If Your Scales Don’t Sound Like Music, Practice This

Added: 2026-06-04

[00:00:04]Huh?

[00:00:17]Heat.

[00:00:23]Come on.

[00:00:46]Come on.

[00:00:56]Huh?

[00:01:03]Come on.

[00:01:28]And I love that function.

[00:02:25]Hello.

[00:02:37]I'm just messing around, folks. Maybe that's a song idea. I don't know. [ __ ] Uh, like this.

[00:02:43]Should be a lot groovier, though.

[00:03:00]some [ __ ] like that. I don't know. Hey, man. I just want to hang out with you guys for a minute on this uh Tuesday morning before I get into it. Get into it. That's what everybody says on the YouTubes. Um man, just messing around here. had a good uh had a good day yesterday. Kind of been enjoying just some not getting super crazy like work work work. I've been working a little bit and then enjoying myself. Trying to get that kind of uh what do they call it these days? The work life balance, man.

[00:03:28]That's a hard [ __ ] thing to get together. I'm going to tell you right now, especially when you love what you do. I think that's a big part of it, man. Just, you know, I go to bed thinking about this stuff and waking up wake up thinking about this stuff. Okay, what can we do? Can how can we get more organized? How do we dial in? How do we level up? How do we, you know, teach this? What about, you know, what about that idea? What about this collaboration? Man, it just the beautiful thing about it is at this point in my life, 47 years old, I still feel like a kid for one thing. I still always feel like the youngest person in the room, uh, no matter what.

[00:04:03]Um, but I think at this point it's just the fact that I've been working so hard for so long at it and things are finally, you know, well, they've always been good, but and I've always been very lucky and fortunate, but there they're getting really good to where we've built you've built up the momentum and uh and the kind of like, you know, you've got some some some time under your belt. And so, man, you know, people say yes to things. You ask people, they they say yes. uh you don't have to do as many cold calls, you know, all that stuff you did when you were younger. You know, you've got that out of the way now, man.

[00:04:36]And I was thinking about this earlier. I was like, man, it's amazing that that you know, you eventually you're going to die. Uh you know, let's not think about that too much. But but what happens is is you go, "Yeah, man. You know, being in my 40s or 50s or 60s, I wouldn't pay anything to go back to being 20 years old." Well, because you didn't [ __ ] know anything back then and you don't have any experience doing anything.

[00:05:00]You're just running around like a wild lunatic, which at least me and most of my friends here were. Um, you know, but but man, that's the thing. Like literally, you could if somebody said you could go back and add 20 more years to your life, uh, none of us would do it because we're like, look, man, I it's it's been a long journey to get to that place in your life where where you've got some experience, you know, barely, but at least enough hopefully to stay out of trouble and know the right trouble to get into. And you know, you know when to leave the party now and you know when to go home and maybe you you figured a few of these things out, you know, and and it took longer uh for some of us than than others, but but that's what happens when you're a wild man and you grow up on the golf the Gulf Coast.

[00:05:49]Um which is a whole other story, friends. You know that there's a there's some crazy parts to this. This is a big ass country, man. I was talking to uh I was talking to my friend in Puerto Rico that I teach uh he he does two lessons a week. this guy. He's amazing. Super super smart guy. Uh he's my age and very very successful. Um but I I teach him twice a week and and and we were just talking. He was in Ireland for a wedding and then he's in he lives in Puerto Rico and he's all over the place jet setting and whatever. And but he's really cool and very smart and um and he and he really picks up fast on the guitar. He doesn't have a clue what he's doing. He doesn't know his chord shapes, but he's got a good ear. And man, God, that's so important. But I was going to tell you about him as we started talking about the size of like Ireland. I I've been very lucky to spend a lot of time in Ireland. I started going there when I was 18 years old. Uh I used to teach a college professor uh from Pensacola, Florida that was a Irish guy and and he played the mandolin. Fancied himself a mandolin player as as do I. Very secondary instrument, but um and a tedious little [ __ ] that you always have to be tuning. You know what I say about the mandolin is you you either spend half your life you're you're spending half your life tuning it and the other half playing it out of tune.

[00:07:04]Uh so I started teaching this guy and he goes, "Man, you know, me and my wife have a have a house in the countryside of Ireland." He goes, "You should come over and and experience that sometime."

[00:07:12]I was 18 years old and my friends from NBC had just given me a their key to their uh New York apartment on 72nd in Lexington. And for my 18th birthday, they handed me an envelope with a [ __ ] New York apartment key in it.

[00:07:24]And I was like, they didn't give me the apartment, but they gave me time in the apartment. And so me and my dad went up there. We came to Nashville, took a mandolin to Joe Glazers to get them to put a pickup on it. I knew I was getting my the sand bush rig put on. And uh and uh and we we stopped here for a little bit. I think we went to Roberts and saw Don Kelly and those guys. And um and then we went to New York and stayed for two weeks. Then I flew to Ireland.

[00:07:49]My dad went up the Hudson River and did some hiking and sailing and backpacking and stuff. And then um and then I spent these like [ __ ] three weeks in Ireland just playing music and bouncing around and and uh came back to New York for two weeks and then went home. It was a hell of a trip. But my point of that is is um Ireland is the I think smaller than the state of Indiana. Don't don't quote me on that. It's it's either smaller or it's the same size. But but like the whole country of Ireland is like this size of our Indiana. Uh and I sorry to say this Indiana, guys, but I think there's more going on in Ireland than there is in Indiana. I don't know, man. Every every part of this country has its beauty. But I tell you, it's a big old [ __ ] place. And I think that might be why we have so many problems.

[00:08:36]But um but man, um you know, it's really interesting the more you travel and you get to see and meet these different people. But um man, you know, I wouldn't give going back to that that longevity story or or thought or whatever is I wouldn't go back to to my 20s in a heartbeat, man. I mean, I I wouldn't do it because I wouldn't do it for a second. Um cuz you've just learned you've learned something by now, you know, and and and I'm talking to guys on here that are in their 60s, 70s, and and maybe even into their 80s. And and man, that's when you really that's when you can really that's when people really shut up and listen to you when you're when you're that old, you know? I don't I I always say like guys like Billy Gibbons and those guys like you don't get to be that cool until you're that old. Nobody wants to listen to what a [ __ ] 20some year old kid is saying.

[00:09:29]They don't they don't know anything.

[00:09:30]They're real smart and they can make damn good coffee. Um but they don't really know anything. They don't and these days they don't want to talk to you either. Man, trust trust me. I live right here in the middle of East Nashville, which is like the Brooklyn of Nashville. Um and I know this is a little bit of a rant, but I wanted to talk to you guys this morning a little bit. Since I'm living in this house by myself, I figured I'd talk to some of you guys. Hey man, thanks so much for the support on that last video. I'm I'm Here's what happens on YouTube, man. on YouTube, your channel can become unhealthy, which means when you look at your analytics, which I do, of course I do. [ __ ] I'm competitive. I want to grow [ __ ] Who doesn't? Great pick, by the way. I just ordered 200 of these, the Rolling Rock pick. I tracked them down. I gave two bags of these to Uncle Larry from some guy that came to my gig.

[00:10:17]He goes, "Man, give these to Uncle Larry." And so I I found this Rolling Rock pick and I was like, "Fuck it. I'm going to try that." Dude, these things sound. Now I know why he likes them.

[00:10:25]These sound [ __ ] incredible, man. And so I found a guy in Heridage right over here across the river. Uh had two bags, 200 of them. So I got bought those from him on reverb. So he he messaged me earlier. He goes, "I'm the dude with the picks." Okay, great. They sound fantastic. They really sound good on acoustic, too, for some reason. But uh man, I forgot what the hell I was talking to you about. Oh, East Nashville. You know, I'm I'm living here in this like, uh pretty hipster neighborhood. You know, a lot of you guys have been over here to my house and we've done lessons and all that stuff.

[00:10:55]Hey, by the way, um please subscribe to this channel. It doesn't cost you anything, but it sure does mean a lot to me and it helps me out as we um you know, I I I do you know, guys like me and Buavak and Jack Rou and all these guys. We do we do take time out of our days to to do these videos and and it's not uh I'm not saying we need a medal for that. Uh although we did get a plaque from YouTube, just I'm joking. Uh but um but so you know it it's it it does take time. Of course we're we're doing this for um our our shameless self-promotion. Uh of course nobody everybody was would be lying to you if they said, "Oh, I just want to give away free lessons for fun and all that."

[00:11:38]Yeah, it is fun. It's great to to get to know you guys. Of course, that's it at the very top. But we're we're also keeping our thing going, man. So I want to grow my channel. [ __ ] yeah, I do. Um, but check this out. So, when you go to uh the analytics, you've got the arrows and it's like, okay, your subscribers, your money, you know, from Google ads, Ad AdSense, which is not that much. It's like a car payment or something. Uh, if you're lucky, but but um these social media platforms are like plants. The more you water them, the more they grow.

[00:12:11]If you're not consistent on there, those arrows go from green and healthy to pointing down and unhealthy. So, I'm trying to get my YouTube channel back to being healthy. I I neglected you guys for a while. Uh I I did some traveling.

[00:12:25]I had some motivational issues where I was just feeling burned out and and and that's an inner game thing that that's a constant part of being a musician. No matter how successful you are, uh it doesn't matter. And um and so, but you know what? I'm fired back up. I haven't had any booze. Uh that's a major factor, man. I mean, as much as I work and and and uh have all this stuff on my mind, juggling multiple projects, the workshop, the course with Brett, the membership platform, all my daily life stuff, all the things that we do.

[00:12:56]Luckily, I don't have five kids, right?

[00:12:58]Or I'd really be [ __ ] insane. But, um, but you know, the thing about it is, man, is is the booze. I'm just noticing, man, I mean, look, nobody loves to party more than I do, and I'm really good at it, and I've done it for a long [ __ ] time. Um, but look man, to for me to achieve my goals and do the things that I want to do and provide information uh and and teach and do all the things on a high level, I can't be waking up hung over like I did in my 20s and 30s. And and and man, you can't run at that pace and and uh and and expect good things to come. And I'm noticing, man, if I if I have a couple too many drinks over the weekend or something, I mean, even like three beers these days can send me into a a [ __ ] anxiety, depression rabbit hole, man. You got to be careful with that [ __ ] It's a real thing for me anyway. Um I'm Hey man, my friends that can drink like crazy into their 50s and 60s, man, go for it. I say have a [ __ ] blast and ride the ship until the [ __ ] wheels fall off. Um that's what I would have done. But um but man, maybe it's just a lesson. Somebody telling me, "Look, man, you got more to life than to to just party it away and and you need to get your [ __ ] together."

[00:14:08]So, you know, man, the the the not drinking it it does amazing things for me as far as just feeling positive and wanting to be nice and and uh having patience and and being motivated and and all that stuff. It's way way way better.

[00:14:24]It's well worth it. Uh that's what I'm going that's my personal experience, what I'm dealing with right now. But it's all good, man. Um, not to get off on such a tangent, but but I I wanted to talk to you guys a little bit this morning and just kind of shoot the [ __ ] Um, you know, I've been seeing a lot of stuff. I went down a deep rabbit hole on uh Instagram last night and looked at a bunch of these guitar players and and man, I I I don't want to say anything negative, but but I I can't help it, man. There there's just so I feel sorry for you guys that are trying to learn how to play the guitar. And look, it's the same thing. It's not like It's like me trying to learn how to cook, how to play golf, which I'm not a golf fanatic or anything, but I I'm I got some golf clubs. I I don't play that often, which is why I'm not any [ __ ] good at it. I suck at golf. I suck at cooking. You know why? Because I don't ever do it. I play this thing and I'm okay at that. Um but, you know, I'm not living up to my full potential. If I sat around and practiced six or eight hours a day, I'd be [ __ ] amazing on the guitar. Uh, I've got the potential to be able to do that, of course, but I don't. I want to live life and network and do these other kind of, you know, projects and things.

[00:15:36]I don't sit around and play. I want to have a life. Um, and all that, but but um, you know, I see so much stuff on social media that's just like unfucking believably confusing and these guys are just overthinking this stuff to absolute death. It's just [ __ ] unbelievable. The guitar does not have to be that complicated. They're missing the point. They're trying to come up with all these clever things, man. And and and there there isn't really anything clever there. It's just it is what it is. Here's a chord.

[00:16:18]Here's those are the notes that make up the chord.

[00:16:23]Those are the notes around the chord that work. You know, you've got some scales.

[00:16:29]The major scale is is meant to to to uh you just don't play all the notes of the major scale around one chord. The major scale is meant to to take you to to other places. So, watch this little Okay, let's go to the um let's let's go here. Let's go to the C-shaped uh E chord. This [ __ ] 1964 Princeton reverb that I got from Uncle Larry is killer, but it does have a little bit of a every once in a while I'm getting a little whistle. You'll find that when your tubes, if you have some really great tubes or some old tubes or something and they're sounding amazing, chances are it's on its way out. They sound incredible right before they're about to die. Uh, but let me tell you something that this this amp does sound good and uh it's not doing anything that that is making me want to like shut it off or or cancel this video or take it to the shop or anything. Sometimes you just those vintage amps just sometimes they make a little noise, right? But I love the way it sounds and that's the most important part. Um, but I was going to tell you guys like look, okay, if I take this this chord right here, let's walk from the from the E to the A to the B, and then maybe we'll go like E to the 6 minor, the flat 7s right there.

[00:17:50]I mean, just look at those chords that are right there.

[00:18:02]Right. So, let's try it again.

[00:18:09]Right. So, if I go if if I go um and that doesn't have to be the chord progression. I'm just showing you how close everything is right there. Right.

[00:18:16]So, if I go E, grab the root of that chord, walk into the A, right?

[00:18:30]Then take the root of the A which starts taking on the form of the flat 7 of the B chord because there's your B. Right? So my point is is once you get the once you get the framework of how these chords work with the root, the third, the fifth, the flat 7, the minor third, the chord tones, then it's the same for every chord.

[00:18:57]You're just rearranging them. That's why they're just inverted. The every single note that's in this shape is in this shape is in this shape is in this shape and that shape. It's the same group of notes moving up the fingerboard. That's the thing with the guitar. Every single note that's in this octave in this octave is in uh they're all the same notes.

[00:19:33]Oh [ __ ] it's all the same. They're all the same note. So in every key it's just repeating itself up the neck. It it's it's not this is not rocket surgery.

[00:19:48]Doesn't have to be. Um now when you get into more sophisticated chords of course you know that the more information that you're um the more information that you're putting out the subject matter gets more in depth. Your vocabulary has to match it. It's just like uh communicating with a person in a language. the the more complicated the subject matter gets, the more um uh sophisticated the vocabulary is is going to need to be. If you're telling somebody to to to to, you know, open the door, that's one thing. If you're talking about, you know, neuroscience or whatever the [ __ ] you want to talk about that, then that's a whole different thing. So, it's the same thing on the guitar. If you're just doing this, well, you know, a lot of stuff, you know, simple stuff's going to work over that. Okay, here's my point. Let's get into these walkdowns. If I again, if I'm walking down, then go to the five. You have to have a chord in mind that you're that you're playing over, right? You got to be in the right hand position.

[00:20:52]So then I'm walking down from the flat 7 of B to the third of B.

[00:21:04]Back to the third of Watch. Let's go here.

[00:21:15]Let's walk from the high root.

[00:21:54]Let's walk up again.

[00:22:12]Oh yeah.

[00:22:29]Use the major scale.

[00:22:41]Oh [ __ ] Uh, let's see. Uh, let's go E again.

[00:22:46]Starting on the third.

[00:22:50]Third to third. third of E to the third of A. These are different intervals that have different harmonic content, different melodic content.

[00:23:33]You can hear it starts to almost sound like classical music.

[00:25:00]I've beaten this thing out of tune.

[00:25:02]Guys, thank you so much for letting me ramble on with you a little bit this morning. I'm going to be a little bit more active here on YouTube. Don't forget to to subscribe right now. Hit the subscribe button because it doesn't cost you anything. Um you can mute me on YouTube, which you can't do in person, which is a bonus. Um anyway, um look guys, you know, I Here's another thing, man. I I I drink these smoothies every uh morning.

[00:25:29]I'll do baby spinach, coconut milk, organic, uh peanut butter, bone broth, protein.

[00:25:36]sometimes a half an avocado which really makes it creamy.

[00:25:40]Uh frozen fruit like strawberries, bananas, mango, blueberries.

[00:25:46]I think that's about it. And then sometimes I'll cut up some fresh ginger, literally fresh. Cut it up, put it in there. [ __ ] amazing, man. It really I got the smoothie thing down pretty good.

[00:25:57]But here's the problem, and this is what I was going to ask you guys.

[00:26:02]There's so much information out there, man. And so many people are trying to make money on it. Hey, me included.

[00:26:07][ __ ] I'm in there, you know. But but here's the thing. Um, with all this diet and [ __ ] food stuff, man, it's like everything now is bad for us. Everything that we have is bad for us. Yeah, we got to You want to get an apple? Well, it needs to be the, you know, [ __ ] you know, I don't know what the deal is, but, you know, um, oh, okay, coconut milk. Oh, well, that's saturated fat. A lot of fat in that. It's good for you, but a lot of fat. Okay, almond milk. Well, there's bad [ __ ] in that. Can't have that. Uh, you know, it's just all this stuff, man.

[00:26:47]Nothing is the [ __ ] everything that we do now is bad for us. So, where do you stop? Where do you start and stop with that rabbit hole, man? And so, God, it's so exhausting. I mean, every one of these little things now in your life could be could take up your whole life, you know, being getting in shape and and and staying healthy would be a full an all day every day thing. I mean, by the time you you buy this food, prep it, take these supplements. I mean, I've got a supplement graveyard over here. I call it the supplement graveyard. Uh because it's all these vitamins and [ __ ] that people tell you to get thousands of dollars worth of [ __ ] and you take it for a couple weeks, you know, you don't really notice anything and you stop and you wasted all this money. So, man, I'm I I'm going to there's going to be a lot of comments on this video, I think, because I'm if you even make it this far because I'm rambling on about so much [ __ ] But, uh I don't know what I'm doing, man. You know, um I try to get a little exercise. I try to eat pretty good. I did lose 20 pounds at one point in my life, which was a lot of [ __ ] work, but I did it in under two months the healthy way. I know some people in town here that have taken some Ozmpic and things like that, they don't look healthy. Um, but I know that if you have a weight problem, that that's one of the ways that you can do it fast. No, I got no judgment on that. Hell, I need to lose a couple pounds myself.

[00:28:11]But man, what a [ __ ] rabbit hole to go down all the health health [ __ ] but the health food stuff. But anyway, guys, look, I just say um you know, uh do do what you love every day, a little bit of it. And that's what I try to do, man.

[00:28:26]And I'm trying to be nicer to people and have more patience, mainly the hipsters that live in my neighborhood that are uh seem disconnected with reality, like I'm in it. But, you know, anyway, guys, enough rambling for a Tuesday morning. I got some work to do.

[00:28:45]I'm going to teach a lesson at 1:00.

[00:28:47]I've got these mentorship things that I offered five of them. Yes, they're expensive, but I'm I'm I've got some experience as a professional. A lot of these guys on YouTube don't uh if you're going to learn something from somebody, learn it from somebody that's doing it for a living or on some sort of a high level. There's a lot of guys on YouTube.

[00:29:05]I'm not going to name any names, but there's [ __ ] thousands of them. Uh these guys are really I'm noticing it, man. They're they're they're not musical. They're they're they're they're they're trying too hard to sell something and they're over complicating it. It doesn't need to be over complicated. Okay guys, enough ranting, enough rambling. Um I just was in a good mood this morning and wanted to talk to you guys. So, thanks for that. Thanks for the support. I'll see you guys down the road real soon. Check out Instagram for some short reels and stories.

[00:29:38]There's a lot of information on that.

[00:29:39]Please follow all the [ __ ] uh join the mailing list, all that. Um there's lots of stuff to catch up on. I'm teaching a thing tonight at NSAI, which is the songwriter association here in Nashville. Um they've got me coming to speak to the group. Uh I've been loving doing some more public speaking and and things. These big corporations are are starting to hire creatives to come in and talk to their teams and and they're calling me to do it. So, I'm not going to say no. I love doing it and uh more of that to come. So, I'm looking forward to that tonight. U one of the featured speakers. Uh and then I got a Country Music Hall of Fame uh feature that they're going to have me on as a instrumentalist and that's going to be really cool. That's in August. I'm going to this really cool thing. Um this video is getting extremely long. I know guys, but there's a lot of [ __ ] going on. I'm going to this really cool thing out in San Francisco next week that I can't really talk about. It's kind of a a private thing, but um I think some of you might know what it is. I'm I'm heading out there for the first time.

[00:30:38]know it's going to be a life once in a-lifetime opportunity.

[00:30:42]And then in August, we go to Scotland for the workshop and then come back and do trapped in Nashville. A lot of [ __ ] going on. All right, guys. Uh thanks again. You know who you are. I love you.

[00:30:51]Uh not telecasting from from East Nashville. This is my 1960 Gibson 335, by the way. I love this thing. All right, you guys. See you later. Bye.