Author: Musicality

https://www.musical-u.com/learn/speaking-rhythm-beat-really-mean/
Have you been reading about music?

Commented about music on social media?

Had a lively conversation with your besties about your favorite songs?

Sometimes it seems like we spend more time—and a whole lot more words—talking about music than we do making it!

So why all these words about music? After all, can’t the music speak for itself?

We come up with all kinds of colorful expressions to describe these musical experiences in our casual conversations.

Oftentimes, these casual terms wrap musical structure, emotion, meaning, and cultural embeds all up in one clever package.

In the spirit of increasing our understanding of music and our abilities to produce it, let’s look into one of the most common cultural musical idioms—the one little one-syllable zip-file “beat”—and unpack it with the language of music theory.

In this article you will find out what “beat” really means!

https://www.musical-u.com/learn/the-1-essential-activity-for-every-musician/
Being a musician is a tough schedule.

There’s practice.
Your classes.
Taking the time to compose or work on your improvisation.
Collaborating with other musicians in groups or orchestras.
And let’s not forget playing, playing, playing.

In the midst of all of this it can be all to easy to forget the most essential thing for any musician:

LISTEN!

Check out this article on why listening is so important.

https://www.musical-u.com/learn/musicality-means-jamming/
Want to see a musician smile?

Invite them to a jam session.

No other musical experience truly allows a performer to “let loose” and explore unknown realms of audio nirvana.

Awe-inspiring jamming takes great musicality.

The electric guitarist’s fingers fly at a dizzying pace, the drummer seems like she’s in a mad trance as limbs race in crazed groove, and the bass player’s syncopated rhythms drive the band on a hypnotically inspired moment of sheer musical bliss. When musicians jam, the magic of sound is palpable, dancing to the beat like a perfectly in-sync machine.

But a jam session is more than a host of musicians playing random melodies and rhythm.

Top notch musicality is key to a great jam session, but what is actually involved in a jam session? And why is jamming valuable?

Find the answers in this article.

https://www.musical-u.com/learn/5-things-guitarists-dont-hold-back/
If there is one skill that guitarists should develop more than anything else, what would it be?

Rhythm? (great answer, but not correct).

Dexterity? (good, but not right)

Maybe theory? (agree to an extent).

But the one thing guitarists should truly focus on is something which no one will tell you.

Listening.

The single most important thing is to always be developing is your aural skills.

Discover the 5 Things Guitarists Don’t Do That Hold Them Back

https://www.musical-u.com/learn/music-makes-better-4-infographics-prove/
Music is an incredible thing.

It can affect our mood, learning habits, and productivity.

Many people know that music can be powerful, but have you ever considered how much it affects your mind?

We’ve pulled together some of the most informative infographics from around the web to help us share how amazing music truly is.

https://www.musical-u.com/learn/how-to-improvise-on-guitar-3-simple-steps/
Improvisation is an essential guitar skill.

It can seem very intimidating at first.

It IS possible to learn improvisation in a simple step-by-step way.

Whether you’re playing lead guitar in a rock band, the guitarist in a jazz trio or a budding song writer who wants to improvise to help inspire creative new melodies and arrangements of your songs, learning to improvise in guitar should be an important focus for you.

Let’s look at a simple 3 step process you can use to go from “I can’t improvise!” to being able to pick up your guitar and knock out killer riffs from nowhere confidently and reliably.

https://www.musical-u.com/learn/interval-ear-training-help/
Are you up to your eyeballs in intervals!?

Or are you just starting out?

Either way, there are going to be times when you need some interval ear training help.

It’s good to start out by really understanding the benefits of interval ear training.

Beyond that you’ll want to have a stock of interval ear training tips and tricks to keep you making progress.

We share some useful hints in this article.

https://www.musical-u.com/learn/the-secret-music-practice-skill-audiation/
“What secret practice skill can significantly increase your progress?

This process of audiation can considerably strengthen your skills as a musician.

In the 1957 musical The Music Man, a con-artist posing as a music teacher taught his eager students the “think method” for learning music.

“Professor” Harold Hill claimed that if you thought your way through a song, you would magically be able to play it.

While this method has some obvious flaws (such as not teaching fingerings for even a single note to an entire marching band) there is something to Professor Hill’s claim…

Thinking your way through music may not be enough to really learn it, but it can be a highly effective tool for accelerating your progress and improving your musical ear.

Read more to discover the powerful world of audiation.

https://www.musical-u.com/learn/the-drama-continues-five-more-tips-for-creating-dramatic-moments-in-your-songs/
Your song needs DRAMA!

Are you a songwriter or composer looking to give your song that crucial powerful moment that will have your audience rapt and engaged?

Let’s look at 5 effective techniques for creating dramatic moments in songs.

https://www.musical-u.com/learn/are-you-practicing-on-stage-instead-of-playing/
A surge of excitement rushes through your veins as you stride towards your instrument.

Glancing into the audience, you see familiar faces: friends, family members, perhaps that special someone… This is it. There’s only one option now.

You must play well.

You want to avoid mistakes.

You want your playing to be interesting.

To be well-timed. To be moving.

In short, you want your playing to be “good”.

So what our intuition tells us to do is this: to closely monitor our performance and make sure our playing is as good as it can be.

We actually have a name for this: we call it practicing.

Practice is all about putting your playing under a microscope, finding flaws, and fixing them.

Of course, on stage is the wrong time to be doing this.

You only get one shot and there’s no fixing mistakes. So instead, we should do the opposite: relinquish control, let the music flow, and just play!

Read on to learn to recognize the differences between practice and performance.