The Problem(s) It’s great, isn’t it, that you can download the chords and TABs for pretty much any popular song you can think of? There are loads of wonderful TABs websites, such as Ultimate Guitar, where users contribute their transcriptions of song accompaniments. There are really two problems, though: Often the chords and TABs given are pretty inaccurate. This is… Read more »
Damian OxboroughComments Off on Songs with Good Piano Accompaniments
I think it’s fair to say that piano is a versatile instrument and as such it’s possible to translate the accompaniment parts of lots of (the majority of?) songs into a recognisable arrangement for it. But, some types of songs work better than others. For example, piano is particularly good as the backing to ballads if performing as a soloist… Read more »
Damian OxboroughComments Off on Update: Music Theory / Composition
The vast majority of my students first and foremost learn some musical performance skill: how to play piano / guitar / ukulele / bass or to sing. Along the way, most inevitably encounter issues of music theory. Theory is, after all, a lot to do with the written language of music – how we communicate our musical ideas to one… Read more »
Damian OxboroughComments Off on How to accurately measure the tempo of music
A week or so ago I came across a really nifty tool online for measuring the exact tempo of a piece of music. My student was asking me about how to decide on the metronome setting he should choose while practising a particular song. My initial reaction was that you must listen to it, estimate the pace in bpm (ballads… Read more »
When I first started playing guitar as a child then as a teenager, there was really only one way to tune up: with pitch pipes. I had some really cheap ones that looked like this: Of course, things are much easier now that digital tuners are cheap and easily accessible. I tend to use one on my mobile phone, but… Read more »
