How does VIBRATO relate to rhythm? | Q+A

[@TachyBunker]

Swung vibrato is the single best idea a Jazzman could have.

[@juanktrumpet10]

Wouldn't this just be half note bends?

[@Sean-Ax]

NOLA metal bands like Down, Crowbar, and EHG tend to do that. (or at least something similar if I'm not getting the exact idea of what you're saying.) I've even picked it up as a habit in my own playing. lol

[@TachyBunker]

@@Sean-Ax i hear that a bit but imhonestlynot sure because i dont hear it with precise "hits." Honestly we might want to look into some indian traditional singers that come in to jazz because they have practiced a lot their vibrato techniques haha.

[@Sean-Ax]

@@TachyBunker Yeah, it's a lot more fluid and bendy rather than highly precise (which is the overall vibe with NOLA metal). idk what you listened to of my references, but I should specify that I'm thinking of instances like in Down's Bury Me in Smoke. But yeah, overall that is a cool idea for a precise swung vibrato.

[@TachyBunker]

@@Sean-Ax hm ye. I think music going with the intention of that could be cool, but honestly it's more of a bonus perk, swung vibrato, than a focus point.

[@rawr4444]

2:22 that is actually incredible when you really listen. it's like the whole band is subtly shaking with excitement under the surface, even though the music is quite relaxed and soft

[@Zappygunshot]

That's also the vibe (pun intended... or is it even a pun at all?) when you're playing music live with other people. If you've ever paid any attention to humans, you'll know that it's really hard to get them to agree on things; so when you gather multiple of these humans in one spot and things sort of fall into alignment like that, it's a really exciting feeling that I don't think ever gets old.

[@iykury]

that really impressed me, but i probably wouldn't have even noticed how impressive it is if it wasn't pointed out first

[@Catefn]

I would have loved to discuss singer vibrato with you thru different styles of music, son. We have both been so very busy and preoccupied that it wasn’t in the cards. However, I will say that, contrary to some singer comments, good classical singers can, and do, “play” with vibrato such as “intoning” the beginnings of phrases and allowing vibrato to bloom naturally. (Like Fleming does in your example.) She is not “making the vibrato” but allowing it in from the stability of her larynx and subtle, energetically dynamic musical intent. And free movements of the larynx, vocal tract, tongue and breath flow. Singers of early classical music, and this includes early opera, learn how to to sing more “straight tone” without holding the throat muscles and keep a subtle undercurrent of vibrato. Please, singers, don’t try to MAKE vibrato because it is a highly personal vocal characteristic that comes from the state of your central nervous system. And the efficient flow of breath. Any holding of your throat or tongue will become problematic fast.

[@limeymcfrog1]

So glad you commented! I think this perspective was sorely needed. The vocal mechanism cannot be manipulated in the same way a bass string or a trombone valve can. Singers largely allow and shape the vibrato but the control to have it mimic a certain rhythm is not really feasible. Were the tempo faster I doubt Ms Fleming would be able to or want to speed up her vibrato. To restate/concur with your mother’s point: Vocal vibrato is naturally occurring from healthy, free, and highly energetic singing - the type that allows an unamplified voice to cut through a full orchestra. It is not a pedal or valve or whammy bar that you adjust to the rhythm nor is it really advisable or common practice to think of or adjust it rhythmically.

[@TheSeeking2know]

What about those cultures that utilize a more exaggerated “vibrato” like in Japan (enka, shigin), China (their opera singing). Or would you rather call that an ornamentation of sorts rather than vibrato.

[@erikbrodin2198]

My mom was also an opera singer hahaha you’re too cool!

[@Catefn]

@theseeking2know, I work with a lot of world musicians and singers of other cultures. In training traditions, those are usually considered stylistic and technical choices rather than vibrato. But it’s a great question and I would need to speak with many more masters in various traditions to more fully understand how the word “vibrato” translates in their languages and teaching traditions.

[@hutchmusician]

Great that you’ve commented, I’m off to sub to your channel now. Would you mind just clarifying whether you think conscious control of vibrato is possible to the extent of having it do precisely chosen rhythmic subdivisions in the way that’s described here?

[@Sean-Ax]

5:14 "...it was common for Bach to amuse himself and his family by mashing up songs that had nothing to do with one another." ONE OF US ONE OF US

[@TheOnlyEHG]

I never doubted it for a second!

[@batti591]

The Space Jam mashup guys are just disciples of Bach. My personal favorite is Dunkstein and Slamough, the mashup of Space Jam and Ornstein and Smough

[@Sean-Ax]

@@batti591 I can always get down with some Slam Jam mashups; was even just imagining one recently.

[@Howitchewstofeel5gum]

Truly the William Maranci of his time

[@Sean-Ax]

@@Howitchewstofeel5gum At a glance, I read "Maranci" as "Macaroni", and I didn't think that to be out of place given that we're talking about people that make silly mashups. lol

[@artisttommy1994]

Trained singer here - instruments emulating vibrato is a stylistic choice, but vibrato in the sung voice is a necessary tool to project healthily. Before amplification tech came along there was literally no other way to safely fill an entire concert hall with you voice. If you sing without vibrato, you can very easily damage your voice. Like my soprano friend loves to say "I'd prefer to have my larynx not be in my mouth". The execution of vibrato can be stylized, but its presence in vocal performance is a necessity.

[@DrakodanSRL]

It's also a natural byproduct of using the vocal mechanism properly, which commonly gets overlooked. As such, all this talk of modifying the "tempo" of vibrato veers further away from healthy vocal practices the more it's followed; the tight and fast tempo used in the initial example isn't a result of active effort on the part of the performer, it's just what natural vibrato SOUNDS like, and changing that sound is modifying what the voice is trying to naturally do. You CAN consciously alter the tempo of your vibrato, but it's not necessarily natural, or healthy.

[@jvbilodeau]

Preach!

[@JoshLeRose]

1:55 as a classical tenor, I can almost guarantee you that her vibrato isn't controlled much at all. Us classical singers are trained not to "make" vibrato happen or to control it in any way. It just happens naturally. Whether or not it will naturally sync up with whatever tempo a given piece is not known to me.

[@ashleydyer3853]

yes agreed. I think Adam over stretched with this commentary. Some singers may have 'locked' in their vibrato with the tempo. But if they are on any level doing it 'intentionally' then it's hyper intuitive and not deliberate. Often hyper controlled vibrato sounds forced.... Swinging sung vibrato sounds like a conceptual/imaginative curiosity rather than any kind of reality... I challenge you Adam to find a singer who can actually control their eoffortless vibrato with that much dexterity. Would genuinely love to hear and be proved wrong!!!!

[@JoshLeRose]

@@ashleydyer3853 Actually I just tried this “swing vibrato” idea. It feels more like a wonky slow trill. There is a technique often used in baroque vocal music that’s used to sing melismas, or long stretches of fast rhythms while still being phrased together. (See: Every Valley shall be exalted from Messiah). It kinda felt like doing that but in a swing rhythm. I could see “swing vibrato” being used as an effect but not much more than that. As for notating it, that’s another story lol

[@jvbilodeau]

Adam simply has a fundamental misunderstanding of the whole concept of vibrato. It’s very frustrating that he would make this video with this commentary, implying that vibrato is something singers TRY to make… especially when his mom is a voice teacher! Now young singers are going to work to make their voices shake, and completely screw up their technique. I’ve never heard him be so off-base before.

[@kaitlyn__L]

@@jvbilodeau unless this is based on stuff his mom has said (not saying it one way or the other)

[@JoshLeRose]

@@jvbilodeau he definitely should’ve consulted his mom on this one lol. It’s a small error in concept but it makes a huge difference in practice. Singing consists of a million and a half things working properly, and you have direct control of maybe 5 of them Lolol

[@laurenzpelster2499]

8:04 "You get to play with yourself, that's great." Yes Adam, I agree.

[@billhd]

6:45 A Victor Wooten bit of wisdom often applies... and in this case it is "You don't WORK music, you PLAY it." He offers this advice when he sees folks bearing down and stressing out in ways that, ultimately, work against the goals of making music. Helpful!

[@OdaKa]

does he ever actually just play bass in the role of a bassist

[@Opuskrokus]

Victor Wooten is a guru!

[@Woodsaras]

Um, how about other languages? :D lol, clowns.

[@billhd]

@@OdaKa Victor? as well known as he is for being a virtuoso solo and feature player, he's still the best pocket straight ahead bass player I've ever seen. Check him out playing with his brothers some time or even when he and Roy are grooving as the rhythm section in the Flecktones and you'll hear it.

[@OdaKa]

@@billhd ahhh, the Flecktones! okay, bet!

[@jacefairis1289]

you know, I had never really *thought* about vibrato being matched to the tempo of the song, but now that I'm aware of it, I can tell my natural vibrato - with vocals or an instrument - is generally some interval of the rhythm. neat! I love it when something that hadn't even crossed your mind becomes super obvious in hindsight

[@ivanlovrinovic748]

how can you tell? are you actually able to count the oscillations of the pitch? that seems superhuman.

[@alexandrecarbonel5908]

@@ivanlovrinovic748 metal drmmers dont count all the beats their kick hits, but rather have the feeling of x number of quarternotes being played fast. Its sort of a rythmic chunking. I personally count groups of 3 or 4 for example in the vibrato.

[@jacefairis1289]

@@ivanlovrinovic748 you don't need to count them to hear that they're on-beat lol - if I heard a 32nd-note rhythm on an instrument, I'd be able to tell if it was on beat or not too. same for playing them tbh - fast rhythms are more of a "feel" than counting, it's not like you can count aloud to 32nd notes

[@ivanlovrinovic748]

You edited the comment now but originally you had a typo and said your vibrato would be an interval of the *pitch*. Thats why i was confused, as pitch are vibrations a whole lot faster than 32nd notes. But yea now I get what you're saying.

[@jacefairis1289]

@@ivanlovrinovic748 ah, I understand. sorry for the confusion! I definitely can't hear individual vibrations of sound. though sometimes really low and loud bass, about 30hz - the low B on a 5-string bass, or the lowest bass note in the chorus of Billie Eilish's "Xanny" for example - can almost *feel* like individual impacts in your chest, but I certainly can't "count" them (most of what you "hear" in such sounds is actually overtones anyways, a pure sine wave at 30hz is pretty faint even at volumes you can really "feel")

[@M_M_ODonnell]

My perspective on the "safe major before music" question as someone who didn't have to make quite that decision, since I wasn't committed to music enough to seriously consider it as a career, but who has had a number of much better musicians as friends...several of those musician friends went for double majors, and none of them regretted it. There were three outcomes. They finished both majors, went on to musical careers, and had a second field they could either make a second career in or keep as a personal interest; they finished both majors, decided they didn't want the life path that going into music professionally would mean for them, and went into another career but kept interested in music as basically professional-level-skilled amateurs; or they decided that they weren't dedicated enough to one or the other major and made the affirmative decision (instead of fear-based, as Adam puts it) to commit to one or the other. (Of course, these were all people who were music lovers and talented musicians, so the ones who chose careers outside music understand music on a deeper level than if they'd never been involved.)

[@lucy101]

Composing music is a lot like writing comedy. You’re building and releasing tension, you’re repeating patterns and then breaking them unexpectedly, and you’re working with a lot of widely shared themes in a specific cultural context. For me it’s also like painting-I don’t usually think about the chords, I simply choose notes by how they feel in context, kind of like looking at a painting in progress and deciding this one spot needs a bit more of that particular color to balance it out. The biggest reason I’ll actually identify my chords is to transpose a theme to a different key, but I like to alter harmonies when I repeat a theme anyway. I also like to add rhythm to long trills by playing one of the notes louder on the beats I want to emphasize. Maybe that’s the pianist’s version of vibrato. 😄

[@half-arsedmusic]

totally agree - and in particular with regard to music being like painting. I always think when I do a guitar solo I'm particularly fond of, it sounds like I'm making brushstrokes on top of the music, which is the canvas. The way you attack notes and release them puts me in mind of the way a painter manipulates the brush.

[@migrantfamily]

Knowing when to use vibrato and when not too is a huge part of musicianship, especially for singers. Most great singers have a range of different vibratos to use. On swung vibrato, it can be used to a subtle effect, implying a subdivision that isn’t played, just felt. But it’s probably more common to do triplets.

[@emilyrln]

"I don't think you should make any life decisions out of fear." Damn, I just came here for fun music stuff, but my man throwing down solid advice. This channel is truly a treasure!

[@deceptiveobnoxious4237]

I'm afraid of your profile picture 😨

[@emilyrln]

@@deceptiveobnoxious4237 oh, no! XD my self-portrait can instill fear in the minds of internet strangers…

[@MRGO0OSE]

The plugin Tremcontrol by Goodhertz has a built-in swing feature for the tremolo it adds. Not vibrato obviously, but an interesting thing to play around with in production!

[@samylemzaoui2298]

tremolator by soundtoys also has this

[@matcoffidis1135]

I always love how McCartney approached the bass...almost playing it like lead guitar. That whole part in Something is a great example. Even through different verses hell change it up.

[@theredshirts7245]

I think that’s because he was a guitarist (a darn good one), who was relegated to bass- it opened his eyes to something more than the simple bass lines the Beatles started with evolving into a very melodic style. I don’t think he would have come to those lines if he started out as a bass player.

[@beatrixwickson8477]

Luke from Become a Bassist makes a pretty good case that Paul's turning point was exposure to Motown and that his playing was inspired James Jamerson's approach. So there's a radical shift from pedestrian 1 - 5 basslines etc to rhythmically interesting and melodic lines from Rubber Soul onwards.

[@tzor]

Your comment in the middle about balancing music as a game and music as work reminded me of a conversation, I had a few days ago with the "board of directors" of my barbershop chorus (which I am currently the director of). Back in December we did a performance for an organization's Christmas party. It was our holiday package which wasn't our strong suit. But one month later I was still approached by people who thought how great we were. Always work to do better but remember that when the audience likes what they hear and are entertained then that's the goal and to do that while being happy as well is a bonus.

[@aidenhuckabee784]

It’s always a good day when Adam uploads.

[@georgetate6055]

I flat out LOVE (said with lush vibrato, w/NO sexual undertones) Adam Neely's videos! I've played and directed music professionally and taught 2nd grade thru college. BUT I always learn stuff with Adam. He gets music in a really fundamental way and communicates it so well that I recommend his videos unhesitatingly. His explanations and demonstrations are lovely and clear. Makes me want to listen to more great music! Thanks, Adam.

[@owenmeldon]

Wow! That's my question at 4:53, thanks so much for answering it!! Love me some #30 myself, definitely in my top 5 but I also love 1, 4, 18 and 22 as well. Such a great answer too!

[@law_wren]

It's super enjoyable appreciating you appreciating the nuances of pieces in realtime!

[@demian8439]

10:57 THE VOICE OF GOD thank you Adam Neely

[@txsphere]

So good to see Adam making videos again and he seems to be enjoying it.

[@tails324]

“Play with yourself” -Adam Neely Thanks I’ll be here all week.

[@jedidrummerjake]

Love your optimism of there being musicians 300 years from now!

[@Parkerdeal]

Wife got me tickets to see Plini in a couple months and I was delighted to see that sungazer is also on the bill! Thanks for everything you do, and can’t wait to see it all live in May!

[@ryancozzolino7832]

The lineup (in my opinion) is stacked for that tour, since I’m a Plini fan, a Sungazer fan, and a Jakub Zytecki fan. Super excited to see them.

[@Parkerdeal]

​@@ryancozzolino7832 It totally is!

[@bobsykes]

Very interesting point you make about Bach's 30th Goldberg Variation. MTT, conductor of our own SF Symphony Orchestra, makes an incredible point of this, studying everything he can find about composers and every associated with the origin of each piece his orchestra performs. Watching any of his instructional Public Television Series production about various famous composition the orchestra has played taught me this.Fantastic channel, Adam! Thank you, always.

[@johnmichaelpatrick369]

Adam Neely, I'm so happy everytime I see a new video from you... In my opinion you are the best music 'teacher' on KZbin !!!

[@katabatica]

Thanks for releasing this video on Nebula first.

[@MrRundervinkje]

I didn't pursue a career in music not because of the fear in income, but the fear of losing enjoyment making music as it turns into a "must" instead of being a "want"

[@davidtomkins4242]

Very true, passion can be killed when a timeclock is involved.

[@TomboFry]

10:43 Got my tickets a couple of weeks ago - very excited! 🤩

[@briandang8427]

Joy is just one of many goals in music... I think expressing human experiences more broadly might be how I describe the goal of music.

[@enriquecasas5594]

What a talent to explain things you have! I am learning so much from your videos. As a person devoted to science but with a passion for music, I absolutely love what you do. It’s an enormous pleasure to watch you. Thanks!

[@KibatsuMusic]

This episode of Q+A was especially helpful for me with things I'm struggling to figure out. The topic about finding your voice on bass because it helps you express your musical ideas better than on piano elucidates so much because I also debated switching to piano. I also struggled with the duality of being an engineer and a musician. I always thought I had to pick only one but I simply can't because I have equal passion in both and that's okay and achievable. Always learning something from this channel. Thank you!

[@grantschroeder80]

"The ultimate goal of music- and art in general- is maximizing joy." This is a really cool philosophy. Especially when it comes to music that is written in sadness, or to evoke sadness. It makes me think of that Pascal quote, “All men seek happiness. This is without exception. Whatever different means they employ, they all tend to this end. The cause of some going to war, and of others avoiding it, is the same desire in both, attended with different views. The will never takes the least step but to this object. This is the motive of every action of every man, even of those who hang themselves.”

[@Woodsaras]

Ye, how bout not generalizing art. Lol.

[@Bober909]

Generally from my own experience in singing, vibrato is a by-product of good vocal production, you can to some extent modify it or completely get rid of it if you need to sing "straight", but generally you don't "produce" vibrato, I think that's called a tremolo or mordent iirc correctly, where you'd "make" vibrato for it's effect , an example are the classic crooners of the 40's onwards. If anything is moving when you're singing with vibrato (beside your vocal folds) I don't think it is vibrato, even though the result might be similar, it is not the same.

[@mrewan6221]

Yes. Vibrato is a by-product of good vocal production. Yes. (For bel canto singing.) There is no sound at all if there is no vibration. For highly-suppressed-vibrato ways of singing, you're going to need a microphone, a small venue, or a lot of singers. An opera chorus of just 12 singers can easily create a bigger and fuller sound than a choir of 24, and a richer sound than a choir of 60. Yes, I agree; if anything is moving (other than the vocal folds), it's not vibrato. Choir singers are often told "no vibrato", when they should really be told "no tremolo", or "no wobble"! It's a very, very, very common misconception that vibrato is an _added_ effect, because for all other instruments it _is_ added. For bel canto, it's the other way around, with suppression of vibrato being an advanced technique.

[@sailingstar8176]

So much to absorb here, thank you. The section on leaving your "safe" and doing what you love really spoke to me. I've known this in theory for years, tried to teach it to my children, but never applied it to myself, until this year. Now it's happening! Thank you for the simplicity, subtelty and clarity of your words, they are validation. And I have my Sungazer ticket for Bristol, UK. You'll love Bristol!

[@SamFugarino]

I' learning mandolin and one of the things I'm struggling with, but improving, is getting my tremolo to fit the rhythm. It may not to be exactly what you are talking about, but it definitely is related. Love the insights.

[@fernandomaiasilvadias8199]

Indeed the tremolo has basically the same function as the vibrato: to sustain long notes, making these long notes sound more interesting.

[@DojoOfCool]

I like that description of bass solo... just a bass line that the audience actually notices.

[@marlphil]

I'm a little suspicious of singers controlling their vibrato...I can really only speak as a trained vocalist instead of an instrumentalist. Certainly the use of vibrato versus no vibrato is a stylistic choice, but vibrato comes from a physiologic feature of the vocal folds and other physical characteristics unique to each singer; it can, of course, be suppressed by choice and even modified to some extent. However, I would say that the choice of speed of vibrato for vocalists is not really considered per se, but rather the natural choice of tempo of the song is selected based on a resonate or compatible harmonic of the singers natural vibrato frequency...especially in the case of Renee Flemming.

[@TheUnderscore_]

This is the perfect time for me to watch Adam Neely vids again, since I just started practicing vibrato on my double bass. I just did what felt natural trying to imitate my voice when I sing, but finding a shortcut through this video seems much... easier.

[@lainewiens]

Watched on Nebula! Love what you are doing!

[@ronbarzilai5705]

Benny Greb held a masterclass where I live a few years back and I attended. He said the same thing about taking music seriously, but not taking himself very seriously. My mind was blown when he said that, it made so much sense to me.

[@boockar]

I love your definition of a bass solo ! that's what I tend to go for and sometimes i think"well that's not really a solo is it ?" but it still does sound like a solo just because it was made to be noticed

[@mixedstaples8030]

I remember an interview with the Barenaked Ladies, of all bands, saying that what they always tried to do was take the art and act of songwriting very seriously, but not take themselves seriously at all, and I think that comes across in their stuff. Like yeah, they're remembered for goofy songs, but the musicianship and construction, even on their silliest songs, is impeccable.

[@myronalcock4716]

12:59 "The secret to a good bass solo" - Best answer I've heard yet!

[@MickeyMouse-el5bk]

As autodidact I started in my early 20s with music. I learned by playing and jamming with people. At that age I wasn't interested in forms and rules. Lots of "regular" musicians got annoyed with me. Until I hung out with jazzers who were much more into funk and all kinds of experimental music. Nowadays when I listen to my old tapes I hear the freedom in mind and the potential the creative young mind has. There are polyrhythmic and polymelodic ideas, there is so much. ♥️ I just want to tell youngsters that the rules in art are just the observations of people and you might use them. If not stick to your soul.

[@RaptorSeer]

Only just found this video. This explains why some vibratos sound great if they are whole number divisions of the main rhythm, and others are just no. There is a window of acceptability with the speed of the vibrato, imo. Also, being able to produce both notes as harmonic with each other, like a major or minor third, helps to enhance the listener experience. Not all vibratos are alike. Thanks for sharing!

[@paulivartiainen]

I've always though of vibrato "fixing" the little inaccuracies in pitch. You got a note that isn't quite there, you add vibrato and the ear interprets it being correct. I never practised it consciously but find myself doing it all the time with my guitar. Vibrato is actually quite essential in heavy metal guitar playing.

[@rpvermeulen]

A great pleasure to watch, as always. And thank you for mentioning Denny Zeitlin. Didn't know him, he is really my kind of pianist!

[@francescodardanello6066]

My favorite instance of vibrato is from 3:26 to 3:36 of Dexter Gordon's I'm a fool to want you. Freddie Hubbard plays with the tempo of his vivrato holding a 10sec note, gives me chills every time i hear it. Check it out!

[@ultramet]

All I know about vibrato is what the LFO on my synths do. This video is so interesting. Great stuff Adam.

[@martin.lorenz]

What a coincidence. Wrote my master thesis on controlled vibrato in pop/jazz singing. Quite interesting for singers to work on their sound and stylistic approaches.

[@keneisner3445]

Another fabulously useful video, Adam. Charles Ives never gave up his insurance gig while composing after work.And the jazz-trumpet great Eddie Henderson also got a degree in psychiatry, although he practiced general medicine before moving to music full time, with Herbie Hancock et al. (BTW, Denny's name is pronounced ZAYE-tlin.)

[@gcvrsa]

I started out on 5-string bass tuned BEADG, but that was really more because I felt more comfortable with the extra width of the 5-string neck. I found that in practice, I very rarely used anything below D on the B string. So, I have decided that for my next 5-string bass, I am going to tune it DGCFBb, instead of BEADG or EADGC, and we'll see how that goes. I'm currently playing 4-string, tuned to EADG, and the only reason I haven't moved it to DGCF is because I don't feel like buying new strings, right now.

[@yetanotherbassdude]

In my last band, a stoner/prog metal thing, I used basically this tuning but dropping the low D string to drop-C. Our guitarist wrote everything in drop-C and playing that in standard 5-string tuning was just obnoxious, and I did make a fair bit of use of that high Bb as we only had one guitar so I did a fair bit of harmonising with some of his higher runs. Definitely takes some getting used to and it's terrible for playing any bass parts written for standard tuning, but if you're only doing original stuff then you can write it for how you want to tune so it's definitely worth trying out.

[@JohnHancotte]

If I were to change my bass tuning, I would go even lower to ADGCF. Andrew Gouche uses that tuning. In gospel music, a low Bb would be useful. It is too much to relearn a neck after all of these years. I would keep your tuning as is. I prefer hitting a low D at the 3rd fret rather than an open string, but that's just a personal preference.

[@MensiBensi]

Adam, this video was truly a masterpiece. I enjoyed every singe second of it! And that's why I want to share some opinions about the spoken topics. First of all I want to say, that all of the small philosophical impacts were amazing. I think also to understand the musics backround is very important, for realizing how well thought some music is and how which it is refering to. Another great input from Zeitlin, because I am also currently wondering what I want to do in my life for a living. I love how he states that he got more interests than music, because i think everyone does. I am also thankful for explaining your point of view when you said that you should look at music as kind of a game. This is really important to understand that really nobody died from music... Ever. If you do a poor job as let's say a police officer, people could actually die... Thanks

[@jaywoo5545]

Your take on what makes a bass solo is spot in IMO. Break it down and then bring the audience back up to a frenzy. I could be biased, I'm a bass player that prefers to groove than noodle with chops.

[@dralithi]

I finally googled "the lick" and realized you're using it in your video section transitions - well played.

[@muulwarf]

OG Caravan is still unmatched, one of my favourite pieces of music of all time.

[@saberlike659]

In sort of the inverse of bass solos being basslines that the audience notices, I've found that treating basslines like bass solos makes my songs more engaging. Keeps interesting new stuff happening throughout without having to draw attention to it. Take On Me by A-Ha does this really well too

[@kingfisher1926]

The most amazing example I know of vibrato locked to the pulse is in Joanna Newsom's 'good intentions paving company'. Happens several times but the first one is on the lines "And I been 'fessin double-fast/Addressing questions nobody asked". The main vocal is joined by three others in harmony (one at the octave I think), and the vibrato is very clear sixteenth-notes in all parts

[@davidgustavsson4000]

You should interview a physicist or mathematician about the relation between vibrato and uncertainty. Have them show you the Fourier transform of a note with and without vibrato. Short tones and vibrated tones are both spectrally wide, lowering the risk that they sound false, which is why when string musicians practice scales they often try to do long, unvibrated tones - or they'll trick themselves they are in key.

[@GabMrl]

I'm from Clermont Ferrand, the shoutout was a nice surprise! We do love our cheese 🙏

[@liegon]

It is so nice to see your reaction to the music. It reminds me of what a conductor does (besides conducting the orchestra), it can really show what to pay attention to.

[@bardofhighrenown]

There is a quote by Alan Watts about "seriousness". I don't remember it exactly, but the idea is something like 'What we think of when we say "serious" is solemn reverence, but in reality what you actually want is sincerity."

[@Simbosan]

First time I realised the tempo connection with vibrato was with a rather obscure album called 'These Trails' they use a very clear 8th note vibrato rhythm in the their vocals, quite often with the backing singers hitting the same rhythm with amazing accuracy. The first song, also called These Trails, has some great examples but there isn't that much singing. The whole album is one of ethereal beauty if you haven't heard it. Hello Lou is a good example

[@cynabel_music]

i would slightly amend "the ultimate goal of music making is about maximizing joy" to be "the ultimate goal of music making is about facilitating emotions that need to be felt"

[@Beasonmusicresources]

My favorite way to teach music to my elementary students is by playing games and having fun. There’s so many different versatile ways to integrate games and fun into the learning of music without even realizing that’s what’s really going on. What better way to learn music than through something enjoyable like a game? Thanks for the awesome video.

[@openworld6173]

Thanks adam!! This video has so much useful information! Love this videos. Thanks man

[@cleekersneaker]

My favorite modular patch is to connect vibrato (usually low-pass cutoff) to pitch. So lower notes get slower vibrato and higher notes get faster. (maybe that's not technically vibrato?) Also, I played cello in Middle School, so to me vibrato is a string instrument thing. Now I play theremin, and vibrato is everything.

[@kaitlyn__L]

Yes, I do this on my synth by syncing LFO to pitch!

[@RubyandtheEmeralds]

so hyped you're coming to glasgow, i missed your gig in manchester last year!

[@1953bassman]

There is one school of thought that says playing it safe and getting "something to fall back on" takes away the drive to succeed at being a professional musician. But the reality for a lot of musicians is that they don't all earn enough to support a family, or even themselves. As someone who did find another career (electronics) to bring in the bacon, I did develop a strong connection to that field. I found it to be closely related to music in some ways since musicians do use a lot of electronic devices, amps and recording equipment etc., and knowing one helps with the other. And looking for a safe career to earn a better living can backfire if that safe career isn't really that safe.

[@ellenripley4640]

Amazing, Sungazer is coming to Amsterdam. Can't wait

[@nataliebroussard8275]

Looking sooo good Adam. Especially during the vibrato dance.

[@b.y.2460]

@7:55 People can't change the fact that we all die. However, we can make each other happy. Thus, more value is given to joy than safety. This is why making a mistake in music matters. Making a mistake and then leveraging that into happiness is what a good improvisor can do.

[@postmodernjambox5951]

Valid points about career and passion. Im a controls electrician now but started out as a music major. I went on tour and had paid gigs with different bands and found out i despise touring. I like playing with people and composing but i dont have passion for performance. I dont like the profitable parts of music so i do a different field i like a lot too. I hope to find people to play with again but currently i have a fairly profitable, stable, job and a house and stuff. I had difficutly evenly doing anything with an unstable career.

[@CalumCarlyle]

14:23 - that's a pretty good list of characteristics to at least beat in mind for plenty of other instruments playing a solo, too.

[@mcgarciahhh]

Its always a good day when Adam Neely uploads 😎🔥

[@FilthyAnimal893]

In the realm of electronic music, you should look into what is called a "reece bass," most common in the genre Drum and Bass. Theres a broad range for what could be considered a reece basd, but the most common feature is having two tones slightly detuned from each other by a few 10ths of a semitone, creating a rhythmic phasing between the waves, very similar to a tremelo effect. This detune tremelo effect has a few interesting properties to it, firstly the rate becomes faster as the difference between the combined pitches increases, and also becomes faster as the fundamental note being played increases in pitch. what this means is that you can attune this detune so that the root note in the key of the song correlates to the beat divisions of the tempo of the song, in otherwords, if i have a song in the key of F at 170 bpm, i can tune the difference in pitches to produce a tremolo effect that beats in quarter notes at F2, and then when i play an octave up at F3 it will beat in 8th notes, and if i play a fifth at C3 it will beat in triplets because of the frequency ratio of 3/2 from the 5th to the root. i probably didnt explain it very elegantly here, it would be a lot easier with pictures and sounds.

[@FilthyAnimal893]

also i dont really feel like sidechain ducking is much at all similar to the topic of this video, but i cant possibly be mad about the Flying Lotus shout out

[@teagancombest6049]

Yes this is basically Reese bass or just unison on synths in general. Great example for people who don't know is Vault by Pendulum.

[@AidanMmusic96]

Your piece about "no life decisions out of fear" is bold and necessary. Do you have any views on Cal Newport's writing, especially now he seems to be (as I understand it) more actively railing against using passion as the driving force behind career decisions?

[@devonskaggs8539]

Vibrato is like the hummingbird heart of music

[@faland0069]

Woah, Adam Neely's voice kind of lined up with the melody at around 14:09

[@andrejsandal2382]

Dude, you're right, and it actually sounds like a pretty intricate syllable pattern in the context of the music!

[@evilscientistrecords]

Bass synths also give different compositional possibilities. A bassline that plays "naturally" on a guitar or a bassline that plays "naturally" on the keys are very different - e.g. "Riders on the Storm".

[@Gnurklesquimp2]

Vibrato, much like some FX risers and textures etc., are a really cool opportunity for shifting tuplets. What may be too much on other elements can sound great here, like it's floating on top of a more locked in groove.

[@realraven2000]

12:11 "we had a wonderful cheese plate that I will remember very very fondue."

[@StamateTudorGuitar]

😂

[@polinanikulina]

As a kid, I listened out for "sloppy drunken wobble" or "hysteric seizure twitching" when playing violin. Instead of theory, my teacher and father used those sorts of terms in my very healthy and definitely consensual training to become a pro violinist. (It was decided before I was born.)

[@ethanspangler7665]

how's the pro violin thing going?

[@AxleCarp]

"A bass solo is just a bassline that the audience notices" - I feel like this just took a big weight off my shoulders when trying to solo in a group setting

[@seedmole]

For a similar effect, try syncing a delay to the ratio of 4/9. Gives a much more interesting result than just straight thirds, while still being super "third-y". And yeah, regarding working in music.. if your goal is to make money from music, then sure, start working in it asap because experience and connections matter so much. But if your goal is to make music, there are so many ways to go about doing it that you do not need to be professionally invested just for the sake of making music.

[@OdaKa]

how is that working out for you @ notpromusic

[@brightonvocallessons]

Looking forward to seeing Sungazer in Brighton, UK in March!

[@burning_KFC]

As always writing a comment to support the channel

[@Jasper_the_Cat]

I believe the great Brazilian composer Guinga was a practicing dentist until his 50s, when he switched to focusing on music full-time (although he of course had successes in music prior to that).

[@yobkulcha]

I'm glad you mentioned the Glasgow gig. See you there.

[@boscorner]

"A bass solo is really just a bass line that the audience notices" lmao true

[@urbanorangutan]

With vibrato, in most cases, you're oscillating around the fundamental pitch of the melody note, above and below that pitch, but because the pitch variance is equally distributed, more or less, above and below the note you still hear it as "in tune". If you swung vibrato, you would end up emphasizing one side of that more than the other, which would skew the note flat or sharp, and would be less desirable perhaps? As well as difficult to execute

[@onemerlin]

7:56 This. If you take nothing else from this video, this. I just turned 60. and I've been giving this advice for the last half of my life: "Take your work seriously, but not yourself." Couple with it: detachment from outcome. If your part was done well, you have to accept that the rest of the outcome will depend on things that have nothing to do with you. So success or fail, don't let the outcome define you. You will do both.

[@martinskanal]

Nowadays I play and create mostly for my own pleasure. Quite often I use a looper pedal and lay down "tracks" to accompany/refine (melodic and) rhythmic ideas. I'm a guitarist, btw. Using a tremolo effect when laying down the 'base riff'/idea immediately locks in the time signature of what I am dabbling with.. quite similarly to the function of vibrato - as you describe it.. The tremolo adds some kind of 'swing' feel to my stuff, and exists in a triplet (, even quintiplet (is that a word?) or other rhythmic relations to what I am working on. Reversely, If I add tremolo to a piece I've already have laid down the framework for, I automatically tweak the speed of the effect to add a rhythmic feel to the existing time signature. Even when I want tremolo to actively contrast the fundamental beat, I seem to choose a frequency that relate to beat with some kind of common multiple, even though it is not immediately apparent. The same goes for the expressive use of vibrato when I am soloing.. I lock into some kind of 'common beat multiple' automatically. It seems to come very naturally. Even when adding a dynamic vibrato (increasing or decreasing in speed), it either tends to start as or wind up reinforcing whatever rhythmic signature governing the piece. Since all pitches have "rhythm" it would be fascinating to know if key somehow also affect time signature in any way. That is of course a pretty far fetched idea, but it wouldn't surprise me entirely if there is at least some statistical relation between key and preferred beat. Does an A "sound better" in music played at 55 bpm or 110bpm than in 57 bpm or 113 bpm?

[@CIA-m1v]

I am British, but I work as a composer and arranger in China. In Beijing opera, the singers often have a very slow vibrato, along with other vocal affectations.

[@CIA-m1v]

One of the best things about Melodyne is that it is very easy to minimise or exaggerate vibrato, but it has a host of other very useful features.

[@justanmpowereddude5021]

The lick is everything 🎹

[@CHONKERBOT]

Hey Adam, I love your videos, long time fan. I think it’s important what you poked here, with vibrato this time. The Caravan comparison is a good example of how the nuances are getting rid off for a favor of an instant, mass-produced flavor of the mainstream. That is why I think your videos are so unique. You are serving the tense juicy riffs with a perfect tempo and clarity, so it’s nourishing and entertaining. And honestly, it’s very hard to watch when you overreact with the same “whooh” and mimics that suddenly started breaking for pewdiwpish reaction video channels to such specialized ones. The sharp and sexy Caravan is you recording metal/jazz songs with Rob, and I just wanted to say that I much prefer you using you rather than mimicking vivid colored emoticons. Cheers!

[@bobansak2583]

Wow, the Captain quote is _____ I was a private yacht captain and early on a musician who also worked in the music industry, as a label PR/A&R guy... so yea...relatable!!

[@DJAsja123]

Thanks for showing me Flying lotus, three songs in and the basslines are amazing