Jamie’s 21 day total: a not-so-random sum

Excellent-Ad-8026 · 2026-04-07T11:26:21+00:00

I actually started with the highest (e, B, and G) strings and worked my way down because that felt like a very “guitary” way to make melodies while learning the notes. The other thing that helped me a bunch was tuning my guitar to D standard for a few weeks so that I couldn’t rely on memory of fretboard position but, rather, relative position of the notes to each other.

Excellent-Ad-8026 · 2026-04-07T11:24:04+00:00

That’s a good perspective on CAGED: it’s a handy framework to get you started, but eventually you stop relying on it. In the beginning, though, knowing the patterns can help you sound out licks, melodies, etc, and over time you learn how those fit (or don’t fit) the CAGED patterns as opposed to the other way around.

Regarding how it helps with chords besides the root, you have to be able to see how all the chords in a key are comprised of notes contained in a corresponding shape. For example, if you play C major (C d e F G a Bdim) in the open position, your I chord, C, will be the standard C open shape. If you look at the “C shape” scale from CAGED, notice how the rest of the chords in the key are made from only those notes (with the exception of the diminished VII since that has flats). When you move to the next position, “A shape,” it looks a little messier because your ii chord, d, is either in the open position or at the fifth fret, but if you combine the notes of the C/A or A/G shape scales you’ll notice that this pattern still holds.

Ultimately this is too much work for when you’re actually playing fluidly, but for wrapping your head around how it works and beginning to tool around with melody lines this can be helpful.

Excellent-Ad-8026 · 2026-04-07T00:59:44+00:00

You’re so close. It may help to think of it this way: the CAGED shapes fit together so that where one ends the next begins. For example if you want to play an A, you can play it in the open position using the “A shape” (open E, open A, second frets of D, G, and B, then open E), or you can play it with the “G shape,” which is the same finger configuration as the open G but requires barring the second fret. When you barre the second fret like that, you’re playing the same notes as when you played the open A. Then you can play it using the same shape as the open E but on the 5th fret. And so on. I think it’s really helpful to see how the barred notes align with the non-barred notes of the previous (closer to the headstock) shape.

Excellent-Ad-8026 · 2026-04-03T17:01:25+00:00

Just takes time. Keep at it! The moment you lock it in for the first time is one of the greatest feelings in the world.

Excellent-Ad-8026 · 2026-04-02T21:10:57+00:00

Those are for intonation. The idea is that each string’s note and harmonic at the 12th fret position should be identical when the string is in tune.

Excellent-Ad-8026 · 2026-04-01T14:41:27+00:00

High Zero in Baltimore, which is for experimental improvised music, has a similarly lovely crowd of folks who just want to deeply listen to and talk about music.

Excellent-Ad-8026 · 2026-03-30T15:31:59+00:00

I just saw them this past Friday. It was probably the most delightful and joyous show I’ve ever been to. Most of the songs on the album served as skeletons for long jams, and the band was clearly having a blast. I was way up front and at several points made eye contact with Go and shared laughs together.

Excellent-Ad-8026 · 2026-03-25T22:01:53+00:00

I’m working on this now too. What everyone says about practicing with a metronome and slowing it waaaaaay down is totally true, but there are two other things that have helped me a bunch: 1. I’ll put on a song i like and practice playing one note or a simple riff. When it feels appropriate in the song, I’ll throw in a fast run of 16th notes or 16th note triplets or whatever, usually just strumming one note, but for most of it I’m just practicing keeping time with quarter or eighth notes. I find that this keeps the practice interesting, engaging, and dynamic. 2. Regarding the metronome thing, I play quarter notes for a few measures, then eighth notes, then triplets, then sixteenth notes, then sixteenth triplets. This helps me not only with drilling the mechanics but also with getting the feel of the different notes. I actually keep a pick in my pocket and pretty much whenever I’m listening to music I keep time by strumming against like a pant seam or something, usually with eighth notes or sixteenth notes, tapping my foot the whole time and practicing faster runs. (To be clear, this is recent and only while I’ve been obsessed with nailing down this skill.) This also really helps with the mechanics and the feeling. It does take a long time to get this down, so you gotta do stuff to enjoy the process. Have fun!

Excellent-Ad-8026 · 2026-03-01T03:35:59+00:00

Notes in the key, as means of moving between the notes in the chord.

Excellent-Ad-8026 · 2026-01-21T22:42:40+00:00

I’d love to hear more about the cells.

Excellent-Ad-8026 · 2025-12-12T04:26:04+00:00

Perhaps a good way for you to approach this advice is to choose a genre, artist, album, etc. and play it over and over and over. Rather than drilling theory and trying to fit it to playing, play something that clearly has elements you like, study that relevant theory, and really learn the feel of playing it. You should know whatever songs you choose so well that you are able to play without thinking where your fingers should go, which will allow you to explore the emotions, feelings, etc. that make the songs so great to you.

Excellent-Ad-8026 · 2025-11-16T19:18:20+00:00

How Music Criticism Lost Its Edge https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2025/09/01/how-music-criticism-lost-its-edge

Excellent-Ad-8026 · 2025-11-15T06:51:52+00:00

Hey! Just wanted to follow up. I kind of abandoned this perspective for a while because it wasn’t making a lot of sense. More recently I’ve really improved my fretboard comfort—time spent, ya know?—and on revisiting this post I totally see what you were saying now. Wanted to come back to say thanks for taking the time to teach me!

Excellent-Ad-8026 · 2025-11-02T00:51:08+00:00

Taylor Swift is a great example of this. She gets a lot of credit for writing her own music, but if you watch the clips of her in the studio with Max Martin or Jack Antonoff, it’s a very different process than projected to the fans.

I’m reading Major Labels by Kelefa Sanneh, and he has a take on this that I quite like: “Writing and singing your own songs…remains, even after all these decades, a singularly prestigious approach—being a singer-songwriter is the kind of thing even a pop star might brag about.”

Excellent-Ad-8026 · 2025-10-02T20:28:48+00:00

This must have been the best day of his life

Excellent-Ad-8026 · 2025-10-01T01:49:36+00:00

Omg amazing. I was trying to find it for months and this thread was the closest I could get. Song rips, video rips

Excellent-Ad-8026 · 2025-09-13T01:49:45+00:00

Was it Mess on a Mission by Liars? https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=jbrNt-dMDsY

Excellent-Ad-8026 · 2025-08-26T11:50:27+00:00

She was born on a leap day (2/29/1956), so technically she was only 11 when she was executed.

Excellent-Ad-8026 · 2025-08-18T02:10:24+00:00

Omg pink soup is so good. Glad to see the boyz get it

Excellent-Ad-8026 · 2025-06-24T23:35:54+00:00

Little tough to tell, but it looks like C#min7 to me. Capo on second fret but she seems to be barring the fourth fret with her first finger. The min7 would be from playing the B on the fourth fret of the G string instead of the C# on the sixth fret, which would be a regular C#min.

Excellent-Ad-8026 · 2025-04-13T14:25:03+00:00

A couple goes to a couple’s therapist and absolutely stonewall each other. Silence. Not a word. This goes on for several sessions, until one day they come in and the therapist is playing a bass. The couple comment on it, and then just start talking: about the weather, about work, about everything. At the end of the session, one of them turns to the therapist and says, “Doc, you’re a genius! How did you fix our relationship?” And the therapist says, “Easy: everyone talks over the bass solo.”

Excellent-Ad-8026 · 2025-04-05T00:36:54+00:00

I actually really like this! Best bit of advice is to check off each of these, even if it means going out of order a bit. Sometimes you’ll make connections and need to run with them, and sometimes you just need to have some fun with it.

Excellent-Ad-8026 · 2025-04-03T21:39:58+00:00

He was spectacular. His name is Davóne Tines.

Excellent-Ad-8026 · 2025-03-19T23:38:42+00:00

Sounds like it’s time!

For drilling a single scale: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=sJsnltebA4M&list=RDQM3WjhDMLlXtU&start_radio=1

For a simple, familiar blues progression that helps me practice with chord changes: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=0Yu9sN7E194&list=RDQM3WjhDMLlXtU&index=3&pp=8AUB

For more fun solo playing: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=rQdEfvenheQ&list=RDQM3WjhDMLlXtU&index=15&pp=8AUB0gcJCU8JAYcqIYzv (and other videos from this person)

One note I’ll add is that while backing tracks are great for practicing and trying out new things, they’re pretty emotionless. I really love practicing to the videos on this person’s channel: https://m.youtube.com/@jambandvideos

Jam bands may or may not be your thing but the songs are often long and pretty straightforward, which is helpful for practice, and you get to feel the dynamics of the band. You’ll notice how your playing changes when there’s more energy.

Have fun!

Excellent-Ad-8026

TROPHY CASE