Office Hours Q&A

Here are this week's questions:

Ray was looking for clarification on the circle of fifths.

Mark had a couple of questions about chord shapes after completing my Rubik's cube Series. 

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Office Hours Q&A

This week's questions:

Tasha had a question about Patreon interface changes. 

Mark asked for help getting out of a songwriting rut.

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Office Hours Q&A:

Warren had questions about participating in Community Challenges and general song analysis

Mason has warbling strings on an acoustic guitar - whats going on?  

Richard asked about the benefits of drop D tuning 

Mark asked if Music Theory Monday should be prioritized or CAGED Basics? 

Brian was looking for ways to increase dexterity with open chords - trouble reaching certain strings

Brian also asked about an ideal first electric guitar  

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Office Hours Q&A:

Ray asked for thoughts or tips on flamenco guitar 

Graeme asked how chords outside the key affect the melody 

Sym asked about how to get around practice anxiety 

Tasha had questions about how busses work in Logic Pro X and general DAWs 

Boro asked if a small MIDI keyboard is a good tool for a guitar player using a DAW - YES 

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Office Hours, Q&A

The questions this week:

Daniel C asked for an overview of picks - thickness comparison, technique, etc

Ray asked if there is any cross over between guitar and piano

Richard had questions about this weird progression: E major D major C major

Ray asked if I ever plan to meet up with my Patrons and what is my favorite chord progression

Ray also asked if it's important to learn to read music

Daniel T asked for help building the diatonic chords in the key of C# Minor, and asked about the 7th chords

Julian asked about a practice routine AND asked me about my Fender Musicmaster, which I forgot to respond to!

John asked about planting with your picking hand

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Office Hours, Q&A

Ray asked if I was familiar with Chicken Pickin, and what to practice to get good at this style

Ray F asked about the advantages of knowing every note on the guitar AND asked about muting, specifically in a noisy electric guitar scenario

Ray asked "when is it ok to play out of key" and "do you ever get stage fright" and "how to build up speed

Julian asked "How do you get into a creative flowstate?" 

Ray OS asked "do you come from a musical family?" 

Ray also asked for other book recommendations 

Craig asked how to progress with Triads 

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Office Hours, Q&A

Here are the questions for this week:

Ray F asked a few questions about keys: mainly, how many keys actually are there?

Doh-Ray-Me asked what defines an intermediate and advanced guitar player - AND asked about clarification on what makes a minor chord.

Sarah May just completed my Music Theory for Guitar course and was wondering where to focus next.

Daniel asked some questions related to jamming - how to quickly figure out where to put your hand when someone tells you the key - and some related questions

Jeff had some questions about mixing - I spent a huge chunk of time on compression

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Relative Major and Minor, CAGED Diminished Chords, Tricky Chord Progressions

You missed this one! Catch the next one. Here were the questions:

Question 1: John had a question about relative major and minor.

Question 2: Alice had a series of questions about how CAGED fits with diminished and augmented chords, dorian mode, double sharps, and a few other things.

Question 3: Graeme had a fun puzzle about wether a chord progression was in B Dorian or E Mixolydian

Question 4: Holly was basically wondering about how to write melodies on guitar. My Melody Making course is about the theory behind melodies, and my CAGED Soloing series is more about applying melody concepts to the fingerboard.

Question 5: Adam had a few questions and I did a little brief lesson on modes

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James Taylor, Diminished Chords, 7 String, Singing

Hi Everyone,

The question this time:

Mason had a question about James Taylor talking about "being in A position or D position" with a capo

Ray had a question about diminished chords, and another question about fingerpicking patterns.

Markus asked if I was going to teach some 7 string lessons. I'm not.

Jeff asked for some general singing tips, but I initially mistook the question to be specifically about solfege 

Catch the next one on Thursday at 10AM

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Favorite Guitars, Loop Pedals, Recording Vocals, Ukuleles

Here were the questions this week:

Question 1: Ray was wondering what my favorite guitars are, if there are low budget versions, and what other gadgets were useful.

Question 2: Jonatan had questions about loop pedals - how to start layering and adding bass lines and melodies.

Question 3: Jeff was wondering how to set up to record vocals and how to practice singing, though I forgot the second part of your question, Jeff! Sorry about that.

Question 4: Tobias had questions about ukuleles - strings, models, tuning, chords, etc.

Catch the next one to ask your own questions!

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What To Do Now That You've Recorded Songs!

The questions for this week:

Tasha had questions about Mastering, releasing music, marketing, etc - what to do once you HAVE the recordings.

Archer had questions about microphones and how to properly record a band rehearsal with one or two mics.

Ray asked about songs with only one chord, vamping, and block chords

Andy was wondering why I always specify "half diminished" instead of "diminished triad"

David asked what is the best way to get better and how many hours should I practice?

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Polyrhythms, 12 Strings, Open Mics, Downward Slides, Pain While Playing

Ray asked about polyrhythms, vertical vs horizontal scales, and 12 string guitars.

Wayne followed up about an open mic that went really well AND asked about downward sliding vs upward sliding.

Mateus was experiencing some pain while playing guitar.

STI asked about relative minors - not fully understanding.

Jeff has chord changes and lyrics and was wondering how to get a complete song from here.

You missed this one! Look out for the next one!

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Office Hours, Q&A

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Small Hand Help, Tracking Progress, Open Mics, What To Play When People Ask

Question 1 - Jesse asked for some tips for small handed folks

Question 2 - Wayne asked two questions: How to track progress and how to start playing with other people. I'm starting a little series about playing with other people

Question 3 - Ray asked how not to panic and draw a blank when someone asks you to play something!

Question 4 - Jeffrey asked how to properly copyright a song

Question 5 - Mark asked how to visualize triads on the fingerboard

Question 6 - Jeff asked for tips on mixing vocals in a DAW

Question 7 - we just kind of hung out for a while and I asked for feedback on Patreon layout and stuff

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Melody Writing, Ranting, How to Start Writing Music

This week was very interesting! I ranted a lot about a few thing I'm very passionate about. I hope it helps a few people.

Question 1 was from Wayne, who asked about Melody Writing which is great because I'm working on a course for that exact topic.

Question 2 from Richard REALLY got me going! He asked if it was important to know how to play all the major and minor scales without having to think about it. My answer was a big long "it depends" that hopefully resonates with everyone wondering what to do right now.

Question 3 from Daniel was an update about a gig last weekend and a question about how to start writing music. Step 1: accept that you're not starting by writing whole songs and 2: get involved with Community Challenges.

Question 4 antcav had a question about how to practice getting into 8th and 16th notes in solos. I mentioned a philosophical concept called "Logical Positivism" which I probably didn't describe accurately, but I think it worked in my analogy!

Question 5 Jeff asked if there is basic interval to maintain between the bass and guitar - a general range for each instrument in a tune

Question 6 I accidentally switched to iPad instead of computer screen while reading Phils question : Is it important to know every basic guitar shape in every position?

Question 7 b b asked my opinion on the best digital amps

Question 8 b b asked my preferred type of reverb - plate, room, hall, spring, other?

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CAGED, Syncopation, Bending Noise, Performing, Vocal Range

Ray had questions about 1. wether I'm doing another CAGED series 2. syncopation and 3. Jimi hendrix timing and 4. the best place to do double stops

Wayne had a question about bending, specifically string noise when bending the high E string

Daniel asked for advise on performing this weekend

Mason had questions about using a capo to adjust the key of a song

Gary asked how to find our vocal range

Jeff asked how to harmonize a written melody

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Playing With Other People, Writing Music to Lyrics, Sweep Picking, Playing Musically

Ray asked if it was important to play with other people and what to do if you can't find people to play with.

Jeff provided some lyrics and asked for tips on how to put music to lyrics

Ray says "please explain the mysteries of sweep picking"

Wayne asked about how to play more musically

Daniel was looking for tips on how to use the CAGED System to solo over the song "Dreams" by Fleetwood Mac

Luke asked about bluegrass flatpicking - what is it and how does it work?

Aaron asked what "playing in the pocket" means

Daniel asked if I could break down Valerie by Amy Winehouse for a solo as well.

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Office Hours, Q&A

Question 1 from Tristan boils down to this idea of mixing major and minor scales in a blues situation - I gave a basic blues lesson and explained a range of scales you might find in a blues situation, including the magical mixing of major and minor scales.

Question 2 from Jeff was about exporting (called Bouncing) a track out of Logic Pro X

Question 3 - Keith was asking about fretting hand technique to avoid unwanted string noise up by the 15th fret.

Question 4 - Mason wanted to know how I developed my thumb independence to learn songs like Windy and Warm 

There were a few other nice questions at the end - Continue the conversation on the community forum.

MY BAND has been putting out new music, and we'll continue putting out more and more this year - check it out!

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Office Hors, Q&A

I'll do my best to answer your questions and give examples of how you can practice developing skills related to your question.

Keep in mind, you can always watch later if you can't make it live! Check back a few hours after the stream for a numbered list of each question and a timestamped link to each answer.

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Office Hours, Q&A

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