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Hi Everyone,

Before I dive into the Community Challenge, let me say a few things:

First off, thank your overwhelming support for my "quality over quantity" idea when it comes to how often I post and the kind of content I post. I've been working hard on some PDFs I was previously putting off due to my Monday posting deadline every week. I just filmed the first lesson for CAGED Basics II, a series about how to think of minor chords and pentatonic scales in the CAGED system - a course I would have liked to put out a long time ago but it was too much work to do while posting weekly!

With homework and practice tracks designed to help you see and touch and practice the concepts, it's going to be a lot of fun. Look out for the first lesson of that course soon! I think it will be the perfect gap between my first CAGED Basics Course and the CAGED Soloing series I've been revamping (AND writing stronger PDFs for as well.)

Second, things are going to get a little bumpy over the next month or so while I pack up my current apartment and studio and set up a new and improved one in Los Angeles. A new studio with air conditioning. Wow. Maybe my cheeks won't be rosy in every video from now on. Anyway, I'll try to make sure I've got fun and interesting things prepared for you to do while I'm in the process of setting up my new studio. And maybe I could share some tech things I'm working on (if ANY of you are interested in that kind of content, let me know).

Third, one of my awesome Patrons, Graeme Bullimore, turned my Note Name Scratch Paper into an interactive webpage! I highly recommend bookmarking it. Thanks, Graeme!
https://www.scottpauljohnson.com/scratch-paper


OK on to this week's Community Challenge - - - - 

For those of you who are new, the Weekly Community Challenge is a reminder that music is fun, creative, and personal. It's a challenge to try using the stuff you've learned on my Patreon to actually create music! Wether you're a beginner or advanced player, the idea is to experiment and explore at your own skill and technology level. Wether you want to write a chord progression and record it to your phone, or record a full-blown multitrack production, any level of participation is equally welcome!

This week's challenge is: Write something weird!

"Weird" is a completely subjective term. The idea here is to not take yourself too seriously - an important aspect of being a good musician! "Weird" here could mean a chord progression that doesn't quite make sense or has a wonky chord in there. It could mean a melody that meanders too much or jumps around a wide range. It could be a meter that switches from 3/4 to 4/4 or from 5/4 to 3/4. It could be a weird guitar tone that makes you laugh because it doesn't feel like a guitar. It could be a composition where you just leave too much space, then jam too much stuff into another area.

One of the advantages of exploring deliberately weird things, is that you quite often stumble upon things that end up being kind of cool! If you accidentally stumble upon something cool, you are absolutely welcome to share that too!

Don't think too hard about it! Just think "What do I feel like I'm not supposed to do?" and see what happens! And again, post the results - wether end up being actually weird or surprisingly interesting - to the community forum. 

Check out the Lesson Archive for more Community Challenges - you’re welcome to participate on any past Challenge at any time!

Comments

Mocha

I am firmly in the quality camp. Practiced with intent, any of the lessons could take several weeks to conquer. The note name web page is fantastic!

Graeme B

Thanks Mocha, writing the interactive scratch paper was good fun. I'm very flattered that you like it and Scott thought it worthy of being shared with his wonderful community.