Study Guide for Guitar Technique, Songwriting Analysis, and Genre Theory

Technical Guitar Exercises and BPM Progression

• Arpeggio Practice Structure:
  • The arpeggio exercise should be performed at a speed that is slow enough to ensure the playing is smooth and comfortable.
  • The initial starting point for the tempo is suggested to be $100\,BPM$.
  • The exercise involves moving the arpeggio pattern up and down the fretboard.
  • Progress is measured weekly by increasing the tempo by $10\,BPM$.

Songwriting Methodology and Creative Obstacles

• The Difficulty of the Creative Process:
  • Writing a song can fluctuate in difficulty; some weeks are significantly harder than others, particularly when stepping outside of one's typical style.
  • A specific songwriting session involved working from $11:00\,AM$ to $09:30\,PM$.
  • The "scrapping" process is a common part of high-level songwriting where a creator writes material, evaluates it the next day, and chooses to discard it entirely to start over. This cycle can repeat for six or seven days consecutively.
• Critical Benefits of Creative Struggles:
  • Producing a Final Product: Even if the creator only likes the song "enough," completing a piece of music is the primary goal.
  • Skill Development: Practicing the act of writing when the process is not working provides a significant learning opportunity. The assignment is not just the specific parameters of the song but the process of learning how to write.
  • Professional Perspective: Experienced professionals face the same blocks. One example involves a commissioned piece for percussion, bassoon, and fixed media that has been in development since the spring. Despite having snippets of music and knowing the desired sound, the composer may struggle to "knit" those elements into a cohesive piece.
  • Long-term Perspective: Distance from the creative process often changes the creator's opinion. A piece that was hated during its difficult creation may become a source of pride several years later.

Analysis of Adam's Blues Song: "Lone Star Cowboy"

• Genre Adaptation:
  • The song represents a departure from the student's usual country style, moving into traditional blues.
  • Blues was initially outside the creator's comfort zone, particularly regarding the percussive nature of the lyrics compared to the musical riff.
• Structural and Harmonic Elements:
  • Form: The verses follow a structure similar to a $12$-bar blues but condensed into six bars.
  • Riff Integration: The song was built around a riff written to a blues backing track. The riff occurs between verses and in interludes.
  • Tension and Chords: The instructor suggested using dominant $7$ chords ($7$ chords) to enhance the bluesy sound. The chorus utilizes a $B$ chord that creates tension by moving away from the established tonal center.
• Lyric Content (Lone Star Cowboy):
  • The narrative follows a cowboy finishing a six-month tour and heading home to Texas.
  • Imagery includes a Ford pickup truck, Texas barbecue, an open range, and a house by the river surrounded by oak trees.
  • The lyrics detail activities like hiking, fishing, and attending church on Sunday morning.
  • A specific detail includes wearing a sweater because the night is cold during the drive home.

Musical Theory: Time Signatures and Performance Dynamics

• Ambiguity in Compound Meters:
  • There is often a thin line between $6/8$ and $4/4$ with triplets on top. This is referred to as an ambiguously great pulse.
  • Meters like $12/8$ are nested; they can be felt as a pulse of $2$, $3$, or $4$ depending on the subdivision.
  • In songwriting, the melody and vocals often take precedence in defining the perceived meter. If a vocalist sings in a $4/4$ rhythm over $6/8$ music, the listener may favor the vocal pulse.
• The Superpowers of Performers:
  • Singer's Power: The vocalist can change the structure of a song on the fly (e.g., skipping a verse to go to the chorus), and the band must follow. The audience generally assumes changes made by the singer are intentional style choices.
  • Drummer's Power: The drummer controls the pulse. If a drummer stresses a $5/4$ pulse over a $4/4$ arrangement, the audience will begin to hear $5/4$. The drummer has the power to force the band into a different feel or meter.

Aesthetic Philosophy and Genre Interrogation

• The Architecture of Music:
  • Learning the structure of music does not take away the "magic"; rather, it increases the joy. Just as an architect sees details in a roof that a layman misses, a musician finds excitement in complex or unusual structures.
• Key Relationships and the Circle of Fifths:
  • Relative Keys: $A\,minor$ and $C\,major$ are relative keys because they come from the same scale.
  • Proximity on the Circle of Fifths: The distance between keys is measured by the number of sharps or flats that separate them. For example, $C\,major$ is $0$ flats/sharps, while $C\,minor$ has $3$ flats. This distance of three steps represents a significant harmonic distance.
  • $B\,minor$ corresponds to $D\,major$ ($2$ sharps), while $B\,major$ has $5$ sharps, making them quite far apart horizontally on the Circle of Fifths (a quarter of the whole circle).
• Genre-Specific Critiques and Lessons:
  • Metal: The stylistic choice to have the drums, guitars, and vocals all at a maximum intensity (a "10") can create a "plateau" effect. If everything is the height of Mount Everest, there are no troughs or valleys for the listener to react to, resulting in musical stasis despite high sophistication.
  • Pop: Critiques often focus on the vocal style and lack of lyrical depth, though "Christian Pop" (e.g., Crowder) is sometimes cited as an exception due to wholesome themes.
  • Rap: Though sometimes criticized for a lack of melody or chord progression, it can be "interrogated" to find learnable elements, such as percussive singing and complex rhythmic structures.
  • Romantic Orchestral Music: Composers like Mahler and Brahms are essential for study because they represent the pinnacle of sophisticated orchestral writing, providing the foundation for modern film composition.

Specific Musical References and Examples

• Reba McEntire: Released a new album featuring old songs with interesting chord choices that deviate from standard relative keys.
• Nirvana: Mentioned in an anecdote about a music student in $1994$ who was unaware of Kurt Cobain or the band despite their fame.
• Japanese Band Example: A band that opened for Muse used a "$1\,2\,and$ " chord change pattern ($1.5$ beats per chord) in the chorus, creating an unexpected rhythm compared to standard $4/4$ changes.
• Resiliance (Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events): A track from the Jim Carrey film soundtrack that utilizes "note avoidance." The melody avoids the note $E$ throughout the piece, even though it is the tonal center of the relative major the ear is searching for. When the note finally appears at the end, it provides immense satisfaction.
• Switchfoot: A band that has evolved significantly over time, with albums like Legend of Chin representing their earlier style.

Questions & Discussion

• Interaction on Songwriting Impact: The instructor asked Adam if writing his own songs has changed how he listens to music. A third party (Adam's relative/parent) intervened to confirm that Adam is constantly analyzing music in daily life, such as counting time signatures ($6/8$ vs. $4/4$) in the car and questioning why certain songs do not change chords between the verse and chorus.
• Interaction on Genre Preferences: Adam expressed a distaste for high distortion in rock and the percussive singing style of pop. The instructor suggested that genres are "imperfect categorical labels" (a taxonomy problem) and encouraged Adam to find the one sophisticated element in every genre, even those he dislikes.
• Interaction on Fingerpicking: Adam mentioned experimenting with fingerpicking using Willie and Lukas Nelson's "Just Breathe" and "Dear Rodeo." He noted the difficulty of maintaining a specific fingerpicking rhythm while singing.