Adam Neely

Adam Neely (born 1988) is an American bassist, YouTuber, and jazz musician based in New York City. His YouTube content includes Q&A videos, vlogs about performing music, and video essays about online music culture. As a musician, he performs with groups including the electro-jazz duo Sungazer (with drummer Shawn Crowder) and the instrumental band Aberdeen. Neely began playing bass guitar and composing jazz music in high school. He studied jazz composition at Berklee College of Music and the Manhattan School of Music. He began making YouTube content in 2006, initially creating lessons for bass guitarists before shifting toward edutainment about music theory in the 2010s. He and similar YouTubers established the community of Music Theory YouTube, and he became a celebrity among music theory communities. He created a 2019 internet challenge that involved playing 7-over-11 polyrhythms at 7-Eleven stores. He has made videos discussing musical copyright cases such as Gray v. Perry. He collaborated with music theorist Philip Ewell on a 2020 video essay, "Music Theory and White Supremacy".