Blues Chord Progressions

When it comes to popular music, it's hard to overlook the influence of the blues. You can hear it in everything from Led Zepplin to Nora Jones. It has also had a huge effect on jazz, pop and many types of folk music. There are a number of ways that you hear these effects. One of them is on chord progressions used in songs. Most people think that this is simply a matter of the I-IV-V blues form but it goes way beyond that. Today we'll look at some of the other common blues type progressions.

I-bIII-IV

This is the one that's used in all types of music from metal to dance. Some may think that it's a version of a minor chord progression but the main difference is the melody is a major scale played over the progression. A number of scales can be used over this progression; the major, blues and mixolydian scales are all available. This progression is used in two ways. First it's often used as the main idea in a rock song, usually played with a riff or reocurring line. It's also used in sequences where you would use a I-bIII-IV using the I chord and then transpose the entire progression up a fourth to be used over the IV chord. For example a E-G-A progression to a A-C-D progression.


I--IV-bVII-I

This is another progression that seems like it's 'borrowed' from the minor but like the progression above, it's used for major, minor and blues melodies. The bVII is often interjected into diatonic chord progressions but when used in this context it takes on the function of the V chord and pulls the harmony back to the I. Diatonic chords can be used with this progression but you'll often find that the progression on it's own pulls you in a more rock/blues direction.

I7-IV7-V7

You can hear the blues influence in this progression right from the first chord. Unlike a modal progression, all of the chords are dominant 7th which has a somewhat more 'unstable' sound than the straight major I. A number of scales can be used with this progression including blues, minor or major pentatonic, mixolydian, and major. Also, the b7th note in each chord may be used in the melody as a 'blue' note adding more interest. The progression is the core of the blues.

I7#9-bIII-IV


This the famous 'Jimi Hendrix chord'. Although used by many musicians, Jimi was the one that arguably made it famous. Sharp 9 chords are great for blues because they contain the natural 3 (from the harmony) and flat 3 (from the blues scale). Both rock and jazz musicians alike use this chord extensively when playing the blues as it tends to have more of a 'bluesier feel' than straight 9 (and especially b9 which lends more to a minor blues progression). The bIII and IV are added to finish off the progression although the sharp 9 chord will work with any blues progression.

I7-IV7-I-bVI-V7

This an added chord to end of the IV-V. A bVI chord is added to the turnaround to add a bit of spice. All of the chords in this example are major.

Im-IVm-V7(b9)

This the minor blues. There are many variations of this. The minors replace the majors in your standard blues progression. The flat 9 may or may not be used; it simply reinforces the minor sound. Minor 7ths may also be used.

Im-IVm-bVI-V7

Another variation of the minor blues. Often the bVI is added for a little more variety. Jazz musicians often take these progressions and add ii-V's and secondary dominants throughout the progression. Musicians like John Coltrane are famous for making up their own special variation of blues changes.

Just The Beginning

There are numerous variations of the blues. Too many to mention in this post. Any of the progressions listed above may be used in a 12 bar blues format or on their own. Many of these appear in pop, country and jazz tunes. There is no limit to the variations or ways in which you can use them. Take one at a time and explore the possibilities.

Intro To Pentatonic Scales

Most musicians are familiar with the pentatonic scales in one way or another. Most of the time it's usually learned early as a preparation for soloing and improvising. There are many pentatonic scales and many ways of using them.

It's Worldwide

Pentatonic scales are used in many types of music all over the world. Many different types of folk music use this scale. If fact most people are familiar with this scale without even knowing it because it's used so often. There's a great clip by Bobby McFerrin who sings a pentatonic melody to an audience and to their surprise, they finish the tune without him! African and European (Celtic, Scottish, Russian) folk music use pentatonics quite frequently.

It's Only 5 Notes

Most beginning musicians are familiar with only the minor pentatonic scale. In fact there are many different types. There is one based on the major scale, one on the minor, and many variations of these two. Basically a pentatonic can be defined as a scale with 5 notes...and that's all. It can be any 5 notes. So you can see how many possible permutations there could be. Also, pentatonic scales can be applied in different ways over different chords to achieve different results. In fact the major and minor pentatonics are the exact same notes applied in different ways over different chord progressions. That said, it's important to think of them in their own right i.e. the C major and A minor and not the C major starting on a different note.(It's important to think of all of your scales in this way i.e. A minor or D dorian and not C major.)

The Basics

Ok, let's start with the basics and go from there. The major pentatonic scale is the major scale without the 4th and 7th notes of the scale. These notes create certain tensions. Some music textbooks call them 'avoid notes' since they can sound 'wrong' when played at the wrong time.* The major pentatonic doesn't have these notes.The major pentatonic has the root, 2nd, 3rd, 5th, and 6th. That's it! The relative minor uses the same notes but the relationships end up being different. The minor pentatonic has the root, minor 3rd, 4th, 5th, and flat 7th. It's the minor scale without the 2nd and the 6th. (It's interesting to note that it's the 2nd and the 6th that differentiates the natural minor from the dorian and phrygian scales.) The blues scale is built upon this minor pentatonic but adds the flat 5th (the 'blue' note).

* There are no 'wrong' notes in music. There is only the situation where you are playing notes and not getting the desired outcome or sound that you intended.

Uses

The pentatonic scales are used in many ways. Initially they were used mostly in folk music as a basis for the melody and improvisation on that melody. They started to get used in jazz and rock and are used in almost every genre of music these days. The use of the minor pentatonic in rock music has almost become ubiquitous whenever you hear a guitarist going for a solo. Listen to any classic rock and guaranteed it's the scale used for the riff and solos and often the melody itself. Also, both the major and minor may be used in a song. The melody for the song will use the major scale but then the riff or solo may use the minor pentatonic. This happens in everything from country to rock.

Other Uses

There are a couple of other ways the pentatonic scales are used. First of all, since a pentatonic scale is technically any 5 notes, there can be many different possibilities for combinations. There are a number of different pentatonic scales*, quite a few of which have exotic sounds (and names). There is: Balinese, Chinese, Egyptian, as well as variations like the pentatonic Scriabin was famous for (a major pentatonic with a flatted 2nd).

*This is the Dolmetsch music theory site. Enter root note and scale from drop down menus to get the notes from any scale on the list!

Then there are the application of the major and minor pentatonic scales over different chords and keys. For example in the key of C major you could use the C major pentatonic (A minor pentatonic).  But you could also use other pentatonics like the E minor pentatonic or B minor pentatonic. Using these you end up playing different extensions over the chord. They can offer up some interesting sounds, especially when used in more elaborate chord progressions.

Start With The Basics

When teaching students how to improvise, I usually start with pentatonics. They're a great leaping off point for learning how to create phrases and exploring the musical thought process. By starting with a pentatonic scale over a basic chord progression, students find that improvising isn't the big mystery that they think it is. It's also easier to talk about (and actually hear) different ideas about phrasing, where to put your phrases and how to make a musical statement. It's easier to explain (and play!) question and answer (call and response) concepts. Once you get into the basics about how we create musical ideas, then you can get into some more advanced concepts such as motives, repetition, development, etc.

Explore The Possibilities

Even though there is only 5 notes, there is a world to explore in pentatonic scales. It's best to take them one at a time and see what can be done. Like everything else in music, it's better to know how to effectively use one scale, than it is to memorize a dozen without having a clue about how to use them. Take your time and explore the possibilities.

The Student Teacher Relationship

Most of the time, if you're looking to improve your skills or just starting out, you may want to seek out a good teacher to help you along. Ultimately becoming a great musician is up to the individual but having a good teacher can really help and speed up the learning process. A good teacher can add a lot to your development, they can keep you focused, help in your creativity and steer you in the right direction. In some cases though, they can unwillingly give you bad advice, bad technique, and send you in the wrong direction. Therefore it's always best to seek out the best teacher you can find.

Great Teachers Vs. Great Players

There are millions of teachers out there. Like mechanics and doctors, there are bad ones, mediocre ones and great ones. You might venture out looking for a teacher and find one right off the bat. More than likely though, you'll end up going through a couple of different teachers before you find one you really like. This isn't necessarily a bad thing since every musician has their own approach and something can usually be gleaned from their experiences. However, when you find the right teacher, you save yourself alot of time (and money) because you focus on the essentials, ans get right to the heart of your particular matter without wasting your time working on things that don't brigng you closer to your goals. As confusing as it may sound, the most successful musicians don't always make the best teachers. Sometimes you'll go out and see a great performer and find that they give lessons only to find that you didn't learn that much from them. Teaching is a whole other skill and just because you find a good player or good performer, that doesn't mean they'll be a great teacher. Being a good teacher is all about communication. It means being able to explain different concepts clearly. It's being able to see what you need and what you don't need. It means paying attention to your development and making sure you're heading in the right direction. Great players don't necessarily always have these skills. Also being a good teacher means being well versed in all aspects of music. Sometimes you'll come across a great (for example) blues musician and want to take lessons from them. That's great if you want to concentrate on playing that specific music. But, if want a more complete program, make sure the musician knows all of the other aspects like good technique, music theory and the fundamentals. It's possible to be able to play many different styles without having a clue about what you're doing.


Background

Teaching in itself is a talent and takes a special kind of person to do it really well. There are a number of things that a teacher must do that aren't part of the normal musician's skill set. Some of these things include 1) putting together a program for each individual student. 2) monitoring the students progress and making sure that the right things are being worked on. 3) figuring out what the student needs and their strengths and weaknesses.4) including all of the necessary fundamentals and not just 'learning tunes' or 'licks'. There are some teachers that go through school and have degrees from accredited colleges. While not a guarantee that they'll turn out to be a great teacher, it's a good indication that they've gone through numerous programs and have a well rounded knowledge of music fundamentals. You can go through private lessons or go down to your local music school and see what they have to offer. Generally, the 'best' teachers will offer private lessons because they've usually been doing it a while and have worked up to making enough money just from private students. However, this isn't always the case. Most teachers I know teach at a school and privately. Many fine teachers can be found at the music schools. Most music schools require that the instructors have a music degree. Make sure ask. Talk to the people at the school about where you are and what you want to learn. If you're more advanced, tell them. Some schools have specific teachers that will take on the more advanced students or students that have specific requirements (e.g classical or jazz guitar). 

Know Thyself

It's important to know what you want from the teacher before you even start. Most good teachers will ask about your goals are right off, but now always. Make sure you know what you want and make sure to tell them. Even if you're just starting and don't know exactly what you want, simply state that you want to learn the fundamentals, proper technique and some songs in your favorite style of music. That should be enough to let any teacher know what to do. If you're more advanced, tell the teacher where you are, what to want to learn and what you expect from the lessons. The more information you bring to the teacher, the better. If you've had any bad experiences in the past, let them know that too.

What Can You Do For Me?

Once you've found a teacher, ask them what they teach, how they go about the lessons and if they follow any specific program. Most teachers have a preferred way of teaching. They may not always have a developed program written out but they do have a specific way of teaching. Ask them about this beforehand. Ask them what you'll be doing for the first 6 months. As soon as they see where you are in your development, they should be able to answer this question. Be prepared for any answer they give you. Sometimes I come across a student who wants to learn it all, right away. Once I tell them that it will probably take the better part of a year (and more!!) to learn the skills they want to develop, they don't always react positively.

Never Stop Learning

The biggest advice I can give about finding a teacher is always challenge your teacher and not settle. Don't be afraid to challenge your teacher. Quite often students will go out and just settle with the first teacher they find. You usually end up creating a relationship with that person and will stick with them. This isn't always in your best interest. Once you find someone, make sure that you're learning and heading in the direction you want. Keep your ears and eyes open. If you have a chance to do a lesson with another teacher, do it. See how that lesson goes. Compare it to your current teacher. You'll find that you'll learn something from every musician you come across but then there will be that one that you come across that takes your playing to a whole new level.

Keys To Becoming a Great Musician

There are many ways to get good at your perspective instrument and achieve some success in the music industry. It usually entails spending many hours in the practice room, going over the fundamentals. Then getting out there and trying to make some money from all of your efforts. Along the way you will find that there are some skills things that are more important than others as far as what it takes to be a musician. In fact, if you practice these essentials, it will be the difference between you being a mediocre musician and a great one.



Rhythm

I'm going to mention one musical skill above all others and that's great rhythm. Great rhythm is critical. Rhythm is is a huge subject which we don't have space to cover completely here but we'll start with some basics. People think that rhythm is simply playing in time. This is a tiny part of rhythm. Rhythm is part of everything you play and if you can play it with great rhythm, you'll be a great musician. Every melody, accompaniment, vocal line, solo...everything has an inherent rhythm. It's too easy to pass this off without making sure that we're playing the rhythm properly and in time. All too often musicians are all over the board when it comes to playing and soloing. You want to be in time or be out of time on purpose. It's important that you really take notice of where exactly you are putting those notes. If you're not sure, try this:

Set up your metronome at a pretty slow pace. Try 60 BPM for now. Now try playing a major scale with quarter notes right on the beat. Try to stay with it and see how long you can go without rushing the notes. After a time, most musicians will start to rush it especially with something that they can perform easily. Next, try playing one of your favorite solos or songs at the same tempo. Are you playing in time?? Not so easy is it?

This simple exercise usually tells us how much we may be missing simply by playing through pieces without thinking too much about exactly where we are placing those notes. The same goes for playing rhythm parts. Take your metronome and try playing straight 8ths. It's important that you practice this on it's own. Its seems like a simple exercise until you see how far you can go off without thinking about it. If you think you're great, try recording your performance with your favorite DAW. Then when you're done, magnify your track so you can align it with the timeline in the sequencer. Now check to see how often you were right on the beat. How often were you early, how often were you late? You'll find that you weren't consistent as you would think. And, (this is critical) can you hear the difference without referencing the sequencer? Practice this, just this on it's own. You'll start to notice and hear the difference in a short time.

Listening

To most this may seem obvious but it's amazing how many musicians fail to listen actively. That means not only to pay particular attention when playing pieces but being able to listen properly when playing in a band. It's important that you listen and try to hear all of the things going on. Are you in time? Are you in tune? Are you too loud, too quiet? The list goes on and on. The same goes for playing live. Are you listening to the drummer? The bassplayer? When you listen properly, you make continual adjustments that makes your performance that much better. You play in time, you are sensitive to the overall dynamic of the band and the song, and the band will just sound better. Everytime you pick up your instrument, make sure your ears are wide open.

Memory

I've written about this in a past post but it needs to be stated again. One thing that musicians must have is a great memory. It's important to remember all of your chords, scales, melodies, licks, fingerings etc and know them like the back of your hand. Charlie Parker was famous for the fact that he could remember and play back hundreds of licks, scales and melodies in all keys. How much of this is entirely your memory? The same goes for writing. Once you've memorized ideas, it's all too easy for them to 'pop up magically' in your songs. It comes from being familiar with the style but that really comes down to the material being internalized and memorized. That's why it's important to write something that you're familiar with because you've more likely memorized  many facets of the style without really realizing it.

Consistency

One of the things that musicians are known for is their consistent practice at their art. One of the best and most effective ways to learn and master anything is through consistency. It's important that not only you practice everyday, but you're consistent in that practice. Practicing one thing one day then trying something completely different the next without coming back to original may be fun but it isn't very productive. The best way to internalize ideas, get your muscle memory working and mastering your instrument is practice the same fundamentals consistently.

Diligence

This follows with the consistency factor. It's important that as a musician you have a certain amount of diligence when it comes to learning the craft and especially when trying to achieve some success. It's true that being a musician isn't an easy way to go and you'll need diligence to make it through the rough spots.  Other things, like sticking to your practice regimen, practicing stuff that you don't find all that exciting and trying to get something done everyday without much support also come under this topic.

Initiative

One of the other important traits to have is initiative. It's one of the things that's drilled into us since we started out first practice sessions. In fact one of the things that regular practice teaches us is to have the initiative to work on our own and try to keep motivated. It's not just the practice room that needs initiative either. You're going to need to get most things started and keep them going on your own. There is some support in the music industry but not much. You're pretty much going to have to figure most of this stuff out on your own. That includes everything from how to get a gig, to how that next verse is going to go.

Love of the Art

If you want to do this for a living, you're going to have to love it. You're going to have to love it just for what it is. You're going to have to love it, pursue it and try to get better everyday for no other reason other than the fact that  you love to do it. Music is just too tough a career choice for anyone who isn't right into it. Even people who work in the music industry, who are in supporting roles have this attitude. Second, it's this love that will push you to do all of the things that you're going to have to do to become great at your art. It's a long journey and there needs to be that internal motivator for you to push through and become a great artist.

The Cirlce Of Fifths: Other Applications

We've talked about the circle of fifths and the different ways that songwriters you can use it. Today we're going to talk about a couple more ways that the circle applies to different aspects of music theory. Other uses include chord progressions, key modulation, improvisation and composition.

Modulate What?

When it comes to modulating to different keys within the same song, there are ones that are more fluid than others. For example a modulation from the major to it's relative minor is a very fluid modulation whereas the modulation from C major to F# major is more abrupt. The further away the modulating key from the original in the circle, the more obvious and abrupt* the change will be. In most forms of classical music, there is a modulation as part of the form. For example the second movement is usually in a different key. You'll find that the composer would often follow the circle when choosing a key to modulate to. If they chose a key further away, if was often on purpose and for a good reason. So in effect, the simplest modulation would be from a major key to it's relative minor. One movement to the left or right would be the next easiest movement. The only exception to this would be the modulation to the major's parallel minor. For example going from C major to minor. Even though their key signatures are different, we hear this modulation so much, that it doesn't seem intrusive to us at all.

*Of course 'abrupt' here is subjective since accomplished composers can make the most unusual key changes seamless...or the most obvious change seem intrusive.

This not only applies to composition but to improvisation as well. If' you're DJing you'll find the same thing happens when you mix songs. The further away the keys, the more obvious the transition will be.

Improvisation

The use of the circle is also a great vehicle for improvisation. Go through some theory books or jazz courses (the Aebersold series is a great example here), and you'll find that they'll often suggest going through the circle of fifths as an exercise. There are two reasons for this. First it's a great way to get the circle second nature in your mind. After going through the circle a million times with your scales, it becomes like your second name. Second, like mentioned above, a lot of modulations follow the circle so you're in effect practicing something that's going to come up in real world situations.

Try this: When practicing your scales, go through the circle. Play the C major scale up and down and then move to the right (or left) of the circle and keep going. You'll end up going through all keys in a very musical way. Try playing a pattern and doing the same thing. Next, try doing the same thing with chord progressions (e.g. a ii V I ). Since keys often modulate a fifth away, you're practicing things that will definitely come up. You'll find that the entire progression (a ii V I progression is all fifths) is just one movement of fifths after another.

Chord Progressions

We covered the circle and how it applies to chord progression before. Chords will often move in fifths. For example the famous 'Rhythm Changes' is just a chord progression going through the circle of fifths. Just like modulations, the movement of a fifth in chord progressions is a very pleasing sound to us. You'll find that the most well known ( and used) chord progressions (e.g. ii V I, IV I, V I, vi ii V I, etc.) are all just movements of fifths. At the same time, if you want to make things difficult, modulate across the circle. Start at C, then go to Gb, then to G, then to B, etc. If you look at notoriously difficult songs, (e.g. Coltrane's 'Giant Steps') you'll find that it follows these guidelines. Also, when improvising on changes in jazz or blues, it's common to add a V or ii V in the middle of the progression (again, just more fifths). These need to be on your fingertips.

Composition

Of course, all of this leads us to composition. Key modulation and effective chord movement and progressions are part of the craft. Knowing where to go, (or at least knowing where you want to go) is a huge part of effective writing. If you start off in the key of F and want to make a couple of modulations, what are your choices? Or, you're right in the middle of writing a beautiful melody and are trying to find a great way to harmonize that line, what are your chord choices? One of the things that you should be looking at in both examples is the circle of fifths. The 'smoothest' modulations are the ones that are closest to your home key on the circle. If you're right in the middle of writing a song and can't figure out the next chord, if it's not the root chord, try one a fifth away, you'll be surprised at how effective this is. This can also work in reverse. If you want to jump all over the place, if you want more angular changes or intrusive modulations, use the circle to pick the oddest modulation.

It's There, Use It

As you can see, there are tons of uses for the circle of fifths. It's best to have the circle on the edge of your fingertips. You'll be amazed how often you'll use it.

The Other Circle Of Fifths: Thirds

We've talked about the circle of fifths and it's many uses here before. There is another circle that exists in music that you need to be aware of. It's the answer to many other questions in music as well as the answer to any chord in music. It's the circle of thirds and it's so important that it needs to memorized.



Here it is: C  E  G  B  D  F  A ( C  E G etc.)

That's it. Memorize it. It's very simple yet it contains all of the chords used in music. It's also the foundation of every arpeggio and scale that you'll come across. It also contains every other chord progression that isn't covered by the circle of fifths. If fact there are only three movements in music: a second (or seventh), a third (or sixth), or a fifth (or fourth). These can all be chromatic or diatonic.

Chord Chemistry 101

Ok, "How is this every chord known to man?" you may be asking. Well all chords are constructed from thirds. There are chords built on fourths and some with 'added' notes but we'll come to that. Every chord is initially built from thirds and then altered from there. To know what the notes are in any given chord, simply start with that note and go in thirds. Of course you're going to have to take into account the key you're in. For example, if you're in the key of E, the E chord will be E  G#  B  D#  F#  A C#. That's it. If you want to change any of the notes, change it, then make that part of your chord name (e.g. EMaj7#11 = E G# B D# F# A#). So you start on the root and climb in thirds. In the E example above we're looking at the root, third, fifth, seventh, ninth, eleventh, and thirteenth. They all work this way. Not all chords will have all of these notes in it*, but this is the basic foundation.

*Not all notes need to be in the chord; some are 'more important' than others. For example, you usually include the 3rd and 7th since these really define the chord (i.e. major/minor, dominant 7th/major 7th) and the altered extensions. Some extensions, like the 11th in dominant chords is usually left out; others like the 3rd and 7th mentioned above, may be the only notes played. Remember, these aren't hard and fast rules, and can be changed at any time. These are just guidelines.

A Scale Is Just A Linear Arpeggio

One thing that may be a be a bit of a mind bend (at first) is that a scale is just a linear way of looking at a chord. You will come to see that scales and chords are interchangeable and different ways at looking at the same thing. If you look at the notes in a CMaj7 chord and then you look at the C major scale, you'll see that they are almost identical. Improvisers will look at a scale and see the target notes (i.e. notes of the chord) and passing notes (auxiliary notes not found in the chord). Some music (like bebop) was founded on the idea that you could improvise on the upper extensions of the chord and not on the chord tones themselves. A game changing idea at the time.

So What About Those Fourths?

Even though there are chords built in fourths, and others with a fourth or second added, they're still built from this basic chord chemistry. That is, the basic chord is still a C major or D minor (or whatever) but then instead of voicing the chord in thirds, you voice it in fourths. You still name the chord the conventional way (i.e. according to the method listed above). Therefore a chord built on fourths will still be named according to the traditional way. Other chords, like added and suspended chords work in the same way. In fact, once you know the chemistry behind how these chords are built, you can come up with a ton of varieties of your own. The best thing about this is once you've come up with some great chords, you'll know how to name them properly. Again, just use the circle of thirds to figure out what your chord is called, then name it appropriately.

Advanced Arpeggios

Since the circle of thirds is great for chords, the same holds true for arpeggios. Arpeggios are made up of the thirds that we mentioned but once you get into some extended harmonies and altered chords, those arpeggios can get quite hairy. This is where our circle of thirds comes in again. Instead of trying to play all of the notes of the chord, try building the whole thing in thirds. That is, start with the triad and continue climbing from there. You'll find that you end up playing other triads over top of the original triad. This is where polychords come from. Polychords seem really confusing at first but once you've done this exercise a couple of times, you'll see who effective they are. Once you see that for example playing a D major chord over a C major triad automatically becomes a Maj 13 with a sharp 4, trying to incorporate one of these chords into your playing won't be such a problem. This works on many levels. Just go up the arpeggio and see how many triads pop up. Get to know these. Some players rely on these when it comes to altered and extended harmonies because you end up playing new harmonies based on basic triads that you've been playing for years. Don't forget that when improvising, playing around with these extended triads may bring a whole new level to your playing.

Chord Progressions in Thirds

Remember we talked about the ways that chords move. Aside from the fifth movement which we talked about before, there is the second and third. Once you get used to the sound of roots moving in certain intervals, it becomes a lot easier to discern chord progressions and even single lines. When listening to a chord progression, listen to the roots and try to guess which interval they're moving in. Is it seconds (stepwise)? or is it fifths? If it isn't one of the these, it will be our thirds. Some famous chord progressions move in thirds. Anytime the root moves to it's relative minor, it's a third movement. Anytime you hear the famous rock I to bIII, it's a third movement.

E to G is used in millions of rock and blues songs.
So is the E to C (down an third) movement.
Any I to vi or iii is a third movement.
A C#m G Bm is a famous pop progression.

Just to Start

As you can see from the examples, we've just got started on thirds and third movements in chords. The same goes for the chord theory mentioned above. Memorize this circle just like you've memorized the circle of fifths. You'll see these coming up again and again in many things you do. When you have them on the tip of your tongue, it becomes easy to rifle off chord tones, progressions and arpeggios without much thought at all. And that's what we want; we want it to all become automatic.

The Musician's Most Important Skill

All too often we talk about how to practice and perform. You might think that the most important skill a musician could have is great dexterity or, a great imagination, or maybe even great creativity. Where these are important, that there is one skill that is the foundation of all that a musician must do. It's our memory. Memory isn't just used by musicians to remember tons of songs; it's used in every aspect (improvising, composing, performing). Musicians must remember songs, chord progressions, fingerings, lyrics, scales, idioms (licks), performance notes (dynamics, inflections, phrasing, breathing, etc),  recording techniques, engineering facts, song forms, theory, stage moves, gear settings, recording settings, software applications, etc. And this is just the musical applications! This doesn't include any of the marketing, PR, business activities that we have to do on a daily basis. Memory even comes into play in our ear training because ultimately, the ear is using our memory as reference point for all of those chords, intervals and sounds.

It's All In The Repetition

As a musician, the same exercises and drills are repeated over and over again throughout your lifetime. There's a good reason for this. Repetition is simply one of the best (if not the best) way that to learn. Of course all musicians know this, since this principle is shoved down our throats from our first lesson...Did you practice? Did you go over all of the stuff we talked about? Did you do your scales for the millionth time? Did you practice your rhythms (that you've memorized)? We all know that practice makes perfect and the essence of practice is repetition. For some reason though, we don't apply this principle to other areas when we know how effective it is. For example, a lot of musicians will work on music theory, different styles, new chords, new scales etc. but they don't apply this repetition technique. The best way to retain a new scale/chord/technique is to repeat it over and over until it's second nature. There is the proper application of new material which we've talked about before but, for simple retention, repetition can be one of your most effective weapons. Use it daily. One of the most effective things about teaching is the fact that I can enforce this simple technique every week when I see the student. If you're practicing on your own, you're going to have to reinforce this on yourself. Ask yourself what you did the last time you picked up your instrument. What did you do last practice?  Did you practice what you had started? Did you do a little everyday or did you just go through it once? Make sure you do this every time you sit down to practice.

The Four Point Review Method

Once you've learned a new skill, read a book or had a lesson, one of the worst things you can do is just go home and forget about it. Even leaving it until the next day isn't a good idea. There is a method of reviewing material that will go a long way in absorbing and memorizing new ideas. Every time you come across something that you want to retain and use in the future, go through this learning regimen.

Step 1 - Input: Like mentioned before, it's not enough to simply read or scan the information that is presented. You must engage the mind immediately. Get into the mindset that you're going to immerse yourself in the task at hand. It's the same with learning almost any new skill, the more your mind is engaged in the technique, the easier it will be to retain and use that information. You engage the mind by asking questions, repeating important facts out loud, making notes, circling and highlighting important points, and most of all, summarizing what you've just learned. Let's look at a couple of those in detail.

Engage First

The most important thing about trying to remember facts and ideas is to engage the mind in the first place. This may seem obvious but you have to be working the brain a certain way right from the beginning to make sure that the facts are retained. It's like trying to remember somebody's name when first being introduced. It's important that you go through a couple of simple steps or you may end up paying attention to the color of their shirt instead of remembering their name. Simply reading something or passively skimming over it is ineffective in retaining information. Reading and skimming over material are only effective when you've engaged the mind in the right way. It's all too easy to just read over something without remembering anything. How many times have you ended up reading the same paragraph over and over because your mind was elsewhere? This happens more often than you think. Try this: read over some material, or a couple of blogs or a couple of articles like normal. Just read them like you normally would, don't do anything different. (You might try harder to retain info this time because you know whats coming next). Now close whatever material that you had open and try to remember what you've just read. How much can you remember? If you've read a dozen blog posts, how many do you remember? Do you even remember the titles? How about the pictures? How many of those do you remember? Because we consume so much information in a day, we start to consume our reading material like our television; as a casual observer.

The Non-Casual Observer

Now we're going to take the same material but this time we're going to engage our mind. Keep in mind that this isn't something that we usually do automatically so we're going to have to make a conscious effort. There are a number of ways to retain information, to learn and to be able to recall it at will. Numerous books have been written on the many ways of doing this. There are ways to retain lists, physical surroundings, technical information, graphical information etc. Most involve using all of your senses in one way or another. Others try and figure out how you process information and use that to your advantage. Do some research on these and try them out. You may find one works better for you than others. The way you learn is usually a personal thing and one method doesn't apply to everyone. We'll look at just one way to help us retain all that we read.

Mindset

When you first get the material, give it a quick once over. That means if you have a book or even a chapter of a book, go over the entire thing at once. Go to the end and see what you're supposed to learn. If it's a scale or theory, look at the final examples to see what the point is. By doing this, you're getting an idea of the overall thought process right from the beginning. You'll notice that in some books, there is a summary at the beginning of each chapter as well as one at the end detailing all that was covered in a couple of sentences. You should be doing the same thing when you start with any new material. Second, get rid of any other things that may be on your mind. It's a standard thing to close your door and turn off any distractions when really getting down to work. There's a good reason for this. You want to do this every time you sit down to learn. Except don't stop at just that. Try and shut off your mind too. Empty your mind of any other thoughts if possible. That's why it's good to get an overall view of all of the material when you start, it gets your mind into the task at hand. Try and keep this focus. We lose concentration easily and quite consistently. Keeping focus is a skill that must be learned and worked on. Third, keep an internal dialogue about the material at hand going on. Why is don't like this and not that? Why do this at all? Is there another way? How do I do these things? By keeping your mind engaged with this dialogue, it'll be easier to keep focused.

Step 2 - Organization

We've talked about having a separate method of collecting ideas and putting things together for your practice sessions. I use a binder that I put all of my notes in, reference material and practice schedules. When learning new material, it's important to have a place where you can make notes but also be able to come back to. Remember the review is going to be really important. Get together a notebook or use your favorite method be it a laptop or anything else you use. It's important that you have some organization to your notes. That way, when you come back to them, it's simply a matter of going through a quick review. Looking for notes, forgetting where you put something, or not understanding what you've written will just get in the way. You can make notes any way you like, just make sure you do them. This is something that we lose after we leave school. Notes are great for organizing things in our mind and reviewing what we've learned. Retention is difficult without these. Also, try and make time for a review everyday. After a while the reviews will be less often but it's important that you're consistent with this. We know that the best way to learn is by repetition. Make it so the repetition is effortless. You simply go to the material everyday, and review. I'm not just talking about organizing the written material but organizing your time.


Notes and Mind Maps

One great way to engage the mind and try organizing things in your head is to create notes and mind maps. Mind maps can be used for anything...even music. It's about how you put it together. Once you learn some new facts, put them together in a mind map and see how they all connect and make sense. Mind maps are really just another way to make notes. Instead of having lists though, we have a graphical representation. This is more like our brain functions so it's more effective than long lists and straight text. Mind maps also use keywords which are another great learning tool. I find that any type of graphical reference always helps. Mind maps have a standard way they are put together. I follow this but also have tons of other notes and diagrams I make to understand. Tests have shown that material is retained much better when it is written by hand as opposed to typing or other input.

Repetition

Like mentioned above, it's important that the material is reviewed consistently. This is one of the most important parts of learning. It's the reason why I'll go over the same material again and again with my students. That means having a schedule and going over all of the material everyday. It's important to go through these steps every time you open your notes.

Step 3 - Review

Of course there is no retention without review. That means not just going over the material but going over it consistently and making sure that you understand what you're learning. Go through the same mental processes that you went through when you first learned the material. The consistency of review is important also. When you first learn something new, it's important that you do a review almost immediately after learning. That means if you've learned something is a classroom, do a review that day when you get home. This is the most important review of all of them. Just doing this will increase your retention and understanding tenfold. Go over all of the material you learned that day. This doesn't have to take hours, a half hour will do. Just make sure that you engage your mind like you did when you first learned the material. Once you've done the first review, you can wait until the next day before you do another. Do this review like the first. Once you've done these first two reviews, you're well on your way to retaining the info. You can wait a couple of days before doing another review but don't wait longer than that. After doing all of these reviews the first week, you can just do a review once a week for the next month, you should be able to retain all of the information this way. Once you've done the first month, you should only need to do a review once a month. I try and go over all of the material once a year. If you have tons of songs and an extended repertoire, you may have to tweak your review methods depending how much material there is. Remember that if material isn't reviewed often enough, it will have to be relearned when the time comes.

Don't Just Regurgitate

It's usual for most people to review material simply by reading over it again. There are more effective ways to remember. One is the mind map method mentioned earlier. Another effective method is to create quizzes and/or try to recreate what you've learned. This means taking the ideas learned and try to write down and explain all that's been covered. Once you've gone over the material, go back over it in your head. What's the general point? What was learned? Are there new definitions and terms to know? Did you understand what you read? Is there something that you didn't understand? If there was, write it down. You can come back to that later. Once you've gone over the material, close everything, take a short break and then give yourself a small test. All you need to do is write down, play and explain what you just learned. By putting it in your own words, it will help with not only your retention but your understanding also. Music can be confusing, by putting things into your own words, it helps create your own understanding of the material. You'll find most musicians have their own opinion about quite a few things in music. This is because we've all taken the same concepts and organized them and made them our own.

Focus and Engage

You can see that once again we've just touched the surface of what we can do to use our memory better. There are a couple of techniques here that you'll want to use again and again. The better you get at retaining information, the better you'll  get at remembering songs, fingerings, scales, chords etc. This sort of technique will permeate all of your playing and make you a better musician overall.

How Not To Practice

There are many times when we set out to accomplish our goals but it either takes too long or doesn't happen at all. When it comes to music, we all know how important it is to practice. Yet, there are many things that we do that undermines our ability to get better, grow and learn. This things may not seem all that important at first but their effect over time can be monumental.

Practicing Quickly

We know what we want to do. We have a basic idea of what it is and how to go about it. So we try the exercise a couple of times slowly and then plow ahead and see how quickly we can pick it up. It's not perfect but it's close. The speed is almost there but there are a couple of problem areas. So we keep plowing ahead and forcing it to work. This is in fact contrary to what we want to do. Every time we practice something, it gets reinforced in our brain. Practicing something at a fast tempo, incorrectly, over and over again just reinforces the bad technique. That's why it's important to practice slowly. When you practice slowly and deliberately, you are reinforcing good technique (i.e. the neural pathways in your mind). The tempo doesn't matter; it just matters that you are doing it correctly. Practice slowly and get faster gradually. Ironically, if you practice this way, you'll get better sooner.



Practicing Mistakes

The biggest problem by far that people do on a constant basis is to practice their mistakes. Once you've practiced something a couple of times, it becomes a pattern in your brain. If you keep practicing it the same way, that new 'wrong' habit is going to be reinforced again and again. There are many things that can happen when we learn something new. Sometimes we go with what 'feels' right or comfortable. It's important that when you practice, like working out, that your form is correct. Practicing bad form can produce all sorts of bad side effects; from slow development to even injury. Just going with the flow isn't always the best idea. Sometimes our bodies do the wrong things and we have to take the time and make sure we're doing it correctly. This goes hand in hand with practicing slowly. But it also goes with being focused and making sure that you're thinking about what you're doing. It's all too easy to get comfortable with what you're doing and not think about it. It's easy to get into some bad habits and bad technique simply by not paying attention to what you're doing.

Being Inconsistent

We need to practice a new skill many times before in becomes ingrained in our minds and our muscle memory. It's been said that you need to practice something for 10,000 hours before it becomes part of your muscle memory. Whether or not the number is correct, we all know that a new skill must be repeated numerous times before it becomes second nature. Yet when we practice, we aren't as consistent and we know we should be. There is a general method of review that ensures that when you learn something, it is remembered. The biggest part of remembering something is doing it over and over. The same goes with learning a new skill, it must be done consistently over and over. It's important to do a review every time you sit down to practice. What did you work on yesterday? Do a review. Whenever it comes to a new skill, this is going to have to be done consistently for an extended period of time before it becomes second nature.

Not Setting Goals

This is something else we've talked a lot about here. It's pretty hard to be consistent when  you don't have an idea of what you're trying to accomplish. It's important to think about these things first. Even if you are consistent, are you being consistent with your goals? If not you're going to have to change either your methods or your goals. Once you establish what it is you want to accomplish it's easier to be consistent. It's easier to stay the course and gauge any progress.

Not Having Any Patience

When learning a new skill, it's important that you are patient with yourself. If you take the time, following these guidelines will be a lot easier. If you learn the proper technique and practice slowly, your progress will be greater. This does take some initial patience because our natural inclination is to push it as soon as we can. It's always, 'if I can do it this fast, I could do it a lot faster'. Or, 'I can almost do it this fast'. Have patience with yourself and practice at a good tempo for an extended period. Also, the more you want accomplish, the more patience you're going to have. Music takes a long time to learn and master. There are many things to take in and work on. If you have the patience to see it through, people will be amazed with your talent whereas you'll know how much time and effort you had to put in to make it seem that way.

Little By Little

Are you starting to see a trend here? All of these things seem to go hand in hand. Practicing slowly and deliberately, while staying consistent with your goals. These are pretty much a standard in all music schools yet it's something that's easy to forget or overlook. It takes a bit more effort to make sure that you're doing these things every time you pick up your instrument. It takes discipline on a daily basis. The next time you pick up your instrument, before you play a single note, think about these things. It'll make your time with your instrument that much more productive.

Practicing Your Rhythms Effectively

Most of the time when we talk about practicing we talk about scales, chords, technique and songs. But there's little talk of rhythm. In most of the music we listen today, rhythm is perhaps the most important aspect of the music. Yet most musicians spend very little time focused on just rhythm. There are a couple of things that should be included into your practice regimen that makes sure you're getting your rhythms and timing rock solid.

The Metronome

Always practice with a metronome. It's great at working one your scales, rhythms and phrasing. Some say that practicing with a metronome is bad because it will become a crutch. You'll get so used to it being there, that you won't be able to keep a straight rhythm on your own. I disagree. Metronomes are very useful for getting your timing better, especially in the initial stages of learning. That said, it's important that you practice with a metronome but also incorporate other exercises to help with your timing. Also, always make an effort to play with other musicians. This will help your rhythm (and ears) immensely.

Different Times

Play everything you practice at different tempos using the metronome. Most things are harder to play at slower tempos, not faster. If you're working on speed, this makes it easy to measure exactly where you are and how well you're doing. Don't get carried away with this though. Speed is nothing without phrasing, dynamics and feel. These are things we want to incorporate when practicing our rhythms. For example, don't just play through a scale over and over. Try dynamics on different notes and phrases. First, start of with accenting just one note (or chord) every bar. Start with 8ths and accent the first 8th note in each bar. Then accent the second 8th note etc. This really brings scales and phrases alive. It's something that we usually do automatically we strumming chords or copying solos but it helps when we break it down and do it on purpose. Next, try playing using different rhythmic patterns. Aim for controlled dynamics and smooth legato notes.

On The 2 and 4

When practicing with the metronome you'll want to try using it at different settings. For example, try setting the metronome at a slow tempo and pretend that that is the 1 and 3. Now practice your rhythms. This gets harder the slower you go. Of course most of our music uses the back beat so it's really useful to practice with the metronome on the 2 and 4. Also, try different rhythmic values like 3 on 4. Quarter note triplets and 5 notes to the beat are also interesting things to try.

On Your Own

Now try your rhythms without a metronome (or drum beat). This is something I usually don't have to tell people since it's something that most musicians do all the time. The difference here is you really want you to focus on your rhythm, That means just playing a basic rhythm or phrase over and over. No variation, no jamming. What you're trying to do is get your timing as solid as possible by just focusing on that and not on what chord or note to play next. For this exercise it's best to actually start with a metronome because we'll use that to keep track of our tempos. Start of with a very basic rhythm at a slow tempo. Start your metronome at the slow tempo to gauge the speed. Now, turn off the metronome and start playing the rhythm. Focus on keeping the tempo. Feel it in your head. Don't force it because that will make you want to speed up. Play the rhythm for a while, then go back and check your tempo on the metronome. How did you do? Yours won't be exact but you can gauge how fast or slow  you were compared to the original. Try this at different speeds. It usually helps if you actually hear and play the rhythm in your head first, before you touch the instrument. Always take half a second to internalize the speed and rhythm. Record your practice and see how it feels on playback.

Sequence This

One of the great things I love about sequencers is how many ways you can come up with (and twist) loops and grooves. If you've used any sequencers you'll know about quantization. This effectively lets you control the amount of feel on any drum beat you have. :Let's look at a couple of ways you can use this to tighten up your timing.

Swingin'

As we talked about in the effective practicing post, it's a good idea to practice your scales (and chords, songs, etc) to a drum beat. By setting up a basic drum beat, you can play along and practice getting a good feel. What you want to start out with is a basic swing beat. I usually start with the bare minimum: the kick is on the 1 and 3, the snare is on the 2 and 4, and the ride is doing (strict*) swing 8ths. Using this basic beat makes me focus on the swing 8th note. I then start at a slow tempo and go through the various exercises. Start with scales, using different rhythm variations. Then try various licks and phrases. Got through some chord progressions, keeping the rhythm relatively easy, focusing on placing the chords at the exact place you want. Some sequencers allow you to vary the amount of swing. Again, set up a basic beat like the one listed above. This time though, sequence in (strict) straight 8th notes. Again go through the exercises we talked about: scales, chords, licks. Now, go back and try varying the amount of swing. Try 25% and see how it feels. Before playing a note, stop and really listed to the beat. Notice the difference between that and the straight one. Don't skip this step, it's really important. Once you stop and start really taking notice of the variations in rhythms, your ear will become sensitive to hearing these things.

*That means I go in and manually enter the groove.Yes it's mechanical and boring but for our purposes here, it's what we want. 

Playing It Straight

Another thing that's great to do with sequencers is practice your rhythms with a straight beat. Set up a basic beat with no humanizing or variations. It helps our exercise if the beat is straight and boring. Again it's just a basic beat with the hi-hats doing 8ths. Now we're going to play a strict 8th rhythm and record it. Listen and lock in with the hi-hats. Once you've recorded your take, go back in and listen to your performance. First, listen to your track with the beat. How did you do? Is it in the pocket or does it go in and out? The best way to tell is to edit your take. Zoom in until you can see your rhythm track against the time-line. Do the transients of your rhythm track line up with the beats on the time-line? You'll find that most of the time you're either constantly early or constantly late. Most people are early, especially with slower tempos. Now go back to your track and move it back and forward a 64th. Does it sound better or worst. Were you early, late or right on. Fix the timing of your track until it's almost perfectly straight. Now listen to the track. If you can, compare that track to your initial take. Always listen back and take note. This is how you'll get better.

With the Band

Like I mentioned earlier, it really important that all musicians practice with other musicians. I can't stress this enough. I can't tell you how many times I've met musicians who can play the snot out of any scale and not have any feel at all. I've always found that musicians who had the best time, were the ones with the most experience playing with other musicians. When you do get a chance to get together with other musicians, take the time to practice just getting the groove. You'll find that grooves need a bit of settling. You'll start playing a groove and after a little time, it will just seem to lock (hopefully). This comes from settling into the groove, relaxing, and not worrying about what chord (or note) comes next. It's important that the rhythm section just works on the basic groove. No extras, no solos, no vocals. Just play the groove over and over. Work on listening to each other. Listen to each other and each part of the drummer's kit: listen to the hi-hats, then the kick, then the snare. Try to match what the drummer is doing. Great grooves come from knowing your instrument, your parts and listening to each other.

Doing It By Feel

After you've been working on your rhythms for a while, you'll just try to settle in and get the feel without thinking too much. This is great when you're playing with other musicians, recording, or just having fun. But you also want to dissect rhythms, practice variations, and incorporate new things into your playing. Try and incorporate some rhythm exercises into every practice session. While sometimes it may feel like you're not getting anywhere, these rhythm exercises will start creeping into your playing. You may notice that your playing gets better, and feels better. Always remember; the rhythm is paramount.

Practicing Your Scales Effectively

One of the first things we learn in music is scales. We're told that these are the building blocks of music but that doesn't mean too much to us initially. So we learn a couple of scales, starting at the lowest note, going up an octave (maybe two) and then come back and stop at the root. This seems to be the method for at least the first couple of months. We may then learn some songs, maybe some licks from our favorite solos. The scales however, still remain a step away from the 'real' music that we're learning. Aside from atonal and 20th century music that stays clear of scales on purpose, all popular music uses scales; in fact, the same scales.

Up and Down

All too often I hear students practicing their scales in the method listed above. Up and down, up and down. In the music we hear, the scales are rarely used that way. It's the equivalent of learning to paint using the same color combinations over and over. Aside from trying to getting familiar with the scale and trying finger exercises, scales shouldn't be practiced this way. Once  you learn a scale and and committed it to memory, you should be practicing it in other ways.


Patterns

One thing that happens a lot in music is patterns. Music is filled with musical patterns repeated at different intervals and different rhythms. Once you learn the fingering for a scale, it's time to try a couple of patterns and play those through the entire scale. There are innumerable combinations but I'll give you a couple of starters.

1. 1-2-3-1, 2-3-4-2, 3-4-5-3, etc. - this is one of the most well known patterns. It's used in pretty much every type of music. It's simply taking three notes of the scale and then returning to the first note. You then take the next note in the scale and use the same pattern. Remember this can be applied to any scale, including pentatonic scales. The idea would be the same but the 'number of the note' would be different. For example a minor pentatonic would look like this: 1-b3-4-1, b3-4-5-b3, etc.There are also a million variations on this.

2. 1-3, 2-4, 3-5, etc. This is essentially the scale in thirds. Any and all intervals should be done here. Remember to do the intervals backwards too. Eg. 3-1, 4-2, etc.

3. 1-3-5, 2-4-6, etc. This pattern outlines all of the triads in the key. Try to identify the triad as you play it. Also try different patterns within this pattern by jumping from different triads. Eg. 1-3-5, 3-5-7, 2-4-6, 4-6-8, etc.

Rhythms

Another important aspect of practicing scales is rhythm. First of all, your scales should be practiced with a metronome. You will also want to practice them with drum beats and rhythm tracks. When practicing with the metronome, start with just playing through the scale like you normally would but using different note lengths. Start with a slow speed using eighth notes. Work up speed gradually. This is the best way to get speed in your playing. Next, try triplets, then sixteenths. Then try swing eighths and then swing sixteenths. Then you can try combination of different values eg. eighths with triplets.

Dynamics and Phrasing

Another exercise is to play the scale using different rhythms but also to incorporate dynamics and phrasing. For example, play in eighth notes but accent certain notes. Start with one accent on the beat, and then try accents on different notes in the bar. Also, try different phrasings, ties and slurs.

Changes In Time

One thing jazz musicians will do will go through the changes in a song, playing the relevant scale for each chord in time. It doesn't have to be a jazz tune to do this. You could take the circle of fifths and play one scale per bar. A great exercise that helps ingrain your scales is to play a continuous line through a set of changes, just playing the scale for each chord. For example for the first bar you would play a C major scale and then in the second, you would play the G major, without stopping in the middle of the phrase to start at the root. Try to keep this going as long as you can through a set of different keys.

Making Music

One of the best ways to learn how to use your scales is to just try and start 'making music' with them. That means just taking the scale, play a phrase, and then try and play the next logical phrase. Of course, the 'next logical phrase' will mean something different to everybody. Whatever style you're into, or what you're trying to accomplish, you want to have your music have some sort of logic to it. Musical language is much like our own language, it follows a lot of the same general rules. First of all, we speak in phrases. That means making a statement, taking a breath, then making a new statement. Try and make your musical phrases breathe, just like the way you speak. Make sure you try different octaves and fingerings. Also, incorporate different dynamics and articulations for each phrase. Make the phrase come alive. At this point we're just trying to play one phrase after another in a logical way.

Bringing Life Into Boring Old Scales

There are many more avenues to take with this but keep it basic at the beginning. Incorporate one or two of these exercises into your daily practice. Don't do them all at one sitting. You don't need to practice these for hours, as long as you're consistent. By practicing these basic exercises and incorporating them into your daily schedule, you'll find your playing, phrasing and improvising taking on a whole new life.

Effective Memorization In Music

One of the most important parts of learning music is memorization. Whether it's a small piece. a couple of licks, scales, chords, or an entire performance, memorization is something that musicians have to deal with on a daily basis. Yet this is rarely mentioned in textbooks and music courses. One thing that should be part of every musical education is how to effectively use your memory. Simply learning a piece isn't enough: memorizing the piece is another process entirely. It must be dealt with accordingly. If you don't believe me, just look at how you would approach trying to remember a phone number. If you had a pen and paper, you would simply write it down and forget about it. But, if you had to memorize it on the spot, you would probably go through a couple of exercises or techniques to help you remember the number. You know that simply repeating it to yourself just once isn't going to work*

*Unless there was a memorable pattern or special characteristic in the number. Marketing companies are well aware of this fact. Just see how many times a number is repeated on an infomercial or how companies like to make their phone numbers into simple, easily memorized sequences.

It's the same with music. Learning something and memorizing something are two separate brain functions and two separate processes.Once you decide to learn a piece, you go about learning the fingering and different sections of the song. Some parts may become part of your internal memory through simple repetition. Musicians will rely on this most of the time. They figure that if they repeat the piece enough times, it will be internalized. This is only half true.

Like the phone number exercise above, if the number is repeated enough times, it will be memorized. But what happens if you suddenly forget it? Or, what if you remember the first part but can't remember the rest? What happens if there is a long time between uses and the memory gets lost? This is where the memory needs help.

Stuck in the Middle

One thing that happens to a lot of musicians is the 'stuck at the bridge syndrome'. They'll have the verse and chorus down no problem. But when it comes to the bridge or a separate section, the mind will suddenly go blank. This happens a lot with the bridge but also happens with sections that are complicated, or obscure parts that occur at just a single part of the song. There are a couple of reasons for this. The usual reason is that since it's a part that isn't played as much, it's easier to forget. Another reason is because parts like this are easily overlooked when learning a song. If a song has a unique section or part. it must be noted in the memory. Or, they may have the lick memorized but missing other parts. The lick may be memorable in its own right whereas you might be saying to yourself 'how does that bridge go again?' because it's not in your musical memory.

Going Blank

Most musicians have been through this. Sometimes when playing a piece, (usually with longer pieces) your mind will simply go blank. For the life of you, you can't remember the next part, Sometimes you can even 'hear' the part in your head, but for some reason, the fingering just isn't coming to you. Of course, if you're relying solely on your physical memory (more on this later), you won't remember the part that comes after that either. There may be many reasons for this but the biggest reason is because you've memorized the piece based solely on the physical. You've memorized the fingering or how it looks on your instrument and nothing else. The problem with the physical memory is that it's based solely on feel. If something changes in the feel, you lose focus, or the picture in your mind changes, then you completely lose your place. There is nothing else to fall back on.

Two Planes

When it comes to memorizing, there are two different planes that we're dealing with here; there is the mental plane and the physical plane. You want to have both at your disposal. All too often musicians will depend completely on the physical and ignore the mental. They will memorize a piece based solely on the fingering and how the piece looks and feels on their instrument. The biggest problem with this method is that it's too linear. The way one section feels is completely dependent on the section that proceeded it. Have you ever tried and started a song from a completely illogical point? By this I mean not at a new section but right in the middle of a phrase? If you have, you'll know what I mean about memorizing based on the physical. Sometimes it's impossible  to remember (or even play) a piece from a completely arbitrary point. The tactile method also becomes problematic when looking ahead. If you've mentally memorized the piece, it's easy to see the whole piece or separate sections. If you're going completely by the physical, it's a lot harder to see one part without the part that proceeded it.

Memory Techniques

Memory techniques have been around forever. The Romans were famous for their ability to remember facts and dates. The reason for this was the Romans had many different techniques that stimulated the brain to remember facts (and the fact that pen and paper weren't usually handy!). Some of the methods used were association, patterns, chunking, and repetition. 

Ripping It Apart

When memorizing a piece, one of the first things you're going to have to do is organize the piece (or whatever you're trying to memorize) into a logical thought or progression. That means dissecting the piece; separating pieces into sections, separating sections into phrases and parts, and creating highlights and milestones within the piece. Most orchestras will do this automatically when rehearsing a new symphony. The score arrives with all of the relevant sections separated and the bars will be numbered. The musicians will make notes within the score to remind themselves of special phrases and performance notes. If it was a song, you would analyze the different sections. You would then write it down on a single piece of paper so you could see the entire song at a glance. You would then be able to memorize the entire song, along with any special notes at once. The same process would apply to anything that you're trying to learn. The breakdown and organization must come first, because this is what your memory techniques are going to be based upon.

Chunk King

Much like trying to memorize a phone number, memorizing pieces of music becomes a lot easier when using the 'chunk' method. It's simply a matter of taking pieces and memorizing them in chunks instead of trying to memorize the entire piece at once. Also, like the phone number, it's better to piece the chunks together in a logical fashion. That would mean memorizing separate sections, highlighting certain parts, noting milestones and special characteristics, and putting the piece together in a logical fashion.

Shout It, Shout It Loud

If you've ever spent a night trying to memorize facts before a big test, you know the value of verbalizing. You simply want to take what you've learned and verbalize it into a coherent idea. For example if trying to memorize a song, after you've organized it into the different sections, you should verbalize out loud the order of the song complete with notes and special sections. For example; verse and chorus repeated twice with a tag at the end of the second chorus. C F Am G in the verse, C G Dm in the chorus. A 12 bar bridge in Em and the chorus repeated twice. Most songs can be organized and memorized in this way. If there are special sections or parts, take a second to make a note and remind yourself about these parts.

Games Without Frontiers

There are a couple of ways we can get our mind working and tricking it into remembering things. One thing that humans do well is patterns. Whenever learning a new piece of music or trying to memorize something, look for patterns. It's much easier to remember a 5 figure number repeated 3 times than it is to remember 15 individual numbers. If a section is repeated, or a pattern is repeated, take note. There might be a slight difference on the repeat of the section; just remember ' the A section with a ii V at the end of the repeat'. Another technique that works well is association. If the song you're trying to remember has a chord progression similar to another song you know well, it's much easier to remember the chord progression based upon that association. Jazz musicians do this all the time. They're famous for knowing hundreds of songs (in fact, it's part of their education). Quite often they will associate certain chord progressions with certain songs. Once you're familiar with the chord progression, it leaves up a lot of room to improvise within that tune. Every jazz musician knows the 'Rhythm changes' and can spot them easily within a tune. Jazz musicians also use this technique to memorize the 'B' sections of jazz tunes since these can sometimes be problematic. Also, if there are any changes or substitutions within that framework, having the entire progression committed to memory makes it easier to keep track of where you are.

Messing With the Order

One thing that happens a lot is you'll often remember the first part of a section only to fail to remember the end. One technique that helps the memory a lot is breaking up the song. Try playing a section from the middle. Try playing the last part, then the middle and lastly the first. What this does is make our brain remember each part in its own right instead of the logical linear progression. With this method, if you get lost on one section, it makes it a lot easier to pick it up at the next with no hesitation. Also, if you practice the piece this way, you'll end up practicing the end just as much as the beginning, breaking the 'forgetting the end' syndrome.

Lose the Paper

I have met quite a few musicians who don't read music. While this can be a handicap in certain situations, it can help in memorization because the music must be memorized immediately. I usually will write the music down. I'll have most of the parts there and all of the different sections of the tune marked down. This usually comes in handy when discussing separate parts with other musicians or trying to remember the tune the next day (since it's written down, it's usually pretty accurate). It's really important though, that if you have the music on paper, to get it off of the paper as soon as you can. The musicians who I mentioned earlier, while at some of a disadvantage, had something over the musicians who had written things down. Since they don't have the option of writing things down, they must memorize the different parts immediately. They were usually pretty good at memorizing long complicated parts because that's what they have to do all of the time. There is no other choice. Therefore all of the repetition, association and memory techniques listed here, are things that they had to do all of the time.

Don't rely too much on the printed page.  Try to get it off of there and into your head as quickly as possible. Have the advantage by being able to memorize something immediately but also having the choice to write it down if necessary.

Using All of Your Senses

There is a whole process that jazz musicians go through when learning new tunes. It usually starts with learning the melody. Not just playing the melody but being able to sing it. They will then go through the bassline, chord progression, different voicings within that progression etc. (We'll go into this more in a later post). The point is that there is more going on than just learning the fingering for your part. If you've got the lyrics memorized, you know the bass part and any other extras, it makes it a lot easier to memorize the tune. It then becomes the difference between knowing how to play your part in a tune, and knowing the tune inside out. If you can, try this approach with everything that you learn on your instrument.

Do It Again

The best way to learn anything is through repetition; every musician knows that. The process of memorizing parts, scales and pieces also must be repeated. That means once a piece is memorized, the process must be repeated for the piece to be completely ingrained in your memory. Like mentioned in articles here before. It's best to review as soon as possible after learning something new. Another review should be done the following day, then once again in a couple of days, and then once the next week. You get the idea.

Keep It Separated

Music and musicianship absolutely depends on having a good memory. Having a good memory, much like learning to play your instrument, is a skill that can be developed and honed. When learning a new piece, scale, or technique, memorizing must be a separate process. The material must be put into a logical organization. The piece must be seen both as separate parts and as a cohesive whole. Using the different methods (chunking, verbalizing, association), the piece must be memorized. Then the whole process must be repeated and reviewed at regular intervals. Make sure this exercise is separate from the practice session.

Top 10 Reasons NOT To Learn Music Theory

It's been said a million times that every musician should learn music theory. Here are ten reasons not to:

1. Music theory is for classrooms and doesn't apply to working musicians.
2. It's too hard to learn. You need a doctorate to understand this stuff.
3. It takes too long. There's a better use of my time.
4. It's a waste of time. Nobody really uses this stuff.
5. It will make me a jazz musician.
6. My playing  (performance on my instrument) won't be as good.
7. I'm a songwriter. If I learn the theory behind it, my songs and songwriting is going to lose 'that magic'.
8. I'm into rock/reggae/electronica/hip-hop musician. Music theory doesn't apply to my music.
9. I'm into hardcore metal/do beats/sound design. Music theory will make my music lose its edge.
10. Don't need it. There's software out there that will do all of the music theory for me.

Are You Kidding Me?

Of course I am, but these are excuses I hear all of the time. The wording may change slightly but the message is the same. Most people think music theory is a separate entity limited to classical and jazz musicians. If fact there is music theory in every genre of music. Theory is simply a way of explaining things that happen with regularity in music; any music.

You Know It

Whenever you learn something new on your instrument, that's music theory. When you learn a new song, that's music theory. If you've learned a solo and then use some of those techniques to make up your own solo, that's music theory. If you've taken some chords that you're familiar with and written your own song over them, that's music theory. The problem with most teaching systems is that the music theory isn't integrated right away. As soon as you learn some theory, it should be applied to your instrument immediately. Music theory needs to be used to be understood properly.

It's All In The Approach

There are many ways to approach music theory and learning. It's true that music theory is a huge subject. There are many facets to learn. It's important that you learn the parts that affect your style of music first. If you're just learning your instrument, the approach would be different if your were studying to become a composer. If you're writing pop songs as opposed to becoming a jazz musician, again, your approach would be different.

The Reality

In case you we were wondering, here are the real world answers to the excuses listed above.

1. The answer to this one is listed above. If you're playing an instrument, writing songs, performing, you're using music theory already.
2. Music theory isn't hard to learn, but it does take time. It takes time to learn and most of all, it takes a long time to apply. I'm still reviewing things I learned in university.
3. It does take time, But if you learn properly, you can start to use it immediately. In fact, you may be surprised how much you improve in a relatively short time.
4. This is a corollary of the first 3. It seems to take too long without any good reason for doing it.; therefore, it's a complete waste of time.
5. I get this a lot, especially from the rock guys. Invariably, when learning new skills, you will start to use those skills. Hence the music theory guy/girl start sounding like a jazz musician at band rehearsals. Contrary to popular belief, you can use theory when and where you want to.
6. This is another band situation that I would come across. There was this saying among rock musicians that the music theory people were usually the worst players. This was mostly because of the fact that their time was spent in the classroom instead of the bandstand. While there is no substitution for live experience, music theory won't take away anything that isn't there. Both theory and technique must be worked on.
7. This is another gem. Some songwriters feel that they get their ideas from divine intervention (or some facsimile) and learning the facts behind their creativity will make their music 'lose its magic'.
8. There are scales and pentatonic theory for solos, chord chemistry and progressions for songs, forms in music, harmony and melody. All of these and more apply to all popular music. Once you begin to learn a musical style, you're learning the theory behind that style. 
9. Some musicians feel that if they learn music theory, they're suddenly going to feel the need to interject major 7th chords into their music. Theory gives you the reasons behind the music. It doesn't make you use anything you don't want to use.
10. Photoshop has this great function that turns any photo into a beautiful painting. There is a software program for almost anything...except creativity. No matter what software is available, musicians will always feel the need to take whatever is out there and twist it into their own creations. There is no one program that will take the ideas from your brain, and make it into a perfect finished creation. Even if there was, if you're anything like me, you'll probably want to twist it even further!!

Have fun!

The Problem With Perfectionism

More than any other group, artists are known for over the top perfectionism. We all know the story of the tortured genius being held ransom by their own genius and perfectionism. It's held like a badge of honor that we all aspire to. It's the mark of a true artist and genius. It denotes quality, hard work and always expecting the best. These are honorable traits no doubt, but perfectionism isn't always a good thing. Perfectionism may be responsible for more failures than any other trait.

Perfection as we all know is a mirage. It's not real. There is no perfect in the real world. For every living organism there are faults. Some say that the beauty is in the faults. Perfectionism is in the eye of the beholder. Therefore it's entirely dependent on an external filter. An object's inherent beauty comes from the beholder and not the object itself. Some people find beauty in the most odd things. The things you find beautiful and perfect may be horrible to someone else. Some like rock, some like classical. Some people find noise beautiful some love the sound of the violin. It's all in the eye of the beholder.

There is a difference when you are the creator. In this way you have control over the 'beauty' of the object. In this way, there is the tendency or at least there is the option that you can always make the object 'more beautiful' or 'just better'. If the goal is to make the object or outcome as good as possible, what's the problem?

The problem is perfect is imaginary. The perfect object or creation doesn't exist. More importantly, what seems perfect today can appear to be imperfect tomorrow. To some there is the idea that no matter what, any object can be improved and 'made better'. In this way the creation is actually never done. It's never good enough. It never sees the light of day. There are some creators that do let their work out into the world. Yet for perfectionists, the work still isn't done. The work is never done. Even when the world has declared their love for the creation, the work still isn't done.

The worst side of this is when the work never gets done. The work never actually becomes good enough for public consumption. This is the biggest pitfall of perfectionism. The work is never good enough.

Being a perfectionist is supposed to help the artist in the creative process. It helps artists separate the great from the crap. It makes them question what they have created and wonder if there is a better way. If this helps make the art better, then it's a good thing. If it stops the art from ever getting finished, it's a bad thing. If it comes to the point where the artist no longer creates, then this is the worst thing.

In actuality, it is true that a lot of works could be improved upon. There are works earlier in an artists career that don't stand up to their later works. There are points in every artists careers where the work isn't as good as others. This is all part of the process. That's the point. You must create these 'points' or works of  art to signify your progress. If you've created something and it's not up to your standards, ask yourself why. Look at your art and see how you can improve and what you may have done wrong. Do you lack talent, need more training, or need more time on that particular skill?

Whatever you do, don't throw it away. It's there to teach you something. It's part of your journey. If you're assessing something right after it's been completed, are you being completely impartial to what you're seeing (hearing)? Finish it, wait a while and then look upon it with fresh eyes. Can you make some minor adjustments? Is it good for what it is? Is it a major piece/accomplishment or another step in your development?

If perfectionism keeps you on top of your game. If it's responsible for your high level of creativity, then that's great. If it's getting in the way; stopping you from creating, making projects take years instead of weeks, stopping you from being happy with your art, then lose it. Lose it now.

Create it, critique it, edit it, finish it, move on.