Today I learned about the structure of popular songs, The basics of how to write a songs, how to extend loops on hookpad and I got some advice from professional musicians.

CLASSROOM (THEORY & ANALYSIS)

Holistic Songwriting by Friedemann Findeisen

I watched the video “How Taylor Swift writes melodies”. I found it very interesting how many of her melodies are just the same note played at different rhythms. It is intriguing how some songs can be really good even though their notes are relatively simple. 

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

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)

I watched song writing: You can calculate the amount of measures in a song by dividing the time times the temp by the beats in the measure.

Lyrics: Lyrics, Chord progression and melody are the three basics of a song.

It doesn’t matter where you start.

 

How interested in learning more about HookLab and HookTab?

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

Your score: 3

PRACTICE ROOM (GUITAR LESSONS)

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

Start his 117 Free Lessons YouTube Playlist

Start the series of videos, follow his directions, and check out his web site, justinguitar.com.

Set a timer.  Maybe an hour a day?  The first 10 videos take less than an hour.

From the advice from professionals, I learned that pretty much the most important thing to do it practice. The more you practice the better you will be. You also need to maintain a positive attitude and try your best. I found the free lessons video very helpful and I will try to get though a lot of them.

• 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: 5

OUTSIDE (CREATIVITY & THE BRAIN)

Watch Jane McGonigal: The game that can give you 10 extra years of life.  (20 minutes)

Go for a walk and think about what this video meant to you.

This was a refreshing video. It makes sense that practicing resilience can add years so your life. The mental resilience one seems very helpful and I am going to try to practice these in the future. The emotional resilience one makes sense to me too because it would help you grow as a person .

How interested in these topics about the brain, creativity, and productivity?

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

Your score: 4

STUDIO (SONGWRITING)

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.

If you add different loops and spread them out and then loop them. It can make the song seem longer. Make the song start with one or two of the loops and then add more as you go on. You can also increase the temp in your songs.

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

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

Your score: 3

WHAT I LEARNED and PROBLEMS I SOLVED

Today I was still tired from getting my wisdom teeth removed but I wanted to do the work anyways. While it was difficult to engage with the work at first, many of the topics in the videos eventually made sense to me.

TODAY’s ACTIVITY EVALUATION

Content (The WHAT)

Rating: OK  – 1 – 2 – 3 – 4 – 5  – HIGHLY ENGAGED

Rating: 4

I enjoyed learning about the general structures of songs. I thought that it was interesting to dive deep into what makes pop songs good or bad.

Process (The HOW)

Rating: OK  – 1 – 2 – 3 – 4 – 5  – HIGHLY ENGAGED

Rating: 3

I enjoy watching video’s but they do not engage me as much as actually playing the guitar. To me that is the best way to learn.