam

Gig Vlog #12 - Micky Blue acoustic release show

Hey guys, 

A gig vlog coming atcha! I played an acoustic release show for my good friend, Micky Blue. She's a songwriter that has made a name for herself doing topline work for DJ's (like this tune), but is also a really badass singer, and does her own stuff all the time.

I've been playing with her for almost 6 years, usually on bass, but I've been doing acoustic shows with her for a couple months wi...

The Cat Piano | Morose Delectation and Music

In the 17th century, Athanasius Kircher described an instrument that we humans have had an intense fascination with, either for it's taboo nature, or because we just think it's the funniest thing on the planet. 

In this video, we explore the cat piano and ask the question...is it even practical to make one?

And yes, before anybody asks, this entire video was just an excuse for me to make a funny video with my cat. Sue me! I betcha still learned something, though. 

Love, 2017-06-19 02:08:13 +0000 UTC View Post

State of the Channel, June/July 2017

Hey Patrons!

Thanks so much for your continued support! Here is a thank you video, and some general thoughts on what is to come over the next couple of months. Thanks so much!

Adam

Q+A #33 - Do you even need a bass player?

Thanks to everybody who asked questions! Answer is...yes. Duh.

Adam

The Devil in Music (an untold history of the tritone)

Heyyyyy guys!

First, I want to say again THANK YOU for supporting me here on Patreon, because it really does help me put my YouTube channel first and foremost in what I do, and lets me devote the time I need in order to research and develop these videos. 

This past week was nuts (and kinda down to the wire) in terms of me writing this script, shooting the video, and editing it, so it might be a little rough in spots, but I hope you get some interesting ideas out of ...