What Counts as a Scale in my Melody Making Rules?
In this stream, I got to show you a weird test graphic I made. I didn't end up using it for the lesson I made it for, but I still thought it was cool!
The graphic was showing how I think about scales when it comes to writing melodies. If you've seen my Melody Making Course, you know my basic melody writing guidelines:
1. Always start on a chord tone
2. If you skip notes, only skip from a chord tone TO another chord tone
3. If moving through the scale, keep going until you get to another chord tone
The trick with this third rule is that you can use the chromatic scale, the full scale, or the pentatonic scale whenever you feel like it, as long as you follow a couple guidelines I talk about in this video. I also attached a little graph below for a nice visual representation.
Live Stream Q&A
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What Is Counterpoint?
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Write Something in B Minor
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Secondary Dominants in Christmas Music
In this lesson I explored the use of secondary dominants in a few well known Christmas songs.
Then I had a little fun recording some four part harmony on O Come All Ye Faithful
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What Does it Look Like to Prepare for a Show?
We'll talk about a checklist for your first show, mindset, gear, what songs to plan, how much to prepare, stuff like that.
Then I'll take questions!
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Office Hours Q&A
Craig was looking for tips on writing guitar parts to someone else's songs.
Bobby wanted some guidance on what to practice in order to progress as a guitar player.
Barry was curious about anticipating notes before playing them while soloing.
Mark was curious to learn more about guitar harmonics.
Phil asked about my CAGED Soloing series and how it relates to the Circle of Fifths.
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Polish a Previous Challenge
Your personal skill level, comfort zone, and free time are all important considerations when approaching a Community Challenge - I’m not asking anyone to write a full song! I’m asking for whatever you have the time, mental bandwidth, and skill to accomplish in roughly two weeks.
If you end up writing ANYTHING, I consider that a huge success. Write SOMETHING. It could be just a simple chord progression you put together or a riff you came up with using a pentatonic scale. Use the writing prompt to guide you and watch my video if you need more ideas.
POST WHAT YOU’VE WRITTEN HERE ON THE COMMUNITY FORUM.
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Refining an Idea
Bringing a song from the creation stage, through the editing/arrangement stage, and into the finalizing stage.
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How to Harmonize a Melody
This lesson was all about how to harmonize a melody. If you'd like to learn how to write a melody, check out my Melody Making Course.
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Office Hours Q&A
Here are this week's questions:
Mark was having problems with maintaining tuning between multitrack recorded guitar.
Craig was looking for some picking and finger exercises to help build up dexterity and speed.
Frank needed guidance on getting started with loop pedals.
Barry asked for a brief overview of walking bass lines.
Frank asked about powering pedals on pedal boards and staying on rhythm while looping.
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Fun with Pedals
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ONLY Write a Chord Progression
Make it as simple or interesting as possible. If you're just joining us, pick a few chords you like in a key! No melody, noIf you don't know how to do that yet, choose a few chords from one of the sets below:
G Am Bm C D Em F#°
C Dm Em F D Am B°
D Em F#m G A Bm C#°
If you're more advanced, try playing around with more interesting voicings, secondary dominants, modal progressions, and whatnot.
Your personal skill level, comfort zone, and free time are all important considerations when approaching a Community Challenge - I’m not asking anyone to write a full song! I’m asking for whatever you have the time, mental bandwidth, and skill to accomplish in roughly two weeks.
If you end up writing ANYTHING, I consider that a huge success. Write SOMETHING. It could be just a simple chord progression you put together or a riff you came up with using a pentatonic scale. Use the writing prompt to guide you and watch my video if you need more ideas.
POST WHAT YOU’VE WRITTEN HERE ON THE COMMUNITY FORUM.
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Melody Making Magic
We're going to explore some cool melody making concepts using the attached PDF.
This would be a great lesson to come back to after watching my Melody Making series
If you’re watching later and you still have questions, feel free to comment below or ask on the next Office Hours, every Thursday at 10am Pacific.
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Office Hours Q&A
Weezley asked asked how to avoid sproingly brassy sounds while picking
Ronnie asked how a mode can be a major key
Rich asked if triad voicings always need to have a root note
Jeff had a question about what notes to play when doing double stops
Brian was having issues getting fingers to the right place on a C chord
Boro asked if its a good idea to memorize riffs when learning to solo
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