Jake Lizzio

Live Q+A / Lesson TOMORROW @2PM CST

Very sorry folks, I put the wrong date in my calendar for the livestream this week. It was supposed to occur today at 2PM but that clearly didn't happen =(

Instead, we'll be meeting tomorrow for about an hour at 2:00PM CST. The link is above or can be found here:

https://youtu.be/tdMQ6k446mg

As bef...

Producing Cringey Singing into Tool Style Vocals

Happy Wednesday everyone- I got a surprising amount of requests asking for this video, but it isn't in the style of my traditional Signals content so I'm posting it on my other channel. Even if you're not a producer, you might glean some knowledge into the process and find it entertaining to see a bad vocal line get polished into something acceptable.

If you are a producer type, you'll wa...

Tonight at 8PM CST: Live Lesson + Q/A

Hope you all had a great weekend and have some time tonight to join the live lesson and Q+A session!

The link will be here:

https://youtu.be/OhZsNUWSVNk

If you have any questions you would like answered but can't make it to tonight's stream, please leave a comment below. The next stream will be two weeks from...

New Video!!! Riffing with Modes #6 - Aeolian/Minor

This is another big one folks- I'm VERY glad to announce that Riffing with the Modes #6 (Aeolian/Minor) is complete! It contains some of the more ambitious video/audio production I’ve ever shared. I think the results will be entertaining, at the very least- hopefully, there is enough insight into songwriting, theory, arrangement, and production that you learn some valuable tips along the way....

Today's Live Q+A begins at 2:00 PM CST

Hey everyone! I know a lot of you couldn't make last week's lesson due to it being too late overseas, so this one is scheduled early enough that hopefully some of you can make it. 

Here's the link-

https://youtu.be/567hCoFAfdg

As before, this video will be available to view after the lesson. I...

Link for tonight's Q+A Live Lesson

Trying again tonight, I do believe I have the kinks worked out- join if you can in 3 hours at 8PM CST!

https://youtu.be/ZGrdRjc0c8o

Link for tonight's Live Lesson / Q+A

We just had a massive storm blow through here and take out the power in a lot of the area, but my place seems to be spared so tonight at 8PM CST is looking good!

Here's the link to the stream:

--LINK REMOVED - READ EDIT AT BOTTOM!

If you miss out on the live lesson, you'll be able to come back to this post in the future to watch it afterwards. 

See you al...

Augmented Chords: Explained and Applied

Behold, the long-awaited Augmented video! This triad had me boggled for many years- I'm hoping this guide demystifies the concept for you and allows you to easily introduce theharmonic qualities of augmented awkwardness into your music. Not gonna lie, I think this is one of the best lessons (and thumbnails!) that I've ever made. It's a tough topic but I think it comes across pretty simply- at l...

Writing Melodies Part 3 + Live Lesson Update!

This video goes WAY past just melodies... Ooops! Here's whats inside:

-2 basic melodic concepts

-Writing a 16-bar chord progression

-Recording/Producing a Rhythm Track

-Writing a Bass Line

-Constructing A Melody (finally!)

-Rearranging a track to MIDI

This is the last of the 3 part series I planned. I did get kind of carried away throughout this process...

Patreon Only- Writing Melodies Part 2

Hey everyone! In this lesson, we explore 4 extremely common melodic structures:

SRDC

Call + Response

ABAC

3 Strikes Rule

We also take a look at many many different popular melodies and how they fit the mold for these structures. 

Near the end of the video, I put the concepts to use to try making a melody+chord progression from stratch. 

Two co...

How To Write Melodies (1/3) [PATREON ONLY]

This is what I'd consider to be a "high-level lesson", even though I don't talk an ounce of music theory! It gets way into personal opinion here on composing, but I'd be betraying my ethics to not share how I actually work with melodic concepts.

It's about art, and art can't be easily boiled down to paint-by-numbers rules. It gets abstract, and that's what this first lesson on melody is a...

Guitar Technique + Theory: Learn + Apply Two Hand Tapping

Here we go! This video will go public tomorrow morning, until then it's just for you =)

This  is a detailed guide to get you started on learning the two-handed tapping technique for guitar. There are two important skills that must be learned first: left hand legato, and the right hand tap. After that, we will break down the most common tapping pattern (heard in Van...

Bad Drums Gone Good [Production / Recording]

In my video, Riffing with Modes #5 Mixolydian, I mention that the original drum part didn't sound very good and that I had to use my software to beef things up. This video is a walkthrough of what I did to get that sound. 

The missing gap in this video that I'm aware of is how to actually sample/trigger/replace a snare or kick sound. Due to an software problem (mentioned in the video...

By Request: Tabs/PDF for the Pentatonic Minor solo

My last video on minor/dorian got some great feedback, and I got a request to tab out the
first solo in strict Pentatonic Minor, so I'm posting it here for everyone else as well. 

The solo: https://youtu.be/m0zLzVhTPYU?t=91

It was an improvised lead, so I never had a chance to really "analyze" what I w...

Dorian + Minor Modal Mixture [PDF + MP3]

Hello everyone! This one should keep you busy for a while-  I HIGHLY recommend downloading the track and experimenting with at least one of these concepts. I feel this is a great bridge between the basics + the advanced. It certainly breaches some heavy territory, but you can take it as slowly or simply as you want- starting with pentatonics and moving up from there.&nbs...

1 Hour Tutorial - Producing Rock

Hey everyone! Hope you're all well. I wanted to livestream this process but I've been inundated with a multitude of miniature crises this week, one of which was a monitor issue that prevented me from livestreaming. I recorded it instead, which did provide me the opportunity to teach what I was doing without too many distractions. 

I know this sort of video isn’t for ALL of you, but...

Writing Melodic and Shredful Solos in Lydian

Hi everyone, I’ve got some fun news for you despite the tumultuous times. First off, I’ve just posted a new video on my YouTube channel that details how to go about composing a fast, technical lead. The idea came about through a recent discussion with Shred Master Scott from YouTube. Some of you here may know him, he’s a well-educated instructor and has a lot of great i...

Learn Scales + Make Music [Fretastic + Bebop Dominant]

HI FOLKS!

Once again, I’m excited to show you what I’ve cooked up. I promised myself I would make an easy video after the last one, but instead I ended up making another song and music video and crammed it into a lesson :P.

I really like the track I wrote for this, “Salutations,” but I just don’t have the time to 100% finish it yet. I will be completing ...

Jazz Primer + Bebop Scale [PATREON ONLY]

In an attempt to balance out some of our knowledge, I thought a brief primer into the world of Jazz would be helpful. I'll be honest- I find the entire realm to be very confusing, and I never developed a true passion for the style. But my studies weren't fruitless, and I've distilled the fundamentals down to a 30 minute lesson for you all here.

The following videos are ...

HUGE VIDEO! Riffing with Modes #5 is HERE!

Infinite thanks for your patience over this one, I can't stress enough how much I appreciate it!!! I think you'll see why it took so long, and sincerely hope you find it educational or at least entertaining. This video is currently unlisted but will either post tonight or tomorrow morning. 

The song should be on spotify and all other services in a few days, and when it pops up there,...

Patreon Only- Analyzing a Pink Floyd Progression + Update

Hey everyone, here's an overdue lesson for just you. I got a great question by member Luca Ciffo about the F#7 chord in the key of E, as it occurs in Pink Floyd's "If". This quick lesson dives into diatonic chords, turnarounds, dominant chords and secondary dominants, and more. 

I also talk a bit about why I haven't been as active as usual, and some info about my upcoming single / le...

SECRETS of the SEVEN CHORD - New Video + PDF

This is a pretty heavy lesson but I think it's important and interesting stuff! The intro was a blast to make and worked out better than I expected... I might do a behind-the-scenes on how it was made because it's a fun blending of music skills. 

This video is unlisted for a few hours and then will go public soon, and the PDF is attached with this post. Let me know if you have questi...

Link for tonight's PATREON ONLY Q+A Hangout!

You have asked some amazing questions and I'm really looking forward to answering them! This stream will be for Patrons only, and can only be accessed through THIS link. Keeping this one private means that I can focus on your questions and not worry about the youtube crowd. 

https://youtu.be/-4yG13NqzH4

2020-04-06 18:41:22 +0000 UTC View Post

Post your questions for Monday's Live Lesson!

This coming Monday (April 6th) I'll be doing a livestream at 5PM CST on YouTube. Please ask your questions here in advance, then I can go through them one at a time live. It should be a fun hangout style lesson. I'll try to prepare some charts + resources in advance if need be, but it will be a more casual style lesson video than the course I posted last week.

Here's an update for my vide...

LATE stream!

Hey everyone, if you were following along with my blues course we might have to take a day off. My comcast internet is out and I wasnt told when it would be back up, I'm posting this from my mobile connection. If its back before 3 Ill still stream, otherwise today's lesson will be postponed till tomorrow.

EDIT:

Internet is BACK so I'm going ahead with the stream, it's just gonna be ...

THIS WEEK! Free 5-day blues course LIVE

I'm assuming that I'm not the only one who has had their plans change recently?

Without getting into details, my Mixolydian video will be delayed. I started working on another video to temporarily replace that one, but stopped halfway through to start working on this. 

I'll be teaching a free 5-day blues course live next week on YouTube, every day, streaming at 2PM CST. Each st...

What Theory Do You Need? [Patreon Only Video]

By popular request! What theory do you actually need? And what order should you learn it? 

Of course, this video is just my opinion. But I have put a LOT of thought into this! It's actually the crux of my whole teaching syllabus.

The entire list is below but I recommend you watch the full video to hear WHY these topics are important. Enjoy!

The Musical Alphabet...

[Early Release] Riffing With Modes #4 - LYDIAN (Tabs + MP3)

Very excited to share this one with you all! I’m very happy with the end product, and I think this lesson/demonstration has tons of little nuanced composition gems that may aide you in your own writing.

I’ve included the tabs, including the solo, and the mp3. This is the kind of track I intend to one day fully flesh out into a full song. I don’t expect to do any full band releases a...

Patreon Only - Writing a melodic line over chords

Better late than never- This is a response to David Kaufmann's question on how I would approach writing a solo over a set of chords. The chords are very simple but it's a unique and wonderful little progression, with an interesting modulation. It could be a real struggle to write a lead over but hopefully this video shows you all a way to simply approach these sorts of challenges, and gives you...

Patreon Only- Writing a solo in C# Phrygian (Plus updated tab)

Here's some info on writing a solo and how I compiled one for the track in my last video, War Monks. 

I've also attached an updated version of the tab. There were two mistakes, one in the tapping section which was totally wrong, and one small correction in the fingers. 

Expect another video on Wednesday!