2 Theory PDFS, video schedule, live streams, and a personal note

UPDATED: Mistakes on PDF's fixed

Lots to go through here!

Theory PDFs –

I’m hard at work building my course, and have several PDF’s that I’d like to release to you all early  since I think they may be helpful to you. I’m likely going to hire a graphic designer to make these PDF’s look amazing, since they’ll be part of a digital and physical course, I’d like them to look as good as possible. For now though they are very “functional". 

The two PDF’s I’m attaching are on topics I have NOT discussed on my channel, which are Triads, Barre Chords, Enharmonics, and Key Signatures. They’re meant to be handy “quick-reference-sheets” that distill down the essentials of the topic. There may be typos, so please let me know if you catch anything!

Video Schedule -

The events of this month have pushed me way behind schedule on my YouTube and Patreon videos, I apologize and will explain further at the end of this post. 

After today, I expect to have ample time to work, so I’m aiming for the following release schedule-

Wed Jan 15 – Patreon Only Video – Writing a simple song with only chords+words

Saturday Jan 18 – YouTube Video – Riffing with Modes #2 (Dorian)

Wed Jan 22 – Patreon Only Video – Developing a practice routine 

Sat Feb 1 – YouTube Video – Tapping Quintuplets/Pentuplets

Livestreaming-

I tried this once before and it failed due to insufficient hardware, but now that my video and audio PC’s are close together, I can finally use both PC’s simultaneously to produce a decent livestream without sacrificing audio or video quality. I would not advise anyone try to do this lol, it has been a total pain to get it working. Ultimately I had to buy a capture card and a totally different interface, but, ITS WORKING!

Tonight I'll be testing things out at 6-7PM CST. If you’re around then, visit me over at www.twitch.tv/signals_music .I’ll be working on building a track and will be answering your questions along the way.

A personal note-

My good friend and former student Paul Napholz died right before Christmas, and the events thereafter have taken a lot out of me mentally and physically. In the suburbs which I live near Chicago, the number one cause of death for people my age is opiate overdose. It’s destructive epidemic from which no one is safe here- rich, poor, black, white, they’re all susceptible.

I want to share with you Paul’s music. He’s gone but his music gets to live forever which is pretty cool. I recorded and produced these over the years as a passion project. He had songs that needed to get recorded, and I needed to record a real artist. Lyrically he was an absolute genius, stylistically he was 100% unique. It was raw energy just converted into music. 

These two songs featured Paul on vocals + guitar, BeardStank on Drums, me on Bass

Story Never Told - https://soundcloud.com/jeff-fromupstairs/story-never-told-bangerz-ep

Experimentally Ill - https://soundcloud.com/jeff-fromupstairs/experimentally-ill-the-bangerz-ep

These other two were recorded with his band Hippie Christmas with Paul on drums on vocals. 

Bad Movie – https://soundcloud.com/hippie-christmas/bad-movie?in=hippie-christmas/sets/born-in-chicago-ep

Jokes On You – https://soundcloud.com/hippie-christmas/jokes-on-you?in=hippie-christmas/sets/born-in-chicago-ep

Paul’s mom created a teen center called The Break, where kids can make art and music, or play games and study after school. It’s run by donations only, and every year they barely can survive. I donate to them on Patreon at $25 a month and have volunteered hundreds of hours- I assure you it’s all been worth it. If you have any spare bucks, I can guarantee that they will be both appreciated and well spent. I’ll be doing a livestream on YouTube (date TBA) to raise funds solely for them, but if you have anything to give you are invited to check out their site where you can donate.

https://www.clbreak.com/

Lastly, I want to repeat my appreciation for your support. The events of this month have put into perspective how deeply my life is entwined with the lives of those who I’ve had the privilege to teach. Literally, my students forged me- It wasn’t the other way around. And that process continues to this day.

There’s no way around it, your support has enabled me to pursue my passion, and I am sincerely grateful. Others are as well- think of how many songs will be written this year because someone discovered the lessons that YOU have helped me create. Our actions together are already rippling through time and history forever- we’ve already made a permanent impact on the world, small as it may be, and that’s pretty wild.

Hoping you all have a fantastic 2020, and I’ll see you soon!

-Jake