AWeirdDev/bill-wurtz · Datasets at Hugging Face

link stringclasses 92 values	question stringlengths 0 100k	answer stringlengths 0 19.1k
https://billwurtz.com/questions/questions-2023-06.html	In "the ground plane" on the word "horizon", am I hearing a hint of G in the vocals suggesting Abmaj7?	sure, that seems about right
https://billwurtz.com/questions/questions-2023-06.html	Also on a separate note, in 9 8 7, what would you say the G/C chord you use in the verse is a substitute for if for anything?	sometimes it could just as easily be a Cmaj7 surely
https://billwurtz.com/questions/questions-2023-06.html	I mean like is it a 4 chord or is it a 7 chord with a load of suspension?	the verses feel like the key of Dmin or Cmaj at the same time. if it's C, then the C chord is a 1 chord. if it's the key of Dmin (dorian) then the C chord would be like a b7 chord.
https://billwurtz.com/questions/questions-2023-06.html	I also wanted to say how much I love the laid back kinda rhythm of 9 8 7 with the repeated drum pattern you do in most of ur new songs, which leads me to the question, how did this drum pattern come about? Or was it an unconscious addition to your style ?	i'm not quite identifying what you mean. in general, the percentage of new vibes (compared to previously established vibes) in any given song production will probably be somewhere between 10% and 30%. would be nice if i could get this figure even higher, but, as with most people, am self
https://billwurtz.com/questions/questions-2023-06.html	do you have good knowledge in music theory	i have many decades of real world experience on how music works, in a wide range of different contexts. i also am widely familiar with the commonly used notation systems of the music industry. and also, like a good citizen, i fancy on a typical morning going completely bonkers
https://billwurtz.com/questions/questions-2023-06.html	How do you figure out how to end a song without it sounding awkward?	that's impossible. the awkwardness has to go somewhere. if you're lucky you can find the ideal awkward carrying case
https://billwurtz.com/questions/questions-2023-06.html	Do you feel like you get a lot of the same questions?	in fact, every question is the same
https://billwurtz.com/questions/questions-2023-06.html	did you ever mow a lawn for pocket money	i've never done that
https://billwurtz.com/questions/questions-2023-06.html	How do you ask a question?	impossible. it can't be done
https://billwurtz.com/questions/questions-2023-06.html	how do i stick to projects and not give up halfway through for no reason	you'll have to communicate with the version of you that started it. recall why you wanted to do it in the first place. it's not that you're 'giving up' for 'no reason', it's just that you forgot the reason you started it. so try to see if you can go ahead and send yourself a telegram to the past, and strike up a convo about why you originally wanted to do it. i'm sure the past you will have a lot to say about it
https://billwurtz.com/questions/questions-2023-06.html	What's your opinion on food?	hilarious
https://billwurtz.com/questions/questions-2023-06.html	Do you take care of plants?	no, but i could
https://billwurtz.com/questions/questions-2023-06.html	How many do you have	0
https://billwurtz.com/questions/questions-2023-06.html	I have 437
https://billwurtz.com/questions/questions-2023-06.html	what's the meaning behind "I wanna be a movie star?"	written to be a short (looping infinitely, just the chorus title section). a cuddly yet energetic cozy vibe, sparkly eyed, with a lyrical inference to hollywood and the film industry. the rest would be left to the imagination because there would be no verses and no other sections. years later i picked it up and wrote it as a full song, and i further explored those same vibes
https://billwurtz.com/questions/questions-2023-06.html	do you have something that you consider your favorite/best work?	i would prefer to make a new one to be my favorite
https://billwurtz.com/questions/questions-2023-06.html	(this is a continuation on a prev question) if my name is steve would the guy from hi i'm steve's name still be my name	even more so
https://billwurtz.com/questions/questions-2023-06.html	Does asking a question count as free will	question-asking in general neither confirms nor negates 'free will'
https://billwurtz.com/questions/questions-2023-06.html	i've been living by a church for some time, i'm not a christian but last sunday i decided to attend a service just because i like religious spaces and human connection and live music wherever i can get it, and now churchgoers are recognizing me and approaching me about youth groups and crap thinking i'm a christian and i of course appreciate the friendliness but i'm just not interested at all because i don't believe in god, but i don't want to tell them that because i feel as though they will think badly of me for my deception and only really taking part in their religion as an act of religious tourism. from what you've said in the past i take it you may have some insight on this. what do you reckon i do? (they played i think 4 songs during the service. 2 of them were fine, one kinda sucked, one kicked ass. just felt like mentioning this. have a nice day)	see if you can get in the band. but if not, another option is to watch church videos online. you'll find a lot of different kinds
https://billwurtz.com/questions/questions-2023-06.html	is there any genre of music that you like but wouldn't make	i like a lot of kinds of things that i haven't made yet, but i can't think of anything that i wouldn't like to try
https://billwurtz.com/questions/questions-2023-06.html	Do you know about Old English?	how old
https://billwurtz.com/questions/questions-2023-06.html	Do you believe the saying 'all good things must come to an end.'	no
https://billwurtz.com/questions/questions-2023-06.html	Is having a conversation a feeling or a calculation?	conversations usually have some of both. it's a great place for both, and a whole lot more
https://billwurtz.com/questions/questions-2023-06.html	Do u like hamsters?	i don't know any hamsters
https://billwurtz.com/questions/questions-2023-06.html	do you ever feel reluctant to change the key of a song - even though it would be objectively useful - just because you kind of feel the song 'has to' be in, say, F Major?	usually not. more often there might be a requirement that it must NOT be in a particular key, because the previous song was in that key. The only situation i can think of where a song needs to be in 1 particular key is if the song was specifically written around, and featuring, some widely identifiable real-world sound effect. like the boink noise in everyone's favorite video game
https://billwurtz.com/questions/questions-2023-06.html	hello i am an alien	i believe you
https://billwurtz.com/questions/questions-2023-06.html	are you making a movie right now?	modern day equivalent
https://billwurtz.com/questions/questions-2023-06.html	How am I supposed to learn piano if my hands are too small to reach an octave? This is very sad.	you'll find great tricks that other people never did, because they were distracted by playing octaves
https://billwurtz.com/questions/questions-2023-06.html	What's your process when it comes to creating your basslines in your songs.	it's the same process as wearing a pair of trousers. which i can't totally describe
https://billwurtz.com/questions/questions-2023-06.html	Any particular styles?	style happens, hopefully well enough to shake off any style-labels. like fruit, i find style often tastes better without the label
https://billwurtz.com/questions/questions-2023-06.html	Also which bass are you playing in "La de da de da de da de day oh?"	i don't recall
https://billwurtz.com/questions/questions-2023-06.html	What do you do when you feel useless and knowing that you need to move on but still feel like it's too late? Like sometimes your emotions just overcome your being and you feel so sad all of a sudden. What do you do at these times?	take a walk. move around if you can
https://billwurtz.com/questions/questions-2023-06.html	how 2 remeber my naem	it's pat
https://billwurtz.com/questions/questions-2023-06.html	what was the context for the note written 2.5.11 at 3:28 pm?	trying to record all the songs i'd written, within an extremely unrealistic duration of time
https://billwurtz.com/questions/questions-2023-06.html	how do i grow my own chickpeas?	i don't even know what a chickpea is, so you're way ahead of me
https://billwurtz.com/questions/questions-2023-06.html	just got a depressing insight into the music industry: apparently demos for songs get passed around and artists just pick them up and go, "oh, i'll sing this one." so like there's artists singing songs that they haven't written themselves? and this is fairly common?	sure, that's always been fairly common. it's like when you go see a movie, most of the time the actors did not write their own dialogue. however, i'd say it's probably more common for a singer to have written the song they're singing than for an actor to have written the part they are acting. but both situations exist for both, and there might be advantages and disadvantages for both
https://billwurtz.com/questions/questions-2023-06.html	im graduting	that's exiting
https://billwurtz.com/questions/questions-2023-06.html	what do you think about apples?	basic
https://billwurtz.com/questions/questions-2023-06.html	Can I ask a question?	it's hard to even imagine what that would be like
https://billwurtz.com/questions/questions-2023-06.html	what is water	perfect
https://billwurtz.com/questions/questions-2023-06.html	do you want to know how to solve a Rubik's cube	at some point
https://billwurtz.com/questions/questions-2023-06.html	is it normal to have a weird obsession over good-named music and stuff? Idk i just like to see things that have IMPRESSIVE and CREATIVE names & titles, but i don't know why and neither if it's just a me issue.	names are cool. anyone who's gone shopping knows this
https://billwurtz.com/questions/questions-2023-06.html	In other matters, i often make questions to you during my programming classes, but i always forget what the hell i've asked, how do i stop forgetting my own questions to then know if i have been answered or not?	maybe you could think of a cool name for your question
https://billwurtz.com/questions/questions-2023-06.html	is "i'm a princess" about your experience with fame and your relationship with your fans?	no
https://billwurtz.com/questions/questions-2023-06.html	I noticed that recently whenever I'm doing nothing productive during my free time, I feel guilty about it and tell myself I'm wasting my time and I should be doing something else, even though it's good to have some time to just chill. Do you ever feel the same?	yes
https://billwurtz.com/questions/questions-2023-06.html	Any advice on how to handle that feeling?	challenge yourself to chill even harder. make it a contest
https://billwurtz.com/questions/questions-2023-06.html	Hey Bill, I was wondering if you could give a very brief summary of how you learnt to be so good at music, and what steps you took along the way and how long you've been doing it. Did you do some form of music school and did you feel it was worth it? Thank you for your time	i got obsessed with it on my own, at an extremely young age, then after maybe a few weeks got obsessed with something else for a short while and then came back and became obsessed with music again in a different way. this is generally the pattern that persists over and over again throughout my life. in the occasional brief childhood encounters i've had with classroom/teachers, i typically tend to realize i'm more obsessed than the teacher is, and i drop out and move forward from there
https://billwurtz.com/questions/questions-2023-06.html	Hello, I'm a big fan of your work. Some songs of yours just makes me feel so strangely nostalgic about things that I forgot, and even some emotions that I can't even define. How do you come up with things like these? What inspired you to make music? Anyways you rock man.	holy smokes, you are very friendly
https://billwurtz.com/questions/questions-2023-06.html	Is life a color?	it's multi colored
https://billwurtz.com/questions/questions-2023-06.html	if music didnt exist what do you think you would be doing	a lot of language and architecture
https://billwurtz.com/questions/questions-2023-06.html	you had stated your favorite doors are windows.	yes, but i was goofing around
https://billwurtz.com/questions/questions-2023-06.html	but what about windows you can't open, like stain glass windows? can we consider those single use doors? or are they doors we must never open?	i've come to realize that the definition of a door usually requires 2 things: it must be openable, and typically the bottom edge must be at or near floor level
https://billwurtz.com/questions/questions-2023-06.html	Ever think about how at some point in human history, someone was the first person to have a name?	i don't think that's true
https://billwurtz.com/questions/questions-2023-06.html	I wonder what that must have been like.	it's a lot like falling asleep, or waking up
https://billwurtz.com/questions/questions-2023-06.html	opinion on whole wheat bread?	same great taste
https://billwurtz.com/questions/questions-2023-06.html	Do you like corn?	too cheesy
https://billwurtz.com/questions/questions-2023-06.html	what if you have two awesome things planned but they overlap	they'd either enhance each other, or cancel each other out. i guess it depends on the phase
https://billwurtz.com/questions/questions-2023-06.html	you probably get this question quite frequently, but what would be your favorite song you've written and published so far?	i would prefer to make a new one to be my favorite
https://billwurtz.com/questions/questions-2023-06.html	What to do when you feel stuck and like you have too much free time this summer?	make a movie
https://billwurtz.com/questions/questions-2023-06.html	how many flowerpots do you own	just one, to keep all my other flower pots in
https://billwurtz.com/questions/questions-2023-06.html	explain the theory of everything	that can be any length, so the theory would look different at each length. there is no upper limit on the length of the theory. so indeed the only non-arbitrary choice for a fixed value for the length of the theory would be zero. this unfortunately seems like it's leaving out a lot of possibilities. the second most non-arbitrary choice for the length of the theory would be 'infinitely' long. which actually shares the same problem as a zero-sized theory, in that it lacks any specific discernable detail. so indeed, anything will eventually lead every possible other thing, in due time, in a natural order that may or may not surprise even itself. enjoy
https://billwurtz.com/questions/questions-2023-06.html	Do you have any strategies to help get me out of a musical rut? As a saxophone player I've just been feeling recently that everything I play/write sounds the same.	how about trying another instrument
https://billwurtz.com/questions/questions-2023-06.html	can you recommend me a paul mccartney song with a sick drum groove?	blackbird
https://billwurtz.com/questions/questions-2023-06.html	What do you think about the Dorian keys?	it's worth mentioning that that means, for example, that you are using the key of C minor except instead of including the Ab note you use A natural
https://billwurtz.com/questions/questions-2023-06.html	What kind of situations do you think one could use them in? :)	cool situations, like 'so what' by miles davis. i wish i could say that no single example could sum it up, but that song was apparently put on this earth to be a dorian tutorial. this is widely known
https://billwurtz.com/questions/questions-2023-06.html	do you feel like you make your stuff because your head is going to explode if you don't get it out somehow?	yes
https://billwurtz.com/questions/questions-2023-06.html	that's how i feel sometimes.
https://billwurtz.com/questions/questions-2023-06.html	When you talk about making bad stuff until it starts becoming good, do you mean it in a "keep trying even though you'll make a lot of random noise" way or a "just make random noise, then find a pattern in the noise" way?	it has to do with what happens to you while you're making it. if you decide to make something bad on purpose, hopefully that should put you in a brighter mood because it might be more fun to break the rules than to follow them. so it's just sort of a trick to lighten your mood. then you'll be in a better mood and suddenly the music will get good. and as soon as you notice this, you'll immediately become self-conscious again and have to restart the trick
https://billwurtz.com/questions/questions-2023-06.html	what's an interesting dream that you've had recently	i dreamed that i was awake
https://billwurtz.com/questions/questions-2023-06.html	You can be ironically ironic?	it cancels out
https://billwurtz.com/questions/questions-2023-06.html	Have you ever encountered an unholy moly?	moly is not holy. all moly is regular moly. if it's moly, that means actual holy things like 'shit' and 'fuck' were apparently not available
https://billwurtz.com/questions/questions-2023-06.html	is your dancing in your videos choreographed or do you just kinda move how you feel at the moment of recording?	i always plan to choreograph things but it never really happens that way. i try a broad range of things on camera, then pick what to use
https://billwurtz.com/questions/questions-2023-06.html	When you begin writing music, are the melodies and everything else in the song written as you go, or does it begin with a story you wish to tell?	i've found it almost impossible to predict what story is to be told, even with non-song storytelling. and for songs it's even less predictable
https://billwurtz.com/questions/questions-2023-06.html	Another question: when you have those stories to tell, are they simply the child of creative thinking pulled from thin air or does it take a set process to create the surreal yet realistic environment in your videos? [Most notably in 'Perfect.']	for 'Perfect', absolutely nothing was predicted. the first ingredient was the location selection. from there, we get 2 people observing some car movements. and the scene unfolds from there. so everything is imagined in chronological order, during the writing process. and nothing is produced until the writing is done
https://billwurtz.com/questions/questions-2023-06.html	How many coincidences have to happen in a row until I'm no longer considered crazy by others and my theories about the universe are correct? Apparently infinite	You'll have to explain what a coincidence is. what exactly is coinciding with what? and you'll also have to define 'in a row'. Is there a threshold limit for the duration of time between the coincidences? and is it assumed that no other non-coincidences should happen between the coincidences? for example, if there's 1 coincidence every second for 100 seconds, does that count as 100 in a row? What about 1 coincidence per century, for 100 centuries. does that count as 100 in a row? let's talk figures
https://billwurtz.com/questions/questions-2023-06.html	What is your favorite article on Wikipedia?	the article about Wikipedia
https://billwurtz.com/questions/questions-2023-06.html	how do I pull myself out of a barren waste land?	you can go to the next wasteland over
https://billwurtz.com/questions/questions-2023-06.html	Why can't one of the 2 friends in "Perfect." go up? Is it because of gravity?	yep
https://billwurtz.com/questions/questions-2023-06.html	in a scale of one to ten, how would you rate your favorite piece of art?	5.5
https://billwurtz.com/questions/questions-2023-06.html	how to share non pop songs to someone who only listens to pop songs in order to raise their interest being the only one irl who listens to small circles and doujin related felt to me that i am afraid to share/ scared of harassment	how about this: make a great movie and use the song in it. works every time
https://billwurtz.com/questions/questions-2023-06.html	opinion on rock music	sounds like a euphamism
https://billwurtz.com/questions/questions-2023-06.html	can u respond to this question?	i'll see what i can do
https://billwurtz.com/questions/questions-2023-06.html	why is F more difficult to play than other chords on guitar	the keys go in a circle. the guitar is tuned pointing mostly toward the G D A E area. much like if you are in a chair facing north, it is fairly difficult to look to the southwest. If you want an even greater challenge, try looking directly south, or in this case, learning things in the key of Eb or so
https://billwurtz.com/questions/questions-2023-06.html	Nee nee, geen google translate nodig. Maar dat kan ik nooit bewijzen natuurlijk. En jij?	ik denk dat ik een adviseur nodig heb. iemand die me kan vertellen hoe de taal tegenwoordig eigenlijk gaat. help me de niet-1950-versie van de taal te vinden. wat vind je hiervan: 'toch wel, wel toch maar echt heelveel een beetje eigenlijk, maar, ik denk, nou maar, eerlijk...... super gezellig, lekker lekker.... snap je?'
https://billwurtz.com/questions/questions-2023-06.html	what sport do you like	hard ball
https://billwurtz.com/questions/questions-2023-06.html	will you still be able to make music when youre 70? i hope you can	yep
https://billwurtz.com/questions/questions-2023-06.html	Where do you live?	right over there
https://billwurtz.com/questions/questions-2023-06.html	bananas	i understand
https://billwurtz.com/questions/questions-2023-06.html	what do you think the chief utility of balloons is? I only ask because I have two that are just sitting around and I've been thinking about doing something with them.	spread good cheer
https://billwurtz.com/questions/questions-2023-06.html	whats your opinion on blenders	A lot of people think blenders are 'stupid' because the 'lyrics' are 'dumb'. The lyrics on my blender are, and i quote, "On. Off. Min. Max. Pulse. Smoothie. Ice crush. Soup." i rest my case
https://billwurtz.com/questions/questions-2023-06.html	How do you find inspiration?	it's everywhere. so go anywhere, and there it will be. or just stay where you are, it will probably find you there anyway. but in case it doesn't, then you can go ahead and take a step or 2, in any direction. and there it will be
https://billwurtz.com/questions/questions-2023-06.html	How do you make the key changes in your music feel so delicious? I just wanna devour them MMMM	holy smokes, you are very friendly
https://billwurtz.com/questions/questions-2023-06.html	What do I do if I wrote a super awesome song outside of my vocal range? I can sing the problematic part an octave down, but it just doesn't feel right. I can also move everything down until it fits in my vocal range, but the lowest parts feel way too low then. Do I just hope and pray that I can eventually sing it as it is?	among the things i would recommend, i do not prefer the 'octave-down' solution. However, i have 5 other semi-strategies (at least one of which you've mentioned) which all have their pros and cons. You can search for a compromise for the song's key, which sounds like it will be a tight squeeze because it sounds like the range of your song is wide. but, indeed, do what you can to find a compromise key. the next thing is just to keep practicing and eventually you will be able to sing a wider range. another option in the modern day, is to use computer assistance to produce the vocals outside of your range. the problem with that is, the results might not feel as genuine as you'd be able to get with your true voice, and also, if you ever are trapped in a cave with only an acoustic guitar, you wouldn't be able to perform the song, and also, in general there's a chance that it may hinder your growth as a singer because it might decrease your motivation to learn to actually sing it. Another option is to find a way to get someone else to sing it. the challenge with that, however, is that they just might not know how to sing your song as genuinely as you could, and of course maybe you don't even know how to find someone and/or incentivize them to do the job. Another option, of course, is to do a bit of re-writing to find a way that the song could comfortably land in a different key for that part. this may require some out-of-the-box thinking, but it can be done
https://billwurtz.com/questions/questions-2023-06.html	If the prefix re- means to do again, what does the refrigerator do again?	frigerate
https://billwurtz.com/questions/questions-2023-06.html	What is "VACATIONING IN THE MIDDLE OF THE SUN" on the expert mode page?	that's just a vent of frustration for how long it was taking for me to do what i was working on at that time
https://billwurtz.com/questions/questions-2023-06.html	It doesn't link to nything	on the expert page, things are not required to be links. some people can't handle this, which of course is why it's called the 'expert' page
https://billwurtz.com/questions/questions-2023-06.html	If they say "short" for both height and length why is it that a great height is "tall" and a great length is "long"?	"long" and "tall" are different concepts, so i'm not surprised that we have 2 words. i find it more interesting to wonder why we have only 1 word for small height and small length. Some other languages, however, have different words for small height and small length, but only 1 word for long and tall. i guess the takeaway here is, there's never gonna be infinite words, so some sharing will have to happen. and, like cloud shapes, each language will have a different configuration of such sharing
https://billwurtz.com/questions/questions-2023-06.html	Is it really a question if it doesn't have a question mark, or am I just being a language purist?	you probably aren't a language purist because you said "doesn't", and in fact every other word you said is probably some kind of corruption from some previous version which was at one time considered more correct. but indeed you may be a formalist
https://billwurtz.com/questions/questions-2023-06.html	why is there something rather than nothing?	there's plenty of both, but you don't notice the nothing, because, well, 'nothing' is hard to notice. you wouldn't even be there to notice it
https://billwurtz.com/questions/questions-2023-06.html	i'm tryna make some songs here, or at least write songs to develop in the future, and i was just wondering, when there are multiple, varying in similarity, tunes/melodies/chord progressions available to work with that i'd like to incorporate at some point into my music, how does one figure out whether to attempt to cram them in the same song or save them for another song, all while keeping in mind if i don't use that cramming technique i would have to come up with a likely less musically satisfying melody to fill the gap and complete the song, while also keeping in mind that if i do cram, the song MAY possibly sound better given the incorporation of multiple flagship tunes, but then might not make as much sense or sound AS natural given that they tend to be completely, or at least enough that it's noticeable, different. how do i figure out the correct balance?	generally, i'd say don't obligatorily include things into a song just because you have them on hand. in my opinion, working on a song is like being a doctor, and the song is the patient. examine the patient, listen to the patient, and find what that patient needs. don't just go into your doctors closet and get the bone saw just because you have a bone saw

https://billwurtz.com/questions/questions-2023-06.html

In "the ground plane" on the word "horizon", am I hearing a hint of G in the vocals suggesting Abmaj7?

sure, that seems about right

https://billwurtz.com/questions/questions-2023-06.html

Also on a separate note, in 9 8 7, what would you say the G/C chord you use in the verse is a substitute for if for anything?

sometimes it could just as easily be a Cmaj7 surely

https://billwurtz.com/questions/questions-2023-06.html

I mean like is it a 4 chord or is it a 7 chord with a load of suspension?

the verses feel like the key of Dmin or Cmaj at the same time. if it's C, then the C chord is a 1 chord. if it's the key of Dmin (dorian) then the C chord would be like a b7 chord.

https://billwurtz.com/questions/questions-2023-06.html

I also wanted to say how much I love the laid back kinda rhythm of 9 8 7 with the repeated drum pattern you do in most of ur new songs, which leads me to the question, how did this drum pattern come about? Or was it an unconscious addition to your style ?

i'm not quite identifying what you mean. in general, the percentage of new vibes (compared to previously established vibes) in any given song production will probably be somewhere between 10% and 30%. would be nice if i could get this figure even higher, but, as with most people, am self

https://billwurtz.com/questions/questions-2023-06.html

do you have good knowledge in music theory

i have many decades of real world experience on how music works, in a wide range of different contexts. i also am widely familiar with the commonly used notation systems of the music industry. and also, like a good citizen, i fancy on a typical morning going completely bonkers

https://billwurtz.com/questions/questions-2023-06.html

How do you figure out how to end a song without it sounding awkward?

that's impossible. the awkwardness has to go somewhere. if you're lucky you can find the ideal awkward carrying case

https://billwurtz.com/questions/questions-2023-06.html

Do you feel like you get a lot of the same questions?

in fact, every question is the same

https://billwurtz.com/questions/questions-2023-06.html

did you ever mow a lawn for pocket money

i've never done that

https://billwurtz.com/questions/questions-2023-06.html

How do you ask a question?

impossible. it can't be done

https://billwurtz.com/questions/questions-2023-06.html

how do i stick to projects and not give up halfway through for no reason

you'll have to communicate with the version of you that started it. recall why you wanted to do it in the first place. it's not that you're 'giving up' for 'no reason', it's just that you forgot the reason you started it. so try to see if you can go ahead and send yourself a telegram to the past, and strike up a convo about why you originally wanted to do it. i'm sure the past you will have a lot to say about it

https://billwurtz.com/questions/questions-2023-06.html

What's your opinion on food?

hilarious

https://billwurtz.com/questions/questions-2023-06.html

Do you take care of plants?

no, but i could

https://billwurtz.com/questions/questions-2023-06.html

How many do you have

0

https://billwurtz.com/questions/questions-2023-06.html

I have 437

https://billwurtz.com/questions/questions-2023-06.html

what's the meaning behind "I wanna be a movie star?"

written to be a short (looping infinitely, just the chorus title section). a cuddly yet energetic cozy vibe, sparkly eyed, with a lyrical inference to hollywood and the film industry. the rest would be left to the imagination because there would be no verses and no other sections. years later i picked it up and wrote it as a full song, and i further explored those same vibes

https://billwurtz.com/questions/questions-2023-06.html

do you have something that you consider your favorite/best work?

i would prefer to make a new one to be my favorite

https://billwurtz.com/questions/questions-2023-06.html

(this is a continuation on a prev question) if my name is steve would the guy from hi i'm steve's name still be my name

even more so

https://billwurtz.com/questions/questions-2023-06.html

Does asking a question count as free will

question-asking in general neither confirms nor negates 'free will'

https://billwurtz.com/questions/questions-2023-06.html

i've been living by a church for some time, i'm not a christian but last sunday i decided to attend a service just because i like religious spaces and human connection and live music wherever i can get it, and now churchgoers are recognizing me and approaching me about youth groups and crap thinking i'm a christian and i of course appreciate the friendliness but i'm just not interested at all because i don't believe in god, but i don't want to tell them that because i feel as though they will think badly of me for my deception and only really taking part in their religion as an act of religious tourism. from what you've said in the past i take it you may have some insight on this. what do you reckon i do? (they played i think 4 songs during the service. 2 of them were fine, one kinda sucked, one kicked ass. just felt like mentioning this. have a nice day)

see if you can get in the band. but if not, another option is to watch church videos online. you'll find a lot of different kinds

https://billwurtz.com/questions/questions-2023-06.html

is there any genre of music that you like but wouldn't make

i like a lot of kinds of things that i haven't made yet, but i can't think of anything that i wouldn't like to try

https://billwurtz.com/questions/questions-2023-06.html

Do you know about Old English?

how old

https://billwurtz.com/questions/questions-2023-06.html

Do you believe the saying 'all good things must come to an end.'

no

https://billwurtz.com/questions/questions-2023-06.html

Is having a conversation a feeling or a calculation?

conversations usually have some of both. it's a great place for both, and a whole lot more

https://billwurtz.com/questions/questions-2023-06.html

Do u like hamsters?

i don't know any hamsters

https://billwurtz.com/questions/questions-2023-06.html

do you ever feel reluctant to change the key of a song - even though it would be objectively useful - just because you kind of feel the song 'has to' be in, say, F Major?

usually not. more often there might be a requirement that it must NOT be in a particular key, because the previous song was in that key. The only situation i can think of where a song needs to be in 1 particular key is if the song was specifically written around, and featuring, some widely identifiable real-world sound effect. like the boink noise in everyone's favorite video game

https://billwurtz.com/questions/questions-2023-06.html

hello i am an alien

i believe you

https://billwurtz.com/questions/questions-2023-06.html

are you making a movie right now?

modern day equivalent

https://billwurtz.com/questions/questions-2023-06.html

How am I supposed to learn piano if my hands are too small to reach an octave? This is very sad.

you'll find great tricks that other people never did, because they were distracted by playing octaves

https://billwurtz.com/questions/questions-2023-06.html

What's your process when it comes to creating your basslines in your songs.

it's the same process as wearing a pair of trousers. which i can't totally describe

https://billwurtz.com/questions/questions-2023-06.html

Any particular styles?

style happens, hopefully well enough to shake off any style-labels. like fruit, i find style often tastes better without the label

https://billwurtz.com/questions/questions-2023-06.html

Also which bass are you playing in "La de da de da de da de day oh?"

i don't recall

https://billwurtz.com/questions/questions-2023-06.html

What do you do when you feel useless and knowing that you need to move on but still feel like it's too late? Like sometimes your emotions just overcome your being and you feel so sad all of a sudden. What do you do at these times?

take a walk. move around if you can

https://billwurtz.com/questions/questions-2023-06.html

how 2 remeber my naem

it's pat

https://billwurtz.com/questions/questions-2023-06.html

what was the context for the note written 2.5.11 at 3:28 pm?

trying to record all the songs i'd written, within an extremely unrealistic duration of time

https://billwurtz.com/questions/questions-2023-06.html

how do i grow my own chickpeas?

i don't even know what a chickpea is, so you're way ahead of me

https://billwurtz.com/questions/questions-2023-06.html

just got a depressing insight into the music industry: apparently demos for songs get passed around and artists just pick them up and go, "oh, i'll sing this one." so like there's artists singing songs that they haven't written themselves? and this is fairly common?

sure, that's always been fairly common. it's like when you go see a movie, most of the time the actors did not write their own dialogue. however, i'd say it's probably more common for a singer to have written the song they're singing than for an actor to have written the part they are acting. but both situations exist for both, and there might be advantages and disadvantages for both

https://billwurtz.com/questions/questions-2023-06.html

im graduting

that's exiting

https://billwurtz.com/questions/questions-2023-06.html

what do you think about apples?

basic

https://billwurtz.com/questions/questions-2023-06.html

Can I ask a question?

it's hard to even imagine what that would be like

https://billwurtz.com/questions/questions-2023-06.html

what is water

perfect

https://billwurtz.com/questions/questions-2023-06.html

do you want to know how to solve a Rubik's cube

at some point

https://billwurtz.com/questions/questions-2023-06.html

is it normal to have a weird obsession over good-*named* music and stuff? Idk i just like to see things that have IMPRESSIVE and CREATIVE names & titles, but i don't know why and neither if it's just a me issue.

names are cool. anyone who's gone shopping knows this

https://billwurtz.com/questions/questions-2023-06.html

In other matters, i often make questions to you during my programming classes, but i always forget what the hell i've asked, how do i stop forgetting my own questions to then know if i have been answered or not?

maybe you could think of a cool name for your question

https://billwurtz.com/questions/questions-2023-06.html

is "i'm a princess" about your experience with fame and your relationship with your fans?

no

https://billwurtz.com/questions/questions-2023-06.html

I noticed that recently whenever I'm doing nothing productive during my free time, I feel guilty about it and tell myself I'm wasting my time and I should be doing something else, even though it's good to have some time to just chill. Do you ever feel the same?

yes

https://billwurtz.com/questions/questions-2023-06.html

Any advice on how to handle that feeling?

challenge yourself to chill even harder. make it a contest

https://billwurtz.com/questions/questions-2023-06.html

Hey Bill, I was wondering if you could give a very brief summary of how you learnt to be so good at music, and what steps you took along the way and how long you've been doing it. Did you do some form of music school and did you feel it was worth it? Thank you for your time

i got obsessed with it on my own, at an extremely young age, then after maybe a few weeks got obsessed with something else for a short while and then came back and became obsessed with music again in a different way. this is generally the pattern that persists over and over again throughout my life. in the occasional brief childhood encounters i've had with classroom/teachers, i typically tend to realize i'm more obsessed than the teacher is, and i drop out and move forward from there

https://billwurtz.com/questions/questions-2023-06.html

Hello, I'm a big fan of your work. Some songs of yours just makes me feel so strangely nostalgic about things that I forgot, and even some emotions that I can't even define. How do you come up with things like these? What inspired you to make music? Anyways you rock man.

holy smokes, you are very friendly

https://billwurtz.com/questions/questions-2023-06.html

Is life a color?

it's multi colored

https://billwurtz.com/questions/questions-2023-06.html

if music didnt exist what do you think you would be doing

a lot of language and architecture

https://billwurtz.com/questions/questions-2023-06.html

you had stated your favorite doors are windows.

yes, but i was goofing around

https://billwurtz.com/questions/questions-2023-06.html

but what about windows you can't open, like stain glass windows? can we consider those single use doors? or are they doors we must never open?

i've come to realize that the definition of a door usually requires 2 things: it must be openable, and typically the bottom edge must be at or near floor level

https://billwurtz.com/questions/questions-2023-06.html

Ever think about how at some point in human history, someone was the first person to have a name?

i don't think that's true

https://billwurtz.com/questions/questions-2023-06.html

I wonder what that must have been like.

it's a lot like falling asleep, or waking up

https://billwurtz.com/questions/questions-2023-06.html

opinion on whole wheat bread?

same great taste

https://billwurtz.com/questions/questions-2023-06.html

Do you like corn?

too cheesy

https://billwurtz.com/questions/questions-2023-06.html

what if you have two awesome things planned but they overlap

they'd either enhance each other, or cancel each other out. i guess it depends on the phase

https://billwurtz.com/questions/questions-2023-06.html

you probably get this question quite frequently, but what would be your favorite song you've written and published so far?

i would prefer to make a new one to be my favorite

https://billwurtz.com/questions/questions-2023-06.html

What to do when you feel stuck and like you have too much free time this summer?

make a movie

https://billwurtz.com/questions/questions-2023-06.html

how many flowerpots do you own

just one, to keep all my other flower pots in

https://billwurtz.com/questions/questions-2023-06.html

explain the theory of everything

that can be any length, so the theory would look different at each length. there is no upper limit on the length of the theory. so indeed the only non-arbitrary choice for a fixed value for the length of the theory would be zero. this unfortunately seems like it's leaving out a lot of possibilities. the second most non-arbitrary choice for the length of the theory would be 'infinitely' long. which actually shares the same problem as a zero-sized theory, in that it lacks any specific discernable detail. so indeed, anything will eventually lead every possible other thing, in due time, in a natural order that may or may not surprise even itself. enjoy

https://billwurtz.com/questions/questions-2023-06.html

Do you have any strategies to help get me out of a musical rut? As a saxophone player I've just been feeling recently that everything I play/write sounds the same.

how about trying another instrument

https://billwurtz.com/questions/questions-2023-06.html

can you recommend me a paul mccartney song with a sick drum groove?

blackbird

https://billwurtz.com/questions/questions-2023-06.html

What do you think about the Dorian keys?

it's worth mentioning that that means, for example, that you are using the key of C minor except instead of including the Ab note you use A natural

https://billwurtz.com/questions/questions-2023-06.html

What kind of situations do you think one could use them in? :)

cool situations, like 'so what' by miles davis. i wish i could say that no single example could sum it up, but that song was apparently put on this earth to be a dorian tutorial. this is widely known

https://billwurtz.com/questions/questions-2023-06.html

do you feel like you make your stuff because your head is going to explode if you don't get it out somehow?

yes

https://billwurtz.com/questions/questions-2023-06.html

that's how i feel sometimes.

https://billwurtz.com/questions/questions-2023-06.html

When you talk about making bad stuff until it starts becoming good, do you mean it in a "keep trying even though you'll make a lot of random noise" way or a "just make random noise, then find a pattern in the noise" way?

it has to do with what happens to you while you're making it. if you decide to make something bad on purpose, hopefully that should put you in a brighter mood because it might be more fun to break the rules than to follow them. so it's just sort of a trick to lighten your mood. then you'll be in a better mood and suddenly the music will get good. and as soon as you notice this, you'll immediately become self-conscious again and have to restart the trick

https://billwurtz.com/questions/questions-2023-06.html

what's an interesting dream that you've had recently

i dreamed that i was awake

https://billwurtz.com/questions/questions-2023-06.html

You can be ironically ironic?

it cancels out

https://billwurtz.com/questions/questions-2023-06.html

Have you ever encountered an unholy moly?

moly is not holy. all moly is regular moly. if it's moly, that means actual holy things like 'shit' and 'fuck' were apparently not available

https://billwurtz.com/questions/questions-2023-06.html

is your dancing in your videos choreographed or do you just kinda move how you feel at the moment of recording?

i always plan to choreograph things but it never really happens that way. i try a broad range of things on camera, then pick what to use

https://billwurtz.com/questions/questions-2023-06.html

When you begin writing music, are the melodies and everything else in the song written as you go, or does it begin with a story you wish to tell?

i've found it almost impossible to predict what story is to be told, even with non-song storytelling. and for songs it's even less predictable

https://billwurtz.com/questions/questions-2023-06.html

Another question: when you have those stories to tell, are they simply the child of creative thinking pulled from thin air or does it take a set process to create the surreal yet realistic environment in your videos? [Most notably in 'Perfect.']

for 'Perfect', absolutely nothing was predicted. the first ingredient was the location selection. from there, we get 2 people observing some car movements. and the scene unfolds from there. so everything is imagined in chronological order, during the writing process. and nothing is produced until the writing is done

https://billwurtz.com/questions/questions-2023-06.html

How many coincidences have to happen in a row until I'm no longer considered crazy by others and my theories about the universe are correct? Apparently infinite

You'll have to explain what a coincidence is. what exactly is coinciding with what? and you'll also have to define 'in a row'. Is there a threshold limit for the duration of time between the coincidences? and is it assumed that no other non-coincidences should happen between the coincidences? for example, if there's 1 coincidence every second for 100 seconds, does that count as 100 in a row? What about 1 coincidence per century, for 100 centuries. does that count as 100 in a row? let's talk figures

https://billwurtz.com/questions/questions-2023-06.html

What is your favorite article on Wikipedia?

the article about Wikipedia

https://billwurtz.com/questions/questions-2023-06.html

how do I pull myself out of a barren waste land?

you can go to the next wasteland over

https://billwurtz.com/questions/questions-2023-06.html

Why can't one of the 2 friends in "Perfect." go up? Is it because of gravity?

yep

https://billwurtz.com/questions/questions-2023-06.html

in a scale of one to ten, how would you rate your favorite piece of art?

5.5

https://billwurtz.com/questions/questions-2023-06.html

how to share non pop songs to someone who only listens to pop songs in order to raise their interest being the only one irl who listens to small circles and doujin related felt to me that i am afraid to share/ scared of harassment

how about this: make a great movie and use the song in it. works every time

https://billwurtz.com/questions/questions-2023-06.html

opinion on rock music

sounds like a euphamism

https://billwurtz.com/questions/questions-2023-06.html

can u respond to this question?

i'll see what i can do

https://billwurtz.com/questions/questions-2023-06.html

why is F more difficult to play than other chords on guitar

the keys go in a circle. the guitar is tuned pointing mostly toward the G D A E area. much like if you are in a chair facing north, it is fairly difficult to look to the southwest. If you want an even greater challenge, try looking directly south, or in this case, learning things in the key of Eb or so

https://billwurtz.com/questions/questions-2023-06.html

Nee nee, geen google translate nodig. Maar dat kan ik nooit bewijzen natuurlijk. En jij?

ik denk dat ik een adviseur nodig heb. iemand die me kan vertellen hoe de taal tegenwoordig eigenlijk gaat. help me de niet-1950-versie van de taal te vinden. wat vind je hiervan: 'toch wel, wel toch maar echt heelveel een beetje eigenlijk, maar, ik denk, nou maar, eerlijk...... super gezellig, lekker lekker.... snap je?'

https://billwurtz.com/questions/questions-2023-06.html

what sport do you like

hard ball

https://billwurtz.com/questions/questions-2023-06.html

will you still be able to make music when youre 70? i hope you can

yep

https://billwurtz.com/questions/questions-2023-06.html

Where do you live?

right over there

https://billwurtz.com/questions/questions-2023-06.html

bananas

i understand

https://billwurtz.com/questions/questions-2023-06.html

what do you think the chief utility of balloons is? I only ask because I have two that are just sitting around and I've been thinking about doing something with them.

spread good cheer

https://billwurtz.com/questions/questions-2023-06.html

whats your opinion on blenders

A lot of people think blenders are 'stupid' because the 'lyrics' are 'dumb'. The lyrics on my blender are, and i quote, "On. Off. Min. Max. Pulse. Smoothie. Ice crush. Soup." i rest my case

https://billwurtz.com/questions/questions-2023-06.html

How do you find inspiration?

it's everywhere. so go anywhere, and there it will be. or just stay where you are, it will probably find you there anyway. but in case it doesn't, then you can go ahead and take a step or 2, in any direction. and there it will be

https://billwurtz.com/questions/questions-2023-06.html

How do you make the key changes in your music feel so delicious? I just wanna devour them MMMM

holy smokes, you are very friendly

https://billwurtz.com/questions/questions-2023-06.html

What do I do if I wrote a super awesome song outside of my vocal range? I can sing the problematic part an octave down, but it just doesn't feel right. I can also move everything down until it fits in my vocal range, but the lowest parts feel way too low then. Do I just hope and pray that I can eventually sing it as it is?

among the things i would recommend, i do not prefer the 'octave-down' solution. However, i have 5 other semi-strategies (at least one of which you've mentioned) which all have their pros and cons. You can search for a compromise for the song's key, which sounds like it will be a tight squeeze because it sounds like the range of your song is wide. but, indeed, do what you can to find a compromise key. the next thing is just to keep practicing and eventually you will be able to sing a wider range. another option in the modern day, is to use computer assistance to produce the vocals outside of your range. the problem with that is, the results might not feel as genuine as you'd be able to get with your true voice, and also, if you ever are trapped in a cave with only an acoustic guitar, you wouldn't be able to perform the song, and also, in general there's a chance that it may hinder your growth as a singer because it might decrease your motivation to learn to actually sing it. Another option is to find a way to get someone else to sing it. the challenge with that, however, is that they just might not know how to sing your song as genuinely as you could, and of course maybe you don't even know how to find someone and/or incentivize them to do the job. Another option, of course, is to do a bit of re-writing to find a way that the song could comfortably land in a different key for that part. this may require some out-of-the-box thinking, but it can be done

https://billwurtz.com/questions/questions-2023-06.html

If the prefix re- means to do again, what does the refrigerator do again?

frigerate

https://billwurtz.com/questions/questions-2023-06.html

What is "VACATIONING IN THE MIDDLE OF THE SUN" on the expert mode page?

that's just a vent of frustration for how long it was taking for me to do what i was working on at that time

https://billwurtz.com/questions/questions-2023-06.html

It doesn't link to nything

on the expert page, things are not required to be links. some people can't handle this, which of course is why it's called the 'expert' page

https://billwurtz.com/questions/questions-2023-06.html

If they say "short" for both height and length why is it that a great height is "tall" and a great length is "long"?

"long" and "tall" are different concepts, so i'm not surprised that we have 2 words. i find it more interesting to wonder why we have only 1 word for small height and small length. Some other languages, however, have different words for small height and small length, but only 1 word for long and tall. i guess the takeaway here is, there's never gonna be infinite words, so some sharing will have to happen. and, like cloud shapes, each language will have a different configuration of such sharing

https://billwurtz.com/questions/questions-2023-06.html

Is it really a question if it doesn't have a question mark, or am I just being a language purist?

you probably aren't a language purist because you said "doesn't", and in fact every other word you said is probably some kind of corruption from some previous version which was at one time considered more correct. but indeed you may be a formalist

https://billwurtz.com/questions/questions-2023-06.html

why is there something rather than nothing?

there's plenty of both, but you don't notice the nothing, because, well, 'nothing' is hard to notice. you wouldn't even be there to notice it

https://billwurtz.com/questions/questions-2023-06.html

i'm tryna make some songs here, or at least write songs to develop in the future, and i was just wondering, when there are multiple, varying in similarity, tunes/melodies/chord progressions available to work with that i'd like to incorporate at some point into my music, how does one figure out whether to attempt to cram them in the same song or save them for another song, all while keeping in mind if i don't use that cramming technique i would have to come up with a likely less musically satisfying melody to fill the gap and complete the song, while also keeping in mind that if i do cram, the song MAY possibly sound better given the incorporation of multiple flagship tunes, but then might not make as much sense or sound AS natural given that they tend to be completely, or at least enough that it's noticeable, different. how do i figure out the correct balance?

generally, i'd say don't obligatorily include things into a song just because you have them on hand. in my opinion, working on a song is like being a doctor, and the song is the patient. examine the patient, listen to the patient, and find what that patient needs. don't just go into your doctors closet and get the bone saw just because you have a bone saw