Hi Tomo and everybody in the Guitar Wisdom community,
Recently I’ve been coming to the end of my freshman year at Babson College, and I’ve officially passed 2 and a half years since picking up my first guitar. As a former alumni of the Berklee 5-Week Program (Jazz Guitar Performance), I’ve found myself slowly drowning in the workload of business school during the semester — writing legal briefs, startup proposals, presentations, and all of that — but I don’t want to focus too much on that part.
The main thing I’ve been struggling with is feeling a little lost and feeling myself slowly drift away from what I really want to do, which is to write and produce songs with the kind of harmony, groove, emotional depth, and musical sophistication of artists like Khalil Fong, Leehom Wang, Eric Clapton, Bill Withers, and Stevie Wonder.
Right now I’m going back through the Theory, Harmony, and Triad lessons slowly one by one on Guitar Wisdom, and I’m also starting to get into the R&B lessons. I’ve been learning keyboard as well, and I can already write basic pop/R&B songs using things like altered chords, bVImaj chords, and major/minor interchange around the I and IV chords. But even with that, I still feel limited harmonically and rhythmically, and I want to grow into a more complete musician, songwriter, arranger, and producer.
Lately I’ve also been thinking about possibly doing Berklee Online in areas like songwriting, music production, or composition, but I’m still unsure what direction would actually help me grow most effectively toward the kind of musician I want to become. One thing I noticed from my experience at the Berklee 5-Week program was that being surrounded by other musicians who were actively practicing and improving gave me a lot more motivation and discipline to squeeze out time to really work on my musicianship. When I’m alone, I sometimes end up just spending my free time learning songs I like instead of progressing in a more structured way.
To eventually achieve that goal, I wanted to ask for advice from everyone here:
What should I focus on most at this stage of my development?
Should I prioritize:
* harmony and ear training,
* groove/rhythm,
* transcription,
* piano/keyboard skills,
* arranging,
* production,
* or something else entirely?
And for those who have gone deeper into R&B, neo-soul, jazz harmony, and songwriting, what helped you make the jump from writing “basic songs” to writing music that actually feels emotionally and musically rich?
Thank you so much everyone — I really appreciate any guidance.
Hey Raymond! You've set a really high bar with those musicians!
I'm not sure if this is helpful, but I share some of your goals, so I'll offer my $.02.
I'm older, and have no intention of becoming a professional musician, so keep that in mind.
Anyway, what has been the most helpful to me is to actually just make music. But with other people. I write one or two songs per week. Not complete songs, but progressions with a verse and chorus, maybe intros and outros too. But they're really just ideas. Then I bring them to the band, and we woodshed them for hours. They always become something better. So that's my main advice. Keep writing and experimenting, then bring what you've created to other folks where you can all learn from each other. By playing.
We've also recorded a few of our songs. It would be great if any of us had production experience, but we don't. However, the tools we have nowadays are amazing, and get easier to use all of the time. So it has been fun and educational to have a "finished" recording, then to be able to listen and say "oh, we need a little something here," or "oh, we did way too much there," and then just to be able to make it "right" for how we want it to sound.
GW has been amazing for my development. And bringing what I learn from GW to music I create, and actually playing it with others has been like rocket fuel.
So whatever you prioritize from your list, I'd recommend putting it into practice with your writing, and then play it with others. And do this before you feel "ready."
I hope that's helpful. Good luck!
I don't have any advice for Raymond. I don't have aspirations to write or record my own music. But Clay, I'd love to hear some of your music if you have it posted anywhere (soundcloud/youtube/etc).
Thank you Raymond for sharing your experience here!
Learn more good old R&B songs. More you learn great songs, you will gain a better song writing skills. Great song writer is a great learner (songs)
Then you can use Essential Theory. Intervals, triads, 7th chords and chord functions etc. No magic! Pure hard work! Good job! You are studying Essential theory lessons. Especially Major Scale & Major Triad.
I would say…
1) Learning songs / Ear Training / Transcription on a few songs. (Always list less items so you will do it!)
2) Practice any rhythm guitars. R 3 7 Swing Groove is must! Any funky rhythm guitar styles.
3) Learn Jazz Standards with R 3 7 Swing Groove (This will open up many ways!)
4) Record yourself 1-2 minutes everyday.
Did you listen Donny Hathaway “LIVE”
Transcribe “What’s going on?” and “ Everything is everything”
Good ear training test on “You’ve got a friend” Must learn this harmony from just listening.
Tomo
Will do Matt. We have a few down, but they don't have the vocal tracks yet. I'll post when we finish.
Thank you Clay, Matt and Tomo for the encouragements and advices.
Like you said Clay, playing and jamming with others are absolutely gold when it comes to getting more inspirations.
And yes Tomo, you are absolutely right too, my favorite artists (forgot to mention fujii kaze and Sheena Ringo, amazing harmony and groove) had often grown up listing to many rnb, jazz and soul music over and over again. Also, thanks for the advices on what to practice next, I will continue to do my ear training and transcription in hope that I can learn "You've got a friend" (I fell in love with the harmony instantly) by listening to the song, meanwhile I'll keep practive, triads, inversions, R 3 7 Swing and Jazz Standards!