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Has Music Evolution Become Stagnant?

Holly was letting me listen to a song called String Of Pearls from Glenn Miller in 1944. Not even 20 years later, The Beatles rocked the hell out of the world with Please Please Me.

Not even a decade later, Black Sabbath became the fathers of heavy metal.

So in less than 3 decades, we went from peppy jazz with blistering sax work and soft brushes on the snare drums to doom and drudge cries of War Pigs.

Every decade since, we've seen an evolution or a change. I was around enough to see grunge obliterate 80s metal, then pop punk and bubblegum pop takeover grunge with the era of both boy bands and string sections taking over country music.

But I have to say, I feel like music has stayed pretty much the same since 2005. For almost 2 decades I feel I've heard songs I've already heard before. Nothing really seems to have changed. The only thing I've truly noticed is the addition of synthetic drums dominating the forefront along with samples.

What genre do you think is the defining genre of the 20s? What do you hear as a defining signature 2020's sound?

  • Article
IMPORTANT: Spam, Passwords, and You

All,

We've become aware of a situation that has spilled over into our community that may eventually affect some users. An old password breach at an unrelated site (nothing to do with Synner) has prompted at least one enterprising person or company to try pilfered account/password options here at Synner to post spam messages. They seem to be targeting dormant accounts, as every one we've caught thus far is an account that hasn't even been logged into in the last 1-3 years, but that could change at any time.

Please protect yourself and your identity by doing at least one, but preferably both of the following, here and wherever possible:

1. Don't re-use passwords. Unique passwords for every site you use can be a total pain in the ass, but it's your best protection from leaks. This is ESPECIALLY important on any site where money changes hands or important parts of your personal identity are stored, like banking, credit, healthcare or utilities. This is incredibly hard to do without a password manager, so here is a guide you can use to help you choose one, if you don't have one already. This is probably more important than virus protection in this day and age. https://www.pcmag.com/picks/the-best-password-managers

2. Enable two-factor authentication (TFA) on every site you can. TFA detects any login location without an explicit "access" cookie and requires you key in a short code the site sends to your email address or mobile device SMS. This ensures that even if someone has your password, if they try to log in to a site from their device, YOU (not them) will get a text message with the code, and they will not be able to complete the login process.

While, as I said, this has only affected long-dormant accounts here on Synner, that could change, and what we recommend is best-practice for all of us, on ANY site, so please take appropriate action to protect yourself. Thank you.

:synner: The Synner Admin Team :synner:

  • Lesson
Introduction to the Diminished Scale – Lesson 72

In this lesson we give you an overview of the diminished scale and its applications.

The diminished scale plays over diminished chords as well as V chords.

The backing track is ii-V-i in C minor. (Dm7b5 – G7b9* – Cm)

*Note – To find the diminished scale that plays over the V chord – start on the note that is 1/2 step up.

In this case – an Ab diminished scale would be played over the G7b9.

Carnival of the Souls: The Final Sessions

Hello there Synners! I've been M.I.A for a couple of months but I'm back, and I'm back with a discussion. As you know I'm a huge fan of KISS since 2021 and for the last year and a half I've dedicated myself to listen album by album, you know, trying to know the story behind them, the lyrics and so on(I do that with every band that I love and adore)

And well, the thing with this album is that it's very different from their others albums; when you hear it, it's nothing like the KISS that most people know(the glam disco era lol) They tried to create this grunge vibe, because all the media and public attention was on those grunge bands towards the nineties. Although it suited very well Gene Simmons and his "Demon" character, Paul Stanley was unconvinced; he thought this genre didn't fit KISS at all. But they did it anyways and went into the studio with the producer Tobey Wright, who's worked with Alice in chains and Slayer.

This album puts a closure to their no make-up era and this was the last album they did with Bruce Kulick. Paul and gGne were not so fond in this album and even when they were recording it, the reunion era was coming closer and closer, so they were more excited working and planning that than the album. Their focus was the "classic" era, not something new. So they released it but people barely noticed it because, again, people, media and everyone was just too focused and excited to see the original alienation again after 15 years.

So the fanbase gets divided again, the same happened with the album Music From The Elder, some says it's pretty cool, others says it's the worst thing ever hahaha

In my opinion I liked it, it's very different from what we know, Carnival of Souls kicks off on a promisingly heavy note.

And that's why I suggest it hear, give it a listen if you want and tell me your thoughts about it, it'll be really nice if you do! :)

Guitar build

Hello everyone. I thought I would share one of my guitar build/transformation with you guys. This was not an original idea. My kids asked me if I could build them a guitar that they liked.

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  • Suggestion
Bug 2FA: "trust this device" doesn't work as expected

I have the mobile app on my Android 12 phone, and I use two-factor authentication via Google Authenticator., By default, the box labeled "Trust this device for 30 days" is checked, but it only keeps me signed in for at most a day before requiring me to enter another 2FA code. Sometimes, the session only persists for an hour or so.

App version: 0.15.9323
Android version: 12

Techniques that resulted in instant improvement for you?

I've recently began to try a bunch of exercises to improve my technique, rhythm, and speed.

Once thing I've noticed is a LOT of players I look up to, when playing fast solo's, anchor their pinky on the bottom left corner of the bridge pickup. So I began doing my daily exercises trying this. Once I decided to try a solo I've been struggling with anchoring my pinky I was amazed to note that I went from maybe hitting 50-60% of the notes to nearly nailing it first take!

Anyone else notice or try techniques like this that resulted in instant (or near instant) improvement of their playing?

I'm baaaaaack with spookiness!

Hey everyone! I'm back with my favorite piece of the year (possibly of all time) that I've done. If you haven't checked out Dark Divine do it. They're awesome guys with awesome music! This is my second portrait of their singer Anthony. Enjoy🖤

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Idea of Practice Routine to accommodate the Lessons?

Hi guys!

First, I want to thank you again that the lessons are back online! :)

Now I am pondering about what could be a nice practice routine to progressively go through (most of) the content of the school.

I mean, I know there is A LOT of content, and the possibilities to practice it are endless. On almost each lesson, it's repeated over and over again : "Take some serious time with this, it will take years to master it" :D

But that's the thing : there is so much to do that it can be a bit overwhelming. On the one side, I'd like to spend a lot of time on many individual lessons, to properly digest them. On the other side, spending too much time on the same lesson can get a bit boring, and give the feeling of not going forward.

So I'm just curious how you guys tackle it. Any anecdotes of anyone who went through most the beginner and/or intermediate and /or advanced lessons?

For example, for the advanced stuff, do you spend a lot of time mastering a single technique (alternative picking, economy picking, legato, sweep picking, etc), or do you learn them in parallel with a bit of daily practice for each?

Thanks in advance for any feedback !

My debut album is out, just wanted to know what you guys thought of it?

I wanted to show you guys it's not about the clicks, to me it's more important about seeing how my art is perceived. Obviously, it would be exciting for it to be successful. Just really want to see how you guys perceive it. I spent 2 years on this album. Thank you for taking the time to listen.

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  • Question
Guitar Basic Tools for Guitar Maintenance?

Hi everyone, I was wondering what would be some basic tools to maintain my guitar.
Things like hammers, screwdrivers, etc..
For example I saw something about sanding the sharp parts of fret wire, is that regular sandpaper or is a file recommended.
Thinking about gathering tools.
If I wanted to cut my guitar with a saw for the Floyd Rose or the Shape, what kind of saw?
Not planning on doing it but asking questions.
Could be wood filler glue, I think that's a thing and may need that eventually.

Thanks in advance!

  • Question
Changing the way I hold my pick

I have been playing guitar for roughly 15 years now. Might I add on and off but I’ve recently noticed that my thumb, holding the pick, is curved in an awkward bend position. It allows me to tremolo pick pretty fast/pinch harmonics are no issue, however the pick becomes less stable and moves quite a bit compared to what I am practicing with the “correct” way to hold a pick now. In your opinion is it worth to even start from scratch or should I just continue on playing this way?

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  • Question
How to train little finger?

Hello everyone! I've been playing guitar for almost 5 years, but recently started to use pinky finger(because all guitarists i inspire playing with it). But i have a problem with all of my fingers - they all a little bit curved, especially pinky. I saw how Syn play with his pinky independently of his ring finger. What advices can you tell me about training pinky to play independently of ring finger?

Synyster Gates Interview!

I saw this pop up on Google and I really thoroughly enjoyed reading it. To be honest, I found myself feeling the same way about modern guitar work.

Practicing Wall

Hey everyone. First time posting here, but thought I might as well float this off into the universe.

Sat down to practice this morning and have been going through the etudes, particularly focussing on my alternate picking. About 45 mins into running through them all, I start to begin feeling like I'm not making any progress or that I've hit this "wall" in terms of whether or not I'm actually making any progress by continuing.

Was just wondering if anyone can relate to this and offer their suggestions/insights and maybe what's worked for them. I try to do things to recharge my focus like practicing in 20 min chunks, with 10 minute breaks where I do something relaxing like read or just lay on my bed haha. I do this to try and re-centre and regain my focus.

I guess the main thing I am also wondering is how long does one typically have to stick with a particular exercise/lick/riff until they've mastered it and can just execute it without too much maintenance. I feel like I keep coming back to these etudes over the years and am always back at square one. I know consistency is a big thing here, but am just wondering what everyone thinks in terms of, is sitting down and working on 2-3 exercises for like 4/5 hours even beneficial? Or is doing that pointless as you'll be beyond the point on making any returns on your investment in time, I guess the analogy I think of is overtraining muscles in a gym.

Anyway, hope that all makes sense haha! looking forward to hearing everyones thoughts and suggestions.

Keep rocking!

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