Musicality World

New musicality video:

When it comes to playing by ear and improvising, the major pentatonic is a perfect place to start. https://www.musical-u.com/learn/major-pentatonic-guitar-bass-piano-singing

The major pentatonic scale is one of the most useful and universal, and has the advantage of being easier to learn and use than the full major scale most musicians start with.

In this month’s Instrument Packs at Musical U our four Resident Pros taught easy, practical ways to put the major pentatonic to use on guitar, bass, piano and when singing. Building on our training modules which teach members to recognise the major pentatonic scale and each of its notes by ear, as well as last month’s Resource Packs on Beginning Improvisation, these new tutorials help make the connection to instrument skills and practical use of the pentatonic when playing and creating music.

https://www.musical-u.com/learn/major-pentatonic-guitar-bass-piano-singing

The major pentatonic pops up in basslines across a variety of genres and that makes it a powerful tool for the bassist who wants to improvise, write their own lines, or play basslines by ear. Steve Lawson dives deep into the several different ways you’ll encounter this scale being used – and shows you how to get familiar with them all – through fun and creative playing exercises.

Including:

– Where you’ve heard the major pentatonic before on bass.
– The useful connection between the pentatonic and the chords of a key.
– Different ways to play through the notes of the scale to internalise its potential uses.
– Finding the root note in different positions of the scale.
– Using certain notes as “pivot” notes in your riffs and lines.
– MP3 practice tracks to experiment with the major and minor pentatonic in different keys and styles.

As always Steve brings an extensive knowledge of bass history and a creative mindset to learning the practical skills, making this a far more interesting and valuable tutorial on the major pentatonic than the traditional purely-theory-based way of teaching it. Get your Motown groove on!

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Bass: Major Pentatonic

New musicality video:

GRAPH! Ear Training is so frustrating!
https://www.musical-u.com/learn/ear-training-possible-impossible/

Don’t worry if you’ve struggled with intervals. You’re certainly not alone, and it will be possible for you to learn. Here are some recommended changes to your musical training and you’ll soon be making clear progress towards that goal!

Last week, Musical U received a question from someone who’d been using our ear training exercises and felt frustrated that they weren’t making faster progress. In fact, they’d reached the point of despair, wondering if it was actually even possible for them to learn intervals.

They said: “I’m starting to suspect that I have a brain that simply cannot comprehend the distance between notes, no matter how hard or for how long I try. Have you ever encountered anybody with “music dyslexia?” Is there such a thing?”

Maybe you can relate to this. There are probably areas of your own musical training where you’ve wondered “do I have what it takes to learn this?”

It’s a question I’ve heard a lot over the years, in different forms.
– “Is ear training even possible for me?”
– “Are my ears broken?”
– “Maybe I’m just not musical”

I certainly know that feeling. When I was learning music at school I would ask myself this kind of question often. The self-doubt returned later on when I began doing ear training.

Since then I’ve been blessed with the opportunity to help thousands of email subscribers and hundreds of members inside Musical U with their ear training, so I can tell you with confidence: you are not alone in wondering this!

I can also tell you: Yes, you can do it.

Now I know you’re probably thinking “How do you know? My situation is different. Maybe I actually am musically handicapped.”

Let’s specifically discuss the question of interval ear training – but most of what we’ll be talking about applies more broadly to all areas of musicality training.

https://www.musical-u.com/learn/ear-training-possible-impossible/

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Learn more about Musical U!

Website:
https://www.musical-u.com/

Tone Deaf Test:
http://tonedeaftest.com/

Musicality Checklist:
https://www.musical-u.com/mcl-musicality-checklist

Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/MusicalU

Twitter:
Tweets by MusicalU

YouTube:
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCMvINJvCeFbz0tMeTHfKObQ

Subscribe for more videos from Musical U!

Is Ear Training Impossible?