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I’m working on this EP570 lesson and felt it insightful for Brian to teach it to beginners (anyone actually) that wants some ear trainning who doesn’t maybe have a natural or autistic ability for always finding the correct notes.
What this Daniel guy said on YouTube about EP570 actually upset me but a member of our AM family put me at ease by putting this guy straight. I’ll be able to sleep tonight, lol. Thanks Michael And Thank you Brian for this great lesson on ear training. it was an “ear opener”
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From Daniel the Jerk on youtube giving us his negative take on EP570
2 days ago
This is a prescription to sounding like a beginner for the rest of your life. Disregard this video.
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18 hours ago
It doesn’t help anyone to simply say don’t listen to this video and not explain yourself and what the formula for sharpening your ear is for those who cannot yet play what they hear or cannot improvise as well as they like. The topic of the video is ear training to find the notes that work in a given progression against the current chord by ear. It’s very clear what the key is in the progression and with all the hundreds of other video’s that Brian has graciously put out their for free for anyone to learn from, I can assure you that he is an excellent composer of original musical compositions and knows what he’s talking about. Your questioning of chromatic notes is laughable, but you can wallow in your own ego all you want and never impart any usable knowledge to anyone. Many of his students can relate to him and his teaching method and have learned a lot over the years. No one becomes a virtuoso overnight unless they are autistically gifted in the musical arts. Not everyone is trying to become the next John Mayor either. Most of us have to learn from different angles because we all learn differently. This video is a perfect example of learning something from a different angle than you may have looked at this topic in the past. It makes no claim to propel you into stardom overnight, if you know of such a method, please show us your material. Or are you keeping it all to yourself? You are entitled to your opinion, that’s fine, but this comment is of no use unless you have some credibility of thought and a counter argument that makes sense. So far you just seemed to be triggered about something still very much unknown to all of us. Not sure what it is, but Brian definitely hit your hot button with this one. Just because you do not have a YouTube channel with content of your own doesn’t mean you do not have any knowledge to impart so I’m giving you the chance to explain yourself.And Brian, thanks for pinning this as this should be interesting if our fellow musician has any usable knowledge to share. I like learning new things or reinforcing things I already know. My favorite lessons are your compositions you put together like the one last week. I’m still going through that one and it amazes me how you are able to come up with it all.
ALL IT TAKES TO WRITE A SONG IS........3 CHORDS AND THE TRUTH!
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Here’s what I said:
This sounds like advice from some grumpy troll who has no friends. If he is married, his wife either can’t stand living with him, or is equally pedantic and narcissistic. When he goes out to a restaurant, he harasses the server about the music being too loud or not to his taste. His father was for sure a total asshole who raised his son to be an equally unfriendly asshole. Luckily, he is one in a million, so we can just ignore him.
Sunjamr Steve
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Here it is John,
Looks like Daniel has taken a bit of a pounding. He might not be coming out of his hole in the ground for a while 😂
PS you might need to hit watch on you tube to see the comments
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There is something to be said for that guy’s observation, and I’ll try to explain that here.
Playing notes that somehow fit the underlying chord is one thing; it certainly provides a sense of rest and satisfaction compared to playing non-chord tones, which always introduce a certain amount of tension. I think that the ability to fall back on release notes or notes that introduce only a very limited amount of tension is one of Brian’s primary objectives with this lesson and that’s perfectly fine.
But the tension/release with respect to the underlying chord is only part of the whole story; the notes you play are part of musical phrases, which in turn are part of the bigger improvisation picture. So the notes you choose to play should also make some sense when considered in this broader perspective; there should be a global and consistent melodic evolution from start to end. If there isn’t, there is indeed a risk of sounding too simplistic, beginner-ish. You’ll be playing chord tones, but your improvisation will lack a sense of direction. Like B.B. King once said, you’ll be playing notes but you won’t be “saying” anything.
Fully understanding this concept requires knowledge of a relatively advanced but often neglected part of music theory called melodic analysis. I’m not going to go into the details here, but let me give you a very (overly?) simple example: suppose in C major we have the chord progression C – F – G – C = I IV V I.
If, on the F chord, you land on, or otherwise emphasize the note C (a chord tone), you also emphasize the tonic, and that somewhat contradicts the overall harmonic movement; landing on an F or an A would arguably be a better choice since you are clearly in the middle of something and going to the tonic at this point may be too early. Similarly, on the final C chord, you could land on the note E or (worse) G which are perfectly consonant in the context of the C chord, but the note C is obviously the most logical and conclusive choice here.That being said, the way that guy disregarded Brian’s lesson was clearly very pedantic and rude. Moreover, as Brian pointed out, he didn’t explain why he considered that lesson to be of no value.
Why people need to be so disrespectful and aggressive is beyond me!I personally think that that lesson is very useful for those who needed it, and based on the comments there seems to be quite a few people in that case. Also, Brian’s teaching philosophy is “one bite at a time”, and who will disagree with that?
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Thanks, Andy, I didn’t realize where the comment came from. Kudos to Brian for pinning it.
Thanks for your comment, J-M. If harmonic movement was Daniel’s point I think that comes somewhere down the road from hearing intervals and tension and resolution and even learning to find those intervals. I certainly don’t see how Brian’s foundational lesson will impede someone’s progress 20 years down the road.
John -
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I did a quick Google search on Daniel Sheltraw and, *if* I’m correct, he seems to be a fan of a book called Improvise for Real – https://improviseforreal.com/ – and he also seems to believe masks, lockdowns and the SARSCov2 mRNA vaccine were ineffective.
I believe he has a right to express his opinion but the manner he chooses to do so may need a little more finesse.
Anyway, I think the way Brian pinned the message and engaged him in conversation was very professional. My hat’s off to Brian.
Joe
The sight of a touch, or the scent of a sound,
Or the strength of an Oak with roots deep in the ground.
--Graeme Edge -
I think what this guy spewed could be an indication of a much larger issue that is becoming far too common in the Western world
Mental illness is increasing in our society in leaps and bounds. We are being bombarded by “information” that is causing undue fear and anxiety to increase in all age groups. People are becoming increasingly paranoid about life and we are seeing very irrational behaviors as a result. The lockdown alone stressed people in ways that we can’t understand
Couple this increased drug abuse and alcohol consumption to cope with this stress and its a recipe for disaster.Is that what caused Daniel Sheltraw to lash out as he did? We’ll never know for sure but his approach was completely unhinged and uncalled for. We all come across things on the internet that we totally disagree with but we don’t respond as he did. Something in Brian’s video triggered him to blow up as he did.
We will likely never meet this guy but we do cross paths with a lot of people that may be stressed by all that life is throwing at them. A discerning ear and a discerning eye is very much required as we interact with others.
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Thanks for your comment, J-M. If harmonic movement was Daniel’s point I think that comes somewhere down the road from hearing intervals and tension and resolution and even learning to find those intervals.
In fact, I suspect that Daniel’s point was melodic movement, rather than harmonic. It is the underlying structure and movement of the melody that makes the music work – as he rightly (but disrespectfully) pointed out.
Brian’s lesson is all about the (static) relationship between a note and the underlying chord, and learning to hear when there is too much tension (and how to address that). As I already said, that’s important as well and worth a lesson.
I certainly don’t see how Brian’s foundational lesson will impede someone’s progress 20 years down the road.
JohnI fully agree with that.
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J-M,
Because I don’t think we should interact with Daniel any further I wonder if you understand his point or perspective. He posed this question which I tried to answer with my current understanding.Daniel: I am playing tonal tune in the key of C major. This particular tune has a E7 harmony in it. One of the pitches I played during the E7 harmony was a G#. Was the G# a “chromatic note” or not a “chromatic note”?
Me: G# would be a chromatic note in the key of C over the majority of your composition and, also, a very appropriate chord tone that would sound great to the ear when played over the E7 borrowed chord. It can be both. What’s your point Daniel?
He implied that I don’t understand the concept of “key”. What is his point?
He also left this little clue. “Chromatic movement exists. Chromatic notes do not.”
Any further insight is appreciated.
John-
OK. Let’s begin with “pitches” or “notes”. In Western music, there are (only) twelve distinct pitches.
A scale is any set of ordered pitches. If you take the twelve distinct notes of Western music and place them in ascending pitch order you get the chromatic scale.
IF you take any of those twelve pitches and “build” six consecutive fifths above it, you get a tonal set.
Example: D A E B F# C# G#If, in such a tonal set, you pick one specific note and order all the other ones from there, you get a mode.
Example: B C# D E F# G# A is B Dorian.
Every tonal set will always give you seven modes.One of the seven possible modes of a given tonal set will have its pitches organized like so: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7.
In this case of the example above: A B C# D E F# G#
This particular organization is the key of A (major), while F# G# A B C# D E is the key of F# minor, called the relative minor key.The concept of “key” is very specific of the music that evolved during the Common Practice Period, i.e. roughly speaking from the 18th century to the 20th century.
With keys, musicians have been able to build a large number of melodic and harmonic devices that have been used throughout that period and are actually still largely in use today.Your answer is essentially correct.
If, in the key of C major you happen to play an E7 chord, and if, in the context of that E7 chord you play a G# note, that G# note can take on various melodic and harmonic functions depending on what is played next.
More often than not, G# will be leading to the note A and will be part of a chromatic movement towards that A.
– If that A is part of an Am chord, E7 is a typical secondary dominant chord and the G# is the leading tone; in that case we have a new momentary key (A minor). This is called “tonicization”. If the new key is maintained, we have a “modulation”.
– If that A note is part of an F chord, E7 is just a chromatic passing chord. There’s no new key center, not even momentary.
In all cases, that G# note will of course be perfectly consonant, even though it is a chromaticism in the context of C major. Chromaticism does not necessarily mean “dissonance”.In the course of music history, composers have gradually adopted more and more such chromaticisms to enrich the tonal palette, and they have used them in various ways.
John, I agree with your wife! I don’t think we should interact any further with Daniel. His “question” about the concept of a musical key is, in my opinion, delusive because it builds upon a situation that is not part of the lesson. Brian limits himself to the diatonic chord family. His “formula” works in that context, but ONLY in that context.
Daniel’s example assumes a non-diatonic E7 (i.e. a chord that is not part of the key’s chord family), and that’s a bit unfair. Clearly, if you “accidentally” play a G note over that E7 chord (ouch!), going to the closest diatonic note (A or F) will not save your day…Also, there are many pedantic people on the internet that will love to argue about the concept of a musical key (and modes!), but those discussions almost inevitably turn into rathole discussions. I prefer to stay clear of that!
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This Daniel fellow exhibits such strange behaviour. He seems to bask in this superior knowledge that is the key to all our musical progress and, yet, stubbornly refuses to share his superior perspective unless we can unlock his riddle. Hardly seems sincere and displays a serious personality disorder. My wife reminds me we should not engage hostile people on the internet, especially family😊.
John -
This Daniel fellow exhibits such strange behaviour. He seems to bask in this superior knowledge that is the key to all our musical progress and, yet, stubbornly refuses to share his superior perspective unless we can unlock his riddle. Hardly seems sincere and displays a serious personality disorder. My wife reminds me we should not engage hostile people on the internet, especially family😊.
JohnJohn
As I mentioned, mental illness is on the increase b/c of the pressure that “life” is putting on people; this is not meant as a political statement, its just the facts – the media is guilty of purveying much of this pressure and we’re seeing some very irrational fears as a result.A discerning ear and a discerning eye is very much required as we interact with others to help identify those that are struggling with mental illness – I’m not a trained profession by any stretch of the imagination but I’ve dealt with a lot of personalities and paid attention as I did. It’s caused me to look a few steps below the surface of what I was hearing & seeing from the people that I was dealing with
As adamant as this Daniel was even with Brian, who was the author & developer of the video that triggered him – I think that there’s a good chance that he’s in need of professional evaluation & help. I’m not a Dr nor have I played one on TV but if walks like a duck & quacks like a duck….yeah, ‘nuf said….
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This has been really fun. I’ve enjoyed watching this guy Daniel facing ridicule and scorn from so many sane people. Several of us have pointed out that he obviously has some serious mental issues, while others have pointed out that the highly polarized time we live in seems to have caused many people to go bonkers. Either way, I won’t be inviting him over to my house for a Saturday afternoon barbecue.
Sunjamr Steve
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That critique against Brian’s teaching method did upset me. It was rude and wrong. Maybe we should just ignore guys like him. I am so glad that we know how genious Brian is and how happy he made us with his teaching and how much he influenced our guitar playing and visualizing the fretboard. I’ve been a member for 4 years now and my life has become so much richer thru the way Brian teaches. And I am having so much more fun playing the guitar.
More Blues!
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