Music Basics

Music, and especially classical or Baroque music, has a predictable rhythm that meshes well with the cyclical patterns in the brain. Listeners therefore often experience lower blood pressure and...

Being a hungry musician can take a lot out of you at times especially financially. It is very important to be able to save for your dreams even while you have a house note, car insurance, car...

Warming up before playing any instrument daily is the key to getting the most out of your practice time. The bassoon is no exception, as it requires a healthy mental state, physical preparedness...

Marketing your music online is the best thing you can do for your image. You definitely should take advantage of the internet. Distribution is cheaper and it reaches more people, faster. Now there...

If you talk to music teachers, they will eventually comment on how learning music is similar to learning a new language. Basic vocabulary words are the basis for learning any language, and music...

Most people who need copies of sheet music order them from the publisher, but sometimes the publisher doesn't print the music for the instrument you need, or you need to copy only a few measures....

Ear training and music theory are interrelated fields of study: Ear training is the development of aural skills and sight-reading ability, while music theory examines the structure and function of...

Happy new year everyone! I hope all of you reading this are psyched about making 2010 a productive, successful and happy year. Today I would like to share my thoughts on setting some musical...

Touring is far from glamorous. Even full-time professional rock bands with buses and roadies have their fair share of on-the-road catastrophes. You may find yourself starving, driving down an...

Rhythm and Blues, also known as R & B, is one of the most popular genres of music today. One reason for its popularity is the usage of unconventional tempos and beats. This has resulted in an...

A trumpet can't toot if a player can't get the mouthpiece buzzing. It's not a daunting task, it just requires a little technique and a fair amount of practice.

Playing in front of an empty room for no money is something most bands go through at least one point in their career. No amount of planning can guarantee this won't happen on your tour, but there...

There's an old adage among jazz musicians that a good jazz pianist is worth his weight in gold. What makes competent jazz pianists so valuable is their relative scarcity. Part of the issue lies in...

Banjo music is an American folk art form and many banjo players are self taught. The banjo was originally brought to the United States by African slaves who fashioned banjos by replicating...

There are two different aspects involved in using the sustain pedal on the piano--the first is the technical aspect of operating the pedal, and the second is knowing when to let up and down on the...

A beat is the fundamental element of music that rhythm and melody is built around. Using musical notes of various duration, beats are broken into bars (also called measures) in sheet music, based...

The Alexander Piano Method is essentially the Alexander Technique as it applies to teaching and playing the piano. The Alexander Technique is used by many performing arts professionals and people...

Do you get nervous when you're on stage in a recital or concert? Do your best performances happen in practice or rehearsal? Whether you sing, play piano, violin, or any other instrument, one of...

A chord comprises three or more notes played simultaneously, and make up the harmony of a song, while notes played consecutively make up the rhythm. To understand how to find the right note...

Music for multiple instruments, also called a music score, is written on blank sheet music paper. Some song composers place each instrument on its own individual music sheets while others notate...

Written music is the way by which musicians communicate. The system uses blank music paper, called staff paper, consisting of lines and spaces. Musicians place notes on those lines and space that...

Ask any hard rock guitarist from the last 20 years about influences, and you will undoubtedly hear the name Eddie Van Halen. His playing style began a heavy metal revolution in the early 1980s,...

Sheet music is a language all its own. It contains many different type of symbols that cue performers on how to play music. Deciphering these symbols is the key to being able to read music. Some...

There must be fifty ways to leave standard acoustic tuning, and I don't even know Paul Simon. If you've try to figure out chords from Neil Young, Joni Mitchell, Van Halen or many others, you know...

Cantatas and operas are both forms of vocal music with instrumental accompaniment which involve drama, and both were born in Italy during the Baroque period (1600-1750). They are easily confused,...

The guitar is a multi-faceted instrument. It can work well as the lead instrument in a song or the accompaniment. To accompany means to highlight the lead, whether it is another guitar, a singer...

Hooking a cassette deck or player to your PC opens a plethora of options for sound recording and editing. Running your old cassettes or newly recorded ones through your PC allows you not only to...

The study, or analysis, of a musical score is akin to the analysis of a piece of literature. To analyze a music score, you need to look at many elements of the score to determine its worth in the...

A pick is just as important as the strings when it comes to creating the perfect music with a guitar. According to the musicians at the American Guitar Institute, some musicians prefer to finger...

Lil Wayne is currently hip-hip/rap's Jesus. He claims to have brought the genre to a whole other level, and in most ways he has. This article has the comprehensive, easy steps to becoming more...

Many bass players are self-taught. They do this by listening to a song and figuring out the bass part through trial and error. Others use tablature to figure out the bass part. However, the tried...

A key signature is the way that musicians know what scales and notes to play in a piece of music. There are twelve tones in the Western musical system. These tones are arranged in scales,...

You are a skilled musician, but you are unable to promote your music.Are you ? If yes, read the steps givien below, andfind your music aroundthe world. Unless you promote your music, you shall...

Everyone who picks up a musical instrument wants to become a stellar musician, but the road to getting there isn’t usually easy. It takes a lot of time, patience, and practice to get to a point...

Sound solutions company AKG states that the modern studio poses no more complex job for the engineer than micing the drum set. Drummers and engineers must find a balance among their subjective...

Johann Sebastian Bach (1685 to 1750), considered one of the greatest composers of all time, created 30 short keyboard compositions that are still widely used today in music instruction.

Recording drums can be a very time consuming, and daunting task. Thing need to be just right, or they wont work. but forget all the flashy outboard gear, racks of effects, compressors, gates, and...

Learning to locate the beat is one of the most important steps for learning to read music. In order to follow the conductor properly and count out complex rhythms, you first need to understand...

If you have music written low on the treble clef, you might want to convert it to alto clef for a viola or other instruments with a similar range, such as viola da gamba or alto trombone. You must...

Shortwave radio broadcasts on a portion of the radio spectrum in the frequency range of 3,000 to 30,000 kilohertz (3 to 30 megahertz). While it's considered a little outdated, shortwave radio...

Teaching a child how to read music resembles the experience of teaching someone to read the alphabet. At first it takes some patience, as the child is confronted with a page covered with...

Choosing a keyboard instrument may seem overwhelming, but if you understand what to look for, it can actually be fun as you try the different keyboards and their features. If you're taking...

The lap steel guitar originated in Hawaii. It can be either an acoustic or electric instrument, and is characterized, not surprisingly, by being played while it lays flat in the musician's lap. It...

Singing in a choir is a fun and rewarding experience, but it can also be difficult and require some musical training depending on what kind of choir you are a part of. Part of this training, which...

Using a Peavey guitar tuner is a relatively easy prospect, but using any electronic tuner requires the guitar to be ear-tuned first. Tuners work by analyzing string frequency vibrations in Hertz...

A bass chord is a collection of three or more pitches, or notes, played simultaneously, and it sounds low and deep; that is, it consists of notes from the lower third of a standard keyboard. Bass...

Bands of all types as well as orchestras use the bass guitar. It plays an important role in the harmony and rhythm of a song and forms a foundation upon which other instruments can build.