I was taught to organize rhythms into increments of two measures at a time. Some beats/pulses get a natural emphasis in relation to their placement in the measure. I put together this illustration of the most natural points of relative emphasis in a … [Read more...]
Playing Outside: The Dominant 7 Pentatonic Scale Pattern 10
This dominant 7 pentatonic pattern sandwiches the tonic key with two full beats of the "outside" key on either side. It starts in the transposed key, moves to the tonic key, and finishes in the transposed key. What I like about this pattern is … [Read more...]
Don’t Forget Square One…
I've noticed a lot of resistance to "songwriting rules". Most of the criticism falls in the Craft vs. Inspiration camp. And my defense is always that it isn't an either-or argument. From Don't forget square one...: Horse trainer Linda Parelli … [Read more...]