Category: Uncategorized

https://www.musical-u.com/learn/listen-to-les-part-1-the-gibson-les-paul/
What do you know about Les Paul?

Ask a guitarist to name five famous Les Paul players and you’ll probably get Slash, Jimmy Page, Pete Townsend and Joe Perry… and maybe Ace Frehley, or the late great Gary Moore.

There’s plenty of players to choose from: a quick look at the Gibson website reveals that just amongst the models currently on sale there are 23 signature edition Les Pauls!

In this series we’re going to explore the life of Les Paul: the only man to be in both the Inventors and the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, and hopefully demonstrate why he is the greatest example in history of musicianship and innovation acting in perfect (multitracked!) harmony.

We’ll start with a look at the classic Gibson “Les Paul” guitar, and Les’ role in its creation.

That’s what we’re talking about this week and what you’re going to be hearing in a minute is the recording of the first of these three sessions. Now, if you’re listening to this episode as it comes out, you can join us for parts two and three. I would love to see you there. You’ll find all the details in the show notes for this episode at musicalitynow.com or head to facebook.com/musicalu and you’ll find them there.

A couple of things to mention about the recording of part one that you’re about to hear. The first is that this was taken from the live stream, so unfortunately the audio is not quite as high quality as you’re hopefully used to on this show, but it’s still utterly listenable, we hope. And the second thing to mention is this is a bit long. It’s quite different in style to what you’re probably used to on this show. This is not a punchy 10-minute summary of the topic. This is me hanging out live for an hour with a bunch of MusicalU members and foundations course students and people from our email list talking about this topic of ease and joy, finding ways to relate it to your musical life and setting you up for transforming your experience of learning music with more ease and joy. So I hope you’ll enjoy it, this very different kind of an episode. And if you’re listening to this as it comes out, please do join us for parts two and three this week. We’d love to see you there.

Watch the episode:

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Links and Resources

• Foundations Of A Musical Mind
• Musicality Now – Unlocking Your Musicality: Part One w/Brent Vaarstra
• Free cheat sheet on enjoying practice
• Musicality Now – Hey! Where Are You Going?
• Musical U on Facebook

Subscribe For Future Episodes!

Apple Podcasts | Android | YouTube | Google Play (US only) | Stitcher | RSS

Enjoying the show? Please consider rating and reviewing it!

The post Ease and Joy in Music Learning appeared first on Musical U.

https://www.musical-u.com/learn/musicality-means-playing-from-a-lead-sheet/
Sometimes you’ll see musicians take out a big book containing literally hundreds of songs – or pass around a single sheet containing a whole song.

How is that possible when traditional sheet music can span several pages just for one piece?

The answer is they’re using lead sheets.

Being able to play a song just from a lead sheet or “fake book” is an important skill of musicality.

Check out this article and learn what a lead sheet is, and why and how to use them.

https://www.musical-u.com/learn/jazz-chords-made-easy/
Playing jazz seems from afar as daunting as it is amazing.

Have you ever wondered how you could ever get in on something that… complex? Difficult!

Do you feel like you don’t have the time or the talent to ever get to do that?

Jeffrey Agrell joins us to say, “It Doesn’t Have to be as Hard as it Sounds!”

In this post Jefferey makes jazz piano chords easy!

https://www.musical-u.com/learn/can-you-learn-perfect-pitch-a-new-scientific-study-aims-to-find-out/
There are few topics in ear training more contentious and misunderstood than “perfect pitch”.

Even the name is a source of confusion – it’s not about pitching notes perfectly, and it often isn’t a perfectly-reliable ability.

In fact, that’s exactly what a new scientific study aims to explore more fully: whether or not perfect pitch is an “all or nothing” skill, and what level of skill people who train their ears for perfect pitch can achieve.

In this article you will find out if you can learn perfect pitch.

https://www.musical-u.com/learn/triads-and-chord-inversions-on-the-guitar/
Guitar players have to do a lot!

As players, guitarists are expected to have a wide range of skills including incredible ears.

They are asked to play by ear, accompany singers in any key, and improvise.

In developing these skills they need to be able to recognize different chord types and their inversions, as well as to be able to translate what they hear to the instrument.

Close position triads on the guitar are perhaps not the most practical chords to use from a playing perspective, but they will help you understand the construction of larger four and even six note chords that you may be more familiar with, and provide a means for learning their sound quality in their most basic forms.

In this article we will review close position major and minor triads as they are found on the guitar.

https://www.musical-u.com/learn/country-music-history/
Country music is one of the most popular genres in The United States.

It’s appeal has even extended worldwide and influeced many genres.

Nowadays country has even become infused into Rap.

But where did country come from?

The birth of country music began with the folk songs, ballads, and musical creations from Irish, Scottish, and English settlers of the Appalachian Mountains.

A decidedly American style, country music centers around tradition but its simple form is perfect for a range of different themes – a fact that has helped prompt the development of country rock, country pop, and more.

Read on to uncover the fascinating history of country music!

https://www.musical-u.com/learn/classical-vs-acoustic-vs-electric-best-guitar-beginner/
Classical, acoustic, or electric?

These three different types of guitars offer different benefits, each type plays and sounds different, and each comes at a different price.

Guitar is one of the most versatile, expressive, and exciting instruments out there.

And choosing a guitar can be very exciting indeed – with three types out there and countless colorways available, picking out the instrument that will sit in your hands and help you make beautiful music is one of the biggest delights of starting out in guitar.

So how do you choose the right kind of guitar for you?

In this article we talk about the advantages and disadvantages of these three types to help alleviate some of the headache of choosing.

https://www.musical-u.com/learn/music-life-learning-music-around-the-world/
All over the world, children learn music.

Music brings us all together.

Music exists in every known culture to man.

From indigenous Australian aborigines exploring nature through sound to an elementary schoolroom in Japan learning the Suzuki method to American high schoolers jamming to a hopping jazz tune in New Orleans, each cultural group shares its own unique story through music.

Dive in to this article and explore some of the beuatiful music from all over the world!

https://www.musical-u.com/learn/how-to-actually-play-the-jazz-solos-you-hear-in-your-head/
Do you wish you could bring the jazz solos in your head out into the world through your instrument?

You can learn how from Mark Meronek, the founder of Pianobreaks.com which provides a range of tutorial videos for learning jazz piano.

Mark contributed a great answer to our recent jazz ear training which we are now glad to bring you in full.

Read on to discover Mark’s top advice for effectively training your ears to improvise in jazz.