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Understanding Landslide
Landslide is one of those songs where it's hard to imagine that anyone actually wrote it. It just feels like it's always existed, being molded by artists to tell beautiful stories for generations. And yet it was written, by Stevie Nicks,...
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I Fixed Music's Least Important Problem (Again!)
Sometimes, the work I do explores deep, fundamental questions about music and our relationship with it. Sometimes my videos are intended to challenge viewers on their assumptions, or to provoke deep thoughts on important topics. And...
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Understanding Heart's "Alone"
Donate directly to the National Network of Abortions Funds: https://donate.abortionfunds.org/give/323375/#!/donation/checkout or find an abortion fund in your state: https://abortionfunds.org/funds/ There's a subtle art to taking a great...
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Why Does Metal Have To Be So Loud?
Metal has always been one of my favorite genres, and like most metalheads, I've never listened to it quietly. Turning the volume down on a brutal metal riff feels almost sacrilegious, like it's disrespectful to the music to hear it at...
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Understanding Everybody Wants To Rule The World
Tears For Fears were famous for their meticulous production, spending months dialing in the exact sounds they needed to make their audacious synthpop anthems work. But what would happen if you took that attention to detail and forced...
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How Sheet Music Lies To You
Sheet music is everywhere these days. As musicians, we all learn to read the little dots and lines that translate into notes and chords, but we don't really think about what those dots and lines are actually doing. The process of turning...
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My Biggest Musical Pet Peeve
I'm generally a pretty understanding person, but when it comes to the way people talk about music, I sometimes get my heckles raised a little too much. One of the things that annoys me most is what I like to call the Wiggly Air Fallacy,...
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Understanding Bohemian Rhapsody's Opera
Last week I tried to analyze Bohemian Rhapsody, and after it took me 21 minutes to get through the first 3 minutes of the song, I decided I needed to make it two videos, so... here's the second one! This one starts with the opera section...
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Understanding Bohemian Rhapsody
So... Bohemian Rhapsody. Do I have to tell you what this song is? Probably not. It's one of the most well-known, beloved rock songs ever made, and a long time ago, I promised that if I ever reached 500,000 subscribers, I'd turn my...
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Solving James Brown's Rhythmic Puzzle Correctly (A Response To Adam Neely)
I promise this is 100% real drama. Get 20% off Hooktheory's interactive books and a lifetime subscription to Hookpad: https://www.hooktheory.com/12tone It brings me no joy to say this, but Adam Neely is wrong on the internet. Or, ok,...
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Understanding Blister In The Sun
Blister In The Sun is one of those songs that doesn't really make sense, not because it's too complicated, but because it almost doesn't feel complicated enough. On the surface it's extremely simple, and that simplicity made it a hard...
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This Scale Is Impossible (But It Sounds Great)
These are a few of my favorite scales. Get 26% off CuriosityStream and a free Nebula account: http://www.curiositystream.com/12tone and use promo code "12tone" There's lots of good scales out there. There's even plenty of great ones. But...
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Understanding The Man Who Sold The World
The Man Who Sold The World is a haunting song with a haunting legacy. Its story is ambiguous and vague, leaving plenty of room for interpretation. Who is this man, who did he sell the world to, and most importantly, what even is a gazely...
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This Is The Most Important Instrument In The World
How voices work. Get 26% off CuriosityStream and a free Nebula account: http://www.curiositystream.com/12tone and use promo code "12tone" Many instruments have defined many musical movements over the years, but there's one that's played...
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Understanding Carry On Wayward Son
Carry On Wayward Son is one of those songs that's both totally unique and perfectly emblematic of a larger musical movement. There's nothing quite like it, but it still captures the sound of rock music in the mid '70s, and that blend of...
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How I'd Learn Music Theory (If I Had To Start Over)
If I could start again, a million miles away... Get 41% off(!) CuriosityStream and a free Nebula account: http://www.curiositystream.com/12tone and use promo code "12tone" I've spent over a decade of my life learning music theory, and it...
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The Piano That (Almost) Changed Everything
We could've had 31 notes this whole time!? The first 1000 people to use this link will get 30% off an annual Skillshare Premium https://skl.sh/12tone05211 It's easy to think of music history as a series of events that smoothly led us to...
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Rethinking Tonality
Or why I don't like the idea of "tonal ambiguity". Get 26% off CuriosityStream and a free Nebula account: http://www.curiositystream.com/12tone and use promo code "12tone" For a long time, I've felt that the way we talk about keys is...
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Understanding That "Rat In A Cage" Song
There's a lot of songs about anger out there, but few of them feel quite like Bullet With Butterfly Wings. Oh yeah, that's the actual name of the song. You might know it as "The World Is A Vampire" or "Rat In A Cage" but the official...
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What Key Is Hallelujah In?
Let's talk about the real secret chord. The first 1000 people to use this link will get 30% off an annual Skillshare Premium Membership: https://skl.sh/12tone04211 Hallelujah is one of the most important songs in folk rock history. It's...
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Understanding Dream On
Dream On is a startlingly mature piece of music in both theme and composition. It was one of the earliest power ballads, and to my mind, it remains one of the best. It avoids a lot of the cornier elements that plagued many of its...
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What I Learned At Music School (Besides Music)
There's more to music than just music. Get your free 30-day Audible trial today: http://audible.com/12tone or text "12tone" to 500-500 One of the biggest debates among people who went to music school is whether or not music school is a...
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Let's Talk About Blues Lyrics
Or why blues lyrics are more important than you might think. Get 26% off CuriosityStream and a free Nebula account: http://www.curiositystream.com/12tone and use promo code "12tone" A lot of scholarship on the blues focuses on its...
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Understanding You're So Vain
It's one of rock's greatest mysteries: Who is You're So Vain actually about? And now, for the first time ever, I can finally, definitively, beyond a shadow of a doubt... not answer it. I'm sorry! I don't actually know! In fact, according...