How to not suck at music for your whole life

Yo, JoJo, here today I would like to talk about practice and how to practice what we should practice and why we should practice. So before I get into some of the specifics, I'd like to just start by saying, and I think a lot of you guys are really aware of this, whether you admit it or not, that like most of us, especially in this like age of like social media, TikTok, YouTube shorts, Instagram Reels are like always looking to get this instant gratification. And to anybody that's like been into like productivity or just like self help, this is not like a new concept to you, right? We have a tendency as a generation, as a society to just like move on too quickly and like it's especially rampant in music, right? And it's so easy, especially being lost on the YouTube rabbit hole. Like there's so many different people telling you all these tricks and licks and like chord progression hacks that you gotta try and it'll make people cry if you, you know, put this technique in. And I think what a lot of people don't have is like an actual mastery of anything. And even less than that, they don't even have like a basic like, familiarity fundamentals of like, of music. And I'm mostly talking about like from an improvisation and like compositional standpoint. But it also like applies to rhythm too. Like most people have not just like learned one song super well that they can play it and strum it and keep it in beat for the whole time. And like what you guys got to realize, like, especially on something like guitar, it's like you get that strumming down for one song and it carries over into every other song that you're gonna play. And so so many of you guys are like learning all of these songs kind of half baked, like kind of playing the right rhythm a little bit or just, you know, playing a watered down version of it and like not really playing it in beat the whole time or not playing along with the record and then you just kind of like get bored with it and then you move on to the next thing, right? I'm not, like I said, I'm not saying anything that I'm sure you guys haven't hear before. Like it's not that groundbreaking. But I want to give you guys some strategies about how you might go about fixing this. I saw this other YouTube video about this guy that had taught himself how to like speak Japanese and play guitar and piano. And then also I think he learned how to code or something like that. And he was Basically like all self taught on all this stuff. And he said something that really resonated with me and that was that one of the things that he did was basically he stuck with stuff for a long time and he only like listened to like one or two sources per thing, right? So it's like if you're gonna learn how to, how to play, you know, speak Japanese, for example, it's like he, he has this one guy that teaches him how to speak Japanese and he doesn't look at other people because it's like when you learn from one person, you get indoctrinated. I don't want to say indoctrinated, but it's more likely learn an actual method, a methodology, an approach to how to tackle this huge problem of learning a skill, right? And so many of you guys are just jumping from song to song to technique to technique to teacher to teacher to method to method and nothing's actually sticking. And so if the stuff that I'm, that I'm saying here is resonating with you guys, here's that I would recommend like absolute practical example, right? First of all, get a familiarity with like the diatonic chords of the major scale. If that like is mumbo jumbo to me to you, go watch some of my other older videos or you know, just look up like, I don't know, diatonic chords on YouTube or something, I'm sure there'll be somebody explaining it, right? And so figure out how you can play those chords on your, on your instrument. It's pretty easy. You only really have to do the first six at the beginning. It's either going to be major chord or it's going to be a minor chord. If you're just playing triads and then just choose one of those chords or as I call them sometimes, harmonic environments and just like see what would happen if you just like as part of your daily practice, you just like kept coming back to that chord for like a month, right? Like it's funny because a month in like practicing something seems like such a long time, but it also seems like such a short time. Like you think about like how many years go by and we still like suck at stuff, right? And so like, you know, say you took something like the two chord and like Bill Evans used to say that he would play the same song for like three hours and it's like, yes, dude, I get it. You practice the minimum, not the minimum amount of time, but the minimum amount of material. So you can actually let it sink in. And also it's like, guys, music is not boring. Some of you guys think it is. You have this delusion that, like, by just, like, continuously adding this complexity, that, like, that's the level of stimulation you need. Guys, you're missing, like, I guess in this case it'd be the tree for the forest. You're so focused on the whole of everything that you come out with this mediocre hole. But the micro, it's like an atom. You know what I'm saying? It's like when you look at a tree and you just keep going in microscopes and microscopes, it's like, it's still, like, so infinitely complex that you wouldn't even be able to see from afar. So I'm encouraging you guys to take that approach to these basic materials of our music. Own that two chord, own that four chord. Make it a part of who you are. And when you're going through it, even if you're like an advanced musician, treat it like you're seeing it for the first time. Treat it like, you know, more childlike. You never know what you're going to find in these chords. I mean, guys, these are. This. This is like the universal human language, this whole tonal harmony thing. And these six chords make up, like, 95, 98 freaking cent of, like, all the music that you guys know. So it's like, if you just did one chord a month, it would only take you six months to learn, like, with an intense, like, familiarity. Like, almost all the chords that people are using in music. Guys, like, I don't think a lot of you understand this. It's. You're going so wide. But, like, to actually get to, like, so much band through your book, there's, like, a pretty finite amount of things. And so just pick it up. And once again, the way that I approach things, it's really important that you're not just picking a minor chord or a major chord. No, Choose a chord within the tonal octave. Are you doing the six chord? Are you doing the two chord? Are you doing the three chord? You know, maybe for the first week, you could just kind of play around and see which ones resonate with you, but then find the ones that resonate with you and stick with it, right? Explore every nook and cranny, Find all the different combinations of notes, find the melodies, and you're gonna find that, like, the weird melodies are actually the freaking best ones. At least that's how it was for me. The ones that use, like, the weird dissonance and then they kind of release. Oh, oh. It's it's bliss. And look, if you're not, you know, in that, like, enlightened yogi mind space where you can just sit in one place for a whole month and believe me, I. I'm not claiming to be like that. And you need more stimulation. Take two chords. Find two chords out of those six, a little pair. They could be adjacent. You know, one to two is great to study. Two to three is great to study. Three to four is great to study. Two to five is great to study. Five to six is fine. I Look, you don't like it that much, but you know what? You might. And just like, just examine it from every angle, you know, look at this small piece of information and see what you're gonna find. And when you find something that you like, for God's sake, know what it is. And when I say know what it is, I mean know exactly what notes you're playing in the tonal octave. You know, it's either, you know, between notes one and seven. And know what chord you're. You're hearing that melody over. You know, if you're gonna practice this, you could kind of like play chords on your instrument, your guitar or your piano. You choose a key, you say, okay, I'm gonna do the two chord and the ii. And maybe you could start with just a two chord for a long time and then just a three chord for a long time, and then you start to play them one after another. And when you're singing your melodies, at least at the beginning, while we're training, right, there's multiple stages of this. Because sometimes it's nice to just forget about all this stuff and let the mind free. Just. But even that, it's like, that was free, but I still knew I was going to 3, 2, 1, 7, 6, 7, 1, 2, 3, 3. It's like once you do the training, it's like you can't really forget about where you are. And that's what I want for you guys. I want this freedom. So you can just let it out already. And so bless guys and look at it closer. Listen deeper, go slower. Take your time. Guys, everybody knows the long way is the short way. So just stop trying to find shortcuts and, like, special secret techniques and just do the work on these fundamentals. Guys, I cannot emphasize how much like, this is gonna pay dividends for your life and your practice. Guys, we're on this earth for a while. If you like this music thing, it's not going away. You're still gonna be playing in 15 years. So for the, you know, for beat sake, guys, do the work. These associations with the fundamentals. And again, like, I cannot overemphasize. Guys, music is not boring. Music is not boring. This whole life, this whole existence is infinitely complex. So find it, you know, examine. How does your, how does it feel when you're, when your voice is going over a certain order. If you're playing piano, you know, two hands or guitar, it's harder on guitar, it's better to do with your voice. But on piano, you know, you could be playing the melody in your right hand and like maybe the bass note or the chord doing your left hand and just really listen deep and see what you guys find. You're gonna. Cuz what you're gonna discover is What? Like no YouTube video is gonna give you guys there. Nobody. Whenever I have students and I'm a teacher, but like I always say, I can't teach you anything. I can only show you things you have to teach yourself. You have to look into these things yourself and draw your own conclusions, extrapolations, you know. What is. What does Note 3 over the 2 chord mean to you? I know what it means to me. I. I may not be able to like eloquently put it into words. I mean, if I tried, maybe I could, but it doesn't really matter. I just know that it evokes a certain feeling in me. And when it's time for me to use that in my music, I know exactly what chord to put and what melody note to put relative to context. Okay, great. This went a little bit longer than I was planning, but I hope it was helpful. Take care. By.