Paul Davids sent me an AWFUL guitar solo...and I fixed it - Ben Levin

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[@PaulDavids]

I love this small peak into your mind Ben! And thank you for making me beautiful, you're a wizard.

[@drewbus2176]

Paul Davids you are the best

[@maenezzable]

I am the best

[@BenLevin]

You're an amazing musician and I am so glad we could make this video!

[@QuistJam]

Paul Davids awesome stuff Paul ⚡️

[@atenea6172]

another collab when?

[@watercolourmark]

I've been ugly and solo for years.

[@TheGolden0Man]

F

[@robertrice3993]

F

[@matt_sexton]

F

[@benjaminfrank9294]

F

[@moufuzz2759]

F

[@MrLikeAsatellite]

Now give this chord progression without the solo to another guitar KZbinr to play a solo over it...

[@ramboruiz]

yes!

[@More_Dread]

secondeded!

[@WizardOfArc]

That would be cool too.... and so Jazz

[@micahmadore]

Please

[@stefan1024]

Nice! You could make a longer chain, like the whisper game.

[@flatterswhite]

the intro with you opening the letter was very blues clues of you

[@JaMeshuggah]

Here's the mail; it never fails..

[@crumb5756]

I'm using that phrase from now on "How very Blues Clues of you"

[@flatterswhite]

@@crumb5756 I want 60% of your total income then

[@crumb5756]

@@flatterswhite Deal.

[@captainawesome4622]

Blue just got a letter I wonder who it's from!

[@zachammonpeterson2011]

Any melody is beautiful with the right harmony. That's a good metaphor for life. I hope I find my life harmonic home soon.

[@eleintblood]

This is beautiful

[@hyde4004]

This sounds like it came straight from Ben's mouth

[@stevecarter8810]

some modes don't need key center

[@uniworkhorse]

I left this comments section happy today

[@shloopp]

When I do this I'm "disturbing the customers and have to leave Guitar Center." When Paul does it he's a genius.

[@aarondreamin]

hahaha yo i legit lol'd out

[@davidledford3522]

To hell with guitar center 😂 I get more nervous 😬 playing in there than I do on stage

[@viridianloom]

Its actually really cool how he can kind of come up with a really random sounding solo and with some elbow grease and know how you can harmonize it in such a way that he looks like a savant that keeps up with crazy key changes. Do this for me so I can get some of that sweet street credddd

[@kassemir]

I agree. I also thought it was interesting how many triads were in the solo too. Maybe we're not very good at doing truly random stuff, or maybe it's just 'cause there's only so many notes to choose from.

[@Nils3OWN]

Master's degrees and extensive practice pay off

[@franciscodanconia3551]

Solo at the beginning of the video: jazz Solo at the end of the video: *_J A Z Z_*

[@W7RSON]

*Beefy jazz*

[@nomepredefinito1174]

Hats off. Now make a band together. Named Ya Bo Ba Baah.

[@JimDarkmagicThe4th]

Yah boo bay

[@woutvandenberg5537]

@@JimDarkmagicThe4th snail down, the best show on television!

[@saharsharora3912]

the "every youtuber pretending they hadn't already opened the package and are organically reacting to it on camera" opening killed me, especially that one transition around 0:30 omg

[@davidharrison5873]

The arrangement and sound design of your backing track was amazing, as well as your harmonic choices. Loved this video concept... more of this please! I would watch a more lengthy and in depth dive into your process.

[@micheleperla]

Damn, I wish you'd shown the whole process, this was very entertaining and inspiring to watch! #teamphrygian

[@QuistJam]

Awesome stuff gents!!! 👏

[@Pedozzi]

5:58 totally related animation

[@Syrange13]

Ladies and gentlemen, Ben Levin's image of strength and confidence. A kinda flat, yet wobbly ass. Really makes you think.

[@KnzoVortex]

@@Syrange13 Yes, this is perfect peak strength and confidence.

[@jacobmorgan1438]

5:58 Ah yes, that's exactly the visual that was needed for the words "strong and confident."

[@rahzark]

musical instruments really are doors to infinity

[@TheVoitel]

Hi Ben, you did wonderfully there, that’s some lovely goofy chord progression. Here’s my quick take on this: petzel.at/T1-PD.flac The start smells very much like g# minor to me, much like a theme Bach would do (and once the chromaticisms kick in, it’s very Shostakovitch-like). Anyway, I tried. (I ripped out the guitar part from your video - please don’t sue me. And if you’re interested I can do a sheet with the chords I’m using.)

[@davidmarshall2989]

TheVoitel this is actually super cool! Liking to help him notice this comment

[@spersdfman]

amazing!

[@feedbackbro]

Fantastic. Love it.

[@tristanavakian]

Excellent, especially the last bit with the climb. Well done.

[@MaximeTanti]

I love when he says, "he's so refined" at 0:35.

[@EliS-rv4db]

After watching the “fixed version” like five times over the past year, I can’t hear the original version as bad, I just hear Ben’s chords behind it

[@JonathanRuchlis]

Honestly even before hearing the chord progression it doesn't really sound bad to me just incomplete, like it needs some nice chords beneath it haha

[@emperorspock3506]

5:58 Proof that Ben is the Duke of Dank.

[@louisjamin7195]

I actually loved the solo at first... 😱

[@mickyfitz5037]

This excercise seems like a challenge that requires every kind of musical skill, including creativity. I'm not sure why this isn't a normal thing!

[@MrLikeAsatellite]

Another interesting thing: after hearing the whole arrangement a couple of times, the naked solo totally makes sense by itself even without the chords.. Adam Neely, why is that?

[@alikaandrade3435]

MrLikeAsatellite I’m not as smart as Adam, but I think it’s because the more you listen to it, the chord progression is associated with the melody in our minds, and it plays in our minds as a phantom along with the solo thereafter 🤷🏽‍♂️

[@TheVoitel]

It’s basically because the part actually does have a lot of inherent structure, which is not immediately recognizable.

[@mekaloton]

REPETITION LEGITIMIZES

[@HimanXK]

@@mekaloton REPETITION LEGITIMIZES

[@tomazlm_]

@@mekaloton REPETITION LEGITIMIZES

[@shamsaliriaz5264]

Paul Davids is so good that even when he's trying to write an ugly solo, it sounds really cool and mysterious.

[@shamsaliriaz5264]

@@racheldolezal738 That concept reminds me of Lifetime lapse by Ben. I would love to make an animation for it if I could, but I think this thing will have to remain unanimated for the moment.

[@Mis.tresss]

I love your editing style and the really fun, fast paced energy you fill your videos with. It really shows dedication not only to being a musician but also as a creator. If I could leave more than 1 like I would.

[@ChuloDavidcito]

You two have created an excellent movie music theme full of drama and angst! btw, Ben, you're the only KZbinr who illustrates correct envelope guitar picking technique! Bonus - hilarious video editing!

[@TheBoondoggler]

You are hands down the most efficient and entertaining music theory teacher I have ever encounterd, Ben. Wish I'd met you 30 years ago. But you probably would've been like a 6 month old at the time. Bless.

[@iforth64]

I can think of a few inversions of this Levin Lecture. 1. Can we paste some random chords together and construct a solo over it that makes them beautiful? 2. Can we take a random chord sequence and add some *random* notes to give it meaning (~random: any note present in all of the chords played) 3. Take random chords like before and delete some notes in them, timing taken from an 'ugly' solo). 4. Take an existing solo over existing chords and give it new meaning by only changing the *instrumentation*.

[@SuperGroat]

Woww great job it sounds amazing at the end. Both interesting to listen to and easy to enjoy ! Love the confident 3d animation of the butt

[@NoName-jh7yj]

Is it strange that I enjoyed the original "ugly" version of the solo?

[@m.h.lockesteppe9834]

No Name Not at all, it was a good “solo.”

[@justingarcia7722]

Even though it was intentionally off,his sense of time and the fact that he still had patterns in it,albeit discordant, still caught your ear in interesting ways

[@pwhqngl0evzeg7z37]

I liked it too. Reminded me a bit of Holdsworth.

[@Azleur1]

Paul is an amazing player, so... nope. But as Ben pointed out, the solo goes nowhere, tells no story. It's just a bunch of random notes and styles clashing against each other... unless you give them some crazy context that makes sense of it all.

[@NoName-jh7yj]

@@Azleur1 well, I guess it makes sense. However, because every part of this solo tells some kind of story individually, for me it was still very interesting and even catchy. It was like the movie 4 Rooms, except there were far more rooms and they were located in different hotels.

[@existential_fred]

May I say, that is a smashing blouse you have on

[@penguindrum264]

Your arranging skills are amazing, both harmonically, but also textually. It's so varied but coherent at the same time.

[@auxphoenix]

i've been working on some songs by writing melody first, and non-repeating melody too (so kind of similar to a solo like this), writing the chords to it afterwards, and this is almost EXACTLY the same process I've been using! And it's a great way to find different rhythmic intervals to play around with timing shifts and syncopation. You can use a similar process writing to an improvised drum part too for some really interesting stuff. So fun to play around with writing music around some central thing that is very odd and trying to make it digestible.

[@adrian5b]

"He's so refined" hahahaha Ben Levin saying that about Paul Davids is so perfect

[@Pedozzi]

this is gold, and the visual effect are so clumsy

[@Wayne_Robinson]

That was really fun and inspiring... thanks guys! It makes me wonder what chords Paull was thinking of when playing the melody. I usually start by writing chord sequences and you provided a good nudge towards doing some harmonization/reharmonization exercises.

[@gdu99]

Oh damn. It would've been cool to see you makke thee experimentations for the test of the solo ! And also to see how you produced this backing track !

[@BATTIS94]

The thing is, because Paul knows how to play, you can tell there's a logic (and good technique) behind his solo, even if he tries to make something awful. Like the tonic shift in the 3th measure. He was trying to make something awful, but he can't lose his sense of musicality. Which, in and on itself is pretty interesting. But still, this is a very interesting exercise and the outcome sounds great.

[@mrzeppelin4life]

That E to F#min with the solo on measure 1 and 2 sounds amazing

[@BigDaddyWes]

I was digging the solo even before any chords.

[@alilacherruse]

I'm no musicologist but I was enjoying the light Crimson-ish feel about it. Can't really cite what era but I did like the solo, like you.

[@feedbackbro]

This is so fantastic. Very very cool and I deeply admire your knowledge- and also Paul’s ability to conceive of such a crazy solo. FWIW, I preferred the E to F#-7 beginning. The E to A start sounded like a church psalm kind of thing to me. However, this was great. Well done!!

[@DasOmen02]

that Bm > Bb/A > E > Asus was intense and I loved it edit: also that F#7(11) was so playful and cute. The solo was like zooming across a dark forest and focusing on a cute bunny for a second, only to realise the bunny is a like bait for a hideous creature or something, and then zooming back off

[@Fire-Toolz]

next composition i do, i'm doing it like this. i'm going to play a chromatic solo and build some chord around it. sounds sooooooooooooooooo fun.

[@tspeiro]

Absolutely amazing. From your explanation of how you break it down in your head, to the final product... Just awesome.

[@ibrahimazzam5182]

I can't uhear the yabababas when the guitar is playing now 😂😂

[@MTSstudiosmedia]

You never disappoint, Ben. I'm sitting here yelling at my screen, DON'T do a G#m, do a EM7!! And then you do. lol

[@PerniciousPecker]

Ben, your editing makes me giggle. Thx to you both, I needed this today.

[@user-74652]

I discovered you from the "5 composers" videos posted by David Bruce and decided that I had to check you out. So far, I'm glad I did.

[@ScttSt_vocals]

Well, at the very beginning E to the A sounded so much softer and so much non-straight-forward. Sometimes beight colors can make the whole page go blank for some people, imo

[@KrillSpammer]

very cool! sounds kind of like Age of Adz era sufjan stevens

[@RylonBlackbeak]

Fucking epic. That C# section rocks! It's like Radliohead meets Zappa meets Dr Suess.. . . . . . On Lima Sierra Delta

[@alexmackzie]

Oh man, this is the greatest timeline.

[@vakavanha]

That was awesome and insane! What should I learn first, if I want to be able to do a similar treatment to my own ugly solos and riffs? Sequel idea?

[@Stratocaster42]

Absolutely amazing, Ben! I couldn't imagine that solo ever sounding good before you harmonised and arranged it, but the outcome was incredible! It reminded me of some weird Voidz guitar solo.

[@JbfMusicGuitar]

Awesome work, always amazes me how context changes a melody!

[@Unlikelyentropy]

Out of left field, but as a film and television colourist, this whole approach/method strikes me as the best audio simile. Each image has its own notes, but reside without a whole, and I can't change the content, only colour it to give it unity and a place to live moment to moment. Thank you for this new tool to visualize and explain my process!

[@aliclinton4500]

Beautiful stuff.. i've always loved the G#m/Emaj7 thing since chord chemistry blew my mind with it.

[@spencerj]

For years I’ve been looking for a music theory video like this! Please do more of this!

[@martinpaddle]

You can now take it further by sending the chord progression to another guitarist to improvise over

[@QobelD]

Oh My Love! This video was edited with fun!.. Powerful fun!

[@bartspaan1993]

Most of this solo reminds me of the strokes and idk why. Really cool sound 👍does somebody have a playlist that have solo's like this?

[@martifingers]

The only danger these days is that we start taking this level of proficiency and sheer musical creativity for granted. Great stuff Ben and Paul too!

[@RTFosmark]

So amazing! Ben you are a gifted composer.

[@eriknelson9975]

Great video! Would love to see you go through the whole solo bar by bar

[@loonaya]

Great video! Thanks both. I have less than rudimental knowledge of theory, just wanted to check something. When Ben moved the barre finger from Bmaj to get Bmaj7 (Bmaj/B#), F# became an F, that would than be something like Bmaj b5/B# if that even exists :) Or I'm all wrong. Anyone?

[@huntermorgan6177]

3:49 Honestly, when I first heard it I thought of Emaj7. I dont even know why. Maybe it was the bright tone that made me think major? Either way when he played the minor I was like "oh shoot, yeah"

[@captainawesome4622]

Hey Ben, what model is that seagull acoustic? It's beautiful

[@simondanielssonmusic]

Is there such a thing as music theory porn? Cause I think this is it.

[@BunchyMutt]

Steve from Blue's Clues after attending a music conservatory

[@Rickyfryfry]

I appreciate your videos. As a recent subscriber I look forward to your future content. Keep dropping knowledge.

[@michaelakraka8100]

Awesome lesson and result! Super inspiring! Thank you!

[@Ericleeproject]

Holy shot ben... I didn't even know you had a channel?!? Love it! Much love, Hotsauce from the black forest

[@illuminatibraincontrol]

Am I crazy that when I first heard Pauls solo, I didn't think it was bad until the end and could imagine potential harmony in it already?

[@Vermoot]

So very educational. Thank you very much, I would have loved to see you do the whole thing like you did the beginning, but I understand it would have been very long, and probably tiring for you to explain everything in detail.

[@HoraceMash]

The whole is greater than the sum of the parts! Surely this is a sign that these chords and melody were made for each other? I salute your musical creativity and artful choices. Thank you both!

[@davelanciani-dimaensionx]

This is very similar to the way Frank Zappa would take an isolated random guitar solo, transcribe the notes (or have Steve Vai transcribe the notes), and turn it into a full musical piece. I love this kind of stuff.

[@DovidM]

I would give more weight to the notes used on the strong beats (for example, beats 1 and 3 in 4/4) in determining which chords to assign.

[@kungfuasgaeilge]

Hey Ben, I think a really cool thought-provoking experiment for you would be to score a video from the 'Journey To The Microcosmos' youtube channel. Even though everything they show is real life, all that twitching and squirming and writhing and gliding kind of reminds me of your animations in an odd way. I think your music over those images would create a really magical scene. Their truncated url below: channel/UCBbnbBWJtwsf0jLGUwX5Q3g

[@TheSapientity]

Plus, maybe this way we can fold Andrew Huang into the KZbin Jazzsphere.

[@MrMapacheco]

oh! a new episode of I harm u! oh, Jacob has changed his appearance a bit, I see

[@beenthere9770]

Is Ben now working with Pixar? He really has upped his animation game. So Fine!

[@Bladavia]

Damn I learned so much in just 10 minutes. Example is one of the best way to teach. Time to apply now !

[@Ve55el]

I avoided this video for the longest time because I thought It was gonna be like an autotune/rhythmic watering down kinda thing...once I realized you were contextualizing the solo rather than changing it...holy s&^t yes I wanna see that. :)

[@psbbianforlife]

I can't unhear the final version in the original anymore. It just sounds better now

[@DomingoVoiceOver]

Well done Ben! In addition to your obvious music talent I appreciate the hard work that went into producing this video. You've got a new subscriber here!

[@josephbeatty4875]

Great video! This made me really want to get serious and learn theory instead of just “play by ear” like I’ve been doing.

[@noreaction1]

This is the perfect amount of awkward singing

[@tobortine]

Genesis called, they wondered if this composition is for sale?

[@alilacherruse]

Maybe... i cannot say you are "wrong" because you are not. I heard King Crimson.

[@gruforevs]

fantastic video, this makes me wonder, how can I start by writing something super chromatic like that on a blank page? to me, I always think of harmony first and maybe it's restraining my melodic choices.

[@radioactivated]

I suppose you can try singing the melody on its own as if it were a song, then fill in the harmonies.

[@michaellisinski2822]

I imagine you could try the same approach as this video actually. Play some 'directionless' solo passages and use Ben's approach to come up with the harmony. You could always change things around if they sound *too* chaotic, but just meandering like Paul does here can probably bust you out of your harmonic comfort zone to start with.

[@juancruzbassi6600]

The guitar tone plus the E voicing at the beggining reminds me so much to Julian Lage.

[@spongeorpete7289]

In the original solo measure 8 and the fist lick in measure 9 sound like if blackbird had a solo 2:20

[@alejandrohualdez5550]

I thought the ice cream van was outside at first!!!

[@robpiy91]

10:01 this Muse vibe though!

[@Midnightdupont]

I watched that video when you uploaded it, and back then the solo obviously sounded totally horrible... But you managed to harmonize it so well that even now the solo sounds awesome to me without context I can't unhear it 🤯

[@heylookitsn0ah]

We just got a letter! We just got a letter! We just got a letter! I wonder where it’s from?

[@WarDimensionOfficial]

0:32 Wtf... I literally expected the package to be a video from paul, exactly like this one (I expected more better tracking actually)

[@prestonrutherford3997]

@ben levin you’re an inspiration. I hope to make great videos like you one day!

[@GuitarJesse7]

Great harmonization and the instrumentation/production was quite unexpected. Cool blend of jazzy guitar with electronic accompaniment!

[@QuikdethDeviantart]

Poor Paul wasn’t expecting this... luckily he takes a psychic punch to the frontal lobe synopsis’ pretty well. Overheard at an Internet café. One with the special é character at the end. He “Ben-a-fied” it...

[@lukeschafer441]

At 4:02 and 4:07 did you speed the video up a tiny bit in between gaps in your speech? Or am I tripping?

[@philrached]

Even AFTER I watched the whole thing, I said “How?” out loud when I heard the finished piece 🤣