Author: Musicality

https://www.musical-u.com/learn/sight-reading-music/
Remember back when reading was the ultimate skill to show off?

Your school teachers gave you the alphabet and unlocked a secret world you could navigate and understand. Now it’s hard to imagine a time when you couldn’t read street signs and non-picture books.

Music, like any written language, can give you that same limitless power you felt as a 5-year-old first entering a world filled with words. The key to this hidden realm within music is sight reading.

Discover what sight reading is and how it can help you.

https://www.musical-u.com/learn/open-ears-emerging-genres/
We are experiencing a truly revolutionary change in the world of music right now.

The digital era is breaking all the rules.

The flow of information is unstoppable, granting us access to infinite knowledge and giving us the opportunity to create and build like never before.

The best part of all is the stylistic diversity and new forms of sound expression that are being created. Almost every six months you can witness the outburst of a new splice between genres that you would never expect had anything in common.

This article will help you open your ears to new enjoying amazing worlds of music that are always growing.

https://www.musical-u.com/learn/are-singers-real-musicians-the-blessing-and-the-curse-of-being-a-singer/
Becoming a singer is a dream for many people, especially young people who dream of taking the stage, winning X-Factor or The Voice, or even touring the world, mic in hand.

But tell people you’re a singer and they may be a bit skeptical.

Certainly not as impressed as if you told them you play guitar, or violin.

That’s the blessing and curse of becoming a singer instead of another type of musician.

Learn why in this article.

https://www.musical-u.com/learn/mindful-practice-makes-perfect/
If you play an instrument, you know that it’s impossible to get better without practice.

But how should you practice?

Many people simply draw the conclusion that it’s only about how many hours you can spare. But research shows that that’s not the only thing it comes down to.

We’re going to take a closer look at mindful practice and how you can give it a try.

This is not only something that will make you a better musician, but also eliminate a lot of frustration and help you to focus on the task at hand.

https://www.musical-u.com/learn/the-magic-number-and-how-to-use-it-to-learn-anything/
The best way to approach learning is to understand the brain processes involved.

We musicians can use this knowledge to our advantage in figuring out how to commit concepts, theory, and pieces of music to our long-term memory and be able to effortlessly recall them at will.

How does this relate to the “magic number”?

The magic number is all about the Working Memory and what it can easily hold. To better understand this, first we need to go over the basics of memory.

https://www.musical-u.com/learn/introduction-to-improvisation/
Improvisation: a topic that is full of once-in-a-lifetime moments, tremendous virtuosity, freedom and… controversy. Why controversy?

Because there’s a healthy dose of misconception as to what is improvisation actually is.

Like life itself, musical improvisation is dynamic and ever-adjusting to the world around us. Once you master the rules of improvisation you achieve great freedom of expression: the most rewarding artistic experience a creator can achieve.

Read more about how improvisation is used throughout many styles of music.

and how you can start exploring improv yourself!

https://www.musical-u.com/learn/getting-started-the-importance-of-a-warm-up-routine/
Whatever your instrument is, a warm-up routine is an important part of practice.

Besides the obvious intention of getting “warmed-up,” as in a mental and physical preparation for playing, one of the great advantages of a well-structured routine is the application of fundamentals.

The focus of a warm-up routine in ear training is nearly the exact same as with an instrument. While there’s really no physical preparation for ear training, there certainly is a mental preparation that is necessary.

It’s also a great time to work on fundamentals—wide-ranging exercises that benefit multiple aspects of ear training.

Learn some great warm-up strategies in this article!

https://www.musical-u.com/learn/how-to-strum-and-fingerpick-3-and-4-chord-songs-by-ear-top-5-videos/
So you’ve learned how to play 3-chord songs and 4-chord songs by ear.

Now it’s time to move to the next level! Instead of simply strumming “1, 2, 3, 4” we’re going to learn some more advanced techniques to make your playing sound great.

We’ve found the 5 best tutorial videos for playing 3- and 4-chord songs in compelling ways. These demo videos include not only the 3- and 4-chord tricks, they’ll also teach you rhythm and strumming techniques, and advanced fingerpicking riffs.

You will not only improve your guitar skills, but you’ll also expand your repertoire of pop, rock and bluegrass songs.

https://www.musical-u.com/learn/does-ear-training-help-you-learn-new-instruments/
Ear training can greatly accelerate the process of learning a new instrument.

Part of learning an instrument is physical: teaching your fingers where to go when, and refining your timing and precision as you manipulate the instrument.

However, the other big aspect to learning an instrument is mental, and most of that mental aspect is common across instruments.

This is the “listening skills” and “musical understanding” which lie beneath instrumental skill, and once you have developed it for one instrument, you will find it transfers easily to other instruments.

That may seem vague and abstract.

Here we share some practical examples.

https://www.musical-u.com/learn/play-guitar-ear-101/
Wouldn’t it be awesome to be one of those guitarists who just shows up and jams?

No sheet music, no chord charts, no endless YouTube tutorials…

How do they magically seem to know and play every song—even songs they never heard before?

Well, if you think it’s because they spend 25 hours a day, fingers-to-the-fretboard, memorizing every song under the sun, you may be surprised!

While they may practice a good deal, their calloused fingers are often matched by well-honed ears.

Read on to discover why your ears are the key to true freedom on the fretboard and the essential areas to study if you want that seemingly-magical ability to play any song on guitar.