Solos are Based on Scales

(This post is part of an ongoing series about the importance of learning scales, which started with this post here: Why You Should Learn Your Scales)

This is an E minor scale on the guitar:

This is also an E minor scale:

This is "Rusted From the Rain" by Canadian rock stars Billy Talent:

Listen to that awesome guitar solo (at about 2:25). Guess what? 

It is entirely based on those two E minor scales. Yes. Scales are awesome. You need to know scales to really rock like that. (Those of you looking how to play the song itself can google it, or better yet, get me to teach it to you!)

Virtually every solo you hear is based on scales. Yes, you can play guitar solos without knowing scales. You can even write guitar solos without knowing scales. But chances are, if you write or play anything that sounds good, it's going to be based on a scale.

Learn your scales. Then you can rock! (Or play jazz, country, whatever other style - their solos are all based on scales, too!)

How to Tune Your Ukelele

This post is about tuning your ukelele. Tuning can seem like a challenge, but on ukelele it's usually pretty easy, so long as you've got a tuner (if you don't, I'll be talking about tuning without one as well). With a bit of knowledge and some practice, you'll be able to tune without any serious problem. Let's learn how to tune the ukelele.


Step 1: Know thy string names

The names of the strings, from your head to your toes, are:

G C E A

To remember this, just say the following: Good Children Eat Apples.

Step 2: Grab your tuner, if you have one

Let's start using your tuner. If you don't have a tuner, I'll explain below how to tune without one. If it's a clip-on tuner, simply clip it on to the head of the ukelele (the part where the tuning pegs are found), and turn it on. If it's not a clip-on tuner, just place it nearby (maybe on your leg or knee - just don't drop it!)

Step 3: Start tuning

With a tuner

Play the string closest to your head, the G string. We need to figure out whether the string is:

- In tune
- Too low (flat)
- Too high (sharp)

Most electronic tuners have a needle or dial on their display that shows how close you are to being in tune. Some are like a car's speed-o-meter. Too far to the left means the string is flat, and needs to be tightened. Too far to the right means the string is sharp and needs to be loosened. Some tuners use colours, where green means "in tune", and red and yellow mean "sharp" or "flat". Check your manual if you're not certain (or check online if you've already thrown your manual out by mistake!) and figure out if your string is in tune.

Tuners aren't smart

While doing this, keep in mind that your tuner doesn't know what pitch you want to tune your string to, it simply shows you the pitch that the string is closest to. This pitch may not be the one you want. So in order to tune your uke you may need to learn the order of notes on the ukelele fretboard. I have a separate page about that, "Notes on the Ukelele Fretboard", which is worth learning, but for now, here are the notes in order:

C C#/Db D D#/Eb E F F#/Gb G G#/Ab A A#/Bb B C C#/Db etc.

(# means "sharp" and b means "flat")

Western music cycles through these same notes over and over, so C#/Db always follows C, and so on.

If your string is supposed to be tuned to an C, but it's reading as B, there's a very good chance you need to tune it higher (read; sharper) to reach C. Why? Because there's a B right below C, and the next B is 11 notes higher, so chances are you need to tighten the string. If you're not sure, try tuning down first, and if the string starts feeling really loose, tune back up instead.

Once you know whether your string is too low or too high in pitch, turn the tuning peg in the appropriate direction until you get the pitch you want. If you're not sure which direction that will be, try turning slowly in one direction and notice what the tuner indicates. If the tuner isn't showing you getting closer to the note you want, you're probably tuning the wrong way.

Tuning without a tuner

If you don't have a tuner, it's still possible to tune your ukelele, but it is more difficult. You may find it impossible unless you already have a great sense of pitch and a solid understanding of music. At any rate, here's how you can do it. The 7th fret of your C string (3rd string, 2nd closest to head) should be the same pitch as the G string (1st string, closest to head). Tune your C string until they are in tune with one another. You'll know they're in tune when the pitch is about the same and there are no "beats" (sort of a wobbling noise) when you play the two notes together (i.e. play the open G string while playing 7th fret on the C string).

Now these two strings are in tune with one another. They may not be tuned to an "actual" C or G, but that's okay for now. They're "relatively" in tune - they sound good together, which is all we need when playing by ourselves. If you're out of tune and playing with someone else, you can always tune to their instrument, too.

Now play the 4th fret of your C string. Your open E string should be the same pitch, and if it's not, tune it (don't retune the C, as it's now in tune with your G string). Once you've done that, tune the 5th fret of the E string to your open A (make sure to tune your A string, not your E). That's it! If you can hear the difference in pitches, then you can tune this way no problem.

What if I don't have a tuner and have trouble hearing if my uke is in tune?

This is a tough question to answer, because it's hard for me to help without actually being there. I'll make a post about this in the future, but for now I'd simply recommend getting a tuner if you don't know how to tune without one.

Two important things to keep in mind while tuning:

1) STRINGS CAN BREAK IF YOU TUNE THEM TOO TIGHTLY

I wrote that in all caps because it's important you pay attention. Make sure you don't tighten the string too much. Doing so might break a string! For example, if the string is supposed to be an E, but you accidentally try to tune it to the A above that E, you run the risk of breaking the string. Your strings don't like being too tight, so please be careful to avoid this. Not sure which way to tune? When in doubt, tune down (loosen the string) until you're confident you're going the wrong way, then tune it back up. If you've loosened the string too far, you'll figure it out eventually - the string will get very loose and won't produce a clear sounding note.

2) Always end by tuning up!

If your string is flat and you're tuning up (higher in pitch), then you're fine. If you're tuning down to a pitch, make sure to tune slightly lower than the actual pitch, and then finish by tuning up to the correct pitch. Why? If you end by loosening the string, the string can still be a bit loose in the head-stock of the guitar (where the tuning pegs are), and the string can un-tune from that pitch slightly. So always end your tuning of a string by tuning up to the correct pitch.

That's all there is to it.

Follow this procedure for all of your strings, and then voila! You're in tune!

Songwriting Sessions: Inspired by Other Musicians

When I was a kid there was a song I used to hear on the radio that I really enjoyed. The song was called "Running Up That Hill" by Kate Bush. Here it is on youTube:

As an adult I've been loving Coldplay pretty much since I've known of their existence. I was particularly excited when they released their album X & Y, which featured many great songs. Here's one of them, "Speed of Sound":

Notice any similarities between these two songs? Listen in particular to the chorus of both songs (the "If I only could/I'd make a deal with God" in "Running Up That Hill" vs "All that noise/All that sound" in "Speed of Sound")

It's not really obvious (at least it wasn't to me), but "Running Up That Hill" was the direct inspiration for "Speed of Sound". If nothing else, this proves to me that you can write a great song based on someone else's great song, without the two songs sounding too similar.

Metal Mario

I'd like to take a moment to talk about the importance of scales... yeah, yeah, I know, it's Friday, and Friday's supposed to be fun. Well, okay then, check out this video:

This guy definitely knows his scales. The Mario theme is based on a scale (as most songs and solos are). Hopefully you see the importance of scales.

Learn your scales and then rock out like this guy! Have a great weekend.

Intro to Pop Music

This is my introductory post on pop music (part of an ongoing series of posts which started here).

Quick background: "Pop" music really just means "Popular", but usually when people refer to "pop music", they mean something that's a softer alternative to, say, Rock music. Some argue that most or all rock music is pop music (I would say that the Beatles made pop music). In the end, it's just a label, and I would say that generally people are referring to music that has a very modern sound and isn't classical, heavy metal, jazz, or any other very specific genre of music.

Who should learn about pop? Do you follow the hits on the radio or YouTube? Are you always looking for the next big thing? Do you like to dance to really catchy songs? If so, then pop music is for you.

What makes pop unique? Pop music relies quite heavily on electronic instruments like samplers, synthesizers, and keyboards, and those elements tend to distinguish it the most from straight Rock n Roll or Blues music, or any other genre.

Popular pop artists: Justin Bieber, Taylor Swift, Katy Perry, Ed Sheeran.

How to play pop on guitar and ukelele: In general, pop music tends to work best on guitar when playing chords, so the easiest way to get started is to learn some chords. In fact, with a capo and only a few chords, you can play a lot of different songs. Most songs are based on scales (something you'll see me talk more about in the future), so certain chords go really well together.

Here's a simple pop progression using these chords (just strum down-up, down-up, down-up, etc.):

How to play pop on bass: Generally speaking, the best way to get started on bass is to simply play the bass notes to chords. Here's an easy way to do that with the chords I've written above.

Pop goes the world!

That's about it. Pop music is simple and fun, so have some fun playing it!

Wednesday Weekly Progress - February 22

February is almost over, but the progress continues. Here's how I did this week.

1) Blog - ongoing: 

I dialed back a bit on working on the blog this week, because I'm trying to focus on finishing my album (more about this below). This week I made the following posts:

The Basics of Playing Bass: New to bass? Start here and start learning to play!

Introduction to Rock Music: Learn about one of the most popular styles of music from the last hundred years: Rock n Roll!

Arabesque Visuals: It's a piano piece (and I don't have much about pianos on this blog... yet), but combined with the visuals that go along with the song, it's a really cool video. Check it out!

Songwriting Sessions: Expanding Your Horizons: A writer's craft is never perfected. Check in here to get some ideas on how to flex that songwriting muscle and expand your creative horizons.

Learning the Basics: This is a "hub" page that links to the basic pages for learning bass, guitar, and ukelele.

Chords are Based on Scales: Yes, if you know your scales, you can better understand where chords come from. Check it out!

Progress so far: 14% (these percentages are just a guess, but probably close enough)


2) Songs For Ghosts (my 2nd album):

This is the first week where anything goes - I don't really care too much how many takes anything requires now, as long as I get it done and it sounds good. I have about a month to make my deadline for finishing the album (March 19), and I've calculated I need to record an average of 1.5 tracks a night to meet my deadline to start mixing (March 12). Will I make it? I don't know, but I'm excited to try!

Progress so far: 75% - lots more recording to do, but an end is in sight!

3) Poster for my office:

The Basics of Playing Bass and Learning the Basics were two posts dedicated to my poster project, not as much as last week, but progress is still good and steady.

Progress so far: 52% - good progress

4) Other repertoire - ongoing:

3rd album songs - Similar to last week, not a lot of practice here, but I expect more once "Songs For Ghosts" (my 2nd album) is done.

Cover songs - Little to no practice here. I've put off making a deadline for this yet again, but I'm now thinking beginning of the summer would be good (I've written it down!)

Keep moving forward and being awesome!

Chords are Based on Scales

(This post is part of an ongoing series about the importance of learning scales, which started with this post here: Why You Should Learn Your Scales)
Every chord that you can play on guitar and ukelele (and on rare occasions, bass) is based on a scale. Yes, here is yet another reason to learn your scales! If you know all of your scales, then you can figure out how to play any chord you want. Allow me to demonstrate.

Various C Chords

C scale: C D E F G A B C

C Major chord (1st, 3rd, 5th note of scale): C E G
CMaj7 (major 7th) chord (1st, 3rd, 5th, 7th note of scale): C E G B
C 7th chord (1st, 3rd, 5th, b7th note of scale): C E G Bb
Csus4 chord (1st, 4th, 5th note of scale): C F G
Csus2 chord (1st, 2nd, 5th note of scale): C D G
C6 chord (1st, 3rd, 5th, 6th note of scale): C E G A

There are many more, but you get the point. Let me give another example:

Various Bm (B minor) Chords

B minor scale: B C# D E F# G A B

Bm chord (1st, 3rd, 5th note of scale): B D F#
Bmin7 (minor 7th) chord (1st, 3rd, 5th, 7th note of scale): B D F# A
Bmsus4 chord (1st, 4th, 5th note of scale): B E F#
Bmsus2 chord (1st, 2nd, 5th note of scale): B C# F#

(Note: It actually makes a lot more sense when figuring out some minor chords to refer to the major scale rather than the minor scale, but that's a lesson for another day. The point is that if you know your scales, you can easily figure out the chord.)


"Can't I just look up all of these chords?"

Yes, you could, if you really needed to. But if you knew your scales and what chords contain what notes, you'd never have to. You wouldn't have to be glued to your computer screen (or wasting your cell phone's data and/or battery) trying to find the answer. You could just play the chords quickly and easily!

I always know how to play any chord I want, pretty quickly, because even when I forget exactly how I was taught to play it, I know enough about my scales and chords to very quickly figure them out again.

Yet another great benefit to learning scales!

Learning the Basics

Just starting out? Perfect! This is the page for you. I've got three different pages listed below, depending on whether you play guitar, bass, or ukelele. Simply click on the correct link for you and your instrument:

The Basics of Playing Guitar

The Basics of Playing Bass

The Basics of Playing Ukelele

Have fun and keep practicing!

Songwriting Sessions: Expand Your Horizons

For the last five weeks I've been writing a song and blogging about my experiences in doing so (you can check out that series of posts by clicking here). I'm going to leave the series be for now, only because it's crunch time for recording my 2nd album and I don't have a lot of creative energy to spare for another project. I will come back to the song, and update, and when I do, I will let you know all about it.

Today I just wanted to share a simple suggestion for you songwriters out there: expand your horizons.

No matter how much you learn about songwriting, there is always more to learn. A new chord progression, a new mode or scale, an alternate guitar tuning, or a new method of writing songs. There's always more space to explore, and I would encourage you to explore that space.

I find a lot of my creativity stems from asking questions like, "What would you get if you mixed song A and song B together?" (where "song A" and "song B" are two of your favourite songs), or, "How hard is it to write a song in lydian mode?", and so on. Always ask questions and try to answer them creatively!

In my opinion, as an artist you are always seeking perfection, but never attaining it. It's a wonderful journey, and I hope you'll pursue it to your fullest.

Expand your horizons!

Arabesque visuals

Okay, it's not guitar, bass, or ukelele, but I do teach some piano as well, and I love playing piano, too. Debussy's Arabesque has been one of my favourite piano pieces to listen to. This video's visuals are especially cool, as the circles get higher when the melody rises (and get lower with the melody, as well).

Debussy's most popular piece is probably "Clair de Lune", which also has a video like this one (though lately I've been preferring "Arabesque").

Have a great weekend!

Introduction to Rock Music

Who's ready to rock?!?! This is my introductory post on rock music (part of an ongoing series of posts which started here).

Quick background: A form of music that originated with the blues (which I've written about here), rock music has been around since the 1950s and 60s, and has been one of the most popular forms of music since. Often filled with loud guitars, drums, bass, and singers with attitude, though many other instruments can be found in rock music.

Who should learn about rock? Do you like your music loud? Have you got an attitude? Do you want to turn up your amp and really pack a musical punch? If so, then rock is for you!

What makes rock unique? Rock music does an excellent job of taking a little bit from just about every other genre, and blending it together with distorted guitars and emotional singing. Rock music also makes extensive use of the power chord (which I'll show you how to play below).

Popular rock artists: Led Zeppelin, Nirvana, AC/DC

How to rock on guitar: This is a power chord:

Rock on!!!

Learn this chord (the 4th finger is optional, but only play the strings you're fretting). Learn to love this chord, because you're going to see it, a lot. The power chord can be played starting at any fret, so you can move this shape up and down the fretboard and get some pretty rockin' riffs. For example:

Turn up amp as needed.

Now, on to soloing. In the blues we saw the blues scale, which I think every rock guitarist should know (and so check out my intro to the blues here, if you haven't already). Today we're going to look at the pentatonic scale:

Much like with our blues scales in A, the A note in the minor pentatonic scale is the strongest sounding note, and the best one to build your riffs around. If you don't know your fretboard yet (I've posted about it here), the A is on the 5th fret of your 6th string (low E), the 7th fret of the 4th string (D), and the 5th fret of the 1st string (high E).

How to rock on bass:

The easiest way to rock on the bass is by playing the root note (the lowest sounding note) of the chords being played by the guitar. Play the same riff as above, but only play the notes on the E string. To add a bit of variety, occasionally play the note two frets (and two strings) higher on the D string (this is an "octave").

Here's what it would look like without the octave notes:

And with the octaves it might look something like this:

There are many other cool ways to play rock on bass, but this is a good starting point.

Rock n roll!!!

There's a lot more to rock music, and there's always more to learn. But that's no reason you can't start rocking right here and right now. Rock on!

The Basics of Playing Bass

1) How to hold the bass:

Whether standing or sitting, the head of the bass should be at about a 45 degree angle, and at or near the same height as your head (for younger or smaller musicians compromises may need to be made). If the neck is too low, it will be too difficult to reach around and play the fretboard with the fretting hand (usually the left hand). Standing up will require the use of a strap, and you will have to adjust your strap to get the right height for your hands (don't play with too loose a strap, it can lead to back problems).

Playing this way while sitting may require a strap or the use of a footstool. I play with a footstool under my left foot when sitting (my left hand is my fretting hand).

2) Play within the midrange of motion to prevent injury: Musicians can and do hurt themselves by playing their instruments incorrectly. The easiest way to prevent injuries is by making sure not to flex or extend your fingers or wrists too much. This is what it means to stay within the midrange of motion.

Flex your wrist so that you holding the palm of your hand away from you (like a crossing guard telling cars to "stop"). That is the maximum extension of your wrist. Moving your wrist in the opposite direction flexes your wrist, but I don't recommend holding your wrist in the flexed position, as it is unnatural.

Many people play with too flexed a wrist, which leads to RSIs (Repetitive Strain Injuries). Yes, some songs you play will require you to flex or extend your wrist or fingers more than usual, but usually you can keep you wrist reasonably straight (or with a slight flex).Sitting or standing as properly as possible (point 1 above) helps to keep your hands in the midrange of motion.

3) How to hold a pick/how to use your fingers:

When using a pick, we usually hold it with the thumb and index finger, leaving a small gap between the finger and the point of the pick.

When using fingers, we tend to put the thumb horizontally (sideways) on the bass (so that the tip of the thumb is sort of pointing towards the head of your bass), and we use the index and middle fingers to pluck the strings. We usually alternate between fingers (index-middle-index-middle-etc), making a sort of "walking" motion on the strings (some people find imagining a paintbrush stroke helpful).

4) Tuning the bass: Tuning the bass is much like tuning the guitar, so read my page on how to tune the guitar with a tuner, here. The only difference is most basses have only 4 strings, so you'll only be tuning to E A D G (instead of E A D G B E, like the guitar):

1st string (closest to feet) -> G string
2nd string -> D string
3rd string -> A string
4th string -> E string

5) How to read bass music: [link coming soon]

6) Basic rhythm: Musicians need a good sense of pitch, and a good understanding of rhythm. I've written a post about basic rhythm which you can check out by clicking here.

Follow these steps, and you'll be well on your way to playing the bass!

Wednesday Weekly Progress - February 15

February is continuing to go very well. Here's my progress for the week.

1) This blog - ongoing: 

This was another good week for the blog. Here's what I've been posting.

Practicing in Two Dimensions: Learn how to practice in two dimensions, and greatly increase the speed at which you improve.

The Basics of Playing Ukelele: Starting out on the uke? Get started here!

When five musicians play the same guitar...: The title says it all. A really cool video!

Basic Rhythm:  Every musician needs to understand and develop a good sense of rhythm. This blog post will get you started.

Songwriting Sessions Songwriting in Action (lyrics first!), Part 5: Here I continue my song that I'm writing for the blog, "Blood in the Fields". This week I tried it with some electric guitars. Check out my progress so far!

Guess When Necessary: When as musicians is it good to guess?

Do I Really Need to Learn Scales?: Is it possible to get by learning bass, guitar, or ukelele without ever learning scales? This post gives you the answer.

I'm probably going to be dialing back a little on my blog-posting, as I'm entering crunch time for recording my album (I have about a month or so to finish it), but I will continue to post Monday through Saturday.

Progress so far: 13% (these percentages are just my best guess, but it's probably close enough)


2) Songs For Ghosts (my 2nd album):

I'm still trying to record the vocals perfectly in one take, like last week, but as of Monday that stops, for better or worse. I've learned a lot from doing so and have gotten a lot better at using a microphone, as well as learning to relax. I'm not going to lie, though: it will probably be a lot easier to record the vocals when I can start and stop wherever I want!

Progress so far: 70% - vocal work going well


3) Poster for my office:

I've been focusing on getting the posts done that relate to my poster (yet again), and I did quite well with that, having written 4 posts (also listed above): Practicing in Two Dimensions, The Basics of Playing Ukelele, Basic Rhythm, Guess When Necessary.

I feel good about this getting closer to being finished, and look forward to seeing more progress in the coming week.

Progress so far: 50% - good progress

4) Other repertoire - ongoing:

3rd album songs - I've been practicing less here. With the exception of the piano songs, I haven't done much practice on these songs at all, but I expect things to pick up more once I'm done my 2nd album.

Cover songs - Of the five songs I'm working on, I practiced most of them, but not very much, again because of the work on my album. I still haven't figured out my "endgame" for these songs (aka when to be finished learning them), but I'm guess maybe end of the summer

Have a great week and keep making progress, and I'll do the same!

Do I Really Need to Learn Scales?

(This post is part of an ongoing series about the importance of learning scales, which started with this post here: Why You Should Learn Your Scales)

Many students resist the idea of learning scales. They are not as fun or as exciting as learning songs, at least not to the untrained musician. Nevertheless, I always encourage students to learn scales. And most students will learn them, at least reluctantly. Having said that, I think there are still those of you who want to know if you really need to learn scales, or if you can get away without knowing them.

Is it possible to learn guitar, bass, or ukelele without learning scales? Yes it is.

1)  If you only want to learn songs, and you never have any questions or concerns about which fingers to use (which means someone is probably teaching how to play the songs), you might not need scales.

2) If you never want to have a deeper understanding of music, you might not need scales.

3) If you never want to write music (or at least understand what you're writing), you might not need scales.

4) If you never want to understand the easiest way to improvise or write a solo, and you always want to fumble around in the dark and do things the hard way, you might not need scales.

5) If you have no concerns about injuring yourself while playing (yes, this happens more often than you'd think), then you might not need scales (scales are often an excellent warm up and help with circulation).

Yes, it is possible to learn to play music without learning scales. But it is much harder to do. Learn your scales!

Guess When Necessary

Should we be humble as musicians? Absolutely.
Should we ask for help from a professional teacher whenever possible or necessary? Definitely.
But sometimes as musicians we don't have someone to give us an answer (at least not right in the moment). In those situations, we always make our best guess.

I do what I can to put as much information on my blog as possible so you have the information you need. But I can't possibly foresee the answer to every possible question (part of the reason I recommend you find a teacher and take lessons with them).

Don't know which fingers to use or the exact rhythm of the chorus? Guess.
Don't know how the solo to your favourite song should be played? Listen to the song, then take your best guess.
Don't know how to plug into your amp properly? Okay, you should probably read the manual so you don't cause anyone to go deaf!

In general, as long as you are seeking improvement, and so long as you are doing what you can to make an improvement (which includes being humble and asking for help), you should guess when necessary.

Songwriting Sessions: Songwriting in Action (Lyrics first!), Part 5

Part 1 for this series of blog posts can be found here.
Part 2 for this series of blog posts can be found here.
Part 3 for this series of blog posts can be found here.
Part 4 for this series of blog posts can be found here.

How I write songs

One important component of my songwriting is: patience. I'm not usually in a great hurry to finish a song. Why? Because most of the time they don't come all at once. Once I have the basic structure or "skeleton" of a song, I tinker with it and chip away at it until it's done.

I don't always know exactly what's going to happen with a song, so my general approach to writing a song is:

1) Write some stuff for 10-15 minutes
2) Leave it until the next day (but always make sure to remember what I wrote - my number one rule for songwriting).
3) Repeat steps 1 and 2 until I feel like the song is finished.

In my last post on songwriting I did an acoustic demo of the song. I wasn't completely satisfied with the song, so I left it for the day. I've been pecking away at the song here and there this week (probably 2-3 times), and this is what I came up with:



Now why did I decide for an electric guitar in the recording? I think early on I planned to add some electric guitars, and possibly eliminate the acoustic. I'm still not sure.

The great thing about writing a song is that you don't have to commit to an idea right away. I may end up junking what I have so far and do something different. But at least as this point I like what I have.

Some thoughts on this version of the song:

1) It's definitely not done. I know I need more space in the song. It's too compressed, too short. There probably should be a guitar solo in there somewhere. There needs to be more space in between some of the verses and chorus, and I was aware of that immediately after recording this. But I left it as is because I wanted to give you a "snapshot" of the current state of the song, and before the day is over!

2) The electric version has a different vibe. I like the song like this. The other version was a bit more like a traditional song or folk song, which is definitely cool, but I'm not sure if it was the right vibe for the song. Time will tell.

3) I changed a chord. In the verse, I replaced a C and Dm chord with Em. Why? It seemed cool that in D Dorian (the key the song is in) I can play an Em chord. In normal D minor you would get an E diminished chord, which is not usually as cool (in my opinion). One of my goals with this song is to explore Dorian mode a little more and see what can be done with it.

4) I changed the vocals a bit. I'm still not 100% sold on the vocal melody, so it's in a kind of state of flux until I find exactly what I want. Not my greatest vocal take, either, though it's not too bad.

More work to be done, but I thought it'd be interesting to share what I've got so far. Enjoy! And keep writing!

Basic Rhythm

Music requires two very important elements: pitch and rhythm. Pitch is the frequency (the "highness" and "lowness") of the notes. Rhythm determines how close or far apart the notes are.

You need a good sense of pitch and a good sense of rhythm. Well, today's post is all about learning the basics of rhythm. Let's get started with some of the basics.

Basic Rhythm Symbols

This is a time signature. The top four tells you that there are four beats in every bar (a "bar" is just a section of music - we use bars to divide up the music and make it easier to read). The bottom four tells you that a "quarter note" (or "ta") is worth one beat. The beat is usually just how fast you would tap your foot to the music (honestly, try tapping your foot along to a song, and you're probably tapping to the beat).

Songs also have a "tempo", which tells us how many beats are in a minute.


Length of different notes 

Quarter note ("ta") - 1 beat

Dotted Quarter note - 1 and a half beats

Two eighth notes ("ti-ti") - 1 beat in total, each note is half a beat

Half note - 2 beats

Whole note - 4 beats

Dotted Half Note - 3 beats

Tickati ("ticka-tee") - two sixteenth notes (1/4 beat each), followed by an eighth note (1/2 beat)

Titicka ("tee-ticka") - an eighth note (1/2 beat), followed by two sixteenth notes (1/4 beat each)



Lengths of different rests

A "rest" is pretty much what you'd expect - a pause in the music. Don't play anything on a rest.

Whole rest - 4 beats

Half rest - 2 beats

Eighth Rest - 1/2 a beat

Quarter rest - 1 beat

When five musicians play the same guitar...

Okay, this video is a few years old now, but it's such a great performance. If you haven't seen it yet, now's your chance!

This video demonstrates the power and flexibility that an acoustic guitar offers, musically speaking. It's FIVE people playing the same instrument, and it sounds awesome. I didn't know such great music could be made with only one instrument.

Apparently this video took 14 hours to shoot/get right. That's perseverance right there!

Enjoy your weekend!

The Basics of Playing Ukelele

Getting started on the ukelele is pretty easy, compared to guitar and bass. Here are a few tips to get you learning the ukelele.

1) Learn to tune the ukelele: I made a post about tuning the ukelele, which you can check out here.

2) Holding the ukelele: If you're sitting down, you can simply hold the ukelele in you lap. Do it in a way that is comfortable, and makes it easy to reach the strings.

If you're standing, you should be able to cradle it under your strumming arm (usually your right arm).

3) Pick or no pick?

Some people use a pick when playing ukelele. Some don't. Should you use one? I think it's perfectly fine to use a pick so long as you don't strum too hard (you don't want to break a string). Personally, I do not use picks most of the time I play ukelele, but I do on occasion.

When holding a pick, use your thumb and index finger, and make sure you strum the guitar with the point of the pick (not the round part). Hold the pick closer to the tip (point) for better control.

If you're not using a pick, you can use your thumb or your index finger (or any finger, really) to strum the ukelele. Experiment with different fingers and see what works best. I use my index finger but I've seen a lot of people use their thumb.

4) Learn some chords

You'll probably want to learn to play a few chords, as ukelele is probably at its most fun when playing chords. Here are a few chords to get you started.

5) Learn some rhythm: Rhythm is essential to any good musician. I've written about the basics of learning rhythm here.

6) Practice! I'll put up the same link here that I did in my post for the basics of playing guitar: There is no excuse for no practice.

You're on your way to learning the ukelele! Follow these tips as closely as you can, and you'll be playing in no time.

Practicing in Two Dimensions

There are always two things you can change about the music you are practicing: how much of the song you are playing at one time, and how quickly you are playing it.

Play less

If what you are doing feels difficult, try taking away a few notes and see if playing it becomes easier. If it does, try gradually adding back the notes you took away until you are playing them again.

I often use this technique with my students to "trick" their brain into playing the song properly. It can be a very fast and effective way to clear out any unnecessary stops or gaps in playing.

Play slower

Sometimes it is necessary to play slower. You can do this in two ways: by either slowing down the tempo of the song, so everything is slower (but your rhythm is still correct), or playing at the same tempo and introducing gaps into your playing (changing the rhythm). I find adding these fake gaps can really help when you're close to being able to play something, but you're not quite there yet.

Use the gaps to learn to relax your hands more and make your playing more efficient, and then slowly get rid of the gaps again as you learn to play with smaller, easier movements.

Playing everything slower is an especially good idea when a song is new and unfamiliar, or when you're just trying to make sure the rhythm is correct. Slow everything down until you know your rhythm is correct, then gradually add the speed back until you're up to tempo.

Adding gaps or slowing everything down: which to use?

As a general rule, I add gaps when I'm not relaxed enough to make one particular movement (if I notice, for example, that one part of what I'm working on is really difficult).I slow everything down when I need more work on the rhythm or if what I'm playing just seems difficult everywhere.

Mix and match

Experiment with playing less, or playing more slowly (by adding gaps or changing the tempo) in your own practice. Most students play too much and too fast, and miss opportunities to learn to relax more and develop a greater awareness for their playing.

You are in control of how fast and how much you play. Use this knowledge to your advantage when practicing! You will save time and get more done in less practice time.

Wednesday Weekly Progress - February 8

February is going well for me. Let's see what I've been up to this week...

1) This blog - ongoing: 

I'm continuing to work hard on the blog. Here are all the posts I did since last Wednesday:

Improvise Using Scales: Scales are important for improvising, which you can learn more about here.

The Basics of Playing Guitar: This post covers some of the basics for you beginners out there (I'll have a similar post for ukelele and bass soon).

Songwriting Sessions: Songwriting in Action (Lyrics First!), Part 4: An ongoing series of posts in which I show the steps I take writing a song. This week I recorded a demo of the song I've been writing.

No Excuse For No Practice: There is always the ability and the opportunity for practice, as I demonstrate in this post.

Cello-struck!: Thunderstruck on cellos? Check out this cool video by 2Cellos.

Introduction to Blues Music: A brief intro to the blues.

Practicing is Not Playing, Playing is Not Practicing: Learn to make the distinction between playing and practicing (they are not the same thing!)

Progress so far: 11% (these percentages are just my best guess, but it's probably close enough)


2) Songs For Ghosts (my 2nd album):

I've made some more great progress here. I have some vocal recording done, and although I'm not sure how many "one-take" recordings I got (I'm trying to record the vocals perfectly in one take), my voice is getting stronger, and I feel confident that vocal recording will keep getting easier.

Progress so far: 66% - vocal work going well


3) Poster for my office:

Just like last week (again), I believe I did 2 blog posts relating to my poster (Practicing is Not Playing, Playing is Not Practicing, and The Basics of Playing Guitar). As I mentioned last week, it is getting harder to do 2 posts relating to my poster each week. But that doesn't really matter, as I can keep putting the work in, and it will eventually get done.

Progress so far: 47% - solid progress

4) Other repertoire - ongoing:

3rd album songs - Practice on the 15 songs I have for this album is slow but steady. I definitely feel the need for lyrics on a few songs, as I feel stuck on the music until I have a better sense of direction for the song.

Cover songs - Of the five songs I'm working on, I practiced all of them (which is better than last week), but not much. I still don't know precisely when I should have these ready for, but I should come up with some sort of reasonable deadline.

Here's hoping you're making great progress as well! Never give up!

Improvise Using Scales

(This post is part of an ongoing series about the importance of learning scales, which started with this post here: Why You Should Learn Your Scales)

Scales are at the heart of improvisation. Whether you're learning the blues (which I've posted an introduction to here), jazz, or any other style of music, you're going to need to know your scales if you want to improvise.

Why do we need scales for improvising? Well, the fact is that most music, including the chords and melody, is based on scales. This means that when a song is based on a particular scale, let's say C, then all of the C scale notes are typically going to sound the best in that song. A song based on an E minor scale wants E minor scale notes.

The more scales you know, the easier it is to improvise. But I'll give you some basic tips to get you started.

1) The root is king: The note the scale starts on tends to be the strongest. If a song is based on a G scale, the G note in the scale is the root, and will be the strongest sounding note in the song. When in doubt, stick to using the root a lot when improvising.

2) Keep it simple: Most people try to play way too much, way too often when improvising. Take your time and remember that music is an art form and art is about communication. Can anyone really hear what you're saying if you don't give them a moment to think about it? Put some space between your riffs and give your audience room to breathe.

3) Develop a vocabulary: As you improvise, watch and listen to what you're playing. If you like the sound of something that you do, remember it! You can always use again next time you improvise. In this way you can develop a vocabulary for improvising.

The ability to improvise is one that can always be sharpened and improved with time and mindful practice. Keep at it, pay attention, and don't get discouraged if it seems difficult. Keep going and it will get easier!

The Basics of Playing Guitar

Here are some tips to keep in mind as you learn to play guitar. Follow these carefully, and you'll make great progress in no time!

1) Keep your fingers curled (the joints): Make sure your finger joints stay curled whenever possible, as it makes it easier to produce clear sounding notes. If you flatten your fingers too much, you can accidentally block a string below your fingers. (On rare occasions you will want to flatten your fingers, but most of the time you won't.)

2) Use the tips of your fingers and press straight into the string: If you bend the string while playing, it will affect the pitch, and your notes and chords won't sound as good (except in songs where you're supposed to bend the strings). If you have smaller hands you may find some stretches difficult, but most hands can grow into the stretches necessary to play chords properly (just do your best in the meantime).

3) Play within the midrange of motion to prevent injury: I'll have a link about this soon, but the basic idea is to try to keep in the "midrange" of finger, hand, and wrist motions. In other words, don't flex or straighten your wrist or fingers any more than you have to. Overflexing while playing can lead to serious injury!

4) Keep your nails short: If your nails get too long, you can't press into the strings properly. Keep your fretting-hand nails short (if you really like having long nails, grow them twice as long on the other hand to compensate).

5) Hold your pick properly or Use your fingers properly (finger-picking): Make sure the "pointy" side of the pick is facing the guitar strings, and be sure to hold the pick close to the point for greater control (it requires more practice to pick accurately this way, but you will play much better.

For fingerpicking, you'll want your hand in a "relaxed" thumbs up position, with the fingers closer to the bridge of the guitar (the side that doesn't have the metal tuners). Try to have a good "follow through" with the fingers, so the fingers come almost right into (or almost right into) the palm.

6) Learn to tune your guitar: I've written a series of blog posts about tuning that you can check out here. Your instrument needs to be in tune for the songs you play to sound like they're supposed to.

7) Learn the basics of reading guitar tablature and/or sheet music: [link coming soon]

8) Learn the basics of reading rhythm: You need good rhythm as a guitarist. Learn about the basics in my post on rhythm by clicking here.

9) Make sure you practice: There really is no excuse for not practicing. Be sure to do it! 5-15 minutes a day is a good minimum to start, and time will tell whether your goals as a guitarist require more practice time.

Songwriting Sessions: Songwriting in Action (Lyrics First!), Part 4

Part 1 for this series of blog posts can be found here.
Part 2 for this series of blog posts can be found here.
Part 3 for this series of blog posts can be found here.

Over the last few weeks I've been writing a song, starting first with the lyrics. In Part 1 I wrote a rough draft of the lyrics, and in Part 2 I edited those lyrics. Part 3 was a rough sample of the vocal melody. Today I'm going to post a demo of the song! That's right, you'll get to hear the song from start to finish, at least in some form or another.

I decided to demo this using an acoustic guitar, because that's probably the easiest way for me to do it in such a short period of time. I think I would like this song to have an electric guitar instead, but I'm not 100% sure yet, and it sounds good on acoustic anyway. I figured I'd record it on acoustic and figure those details out later.

Without further ado, here's the demo:

This is a very rough draft, mind you, but I did my best given the time constraints, and it is my hope that next week, the song will sound even better!


Writing in a mode other than Ionian (major) or Aeolian (minor) is an interesting challenge.

Over the years I have written a number of songs, all of which I think have either been in a major or a minor key. Most pop, rock, and country songs are in a major or minor key. To write in Dorian is interesting, because in Dorian you are using the same notes as a regular minor key, but in a different order.

To clarify, this song is in D Dorian (D E F G A B C D). which uses the same notes as A minor (A B C D E F G A). So how did I make sure that the song was in D Dorian and not A minor? I made sure that the D note in my melody was strongly emphasized (the word "blood" in "There's blood in the fields" was emphasized when I sang that line), and made sure that the chord progression started with a Dm, The song keeps coming back to Dm, in the verse and the chorus.

There weren't many Dorian songs out there to help guide me when writing this song

I went looking for songs in Dorian mode and came up with a few:

Oye Como Va by Santana (cover, originally by Tito Puente)
What Shall We Do With the Drunken Soldier? (traditional)
Another Brick in the Wall by Pink Floyd
Scarborough Fair (traditional)
Get Lucky by Daft Punk
Horse With No Name by America
and maybe four or five others...

By comparison, almost every other pop, rock, and country song out there are written in a major or minor key! At any rate, I figured having a list of songs handy that are in Dorian mode would make writing the song easier if I got stuck.

Scarborough Fair was helpful, because I liked how the chords keep coming back to the root chord at the end of most phrases. I can't remember if I had the idea to keep coming back to Dm in my song because of Scarborough Fair, but that might've been the reason.

Otherwise, I didn't really use the other songs to help me write the song, but it's good when you're stuck to know that someone else has probably done something similar before you (but of course, it's up to you to make your take on something unique).

Dorian has some interesting things going for it that I'd like to explore further, which I intend to do with this song as I refine it. Next week I should hopefully have a more fleshed out version of this song. Keep writing!

(The next part of this series of posts, part 5, is here)

No Excuse For No Practice

It's tempting at times to skip practice for one reason or another. Life gets busy, schedules get changed, and sometimes things get difficult, making practice seem unimportant. But you should not do this. Practice is important and you must do what you can to make sure you do practice.

If you are sick, you can miss practice. Get lots of rest and recuperate. But otherwise, as a musician, you should take responsibility for your actions and never excuse yourself from practice.

I'm going to list a bunch of reasons given for not practicing, and I'm going to debunk all of them. None of them actually keep you from practicing.

Reason #1: "I'm too busy"

I have honestly heard this excuse on more than one occasion, and I always have to laugh. I am currently studying 4 languages, teaching 58 students a week, recording an album, planning several books, writing monthly articles for a local newsletter, and helping to maintain a neighbourhood orchard. Despite all of this, and despite having a wife and three kids,  I still somehow find time to practice four different instruments (acoustic/electric guitar, ukelele, bass, and piano) and work on my singing voice.

If I can make time for practice, so can you. Even on busy days you probably have five minutes to spare, if you want to practice badly enough. Sometimes I get two minutes on the piano before something interrupts my busy life, but that doesn't stop me. I still practice when I can. So should you!

Reason #2: "I don't understand what I'm working on"

It is true that sometimes you may not understand the song(s) you're working on. But why let that stop you from practicing? Rehearse your old material, practice your scales, jump on YouTube and try to figure out how to play a song, memorize your scale notes or string names. There is always something else you can practice if you think creatively.

Reason #3: "Practice isn't fun"

Most people don't like doing things that are hard, and sometimes practice seems difficult. All it takes is a little change in perspective to make practice fun again. Make a game of practice. Challenge yourself to practice something as many times as you can in one sitting, then try to beat that record tomorrow (this kind of mindset tends to work well with athletes and very competitive students). Break your practice up into smaller sessions over the same day so it doesn't feel as difficult. Take the occasional break from the hard material and play something easy. Then go back to the harder stuff. Do whatever it takes to get motivated and stay motivated.

Practice is always fun for me. I do get a little discouraged from time to time, but I have enough variety with what I'm working on that there's always something interesting to do.

Reason #4: "I have too much to practice"

This is an easy reason to rebuke. Practice what you can, and then don't worry about the rest!

Reason #5: "I don't have enough stuff to practice"

Most students stop practicing sooner if they feel they don't have enough material to work on. The same students also never come back and play their songs perfectly. If you don't have enough to practice, why haven't you finished the stuff we're working on?

Spend more time practicing the songs you have, and if you still really feel like you need more material, you can either have your teacher give you more, or you can go online and try to find something new to work on. I don't think a lot of the stuff you find online is all that good, but you'll still learn a lot from it (more than you would from not practicing!).

Practice!

There are probably other good-sounding "reasons" for not practicing. But trust me, with the possible exception of being ill, there really are no legitimate reasons not to be practicing on a regular basis. Don't beat yourself up for having missed practice in the past, but don't let your past habits define your future. Keep practicing!

Cello-struck!

One of my favourite songs featuring an electric guitar... but on cello!

This video just goes to show you how the musical possibilities are endless... there's always a cool new way to create art, whether it's a brand new composition, or a new take on an old piece of music.

Enjoy!

Introduction to Blues Music

Let's learn about the Blues!

Quick background: A form of music based on the songs of African-American slaves, the blues has become an international style of music, found just about everywhere! The blues are also at the heart of Rock n Roll, which was greatly inspired by the blues, and can be heard in early rock songs like "Jonny B Goode" by Chuck Berry.

Who should learn about the blues? Anyone who wants to learn the blues, rock, or jazz

What makes the Blues unique? The blues is a very interesting form of music, because we often find ourselves mixing and matching the major and minor scale based on a particular note. It's not uncommon to play an A major chord (or an A7 chord, an A major with an added b7), while someone else is improvising a solo based on the blues scale in A (more on that below), which is based on an A minor scale!

Popular blues artists: BB King, Muddy Waters, Stevie Ray Vaughn

How to play the blues: The easiest way to get started playing the blues is to learn about the 12-bar blues. Let's talk about how to play the 12-bar blues for guitar and for bass.


How to play the 12 bar blues on guitar:

I'll show you the two easiest ways to play the blues in A (you can play the blues in any key, but A is the easiest on guitar). One way is playing rhythm guitar, the other is a way to play lead guitar.

First, how to play rhythm guitar for the 12 bar blues. Follow the tab below, using your 1st finger for fret 2, and your 3rd finger for fret 4.

Now, let's start learning how play lead. Start by learning the scale below, the Blues scale in A.

Now that you've got the easiest way to play the blues scale, let's use it in with a backing track. For those who don't know, a backing track is just a song that usually doesn't have any vocals or melody. You play along with it and create the melody by improvising!

Here's a backing track I made that you can use with your blues scale in A:

A few pointers to get you started. The A note is the strongest sounding note, and the best one to build your riffs around. If you don't know your fretboard yet (I've posted about it here), the A is on the 5th fret of your 6th string (low E), the 7th fret of the 4th string (D), and the 5th fret of the 1st string (high E). Otherwise, try not to jump around the scale too much or too quickly, and try to leave some space between your awesome riffs. Music is like a conversation; there should be natural pauses in your playing.

How to play the 12 bar blues on bass;

Here's a "walking" bass line that's pretty common to the blues:

Try playing this along with the video above. The trick is trying to match up your playing with the riffs I'm playing in the video. This is easier said than done without some sort of help (unless you've already got a really good ear for music), but do your best, and you'll get better with practice.


This is only the beginning...

There's a lot more to the blues than what's listed here, but this at least gives you a pretty basic introduction to what's involved in playing the blues. In the future we'll learn about turnarounds, other forms of the blues (not just the 12 bar blues!), minor blues, and more!