Archive for April 2018
Training your brain to play music better
This is an excerpt from my upcoming book Rhythm Savvy. The skills I teach in my books are complex to say the least. Playing a musical instrument is an incredibly difficult task. Learning or improving skills like improvisation, developing a groove, and playing with accurate time only come with time and hard work. Just buying…
Read MoreHearing note placement within phrases
I created what I think is an interesting exercise for evaluating and strengthening one’s ability to hear the difference between notes placed early in the beat, late in the beat, and right on. This is now on page 39 of Rhythm Savvy, the book I am currently writing. No doubt that for some, this will…
Read MoreA further thought on improving your musical instrument playing through better practicing
I was playing last night and noticed something interesting. My time was locked in at a higher level. As I was improvising and playing other things, I noticed that the succession of notes was more precisely locked into the rhythm, and it felt easier. Now, if I’m objective about my playing, while there are things…
Read MoreHow to become increasingly better on your musical instrument.
As I write books and produce instructional videos, I am constantly thinking about the relationship between practicing and getting better on one’s instrument. It’s a frequent topic in my writing and one on which I have much to say. Notice that the subject of this post was not, “Become an instant virtuoso on your instrument…
Read MoreTesting your sense of rhythm and time…
While writing my upcoming book, Rhythm Savvy, I wanted to create something in the beginning through which the listener could experience his or her own sense of rhythm. The following sound file called Finding One is an exercise for sensing the beat. Listen through the first eight bars to feel where beat one is. The…
Read MoreRhythm Savvy for Video
This is the post that provides the exercise sound files for the Youtube video called Rhythm Savvy. The video is an introduction to my upcoming book called Rhythm Savvy which will be available in the summer of 2018. In the video I provide you some guidance for playing a few exercises within the book that…
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