A practice schedule is an important part of your musical development. My sax teacher, Nathan Davis, used to tell me, "Go without practicing one day, and you know. Go without practicing two days, your friends will know. Go without three days, and … [Read more...]
New Music Hacks Podcast
Music hacks are slick solutions to common musical problems. This Music Hacks podcast is designed to help you learn to hack your music intentionally, so you never get stuck and experience more joy out of playing. Subscribe with iTunes … [Read more...]
Music Hacks Podcast 07-06-06
Topics covered: Mental rehearsal, how to get your music heard, how to elicit good feedback about your music, outcome-based thinking and intentional music, effective lyric phrasing, songwriting hacks, "open loops", the 80/20 rule of … [Read more...]
Music Hacks Teleclinic 07-06-06
Music hacks are slick solutions to common musical problems. Like using a hack to create a brand new melody instantly when you're up against a deadline. Or tricks to make your improvised solos stand out from note one and make the listener feel … [Read more...]
MusicHack #5. Turn It Upside Down
In honor of my brother's birthday. He turns 30 today. Happy Birthday Brian! :) Here it is inverted: Here it is backwards: First person to guess the original melody gets a free standard edition of Absolute Pitch Power. Post your answer in … [Read more...]
Music Hacks TeleClinic
The term hacker has been used to refer to someone who breaks into systems or wreaks havoc with computers as their weapon. But among the tech crowd, the term hack refers to a "quick-and-dirty" solution to a problem, or a clever way to get something … [Read more...]
Who Else Wants To Master the Diminished Scale?
The diminished scale is an extremely creative tool. Due to the diminished chord's symmetrical structure of stacked minor thirds, we have two options of diminished scales: half step-whole step and whole step-half step. A major benefit to this … [Read more...]
Music To Replace Aspirin…
From Music 'can reduce chronic pain': US researchers tested the effect of music on 60 patients who had endured years of chronic pain. Those who listened to music reported a cut in pain levels of up to 21%, and in associated depression of up to … [Read more...]
MusicHack #4
Lost? Get some direction. Use Brian Eno's Oblique Strategies to tell you what to do next. … [Read more...]
How To Be An Expert
From: How to be an expert The only thing standing between you-as-amateur and you-as-expert is dedication. All that talk about prodigies? We could all be prodigies (or nearly so) if we just put in the time and focused. At least that's what the … [Read more...]