Music

The chromatic scale is a musical scale with twelve notes, set a semi-tone or half step apart. These twelve notes, or tones, in the chromatic scale represent all of the notes in Western music....

Playing guitar for a beginner is often painful because the fingers are soft. It takes time to build up callouses that allow new players to play guitar without feeling the irritation cause by the...

The reason there are only seven letters, A through G, in our musical alphabet is because our music is based on a diatonic, or seven note scale.

If you've heard the Bee Gees or Justin Timberlake, then you've heard falsetto. Literally, falsetto means "false voice," accomplished when the vocal cords are lengthened, tensed, and thinned until...

Double stops are just a fancy way of saying double notes. You play two notes together. Usually they are above or beneath one another. So instead of playing single notes, we double up on our...

Chords are the building blocks of music. A chord is a combination of two or more notes played together. Typically chords contain at least three notes to form what is called a triad. Chords on a...

The pentatonic scale is an easy and useful scale for soloing or for constructing a riff around. It is also visual on guitar, making it easier to work within. Thus, a guitar is an ideal instrument...

You don't need to be born with perfect pitch to hear music notes. Learning to hear notes and recognize the names of those notes takes time and practice. It may be that you never develop perfect...

With some knowledge of music key signatures and the ability to count, you can arpeggiate any Major triad!

This will cover how to play a few scales on a bass guitar and a few things you can do with a scale so it doesn't end up sounding like you are playing a scale.

I learned how to perform this guitar technique years ago, and it is always nice to be able to do these on the fly when jamming with friends. If you have learned just one scale, then this...

I have been playing bass for several years now primarily sticking to rock and alternative genres but sometimes I like to get into a little funk or jazz. Many bassists, and I am guilty of this as...

Playing the c scale is one of the basic things you learn when first playing a keyboard. Because the c scale is the first and the easiest scale to know on the keyboard. This is one of the only...

Bb Concert scale is the single most common scale asked for by band directors at all levels from beginning band to professional. It's also the easiest scale to remember because Bb Concert on...

This lesson will show you how to play a C major scale using a 1-2 pattern going up the scale (Left to Right) and then going down the scale using a 2-1 pattern (Right to Left) You will only be...

The Bb concert scale is the most common scale asked for by band directors at all levels from middle school to professional. It's also the easiest scale to remember on clarinet because Bb concert...

I am writing this with the assumption that you know the notes on the frets of a bass guitar. I have actually taught this pattern to someone who only knew the notes on the top string and they can...

Watching a listening to a good electric guitarist shred a solo, it may seem dizzying that she can string together the notes so quickly, but the sheer variety of scales on the guitar makes it much...

The tongue drum is one of the world's oldest known musical instrument. Originating from Africa, the tongue drum was first built from hollowed-out trees and had many different functions in African...

In the 1700s, when Benjamin Franklin was serving as Colonial America's delegate in England, he attended a concert where the player performed on musical glasses, which were filled with various...

Making a pentatonic scale with water bottles is a great project to try with kids or other beginning musicians. The pentatonic scale is especially suitable for this project because so many of the...

Up-and-coming guitarists like yourself have need of a great number of chords in their arsenal to defend themselves from boredom. Thus, enter the 7th chords! Here we're going to cover the major and...

Chords are the building blocks of music, but there are hundreds of possible chord combinations available. One look at a chord dictionary for piano and organ can be overwhelming. You might think it...

Guitarists like you and me enjoy strumming along with our major and minor chords. But if we'd like to build our chord pile, 7ths are the place to start. Let's do this...

Although the bass guitar tends to get overshadowed by the drums, vocals and guitar, it is the bass that provides the pulse of the overall sound. Because the bass only has four strings in contrast...

Learning to make chords on the piano is one of the fundamental skills needed to play piano well. Knowing how to play chords will allow you to be able to read chord charts and play just about any...

Chords are the foundation of music. Piano teachers typically approach piano lessons by introducing chords early on and teaching students the fundamentals of building these chords. Learning how to...

The Native American flute is a simple instrument to learn, allowing novice musicians to produce beautiful music. The instrument has a lot of room for virtuosity and expression as well, and is...

The cool thing about guitars is that the scales are the same, no matter where you are on the guitar. Guitar scales use octaves on the strings preceding each other to keep the shapes the same and...

Like muscles, vocal cords need exercise to stay in shape. Singing scales and doing various other vocal exercises can make the difference between a clear, strong voice and one that falters when you...

There are many ways to teach piano. Some teachers prefer to use one method for all students, while others like to customize their lesson plans. There are strict, traditional approaches to teaching...

There are so many acoustic guitar sizes, wood combinations, body shapes, ... the list goes on and on. How to choose? I will help guide you in your search.

Banjo music theory is no different than that of other instruments, and with a little study and practice, can bring your playing to levels you may not have thought possible. Music theory is often...

"Three's Company", "Three's a crowd", "A natural number can be divided by three if the sum of its digits is divisible by three." Yup, three is even the number of...

There are several methods available to learn how to play the piano, and how to approach learning chords. This is one method that will help get you started.

The harmonica is a versatile instrument heard in musical styles ranging from rock to country, but no other musical genre is more suited to harmonica than the blues. Because the harmonica so...

Ohhh, the vast wonders of internet guitar lessons! For an intrepid player such as yourself, there’s only elventy billion Google search results to wade through with the title “guitar major scale”!...

The blues is one of the most fundamental forms of music. Its influence can be heard in everything from rock to country to soul. Performers like the Rolling Stones, Rod Stewart and Aerosmith...

There are many ways to go about songwriting and just as many ways to go about teaching it. Here is one strategy that worked well for me with helping to teach a children's group about songwriting.

The piano is one of the most complex musical instruments on the planet, capable of all manner of musical intricacy and depth. But it can also be simple. With a little guidance, you can create...

When learning music, one way to learn the technique behind an instrument (as well as music fundamentals) is by utilizing instrumental method instruction. There are many different types of...

The blues is one of the most widely played musical forms. Its influence can be heard in musical genres as diverse as rock, country, jazz and others. Beginning piano players are often taught blues...

Most of us in the West are very familiar with the sound of the major scale - even if we don't know what it's called. What this lesson focuses on is recognizing a major scale when you hear one,...

Fingering is key to playing any basic scale on the piano. Follow the correct form for the right and left hands provided in this article, and you are on your way to playing a smooth C major scale.

Learn how to play the A Dominant Beebop scale on the guitar for better solos without reading sheet music.

Learn how to play the A Dorian b2 scale on the guitar for better solos without reading sheet music.

Learn how to play the B Harmonic Major scale on the guitar for better solos without reading sheet music.

Learn how to play the B Harmonic Minor scale on the guitar for better solos without reading sheet music.

Learn how to play the B Major Aeolian b5 scale on the guitar for better solos without reading sheet music.