Music Genres

Jazz piano requires a basic knowledge of piano theory, including chord formation, scales and modes, and a rhythmic feel. The basic concept of jazz piano is getting the sound and feeling of the...

This article will show you an easy way you can improvise blues and with many different possibilities!

Modes... the elusive concept that perplexes students and teachers alike! Students because they don't understand it. Teachers because they don't understand how to explain it well. There's no...

Playing Latin sounds on the piano does not require any specialized piano training or skills, just a different type of style of playing. Instead of learning new techniques, you'll need to listen...

You sign your child up for piano lessons with visions of your little Mozart wooing the crowd at recitals, serenading your dinner guests and spending hours on end pouring over his piano...

Have you eve wanted to learn how to compose classical music? Well, writing classical music is actually very fun and easy. In this post I shall tell just exactly how you should approach this type...

A merengue is a fast-paced type of music that originated in the Dominican Republic. A typical band set up for playing merengue is a diatonic accordion (playing all notes in the music scale), a...

Ragtime piano music, derived from the phrase ragged time, which indicates the style in which the music is played, was originally an American musical genre very popular in the late 1800s and early...

Salas is a Latin style of music that incorporates many musical genres, including funk and rhythm and blues. Salsa incorporates a variety of instrumentation, but is primarily percussion-based, with...

Ska music was founded in Jamaica in the late 1950's. Today it has been popularized by bands such as The Mighty Mighty Bosstones, Reel Big Fish and The Aquabats. There are many different versions...

Gregorian chant notation was developed by none other than a Benedictine monk by the name of Guido d'Arezzo, who lived from 990 to 1050 A.D. The notation served as a memory aid and to indicate...

Trance music has kept the clubs moving for over two decades, and it's not showing any signs of letting up. It's also managed to captivate mainstream music audiences, with artists like Paul...

Salsa is a musical genre with many variations, based primarily on an up-tempo Cuban/Caribbean style that includes heavy Latin, funk, reggae and even Indian influences. The salsa style not only...

Practice makes perfect whenever it comes to creating a good party mix, but the adage is especially true when it comes to making a funk music mix. Funk songs are a little difficult to blend...

Opera in and of itself is a wonderful musical form as it tells a story. The story is what makes Opera so special. Herein I teach you how to grasp a better understanding of Opera in order that...

Lets take a peak at a simplified relative of the Minor Scale: The Minor Pentatonic Scale Pentatonic Scale.

Grimy is a term to describe something that is rough, uncut and unpolished. Some of these adjectives may apply to grime music. This genre, however, is far more complex. It takes the original street...

If you want to get a message across with music, you can begin by looking into genres and accompaniment to define what you want to say. One of the genres that you can approach is rap. If you want...

Want to learn the history of country music? Here's your how-to-guide for capturing all that twang.

Some say the "punk" genre, or at least its traditional iterations, reached its crest in the late 80s, but the appeal of punk rock remains strong for many. A punk drummer provides ballast to his...

Jazz musicians can be the best storytellers when given the opportunity. Because they travel extensively and perform in so many venues, they interact with other musicians, booking agents, hotel...

Songwriting is a celebrated skill in just about every civilized culture. New genres of music are constantly brought to the forefront to challenge the way people think about songs. Techno music,...

For lots of punk bands, nobody needs a lesson in screaming. On the other hand, there are common sense things every vocalist should be aware of, and ways to come out on top in the punk rock world....

When you write music reviews, you'll find many people to disagree with you because after all, music attracts very individual tastes, particularly in indie music. When you write indie music reviews...

Indie music is a popular genre of music that transcends different musical styles. Find indie music in rock, pop, electronic, jazz, folk and instrumental styles. Instead of one particular style,...

Learning to become a blues guitarist is the same as learning any other guitar style. First you must master the basics of your instrument. Once you master the basics, it's only a matter of time...

To some guitar players, the "double stop" might seem like a misnomer: it's not the tempo you're talking about, but the interval created by two notes played at the same time. As music lesson...

In country-style guitar, players commonly choose to play a "lick" in the key of the song, which is very often in C. The short melodic riffs can be largely based on the open chord structures and...

When you're in the music business, self-promotion is the name of the game, and when you're an indie musician, it's all about promoting and maintaining that grassroots cred. Here's how to use that...

Dixieland jazz incorporates marching brass bands and elements of blues and ragtime music. Popularized in New Orleans in the early 1900s, many of its songs have become American standards, including...

Jazz and rock, two distinctly American forms of music, were destined to join. If Steely Dan and the Mahavishnu Orchestra grab your attention, you're a jazz rock fan. Today, jazz rock carries...

The exciting bluegrass music of the south gets it's homey sound from the mandolin. It's the heart of the bluegrass band. The great bluegrass artists such as Ricky Scaggs and Bill Monroe have...

Delta blues is one of the earliest styles of blues, developing in the Mississippi Delta sometime after the Civil War. The guitar-dominated delta blues influenced not only other styles of blues...

Country blues originated as a type of early blues known by the focus on acoustic guitar. Over the years, country blues has come to define a regional style of music played in the South and that...

You may not have to cry a tear in your beer to write a good country song, but it doesn't hurt to explore your angst to write a strong lyric. Country music songwriters know what makes the listeners...

Flamenco folk art, indigent to the Andalucia province in Spain, combines singing, dancing and guitar playing in one performance. The musical tradition has been passed down orally to each new...

The blues is a truly American musical form created by slaves, who drew on their suffering and oppression. It is a combination of African and European musical and verse elements.