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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Office Hours, Q&A

Question 1: Leah Nicole was wondering if there were anything to consider or watch out for when writing a melody over a walking bass line.

Question 2: Taco s wanted to know about jamming with someone and if there was a quick way to figure out the chords in a minor key, like A Minor. I gave a little demonstration of the concepts I laid out in Moveable Chords-in-a-key finder.

Question 3: Rene was wondering about the pros and cons of a particular fingerpicking technique AND about the minor iv chord that ends up in a major key like in Creep by Radiohead.

I paused to give a book recommendation. For those of you feeling timid, scared, or unworthy of being an "artist" or calling yourself a "musician," I highly recommend you check out this book, The Artists Way.

Question 4: Leo was wondering - can you just use ANY voicing you want anywhere on the neck for any song (essentially) - the answer is fun and complicated. Check out SPJ Rhythm Jam Tracks for practicing.

Question 5: Kevin wants to know when we can use 7th, 9th, 11th, and 13th chords - and we also end up talking about sus chords.

Question 6: Andy would like to know how to practice Rubik's Cube stuff. I also recommend SPJ Jam Tracks.

I start writing a little music. Just something simple to jam out on for a bit.

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