Musicianship is the Bridge.
The WARRENMUSIC Series is an ongoing video series about the fundamentals of musicianship, analysis, songwriting, and creativity for the student of contemporary music.
Based on the Kodály method, and fusing concepts from both the common practice period and ethnomusicology, the first stage of the Series consists of three video modules broken into ten episodes each: the Melody Module, the Harmony Module, and the Rhythm Module.
The Series also introduces the WARRENMUSIC Grid System; avoiding the most common stumbling blocks associated with standard notation — staff and ledger lines, note heads and stems, key and time signatures — the Grid leverages fluency in relative pitch, chord analysis, and beat-awareness in an innovative, powerful, and simple approach to learning and transcription.
The WARRENMUSIC Grid System accomplishes this through integration of the Time Unit Box System with cipher notation and roman numeral chord analysis in a single, modular format. The experience is fast, visually intuitive, and readily transmissible between DAW software/MIDI sequencers, Excel/Google Sheets, monospace texts, and good, old-fashioned grid-lined physical notebooks. The Grid is instantly familiar to anyone with a formal background in sight-reading standard notation.
Begin your musicianship journey today. Learn more about the Melody, Harmony, and Rhythm Modules here.
Original Music & Covers
My outlets for original music and covers.
Private Instruction
Private and group lessons via Skype or Zoom, or whatever platform you prefer.
Private lessons focus on playing by ear, music theory, and music analysis and interpretation; discovering the relationship between creativity and theory; and extend to songwriting coaching, production feedback, and more in a one-on-one setting via video call.
I offer private lessons by the hour on Skype/Zoom or whatever platform you prefer.
Your first lesson will include a time of introduction, questions, and answers (not counted against the hour), as well as ongoing
- access to my proprietary Theory Grid (a customizable web resource and workbook which promotes fluency in relative pitch, chord analysis, and beat-awareness across various subjects in melody, harmony, and rhythm),
- spot analysis for songs of your choosing (including your own songs),
- unbiased songwriting and music production feedback,
- support by way of a gentle, friendly, and encouraging teaching style, and
- specific help via correspondence outside of lessons when appropriate.
The context of private lessons allows us to explore songs of your choosing and treat them as introductions to the bigger musical ideas they exhibit. This is based on the belief that the songs we love are our best teachers; we just need to learn how to get the most out of them.
Breaking down songs into smaller and smaller components is where musicianship flourishes. I can show you the entire process of how to do that from start to finish. This includes how to hear, understand, and transcribe the melodic, harmonic, and rhythmic content in real world songs, as well as how to deal with the unique challenges any given song may present.
Private lessons go deeper than tabs, chord charts, and video tutorials, and are entirely tailored to the individual. This type of commitment would be most appropriate if you are interested in developing your ear, understanding music theory, and becoming your own bridge between the music you love and the music you make.
To schedule your first private lesson, provide your weekly availability and your timezone via this contact form.
Video tutorials are song-based instructional videos by commission ranging from step-by-step breakdowns to customized arrangements.
With a video tutorial, you get a step-by-step breakdown of each section and in-depth analysis, clarifying a song’s most complicated sections and revealing its most important musical concepts.
The tutorial also comes with a chord chart detailing the guitar tuning, chord shapes, and the rhythm. Where relevant, it will include the harmonic rhythm (when chords switch), melodic rhythm (when a melody moves), strumming/fingerpicking patterns, offering an advantage to conventional tabs. You can print out a chord chart or view it on a secondary device alongside the video tutorial for a fully-annotated learning experience.
This service is guaranteed to be of the same quality of any WARRENMUSIC YouTube tutorial, or higher. There is an additional fee of $160 for a private tutorial. This fee can be waived with your express permission to share the tutorial with the public.
Get a free estimate via this contact form below.
Jonny Greenwood — “Prospectors Arrive” (Piano Walkthrough)
MIDI Files are project/instrument-based transcriptions via commission, produced in .mid format.
A MIDI file is a playable, note-for-note accurate transcription in .mid format, ready for import into Digital Audio Workstation software including Ableton Live, Logic, or Pro Tools, or in standalone VST applications.
Any instrument, including but not limited to:
- piano,
- synthesizer,
- guitar,
- bass, and
- percussion
are at your disposal.
Train your ear with the playback, analyze and interpret the part, or import it into your own arrangements.
The possibilities are limitless.
Get a free estimate via this contact form below.
Chord Charts
Read, understand, and interpret your favorite songs with Chord Charts.
Example Chord Chart for Alfa Mist’s “Door,” featuring Jordan Rakei. This chart is like a visual roadmap of the song’s melodic, harmonic, and rhythmic essence in an intuitive, fast, communicable, and modular format.
Chord charts are song transcriptions via commission in an alternative format, offering a way to understand a song’s form and its salient melodic, harmonic, and rhythmic content in an intuitive grid as opposed to standard notation/tablature.
A chord chart provides an overview of a song’s structure, including:
- the key/tuning,
- chord shapes,
- picking/strumming patterns, and
- other vital information for playing, analysis, and interpretation.
Get a free estimate via this contact form below.
Commissions / Consultation
White Label Commercial Music
Willow Pump
Willow Innovations designed a wearable breast pump and approached me looking for custom music for an IGTV campaign that would bring calm to busy mothers. With a soft piano and nylon strings I crafted this one-off piece and embedded a signature riff that tied into a second piece used in their product tutorial on Amazon.
Sudden Coffee
I was tasked with producing a short electronic music piece inspired by Thom Yorke’s “Black Swan” but cast in a coffee-filled morning kind of light.
Original Music for Film
Bed Ruins
An experimental narrative film about the sole survivor of an interstellar spacecraft crash landing, this piece was commissioned as a brooding meditation on solitude.
Mixing, Production, and Songwriting Consulation
MATTER
In my first full-length album in the role of producer, I was entrusted by one of my closest friends with songs probing the corners of a quarter-life transition into adulthood, marriage, and parenthood. Though these began primarily as acoustic guitar and piano driven tracks, I arranged a string section (“I Won’t“), performed various types of percussion (“Crystal Ball“), created ambient (“Enough“) and spooky textures (“Sick Hands“), and wrote electronic beats and synths (“The Way It Is“) to bring these bedroom-crafted songs to studio maturity.
Good Sport
I was privileged to have been in-studio for the creation of this hi-fi, lush, and sophisticated ambient pop album. I provided feedback and emotional support, but also got to hop on the guitar for a killer track, “Recur.”
Instructions Unclear
I was thrilled and honored when Sumanth sought me out for mixing and production advice on his album composed of “instruments, voice and code – under the sorrow, malaise and paranoia for the hyper-surveillance of the personal.” This original work was carefully refined over a series of video calls.
Sign me up for your very own project.
I can be your musical swiss army knife. Whether you need commercial music or a soundtrack, or someone to write for a string section, I love to collaborate on projects I believe in. If your song or band needs some basic arrangement or production advice, an outside perspective for your mix, or even in-studio consultation, I can help you find something in your budget without stepping on anyone’s toes creatively.
In short, if you have any music-related project you’re excited about — whether it’s personal or professional — I’d love to consider being a part of helping you achieve your musical goals.
Let me know what you’re working on via the contact form below.
Payment Methods & Hourly Rate
I charge one affordable hourly rate for the entire range of my private services above. Contact me for a quote.
About Me
MUSICIANSHIP FOR ALL.
When I started my YouTube channel WARRENMUSIC in 2007, I wanted to do one thing: connect with people through my love of music.
What began as a passion project grew an outlet that allowed me to connect with thousands of music lovers everywhere. We’ve bonded over common musical interests. I’ve been enriched by their friendships. I’ve been privileged to play a part in their journey as musicians.
I’ve since taught music theory workshops in Europe and across the United States, produced educational content for students of all levels, and consulted privately a range of artists, from DIY bedroom producers to established performing acts.
One of the greatest realizations along the way has been that I possess an unnatural and strange love of explaining things. I also learned that I was uniquely equipped with both classical and world music theory training, in addition to years of self-taught experience that I could bring together to help others in the realm of music. When I realized I could make a career out of it, I dreamed of building even more. Soon, there was little I dreamed of more.
The greatest incarnation of this is The WARRENMUSIC Series. When I was convinced that tutorials and tabs weren’t meeting the long-term needs of students — like music theory, ear-training, a learning community, and a method for becoming self-taught — I sought to change that with a simple concept: a website dedicated to bridging the gap between the music we love and the music we make. This website — with its Modules and Forums — is the realization of that dream.
Whether you check out my newsletter, take a lesson, hire me for a project, or buy the series, drop me a line and let me know how I have helped/can help you get more out of the music you love.
Join me in my journey of sharing my love of music with the world.
-Warren Lain
January, 2020
