Musical Instruments

How to Do a Pinch Harmonic

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Pinch harmonics are those intensely high-pitched squeals that you hear in heavy metal solos. While natural harmonics are limited to certain fret positions, and thus certain notes, you can play pinch harmonics on any note, making it a much more ... more »

How to Do a Rest Stroke on Classical Guitar

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Classical guitar has two basic techniques for plucking the strings: apoyando (Spanish for "resting") and tirando (Spanish for "pulling", also known as the free stroke). The rest stroke is the easiest and usually the first one learned by classical ... more »

How to Do a Rimshot

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Drummers use a variety of techniques to produce different sounds on their instruments. With a rimshot, the drummer strikes both the drum's head and rim to create a loud, pingy sound. Orchestral percussionists, jazz drummers and Latin timbale ... more »

How to Do a Slap with Triplets Bass Guitar Technique

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The slap is a method of playing the bass guitar in which a string is initially struck with the thumb. It's a common technique for playing a series of three notes (triplets). The slap is easily adapted for a percussive effect. The following steps ... more »

How to Do a Solo on the Djembe Drum

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While you can play for hours with your djembe drum by yourself, most people eventually like to evolve to play in a drum circle. It is a great feeling to be part of the rhythm in a drum circle. Once you have the beat down, you can experiment with ... more »

How to Do a Thumb Tone on Classical Guitar

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The classical guitar is played with the first three fingers and thumb of the right hand. The skill and technique with which you stroke the guitar determines each note's tone. Precise placement and movement is a key ingredient in how beautiful ... more »

How to Do an Alternating Banjo Roll in Bluegrass

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Mastering finger rolls is the basis of playing the five-string banjo. This alternating roll is a variation on the Scruggs pattern in which the thumb plays three different strings, on every other note. With a little practice, you'll be up to speed ... more »

How to Do an Electric Guitar Hammer-on and Pull-off

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Hammer-on and pull-off are fingering techniques used when playing the electric or acoustic guitar. This technique allows you to pick a note then tap or pull the string with your fretting hand. The steps below will teach you how to hammer-on and ... more »

How to Do an Intermediate Slap on Bass Guitar

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Learning to play the bass guitar can be easy and fun with a few simple techniques and lots of practice. The intermediate slap on the bass guitar is one of the more advanced techniques used to play the bass guitar, but once mastered is extremely ... more »

How to Do Arpeggios in Flamenco Guitar

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Flamenco came originally from Andalucía in Southern Spain and the flamenco guitar style is world renowned. This lively performing style must provide accompaniment to the same fiery energy as flamenco singing and dancing. The flamenco style ... more »

How to Do Basic Rock Patterns on Drums

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The rock pattern is one of the easiest patterns to understand when you're learning how to play drums. You don't even have to be a drummer to understand the elements of the rock pattern. From beginner to professional, if you can count to four, you ... more »

How to Do Basic Slapping for Bass Guitar

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Slapping and plucking the bass strings adds an extra percussion-like power to the bass line. Bass players need to use the side of the thumb for slapping the strings. Slapping the bass is one of the most basic techniques of bass playing and ... more »

How to Do Chord Inversions on a 12-String Guitar

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Notes in a chord are like voices in a vocal ensemble. You can arrange a chord to put the melody in the base, middle or upper ranges. Rearranged chords are called inversions. In guitar playing inversions broaden your options for harmony ... more »

How to Do Compressor Effects on the Electric Guitar

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Electric guitar effects pedals are plugged into the system between the guitar and the amplifier in order to alter the signal from the guitar in some manner. A compressor is so called because it compresses the electronic signal from the guitar ... more »

How to Do Country Guitar Picking Techniques

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No matter what genre you're playing in, picking techniques are valuable ways to diversify your style. Country guitar uses certain picking techniques to create the sounds of country music genres including bluegrass and pop country. Guitar players ... more »

How to Do Delay Effects For the Electric Guitar

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The delay effect has been a prime tool for "psychedelic" rock band like Pink Floyd and "pop" stars like U2. The delay is an echo effect that used correctly, can make it sound like the guitar is playing multiple notes at the same time. It's a ... more »

How to Do Drones With the Great Highland Bagpipes

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Learning to do bagpipe drones is an essential part of playing the instrument. Two large cords hold the drones in place. These are joined together at each end by a tassel and secured together in four places. Drone cords are made of wool or silk. ... more »

How to Do Drop D Tuning for Bass Guitar

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If you want to get into the sounds of modern-day rock and roll, you may want to experiment with "drop-D" tuning which, by some accounts at least, is very popular tuning for the bass guitar. It is very easy to do and you just need to get your head ... more »

How to Do Finger Strokes on Classical Guitar

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Playing the classical guitar is not the same as that for country guitar. Yes, you can try country guitar licks on a classical guitar, but the resulting sound would be less than satisfying. Learning the correct finger strokes takes practice, but ... more »

How to Do Finger-Picking Arpeggios on a 12-String Guitar

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The 12-string guitar is played either with a pick or your fingers. Finger picking allows you to play more notes at once and more complex note sequences. It turns an ensemble instrument into a solo instrument... more »

How to Do Flanger Effects for the Electric Guitar

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The flanger, a common effect for electric guitar, does interesting things to the notes, essentially bending the tone into a kind of cyclical electronic drone that can be a great complement to several genres. Getting flanger effects onto your play ... more »

How to Do Hammer-On Techniques for the Banjo

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The hammer-on is a banjo technique in which you bring your finger down onto a string after you pluck it, which gives an echo effect to the hammer-on note. You can perform a hammer-on on open strings or fretted notes, depending upon the effect you ... more »

How to Do Hand Over Hand Crossings

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There is nothing more exciting to young music students than the thought of playing their first "grown-up" pieces. The first "two hands" song and the first "crossover" piece catapult child pianists from "baby music" to mature, adult compositions... more »

How to Do Phaser Effects for the Electric Guitar

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Many rock and pop bands use phasers not only on their guitars but also for the keyboard, like Billy Joel in the song, "Just the Way You Are." Brian May of the band Queen and Eddie Van Halen used it on their guitars. It creates a mellow tone to ... more »

How to Do Piano Fingering and the Musical Alphabet

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Learning the piano starts with learning the notes and proper fingering. If you start learning this early, you will avoid bad habits later... more »

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