Musicality World

In this December’s Instrument Packs we tapped into the wisdom of our master improviser Resident Pros to explore chord tones and how to mix them into your improvisations.

Guitar

Resident Pro Dylan Welsh believes that soloing using chord tones is an awesome way to sound more melodic in your solos, and to improve your choice of notes when soloing over chord progressions:

Including:

• How to play every diatonic triad and seventh chord arpeggio in the key, all based within the major scale box you already know.
• How to use these arpeggios to target chord tones while soloing.
• How to use diatonic notes from the scale to connect chord tones while moving from chord to chord.
• MP3 Practice Tracks that include recordings of Dylan demonstrating the exercises, and backing tracks so you can practice your own chord-tone targeting.

As usual, Dylan is ready with a wealth of well-organized guitar wisdom to up your fretboard fluency to higher and higher planes.

Bass

What exactly are chord tones?  Resident Pro Steve Lawson demonstrates truly innovative ways to think about and practice chord tone improvisation:

Including:

• What exactly are chord tones? (The answer may surprise you…)
• Ways to navigate around every note in the chord.
• Why harmonic function matters.
• A fascinating star diagram that will have you thinking about chords and scales in a whole new way.
• Chord progression exercises and MP3 tracks.

In this resource pack, you’ll learn to wield the ruling power of the bass to decide chord quality and how to go deep in both your hearing and playing with chord tones.

Singing

For this resource pack, we welcome guest Resident Pro Meghan Nixon of How to Sing Smarter – a classically-trained vocalist with a degree in Jazz Performance who has performed in Jazz, Rock, Funk, R&B, Bluegrass and Folk bands. In the past 15 years, Meghan has helped hundreds of people become better singers and musicians:

Including:

• How to hear and sing the chord tones in all five types of 7th chords using solfege.
• How to sing up the chords in the context of a real song.
• How to create melodies and patterns using just chord tones.
• How to challenge your ear and experiment with on the spot improvisation.
• MP3s to practice with.

Meghan also introduces the concept “footholds” to ground you as you venture into uncharted improvisational areas. Learn how you too can find a stronger connection with the harmonic structures of the music you love to sing.

Piano

In this resource pack, Resident Pro Sara Campbell looks at one of the most useful (but sometimes tricky) methods: improvising with chord tones:

Including:

• Triad Basics: How to find the correct chord tones using chord symbols.
• Seventh Chords: Taking chord improv a step further with a variety of seventh chords.
• More tips, tricks, and cool stuff to simplify the process of playing with chord tones.
• MP3 backing tracks and guided exercises.

Not sure why you should learn how to improvise with chord tones? Take a look at the sheet music of some of your favorite songs. (A version with chord symbols above the piano part would be best!) You’ll see that the majority of notes in the melody can also be found within the chord structure. If you want your improvised melody to sound as natural as the original, improvising with chord tones is your ticket!

Coming up next month…

We’re turning our attention to rhythm – swing rhythm to be precise! You’ll learn the subtle art of how to make your instrument swing in a natural flowing way, and all the genres (jazz isn’t the only one!) where swing will be found.

The post Improvising with Chord Tones: Resource Pack Preview appeared first on Musical U.

In this month’s Instrument Packs we looked at how to practice syncopated rhythms on your guitar, piano, or bass.

Guitar

Syncopation can be heard in all sorts of popular music: Funk, Jazz, R&B, Soul, and even most Rock and Pop songs derive their rhythmic excitement from syncopation. Resident Pro Dylan Welsh will show you how to recognize these rhythms and accurately produce them in your own rhythm and lead playing:

Including:

• The definition of syncopation, along with a few examples found in popular songs.
• An exercise to develop your syncopated rhythm playing.
• An exercise to develop your syncopated lead playing.
• Practice MP3s to cover all the exercises for both rhythm and lead.

Add some rhythmic pizzazz to your guitar playing, especially if you want to play these heavily syncopated styles of music.

Piano

In the piano pack, Resident Pro Sara Campbell introduces an improvisational approach to amp up your syncopation skills in rhythmic and melodic playing:

Including:

• What Exactly is Syncopation? A terminology rundown and discussion about a couple types of syncopation.
• Syncopation Exercises: three exercises in a variety of keys and styles.
• Tips for Learning Syncopation: If you get frustrated with counting or deciphering scores, these tips will really help.
• Clear Notation: Composers and transcribers, this is for you!
• Play-along MP3 backing tracks to sharpen your syncopation skills.

Enjoy your rhythmic learning as you create while you syncopate (with the added bonus of working through your fluency in all keys).

Bass

The bass is often called upon to punch up the rhythms in the low end. Resident Pro Steve Lawson takes you on a syncopated journey through the various beats and off-beats of a musical measure:

Including:

• Defining Syncopation: What is it? Why is it important for bassists?
• Metronome Practice: Exercises that will help you get a strong internal sense of the beat.
• Shifting Syncopation: Exercises that shift syncopation to different beats.
• A bass insider’s articulation tip to tighten up your syncopated rhythms.
• Jam your syncopated bass lines with a beautiful MP3 backing track.

Once you’ve worked through this pack, you’ll have a deeper understanding and control of just where to place your bass for the desired rhythmic effects.

Coming up next month…

We’re going to continue to explore rhythmic style with swing rhythm – famously found in jazz, but also throughout blues, early rock ‘n’ roll, pop music, and world styles like Celtic dance.

The post Syncopation: Resource Pack Preview appeared first on Musical U.

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Any musician can write music! Learn how you can get started harnessing your musical passion and share your soul through melody. https://www.musical-u.com/learn/musicality-means-writing-music/

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When was the last time you listened to a piece of music with your eyes closed? Ruth Power from Piano Picnic walks us through the process of active listening… and the power that it can have on your musicality! https://www.musical-u.com/learn/getting-your-ear-into-gear/

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Sometimes we all need to slow down before we can speed up. Phil Amalong from The ZOEN – Online Music Lessons was kind enough to provide a valuable lesson on practicing your music at a slower tempo. Learn what he means by “slow motion practice” https://www.musical-u.com/learn/improved-practice-slow-down-to-speed-up-phil-amalong/

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Don’t have a band to play with? Singer-songwriter Joanne Cooper Musician Page joins Musical U to show you how easy it is to creating backing tracks with Band-in-a-Box by PG Music https://www.musical-u.com/learn/how-to-make-a-backing-track-with-joanne-cooper/

Many of us do this through getting our knowledge from something other than textbooks. This is made easy with the myriad of engaging tools, videos, tutorials, and apps available to the modern musician.

This week on Musical U, we interview the master of making music theory fun, examine a simple beat-crafting tool that acts as a fantastic rhythm teacher, and get a music technology expert’s advice on the best tools available today.

Before we dive into all that, though, we step outside the digital world and look at a chord you’ve definitely heard, but perhaps never put a name to…

Diminished Chords

Because major and minor chords so often take center-stage when we’re discussing songs and their chord progressions, the beauty of the diminished chord is often overlooked.

Though diminished chords are interspersed throughout virtually every genre of music you can imagine, it can be tricky to recognize them by ear.

In Listening for Diminished Chords, we’re giving you the ultimate crash course in recognizing these distinctive chords, with basic theory on how diminished chords are made, three different methods of listening for them, and some listening exercises to get you practicing this skill.

Using diminished chords can add a great deal of interest to the music that you are playing. But how do you actually put this great sound into your hands? FA Chords shows you how to create the unique chord shapes that you need to make on the guitar in order to play diminished chords.

As you can see from the example list of songs with diminished chords, every musical style can take advantage of this wonderful tonality. Even the Beatles made great use of this type of chord in the song “You Won’t See Me” from the album Rubber Soul. For a short lesson in this classic song, don’t miss this post from Every Sound There Is.

Diminished chords make a world of difference in your chord progressions, adding interest and intrigue that is sure to capture the listener’s attention. Piano Lessons with Warren describes how to fit diminished chords into your progressions.

Music Tech

As technology evolves, so does music education.

With various apps, tools, and websites, teaching yourself music theory and an instrument has never been so engaging and accessible. The only thing you have to do is decide what tools work for you, then put them to good use!

This week on the Musicality Podcast, we got the chance to interview Katie Wardrobe, a master of tech tools and apps for practical teaching purposes. She shares her advice on how to hone your musicality and her suggestions on the best technology to accelerate your learning in Top Musicality Tools and Tech, with Katie Wardrobe.

Katie mentioned so many great resources that it’s hard to know where to get started. Perhaps you would be interested in playing a little game of Staff Wars, and testing your musical abilities in this fun and interactive environment!

Besides games, how can you use music technology to help develop your musicality? We’ve talked a lot about transcribing music at Musical U, and the skills that being an active transcriber can help you develop. For a helping hand, try AudioStretch for your next transcription.

It was fantastic to have someone so knowledgeable about current technologies on the show. Music technology has not only changed how musicians learn music, but also how teachers train their students. Katie has compiled 22 ways to use GarageBand or Soundtrap in music education

Theory is Fun

It takes a certain kind of person to make a topic such as music theory into a fast-paced learning adventure that makes you laugh along the way.

David Kulma has done all of this and more, dividing his time between making zany yet educational theory videos, creating experimental music, writing his own music textbooks, and even planning his own opera!

To learn about this creative mind, his unique and zigzagged music journey, and the inspiration behind his unforgettable YouTube channel Music Corner, head over to Breaking Music Theory Out of the Box, with David Kulma to read our fascinating interview with this “public music nerd”.

Getting to speak with David was an absolute delight. One thing that really struck a chord with us was the importance of analyzing and talking about music, and not just passively listening. It’s never too late to start, and this detailed analysis on Princess Leia’s theme from the original Star Wars is a great introduction to music analysis.

Music theory is one of David’s passions, and something that gets more fascinating the deeper you get into it. Regardless of your instrument, it is important to understand that there is a relationship between all the parts of a piece of music. Pure Ocarinas explores the relationship between melody, chords, and accompaniment.

Not only will music theory increase your understanding of music, but it will also open up new doors for you and your instrument. Tommaso from Music Theory for Guitar explores how learning theory will improve your creativity while playing.

Perhaps the most frustrating part of being a young composer is trying to attract an audience. Musicians have been struggling with this as long we have had music for recreation. Aaron Gervais has a different, riveting take on why it can be difficult to build an audience. Try to incorporate some of his ideas as you begin to build your audience.

Rhythm Pictures

Writing out a melody is one thing, but how do you write out a beat?

You need a tool that will visualize the kick, snare, hi-hat, and other elements while giving an idea of when these appear in relation to each other.

Enter Groove Pizza, a tool for crafting your own beats that allows you to see where every element falls in time with the others, and tweak them with ease. To see what Groove Pizza has up its sleeve and to look at a simple example to get you started with this unique tool, tune into About Grid Notation on the Musicality Podcast.

As we learned in this episode, grid notation is a very effective way to depict rhythmic notation. Many musicians are adamant about training their ears for pitches, but neglect to study rhythm with the same veracity. Music Production HQ has put together a great online course in music rhythm.

If you’ve been wondering how to transcribe from traditional notation to grid notation, Diego at ZZ Sounds shows a simple way to do this. Once you have came to understand that, he takes you further in showing how grid notations can be applied to a drum machine of whatever DAW you are working with in the studio.

Finally, grid notation is, simply put, a visual representation of the music. In some circles, this is referred to as graphic notation. This type of notation is certainly not limited to only percussion instruments! Dave Hall takes us through some of the most iconic examples of graphic notation and how this method has been explored during the last century of music.

Music and the Machine

It’s never too late to start incorporating the internet and various technologies into your musical learning. Accessible, fun videos can help you breeze through learning the difficult topics, and apps and other tools make it very easy to practice the concepts you’ve learned by putting them into action.

The post Diminished Chords, Music Tech, Theory is Fun, and Rhythm Pictures appeared first on Musical U.

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Do you dread sight reading? Many musicians feel the same way. Musical U compiled our 5 best tips to help you strengthen your sight reading. Stop dreading and start loving playing a new song! https://www.musical-u.com/learn/improve-sight-reading/