What is the creative process like when writing a song?

I’ve tried a variety of different songwriting methods. I’ve written a set of lyrics and then tried setting them, or been handed a set of lyrics and told to make them work. I’ve come up with melodies and then set lyrics to them, found chords for them and so on. I’ve worked out basslines or chord progressions and then built on top of them. I’ve worked stuff out on paper, on instruments or in my head. I’ve moved the entire process into the computer, building tracks out of loops and MIDI sequences, sometimes playing stuff in via the keyboard but more often just drawing stuff straight in with the mouse.

Continue reading “What is the creative process like when writing a song?”

Probability

Probability is a deeply weird and disturbing topic. The harder I look at it, the weirder and more disturbing it becomes. I find the many-worlds interpretation of quantum mechanics to be the least weird and disturbing way to think about it.

Continue reading “Probability”

Check The Rhime

The other night Anna and I went to see Beats, Rhymes And Life: The Travels Of A Tribe Called Quest.

Continue reading “Check The Rhime”

How is it possible to compose jazz when improvisation is an essential component?

Typical jazz compositions are written expressly as vehicles for improvisation. Mainstream jazz tunes since the 1940s take the form head-solos-head. The head is a written melody, and the solos are improvised around the chord changes of the head. Scores for these kinds of tunes take the form of lead sheets, like the ones found in the Real Books. The lead sheet writes out the head’s melody and chord progression. The specifics of accompaniment, interpretation and tempo are up to the performers.

Continue reading “How is it possible to compose jazz when improvisation is an essential component?”

Reggie Watts

Back in June we went to see the incomparable Reggie Watts perform at Central Park Summerstage.

Reggie Watts gets photographed getting photographed

I think Reggie is one of the most exciting artists of our time, but it’s difficult to verbalize exactly what he does. His performances combine improvisational music and absurdist standup comedy into a free-associative yet oddly coherent and impactful whole. The best way to get an idea of what I’m talking about is just to see the man in action.

Continue reading “Reggie Watts”

How to groove

When teaching guitar, I find that my students need the most help with groove. Students come to me expecting to learn chords, scales, riffs and ultimately entire tunes. I do teach those things, but after a little guidance, anyone can learn them on their own just as well from books, videos, web sites and so on. The harmonic and melodic aspects of guitar take time to master, but it’s just memorization. I devote most of my in-person time with students to rhythm.

Groove is harder to pin down in text and diagrams than chords and scales, so it doesn’t get as much written about it. That gives some folks the mistaken idea that rhythm isn’t as important as melody and harmony. The reverse is true. You can have a long, rich and satisfying guitar-playing life using nothing but the standard fifteen chords, as long as you can groove. If you can’t groove, you can learn all the chords and scales you want, but you won’t sound good.

Here’s an exercise that worked great for me when I was learning, and that I make all my students do. I call it the One Note Groove. It’s pretty simple, you just put on a repetitive beat and play one note over it. Since you don’t have to think about which notes to play, you’re free to devote your entire attention to your timekeeping, your attack, your whole sound — in other words, your groove.

Continue reading “How to groove”

How does a computer work?

Computers can only do a few very simple operations consisting of flipping electrical switches on and off. You can represent numbers in patterns of the on-off states of sequences of switches. By flipping switches on and off in particular patterns, you can perform simple mathematical operations on the numbers. You can do more complex mathematical operations by stringing simpler operations together.

Continue reading “How does a computer work?”

How can you give an effective talk on a depressing topic without depressing your audience?

Here’s what works for me.

  • Focus on solutions. What immediate steps can people take right now? What are bigger steps that governments and corporations need to take, and what can we do to push them in the right direction?
  • Don’t judge. Assigning blame is gratifying but counterproductive; it heightens tensions and closes minds. Instead, take a the thousand-mile-distant Buddhist perspective. In the longest time scales, nothing matters; the sun will explode and destroy the earth in five billion years one way or the other. Meanwhile, we’re in this situation, it’s not good, but it’s no one’s fault (or everyone’s fault, same thing.) Now what’s the most practical way out?
  • Be funny. You can take the subject matter seriously without taking yourself seriously. Gallows humor is the best kind. See: Stewart and Colbert, South Park, hip-hop lyrics and Mark Twain for inspiration.

Humans are adaptive and full of surprises. We do stupid, self-destructive, narrow-minded and short-sighted things, but we’re also capable of imagination, optimism, compassion and even self-sacrifice. Which feelings do you want to stir in your audience?

Original post on Quora

It don’t mean a thing if it ain’t got that swing

Today is the Fourth of July, and I can’t think of anything more patriotic than a post about our most significant contribution to world musical culture: swing. The title of this post refers to the classic Duke Ellington tune, sung here by Ray Nance. Check out the “yah yah” trombone by Tricky Sam Nanton.

The word “swing,” like the word “blues,” has multiple meanings, depending on context. Swing is both a genre and a technical music term describing a certain rhythm. The two are related, but the rhythm has long outlived the genre.

Continue reading “It don’t mean a thing if it ain’t got that swing”