Author: Musicality

https://www.musical-u.com/learn/music-or-words-what-makes-a-song/
To a lot of listeners there are just two parts to a song: the music and the lyrics.

This is enough of a truism that they named a Hugh Grant movie after it, Music & Lyrics, in which the hapless hero writes amazing music but needs help crafting the words which will bring his songs to life…

So which comes first?

Many songwriters find it a “chicken and egg” problem, not knowing whether to start by crafting a set of lyrics and then setting them to music, or to come up with a killer riff or chord progression and see what words it might inspire.

Which is more important? The words or the notes?

After reading this article you can make informed choice of whether to start with lyrics or music.

https://www.musical-u.com/learn/6-steps-to-learning-jazz-guitar-improvisation/
Learning to improvise well on the guitar is the holy grail for most guitarists.

Here, Zac Green from popular music blog Zing Instruments introduces us to his 6 steps to learning jazz guitar improvisation.

Enjoy!

https://www.musical-u.com/learn/how-long-does-it-take-to-play-a-song-by-ear/
How long does it take to play a song by ear?

How long it takes a musician to be able to play a song by ear will vary.

Some musicians would answer “it depends how good a musician you are” or “it depends if you’re gifted”.

These answers are unhelpful and inaccurate.

Although many great musicians do find it easy to quickly play songs by ear, there are many more who found it difficult and had to practice before they could do it quickly.

For most musicians there are two big factors in how long it takes to play a song by ear.

Read this article to discover these two big factors and how you can play by ear.

https://www.musical-u.com/learn/chord-ear-training-how-to-chord-types/
Chords are an incredibly powerful tool for playing and creating music!

In “Chord Ear Training: What is it and What can it do for you?” we discussed the reasons musicians train their ears for chords, looked at the benefits of chord ear training, and gave an overview of the two main areas you can focus on.

Now let’s look in detail at the first area: Chord Types Ear Training.

https://www.musical-u.com/learn/guest-post-solfeggio-and-ear-training-shelle-soelberg/
Are you interested in ear training and solfa?

Solfa is great for improving relative pitch, but it can be a confusing subject to approach at first.

Today we welcome to the site Shelle Soelberg of Let’s Play Music – Making Musicians!

She explains some of the theory of solfeggio and the benefits of using solfège ear training with children.

https://www.musical-u.com/learn/ear-training-site-profile-jazzguitar-be/
Jazzguitar.be Official Fan Page | Jazz Guitar Online is a goldmine for guitarists!

From beginning to intermediate stage of jazz training.

Featuring a dense list of lessons—from basic, general theory to advanced chord and scale concepts specific to the guitar—and a handful of solid transcriptions, not to mention an active forum full of expert advice on every jazz guitar topic under the sun, it’s well worth a visit.

Just like any in-depth resource for jazz theory, however, the seemingly infinite torrent of new skills and information can become a little overwhelming.

This review highlights some of their features that are more relevant to ear training.

https://www.musical-u.com/learn/hip-hop/
Hip-hop is a powerful form of musical expression.

It has enhanced and empowered the lives of many people.

Nowadays, when people think about hip-hop, they often associate it with “rap music” without considering its poignant history and how it developed.

This limited view of hip-hop is the product of mainstream media.

It results in inadequate teaching and understanding.

In this article, we’d like to take you back to its roots and cultural movement throughout the last 40 years.

https://www.musical-u.com/learn/transcribe-music-like-pro-finding-key/
You hear your favorite tune on Spotify and want to jam along.

But every note you play seems to be wrong, even if the melody somehow sounds right at the same time.

What could be the problem?

Chances are you are playing in the wrong key.

Read this article and learn transcribe music like a pro, by finding the key.

https://www.musical-u.com/learn/training-ears-chords/
Isn’t it magical when someone sits down at the piano or picks up the guitar and seems to know how to play every song by ear?

It’s not magic – these musicians have spent some time learning the identify chords and chord progressions.

Would you like to learn how to do that, too?

With a little chord ear training, being able to play any song by ear is well within your grasp.

Even if you play an instrument that can’t voice chords, such as trumpet or singing, learning to recognize chords and chord progressions is essential ear training for any musician as it helps you to identify what is happening in the harmony of a song.

Discover more about chords and how to train your ears for them in this article.

https://www.musical-u.com/learn/bass-tone-playing-techniques-part-1/
The Bass is dynamic versatile instrument.

You have to change how you play it to achieve the sound of certain genres and styles.

Let’s look at some of the playing techniques used by bassists to achieve different sounds with their instrument.