The lap steel guitar has a unique sound, and is a lot of fun to play! Check out this video demo to hear it for yourself.
Category: How To
Antique Piano Restoration Tips
How do I know if a piano is worth restoring or not? We posed this, and other questions, to a piano restoration expert.
Train Your Ear to Recognize Pitch, Intervals, Chords
Notes on a page are not music. We musicians sometimes need to be reminded of this. It’s easy to lapse into an autopilot practice regimen, in which you sit down and play your sheet music for a half hour without ever really hearing the sounds you’re making.
How to Use Non-Chord Tones
Non-chord tones, as you might guess from the name, are notes that are not part of the harmony at any given moment. They are used to either embellish or smooth out melodic lines.
Best Online Tips for Conductors
In the hands of a master, difficult things look effortless. This is especially true for music, and it’s especially true for conductors. But anyone who’s ever stood before an entire orchestra that’s waiting on your cue—whose fate is in your baton—knows it’s no easy task.
12 Improvisation Tips
Jim Oshinsky believes that every musician should improvise from the start, but that’s not usually the case.
How to Improvise on Piano with the Blues Scale
On the piano, blues scale is a lifesaver. While it’s a good idea to familiarize yourself with the blues scale for each key, you can usually fall back on the root blues scale at just about any point in a jazz solo.
Manage Your Practice Time
As a partner at the Dallas School of Music (DSM) and one of the founders of the online music site Discover Learn Play (DLP) I get lots of questions about practicing, especially when new students begin at DSM, or online at DLP. Parents want to know how long their kids should practice each day and adult learners are anxious […]
How to Start Playing Electric Violin
Oftentimes, folks told me that, as much as they love classical music, their interests range from jazz to folk, rock, R&B, and hip-hop, and they wanted to play the music they love.
Make Your Own Cigar Box Guitar
Six years ago, when Mike Orr made his first cigar box guitar, he wasn’t thinking about beginning a second career. He came across cigar box guitars while surfing the Internet one day, and decided to make one as a Christmas gift for his son. He studied the design and made it his own. Then, he […]