How to Create "Hip," Mature and Lush Harmonies

Writen by Ron Worthy

Rarely is a chord played with its tones contained in a single octave, the root on the bottom, the third in the middle, and the fifth on the top.

Usually chords are “voiced!”

This basically means that the positions of a chord’s tones are scattered over the keyboard. The tones may be altered, doubled, added to, missing, and so forth.

There are a great variety of possibilities available in voicing chords. Voicing chords properly is an art within itself. Using the correct voicing techniques in your playing will give your improvisation a “hip,” mature and full sound. Chords played in root position just does not seem to do the job when playing Jazz, Rock, Pop, Blues, Gospel and “Smooth Jazz” piano.

Learning and mastering good voice leading techniques in your playing is not difficult if you just follow some simple rules.

1. The most important notes in any chord is the 3rd and the 7th. The 3rd of the chord defines whether the chord is a major or minor chord. The 7th of the chord will define whether the chord is a dominant or major chord. Usually the bass player will play the root and fifth. The root and fifth are not essential tones and can be completely left our from your chord progressions. If you must use the root and fifth try using it in your right hand, not your left. You should add your “color” tones in your right hand.

2. When you are taking a solo and not “comping” (accompanying) for another soloist you should play your chord voicings in your left hand, so that the right hand can be free to improvise, do fills, double the left hand, add extensions, etc.

3. The range of your voicings is also very important. A good rule of thumb to remember when voicing your chords, is to always try to voice your chords around middle C. Keeping your voicings around middle C will sound full and clear. Limits of approximately an octave above or below will assure best results by preventing the voicing from assuming a quality of thinness or muddiness.

Ron Worthy is a Music Educator, Songwriter and Performer. He offers online piano instruction for all ages at: http://www.mrronsmusic.com/playpiano.htm

How to Practice the Guitar Effectively

Writen by Peter Lenkefi

Learning how to practice the guitar effectively can help you transcend from guitar enthusiast to musician. The old saying that “practice makes perfect” is a bit overused, but it doesn’t oversimplify the importance of making regular guitar practice a part of your road map to becoming better at playing the guitar. What does learning how to practice the guitar effectively involve? Essentially, effective guitar practice consists of taking four elements of playing the guitar and incorporating them into your practice routine. When you make preparation, timing, and warming up a part of your routine of how to practice the guitar effectively, you will see how quickly you improve your skills.

Timing

Timing is important to learning how to practice the guitar effectively because it will mentally your prepare you. We all have a biological clock (yes men too!) that functions basically according to how we perform out activities. This is how people are able to adapt to shifting work shifts and other such changes in time rhythm. While you don’t have to practice the same time, it is a good idea to try and set aside a time each day to practice the guitar. It may seem awkward at first, but eventually your body will adjust to the new activity and eventually it will seem like second nature.

In addition to finding a place in your schedule to practice the guitar, it is a good idea to practice for a specific amount of time each time you practice. While you can obtain some good practice time within 15 minutes, a 30-minute session is better for when you want to learn how to practice the guitar effectively.

Preparation

So what will you do when you practice? Knowing the answer to this question is essential to understanding how to practice the guitar effectively. It is not enough to show up at your scheduled time with your guitar in your lap. You should prepare what you intend to practice before your practice session. By doing this you don’t waste time. Is there a particular song you’re learning? Do you want to practice a new chord you recently learned? Not that you need it, but thinking ahead about what you are going to practice is a great motivator.

If getting in the habit of performing guitar maintenance seems like a chore, make it part of your routine that you perform before you practice. You don’t have to spend twenty minutes of your practice session cleaning your guitar, but a few swipes of the body, fretboard, and strings with a dust cloth is a good place to start. It is also a good idea to perform regular maintenance after you finish your practice session. Incorporating these maintenance steps into your practice session is not only part of how to practice the guitar effectively, but it also a way to add life to your guitar.

Warming Up

Before you actually start practicing the guitar, you should warm up first. How you choose to warm up is ultimately up to you. Some people play scales, either the chromatic or whole scale since this is the best way to warm up all of your fingers. This part of your practice session should not be stressful. The goal is to work up to playing the guitar.

After you have gone through these basic steps you can start practicing the guitar.

For more more information about guitar practicing please visit http://www.guitar-directory.net

Jazz: Miles Davis and Modality

Writen by Ed Byrne

To learn what Miles Davis thought of his music from his modal period (circa 1958-63), the best source is Davis’ autobiography, Miles: The Autobiography, in which he states that he was prompted into this style of improvising on fewer chords by Gil Evans’ arrangements of George Gershwin’s Porgy and Bess. He also states that George Russell recommended pianist Bill Evans (no relation) to Davis around the same time period (1958) for his LP Kind of Blue on the strength of Evans’ knowledge of the music of French Impressionist composers Claude Debussy and Maurice Ravel. Davis subsequently became infatuated with Revel’s Concerto for the Left Hand, and spent roughly the next 13 years incorporating the latter composer’s devices from that particular piece into a distinctive Davis style of what some historians (Winthrop Sargeant, for example) termed Impressionist Jazz: unresolved melodic tensions, quartal harmony, non-functional chord successions (as opposed to progressions), extended pedal points, bi-tonality, and other salient early Twentieth century characteristics.

Having said all of this, however, I must point out that jazz is not modal, including Davis’ music of the period in question. Jazz scholar Barry Kernfeld, for example, calls this music Davis’ Vamp Style, explaining that this style does not fulfill the musical characteristics which scholars attribute to modal music. Check out the New Groves Dictionary of Music and the New Groves Dictionary of Jazz. In brief, modality is a medieval style based on melody–not chords, unlike Mozart’s music, whose melodies are guided by and outline chord progressions which move forward through the circle of fifths towards cadences in tonal keys. True modal music is a melodic rather than a harmonic concept. Even when harmony is introduced to modality, it does not guide its behavior. Moreover, the mere absence of chord progressions–or the presence of pedal points–does not constitute modality.

Since Davis’ music was beautiful by most standards, it is beside the point that he misunderstood the term modal. While it has no impact upon the success of his musical statements that he thought of it as such, it nonetheless can be asserted that regardless of the fact that he thought of his music as modal, it doesn’t make it so.

This misunderstanding of modality has had a profound effect on jazz improvisation pedagogy. The prevailing approach in modern times is to arbitrarily assign modes to each chord in a tonal progression that was designed to accompany a tonal melody. The larger problem with this approach, however, is that it fails to address the primary stuff of the composition on which one should improvise: melody, guide tone lines, root progression, and melodic rhythms. Moreover, to assign three different Greek mode names to a tonal ii7 V7 IMA7 (D Dorian, G Mixolydian, C Ionian) cadence, for example, is tedious and misleading. That progression is in the key of C Major, and if you combine the three modes, you come up with the obvious: a C Major scale; and in this context it is also less restricting to think globally through the key, rather than locally from chord to chord.

From 1958 on, Davis was searching for a way to play more motivically and to be less constricted to running chord changes while improvising. In the process, he became captivated by Ravel’s various devices. While he thought that this constituted modality, he was in reality incorporating early Twentieth century Impressionist devices into jazz. Frankly, in all of my lifetime in African American music I have never heard a single modal jazz performance.

Typically, in these modal (vampor pedal point) pieces, the piano part will specify a chord symbol such as Dm7, or Dm7/G, etc. and it will specify for how many measures: —-PLAY 8—-. Or it may just specify the mode: D Dorian —-Play 8—-. There also may or may not be a specific, written ostinato bass line supplied, as in Maiden Voyage or Equinox. Herbie Hancock and Chick Corea prefer such symbols as CMA7/D, which is how Herbie notated the D13sus4 for the first eight measures of Maiden Voyage. In this way they can specify a type of voicing as well as a chord.

While Berklee College does also teach guide tone line and root progression technique–and a great many other things (I taught there for over three years–full time), their primary focus is on modes and translating chords into scales as a primary means of improvisational technique. Now–even at Berklee itself–there is a gigantic philosophical battle raging over this very issue. The question is does this mindset serve your best interests?

The Fastest and Easiest Ways to Learn Improvisation:

ByrneJazz Improvisation Books

ByrneJazz Online Lessons

Bass Guitar Tablatures

Writen by Thomas Morva

A guitar tab is a system of notations, letters, symbols and other visual representations – instead of the traditional musical notation. Guitar tabs give directions to the player as to how to play a musical piece through a diagram of strings of the guitar.

Tablature consists of a diagram of strings of the guitar with finger positions indicated by numbers corresponding to the appropriate frets and sometimes with the numerical representations of the fingers. Guitar tabs are very important for those who are enthusiasts and are keen on learning new tunes and technicalities of guitar and especially those songs which have extensive guitar uses, both plucking and other types of fingering as well as lead parts.

A bass guitar is slightly different in shape from other guitars (rhythm guitar, classical guitar, Hawaiian guitar, etc.) A bass guitar is used for complementing and filling up the sound in an orchestration or a band and it goes in tune and rhythm with the drums and percussion. A bass guitar’s neck or fret board is much longer than the fret boards of any other guitars and it has four strings called the bass strings.

Nowadays tablatures, guitar tabs in particular, have vertical lines which represent the strings of the guitar (no matter what kind of guitar it is) horizontal lines for the frets, and dots signifying the position of the figures. In the case of a bass guitar there will only be four horizontal lines signifying the four strings of the bass guitar. A bass guitar can never be played with a spectrum (an object used to strum the strings of the guitar). Instead, it is played with figures just by plucking. Therefore, a bass guitar tablature is different from those of the rhythm or the classical guitars.

Guitar Tabs provides detailed information on Guitar Tabs, Free Guitar Tablatures, Classical Guitar Tablatures, Bass Guitar Tablatures and more. Guitar Tabs is affiliated with Guitar Tabs.

Piano at Home on the Range – Children’s Music Teaches Values of Nature & Simplicity

Writen by Cynthia VanLandingham

Want your children to learn to appreciate the beauty, peace, and simplicity of nature? Then pass these values on to your kids with music. Music is a powerful tool for expressing ideas and values. Don’t let the only music your children hear come from pop tunes on the radio. Enroll your children in music lessons such as the piano to expose them to a tradition of values that will last them a life time.

Musicians of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries composed music adapted from traditional folk songs portraying the sights and sounds of rural life and nature. These “modern” pieces were well remembered by the growing middle class of concert goers. Composers wanted to be remembered for their music with accessible music that was simpler in form and easy to recall. Beethoven’s Pastoral Symphony is an example.

Children have always enjoyed playing folk songs because the words and melodies are easy for them to remember and sing. Plus the values and ideas they express feed the souls of young children with calming thoughts of nature and simplicity. Here are examples of the folk tunes young children in piano lessons can learn to play in their first or second year.

Home on the Range

Simple Gifts

Shenandoah

Puff the Magic Dragon

All through the Night

Lavender’s Blue

Country Gardens

Down by the Riverside

Home Sweet Home

Shepherd’s Song (from Beethoven’s Sixth Symphony)

Enroll your children in piano lessons and you’ll be giving them the power of music to fill their souls and protect their hearts musical values they’ll remember for a life time. Plus piano lessons are valuable for young children as they help them learn key reading and math skills, learn to set goals, learn to be persistent, and learn how to take responsibility for their success. Don’t let the only music your children hear come from pop tunes on the radio. Enroll them in music lessons such as the piano to expose them to a tradition of values that will last them a life time.

For great home piano activities parents can use to help children ages 5 to 11 develop their musical talent, visit Piano Adventure Bears Music Education Resources You’ll find a treasure box filled with piano resources to create an exciting musical adventure for your child – right in your own home! Visit their website and subscribe to their f’ree internet newsletter so you can download f’ree piano sheet music and mp3s of original piano compositions.

These exciting stories, games, piano lessons, and inspirational gifts feature the Piano Adventure Bears, Mrs. Treble Beary and her new piano student, Albeart Littlebud. Young students follow along with Albeart to learn what piano lessons are all about in a fun way that kids readily understand appreciate. Click here to visit PianoAdventureBears.com For a wealth of information about piano lessons, visit tallypiano.com

Alternate Picking: How To Alternate Pick On Guitar

Writen by Alan Marquez

Alternate picking: Why do it?

Alternate picking is used in many styles of guitar. It’s most often used when you want to play at an extremely fast rate. Instead of just getting one note every time you move your picking hand down, you get two. It can easily double your playing speed, if you can do it well.

How to alternate pick

To actually do the basics with alternate picking is not hard. Pick down away from you on any one string, then pick up back towards you. That’s pretty much it. Make sure you don’t move your hand too far – if you can keep the pick close to the string, it can increase your speed. I personally find it easier to keep the pick under control by resting my hand against the guitar, underneath the string(s) I’m playing. Try to keep the pick flat when it strikes against the string, not angled. This makes it easier to move across the string in both directions.

Exercises to try

Here are a few exercises you can use to perfect your alternate picking technique. The first one is the most basic. This is good to do as a warmup.

e ——————————————————————5–6–7–8–

B —————————————————–5–6–7–8—————

G —————————————-5–6–7–8—————————-

D —————————5–6–7–8—————————————–

A ————–5–6–7–8——————————————————

E -5–6–7–8——————————————————————-

Start with a downstroke on the first note, then alternate each note up and down. If you have a metronome, use it to make sure you’re playing at a constant rate. This is crucial to get a clean sound – make sure you play evenly.

This next exercise is very good to perfect your synchronization between right and left hand. It may sound familiar to you.

e -5–0–7–0–8–0–5–0–7–0–8–0–10–0–7–0–8–0–10–0–12–0–

B ——————————————————————————–

G ——————————————————————————–

D ——————————————————————————–

A ——————————————————————————–

E ——————————————————————————–

e -8–0–10–0–12–0–13–0–10–0–12–0–8–0–10–0–7–0–8–0–5-

B ——————————————————————————–

G ——————————————————————————–

D ——————————————————————————–

A ——————————————————————————–

E ——————————————————————————–

e -0–7–0–16–0–17–0–12–0–13–0–10–0–12–0–8–0–10–0–7–0

B ——————————————————————————–

G ——————————————————————————–

D ——————————————————————————–

A ——————————————————————————–

E ——————————————————————————–

e -12–0–8–0–10–0–7–0–8–0–5–0–7–0——————————

B ——————————————————-6—-5——————

G ——————————————————————————–

D ——————————————————————————–

A ——————————————————————————–

E ——————————————————————————–

The trick to this one is to memorize it, then practice it. Start slowly, then gradually speed up. Make sure your notes all stay clean! It’s easy to crank up your speed, but if you don’t keep your alternate picking clean, it’s not worthwhile. Clean chops are much, much better than fast sloppy ones.

From here the next step is to alternate pick across multiple strings. The best way to do this is to pick one of your favorite scales – NOT a minor or major pentatonic, though. The pentatonics are not good because with these you don’t have to adjust picking direction on each string, since you only have two notes on each string. You want a scale where you have to pick in different directions when you change strings. This will help you adjust to keep your alternate picking moving across strings.

The Sweep Technique

If you’re going to cross strings often, you may want to learn the sweep technique. The sweep technique is used anytime you’re playing the last note on one string with a downstroke and you want to change to a higher string, or playing a note with an upstroke and changing to a lower string. Instead of alternate picking, you keep your hand moving in the same motion. So if you play a note on the B string with a downstroke, if you’re playing the next note on the high E, play it with another downstroke. This takes a lot of practice, but it can help improve your speed.

Crank up the speed!

Once you get your alternate picking down cleanly, you’ll notice your chops improve immensely. Just keep practicing with it, and you’ll keep getting faster. Remember to keep it clean, keep a constant tempo, and you’ll become a guitar master in no time!

Alan Marquez is a guitarist with over 10 years of experience. He plays on a weekly basis and has taught guitar for over five years. See his reviews on online guitar lesson packages at http://LearnGuitar.ReviewsOfStuff.com/

Play Piano – Preparing to Practice

Writen by Ron Worthy

When the practicing “blahs” strike, you just need an attitude adjustment. You don’t have to sweat blood to practice well. You don’t even have to think of it as work, or duty, or even something that you ought to do.

Stop a minute and think about it. You like music, and you want to play some special piece that really means something to you. You want it to sound through you – right through your fingertips.

Okay? Well, you practice it to fulfill that desire, not to frustrate it.

Pause here and ask yourself some questions:

What if you could look at a piece of music for the first time, and play it correctly straight off, just as fine as you please?

How would you feel about practicing then?

Or, what if you were practicing for the Olympic swim meet next year, and felt deep down that you had a chance? How would you feel then about the training? Would you plunge into it each morning?

What if you were interrupted at a good point in yesterday’s practicing? What if you had just about broken through a tough spot when you had to stop? Would you want to get back to it today as soon as possible?

You answer those questions, honestly, for yourself. There are ways to say “YES!” every day.

But, first, you’ve got to stop blaming yourself. You don’t have to be perfect every time. You don’t have to be the best player, today. And you don’t have to listen to what other people say about your playing – people who are only half listening, and don’t care the way you do.

Put all that out of your mind. What matters is your desire to play as well as possible.

Just start with playing – one note after another, and keep going. As the Chinese say, “A journey of a thousand miles begins with the first, step.” And, if the very first step leads to the first slip, be glad for it. You can’t, repeat, cannot learn without mistakes!

Now, start to think more personally about your instrument.

The piano, like the guitar, is a “touchy” instrument. Touch it, and you both produce and color its tones, like a potter molding clay. Think of the keys, all gleaming white, as the “skin” of the piano; you can either please them or hurt them. Stroke them, and the sound will come out mellow and purring. Poke them, and the sound will either “bark” sharply or woodenly “thud.”

Stop thinking of yourself as playing “on” or “at” the piano. Rather, think of the instrument as an extension of your own body. When an artificial leg is fitted to an amputee, he is then taught to walk with it. Gradually, it feels more natural – more like his own leg walking. The French call the keys “les touches,” or “touch-points” – as if the keys, not you, were doing the feeling.

Every musician wants to personalize this instrument. Take a look at the vocalist who hugs his guitar, or without a guitar, woos his microphone, or, without a microphone, simply woos the audience?

Every musician seeks to make his instrument an extension of his own body, the tool he or she needs to put across the strong feelings he as for the music.

Nadia Boulanger, one of the greatest teachers, put it best: “Don’t speak to me of talent; speak to me of desire.”

Go to the piano or keyboard not to reproduce a piece, but to experiment with your best way to bring out what is there. There is no one right way to play a piece – no matter how loudly some people protest that there is.

Artists in fact, vary greatly, and audiences return again and again to hear the same piece, as played by pianist X or pianist Y. You simply cannot play a piece twice the same way. Try it!

Here’s how to practice an exercise or a song:

Six quietly, upright and relaxed Hear the music in your head: hear it better than life. Sense its movement and pulse rolling through you, turning and adjusting your own pulse, you are the prime “instrument” of this music – sitting there alert, tuned by silence, vibrating to is rhythm, lending it your own life entirely.

As you feel the music filling you, heart and soul, you will know that it is getting ready to be born.

When it has stirred you, lift your hands to the keyboard. This is the reason you wanted to play in the first place: to bring alive what has already moved you. And, suddenly, by centering your focus, you’ve turned practicing from a duty into an attraction.

Copyright 2006 RAW Productions

Ron Worthy is a Music Educator, Pianist and Songwriter. He offers online instruction that focuses on Rock, Pop, Blues, Cocktail, R&B and “Smooth Jazz” piano styles. To Download Your FREE Piano Lesson Video, go to: http://www.playpianotonight.com/VC.html

Is My Child Too Young To Play Drums?

Writen by Andrew Street

It’s the one instrument that captures the attention of most children, YES DRUMS!

If you are a parent you have probably been met with the question, ‘Can I have a drum kit?’ and this will be very well timed for Christmas. SCARY THOUGHT!

Already you’ll be thinking, ‘Where on earth do I start looking and how do I know what to buy?

As you read on I will show you how to go about finding the best deal and the most suited drum kit for your child. Your child is never too young to start any musical instrument including the drums so the earlier they start, the better. Just being apart of producing music enhances the child’s learning and develops allsorts of life skills.

What to look and ask for. For ages 3 to 7 years of age children’s/ junior drum kits under the brand names of Performance percussion, Peavey, Millennium, Libertydrums. Each can easily be found using the respective search names using Google. The junior 5 piece drum kits will cost around

Beginner Piano Lessons for a New Year – Make Time in Your Child’s Schedule for Piano Lessons

Writen by Cynthia VanLandingham

There is no better time than the New Year to begin piano lessons. If you have been thinking of enrolling your child in piano lessons, don’t wait because piano lessons are so valuable for children. Parents know this, but a common excuse given is “We are so busy, how will we find the time?” The truth is that all human activity is goal driven, but we don’t all focus on goals that will bring us the most benefit over the long term. To do this we need to manage our time, but the catch is that managing our time is really a function of goals and perspective. This is not a chicken or the egg question, however, because achievement has a history – a definite beginning and a process of follow-through.

Here’s the Beginning.

Making a Decision – Goals are a Tool of Choice. To set meaningful goals that will last, focus on the “What” and the “Why.”

Why should I enroll my child in piano lessons? In what ways will my child benefit from piano lessons?

Example 1: In addition to building a fun, life-long skill, piano lessons help children learn

Key Reading and Math Skills

How to Set Goals to Achieve their Dreams

The Need for Persistence in Learning

How to take Responsibility for their Success

Example 2: I love my children and want to help them live out their potential and to prepare them for a positive future with activities that are challenging and and that provide long-term rewards.

Here’s the Follow-Through.

Once you have made a decision and set your course, plan to re-direct your focus whenever you begin to veer off course. Don’t begin by thinking this will not happen to you. This happens to everybody! Setting goals is the easy part, staying on course and following through takes practice. But the only way to overcome distractions that will inevitably come is to be prepared with a plan and give it time to work.

Here’s the Plan for Achievement.

Get a piece of paper and write down the “What” and the “Why.” Post it in several locations where you’ll see it throughout your day. Then when you have that inevitable low day and begin to think “Piano lessons are expensive,” “It takes time to drive the kids to their lessons,” or your child complains (because that’s what kids do best) you can look at your goals and remember the “What” and the “Why” and find your passion and your motivation again. This is the best way to stay focused and follow through with your piano goals in each New Year. Help your children do the same and you’ll be preparing them for a positive future of success.

For great home piano activities parents can use to help children ages 5 to 11 develop their musical talent, visit Piano Adventure Bears Music Education Resources You’ll find a treasure box filled with piano resources to create an exciting musical adventure for your child – right in your own home! Visit their website and subscribe to their f’ree internet newsletter so you can download f’ree piano sheet music and mp3s of original piano compositions.

These exciting stories, games, piano lessons, and inspirational gifts feature the Piano Adventure Bears, Mrs. Treble Beary and her new piano student, Albeart Littlebud. Young students follow along with Albeart to learn what piano lessons are all about in a fun way that kids readily understand appreciate. Click here to visit PianoAdventureBears.com For a wealth of information about piano lessons, visit tallypiano.com

Free Online Music Radio — Getting Better All the Time

Writen by Stefan Smith

Have you noticed how much better sounding Internet radio is becoming?

It’s also becoming more stable, with fewer timeouts for re-buffering and fewer dropped streams.

Sure, technical glitches still happen, and listening to Internet radio is not yet quite as easy or as problem-free as switching on the FM tuner on your home stereo system or in your car. But it’s getting there.

This steady and rapid improvement in streaming audio delivery is particularly welcome for those of us who love music. The wealth of music now being broadcast via Internet radio, and its astonishing diversity, are breathtaking.

Not that long ago, trying to listen to a music stream over one’s computer was done more for the novelty of it than the enjoyment. When it worked at all, the quality was usually terrible, a tinny, stuttering sound being the norm rather than the exception.

Today, I can fire up my media player software, choose a radio station, and sit back at my computer (or work on other things) while beautiful, CD-quality music pours from my speakers or into my headphones.

The diversity of music genres is also gratifying. My own tastes are quite eclectic, but thanks to Internet radio, whenever I tire of reggae I can jump straight over to a Motown stream, or perhaps to an all-British Invasion station. Electronica, hip hop, bluegrass, r&b, Latin. honky tonk, easy listening, metal, doo wop, disco, folk, Americana, New Wave — the musical spectrum can now be sliced as thin as anyone might desire.

There’s also software available now to capture those music streams and save them to enjoy again and again. Not to mention devices that allow you to port your saved audio streams and mp3 files from your computer to your stereo system for an even better listening experience.

And so, speaking of the online music scene as it exists today: Isn’t the future wonderful?