Wait, why do these basic chords sound SO GOOD? | Q+A

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Answering your questions about bass and music!
0:00 Intro
0:16 Why does E - A/E - E - E/G# - A sound so good?
3:01 WRONG chord progression
6:40 What's the "third steam?"
8:25 What is the craziest chord you can play?
8:41 Why no classical bass, but classical guitar?
9:53 Should people take AP music theory?
10:17 Whats your favorite/least favorite thing about the nYC scene?
11:18 Is clickbait unavoidable?
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[@TommyMaqueenie]

I wasn't ready to hear Adam sing this early in the video

[@bordeauxcolor]

I'm in love now

[@thijs199]

I mean it's just wrong and I'm not gonna even state it's my opinion

[@xp8969]

Lil bit of Irish Coffee to start the day

[@Kaktysh_metal]

Technically in the earlier videos he began singing even earlier

[@1337-Nathaniel]

I LOVE MY MOOOOM!!!

[@Brickzot]

Any chord progression that sounds ‘wrong’ can be ‘right’ if you just play it enough times. Because *repetition legitimizes.*

[@MichaelTurner856]

God I forgot about this joke 😂

[@azteriaaa]

repetion legitimizes

[@robertgerow670]

Repetition legitimizes?

[@xp8969]

Repetition legitimizes

[@trealexander5271]

Repetition legitimises

[@Szaam]

1:24 that was a genuinely beautiful performance by the Adam Neely Choir

[@onkelpappkov2666]

It was a damn neely choir indeed.

[@edwardclark6731]

* a d a m n e e l y c h o i r . *

[@PabloskyS84]

"Why no classical bass, but clasical guitar?" answer is partially incomplete, perhaps due to a nationality bias, but there is at least The Mexican guitarrón that, as Adam says, has an immense body and was invented in the 19th century. The notes are plucked like a current electric bass and it is still used by mariachis.

[@skierpage]

Thanks, I immediately thought of those big instruments.

[@st_orlie]

I love when people just write a random sequence of "jazzy chords" expecting Adam to be impressed lol.

[@klaxoncow]

You know, they could actually be trolling. Jazz musicians do open themselves up to a little light mockery - as their experimental style does give the untrained ear a sense of "they're just playing random chords and thinking it's really cool". This one sits right at the edge of plausibility for me. Not sure if it's serious but confused, or someone just outright taking the piss to drop that Dm7/E in the middle there. If it is a joke, then well done for nailing it. As it's just dissonant enough to make folks cringe, but not dissonant enough that it gives the game away and you're onto them: "Oh, come on, that's just random. You're clearly not being serious". If it ain't a joke, though, then, well, they've got a long way to go in their music theory journey. Good luck to them. They're going to need it. (Context matters for comedy, as well as music. All the chords are 7ths, with an over-long "Fmaj7add#4" just before the fateful "Dm7/E". Deliberately long-winded chords to mock jazz over-complication? Like, it has elements of "piss take" scattered throughout.)

[@st_orlie]

@@klaxoncow you could have just said: "idk, might've been a joke."

[@MixMastaCopyCat]

@@st_orlie They're just elaborating

[@AuXXKeyz]

@@st_orlie 😂😂😂 I know right

[@VOIP4ME]

He tries so hard to be open minded but man, he really did *not* like that progression lol

[@ConvincingPeople]

Regarding 8:41, technically the guitarrón used in mariachi music has been around for several centuries, having evolved from a Renaissance instrument called the bajo de uña, and uses a very deep and wide body to project without amplification. That said, I feel that not terribly many people were particularly aware of Mexican folk music or the Spanish traditions which influenced it outside of those places until comparatively recently, and unfortunately that traditional music most likely lacked the prestige of the "art music" which the guitar wound up being adopted into in order to replace the lute-where the low end provided by something like a bass viol was already superseded by the cello and double bass rather than something like the bajo de uña.

[@guyraveh2712]

Also compare to a theorbo/chitarrone.

[@dariodeluna5360]

gracias por este comentario!

[@leaveitorsinkit242]

What was the difference between the bajo de uña and double bass?

[@ConvincingPeople]

@@leaveitorsinkit242 The bajo de uña in its original form isn't especially well-documented, but going by references from the time, it seems to have been the bass equivalent to the vihuela, an ancestor of the guitar related to both lutes and viols, and was played (as the name would suggest) with the fingernails rather than a bow or plectrum.

[@gwalla]

More composers should write for guitarrón. Expand the orchestral pizzicato strings beyond the harp! Add guitar, guitarrón, 17-string bass koto! Go nuts!

[@ickaruus4909]

your editing is so pleasing. 2:00 playing an example of what you were just talking about while just simply going on is such a simple but great improvement to quality.

[@barmacidic2257]

I’m not the biggest fan, its too distracting for me. Like, I get it aesthetically, but practically speaking a good number of people will also find it hard to concentrate on what he’s actually saying.

[@NoahStolee]

6:31 now I want to write a piece of music called "we need to hire a new bass player" with a totally incoherent bassline that makes the bassist look bad

[@Dowlphin]

That's the spirit! 😁👍

[@k4tzenhexxe675]

Does it exist by now? 😂

[@k4tzenhexxe675]

Okay, so that was a joke, but I'd actually listen

[@NoahStolee]

@@k4tzenhexxe675 i have not written it 😂 i give anybody else permission to write it!

[@laylover7621]

This is genius please do this

[@swagmiredoesall]

I think that one chord progression you heavily criticized was actually good, but incomplete. If they had more transitional chords it'd sound mysterious and somewhat epic.

[@matthewg4882]

I agree, there’s something interesting there for sure

[@swagmiredoesall]

@@matthewg4882 Yeah don't discredit something because it's not in a context your used to *cough* *cough* Adam

[@Astropyre]

@@swagmiredoesall He's not discrediting it. He already said you can do whatever you want and even said that the last two chords were heading somewhere nice, it just needed to be resolved. To be honest, he makes some really good points as to why the middle of the progression is just bad; it's scattered and isn't going anywhere

[@swagmiredoesall]

@@Astropyre I love Adam and his content but he definitely discredited this chord progression

[@raphaelmann]

Plus it's just a set of chords... No indication of timing, or context... You could put a melody of that, and time the changes right and it would work...

[@ChiggyChiggyChiggy]

"You can't take the audience out of your music." Wow. Strong words to live by.

[@overtone55]

On the 2nd chord progression. It feels like he was trying to do a deceptive cadence, landing on 6 instead of 1. Adam suggested a b3 after that to go back to 1. From my work in the barbershop genre, b3 is actually used to set up a deceptive cadence in a 2-5-(b3-6). It helps with all the sevenths. When used sparingly, it can be very effective.

[@AndLOLGG]

Having synesthesia and not having perfect pitch. Have you ever experienced that while playing live and in a rehearsal setup that you anticipated the colour of the chord but was surprised when it turned out to be something different? Did it affect your playing style and what note you were going to play next to colour the song in a particular way?

[@rohiogerv22]

Point about the second progression (the one Adam didn't care for): On guitar, that's C with the B string open F with the top two strings open Dm7 with the entire bottom end open Open position G7 and a fun resolution In other words, how idiomatic it is on guitar, and the resonance of open strings, may lend it some credibility that it lacks on piano.

[@jeremykeaton274]

That's an example of how important voicing can be - it's not always just about the chord notes in isolation. I still think it's a pretty wacky progression but playing it on guitar like you describe brings out some nice qualities. The open B and E strings carrying over in the first two chords acts like a high pedal point, and shared notes always make harmonic progressions more interesting. And the voicing of the D minor on guitar minimizes the dissonance that Adam highlights - while he plays an octave E in the left hand, the low E string on guitar is very separated from the F at the top of the chord (by three octaves!). Separating dissonant notes like this can temper the dissonance somewhat. Another guitar specific thing is that the E just kind of gets lost in the ringing of the low strings. With the D and A open and ringing together, you get hit with a lot more D minor sound and less of the E with the dissonance.

[@rohiogerv22]

@@jeremykeaton274 Yeah, and thinking about it that way, you can kind of put a quartal or quintal stack at the bottom of most things and it sounds a bit modal but a lot more intentional than similar voicings of the same notes, at least

[@vellikofon]

Actually, the low frequencies propagate with less losses than higher frequencies. So a low freq wave travelling the same distance as a higher freq wave will be louder. The "problem" here is our psychoacoustic sensitivity to sound. Our ears are more sensible to sounds from 1kHz to 3KHz and that's why we need amplification for lower frequencies. As a prctical example think of when you are far away from a concert you will hear/feel better the low frequencies. P.S. 1: I am fun at parties I swear. P.S. 2: Love from Greece Adam, love your videos.

[@Aleedis226]

Lol the preemptive statement about being fun at parties made me giggle 😄

[@denhammcintosh3030]

Wrong... though our ears are less sensitive to lower frequencies, the difference in perception is not as great as the difference in volume between acoustic guitars and basses. The lower frequencies do need a larger space to resonate because their longer wavelengths cannot complete full waves in a small space, and the smaller body of the guitar does not resonate at lower frequencies like the larger wood panels of a bass does. As for what you said about lower frequencies not being dampened as well, this phenomenon also contributes to them being harder to "capture" in a smaller instrument. I've been an acoustic engineer for 15 years by the way.

[@WiggyWamWam]

I don’t think this can be true based on my own observations working with audio, do you have a source?

[@egress8445]

Whoa, Harmony Through Melody! That's written by my undergrad theory prof and his colleagues, and it was my main theory textbook all through my degree. Pretty validating to hear you call it "intense" because...yup. But as a singer I think it did help me to really focus on thinking about chords this way.

[@oibruv3889]

Certainly great book, although i hope he is aware that it is most certainly based on the approach of schenker, its central ideas are not novel

[@juane.valenzuelaavaca5097]

Fun fact about 09:00. There's a sort-a bass ancestor in Gnawa music. The instrument it's called Guembri. A 3-string "guitar" with a low register. The Gnawa tradition influences western music through the 800 years of Al-andaluz and the arab-andalusian tradition (present even in "Cantigas de alfonso XX el sabio", with arab composers and arab musician among the court). However, it's pure speculation why the bass guitar tradition couldn't permate the western cannon as much as other elements of arab and gnawa music . (I apologize for my english, cheers from Chile)

[@Dowlphin]

It's because western cannon is too loud, and also because it does not get permeated; It is the one who permeates.

[@juppertv]

Mingus' funny song titles reminded me of some titles by a Japanese EDM artist called "Camellia". Some of them are: - The Cat Evolved Into The Microwave-proof Cat! - Electromagnetic Stealth Girl Born In Philadelphia - Tentaclar Aliens' Epic Extraterretterrestrial Jungle Dance Party - Newspapers for Magicians - We Magicians still alive in 2021 The reason why is probably because he is well known in rhythm-based video games

[@Regw2520]

yooo I love camellia

[@clubpenguinfan1928]

Oh right, you mean Tentaclar Aliens' Epic Extraterrestrial Jungle Dance Party Inside Of A Super-Ultra-Mega-Gigantic U.F.O. (It Maybe U.U.F.O.) Silently Flying Over Illinois Street.

[@leonaugust9154]

I would like to add onto the "why no classical bass" question. Not only is amplification an issue, but the strings used wouldnt have been good enough either. Before the 1890/1910s the main strings used on guitars were gut strings, made from sheep intestine. The only way these strings could really resonate as basses were through having incredibly long necked instruments. An example of a work around on this are things like the Theorbo and Archlute, and even then you had to tune the strings for the specific basses needed. you couldnt fret them like you would today.

[@timgehrsitz3267]

Adam singing! Already a great video

[@oscargill423]

And intonal too!

[@doubtfy]

Finally another Q&A, I love these, always inspire me :)

[@Gerry9000000]

That Dm7/E gave me end of 'Saturn' from Holst's Planets vibes. One of the best resolutions harmonically to any piece ever imho. Dm7/E , Dm7, Cmaj7. Rising melody, falling bass, glorious.

[@tinotalks1256]

Really enjoy your videos. They're very informative and there's something relaxing about the way you present everything as well. 👍

[@DrumRollTonyReacts]

Great video as always

[@paulleach3226]

I love how you mix "we're going to a little bit spookier of a place" with so much academic and craftsman's rigour in other places. Also, as an advertising person, fascinating to hear how you start with audience empathy just as marketers [should] do [but they usually don't]

[@ganderson87]

Love the video and the singing! :D NB Incase anyone was wondering, the bagpipes were playing Highland Cathedral, which is not a traditional Scottish tune. It was written by german composers Ulrich Roever and Michael Korb :)

[@standingwavestudio]

Speaking of the NYC music scene I just wanted to thank you for introducing me to clubs like Smalls and Rockwood. I was in town from the West coast for a week and was determined to see a show at one of the places you always mention/play at. So I looked through the calendars and found Ron Carter playing with Geoffrey Keezer at Mezzrow. What a great experience! Sad I left 2 days before the NYChillharmonic played.

[@Nooticus]

Nice Q + A! Deffo one of your chillest videos in a while! I'm thankful you didn't go on and on (and on) about the style of 18th century European music for so long this time, you kept it short and sweet which I like!

[@lukeblackburn6440]

Love your videos, man. Keep it up!

[@shpilbass5743]

08:40 Well, there were a few plucked instruments in the renaissance and baroque period that were partly or fully in the bass register. Those were normally used to play basso continuo, a style on which a bass instrument (usually a Cello, Viola da Gamba or Bassoon) would play a written bassline and a harmonic instrument (like a Harpsichord, Organ, Lute, Harp etc.) would play the harmonies according to the bass notes, and in later periods numbers that would be alongside the notes to help the player figure out the harmony). The most famous plucked string instrument that is enters the bass register is the Theorbo, aka Chitarrone. It typically had 14 courses (a course is either a single string, or two string that sound in a unison or octave that you play as though they were one string) in which the upper strings were the same as a lute and the lower strings were tuned to a scale (the player would tune the scale to the key of whatever piece they were playing). The player played the bass line with their thumb on the bass strings and used the other fingers to play the harmony on the upper strings. There are many other similar instruments that work on a similar principal with different tunings/numbers of strings etc. including the Liuto Attiorbato, Bass Lute and Archlute. I know of one instrument used in Europe in the Renaissance and Baroque period that can be seen as equivalent to the modern bass guitar in as much as it only has low strings which is the Colascione. It usually had two or three strings (although I've seen one with four) in the lower register, tuned in fifths. I believe there were also Russian, East Asian and Arab instruments that were similar to a bass guitar (an image comes to mind of a huge Bass Balalaika from Russia with a triangular body the size of a Double Bass body), but those are not areas that I'm familiar with.

[@alexanderbayramov2626]

tbh in baroque people cared a lot about meaty bass, so Adam Neely's opinion probably doesn't include this era of music?

[@BrokenMonocle]

Ye, he was basically saying that you can't size those down without an amp. The big basses work because they have a big body for the sound to resonate in, but in a bass guitar, there's just not enough room.

[@shpilbass5743]

@@BrokenMonocle yeah, I was just saying that acoustic plucked string bass instruments, although rare, have existed since for centuries

[@NomeDeArte]

Yeah, today watch an old one because I need my fix. Thank you Adam! Best wishes from Argentina

[@wallystogner90]

Awesome video, always appreciate your qna’s when I watch them but this one was especially great

[@artemisnite]

Awesome! Evil Adam Neely dropping knowledge! Thanks for the tips.

[@ehname1]

I get a lot of joy out of being able to predict where a progression is going and I like the improved version of the second progression for that reason. I think learning the rules before you break them is a good rule..

[@TheRealWulfderay]

I never get tired of your in-depth yet accessable explanations. That relatively short video was just jam-packed with interesting bits and bobs. Btw, you need to sell a t-shirt: 'Love the music, hate the shlep ' with a silhouette of lady liberty in the background. If you sell one, I'll buy it.

[@Corland44]

I haven't heard Adam's singing voice before and it's so lovely!

[@umutjfry6378]

Adam, I love your videos. You inspire me a lot. Keep up the good work!

[@Sababuselik]

We are a damn lot of people enjoying Adam sing, yeah?

[@vjmcgovern]

YES MA’AM

[@tackontitan]

The idea of harmony through melody is exemplified in Godowsky's Studies on Chopin. He always tries to create moving lines from simple harmonic structures. Even his 2nd study based on Chopin's first etude he turns the simple harmonic outline into a chromatic melody buried between the arpeggios. And in his second study after op. 10 no. 9 he creates a 4 voice structure by taking the underlying harmony and the melody and changing them to create a massive polyphonic tower. All of the original harmony is still preserved, however.

[@courtmarr5714]

Wow, that explanation of harmony is so damn good, thank you.

[@alphadaze6525]

Love what you do! Simple, and clear. Thanks. M

[@kornelparoczai1763]

He play that funky bass He gigs in many place But most importantly He sing with so much grace

[@cheekofnut]

:)

[@billyalarie929]

No no no Most importantly … He make that bass stank face

[@dominick8558]

One of the best third-stream tunes I love by Mingus is Children's Hour of Dream. It's an incredibly unique piece of music, but I love the aspects of it which can be compared to classical music. Being close to the Mingus Dynasty, I have learned that Children's Hour of Dream was composed after Charlie Parker approached Mingus and improvised over Stravinsky's Rite of Spring, and over the next 3 days after that encounter, Mingus wrote the whole tune. On top of this, the entire Black Saint and the Sinner Lady Suite by Mingus is an incredible piece of work, and I got to play the entire Suite with my big band

[@VinnieDev]

Thank you for educating me every time!

[@Chasantnik]

Lovely piece, Adam.

[@maxp2305]

Watched this yesterday on Nebula

[@maxp2305]

@@belgianvanbeethoven thanks

[@bentfishbowl3945]

I liked the "wrong" chord progression especially because of subverting expectations about something familiar. I'm all about that mixture of familiar and off-putting, I think it roots you but also makes the slight, masked inconsistencies more interesting

[@Limbaugh_]

I liked it but I didn’t like it stopping on the Ab chord

[@bentfishbowl3945]

yeah, but that's an issue with these chord progressions, taken as small units to loop over and over. what if it instead evolves into something else?

[@hovhannes11]

In my opinion the progression was pretty amazing. I really dig it.

[@biggieb.4843]

@@bentfishbowl3945 exactly my thoughts. It's hard to gauge where the music is trying to get to if you don't really have all of the puzzle pieces.

[@Dowlphin]

Subversion of expectations is one major pillar of entertainment, especially comedic entertainment.

[@BetterCallJohn]

As always, thank you Adam.

[@JulesFox]

This is such an intelligent channel and presentation by Adam - really quality stuff. Thank you.

[@HappyBeezerStudios]

"There are no wrong notes, you just lack confidence" - Jacob Collier Everything can be made on purpose, is you just have an idea of where to go from there.

[@dutchdykefinger]

in fact do weird stuff, stand out, there's already way too much way-too-tonic 4 chord stuff out there

[@blaisesday2592]

​@@dutchdykefinger "Your music is incorrect" so conservative and discourages evolution :(

[@darkroomxvii]

Collier also said there are strong and weak choices when it comes to movement. That progression has a lot of weak choices when it comes to movement that don’t fit with any “logic”, making it sound incomplete

[@Walaweegee]

You're comments at 6:00 about Chopin and bagpipes reminds me a lot of what Ives wrote. How did his music gain any traction when, to most listeners, it sounds pretty much like what you described? Thanks! Been teaching music for almost a decade and I love watching your videos to get new insights into things!

[@willmandelbaum6087]

this is so funny, because i was showing my dad ives' quarter tone pieces this morning and when he was talking about this i was thinking of ives too!

[@james_subosits]

In all honesty, his music was ignored by the general public for most of his life. There were certain composers & conductors that championed his music towards his later years and people recognized his genius.

[@midnightkiteflight6333]

Mostly because of Charles Ives really.

[@saberlike659]

Ives had the benefit of music not being his primary career, he ran an insurance agency, and was quite successful at it. He didn't need to worry about commercial success (though he did find success in the last decade or so of his life. It's a fascinating case study in how artistic expression freed from financial constraints can get so experimental. He even used his wealth to finance other composers and bankroll their careers.

[@drewc9488]

Oooh fuck yeah. I loved playing Ives in college symphonic band. Everyone hated it but I was having the time of my life bc it made the audience uncomfortable and laugh out loud !! I don’t think I’ll have that experience again with an audience

[@deangrande7002]

another masterclass thanks Adam 🙌🏼

[@ondrejrohon5696]

Crazy good content dude

[@ianknudson267]

Pog Adam Neely video

[@daanwilmer]

6:15 "Scottish traditional music" - that's Highland Cathedral, written in 1982 by two Germans. Probably the most popular music for bagpipe (or bagpipes and brass), but not the most Scottish or traditional.

[@thrivesuffer4787]

Thanks Adam!

[@davidwave4]

Holy shit Adam singing! And it sounds beautiful! Au!

[@holotax]

I feel like making it something like Dm7/E G/D Abmaj7/C would smooth out a lot of the spice in the 'wrong' chord progression - adding the F-E-D-C bass would contain the crunch nicely.

[@coryman125]

Re: clickbait titles I don't think it's inherently wrong, and as Veritasium pointed out some time back it's essential to use titles that will make people want to watch. The problem as far as I'm concerned is people define "clickbait" differently. Personally I like the way you do it, they're interesting but don't feel like they're taunting you (like "you're wrong about..." or "why [obviously wrong thing] is actually true" or whatever), and when you pose a question there's usually an answer in the thumbnail for people who are only casually interested. Essentially it feels like you're building interest and not tricking people into watching

[@felixmarques]

I LOVE it when the thumbnail contains the answer.

[@iwmcampbell]

Harmony through Melody! Charles was my piano and theory prof! I've learned so much from that book and I've never heard anyone anywhere talk about it. Thanks for the engaging content!

[@brynax170]

now I finally hear Adam sing! this was a treat.

[@alexwbakker]

Regarding technology in music - strings being made of better materials for higher tensions is also critical. Titanium strings on a cello sure play nicer than steel. and steel is nicer than gut. Strings themselves really allow instruments to play better.

[@Iramek]

I liked the "wrong" in that progression. Going further could net something impressive. And the context my have helped relieve that "wrong".

[@RusNad]

Agree, I actually don't hate the E in the bass and I feel like it could work in a slow introspective piano piece or something.

[@FernieCanto]

Honestly, Adam's take just shows what you get when you try to make aesthetic judgement on chord progressions alone, without any melody, without any actual musical ideas, just without any ACTUAL MUSIC. Chord progressions _by themselves_ aren't music, and when you treat them as such, you just end up saying a lot of shit. Case in point, re "Chord progressions aren't music": on that "basic progression" at the start, in which Adam tried to explain the basics of polyphony, wasn't that bass going from E to G# supposed to go *UP* a major third, rather than DOWN a minor sixth? Going up would've been much more idiomatic to the style of polyphony that he's trying to explain; that huge leap down sounds way too disruptive, and a lot less "traditionally melodic" than the alternative.

[@jamesporterofficial]

Great video Adam!

[@mwflanagan1]

Oooooooh! Nearing 2 million subscribers! It’s all because of the interesting content. Quality. Thanks, Adam.

[@Simonchez]

Adam, please analyze Charles Trenet's 'La Mer" - with its two key changes and then back, I'd love to hear your take on why it "works" so well.

[@Ngasii]

5:48: I hear your point about it spunding unresolved but I have to admit I like this progression. It sounds very open to possibilities, it's instability with lingering wiffs of familiarity mimicks life quite nicely for me. I am definately the target audience.

[@devyse_514]

I’ve been really enjoying your in depth videos on topics like tempo and pitch perfect. Can you make a video on the benefits and disadvantages of playing an instrument while looking at the instrument vs playing while having your eyes closed?

[@John-boy]

Love your music room and it looks so organised

[@oscargill423]

Whoa 5 minutes I love the concept of How To Not Suck At Chord Progressions (3:01). As an avid harmony lover, I would most absolutely watch every single video. _heehee_ Someone: Puts a iim7/III before a V7 Adam: ...and I took that personally.

[@jeremykeaton274]

One nitpick - iim7/III isn't the correct notation. That would mean it was a borrowed chord, a iim7 in the key of the III chord. While it is colloquially written Dm7/E, you can't just translate that directly into roman numerals.

[@oscargill423]

@@jeremykeaton274 I'm using jazz roman numerals, I wouldn't have written iim7 if I was using standard, but ii7. Fair point though.

[@jeremykeaton274]

@@oscargill423 ah, gotcha. Im not as used to jazz roman numerals.

[@oscargill423]

@@jeremykeaton274 Fair enough

[@rediflow]

Trivia Time :-) the Schlep... me as a German recognize the roots of the word. We have the verb "schleppen" which basically means drag / carry a heavy load. This can be used for carrying home your groceries, dragging a ship into the harbor. In urbans slangs, it can be used to explain that someone made you go somewhere you did not wanted to, like if your girlfriend want to go the opera and make you go with her... another use is like walk slowly and with effort. Like in "She was able to drag herself to the phone with the last of her strength and call the police.", again the drag would be "schleppen" in a different form, the term "abschleppen" in it's original meaning is to tow a car, but can also be used as urban slang to pick up women / men

[@freeejazzz]

Love that Let My Children Hear Music is your favorite Mingus 3rd stream album! I completely agree!

[@KarlMarxJaDizia]

I think the progressions are beautiful, I've been pretty interested in different ways of listening to music and understanding it, been learning a lot from new complexity stuff and some post modern composers, i know it's not main stream at all, but i like it ❤

[@shubhodeepde3927]

Question for the next QnA: What makes psychedelic music haunting (or gets us into the zone/trip) and how does it effect our brain???

[@EccentricFanboy]

Some of my favorite third stream music is by Moondog: I think pieces like Birds' Lament or Good for Goodie nail the hybridization of classical form with jazz rhythm, harmony, instrumentation.

[@keard558]

Cool dawg your the first moondog dude I've seen on KZbin out in the wild

[@evanever]

Oh hey, I like Moondog too but hadn't heard of 'third stream' until this video. Witch of Endor and Minisym no.1 always struck me as being orchestral but totally removed from classical.

[@chrisd4504]

Neely, you are an absolute mad lad

[@Joe-du9fr]

This one is one to rewatch again and again

[@The5StringFury]

Quote of the day. "Please don't make the bass player look bad by writing bad chord progressions.."

[@pippin45]

I don't know why I was so surprised to find out you've got such a pleasant singing voice.

[@Dowlphin]

He should show us that he can sing bass, though. 😆

[@Lerche125]

Adam your content has been religiously viewed by me and anyone i can get to come into our world for over 3 years. Keep it up man , liked and subbed (obvs) I'll make sure to like the new stuff as it comes out more often.

[@ampthebassplayer]

Really glad you've made a statement on acoustic bass. So many people still think you can escape physics, but you just gotta amplify it or don't bother.

[@RyanYewell]

Sometimes I think Adam could literally make stuff up, absolute batsh*t crazy nonsense, that just "sounds" right (not sounding in the musical sense, but rather sounding in the explanation sense), and I'd probably be like "hmm... ok." How can one brain fit so much knowledge about music theory? Quite impressive and overwhelming for the layman. Much respect.

[@sonovoxx]

09:10 You should try the Emerald Guitars "Balor" 5 string fretless bass. It's as loud as a normal acoustic - made from carbon fibre. Awesome instrument.

[@Ivannbeats]

Carbon fiber, maybe he cannot afford it or isn't an intelligent investment

[@AluinKali]

As someone who plays Bass and Synths in Berlin I can only agree with this. The Schlepp is can sometimes really take the fun out of it. Especially in a heat wave like in the last couple of weeks.

[@kacper2246]

i really like the chord progression reviews in these videos

[@ThorsShadow]

10:24 In Germany we say "schleppen", which would be "to schlep". Didn't know the word was Yiddish. Fun fact: Some of us also sometimes refer to a "laptop" computer as a "schleptop", because you can carry or schlep it around.

[@PhosphorAlchemist]

It is unsurprising that the word is similar in German, given the origin of Yiddish from both Hebrew and German. A useful word travels light (ha!). I didn't realize how localized usage as an English loanword was until I visited places without significant German or European-Jewish populations and I had to explain the long way around. "Schleptop" is giving me a much- needed chuckle, so thanks for sharing.

[@brumm0m3ntum94]

yiddish is basically german with hebrew influences

[@carnacstone7309]

Adam I think you are 100% correct that we must consider the ear of our audience when composing music... at the same time the figures that we consider pioneers of music have generally pushed the limits of what is comfortable to listen to. I sort of think the best composers use conventional musical language that we are all familiar with, just in a way that communicates something novel and sometimes alien. I guess I am just tired of certain trends in music that feel too safe, we still have to push the limits of this thing.

[@Ch3mG33k]

He literally addresses this exact point like, a minute after he's done talking about the progression.

[@carnacstone7309]

@@Ch3mG33k eh sort of, he says you can do whatever you want creatively, which I very much appreciate. But there is a difference between saying that and saying there is necessity in presenting an audience with something conventionally unpalatable, which is my point. Adam may or may not agree with this, it is difficult to tell from this video. Though based on his music (which I love by the way) it definitely does seem as though he prefers to work within a pretty strict framework of what is considered, "objectively musical", or "right".

[@cactustactics]

@@carnacstone7309 he didn't really tell whoever not to use that progression though - they asked for Adam's opinion on it, and there was something about it that really sounded off to him, so he wanted to point out that it had that effect and also explain why. The person who sent it will know if that's crucially important info and something they want to avoid, or a thing they want to keep in mind and work to contextualise, or if they're all "hell yeah" about throwing him off - depends what they're doing really!

[@carnacstone7309]

@@cactustactics oh yeah I wasn't really defending that progression or anything, I agree with Adam that it sounds off. I think what I disagree with is what I perceive as a type of conservatism in a lot of modern music.

[@cactustactics]

@@carnacstone7309 I mean it sounded fine to me, interesting but not "wrong" or anything - but obviously other people do perceive it differently! So I think it's good to have that pointed out, in case it's something you're not aware of. I guess in Adam's case there's an expectation that people submitting these things are coming from a particular place, like maybe they're in music school or people with Adam's background are their audience, so it's worth giving them feedback about how it doesn't fit with certain expectations - and ~why~, which I feel like is the most important info! Whether you want to meet or bend those expectations or ignore them entirely is another matter, and Adam generally seems cool with the latter. His tone was a bit "don't do this" here yeah, but I think it was meant in a particular context (and then he went on to talk about the Mingus stuff breaking the rules). I've just seen a couple of comments disappointed about it and I felt like it wasn't really meant that way, it just depends what the person with the chords is doing

[@WarttHog]

Totally agree with your comments on choosing content on KZbin vs. Being pushed content from other platforms. I'm okay with YT shorts because concise videos are nice sometimes, but I always back out and look for the next short to watch. It doesn't feel right to swipe blindly and become a mind slave of the algorithm.

[@DotLevine]

That list of chords could be lovely in the right setting. I just sat down and tried a few things and came up with a number of lovely ideas between using those chords in different parts of a composition (intro/outro/bridge) to changing the harmonic rhythm of them to soften/emphasize the curious bassline.

[@ChrisGloomTube]

5:30 erik satie appears like "and actually that's just the whole song"

[@m.rieger8856]

Wow, now that you say it!

[@zengenite7643]

It's also only a half-step away from the actual progression of Gymnopedie no. 1

[@sacredlunatic]

Mingus and Schuller were like 50 years ahead of their time, combining jazz and classical techniques is very common now.

[@nathanwilcox3817]

A question for your next Q+A. Im thinking of auditioning for Manhatten School of Music on the drum kit and I was wondering if I would need classical training beforehand. Great content as always and keep up the good work!

[@lawrencetaylor4101]

Merci for this.

[@belacnihs9343]

Question for your next QNA: is there such a thing called 2 dominant instead of minor, 5 (dominant), 1? An example is in "Love like you" by Rebecca Sugar from the Steven Universe OST during the F7-Bb7-Ebmaj7 (thank you to Maggara Marine for the correction)

[@tylerhicks621]

Well, you just came up with it, so yes

[@jasonzurlo1543]

Take me out to the ball game type cadence

[@Zoubilable]

It's a secondary dominant, the same way your V is technically a V/I. Since you change the ii to II, you still have the same basic motion of fourth and therefore swapping ii to II is making it into a V/V, II is V away from V which is why we notate it as V/V

[@oscargill423]

@@Zoubilable I was mind blown the first time I figured out that slash chords weren't a thing in Western analysis, and that ()/() actually meant () relative to ()... and I'm still trying to figure out an appropriate way to notate them.

[@wallyt4873]

My favorite Steven universe song

[@abbidar1127]

I feel like taking AP music theory is like learning Japanese from watching anime. Yes. I learned it. But in context? it’s so very wrong…

[@ethanl.1699]

I took it and now I can watch music theory videos without getting lost ig Def doesn’t get that deep but it’s a good step towards actually understanding music

[@ilanmetoudi]

Great vid! Lovely singing, Adam. Btw, there's also a Mariachi bass or baritone guitar, don't know the name, that is comically large.

[@escape_world]

Hey Adam, thanks for the content man! Always enjoy your videos.😄 What are your thoughts about "specialisation" versus "range" in terms of learning musical instruments and styles of music? Personally, I found there are things I can only learn by going deep into one instrument (and in some cases you can almost transfer some part of that knowledge to your other instruments/styles). However, going for range can also help with discovering new ideas and concepts that can feed into your main instrument/style again.🤔

[@beatrixwickson8477]

The "wrong" chord makes me think of the uncanny valley. It's too close. If it was just as dissonant but just more distinct from the Ii - V.

[@jacobunknown]

9:23 bass frequencwies

[@veggiemitegames9044]

I love that you pull out a cinderblock sized book for those rare few interested in that level of research

[@maltezachariassen7496]

Regarding click-bait you once talked about that you would but a question in the title, but answer the question in the thumbnail - and the logic was that you would get people to ask "why" which is a way more powerful motivator for retention. I've noticed that creators I actively get excited when I see a new video, has that same philosophy in some regard