Adam Neely (born 1988) is an American bassist, YouTuber, and jazz musician based in New York City.
As a musician, he performs with groups including the electro-jazz duo Sungazer (with drummer Shawn Crowder) and the instrumental band Aberdeen.
He began making YouTube content in 2006, initially creating lessons for bass guitarists before shifting toward edutainment about music theory in the 2010s.
Neely began playing bass guitar when he joined a band in high school and gained more interest in the instrument after attending a jazz concert by Dave Brubeck and bassist Christian McBride.
[2] Neely's initially made videos teaching bass guitar, inspired by the burgeoning DIY culture of music lessons by amateurs.
As his audience expanded beyond bass players, he diversified his content to include music videos, reharmonizations of songs, and "gig vlogs".
[14] A YouTube video by Alex Becerra of Mexico City, titled "Playing a 7/11 polyrhythm inside a 7-Eleven on July 11th at 7:11 for 7 minutes and 11 seconds", received millions of views and was positively reviewed by Kevin Cortez of The A.V.
[17] His video about the case received a YouTube copyright strike by Warner Chappell Music for featuring "Dark Horse", despite the fact that the segment cited in the claim actually used "Joyful Noise".
[18][19] In a video about the suit against Ed Sheeran over similarities between his song "Thinking Out Loud" and Marvin Gaye's "Let's Get It On", he compared it to Pharrell Williams v. Bridgeport Music.
", he analyzed the stylistic choices and "cultural foundations" of Laufey, classifying her music as mid-century pop with various influences.
[23][24][25][26] Neely is the bassist and a founding member of the electro-jazz band Sungazer alongside drummer Shawn Crowder.
Their tour consisted of a rock concert at the Ololohaus Erkindik in Bishkek, joined by the Kyrgyz band Choro; a workshop for students at the A. Novoi School in the Osh Region, then at the Osh Regional Library; and a concert at School #29 in Bishkek.
[30][20] Several of his video essays deal with internet culture, with topics including the vaporwave genre and the trend of sea shanties on TikTok.
He co-writes original scores for his videos and edits them using Final Cut Pro to match the timing of the music.