It helps to work incrementally. Assuming you’re a beginner, start with simple single voice (one-handed) exercises and melodies. From there you gradually build in complexity as you learn the various note rhythmic values, and soon you’ll be ready for two-voice (both hands).

Any decent piano method book will use an approach like this. Carve out a minimum of 15 minutes a day of practice. More if you’re motivated and have the focus for it. Practice the exercises to mastery before moving to the next - that is to say, don’t just practice it until you get it right, practice it until you can’t get it wrong.

I could not. And I know this because I was in one.

It was great at first…get what you want whenever you want, just gotta make sure sugar baby is happy. But what happened with me was I began to crave a more interpersonal connection. I wanted a companion, not just a well-compensated fuckbuddy. And she wasn’t into that idea.

Dethroned by Bad Omens

That song drew me into their other music, which I liked, but just wasn’t on the same level. Artificial Suicide comes closest but still doesn’t go as hard as Dethroned.

Buddy of mine is a biker and he hates this. He’s complained about it to me on more than one occasion. “Man, I don’t wanna be in your fucking club. I just wanna ride my bike.”

Inhales deeply

Hmmmm….notes of hydrogen, yes, bit of calcium and phosphorus there too and- OOH! Is that a hint of tetrahydrocannabinol I’m detecting there???

I’m kind of a dirtbag if I’m being completely honest.

Having a robot that resembles a human to, say, clean under my bed, would feel weirdly slave ownerish to me.

I’m pretty sure I learned about this from one of you guys, but for those of you looking for new artists, try Music Map.

I just learned about these guys a couple weeks ago when they appeared on my YouTube feed out of nowhere. And yeah, there’s a lot of fun to be had in those tracks. A couple things I noticed:

Their approach to microtonality is probably one of the most pragmatic approaches I’ve seen: Emphasize the root, use it for little melodic tasties, use sparingly in the ostinato bass lines.

I’ve never seen a group so casually play with rhythmic modulations the way these guys do. Every groove is like a playground and they try to max out the possibilities in every one. And when they do lock into a groove, got damn!

You wanna hear something that’ll absolutely destroy whatever little faith in humanity you may have left?

I once knew a guy who knew for a fact that Southern Baptist was the only true Christian religion. His reasoning? And he was absolutely dead serious when he said this and for him is was 100% a mic drop moment:

“Because his name was John the Baptist, not John the Catholic!”

This was something his aunt had said to him years ago, which I guess underscored its infallibility. He was by far the dumbest person I had ever met, and I’ve met a lot of dumb people.

I don’t think it’s a bad thing to let a half-finished track sit for a while. But my approach, if I do that, is to not listen to it, do something else, forget it exists, and so when I come back to it I’ve got fresh ears and a little distance from which I can be more critical of what I’m hearing. And if I got nothing, I’ll leave it again. I remember sitting on an unfinished song for almost a year and a half because I couldn’t come up with good lyrics for the prechorus. I’m really glad I waited for the right idea to hit.

Now if I’m trying to push something forward, well, there’s something to be said for the old saying, “90% of inspiration is keeping your ass in the chair.” It never fails for me that sitting and noodling for an hour or so will net some new material which I can either use right away or stash for later use.

As a convicted jaywalker and registered pedestrian offender I feel seen. Thanks chip!

Well, you’ll just have to settle for knowing that he’ll never breathe free air again.

I remember that thread and the guy I’m about to mention is the same guy I talked about there…

I once played in a band with a guy who was, by all objective standards, a musical prodigy. Could play anything, wrote prolifically, was an amazing singer and overall performer. He was hilarious and fun to hang out and talk with too. Except once he got to know you and trust you, he’d let it be known that he was an unapologetic pedophile.

He had done ten years previously not just for possessing CP but for using his underage niece to make and distribute his own (that’s where the violence comes in). He was on lifetime supervision and he was convinced that making it big as a musician would be his ticket out of that and doing whatever the fuck he wanted to again. He seemed to genuinely not understand the evil of what he was doing and insisted it was a perfectly natural thing and blamed the system for all his problems.

Few years after we parted ways I found out he got caught hoarding more CP and they put him away for life.

I’d like to teach a course about Lucian (c. 120-180 CE), who was a Greek public speaker and writer, specializing in satire. Everyone talks about the big Greek philosophers; hardly anyone bats an eye at this guy.

I’d of course require as much reading as the course can fit, and use them as a catalyst for discussions about his critiques of the social and philosophical paradigms of the day, and how they compare (or can be applied) to today.

The Star Wars prequel trilogy.

There was a looooot of vitriol, especially for Ep. I. And with each release it always seem to get louder, and frankly a lot of it was toxic and inexcusable.

Nowadays I see a lot of nostalgia around them, especially from Millennials who grew up on these three films, much like the GenX kids grew up on IV, V and VI. And a lot more kindness towards the actors too, especially Hayden.

For the past several years I’ve been slowly teaching myself audio production and engineering. I worked as a professional musician for decades but never bothered to learn that side of the craft. So once in a while I’ll go down YouTube rabbit holes, watching tutorials on, say, creative uses of EQ and/or compression, or an analysis of the mix of a well-known song, or bouncing ideas and feedback off a small group of friends. Then I try to apply that to the songs that I’m working on.

The results I’ve gotten from my learning approach are decent, but I’m always comparing my own work to that of other established recording artists, and I have a lot yet to learn.

It’s a shitload of fun too.

Noel Gallagher himself will show up and pee on your guitar.

Correct. It was a misunderstanding. From what I remember someone from Al’s label said he had the go ahead from Coolio to do the parody. Only after it was released did Coolio make public statements about it, and Al tried to apologize but I don’t think Coolio was having it.

I don’t know how copyright law applies to satire but in my head, a parody of a song uses enough of the original material that you’d still need permission.

As someone who was a professional musician for several decades, from my experience, anyone seeking to record and release a cover of someone else’s song needs to specifically seek permission in writing from the artist, either through their label or legal rep. If they’re seeking to monetize that cover then contracts and/or agreements need to be signed. Just dropping a cover without going through those steps invites serious legal trouble.

Artists and labels retain the right to deny permission to anyone seeking to do a cover of any song still protected under copyright law. I recall a specific incident years ago between Weird Al and Coolio about this. (Although Weird Al does parodies and not straight covers, same laws apply.)

Edit: Amending my comment to add that as I’m talking to folks here, I’m getting a better understanding of how copyright law works with covers vs. parodies, and my original comment above isn’t accurate.