There’s really only one way by which you can improve your timing and rhythm, and that’s through hours and hours of practice. You can read books about music theory, listen to masters explain how to play a waltz or samba rhythm, but unless you put in the hours of practice, you won’t make the technical connection between what your head knows and how your fingers perform.
Continue reading →Here is a commonly used technique which you’ve heard a thousand times in country-western songs, gospel music, and even some pop music. When the chord changes from a I chord to a IV chord, you “walk up the scale” between … Continue reading →
It’s very common for musicians to say they hate to practice. One undesirable aspect of practicing is the simple fact that the musician must practice passages and techniques that are difficult for them to play. This creates frustration on the part of the musician and can make them question their abilities.
Continue reading →Major 6th chords and minor 7th chords are really just inversions of one another. It depends which note you put on the bottom as to how the chord functions. Watch this 2-minute video and you’ll understand.
Continue reading →Perhaps the best reason to study the circle of 5ths is it makes sense mathematically on a number of different levels and thus it’s very helpful to anyone studying music and music theory. Most often using a circle to display the relationships of particular key signatures (both major and minor), one of the functions of the circle of fifths is a geometrical representation of these relationships.
Continue reading →Every major key has a relative minor key which is related to it — kind of a “kissing cousin” — by the same key signature. For example, the key of C major and A minor both share the same key signature — no sharps and no flats.
Continue reading →Musical intervals are simply the distance between any two notes, such as 2nds, 3rds, 4ths, 5th, etc.
Continue reading →World Music: How does oriental music differ from western music? Hawaiian? Israeli? Mexican? etc…. The term, “Western Music” includes genres of music originating in the Western world (which includes Europe) that are differentiated from music from the Orient or Middle … Continue reading →
Grace notes: what they do, how to play them, why they exist, composers who use them, “blue notes” in jazz, “twang notes” in country, etc, etc. A grace note should perhaps be thought of as an extra bit of flourish … Continue reading →
Do classical musicians ever play jazz? Or visa-versa? It’s very common for a classical musician to try their hand at jazz. Perhaps the biggest difference between classical music and Jazz is the classical musician is tied to (reading and playing) … Continue reading →
