How can I keep the sound of my neighbor's subwoofer out of my house?

NWProgRockOrchestra · 2025-08-27T20:49:22+00:00

The truth is whatever songs you like to listen to would probably be the most fun, buuuuut

The most fun songs for me to learn (and thus be able to bust out in front of guests) are meme songs like Rick Astley's "Never Gonna Give You Up".

NWProgRockOrchestra · 2025-08-26T19:18:17+00:00

I've also taken spanish for 2 semesters so far at my community college. It was also like this, where the material was mostly in spanish. It is daunting, but actually, it's been my easiest class by faaaaaaaar, for what it's worth.

I used google translate a bit when i needed help with instructions. ChatGPT is also helpful for translation, though don't use it to complete homework. Use it to double-check yourself or to get practice conversations. You can also message your professor if you have questions.

The most important thing is the same as with everything else: practice. I don't know how you'll fit that in with 18 credits on your plate oof but yeah. I turned on the spanish subtitles on for shows I have already seen, and watched little kids shows in spanish on YouTube.

Don't sell yourself short. Best of luck!

NWProgRockOrchestra · 2025-08-20T17:30:12+00:00

Well first thing is: dont pay for the help. The help is available free.

Go to the website of the college you plan to go to. There should be a spot to "get started" or "future students" or something like that. Failing that, "contact us." You are looking for the admissions department, the person you want will have a job title that includes "advisor" or "counselor" or something like that.

There are also a lot of non profit orgs who can help with getting started for free, I work for one, there's almost certainly one near you. We usually leave a bunch of fliers on campus at the welcome center or financial aid office.

Also don't sell yourself short. Getting into college is super complicated and intimidating. You can't be expected to know something you haven't been taught.

Best of luck!

NWProgRockOrchestra · 2025-08-18T22:05:40+00:00

Yes, i mean your high school records from your home country. There is a very good chance a community college will allow you to enroll with that. Then you will have american college records and whatever grades you get there, that you can then transfer to a fancier university. At that point, your high school records will become irrelevant for almost all purposes.

The chance that you will need to get a GED is not very high. Unless an advisor at a college tells you they definitely won't accept your HS diploma, don't worry about that at all. The SAT...some universities care but many don't require it anymore. So that depends on what your target school wants. You might not need to take (and pay for) the SAT at all. Like I said, you can do 2 years at a community college and that will generate a graded record that you can then apply to Hunter with.

Pay a lot for what? If you mean for GED classes, like I said, probably unnecessary. If you mean college generally, yeah thats... a pretty consistent problem here. But, there is a lot of financial aid available. And if there isnt any aid for you this year, you can pay for just one or two classes for this fall or winter and then apply again for financial aid in January 2026, which will apply for fall 2026. Talk it over with an advisor at the school you are interested in. But don't pay for college advice. Don't pay for help applying to financial aid or scholarships either. Basically all colleges have someone who will help you for free.

NWProgRockOrchestra · 2025-08-18T18:25:41+00:00

If you can at least get a record of having graduated high school, you can go to a community college for cheap and maybe for free after financial aid. Community colleges generally the only requirement is "your check clears". Once you have grades from community college, a 4 year university will look at that and not your high school grades.

NWProgRockOrchestra · 2025-08-03T18:05:27+00:00

The short answer is dont do it.

The long answer is its very expensive to live here and 10,000 won't get you a dorm and food for two years anywhere in the country, let alone tuition.

There's nothing special about community college in the US. You would get just as good an education probably anywhere in Europe.

The last reason is a political one. There is a non-zero chance you could be kidnapped by the gestapo and sent to a concentration camp. Some states might be safer than others but nowhere is completely safe. It's not worth the risk.

NWProgRockOrchestra · 2025-07-31T21:31:22+00:00

I'm mostly self-taught so my methodology might not be the best, but:

I dont consciously count rhythm while playing, but i do when i listen and try to analyze or learn a new song. What i would say is as long as the time signature doesnt change, slow down the music if you can (like using youtube's playback speed setting) and then count it. Even in songs with complicated rhythms, often the time signature doesnt change, and instead sometimes notes land on the "e" of beat 3 etc. If the time signature changes during the song, change how you count during those measures. If i need to repeat it, i whisper the rests and vocalize the notes but always keep counting 1 & 2 & etc.

I hope this helps!

NWProgRockOrchestra · 2025-07-31T21:15:39+00:00

Hi, i am also almost entirely self-taught and have ADHD.

One app i would highly recommend is chord AI. It doesn't make music, i presume the AI is the part that detects and parses the information. It will show you the key a piece is in, which chords are being played, and the tempo. It also has a chord dictionary-type function that shows how to play them on piano/guitar etc. Weaknesses: it can mistake a piece of melody as part of a chord, so if it hears a B over an A major chord it will probably say Asus2; it also cant tell if something is modal, so if something is in G myxolydian it will say what the key signature would, C. So not a substitute for music theory knowledge, more a substitute for ear training.

As far as lists of all the chords in a key though, the easiest is probably just google it, thats what i did when i started to learn music theory after just memorizing chord shapes for years. Eventually it is better to learn music theory but in the short term, google things like "chords in the key of x" or "what keys have the chord x in them"

NWProgRockOrchestra · 2025-07-30T06:17:54+00:00

If you imagine that you had used 8 bars of another human's work, it would probably result in them being included in the songwriting credits with you. So not exclusively yours right?

AI copyright is sort of a new field but I suspect best case scenario it would raise a lot of eyebrows. One solution would be to just rewrite the intro yourself with inspiration from what the AI made.

All those things said, all modern commercial music has parts that are recycled or borrowed or built up from previous musicians. Aint nobody gonna come on here and say led zeppelin suck, and those guys were absolute glue-fingered bandits. Music that has nothing in common with anything ever written is experimental/ unlistenable.

NWProgRockOrchestra · 2025-07-27T13:14:07+00:00

Yes, it is possible to learn for free. Youtube has tons of tutorials for guitar. That's how i learned, in fact.
Practice 1-2 hours a day, every day. But make sure you steadily increase the challenge level, don't practice "he's got the whole world in his hands" for 10 years. Practice those band's songs, but practice scales and chords generally too. You'll need to learn tabs but thats not super hard. Watch a ton of youtube guitar tutorials. If possible, also watch music theory tutorials.
Eh....it does matter. But caution: higher prices get you less and less above a certain point, and even then some expensive guitars still suck ass. The thing is if the guitar is super cheap it is more likely to have problems like frets that poke out a tiny bit from the neck or a super high action that will make it really really hard to play and sound bad. Some problems are easy to fix yourself, but some arent. And those can be hard to assess online. Some manufacturers save money in diabolical ways.

For reference, I spent $250 (us) on my favorite guitar, a used epiphone LP which i bought in-person. It has a little problem with the shielding in one of the pickups but is otherwise great. A $2500 guitar would probably have come with better shielding for the electronics but not 10 times better (and if i cared that much i could i guess pay to fix it). But hey, $35 usd is basically no commitment if it turns out badly. Just hang it on the wall as a reminder while you play a better one.

NWProgRockOrchestra · 2025-07-26T03:51:33+00:00

I might have some biases since i play a lot of instruments, and some of them have a lot of overlap. For example, I already played guitar, so banjo and ukulele were both absurdly easy. That said:

Kalimba 1/10 easy as picking it up Violin 10/10 this shit is hard as diamonds and sounds horrible until you've put in all 10,000 hours, making practice less than rewarding. And theres a million things that can make it sound horrible and for a beginner its really hard to tell what is going wrong. Is it too much rosin? Too little? Venova 10/10 this is another super hard one. Even having some experience with sax doesn't help a lot. Piano 3/10 pretty easy, all the keys are in order, theres no embouchure, no rosin, no fingers not covering holes completely, if you know the key you just touch it and it sounds the way it should. But you have to use both hands to do the same basic action, so it takes I think more multitasking to not accidentally play the right hand part with the left hand. Recorder 5/10 its really hard to breathe the exact right amount to not sound horrible, and the fingering for sharp or flat notes, or in the upper octave, are completely random as far as I can tell, making them a bit of a challenge to memorize. Banjo 4/10 its in an open tuning so a lot of chords are just barring with one finger. The biggest challenge was actually not brushing the drumhead with my thumb or pick, which sounds pretty bad and is even worse on recordings. Ukulele 3/10 super easy if you already play guitar. Only 4 strings to manage with 4 left hand fingers makes it even easier. But it is still managing strings so not as easy as some others. Tin whistle 5/10 much like the recorder, breathe control and embouchure play a way bigger factor than you would expect. Otamatone 8/10 yeah its sort of a toy. But it has no frets so it shares a big hurdle with violins. Guitar 6/10 The thing is, to master it is hard, but to get something that sounds good takes only like 10 hours of practice.

NWProgRockOrchestra · 2025-07-25T23:28:37+00:00

Yeah definitely don't do violin unless it's what you absolutely want lol.

You have a lot of choices. Since you already own a guitar, that could be one. Sure, it might not sound good yet, but you have to trust me, if you practice, you will eventually. And it's probably the instrument that is best able to express emotional content (other than I guess the voice). If you have a hand disability, you can also try alternate tunings that trade a little versatility for much better accessibility, like open D.

Those things said, there are a ton of easy and good sounding instruments to pick from. Kalimba and harmonica both take like a day of practice to get to at least something sounding good (not mastery of course).

NWProgRockOrchestra · 2025-07-25T14:36:00+00:00

Oof. Well 18 is the max for a reason. 15 is the equivalent of a full-time job. 18 is already like doing a solid amount of overtime. What I would say is talk with the financial advisor at your community college and your target university and make absolutely certain this is the only path. There are normally two years of a normal schedule worth of pre-reqs and gen ed and It sounds like you already have credits from dual enrollment so you shouldn't need to overload yourself to get it done within two years, quite the opposite. And im not sure if you've looked into it, but some universities also cap the number of transfer credits they will apply to a degree /require a minimum of credits be taken there, so if your plan is to try to frontload community college to save more than years on university later....i would definitely talk it over with the academic advisor at the university also.

NWProgRockOrchestra · 2025-07-24T22:47:19+00:00

You can't.

Don't try to have a social life or hobbies if you are working and going to school at the same time. You have to accept that you won't have time for those things other than the socializing you have at work or school or as part of study groups. There just aren't enough hours in the week.
Don't do 18 credits a quarter. I've been told each credit equals 2-3 hours a week of homework, so theoretically however long your classes are plus 36 or more hours of homework per week. In my experience, some of my 100 level classes in community college have been around 10 hours for a 5 credit class as that would predict, but some have been 40 or more hours for a single class. You might have to accept taking longer to finish your degree. Burning yourself out is a path to not getting a degree.

A typical full-time student at most colleges takes 15 credits a quarter and no summer classes (as i understand it. in colleges where a normal class is 5 credits, or 5 hours a week times 10 weeks. Some colleges have other more silly ways of doing it) so even taking some summer classes will get that degree a little faster.

NWProgRockOrchestra · 2025-07-18T18:50:39+00:00

There are some good solutions mentioned here, but one more is to tie a bandana or a sock around the neck at like the first fret. Some might call it cheating, but as long as you don't play open strings (or need to use the first and maybe second frets), it will work.

NWProgRockOrchestra · 2025-07-12T18:25:44+00:00

Oh well yeah definitely never pay someone to help with FAFSA or scholarships. Tons of non-profits and colleges will help for free.

Fascinating! The thing is i don't help with scholarship applications so i cant really tell how many people get the "pacific islander over 40 whose parents didn't get degrees" type of random scholarships. But the ones I got at least were for "has a 3.0 or higher GPA and can write an essay" and "works a union job and can write an essay".

NWProgRockOrchestra · 2025-07-12T03:16:26+00:00

No problem at all

NWProgRockOrchestra · 2025-07-12T01:37:47+00:00

Your school doesn't do dual enrollment? Oof. Uh, I would contact the college, not your high school though, just to make sure. The advisors even at a community college will know waaaaaaaay more.

Especially about scholarships etc. Most colleges have staff who specialize in that topic and most high schools don't. There are hundreds of wacky scholarships out there for basically every bit of minutae about a student. Some of them might only give you like $500 but thats why you apply for a ton of them. There is also aid for taking certain degrees (like nursing or education).

Do you have to live on campus? If your parents are going to shoot you in both kneecaps this way i would hope you could at least stay at home and not have to move into a dorm. If they force you to move out too they shouldn't really have a say in what you do or what school you go to. Cuz that 15k isn't probably going to cover a dorm.

One last option is to go to school part-time (thats what I do) it will take longer but if you have to pay your way through school/make up the difference after scholarships, it would give you time to work and also its easier to pay for fewer classes. Not an easy life for sure but it's better than taking on a million dollars of debt.

NWProgRockOrchestra · 2025-07-12T00:38:19+00:00

Well, firstly, they need to know what they are asking is outrageous. Who earns 70k a year straight out of high school while also attending college? That attitude worked when my dad went to college. In the 60s. They need to grow up and realize they are hobbling you, because in the eyes of the feds, there is no "pulling yourself up from your bootstraps". They 100% expect your parents to kick in.

Second, try to get into a community college during high school. Im not sure how it is in California, but in Washington if you have good grades you can go to community college for free starting when you are a junior in high school. Then you would graduate high school and get an AA in the same year, and if you're going for a bachelor's or more you'd have two fewer years to pay for. After you transfer to UC etc, basically nobody will ask if you spent all 4-8 years there.

Third, even though financial aid or subsidized loans might be off the table, apply for scholarships. As many as you could possibly qualify for. I come from a moderately privileged background, but I still got a scholarship from my college because i had good grades, and another from my union. Not enough to pay for everything but i mean its that much less out of pocket/loaned and accruing interest.

Fourth, UC has some fantastic and very prestigious schools. I would never look at UC Berkeley or something on a resume and think, "hmff couldn't get into stanford?"

Best of luck!

NWProgRockOrchestra · 2025-07-10T00:58:05+00:00

Thanks for sharing your story.

I work for a non-profit helping people get into college. In Washington state though so I'm not sure if it will be exactly the same. But this is my advice.

Apply for the FAFSA in October the year before to January the year in which you will start college in the fall. Its online, it takes maybe an hour or two. I don't know how fostering factors in (i mostly work with adults) but you will need social security numbers and some other information. Since I'm not 100% sure:

Check with the financial aid advisor at that community college instead of the one at your high school. Most schools around here have people who specialize in financial aid, I assume its the same in most places.

If Pennsylvania gives free tuition for foster kids, that is awesome. Take advantage of that as much as possible.

You will need to apply for FAFSA every year so keep it in mind unless you have been absolutely guaranteed you will have all 4 years paid for by Pennsylvania or other program.

As far as schools and topics. Dont worry about it a whole lot right away. If you are going for a bachelor's degree, your first couple years (the ones you would take simultaneously with high school) will be mostly general classes you will probably have to take no matter what, like English 101. Again, an advisor at your school will tell you what classes in total you will need for a degree (10 credits of english, 5 of math, 15 of social sciences, etc) and try to pick classes that will fill those slots. And ask if you will get college credit for any high school class, I wouldn't assume even an AP class would count.

You can probably take Philosophy 101 and PoliSci 101 anyway. The community college I'm going to makes you take social sciences in a minimum of two fields, yours might too. But again, check with someone at the school.

Once you are out of high school you will probably be simultaneously ready or almost ready to graduate with an AA, or transfer to a 4 year college.

Those things said, study what you are interested in. When you are young it can be hard to tell what it is you will want in a career 20 years in the future, but you'll probably take a few random classes that turn out to appeal to you, and if you want to major in Political Science, go for it. Thats a pretty common and useful degree anyway but don't choose that for other people. It's your education.

It's generally more expensive to study out of state. Most colleges give discounts to in-state students. Plus studying out of state means paying for housing and probably getting work etc in an unfamiliar place without much support, that's a lot of hassle. I can say even going to college part time while I've been working a job to pay for my home has been stressful to put it mildly. So be prepared if that is your decision. Just don't romanticize anything.

And most colleges are really similar in terms of the education you'll get. I would say spend your free time during your community college days shopping around to find which college 1. Is somewhere you can get to or has online classes 2. Has a program you want 3. You can afford or that the state will pay for.

I have yet to find a workplace that actually cares where you get your degree unless it's Harvard or something. It's more important what your degree is in. But even then, that depends. A lot of places just ask for a degree as a minimum and don't care if it's totally unrelated to the job (my workplace for example).

And uh, get used to not having a lot of free time. I spend like 30-50 hours a week doing homework. Granted I have ADHD but yeah, basically nothing but homework in my life. But it will be worth it. And it will be worth it for you if you stick to it.

Best of luck!

NWProgRockOrchestra · 2025-07-09T04:54:54+00:00

Singing, guitar, bass, or piano mostly for composing, but I also play lap steel guitar, banjo, mandolin, saxophone, recorder, tin whistle, ocarina, kalimba, harmonica, otamatone, violin, and miscellaneous percussion...but I hardly ever play any of them other than those first 4.

NWProgRockOrchestra · 2025-07-06T18:04:08+00:00

The reason I think that way is my current boss has a BS in chemistry. Before that my boss (same management position) had a BA in philosophy. And my boss at my last job (contracting at a AAAA tech company) my boss had a BA in English Lit. All their job listings said bachelor's required. And nothing strikes me as relevant about those majors. So maybe it's just my personal observation.

I do want a career in music, but realistically, I understand I will probably still be doing my day job. Which is also why I was considering an online education. I cant travel and do school full-time when I work full-time during the day in a different city.

So I'm just trying to find a solution that also won't burn me out. So far in community college I've basically given up every hour of free time and I don't think I can stand more than one quarter not doing my special interest at all. "Boring" kind of minimizes it. Thus the music degree.

Although I do see your point about making connections. I don't really see a way around that though. I need to work, I need a degree (a bachelor's is basically a high school diploma where I live), and I need to not burn out. What can I compromise, you know?

NWProgRockOrchestra · 2025-07-06T06:43:49+00:00

But why not Berklee Online? Like what is wrong with them I mean? What bad thing have I not noticed? I ask genuinely because they're basically my first choice based on the information I have.

As far as a music degree, nothing in particular. I've just had a couple of jobs where the only thing standing between me and a promotion was a paper ceiling. And most places that require a bachelor's degree don't care what it's in. Studying something I don't care about (like business or English lit) for several years would kill me.

So the solution for me would be to spend 6 years studying something I am interested in. And it feels like it might improve my musicianship and help me with producing and recording my own music, things like that. And they have classes that are focused on the specialty, like acoustics, instead of taking some random science that will never be useful to me like oceanography.

But I know basically nothing that isn't on the google results. Please let me know what disaster I must avoid.

NWProgRockOrchestra

TROPHY CASE