Category Archives: Music Theory
Blues School: The Major Blues Scale, Theory & Ear Training
The Major Blues Scale is the lesser known cousin of the minor blues scale. Sometimes called the Jazz Blues Scale, it has a more majorish, jazzier quality than the minor blues. Check it out… Advertisements
Blues School: The Minor Blues Scale, Theory & Ear Training
The Minor Blues Scale is the blues scale that most people are familiar with, so much so that it usually just called the Blues Scale.
Composition & Improvisation: Analysis & Synthesis
In true art, the larger subject and the details are inseparable threads in the same fabric…
How to Play Like an Artist: Theory & Practice
In order to play like an artist, one need to appreciate both the utility and limitations of Music Theory:
Transposition: The Musical Way to Transpose Harmony
A prerequisite to Transposing Harmony like a musician is to conceive and hear the music in functional musical terms, not just as an arbitrary sequence of dots.
Transposition: The Musical Way to Transpose a Melody
A prerequisite to Transposing a Melody like a musician is to conceive of and hear the melody in meaningful musical terms, not as some random sequence to be manipulated with calculations. Enjoy this simple example of how to transpose a … Continue reading
Transposition: The UN-Musical Way to Transpose
The commonly-prescribed formula for transposing is to count how many half steps the new key is above or below the original key, then to add or subtract that many steps from each and every note in the piece. The “counting” … Continue reading
Transposition: Why Learn How to Transpose?
Transposition is the process of playing or rewriting a piece of music in other than the original key. There are three common reasons to develop this skill:
Chord Progressions: Stationary Harmony, Moving Bass
A simple, but very effective, way to musically expand a single chord is to play a Moving Bass Line under the Stationary Harmony…
Chords Progression: Minor Add2 (Rootless) Resolved to Minor Triad
Suspension means to temporarily delay the resolution of one or more chord tones. Here, for example, is a C Minor Rootless Add2 (for lack of a better name) with its resolution:
