“‘Be shapeless and formless.. like water’ (Bruce Lee)” by Akinini.com is licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 2.0

“Have a mind like water.”

― David Allen,  GTD

SUMMARY

I’ve been trying to finish this blog post for like three weeks but I kept stopping working on it cause I didn’t feel like I was absorbing the information properly. I’ve started using GTD for everything and it’s really helped me feel like my life/brain/thoughts are more organized.

PRACTICE ROOM (GUITAR LESSONS)

 

Watch Mary Spender: Powerful advice from 10 Professional Musicians you need to hear (14:15)

• Continue his 117 Free Lessons YouTube Playlist
• Check out his web site, justinguitar.com.
• The first 10 videos take less than an hour.

• Be curious about Justin.
• Mr. Le Duc considers him the best beginning guitar teacher online. He’s not the only one that thinks this.  Check out some of the celebrity endorsements at justinguitar.com.

How interested in learning more about playing the guitar?

• • 1 (YUCK!)
  • 2 (not really)
  • 3 (sorta interested)
  • 4 (interested)
  • 5 (YES!)

Your score: 2

I like having this room because it reminds me to practice, but I take guitar lessons every week (for like 6 years!) so I don’t really need the beginning guitar videos.

CLASSROOM (THEORY & ANALYSIS)

I watched Holistic songwriting’s video on how Billie Eilish and Finneas write a song, here are my notes

-Billie has a horror/ethereal/minimal aesthetic, which I think is captured very well in her song’s sound, as in horror (interesting sounds/effects like in horror movies), ethereal (high/layered vocals), and minimal (he explains this later on in the video but Finneas and Billie are very minimal in instrumentation/beats they use)

-“My future” uses a secondary dominant AND a 4 minor (Eb Eb7 Ab Abm)

-“Xanny” also does this, with a declining bass line (that also uses spooky effects) that adds to the chords to make them more interesting

-“lowering the root of a minor chord is the best way to add that augmented sound into your songs”

-you can have implied chords with vocal notes, Billie does this in Xanny, with the chorus, and then in the second verse the E is a strong dominant chord

-with her melody writing, there is a very distinct R&B/Jazz influence to contrast the modern sound of her chorus’s. She likes to use three note patterns (often the 1,2,3 in the key). Nursery rhymes are often written the same way (mary had a little lamb)

-Shes also rhythmically similar to nursery rhymes (placing most of her notes on the on beats)

-*a lot of pop music is written using 1 note melodies (look up?)

-she uses a repetition, but lowers it for a downward/darker feel

-kick on one, snare on three for a minimalistic backdrop/beat for billie’s vocals

-drums, bass, harmonic instrument, guitar (minimal instruments)

-Finneas uses storytelling in his production. there are lots of little details to create plot/story, and to add interest to otherwise simple tracks, like thickening up lead vocals w/harmonies, adding reverb to specific words or notes, or very slight background vocals.

-Plot (reason the events are connected, why) (in music this is the structure of the song, how one part transitions to the next)

-story (timeline of events, what happens next) (what happens within a section to keep it interesting)

-Billie draws inspiration from movies for a lot of her visuals in music videos

Holistic Songwriting by Friedemann Findeisen

An Example: The Swift Formula – One Note Melodies

How interested in learning more about music theory and song analysis?

• • 1 (YUCK!)
  • 2 (not really)
  • 3 (sorta interested)
  • 4 (interested)
  • 5 (YES!)

Your score: 5

This is something I’m really interested in!

LAB (THEORY PRACTICED)

Explore the tutorials (but you do not need to watch all of them – just pick what looks interesting to you) from the:

• • Songwriting Series. (4 videos)
  • Lyrics to music videos (2 videos)

How interested in learning more about HookLab and HookTab?

• • 1 (YUCK!)
  • 2 (not really)
  • 3 (sorta interested)
  • 4 (interested)
  • 5 (YES!)

Your score: 4

The actual videos weren’t super captivating to me but I feel like they contain information that is helpful. Also I checked out HookTab and it seems really cool! Especially for quick transposing and trying out different chord progressions easily.

OUTSIDE (PRODUCTIVITY & THE BRAIN)

• Set a timer
• Spend 15 minutes in this ‘room’

• Review this infographic for 5 minutes (Click for larger PDF version)
• If you want, read more at  bananatreelog.com/blog/daily-dose-of-happiness-chemicals

• Go for a 10-minute walk, if it is safe to do so 
  • Reflect on how you structure your day to maximize your production of the  D.O.S.E. happiness brain chemicals
• Writing a small paragraph reflection for 10 minutes
• DELETE ALL OF MR. LE DUC’s INSTRUCTIONS, AFTER YOU ARE DONE

How interested in learning more about outside productivity and the brain?

• • 1 (YUCK!)
  • 2 (not really)
  • 3 (sorta interested)
  • 4 (interested)
  • 5 (YES!)

Your score: 4

I didn’t do this room this time but I like it being there.

STUDIO (SONGWRITING)

**Watch Holistic Songwriting: Do THIS with every song you write | Hit Song Architect S1E3

How interested in songwriting, song structure, and music production?

• • 1 (YUCK!)
  • 2 (not really)
  • 3 (sorta interested)
  • 4 (interested)
  • 5 (YES!)

Your score: 5

CONTROL ROOM (RECORDING & MIXING)

Watch Clark Eagling: Soundtrap tutorial 5 – Arranging the song, Mixing and adding effects

Watch all five videos in the playlist, if you are interested.

How interested in recording, engineering (sound effects, EQ), and mixing?

• • 1 (YUCK!)
  • 2 (not really)
  • 3 (sorta interested)
  • 4 (interested)
  • 5 (YES!)

Your score: 5

WHAT I LEARNED and PROBLEMS I SOLVED

I learned a lot from the video I watched on Holistic Songwriting, I think those types of videos are really interesting.