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Codex Taught Me How to Play Piano

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Summary

Codex Taught Me How to Play Piano

Main Topics

AI-Assisted Music Learning: Using Codex to build an app that transcribes and analyzes piano playing
Music Theory Understanding: Learning the "why" behind music, not just the "how"
Modern Learning Resources: Combining YouTube tutorials with AI analysis tools
Generative Ability: Moving from mimicry to creative application through understanding

Key Points

The Problem Being Solved

Traditional music learning involves endless scales, which is tedious and uninspiring
Learning songs by ear or from YouTube doesn't explain why something sounds good
Without understanding music theory, it's hard to replicate interesting techniques in new contexts

The Codex Solution

Built a custom app using Codex that shows which piano keys are being pressed in real-time
Press record, play a musical phrase, and Codex analyzes the chord progressions and music theory behind it
Provides written notation with time signatures and key information
Explains complex chord structures in understandable terms

Real Example: Chord Analysis

A complex-sounding phrase was revealed to be a G sharp chord (A-flat add nine → A-flat sus → IV → I progression)
Understanding that "complicated" chords are often just the same chord played across different keyboard positions
This insight opens up creative possibilities for applying the technique elsewhere

Learning Philosophy

The Danger: Learning only what you like without understanding why it works limits your ability to generalize
The Advantage: Now the speaker can learn from favorite songs/artists, understand the theory, then apply those principles creatively
Creates a "universe of possibilities" for noodling and experimentation

Practical Applications

Can ask Codex to watch and analyze YouTube tutorials (e.g., "Root Shell Pretty" exercise from Open Studio)
Download and study exercises, then apply techniques to personal compositions
Acts like "a master teacher who is into all the same stuff I'm into"

Notable Quotes

> "I can finally understand the music theory behind what I'm doing instead of just playing it blindly, and that helps me be a better piano player."

> "The danger of just learning stuff you like is you don't know why it works, and so you can't generalize."

> "It's like I have this master teacher who is into all the same stuff I'm into. I think that's the coolest possible thing."

> "It doesn't replace having an actual teacher, but if you're just a curious person, this is the best time in the world to learn anything."

> "This is the best time in the world to learn anything. Just literally fire up Codex and ask it to help teach you or build an app."

Takeaways

AI can democratize music education by providing personalized explanations for anything you're learning
Understanding theory is essential for creativity - you need to know why before you can innovate
Personalized learning beats generic instruction - learning from what excites you, then understanding it, is more effective than forced practice
AI as a complement, not replacement - Codex enhances but doesn't replace human music teachers
The best time to learn anything is now - with AI tools and online resources, curious people have unprecedented access to knowledge and guidance

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Full transcript 1304 words · 10 min read

SPEAKER_00

Okay, this is sick. You can use Codex to teach you how to play piano. So basically what I have going right here is I've got Codex on the left. The basics of what I did were I just said, "Hey, I'm gonna plug my piano into my computer. Can you make a little app to show me what I'm playing?" And now it shows me whatever I'm playing. I can see which keys I'm pressing and then it tells me what they are. And the cool thing about that is I can finally understand the music theory behind what I'm doing instead of just playing it blindly, and that helps me be a better piano player. It's so cool.

SPEAKER_00

I think the reason it's cool is when I learned to play piano, I learned from this guy, this incredibly cool jazz musician that I had no business at all learning from. I was the worst possible student ever because in order to be a jazz pianist or learn any instrument, you have to do endless scales. I just didn't want to. Now that I'm an adult, I just mess around on piano and guitar and a couple other things because I think it's really fun. Music is the best.

SPEAKER_00

What I love about this moment is that for any song, any song I want to play, there is a YouTube video. For example, I love this song "Older" by Lizzie McAlpine. It's so fun to play on the piano. I love listening to it. The pianist on this song is this guy named Taylor McCall. He has a video on Lizzie McAlpine's channel where he goes through it and teaches it to you.

SPEAKER_00

The most amazing part of it is I can take any song, I can maybe learn it from YouTube, but I still don't really know what's happening. There's this part of the song that I love, this little flourish right at the very end, and I'm so excited and happy that I can play it, but I don't really know what he's doing or why I like it. That makes it hard to do more of it. If I just wanted to noodle around and have more of those little moments in a song, that would be hard.

SPEAKER_00

But what I can do now with this little app is I just press record. I told Codex, "I want to be able to record stuff and I want you to tell me about what it is." I just press record and then I play it, and then I'll say, "Go take a look at it and explain to me what I'm doing. What's the music theory behind it? I want to understand what the chord progression is, and what are the influences or flavors in there?" And then Codex goes off and pulls the saved phrase, and the phrase is written out here with all the time signatures and all the keys and all that stuff.

SPEAKER_00

It says you're doing an A-flat add nine to an A-flat sus to basically a four to a one chord, which is really interesting. That makes me think, "Okay, in music theory each chord has a position on the scale." So this is a C scale, and this is the first position, this is the second, this is the third, just going up the keyboard. So you can make chords like that.

SPEAKER_00

What this is telling me is this thing, which is really hard to understand, is when I really look at it, I'm like, "Okay, this is actually a G sharp chord." It says A-flat, A-flat, and G sharp. If you're not familiar with music theory, it's the same thing. This is actually a G sharp chord. What I notice is this looks very complicated, but it's really just a G sharp chord laid out across the keyboard. There's this, there's this, there's this, there's this, all the same chord. I'm just going up the keyboard. That's a little technique now that I can be like, "Oh, there's something interesting there that I might want to do at another key or another moment or whatever."

SPEAKER_00

I just find myself noodling around more, trying to find something, find something that sounds good. I may not find something that sounds good while we're recording, but what this does is now I have this whole universe of possibilities. I find something that I like, either a song I like or maybe I'm just noodling around, and I can just look at it and be like, "Okay, why do I like that?" "Hey Codex, can you help me figure that out?" I start learning music theory because the danger of just learning stuff you like is you don't know why it works, and so you can't generalize. But now I get to go from whatever I'm into, into learning it, and then learning why it works, and then I can take that and apply it wherever I want.

SPEAKER_00

Codex just comes with me. I can literally have Codex open this. There's this exercise on YouTube by this channel I love called Open Studio, and it's called Root Shell Pretty. I want you to go open it up, watch it, and then explain to me how it works and then help me apply it. Literally Codex will just open this and then download it and look at it and then help me apply it to whatever I want. It's like I have this master teacher who is into all the same stuff I'm into. I think that's the coolest possible thing.

SPEAKER_00

It doesn't necessarily replace having an actual music teacher. It just keeps surprising me. Codex is just using my computer to watch this. I love Open Studio. They're the coolest. It just helps you. It just helps me take all this stuff and learn how it works.

SPEAKER_00

For someone like me who just wants to learn stuff that I'm into, it's the best thing in the world. It doesn't replace having an actual teacher, but if you're just a curious person, this is the best time in the world to learn anything. Just literally fire up Codex and ask it to help teach you or build an app or help you connect your piano or maybe record your guitar or I don't know what you want to learn, but it's the best time in the world for that. Yeah, it's sick. If you like this video, you should check out. Every is the only subscription you need to stay at the edge of AI. like it's just it's music is the best and what i love about this moment is that there

SPEAKER_00

like any song like any song i want to play there is a youtube video um so for example i love this song older by lizzie mcgalpine like it's sick it's so fun to play on the piano i love listening to it and literally uh the the pianist on this song is this guy named taylor mccall he just has a video on lizzie mcgalpine's channel where he just like goes through it and teaches it to you the the most amazing part of it is okay i can take any song i can maybe learn it from youtube but i still don't really know like you know there's this part of the song that i love like like it just it's a little flourish like right at the very end of the song and i'm

SPEAKER_00

so excited and happy that i can play it but i don't really know like what he's doing or why i like it and so that makes it kind of hard to do more of it like if i just wanted to noodle around and like have more of those little moments in a song um that would be hard but what i can do now with this little app is i just press record and i just told codex hey i want to i want to be able to record stuff and i want you to tell me about what it is um i just i just press record and then i just like play it and then i'll be like go take a look at it um and then explain to me what i'm doing like what's the

SPEAKER_00

music theory behind it i want to understand like what what's the chord progression and then what are the like influences or flavors in there and then codex just goes off and i obviously i like i've done this before so codex is gonna um know something about this but like basically it's just gonna go pull the save phrase and the phrase is like you know written out here with all the time signatures and all the keys and like all that kind of stuff yeah and it says you're doing a flat add nine to a flat sus to basically a four to a one chord which is really interesting so like that makes me think

SPEAKER_00

like oh okay in music theory each chord is uh it has a position on the scale so like this is this is a c scale and so this is the first position this is the second this is the third just going up the keyboard and so you can make chords like that so what this is telling me is this thing which is really hard to understand is when i really look at it i'm like okay this is actually a g sharp chord it says a flat a flat and g sharp if you're not familiar with music theory it's the same thing this is actually a a g sharp chord and what i notice is okay this looks like very complicated but it's really just a g sharp chord like

SPEAKER_00

laid out across the keyboard there's this there's this there's this there's this all the same chord i'm just like kind of going up the keyboard and that's a little technique now that i can be like oh there's like something interesting there that i might want to do and maybe another key or at another moment or whatever like i just find myself noodling around more like and i'm just like trying to find something find something that sounds good and i may not find something that sounds good while we're recording but what this does is like now i have this this whole universe of possibilities where i find something that i like either like a song i like

SPEAKER_00

or maybe i'm just like noodling around and i'm just like um i don't know like uh like maybe i like this and i can just look at it and be like okay why do i like that um hey codex can you help me like figure that out i start learning music theory because i think the the danger of and what a lot of music people tell you the danger of just like learning stuff you like is you don't know why it works and so you can't it doesn't generalize but now i get to go from just like whatever i'm into into learning it and then learning why it works and then i can take that and apply it wherever i want and codex just

SPEAKER_00

like comes with me like i can literally have codex like there's this exercise on youtube by this channel i love called open studio and it's called root shell pretty i want you to like go open it up watch it and then explain to me how it works and then help me apply it literally codex will just open this in atlas and then like download it and look at it and then help me apply it to whatever i want and it's like it's like i have this master teacher who is just into all the same stuff i'm into and i think that's like the coolest possible thing it doesn't necessarily it doesn't replace like having an actual music

SPEAKER_00

good oh shit another another time it just keeps it just keeps surprising me it's like codex is like just using my computer to watch this i i love open studio they're the coolest so it can like it just helps you it just yeah it just helps me take all this stuff and like learn how it works and for someone like me who just wants to like learn stuff that i'm into it's it's the best thing in the world it doesn't replace having an actual teacher but i think if you're a if you're like just a curious person this is the best time in the world to like learn to learn anything just literally fire up codex

SPEAKER_00

and ask it to help teach you or build an app or you know help you connect your piano or maybe record your guitar or i don't know what you want to learn but it's it's the best time in the world for that and um yeah it's sick if you like this video you should check out every every is the only subscription you need to stay at the edge of ai