Resources for Musicians, Songwriters, Guitarists, & Home Studio Engineers

Playing Guitar

ActiveMelody: This has become my favorite YouTube guitar learning site. His daily emails often lead me to practice new ideas and techniques. Brian is a great guitar player who shares tons of great videos that can help you learn very useful techniques, for free. He does have a paid service as well, providing tabs and more. Here is his YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/c/Activemelodylessons/ and here is his web site: www.activemelody.com/lessons.

GuitarJamz: I had so much fun with Marty Schwartz's Blues Lessons! You can try these for free (Marty also has like a zillion free lessons on YouTube - see the next resource below). GuitarJamz is not just blues - there are lessons in theory, Country, beginner lessons, and much more. As I write this in early 2020, it costs $139 a year to subscribe and as long as you are going to spend time with the lessons it is very much worth.

Marty Music: Marty Schwartz has shared over a 1,000 lessons on YouTube (some from him, some from others) and adds new lessons all the time. And they're all FREE! Check it out: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCmnlTWVJysjWPFiZhQ5uudg

Paul Davids: I've been enjoying many of Paul's videos lately. Definitely worth a look! https://www.youtube.com/@PaulDavids

Absolute Blues Guitar: Bobby Harrison is a great blues teacher. As of early 2020, membership costs $20 a month (and you can stop any time you want). You can also find lots of these lessons on YouTube for free. absolutebluesguitar.com

Elite Backing Tracks: These are awesome! Lots of great tracks to jam over, in different styles. https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCUH70EBSpggPQ2S23G1yiQw

Other Favorite Guitar Lesson YouTubers:

- BluesGuitar Institute with John Hatcher: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCcWTzJSRsSyZg8WysFNY6jg

- GuitarLessons: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCP1ZfPYU0cjhXXnuxlLVhqQ

- CreativeGuitarStudio: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC7vw9BHKDZhpke_mnJD4UqQ

Recording, Engineering, Producing

Transcend Entertainment And Music (TEAM): Interested in learning more about writing, recording, mixing/mastering, and producing music for sync licensing? Transcend Entertainment And Music is a new player in the music industry that is "creating a renaissance in the music industry by revolutioning the approach to artist development, music creation, and licensing". Founded by award winning producer, composer, engineer Gary Gray, TEAM is positioned to become a premier resource for licensing masterpiece music across all genres, and for learning about music licensing with the TEAM family where the value proposition blows away the competition. (DISCLAIMER: I am a member of the TEAM team, so yeah, I'm a little biased :).

NewArtistModel (a TEAM company): TEAM bought NewArtistModel in 2022 and we're updating the course offerings there. Come explore all of these great offerings: teammusiclicensing.com. There are also a bunch of awesome FREEBIES on the NAM home page: newartistmodel.com.

Gary Gray's Fly On The Wall Apprentice: Award winning composer, producer, engineer Gary Gray brings an age old educational construct screaming forward into the 21st century with this unqiue offering. Gary shows us his digital audio workstation as he mixes and we can hear the pristine audio via the amazing ListenTo plug in, and the apprentice can take control and learn hands-on as well. Anyone can be a Fly On The Wall and get access to the live sessions and Q&A and the recorded sessions for $8.99 a month, or just the recordings for only $3.99 a month! Come check it out: Flyonthewallapprentice.com

Rick Beato's "Everything Music" channel: Rick's work stretches across numerous musical topics. Here is his Music Production playlist (40+ vids).

The Kaotica Eyeball: I learned about this from Gary Gray in the mixing and mastering course that is part of the HTLYM bundle I mention about. This is a sphere-shaped foam device that goes over a microphone and has a round opening in the front with a pop filter in it. The idea is that prevents sounds from anywhere other than right in front of the mic from entering the mic, helping to prevent extraneous noises from polluting your vocal tracks. It wasn't cheap (the version I got cost $200), but I feel that it was totally worth it.

Understanding Music Publishing: Songtrust has a great free guide, "The Modern Guide to Music Publishing", which I found to be incredibly informative. Music Publishing is a confusing and complex process and this extensive guide really helps to bring some clarify to it. Of course, they are pushing their own services, but they provide a wealth of insightful information as they make the pitch.

Music Theory

MugglinWorks "Music Theory for Songwriters"
https://www.mugglinworks.com/chordmaps/

Music Theory - excellent free resources
https://www.musictheory.net/

Music Theory for Guitar (I've been digging this guy's stuff lately)
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCRwIF4NhKQf6tQpnYDcSC5A

Circle of Fifths - How to Actually Use it:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d1aJ6HixSe0

Rick Beato's "Everything Music" channel: Rick Beato vlogs about a wide array of musical topics. Here is his Music and Composition playlist (over 160 videos).

What key are you in? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4f8uO-b8p88

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