Playing the Blues – Rhythm
A deep dive to unlock your blues rhythm mojo….
Ear Training
Using kids song’s to practice improvisation
Using kid’s songs to practive improvisation By Mattie O’Boyle If you are just starting out in improvisation, I recommend playing easy, kid’s songs. Since they won’t challenge you technically on your instrument, you’ll really be able to focus on your phrasing and breathing life into the tune. And, hopefully, you’ll find that any tune that … Read more
5 Ways To Use A Metronome To Go Further, Faster
5 Ways To Use The Metronome By Mattie O’Boyle Ready to up your rhythm game? Here are five ways to use a metronome to improve your sense of timing and rhythm. The first is the traditional, play on the beat. Make sure that each note coincides directly with a click of the metronome. The second … Read more
Breaking Into Chromatic Ear Training
Breaking Into Chromatic Ear Training With The Arpeggio App By Mattie O’Boyle An important step in ear training is to distinguish between notes that right next to each other. The musical term for these notes are chromatic notes. Once you can work with notes that are separated by two or more steps, than you can … Read more
Playing Bass Notes And Chords In The Melody App
Get Groovin’: Playing Bass Notes And Chords In The Melody App By Mattie O’Boyle In this week’s blog, we are going to check out a cool, easy way to practice adding bass notes into your chord playing. Playing bass lines and melodies in the bass really beefs up your chords and adds a layer of … Read more
Mix it up – Moving into syncopation
Mixing it up: Playing On The Beat And Off The Beat By Mattie O’Boyle A cool way to ease into syncopation In this week’s blog, we are going to explore a quick way to practice hearing, feeling and playing musical phrases that fall both on the beat and off the beat. This is the doorway … Read more
Don’t Play The Song – Play The Music
Play The Music, Not The Melody, By Mattie O’Boyle Don’t play the melody, play the music In each case, to bring out the music, we have to go beyond the melody So many musicians focus on learning songs. And that’s fine, but let’s dig deeper. When you really look closely it’s not the song that … Read more
Don’t Play The Notes – Play The Phrases
Playing music – it’s just like acting By Mattie O’Boyle Don’t play the notes, play the phrases In grade school, I was told to read in phrases, until I came to a punctuation mark. Here’s my definition of music: Music is the organization of sound and silence to produce certain emotional or physical effects in … Read more
Introduction To The Harmonic Series
The Harmonic Series By Mattie O’Boyle What is the Harmonic Series? The Harmonic Series provides the naturally occurring, physical basis for the sounds we hear. The harmonic series is a naturally occurring, acoustic phenomenon. When a body vibrates, like a string on a violin or a column of air in a flute, a complex, regular … Read more
Combine arpeggio and harmony ear training
Hearing The Chords By Mattie O’Boyle The Fast Track To Hearning And Playing Chords Most folks learning guitar, piano, harp, accordion, or, any other instrument that plays a lot of chords, need help perceiving the subtle differences between different chord forms; furthermore, they need to practice playing those chord forms back on their instruments. An … Read more
