Episodes

  • The Geography of Musical Scales.

    The Geography of Musical Scales.
    Dec 19 2025
    The Geography of Musical Scales. Finding peace in pentatonic places. It’s thought that pentatonic scales are the most ancient of all the musical scales. Regardless of whether that’s true or not, it’s worth paying attention to these five-note scales because of their unique consonance. You see, they contain two fewer notes than the scales we’re used to hearing, so they have a spaciousness that no other scales have. It’s that characteristic which makes pentatonic scales sound so peaceful. Those two extra notes we use in seven-note scales create semitone intervals, which cause tension. But it’s precisely those tense semitones that add the excitement, which we love. So as you can see, there are pros and cons to both. Five-note scales are peaceful, but lack excitement. Seven-note scales are exciting, but lack peace. And by the way, if intervals are new to you, read my free book to learn all the basics. What got me thinking about this topic is a brilliant book that I just finished reading. It’s called The Geography of Thought: How Asians and Westerners Think Differently... and Why by the psychologist Dr Richard E. Nisbett. It’s one of the most insightful books I’ve ever read. It’s full of fascinating psychological studies jointly conducted by American and Chinese researchers. The results are extremely nuanced, obviously, but I’ll oversimplify them here for the purpose of brevity. The “eastern” mind is built on a cultural foundation of collectivism, which originated in Confucianism. The “western” mind is built on a cultural foundation of individualism, which originated in Ancient Greek philosophy. Over the last two and a half thousand years, these two geographical areas developed vastly different mindsets, which in turn created vastly different societies. Before I continue, though. It’s vital to acknowledge that both mindsets have pros and cons. The book is crystal clear on that, as well as what those pros and cons are. That’s why you should read the book for yourself. Subscribe to get the latest posts in your inbox. Now, when it comes to the music that these two different mindsets invented, things get even more interesting. In the west, our music has traditionally been more complex. The scales have more notes, and therefore more tension. Western musicians also invented counterpoint, where individual melodies are played simultaneously. While these layered melodies create harmony, which is beautiful, they also create tension. How perfectly does that reflect western individualism? And in the east, their music has traditionally been simpler. The scales are pentatonic, so they have fewer notes, and therefore less tension. Not only that, but they don’t layer melodies either, as that would create competition between them. If two musicians play together, they play the same melody, or very similar melodies. How perfectly does that reflect eastern collectivism? You can think of these two different approaches in terms of a choir. In the east, they would all sing the same (or similar) pentatonic melody. In the west, the choir would be divided up into different ranges, and each group would sing a different melody. For a breathtakingly beautiful example of this, listen to the Renaissance composer, Palestrina. And for an equally beautiful example of the eastern mind’s music, listen to the album Emerging Lotus by the pipa player, Liu Fang. Subscribe to get the latest posts in your inbox. In these stressful times we’re living in, I invite you to find peace in pentatonic places by making music using the major or minor pentatonic scales. For the major, if you begin on C as your root, the scale is C, D, E, G, and A. For the minor, if you begin on A as your root, the scale is A, C, D, E, and G. As soon as you start playing around with these pentatonic scales, you’ll feel in your body exactly how peaceful they are. And for extra peace, keep your song instrumental. If you want to know why, check out my previous essay titled This Is The Only Pure Music. And if you’re not making music yet, then you can begin your journey right now by reading my free book 12 Music Theory Hacks to Learn Scales & Chords. It only takes about half an hour to read, then you’ll have a solid foundation of the basics. And if you’re already making music but wanna improve, then I’ve got 30 free PDF tutorials for you. They’re step-by-step musical “recipes” that you can follow to instantly make better music. Lastly, I don’t paywall any of these essays. I don’t want to exclude anyone. But if you enjoy my work and want me to keep doing this, please support me by heading over to HackMusicTheory.com/Join. Becoming a paid subscriber is only about the cost of one coffee per month for you, but if enough people join, then I can pay the rent and keep helping you every week. A heartfelt thank-you for being here. And welcome aboard the Songwriter’s Ark, where all the music making skills ...
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    6 mins
  • Music is Mind Control.

    Music is Mind Control.
    Dec 15 2025
    Music is Mind Control. Lyrics are little Derren Brown’s in your brain. Do we have free will? That ancient question actually misses the point, because the concept of free will implies that we’re free to act on our desires. Okay. That’s fine. But where do our desires come from? That’s the real question! For example, if you get home from work and you’re trying to decide whether to go for a run or lie down on the couch. The concept of free will says that you have the freedom to choose. But whichever choice you make, underneath that decision is a desire. In this example, it’s the desire to be healthy versus the desire to relax. The strongest desire wins. Always. Because, whatever you end up doing, the desire to do that was obviously stronger than the desire not to. Otherwise you wouldn’t have done it. Think about it. Let’s say you decide to lie down on the couch, but then after 10 minutes of chilling you start feeling guilty. You wriggle around for a few minutes, and then muttering some distasteful words to yourself, you get up, put on your running shoes, and head out the door. It was the desire to be healthy that ended up overpowering the desire to relax, despite the fact that you would have preferred to be chilling on the couch. But clearly, if the desire to chill was stronger, you’d still be on the couch. So, the free will debate is pointless. Desire is the real issue here. And that’s where things get interesting. Very interesting. You’ve probably seen videos of Derren Brown, right? He can get people to do anything, literally. The scariest thing, though, is that he never makes them do it. They use their free will and choose to do the most horrific things. Of course, they don’t actually do them in real life, it’s all a set-up for the TV show. However, the people genuinely believe they’re doing these things. And more importantly, they believe it was their own conscious choice. But we, the viewers, know better. Derren Brown’s method is simple, yet extremely effective. All he does is implant a desire into people’s minds. That’s it. Then he stands back and lets free will do its thing. Derren Brown perfectly demonstrates how easy mind control is. And whoever controls the people’s desires, controls their thoughts and their actions, and therefore, their life. What do we think of free will now? Subscribe to get the latest posts in your inbox. We’ve seen this playout in the real world over the last few years. Seemingly “normal” people say and do crazy things nowadays! But they’re saying and doing them because of the social media, TV, movies, and music they’re letting into their minds every day. That’s what is programming their desires. Even the desire to allow that pollution into their minds in the first place has been programmed. For example, does scrolling on social media make people happier? No, obviously not. So why do they do it? Because they’ve been programmed with the desire to scroll. I know this is true, because I deleted all my social media accounts over 10 years ago, and ever since, I’ve had absolutely no desire to scroll. In fact, I have no desire to reach for my phone at all, because I don’t have any apps on it other than Spotify. My phone is a telephone and a music player combined. Nothing more. And while it’s far more difficult to control the desires of people who are not on social media and don’t watch TV shows or movies, it is still possible. And that brings me to the point of this essay. Music is arguably the most powerful mind control there is. Yes, even more powerful than Derren Brown. You see, song lyrics find their way directly into our unconscious mind through an unguarded backdoor. That’s because music manipulates our emotions, which gives our critical thinking mind a break. We’re feeling creatures, so feelings always win our attention. It feels so good to just feel. It’s like a mini-holiday from thinking. And we all need these breaks on a daily basis. They’re a positive thing, when the music causing the emotion is positive. But when it’s not, that’s dangerous territory! Subscribe to get the latest posts in your inbox. In my last essay, titled This Is the Only Pure Music, I sang the praises of absolute music, which is instrumental music but without any conceptual ideas attached to it. Not even song titles. Check out that essay for more on the benefits of listening to absolute music, and the benefits of making it too. For now, though, it’s worth noting that listening exclusively to absolute music is the easiest way to avoid being brainwashed by lyrics. No lyrics, no problem. But as always, reality is nuanced, and there’s a positive side to mind control. The best example of this is hypnotism. To witness exactly how positive the effects of this can be, watch some videos on the brilliant hypnotist Paul McKenna’s official YouTube channel. I highly recommend reading his books, too. They’re ...
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    9 mins
  • This Is The Only Pure Music.

    This Is The Only Pure Music.
    Dec 11 2025
    This Is The Only Pure Music. A celebration of non-classical absolute music. Music has united people for millennia, but nowadays it’s been weaponized to divide us. I’ve personally experienced its uniting effects, though, so I know what’s possible. You see, I was born and raised in apartheid South Africa. I lived there until 1999, leaving a few months after Mandela’s presidency ended. I loved Mandela, and he probably did everything in his power to unite the country. However, the story you don’t often hear is that musicians were more successful in bringing the people together. Two of these musical heroes were Lucky Dube and Johnny Clegg. Their crossover appeal resulted in audiences that consisted of fans who would never have come together under any other circumstances. It was magical! That’s the power of music. But it wasn’t only their music that united the previously divided nation, it was their lyrics too. While they didn’t sugarcoat the situation, they did choose to focus on a positive future vision where South Africans were united. As a result, their songs created that more united country they had envisioned. Now, when I listen to the new releases on Spotify every Friday, I don’t hear much in the way of positive lyrics that were written to unite people. In fact, it’s rather obvious that most lyrics were written with the exact opposite intention. But as Thumper said: “If you can’t say something nice, don’t say nothing at all.” The legendary rabbit uttered that wisdom over 80 years ago. It’s time we start living by this rabbit wisdom, which is why I’m sharing my musical method for doing this. Subscribe to get the latest posts in your inbox. In the celebrity culture we live in, most music has vocals because popular music tends to be all about the vocalists. They’re the stars. They’re the main attractions. It’s not about the song, it’s about the celebrity singing it. That is wrong for so many reasons, but that’s a topic for another essay. What concerns us here is something I called “pure music” in the title, but the formal term is “absolute music”. What is absolute music? It’s instrumental music, but at its purest. What do I mean by purest? Music that is presented without any preconceived concepts. In other words, music without a conceptual title. Arguably the best example of this is Beethoven’s Piano Sonata No. 14 in C-sharp minor. Beethoven composed this as absolute music. The listener could enjoy it with no preconceived ideas about what the music represented. Their imagination could conjure up whatever images it wanted. However, after Beethoven’s death, this sonata was given a nickname by a music critic. And for almost 200 years now, this breathtakingly beautiful piano piece has been painting pictures of moonlight in its listeners’ minds. How could it not? It is after all the Moonlight Sonata. But, what did listeners imagine before it was given that nickname? We’ll never know. We only know what one man imagined. This piece perfectly highlights the power of words. Even one word. And with that one word, every listener ever since has been primed to imagine moonlight when the piece is played. Words are powerful. Words shape our reality. Subscribe to get the latest posts in your inbox. And that brings me to my main point. Songs convey their songwriters’ worldviews, but it’s precisely our differing worldviews that divide us nowadays. Up until a few years ago, it was perfectly normal to be friends with people who had different worldviews. In fact, that’s what used to make friendships interesting. Who wants to hang out with another version of themself? No thank you! I want open-minded friends who are totally different from me, with totally different worldviews from mine. That makes for fascinating conversations. Thanks to social media, though, the masses have been programmed into thinking that we need to surround ourselves with people who believe exactly the same things we believe. These online echo chambers fuel narrow-mindedness and intolerance. While I deleted all my social media accounts over 10 years ago, I know it’s futile trying to convince people to do the same. It’s by far the best solution, but another good solution is this: Stop listening to music with lyrics, and start listening to absolute music instead. And if you’re a songwriter, I encourage you to live by that rabbit wisdom: “If you can’t say something nice, don’t say nothing at all.” I appreciate that lyrics can be an outlet for expressing our disapproval at the “other side”. But there are better ways to do that, which don’t harm others (like journaling, for example). And until we realize that this ancient idea of the “other side” was invented by empires as a method for dividing and conquering the people, it’s best if we hold our tongues and say nothing at all. And yes, as songwriters, holding our tongues means writing absolute music...
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    9 mins
  • Don’t Lie! You Listen to AI Songs.

    Don’t Lie! You Listen to AI Songs.
    Dec 1 2025
    Don’t Lie! You Listen to AI Songs. There’s no way to avoid them, unless you do this… I’ve been speaking out against AI-generated music for a while now, but people keep telling me (proudly) that they don’t listen to songs made by AI. They also keep telling me (proudly) that AI songs are crap. Sadly, the only thing these comments tell me is that those people don’t understand that AI has a hidden presence in music. It doesn’t matter if you listen to jazz or classical or world or whatever genre (or artist) you think is not using AI, if it’s new music, they’re probably using AI. But not in the way you think. They’re not prompting it to make their whole album. That type of AI usage is relatively easy to spot. For now. Mark my words, though, before the end of 2026, it will be indistinguishable from the real thing. But we’ll cross that bridge when we get there. In the meantime, here’s what you need to know. Subscribe to get the latest posts in your inbox. Almost all music makers are using AI. Some are proud of it, some are not. The ones who are not proud of it, are using it in secret. Sometimes they only use it to come up with an idea, sometimes to help them finish a melody they’re struggling with, sometimes to write a whole chorus, and yes, sometimes to write a whole song. You’ll never know, because it’s being used in the writing process, and that’s always carried out behind closed doors. In secret. So even if the band records their new album live, you have no way of knowing if AI was used in the writing process. If you want to know all the ways that songwriters and producers are using AI in music, watch the YouTube video titled The AI Music Race is Over by the brilliant Rick Beato. Also, there’s an essay of mine titled AI Is Killing Music! This Is How We Save It., which offers a method for artists to write new songs and guarantee their fans that they’re 100% human-made, so check that out too. Now, here’s the takeaway message from this essay: If you listen to new music, you’re listening to AI. And yes, you guessed it, the only way to be guaranteed that you’re listening to 100% human-made songs is to listen to older recordings (from before AI was commercially available). In other words, albums from before the 2020s. One of my favourite collections of 100% human-made music is the MTV Unplugged series from the ‘90s. Oh man, it does not get more real than that! These recordings are infinitely more valuable than diamonds. Cherish them, please. Alice in Chains is probably my favourite one in the series, but Pearl Jam is a close second. These albums still give me goosebumps 30 years later. That’s human magic. AI will never be able to do that. AI can’t express the human experience. AI cannot ever be in the same category as Layne Staley. Subscribe to get the latest posts in your inbox. Right, now go and listen to the Alice in Chains “Unplugged” album, and be prepared for your spine to tingle, as you’re about to be touched by true human magic. Just before you go, though. If you’re interested in learning how to make magic yourself, or if you’re already making magic but want to improve, then I invite you to help yourself to the many free downloads here. If you’re a beginner, start with my FREE BOOK 12 Music Theory Hacks to Learn Scales & Chords. It only takes about half an hour to read, then you’ll have a solid foundation of the basics. And if you’re intermediate or advanced, download the Free PDF Tutorials, which teach you how to make great music in all different genres. And lastly, I don’t paywall any of these essays, as I don’t want to exclude anyone. So if you can spare a few bucks, please consider becoming a paid subscriber. It’s only about the cost of one coffee per month for you, but if enough people join, then I can pay the rent and keep helping you every week. So if you’d like to see my work continue, head on over to HackMusicTheory.com/Join. A heartfelt thank-you for being here. And welcome aboard the Songwriter’s Ark, where all the music making skills are being preserved through this global AI flood. The flood shall pass. The skills will last. Ray Harmony :) Donate. Help keep the Songwriter's Ark afloat. Photo by Mart Production About. Ray Harmony is a multi award-winning music lecturer, who’s made music with Serj Tankian (System Of A Down), Tom Morello (Rage Against The Machine), Steven Wilson (Porcupine Tree), Devin Townsend (Strapping Young Lad), Ihsahn (Emperor), Kool Keith (Ultramagnetic MCs), Madchild (Swollen Members), and more. Ray is also the founder of Hack Music Theory, a YouTube channel with over 10 million views and over 250,000 subscribers learning the fast, easy and fun way to make music without using AI, cos it ain’t no fun getting a robot to write “your” songs! Photo by Ayşe İpek Outro music by Ray Harmony, based on the music ...
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    5 mins
  • Music Is Dead. Good Riddance!

    Music Is Dead. Good Riddance!
    Nov 26 2025
    Music Is Dead. Good Riddance! AI killed the recording star. Now what? Have you heard AI-generated music? It’s better than most of the music that humans are making nowadays. Even worse than that, though, is the fact that music generated by machines ironically sounds more human than most music made by people. But that’s nothing new. There’s been a dehumanizing trend in music ever since the drum machine became popular in the 1980s. That trend was turbocharged by the invention of Auto-Tune in the late ‘90s. Remember that awful hit-single from ‘98 with the robot-style singing? Yeah, you know the one. Well, that song kicked off the penultimate chapter of this dehumanizing story of music. So it’s important to remember that decades before AI-generated music began to flood the airwaves, human-made music was already beginning to sound like it was being generated by robots. Now I’ll be honest with you, I do love a good conspiracy theory! And to my mind, the inverse correlation between human-made music becoming increasingly robotic-sounding (i.e. less human), while robot-generated music became increasingly human-sounding (i.e. more human), is rather suspicious in light of the transhumanism agenda. Just saying. Anyway, moving along… Subscribe to get the latest posts in your inbox. With the vast majority of people embracing AI-generated music, it’s safe to say that human-made music is dying out rapidly. In fact, I’d argue that it’s already dead, because there’s no way to know if AI was used in the making of a song. Even if a song was recorded live, AI could have been used in the writing process. Either way, based on the current definition of music, it’s pretty much dead. That definition has changed numerous times, though, but if you want to know that story, read my essay AI Can’t Make Music. The last definition change, which is not much older than a hundred years, brainwashed most people into believing that recordings were music. But they’re not. Music is music, and recordings of music are just that: recordings of music. Two totally different things. It’s the same with videos. If you watch a video of someone talking, that’s not a person talking, that’s a video recording of a person talking. Two totally different things. But now with AI-generated music, it’s not even a recording. So the way we’ve previously been brainwashed into thinking of music as recordings is outdated. AI has killed the recording star. And there’s a brand new definition of music spreading through the mainstream consciousness. Music is now something AI generates within seconds, based on a prompt. And it won’t take long for prompts to be obsolete, too. So, music as we know it is dead. But you know what? Good riddance, as music was already transhuman decades ago. It’s time to take it back. Let’s rehumanize music! Subscribe to get the latest posts in your inbox. From the ashes, music is reborn. New. Untainted. This rebirth is an invitation to redefine. What is music to you? And what is its purpose in your life? Please think about these two questions. And answer them. Your answers matter. A lot! So we’re not mourning music here, we’re celebrating its rehumanization and our own personal redefinition. How exciting is that?! I’ll share my answers as an example, but don’t use mine, as they almost certainly won’t be right for you. Okay, so what is music? For me, music has become my medicine. I play music to change the way I feel. If I’m feeling anxious, I listen to Palestrina. That calms me. If I’m feeling drained, I listen to Mozart. That energizes me. If I’m feeling down, I listen to Haydn. That uplifts me. If I’m feeling unimaginative, I listen to Bach. That inspires me. In fact, I’m listening to Bach as I write these words. I always listen to Bach while writing each week’s essay. I rely on Bach. If he didn’t turn up for work every day, I don’t think I’d get much written. He gets my creative juices flowing, and then sustains them and keeps me focused. So my music library is now my medicine cabinet. There’s a recording in there for every issue. I only recently realized that’s what I’d been unconsciously doing for a while. Since this realization, though, I’ve been intentional about what I listen to and consciously aware of how it makes me feel. As a result, I’m able to navigate each day far better. And that’s all thanks to my new definition of music, and its purpose in my life. Subscribe to get the latest posts in your inbox. On that note. I now invite you to redefine music for yourself, as well as deciding what its purpose is in your life. If you feel like sharing your two answers, please write a comment, as I’d love to know what music means to you. And if you’re interested in learning how to make music yourself, or if you’re already making music but want to improve, then I invite you to visit my website and help yourself to the many free ...
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    7 mins
  • You vs Phone. Who Will Win?

    You vs Phone. Who Will Win?
    Nov 21 2025
    You vs Phone.Who Will Win? A musical method to take your attention back! How many seconds can you sit still and focus on your breathing, without your mind wandering? If you’re like most people nowadays, your answer to that question is somewhere under 10 seconds. Seriously. And that’s the “new normal”. Ever since the neolithic revolution, when humans first began to live in an unnatural way, we’ve had restless minds. Buddhists call this the monkey-mind, but I think we can update that to the scrolling-mind. While short attention spans have been a problem for a long time, the issue has gotten exponentially worse since the invention of smart phones. It’s horrifying how addicted most people are to their phones! And nobody’s talking about this, because it’s the “new normal”. But it’s not normal, and we need to stop pretending that it’s okay to waste our one precious life staring at screens. Nobody on their death bed will ever wish they spent more time scrolling on their phone. Perhaps you’re thinking: What I spend my time doing is my business! On the surface, that sounds fair enough. But when we explore this issue at a deeper level, we realize that phone addiction is not only ruining our lives, it’s ruining our societies, too. When we can’t focus for more than a few seconds, we can’t create anything worthwhile. And you can see where this is heading… Most people are addicted to consuming content on their phones, which means most people can’t focus long enough to create anything. So what happens when there’s a never-ending demand for new content, but there’s nobody to create it. No problem, says AI. Yep, we’re about to enter a new reality where robots are the “creators”, and humans are the consumers. How screwed up is that?! And then, what happens next? Subscribe to get the latest posts in your inbox. Phone addiction is such a recent phenomenon that we have absolutely no idea what the world will be like after another decade of this. Whatever that future looks like, though, it’s not good. But we’re not there yet! If we all start taking our attention back today, we can avoid that dystopian future. And there’s an easy (and fun!) way to do this, which I’ll share with you next. But first, we need to understand the problem. There are many interwoven causes behind phone addiction, but essentially people are distracting themselves to death. The precise reasons why each person uses their phone to keep themselves distracted is unique to them, and discovering those unconscious reasons is the next step in our healing process. However, we can’t do that without first taking our attention back. There’s a general awareness that we’re struggling to focus nowadays, which is why the internet is flooded with mindfulness practices. And everyone’s trying to sell you their meditation app. But if mindfulness and meditation worked, then why is almost everyone still addicted to their phones? I think it’s because the addiction is too powerful, so people aren’t able to meditate properly. Just because we sit on a cushion and close our eyes for half an hour, doesn’t mean that we’re meditating for half an hour. It’s like going to the gym for 30 minutes but only doing 3 minutes of exercise. The total time is irrelevant. The only time that counts is when we’re actually exercising. Subscribe to get the latest posts in your inbox. If we’re sitting with our eyes closed while our minds wander for half an hour, that’s not meditating. Every single time our attention strays, we need to bring it back to the breath. That’s exhausting, though, and that’s why most people give up, or don’t even bother trying in the first place. But fear not, because that’s exactly why I created my new meditation app! No I’m just kidding, apps are part of the problem, not the solution. The real solution is Music. Music has a power that nothing else has. Music can focus our minds, and music can heal us. If we surrender to music, mindfulness becomes effortless. What’s unique about music is that when we listen to it, we’re not consuming, we’re communing. To commune is “to share your emotions and feelings with somebody/something without speaking” (according to the Oxford English Dictionary). How deep is that? To share your emotions without speaking! There’s no better description of our relationship with music than that. Communing. When we open ourselves up to music, we’re in a mutually-resonating relationship with it. Without a human, music is nothing more than vibrations in the air. With a human, though, music comes to life. We bring music to life by listening to it, and when music is alive, its life-force energy is within us. And don’t worry, this is not woo-woo speculation. Music has life-changing psychological and physiological effects, which the music therapy field has been scientifically measuring for decades. Subscribe to get the latest posts ...
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    9 mins
  • The Uglification of Music.

    The Uglification of Music.
    Nov 12 2025
    The Uglification of Music. Can a return to beauty save music? Okay I know you’ve just started reading this, but please stop (temporarily), then go and listen to the second movement of J.S. Bach’s Orchestral Suite No. 3 in D major. Its nickname is “Air on a G String”, so just search for that. Even if you know this piece, please go and listen to it again. Then come back. I’ll wait… So how do you feel now? Calm and cleansed, right? It’s like a warm, relaxing, musical bath. That, my friend, is the power of beauty! It’s only about five minutes of music, but it literally changes our body’s chemistry, which in turn improves our mental and physical health. In five minutes! And all we have to do is close our eyes and listen. If you’re like me, you’ll now have two questions on your mind. Firstly, if five minutes of beautiful music can make us feel that good, then why don’t we listen to more beautiful music? And secondly, why is almost all music nowadays so ugly? The answer to the first question of why we don’t listen to more beautiful music is that we live in a culture of non-stop stimulation, so the peace that emanates from beautiful things feels boring to us. That’s why most people prefer looking at screens rather than trees, and listening to podcasts rather than birds. This need for constant stimulation is why the world is overrun with phone zombies, or phombies, as I like to call them. When I was growing up in the ‘80s, people were told to stop and smell the roses because the pace of life was getting faster and faster. Nobody seemed to have time for the simple pleasures anymore, like enjoying the beautiful scent of a flower. In those days people at least saw the roses, even if they didn’t stop to smell them. However, these days the only roses most people see are in their social media feeds. The non-stop stimulation from phones is addictive. Beauty doesn’t stand a chance! Subscribe to get the latest posts in your inbox. Now, the answer to the second question is that most music is ugly nowadays because it’s way easier to grab and hold people’s attention with shocking things. So, it’s inevitable that in this age of never-ending content for people to consume, songwriters and producers will use shock tactics to get noticed. That’s why new songs are filled with jarring sounds, abrupt rhythms, and extremely crude lyrics that are programmed into the listeners’ minds via hypnotically repetitive melodies. So while beautiful music may be able to momentarily catch some people’s attention, the magic of that fleeting moment quickly fades, and their scrolling resumes. And even if they keep listening to the music, it’s relegated to a background soundtrack. And for the record, I’m not saying that all music should be beautiful. I started my first metal band way back in 1991, so I’ve been making ugly music for decades. Having said that, though, ugly music can (and should) be creative and well written. Also, not all classical music is beautiful. Try listening to the first movement of Schoenberg’s Pierrot Lunaire. It’s less than two minutes, but you need endurance to get through it. I love Schoenberg, and that piece is genius. But beautiful? Definitely not! So while I do acknowledge that there’s a time and a place for ugly music, it’s obvious from listening to the new releases on Spotify every Friday that modern music has a big ugly problem. The same way it’s obvious from looking at most cities in the world that we’ve got an ugly architecture problem, too. As the world continues to get uglier, we need to listen to more beautiful music as an antidote. Subscribe to get the latest posts in your inbox. Here’s where things get nuanced, though. I’m making the case that we need to save music from uglification by restoring its beauty. But, before civilizations developed and made the world ugly, music was not created to be beautiful, it was created to dance to. I don’t mean dancing like we think of it today, I mean dancing as a means to enter a trance. Once the shamans entered this state, they’d communicate with the spirits, heal their tribe members, and do other spiritual work. It’s interesting to note that most hunter-gatherer cultures don’t even have separate words for music and dance. They’re inseparable. They’re one activity. Therefore, the music of hunter-gatherers is mainly focused on rhythm. The melodies are usually simple, and harmony is usually non-existent. This fascinates me, as these are humans living naturally, the way we’re all supposed to be living. So why is their music not focused on beauty? Here’s my current hypothesis: They’re living in nature, permanently immersed in natural beauty made by the Creator, therefore they don’t need any more beauty, especially not inferior man-made beauty. Hunter-gatherers are humans in the wild. City dwellers are humans in a zoo. We’ve imprisoned ourselves in an artificial ...
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    13 mins
  • Don’t Trust Me, I’m an Expert.

    Don’t Trust Me, I’m an Expert.
    Oct 16 2025
    Don’t Trust Me,I’m an Expert. Confessions of an INFJ. I’m a multi award-winning music lecturer with over 30 years of teaching experience, 10 of those years being at one of the UK’s largest colleges. I studied classical guitar, piano, and music theory (all to the highest grade) at the world-renowned Royal Schools of Music. Then I moved to Los Angeles to study contemporary guitar and vocals at the world-renowned Musicians Institute. On top of that, I’ve made music with Grammy winners and multiplatinum artists, including Serj Tankian (System Of A Down) and Tom Morello (Rage Against The Machine). So with regards to making music and teaching music, it’s safe to say that I’m an expert. But if you want to learn how to make music, don’t trust me! Wait… What?! Let me explain. But first, we need to take a little detour. On average, people can be divided into 16 personality types. This is known as the Myers-Briggs (or MBTI) system, and it’s based on Carl Jung’s model of the eight cognitive functions. It’s an utterly brilliant system that will change your life, if you take the time to learn it. You can start by simply discovering what your personality type is. To do this, I recommend Dr. Dario Nardi’s free online test, which you can take at: keys2cognition.com. Invite your friends and family to do it, too. Then, if you want to learn about the 16 personality types, I recommend going to the source and reading the book “Gifts Differing” by Isabel Briggs Myers and Peter B. Myers. Okay, the detour’s over. So now, what’s personality type got to do with not trusting me? Everything! That’s the short answer. The slightly longer answer is this: Personality type has everything to do with everything! And that’s not hyperbole. Subscribe to get the latest posts in your inbox. If you’re like me, then you’re also constantly looking around wondering why we can’t all just get along by respecting each other’s differences and beliefs. In fact, one of the countless reasons I deleted all my social media accounts 10 years ago, was that I couldn’t take any more angry arguments. Just look at any social media thread, and you’ll see how obvious it is that those people are talking (or shouting) past each other. That’s because they have very different personality types, and therefore, very different perspectives. They’re never going to agree. They can’t. And arguing over which perspective is correct is in actual fact arguing over which personality type is correct. But that’s a meaningless pursuit, because no one personality type is better than any other. Each type has its unique gifts. And each type has its unique perspectives. The only discussion worth having is which perspective is best suited for each personality type. A healthy society needs all the personality types and their differing perspectives, otherwise it loses its balance and harmony. And then descends into intolerance. Now, here’s the life-changing conclusion you reach when you learn about personality types. Are you ready? You might want to sit down for this. Okay, here it is: Every perspective will always be wrong for 15 out of the 16 personality types. In other words, every perspective you have on every topic will be 94% wrong according to all the personality types. If there’s only one thing you take away from this post, please let it be that. Every perspective you have is 94% wrong. And every perspective I have is 94% wrong. Subscribe to get the latest posts in your inbox. With this realization comes a whole truckload of humility! Because, how could I possibly think that my perspective is right for you? Especially considering that my personality type, INFJ, is the rarest of all the types. Okay, here’s a broader way of looking at it. Half the personality types have the cognitive function of intuition in their top two preferences, while the other half have sensing. But, intuition is far more rare than sensing. It’s estimated that only 30% of the population are intuitive personality types, while 70% are sensing personality types. So if you’re wanting to learn how to make music, my unique Song-Whispering method will deeply resonate with you if you’re an intuitive type, but if you’re a sensing type, then it probably won’t. And let me be clear, the method will work for everyone, but it will seem very strange to the 70% of people who are sensing types. And this is true for everything. There’s literally no topic that you can’t find equally qualified experts with diametrically opposed perspectives. Even when they agree on the same data points, their interpretations lead them to polar opposite conclusions. And I’m not exaggerating. Even topics we think are settled, are not. For example, did you know that there are medical doctors who say DNA does not exist? Or, did you know that there are physicists who say atoms and subatomic particles don’t exist. These things are supposed to be ...
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    8 mins