The song I want you to figure out is Signed, Sealed, Delivered by Stevie Wonder, one of my all time favorite artists. This song was recorded at Hitsville U.S.A. Studio A in Detroit in 1969 and 1970, not far from where I live right now. I had the honor of being in the room where this was recorded! Gives me goosebumps when I think about it!
I'd recommend paying close attention to how the bass line and chords interact. There are some cool modal things going on and the bass line lets you in on it.
For song analysis, I don't require you to figure anything out by ear, but you're welcome to go about it that way if its fun for you. I think for some of you, that would be a really fun challenge. For those of you who don't want to, you can google chords and things and play along a bit and see how that feels.
Here are the things I'm looking for that you're welcome to post on the community forum:
1. What key is this song in?
2. What is the arrangement of the song? Intro-verse-chorus. etc
3. What are the chord progressions for each section?
- if you wanna get more specific, continue -
4. How is the bass line interacting with the chords (eg. R 5 6 7 or something)
5. Are the chords triads or 7th chords? How does that change the key or modality?
BONUS--------
WRITE A LITTLE MUSICAL *BLURB BASED ON SOMETHING YOU LEARNED FROM THIS SONG. IT COULD BE A CHORD PROGRESSION, A BASS LINE, A MELODY - SOMETHING SIMPLE - EXPLAIN WHAT YOU LEARNED FROM THIS SONG AND HOW YOU APPLIED THAT TO YOUR MUSICAL BLURB
Office Hours, Q&A
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Write something intricate
This is a vague one. Open ended. You're free to explore what intricate means to you, or define the way you'd like to be intricate before you start writing.
You could think of it as detailed, lush, interlocking parts - like if you played single notes only on guitar and kept stacking them.
Or you could think of it as an intricate chord progression, where you're focused on specific voicings of each chord - maybe the progression itself is a detailed story. Maybe the melody and chord progressing interlock in some intricate way.
The dictionary definition of intricate is "very complicated or detailed."
You could focus on lyrics that are detailed in some way or complicated. The idea is that some element of your creation feels intricate.
Antonyms of the word include "simple, easy, straightforward, plain, direct"
Having said all that, not every part of your creation needs to be intricate, just a part or concept of your choosing. Have fun and post what you write on the community forum!
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Doing vs Thinking
In this lesson I'm tackling a concept that has been really hard for me to articulate in the past. I have really tried my best to look back and try to figure out how I got here, as well as try to figure out what the incredible musicians in my life all have in common.
Also, I chose the words "thinking" and "doing" for simplicity. There are probably more precise or specific words I could have used, but these will have to do! The category of "thinking" is in no way related to how smart you are, it's just a word to describe your general approach to playing music.
I made an effort to pinpoint this really crucial concept: balancing and deliberately practicing two somewhat opposite things.
On the one side, you have thinking - being mindful and painfully aware of as much as possible while you're practicing AND making sure to be very specific about what your goal is. Am I writing music right now? Am I trying to implement a specific technique? How do I achieve this specific goal?
On the other side you have pure experiential creativity. NOT thinking, just doing. Wether that's playing a solo, writing a chord progression, adding a melody over the top of something - developing the ability to just create without thinking (too hard) and without needing to stop and ask "what EXACTLY am I doing?"
The best musicians I know are good at both things, and my goal is to help you practice both things to the best of your ability.
Once you watch this video, consider which category you tend to occupy: do you lean toward thinking or toward doing? Neither camp is better or worse, but if you consider which one you tend toward, it might be easier to see what you need to practice!
THINKERS: Your job is to learn to let go sometimes. NOT all the time! Just sometimes. You don't always have to know what you're doing. I'd recommend these prescriptions:
• Loose soloing: find a jam track on YouTube or My Website and just explore making phrases in the key - not worrying about the chords, not worrying about chord tones - just tinkering and exploring without thinking too hard. Have fun and let go!
• Vague Community Challenges: Try writing little compositions for the community challenges that say things like "write something sad" or "write something spooky" without
• Try writing random chord progressions without thinking too hard about what key you're in!
DOERS: Your job is to sometimes sit down and do things exactly, specifically, and know what you're doing the entire time with absolutely ZERO guesswork. This can be tough, but here are some ways to approach it:
• Specific Community Challenges: check out Community Challenges with specific technical theory concepts, like "write something using a i - III - VI - V" or "Write something with a secondary dominant."
• Write with a specific goal: Write music with a very specific goal and write everything out along the way so you're sure you've got it right. Imagine a math problem where you're supposed to show your work. Imagine someone like me is going to ask you to explain every aspect of your composition.
• CAGED Soloing: My CAGED Soloing series requires you to very specifically map out shapes on the guitar AND write specific melodic phrases over these progressions so you KNOW where that phrase starts and ends. It's a lot of work, but the more you do it, the easier it gets!
If you've got more questions, or you'd like to get into a discussion about this, come hang out on the community forum.
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Office Hours, Q&A
This was a great Q&A!
Question 1 was from Mateus regarding soloing. Why do all these jam tracks start with the I chord? And in what key is the chord progression A Major to F Major?
Question 2: Escanor was curious about why chord charts don't include the low E string when showing an A Minor chord.
Question 3: Tasha was curious about guitar pedal essentials. What are the basic pedals to start with?
Question 4: Sev was curious about the advantages or disadvantages of learning guitar and bass simultaneously.
Question 5: Lounge Actor was curious about general guidelines for creating a chorus in a completely different key! I talk a little about ways to tinker with this concept, borrowing a little from classical and romantic. I wrote a little tune and played around with jumping into different keys. If you write something with a key change in it like this, post it in the community forum thread for this post!
Question 6: Rene, a new guitarist, was wondering when it will really feel like you're playing guitar. And some other good questions.
Question 7: Riccardo was curious about the shapes for soloing in harmonic minor using the CAGED system.
Question 8: Russ was curious about half diminished (aka m7b5) chords. Do they just take time or is there something to them?
Question 9: Rene wanted to know if it was too much to learn piano and guitar simultaneously.
Question 10: Gary asked if there are major and minor CAGED shapes. Yes, but the approach can be weird. I explain a little bit. Actually a lot.
Question 11: Sev was curious about my band, Hot Bodies in Motion. We're working on new music, coming out sometime this year!
Question 12: Sidinei was wondering - specifically - how many times through must we practice the exercises before we move on. In other words, when is the right time to move on? When we get the exercise perfectly? When we get it good "enough?" When?
Question 13: Are there any classes about reharmonization? Yes. Music Theory Monday has these lessons: MTM 24 | Reharmonization Basics, 25 | Reharmonization with 7th Chords, and Music Theory Monday 26 | More Reharmonization
Thanks for hanging out and I hope you can catch the next one! If you have any followup questions, come hang out on the community forum.
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Write something in harmonic minor.
Now, to be more specific, I might call it "write something that uses harmonic minor." If you've watched my Music Theory Monday Series, you're familiar with the harmonic minor scale and the resulting chords that come with. If you haven't watched that series yet, I recommend at least watching the first three episodes or so.
For example I'll use the key of B Minor
Natural B Minor uses these notes:
B C# D E F# G A B
and has these chords:
i = Bm
ii° = C#°
III = D
iv = Em
v = F#m
VI = G
VII = A
harmonic minor scales use a sharp 7th note like this:
B C# D E F# G A# B
And the most significant impact this has on our chords-in-a-key is that the v chord (F#m) becomes a major V chord, but more specifically, it becomes a dominant 7th chord (F#7) which resolves back to i (Bm) beautifully.
You are welcome to participate in whatever capacity you like! Wether you write a fully complete song with guitar, lyrics, bass, drums or you just record an 8 second rough sketch to your phone, all submissions are equally welcome. The only requirement is that you write it AFTER reading this post.
I'm going to be pretty flexible on the other "rules" here because harmonic and melodic minor get thrown together in the same situations often, but to put it simply:
if you write a chord progression starting with natural minor chords, then just turn the V chord dominant, you've essentially written a harmonic minor chord progression.
Melodically, if you write a melody over that progression and make sure the 7th note of the scale is sharp when then V chord is happening, you've basically written a harmonic minor melody over your progression!
Post your creations on the community forum!
When To Start Performing
Here is some food for thought about how/when to start performing. There is a delicate balance to find for yourself between practicing enough to feel confident on stage AND waiting for the right moment/people/location to get started.
I start with the most basic way to practice performing and that is to record yourself. Don't book studio time! Just record to your phone or a simple device to listen back. For most people, this gives you the first chance to imagine what you sound like and imagine how other people might hear you. With this sneaky trick, you can practice playing in front of people without actually playing for anyone! It's a great first step.
From there I guide you through some positive ways to imagine listening back to your own recordings and practice being less fearful and less critical. This is a great way to start learning how to perform - how to develop your mindset toward performing in front of people, how to walk yourself through some of the jitters, and how to imagine you're listening to someone else.
Then we gradually walk through a handful of ways to approach getting on stage with some questions - should you start playing for family or strangers? Should you play alone or with another musician? Will you perform something difficult or something simple? And more!
I hope you enjoy this lesson and I hope you're able to make safe choices while we all navigate how to perform and attend live music events again during a pandemic!
If you'd like to discuss elements of this lesson, let's talk about it on the community forum!
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C Shape | I - IV Progression
In this lesson, we'll see how a I IV relationship looks when using a C shape as your I chord. This updated CAGED Soloing series is spending a lot of time on just one shape, showing the relationships between two chords at a time: The I chord and another chord.
Your practice for these lessons can consist of playing fragments of the C shape over the I chord and fragments (or a full bar) of the E shape for the IV chord. If you need a refresher on all the CAGED shape fragment possibilities, check out CAGED Basics.
Once you start getting comfortable with the CAGED chord shapes, you can branch out into the relationship between the pentatonic scale, the the major scale, and each chord (I and IV). This is where you can begin creating phrases using melody-making "rules" or guidelines spelled out in Music Theory Monday lessons 17, 18 & 19.
Use this Jam Track in E Major to practice making chord fragments and melodic fragments. Remember, music practice doesn't always have to be musical and beautiful. Exploring and getting comfortable takes time. Have fun and share your progress, frustration, excitement, etc on the community forum. AND remember, there is no perfectly correct way to do this. All of my lessons just show a set of considerations. You can veer off from there when it feels right. Have fun!
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Write something in the Key of D Major
The rules:
1. You might write something new - that means something you've written AFTER reading this post
2. Your creation must be in the key of D (if you use modal substitutions, thats OK, as long as a D Major Chord feels like home)
If you're not sure how to do that, I recommend watching Music Theory for Guitar, then Music Theory Monday.
Your creation DOES NOT have to be a full song - it can be a 7 second voice memo recorded on your cell phone. It does not have to be fancy or complicated. It does not have to have words, or even a melody. It could just be a simple chord progression, strummed on your guitar. This challenge is just about making SOMETHING. As long as it's in the key of D Major, it's welcome! Whatever you have time for! You certainly can write a full song with guitar, drums, bass, vocals, etc if you want to, BUT you do not have to.
Post your creations to the community forum.
P.S. I think D Major is my favorite major key. I don't know why. Maybe because the chord shapes feel good on guitar. Maybe the key of D Major just sounds nice to my ears. I don't know why! But I love the key of D Major. Do you have a favorite key?
C Shape | I - iii Progression
In this second episode, we're tackling a I iii progression using the C shape as our I chord. That means we can also use the C shape pentatonic scale as our basic scaffolding for that area of the neck. As a reminder, in these lessons, the green dots represent the major scale, the pink dots on top represent the pentatonic scale, and the yellow dots on top of that represent the chord. The blue dots are the notes I'm playing.
We're being a little more holistic here, talking about chord progressions in an area of the neck AND how to solo in that same area. Hopefully as these lessons keep building, you'll begin to see a very clear picture of how to solo and play chord progressions all over the fingerboard.
In the past a few people have said "dang, there are 7 different shapes for each of the 5 CAGED shapes - thats like 35 different shape combinations to memorize." Looking at it this way can certainly be daunting but keep this in mind: The more you practice these concepts, the easier it will be to grasp the next combination. On top of that, the more you think about this stuff in a music theory context, the more you'll see this information as obvious an inevitable. It takes time, but if you focus on one set, one jam track at a time, the next sets will get easier and easier.
Combining these lessons with music theory monday, rubiks cube lessons, and other lessons, you'll slowly start to see how this stuff makes sense in the broader context. And having it make sense in that broader context makes it easier to remember and practice in general.
Try soloing over this jam track in D Major, and use the attached PDF below for reference.
If you'd like to share your progress, frustrations, questions, or discussion ideas for this lesson, head over to the community forum.
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The MANY Kinds of Musicians
In this Practice Thought, I'm talking about different kinds of musicians. Why? To be encouraging! Let me explain:
Many of us have grown up with very high (and very specific) standards for what it means to be a musician. Often, when we compare ourselves to famous musicians, we think "wow. I will NEVER be like that." In my case, I actually thought "yikes, that sounds too intense for me."
In my head, the only kind of musician I could be was the frontman of a band, writing and performing all my own music, showing all the musicians that played with me what parts to play.
I've since learned something important: that dream is not my dream. There are many many many different ways to be a musician and make money. You do not HAVE to be on stage performing to be a musician. You do not HAVE to write songs or sing.
In this video, I walk you through a wide variety of different ways people have used their musicianship to make money.
You'll always be a happy musician if you focus on the things you enjoy, and this video is an effort to encourage you to find, explore, and pursue the areas of musicianship you enjoy. Also, you have permission to dislike aspects of musicianship that you may have previously thought were core requirements of musicians.
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Write Something Simple
Each week I've been asking my Patrons to write some music! In my opinion, writing music is the key to loving and learning music your whole life. Of course it's valuable to learn songs, practice technique, learn theory, etc - but writing music is where all the magic happens. Thats when you step into ownership. The feeling of "I made this" is just such a powerful feeling.
This feeling is so powerful, that I think the more you write, the more you want to understand how music works and the more inspired you are to work on all the tedious things. Writing music gives you a context for practice.
You don't have to write music with the intention of being a frontman, a songwriter, a singer, etc. All of those things are more specific than just writing music. If you want to be a bass player, a lead guitarist, a rhythm guitarists - etc - WRITING MUSIC HELPS WITH ALL OF THOSE SKILLS.
In any band, you'll be more valuable if you can write music - even if that just means writing your own parts. Even if you want to play other people's music for the rest of your life, being able to write music will still make you a more flexible player.
If you want to learn to speak a second language, the ultimate goal is to able to say what's on your mind as freely as possible. Writing music is kind of like that, the more you write, the more you'll be able to write the way you want and find the kinds of sounds you want.
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C Shape | I - ii Progression
This is the first episode of a more holistic reboot of my previous CAGED System Series. I think the previous series was a great start (and still useful to watch if you want reinforcement for this lesson), but this one should really drive some concepts home a little more clearly.
I recommend having a strong familiarity with these lessons before diving into this series:
Music Theory for Guitar
Music Theory Monday (through Melody Making)
Octave Shapes
For this series, there is a nice color scheme for the different kinds of notes and shapes we'll be exploring. For the following series, keep an eye out for these colors:
Green: used to give quick examples of shapes, but in a stack it will be the bottom layer, representing the notes in the Major Scale.
Pink: Represents the pentatonic scale. When you see pink, it will often be layered on top of the major scale to show the "missing" notes from the pentatonic scale.
Yellow: Represents a specific chord. In this series the I chord will always be a C Shape, followed by a chord shape representing ii, iii, IV etc. We'll be stacking yellow chord shapes on top of the major scale and the pentatonic scale.
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Write Anything!
This week I've been in the studio with my band! We've already worked on four new songs and I'm very excited. So excited, in fact, that I forgot to post this week's community challenge.
Since I'm in the studio writing all day I thought it would be fun to give you the opportunity to write anything you want.
The rules here are incredibly straight forward: Write something new after reading this post.
You're welcome to write just a melody, just a chord progression, just a riff, just a bassline, etc - it doesn't have to be a complete song. It doesn't have to be recorded with fancy software. But if you want to write a whole song with drums, guitar, bass, etc, you're more than welcome.
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Maj9, 9, m9, vs add9
This Music Theory Monday is all about comparing maj9, minor 9, dom9 vs add9 chords. I think you'll enjoy this lesson. This one might seem overwhelming, but the naming conventions really give you a nice way to think about it. I hope you enjoy.
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Office Hours, Q&A
Question 1: Dennis had a few questions about volume and tone and amplifiers. I really got into it.
Question 2: Ben had some questions about creating strumming patterns. I recommend my Strumming Patterns Series.
Question 3: Tasha had a few questions regarding a mix of dry and wet signal in Logic Pro as well as some questions about guitar noise.
Question 4: Andy was wondering if there was a correct way to move through the CAGED System shapes.
Question 5: Vlad was curious about why the 1st interval exercise includes all the intervals in an octave and the 2nd exercise only includes 3rds and 6ths.
Question 6: Trevor had a question about making chord progressions!
Question 7: Greylight had some questions about teaching method and how to move toward teaching creativity.
Question 8: Ed was curious about some kind of left hand speedy practice.
Question 9: Velo Moose was wondering why live bands are so dang loud. I don't know! But I wear earplugs when I go to a show, usually.
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Write A Melody Over One Chord
I was inspired by the Community Song Analysis Challenge Rock Steady, because the verse is mainly a one-chord vamp. Stevie Wonder's Superstition also has a verse with just one chord!
For this assignment, you're free to write a whole song where one section (either verse, chorus, intro, etc) only contains one chord with a melody over the top.
This melody could be a riff or a melodic line. As long as there is a melody (something like ABAC) over a progression that consists of one chord in some section of the song, you're doing it right!
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Imposter Syndrome & Dunning Kruger
Welcome to another practice thought! My goal with this one (as with all my Practice Thoughts) is to try to be as encouraging as possible. Also, there are always people who will say things like "just practice more" instead of digging into the complicated aspects of musician mindset. I think it's important to dig deep into these kinds of things so that you're prepared for (and don't feel alone during) those situations where you're feeling discouraged or weird about music.
In this lesson, what I was hoping to point out was the general idea that as you learn more, your confidence level might go through some strange places. This is actually a normal part of learning anything, but with musicianship it seems to hit a lot harder.
Read MoreHere is another song analysis challenge! Bad Moon Rising by Creedence Clearwater Revival
The song itself is pretty straightforward! If you're just starting to get into ear training, this might be a fun one to try out. If you're a beginner and you feel like you don't know where to start on something like this, hold on! I've got more ear training videos coming. In the meantime, practice with Ear Training 01 and Ear Training 02.
You're welcome to participate in this challenge at the most basic level to the most advanced. Here is a list of questions to answer about this song, with 1 being the most basic question and gradually increasing in difficulty. You can figure out as many question
1. What key is this song in? (example __ Major or __ Minor or __ Modal thing)
2. What is the arrangement? (intro, verse, chorus, etc)
3. What are the basic chords? (X X X X for the verse and X X X X for the chorus, etc)
4. What are the roman numerals for this progression?
harder questions:
5. Are there any extra notes added to the chords? (7ths. 9ths, 6th, etc)
6. Can you figure out the riff(s) involved in the song and explain how they interact with the chords? (eg. this riff starts on the 3rd of the chord and goes to __ or something)
7. Can you figure out how to play the melody of the song to see how it interacts with the chords?