Want to publish something in one of our blogs? If you blog about teaching or learning music, or if you have a website about teaching music, learning a musical instrument, or any aspect of music theory, why don't you submit something for publishing in this blog. It's a great way to get personal exposure as well as free promotion for your blog, website or music-related products or service.  If you are interested Check It Out Here ..read more

The musical staff is the basic framework for traditional music notation. The staff consists of a series of five parallel lines. The sequence of musical notes that make up a song are then placed along these lines.The two dimensions represented on the staff are pitch and time. Pitch - whether a note sounds "high" or "low" - is represented by placing notes higher or lower in the series of staff lines. Each line and space between the lines represents a specific note position. An oval shaped note under line 1 is understood as D. A note on line 1 is E. And so on, until we get ..read more

When I work with a new student who is learning guitar from scratch we first play 4 string versions of G, C and D because they are a bit easier to play. The fact is though, that these chords where you don't use all the strings may actually sound better than "full" chords in some cases. For example a 4 or even 3 string version of D lets you highlight the higher strings. And an A (or even more commonly, a B chord) played on strings 4, 3 and 2 - where you don't play string 1, can sound perfectly adequate when used the right way. Rock guitarists actually use two string combinations a lot. So-call ..read more

When seated, hold the guitar so you are not hunched over. The neck should be tilted upwards slightly to make it easier to reach all six strings with your hand that does the fingering (usually your left hand). For more info and simple guitar playing tips see Guitar Coach ..read more

Many "learn the fretboard" exercises begin by suggesting you learn each note (A, B, etc.) on all six strings. I sincerely doubt this is the way most accomplished guitar players learn the fretboard. This method may be helpful to give you some initial feel for note positions. But when it is divorced from playing the notes in songs and exercises, you will inevitably forget the positions. And simply being able to recite "A is at D7", for example, will probably not help much when you are in the heat of the battle (i.e., when you're playing.) Of course, eventually if you repeat "A is at D7" ofte ..read more

In a previous post I suggested what is hopefully an efficient way to learn the guitar fretboard. The steps I outlined there were: Find a strategy that simplifies the task of learning the fretboard, and stick with it. Learn as many of the most important notes as you can Learn how the "mathematics of the fretboard" results in some easy-to-remember patterns. Use it or lose it! Practice! You don't even need a guitar to do this. You can just visualize the keyboard even when you're lying in bed at night. Just keep working on it. Now, in the next series of posts I want to expand on these points an ..read more

There are lots of guitar gurus who will tell you they have the secret formula for learning the notes on the guitar fretboard. Don't believe them. There is no simple formula. If you know the notes of the guitar fretboard you have probably spent years playing and studying the instrument. However, having said that, there are effective strategies and not-so-effective strategies. And there is no guarantee that the strategy that works for one person will work for another. Here are some things about learning the guitar fretboard we can say with some certainty: The fretboard has a lot of notes. L ..read more

If you're an aspiring Bass player, you probably know that learning to play the bass guitar - arpeggios and bass patterns at different places on the neck is really important. Learning about options, different fretboard positions and different patterns can be helped by learning to read bass scores. They can be pretty simple, but the fact that they are written on the bass clef means you will have to pay them special attention. For someone like me who learned to read many years ago that has provided a special challenge. I learned trumpet music written on the treble clef and became marginally ad ..read more

The song "Let It Be" appeared on the Beatles' album by the same name, Let It Be, and was the twelfth and final studio album by the band. It was released on 8 May 1970, almost a month after the group's break-up. After an unsuccessful attempt to finalize the album in early 1970, a new version of the album was produced by Phil Spector in March–April 1970. Guest musician and keyboard player, Billy Preston, appears on some of the cuts, in particular "Get Back" where he became the only non-Beatle to be credited on a recording. This Let It Be practice track is ideal for Beatle fans ..read more

There is an growing number of exercises and easy songs especially for new bass players here: Bass Practice Tracks for new Bass Players We've tried to give you commonly used patterns, and in many cases have indicated alternative positions on the fretboard to help you learn different positions. These exercises and songs use traditional notation, so if you are not familiar with reading music, or if you don't know the bass clef yet, these are ideal for you. Even if you don't feel you need to know how to read music, or if you just want to wing it, these will be helpful. There are certainly many ti ..read more