Office Hours, Q&A

This was a great stream as usual.

Question 1: Sep was curious about numbering the notes in a scale, then applying those numbers to a melody.

Question 2: Jason was curious about how to navigate the more open-ended lessons in Music Theory Mondayafter finishing the more homework-oriented Music Theory for Guitar.

Question 3: Erin was curious about how I came up with my teaching method

Question 4: Mateus had some questions about how to come up with original music and how to deal with the fact that we sometimes accidentally copy the music we listen to

Question 5: Davin was curious about buying studio monitors or sticking with headphones?

Question 6: Mathias was curious about imposter syndrome (feeling like a fraud) and how to deal with those feelings as an artist and musician.

Question 7: Jason was curious about my "Sparrow Meat Market" shirt

Question 8: Kevin was wondering at what point to say "I play guitar?"

Question 9: Thea wanted to know which pedal to buy first!

Question 10: Jason asked about a good amp that plays nice with pedals.

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Office Hours, Q&A

These were the questions this week:

Q1: Kayne was curious about how pentatonic shapes move together.

Q2: Martin was curious about wether or not it's necessary to learn how to read music

Q3: Dennis had a question about writing music starting with lyrics instead of music

Q4: Mateus was wondering if big bands listen to their own music - we got into some philosophy around songwriting

Q5: Mateus was also curious about how to write chord progressions using NOT the I chord first

Q6: Tony had some questions about pentatonic scales. I mentioned watching CAGED Soloing.

Q7: Graylight was curious about how two guitars sounds so good together on songs from The Milk Carton Kids like "Michigan." I also recommended some recording equipment.

Q8: Kevin had a question about what part of my hand hits the strings when I do a kind of slap strum.

Q9: Tony had some clarifying questions about what order to watch things in. I mentioned following the Recommended Lesson Plan.

Q10: Jason was curious who did my website. Luke Dumke is THE man around here. He edits my videos, he redesigned my website, he built the lesson archive, he also films amazing music videos, he's a recording engineer, and he's just a really cool and really nice guy.

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Office Hours, Q&A

This week there were some great questions.

Question 1: Todd was curious about downloading lessons from my Patreon

Question 2: Dennis was curious about roman numerals and capo's. Specifically, what happens to chords when you move them up or down?

Question 3: Davin was curious about best practices for recording acoustic guitar with a dynamic mic. I also got into a little bit of EQ and compression for acoustic guitar.

Question 4: Gabriel also had a question about capos - I recommend checking out Dennis's question above, but also, once you're done with Music Theory for Guitar, the CAGED System Basics series will really help drive these concepts home.

Question 5: Mateus had a question about how to set the intonation on your guitar. I should have specified that I was referring specifically to electric guitar. Acoustic guitars generally require the saddle to be carved to achieve what can be done with a few turns of a screwdriver on an electric guitar.

Question 6: Kylir was curious about how to find arpeggios and use them in soloing. Among other things, I recommended CAGED System Basics and CAGED Soloing, to help find chord tones.

Question 7: Kylir was wondering what lessons I'm putting out next

Question 8: Davin had a question about how to teach guitar to kids

Question 9: Mateus was wondering how to finish a song

Question 10: Nathan was wondering if I have any series on learning specific genres.

Question 11: Kylir was wondering how/when to get started on community challenges

Question 12: Tim was curious about how to avoid back pain when practicing guitar

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Office Hours, Q&A

This was a great stream. Great questions all around

Intro and welcome

Question 1: Jack wanted some ideas for strengthening a sense of rhythm. I gave some practice ideas and some mindset ideas

Question 2: Dede/Mateus was curious about how to notate specific information onto roman numbers. We got into when and why you should/could/shouldn't do it.

Question 3: Tony had some questions about tuners and setting intonation - we dove deep into some of the complications around the guitar. Also, I mentioned the Buzz Feiten system for those who want their intonation to be that much better

Question 4: Mr K was wondering if there was a quick way to find the 7th of a particular chord. I talked about this quick trick: find a root and the note directly behind it is the maj7 - a whole step behind the root is the flat 7th for dom7, m7, and half dim. One more half step from there is the double flat 7th for fully dim chords. BUT also, check out the Rubik's Cube lessons to help solidify these concepts.

Question 5: Grow it all had a question about wether you can mix secondary dominants with modes

Question 6: Nathan was curious about how to add some triads or harmonies to solos inside of pentatonic scale

Question 7: Davin was curious about switching modes mid song in your guitar solo without changing keys. Whats going on here? Partly, it's a different way to think about modes that is often more common in jazz. I get into it. ALSO, I called a G Major chord a D Major chord for some reason. Ooops

Question 8: Mr K was curious about wether you must use the root note to slide from one shape to the next. No! You don't, but I went into more detail about it. Also, I talk about ways to practice that in my How to Solo Using the CAGED System video on YouTube.

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Office Hours, Q&A

Question 1: Jeff was curious about mixing major and minor scales when soloing. I talked a bit about how the blues approach and made a little jam track. I've attached a five minute version of the A A D E jam track I used. Just remember the A Minor pentatonic goes over the IV chord - the D Major chord.

Question 2: Mathais was curious about Ear Training. I'm working on a series, but in the meantime check out this thread, about Rapid Fire key guessing. Use the songs people have already figured out to see if it sounds right to you, then try your own songs. This post also has some links to ear training practice and songs. This is another interesting thread about ear training.

Question 3: Dennis had some questions about playing guitar with a strap, standing up. I had quite a few thoughts about it.

Question 4: Andy had some technique questions regarding pinky use. I also gave some general practice pointers to help with speed and comfort.

Question 5: Tim had a question about when and how to use sus and add chords. I spent some time on it but in the process I realized I would have to do a longer set of lessons about the subject. So Tim, look out for some detailed lessons about the subject.

Question 6: Davin had questions about the song "About a Girl" by Nirvana. Why do the chords work the way they do? I didn't give solid answers, but I did give some context and history and discussed a few ways to think about this song!

Question 7: MJ was curious about how singing and playing guitar works. I gave some specifics and some ways to start practicing using your voice with your guitar. We also touched on some common misconceptions about perfect pitch.

Question 8: Wayne was curious about loop pedals. I compare software vs loop pedal pros and cons, etc.

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Office Hours, Q&A

Very few questions this week! But good ones.

Question 1: Dennis was wondering about how different kinds of scales (like blues scales or #6 scales) affect a blues solo. I talked a bit about how the chords inform which notes to play a little more than what scale to play! I've attached the worksheet I wrote for this section.

Question 2: Kevin T was curious about how to improvise riffs in a chord progression. I gave a few ways to start practicing toward that goal.

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Office Hours, Q&A

Question 1: Mathias had some questions about how to mute strings when you're playing in the middle of the fingerboard.

Question 2: Hieu was curious about a few things - how to make solos feel less robotic, what are some good jazz, blues, and R&B guitarists, and how to navigate chord voicings in different parts of the neck. I recommend CAGED Basics for that last one.

Question 3: Taco asked if I have other videos like the "Phrases" video on my YouTube channel. Overall, there were a LOT of questions related to soloing this week that I think will be mega helpful if you watch: CAGED Soloing I - ii, I - iii and I - IV, MTM 17, 18, 19.

Question 4: Dennis was curious about why we don't just switch scales for soloing over chords. I went DEEP into it because this is, in my head, a crucial concept to understand when moving through the music world.

Question 5: Russ was curious about the word "diatonic"

Question 6: Chat question about the best way to learn a song

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Office Hours, Q&A

This was a great set of questions!

Question 1: Rohan had a set of questions regarding guitar technique and practice method when it comes to playing scales and other exercises.

Question 2: Hiep was curious about how to get the hang of knowing where other intervals are without counting up.

I went on a rant about how much I love Mel Bay's Modern Guitar Method Grade 1. Also, fun bonus, Chet Atkins and Tommy Emmanuel also learned from that book and wrote a silly song about it.

Question 3: Page was curious about an everyday finger exercise, so I gave one!

Question 4: Kylir had a question about notes with or without sharps or flats.

Question 5: Emil had some questions about how to make drum tracks that feel human and how to figure out a way to make them interesting.

Question 6: Matt was wondering when to move to the next Music Theory for Guitar.

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Office Hours, Q&A

This was a vacation stream with a simplified setup. Hope you enjoy.

Question 1: Rohan was curious about a practice method for learning intervals

Question 2: Page Lin was curious about Hertz numbers. Turns out it IS cycles per second, which I was hazy about. But. yeah, we got into how people think they have some healing powers - I'm not convinced.

Question 3: "Skinny Bones Jones" are curious about why even bother learning Music Theory - what is it good for?

Question 4: Kevin was curious about how scales, chords, riffs, all interact. I talked about heirarchy.

Question 5: Holly was wondering how to play with people without being in person

Question 6: "John Scott Paulson" was wondering what I would have done differently if I could go back and redo things and if I've got any new lessons coming out that I'd be willing to share.

Question 7: Jun Sen asked what I think of two different fingerstyle artists. I wasn't able to look them up until after the stream while writing this, but here they are:

Sungha Jung and Kent Nishimura

They are both excellent players! And yeah, I'd practice getting to know your theory so you can pull apart the elements of a song down to their essence. We'll have to dig in more! It would certainly be a lot of work to play like them, but not impossible by any means.

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Office Hours, Q&A

Here are the questions for this week. Click the link for the timestamped answers.

Question 1: Dennis had some questions around how to think about relative major and minor and I discussed this idea of the heirachy of tonality between chords and scales.

Question 2: Rohan had some technique questions which, to me, boiled down to some practice concepts. I'm working on a "Practice Thoughts" video about this practice method, so look out for it soon. Also, check out my other "practice thoughts."

Question 3: Oliver was wondering when to move on from the first Music Theory for Guitar lesson. My answer is nuanced

Question 4: Andreu asked a fun question: why isn't guitar tuned to all 4ths? I tried it out. There are fun things and weird things about it

Question 5: Mr Krinkle asked if I could touch on some slide guitar in G or in E. I wasn't prepared for this one and I couldn't find my slide! But I talked briefly about open G tuning. I've also got this lesson about open D tuning, I have a lesson coming soon about slide guitar techniques, AND, Mr. Krinkle, if you're having a hard time accessing the community forum, I suggest checking out this video, which can be found at the bottom of the "where to start" page.

Question 6: Jeremy was curious about how to arrange your own version of a cover song. I got into some meta territory, but I hope this thought combined with all the info available on my patreon will help you start thinking about breaking things down in the ways I've mentioned in this lesson.

Question 7: "Scott John Paulson" wants to know when I'm going to do an ear training series. What I didn't mention in my answer is that I'm planning out a series!

Question 8: Andreu was curious about where I learned guitar and music theory.

Question 9: Rohan was wondering if it was OK to move on from the intervals lesson based on my assessment of his earlier video.

Question 10: Davin was curious about buying a Shure SM58 or an SM57. In the end, I think they are so similar, you can't make a wrong choice. But if you get the SM57, consider getting a pop filter, and if you want to boost the signal, you could consider getting a cloud lifter, or just get a more sensitive condesner mic, like an AT202 if you want a different, more sensitive mic for acoustic instruments. There is so much to consider with microphones though and the SM58 or SM57 might be very comfortable

Question 11: Marcus was curious about where to post lesson recommendations, so I dug up this old post that I'd love for people to add to. I've been doing this Patreon for about a year and a half now and I still have plenty of ideas for more useful content, but I'm always interested in hearing ideas!

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Office Hours, Q&A

Ok, on to the questions:
Question 1: DeDé said I should write some music if no one asks any questions. People asked a lot of questions though!
Question 2: Page Lin was curious about how to pick picks
Question 3: Page also wondered about the 5 way switch and three knobs on a Fender Stratocaster
Question 4: Davin had questions about how to set your amp levels when playing live. I talked about three situations and how to deal with them
Question 5: Rohan had questions about wether or not to practice descending intervals
Question 6: Carlos had a question about how to organize two hours of practice time every day
Question 7: vlb asked about a song that is in the key of C and contains chords outside the key. VLB - would you mind posting a link to the song in the community forum so we can look a little closer?
Question 8: Matt has some questions about modes and how they related to the major scale
Question 9: Frederic had some questions about how to get starting writing music! My advise is basically to lower lower lower your expectations and write a LOT. Eventually you'll have a lot of fun. Possibly immediately.
Question 10: James had some questions about guitar FX software and Audio Interfaces, and DAWs
Question 11: Jeff was curious about loop pedals. This RC-20 is the one that I grew up with that solves your problem.
Question 12: Lorelai had a question about Hemiolas and how they relate to a strumming issue. My suggestion without hearing the exact issue is to practice to a drum beat!
Question 13: Lorelai had a further question about pick technique and how your wrist interacts with strumming technique.

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Office Hours, Q&A

Great questions this week!

Question 1: Rohan had a followup about right hand technique as well as a few questions about memorizing note names and intervals.

Question 2: Leo needed some clarification about how movable the caged really system is

Question 3: Russ was wondering about this tricky chuck berry riff - I'm hoping I got the riff right but I gave a few examples of how to build up the foundational skills around the riff.

Question 4: Mateus had a question about what key this Pearl Jam song is in. I forgot to listen to it beforehand (I'm not a perfect person) but I speculated and gave some suggestions.

Question 5: Frederic was wondering when the final video in my CAGED Basics Series was coming out! Soon! Also, Frederic reminded me to update the Recommended Lesson Plan

Question 6: Zapprio asked about how to practice fingering exercises without lifting your fingers off the fingerboard.

Question 7: Rohan was wondering whether it's worth it to practice specific ear training exercises. It always is.

Question 8: Mr K wanted some help differentiating between bass and guitar technique. I gave some tips, but also recommended watching my Bass Crash Course. If people need more bass help, let me know and I'll make more bass videos. Also, use my SPJ Jam Tracks for Bass practice.

Question 9: Andy asked if I sometimes jam with my girlfriend.

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Office Hours, Q&A

Question 1: Rohan had questions about technique for Major Scale practice and I talked a bit about left and right hand placement.

Question 2: Taco was curious about the Roman Numeral System. Essentially, my Music Theory Mondaycourse is ALL about that.

Question 3: Wong Rowena was wondering about transposition by labeling notes in a scale 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 - I talk about how useful this is as well as how it related to the Roman Numeral system.

Question 4: Rohan had some further questions about playing scales - I introduced some practice ideas for stretching and training fingers.

Question 5: Wong had another question about wether to focus on scales or chord tones while soloing.

Question 6: Debrath was wondering if someone could sing something in the key of C while playing guitar chords in the key of G. Basically no, but a nuanced no.

Question 7: ChampC had some songwriting questions like - how to I make a verse to fit a chorus idea. I gave a few strategies!

Chat questions

Question 8: Steve (CR-NAT-N) was curious about quickly transposing things down a whole step. I gave a few suggestions. Including The Moveable Chords in a Key Finder lesson

Question 9: James is working on the CAGED Soloing I -ii series and wondering if I could solo over the I-ii jam track to help get some ideas for new phrases. I also recommended MTM lessons 17, 18 and 19. From there things kind of went off the rails (in a fun way) as I brought my bin of pedals out to explore some tones and goof around.

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Office Hours, Q&A

This was a great stream! Here are the questions

Question 1: Mateus was curious about pick harmonics

Question 2: Dennis wanted to know about blues turnarounds. Here is a jam track and here is another

Question 3: Dennis also had a question about the chord progression Emajor G major Amajor.

Question 4: Rohan was wondering wether or not to learn note names on the guitar while learning the scales. My answer is complicated!

Question 5: Mr K was curious about converting Twinkle Twinkle to Lydian. Among other things, I recommended checking out MTM Reharmonization lessons

Question 6: Rohan had a question about how to practice scales and I dove deep on practice methods

Question 7: C.H. Barron had a question about wether the root notes in the CAGED system stay put or move around. I used the camera guitar to explain a few things.

Question 8: Rohan was wondering when to move on from MTFG 01, AND where to watch this stream later. It will always be available after the stream AND you can check out previous streams in the Lesson Archive.

Question 9: James was wondering about the usefulness of the circle of fifths. I talked about it a bit and also pointed James toward my Music Theory for Guitar (MTFG) series.

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Office Hours, Q&A

Question 1: Jeff had some questions about hybrid picking related to my CAGED Basics Series so I did some close up detailed stuff related to holding a pick, which fingers to use, ideal hand position, etc.

Question 2: Mr K had a question about how to memorize the circle of fifths in minor keys

Question 3: Frederic's question was similar to Mr K's. He wanted to know if there was a quick way to memorize the circle of fifths without having to write everything down.

Question 4: Emil was wondering about how to take a song idea and turn it into a full fledged song! I gave a few considerations AND recommended Ten Turds I & II and Songwriting process dump.

Question 5: Mateus had questions about mixing - specifically about what to use on the master bus. I talked a bit about how it works in the industry and why it will take a LOT of practice to get the hang of mixing

Question 6: Colin had a question in the chat about Dorian mode and how to tell if something is "in Dorian"

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Office Hours, Q&A

Question 1 Mr K wanted some ideas to help a friend stick with her guitar practice goals

Question 2 Leo from Florida was curious about a practice routine centered around a goal of playing with others in any key

Question 3 Jacko1014 wants to be able to play any chord. I recommend my Rubik's Cube series, but also Music Theory Mondayseries to help put that information in the right context

Question 4 Justplayandhavefun had some questions about Logic Pro and how to comp takes on guitar parts so they don't sound obvious

Question 5 Mateus had questions about string noise while recording. I offer some solutions

Question 6 Kylir was wondering how to play chords up the neck. I recommend Rubik's Cube AND CAGED Basics Series.

Question 7 Jeff had a question about why I labelled scales with CAGED shapes in my Music Theory for Guitar series. I gave some brief answers, but I'm going to have to go deeper as my CAGED videos get deeper and deeper.

Question 8 Frederic asked about MTFG 04 | Circle of Fifths, questions 3 and 4. I could work on the wording a little to be more clear, but we talk about it a bit.

Question 9 Aku wanted some specific ideas for how to make melodies over a specific chord progression and I gave a lot of suggestion for how to break down things.

Question 10 Mr K wanted a recommendation on practicing modes and I gave a fun exercise

Question 11 Frederic has some questions about how to write basic songs. I recommend MTM so you can get into writing chord progressions and writing melodies

Questions 12 Mateus had questions about some cool guitar pedals in the background

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Office Hours, Q&A

This was a chill stream with some funky mishaps. Mainly, Ernie (our dog) is terrified of the very occasional fireworks so I had to take care of her a bit. Also, I took the sound absorption down in my room so it sounds echoey in here. Also, I just realized I spelled absorption as "absorbtion" during the stream. Whatever! Sometimes you have days like that.

Anyways, question 1 was from Mateus, who was wondering about some modal chord progression stuff. Apparently I already answered his question in Progressions that feel in Key

Question 2 was from Honiken. He wanted to have a better sense of how soloing over chords actually works. I recommended watching MTM 17, 18, and 19 about melody making, as well as my CAGED Soloing Series (I - ii, I - iii, I - VI) I also talked about the hierarchy of things to consider when soloing: chord tones, pentatonic, major/minor, chromatic. Check out the attached PDF of my notes for a little reference.

Honkinen also asked about wether or not you HAVE to learn other people's songs. No, you don't. But it's a nuanced "no."

Then I launched into a little discussion about the difference between sound proofing, sound absorption, and sound diffusion. This might be useful for those of you trying to get into recording or even just trying to make your cell phone voice memos sound a little better.

After that, Leo had a question about practice routine and we had some technical difficulties with chat (so sorry Leo!) but we got through it!

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Office Hours, Q&A

This was a great Q&A Session. Here is what happened:

Question 1: Honkinen was wondering how to get the most out of a 2 hour break every day ay work. We talked about how to set goals and how to practice around them.

Question 2: Bill wanted to know how to practice singing and playing difficult parts simultaneously. I recommended a few things and gave a practice exercise that uses the "Eighth Note Strum Scratch Paper" - just ignore the instructions on the paper (or make your own scratch paper.)

Question 3: Dennis had some great questions about bending.

Question 4: Tasha had concerns about left hand discomfort and also muting with left hand during fingerpicking. Tasha, please post a video to the community forum when you can.

Question 5: Rene Lorelai posted some lovely reharmonization homework from MTM | 24 - Sounded lovely! Also, do you prefer to be called Rene or Lolelai or Rene Lorelai?

Question 6: Tyler had some questions about ear training! He uses this online quiz for solfege scale degrees and this one for intervals. I also touched on this website if you want songs to think of when trying to remember intervals.

Question 7: Justplayandhavefun was curious about the importance of learning to read sheet music. I went into the situations where you're likely to need to read music and where you're not. I recommend Mel Bay Modern Guitar Method Grade 1 for those who are interested in learning to read music.

Question 8: Mateus had some melody making homework to share from MTM | 19

Question 9: Riccardo had a chat question about Logic Pro fade tool. I suggested using automation and I showed how to use it!

Question 10: Davin had a question about the III chord in harmonic minor - does it have to be augmented? Can it be augmented? What do you do with it?

From there the Q&A turned into a little more of a hangout (fun!) and there were a few questions in there.

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Office Hours, Q&A

This was an interesting stream! I didn't get a lot of question this time, so I decided to write some music and that sparked some more discussion and questions.

Question 1: Leah Nicole asked about the difference between a Jazz Bass and a Precision Bass. This sparked some discussion of other related topics

Question 2: Mr K asked about Ear Training resources online and I somehow missed it! Sorry about that. I recommend checking out this website. https://www.musictheory.net/exercises There are others out there but this one looks good for:

a) listening to and identifying intervals (scroll down to "interval ear training")

b) listening to and identifying scales

c) listening to and identifying chords (they call a fully diminished chord a "diminished 7th")

d) other cool stuff! Explore and check it out - tell me what you think in the comments.

Question 3: Mr K asked in the chat about how tone woods affect guitar tone in both acoustic and electric guitars.

Thing: There were no more prepared questions so I started writing some music

Question 4: Brian had a question about GarageBand but I interpreted it as a question about the variety of inputs on an audio interface: hi-z guitar input, mic input, and line level inputs. Then I answered Brians actual question about GarageBand track types.

Question 5: I used the camera guitar to talk about the chords in my progression, which are Em and F. I figured out some interesting voicings of an Em7 and Fmaj7 to play on my track.

I record guitar harmonies. This track ended up being a fun adventure with guitar harmonies and there were a few questions about it, but I basically just went for it and wrote out some guitar choir. The first set of harmonies were a simple choir of notes that harmonize, then I tried to get fancy and harmonize the bass line which proved to be difficult but super fun.

I wrote out my harmonies on my notes AND attached the little jam below.

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Office Hours, Q&A

Question 1. Mr K wanted to know if there is a way to figure out the key of a song using just the melody instead of using the chords. There totally is a way!

Questions 2 & 3 Ray and Andrew had some questions about playing with other people. I launch into some tips for band management, how to organize your group, how to prepare for playing with others, and a handful of other ideas.

Question 4. Dennis was wondering why it's easier to play strumming patterns to a metronome or foot tap than it is to play with a jam track. We get into it, but I recommend watching questions 2 & 3 first!

Question 5. Kevin Z was wondering about some of my daily warm ups.

Question 6. Brandon had some follow up questions about ear training and how to go about practicing and training your ear.

I also issued a challenge related to the 1st question. I want to see if you can figure out the key of songs using the WWHWWWH method and I'm devoting this community forum thread to it. Try it out! I'll attach some scratch paper.

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