Graham English

Posts Tagged ‘peak performance’

1,000-Hour/5,000-Hour Model For Songwriting Success

The concept is this: To be a good, competent songwriter, it will take 1,000 hours of practice. If you want to be a great songwriter, it will take 5,000 hours. Read on…

Advice To Adult Learners Of Music

Music is like a language. And we all know that learning languages comes easier when you’re a child. And in some ways, it’s much easier for a child to learn music, especially to learn how to play by ear. Putting two and two together, you might ask yourself what is the difference between an adult [...]

Playing Outside: The Dominant 7 Pentatonic Scale Pattern 15

This will be the last dominant 7 pentatonic scale pattern in this series. This pattern begins in the “outside key” and moves to the tonic key for two notes before switching back. The second part of the pattern begins in the tonic key, switches to the “outside key” for two notes, and then returns to the tonic.

Absolute Pitch Ear Training Podcast 08-20-07

Topics covered: The pleasure of finding things out, Richard Feynman, Dr. Kurt Fischer, dynamic skill theory, developmental levels, adult learning, ear training, and much more…

Playing Outside: The Dominant 7 Pentatonic Scale Pattern 14

Now this pattern is the exact opposite of the twelfth pattern. Every other note is transposed into the “outside key” but this pattern begins in the outside key and is a full bar long.

Playing Outside: The Dominant 7 Pentatonic Scale Pattern 13

This pattern is almost the exact opposite of the previous dominant 7 pentatonic pattern. Every other note is transposed into the “outside key” but this pattern begins in the outside key and is only two beats.

Download the full pattern:
Playing Outside: The Dominant 7 Pentatonic Scale Pattern 13

Playing Outside: The Dominant 7 Pentatonic Scale Pattern 12

This dominant 7 pentatonic pattern is super squiggly. Every other note is transposed into the “outside key” for superior in-the-moment transposition skills.

Brian Eno’s Oblique Strategies For Your iPhone

In an attempt to hack their creativity and artistic output, Brian Eno and Peter Schmidt created a deck of cards they called the Oblique Strategies. Whenever they came up against a creative dilemma–and especially while under a moment of pressure or deadline–they would pull a card and follow the directions.
I’ve used this technique constantly in [...]

Playing Outside: The Dominant 7 Pentatonic Scale Pattern 11

The primary purpose of this dominant 7 pentatonic pattern is to force you to transpose keys a number of times during the bar. If you keep your wits about you as you play this pattern and don’t just memorize it without giving it any thought, you’ll start to become extremely comfortable moving between two keys at will. This pattern changes keys 5 times within a single bar.

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.

Playing Outside: The Dominant 7 Pentatonic Scale Pattern 9

This dominant 7 pentatonic pattern spends a full beat in the original key, modulates to the “outside” key for two full beats, and then returns to the original key for the final beat.

You can play around with this pattern and find some useful alternatives. Try pushing the pattern back a beat so it starts on [...]

Playing Outside: The Dominant 7 Pentatonic Scale Pattern 8

Similar to dominant 7 pentatonic pattern 3, just by playing around with two different scales, we can invoke many more different keys and harmonic shapes. This is the first pattern to start in the “outside” key.

Download the full pattern:
Playing Outside: The Dominant 7 Pentatonic Scale Pattern 8

Playing Outside: The Dominant 7 Pentatonic Scale Pattern 7

This dominant 7 pentatonic pattern gets challenging again. Like the previous pattern, it spends more time in the “outside” key. Only the first and fifth notes are in the original key. This means that you have to switch keys a total of three times during the entire eight-note phrase.

A useful exercise is to take a [...]

Playing Outside: The Dominant 7 Pentatonic Scale Pattern 6

This dominant 7 pentatonic pattern spends more time in the “outside” key. Only the first full beat of each phrase is in the original key. Without looking at this pattern, can you play it? You should be getting more comfortable switching keys. Even if it doesn’t feel completely natural, you might be able to imagine [...]

Playing Outside: The Dominant 7 Pentatonic Scale Pattern 5

This dominant 7 pentatonic pattern gets tougher again. It has four notes in C and four notes in D flat but they are all spread throughout the bar.

GTD: What Are You Doing Right Now Redux

My previous attempt at a time-tracking script worked well for a while. But I wanted something that was self-contained so I could share it with my friends and coworkers. I also wanted to cut down on key strokes.

GTD: Automator Wants To Know What You Are Doing Right Now

I’m into systems. I love figuring out how to get from point A to point B and then optimizing the process as efficiently as possible. Better yet, I love being able to turn a system on and not have to think about it again.
This is one of those systems. I’m an entrepreneur. I don’t have [...]

Quote of the Week

“To achieve great things, two things are needed: a plan, and not quite enough time.”
– Leonard Bernstein, conductor

Quote of the Day

The barriers are not erected which can say to aspiring talents and industry, ‘Thus far and no farther.’
– Ludwig van Beethoven, composer

Marvin Gaye – A Sexy Patriot

You’ve got to check out this slow and sexy rendition of The Star Spangled Banner by Marvin Gaye. Then read a related story over at Thomas Dolby’s blog. Marvin had it goin’ on!