Hot Music & Instruments Posts
How To: Use automation in Studio One
In this video, we learn how to use automation in Studio One. Controlling is a system you use to control the devices that control the software. Control link has a window on the song interface in the upper left hand corner. You can quickly move parameters as you edit the automation. Make sure you change it if it's for an instrument or an audio track. Add an automation track to the window, by clicking the "A" button that will give you sounds for the same instrument. This will avoid automation en...
How To: Play acoustic guitar and learn basic finger picking
In this video, we learn how to play acoustic guitar and learn basic finger picking. Start with an A minor, then hold this for a while to better understand this chord throughout the entire song. After you have this down, you will need to start playing the first verse of the song and break down the entire rest of the song. Make sure you understand the pattern of the music as you play, so you can play it accurately. Once you have done this, play the chorus and then the rest of the verses. Focus ...
How To: Use the groove function in Ableton Live 8
In this tutorial, we learn how to use the groove function in Ableton Live 8. A group settings consists on points along the timeline where hits sit. If you have something with no groove applied, it will sound robotic. By adding a groove, you will shuffle around the midi from the hard quantized parts. This will add more human element to the audio. There is a button on the left with two lines that show the library with options you can use. You can also apply this to other clips, scroll through t...
How To: Play A Simple Blues Lead Guitar Lick
There is a lot of mystery and voodoo surrounding blues guitar these days. With the common opinion claiming that in order to play the blues you have to really feel the music and respond with your playing. While this is certainly the case when improvising, I would argue that a good knowledge and understanding of the basic principles of blues guitar can provide even the beginner guitarist with a great sounding set of licks to impress friends and family.
How To: Play the blues with an electric guitar for beginners
In this tutorial, we learn how to play the blues with an electric guitar for beginners. Blues is a great gateway into learning more types of progressions of music. To start, you will need to have your favorite guitar and a basic knowledge of music. Next, you will need to learn where the six strings are going from top to bottom. The highest one is the first, then so on from there. Fir the first finger on the third fret, then play the A note. After this, place your third finger on the fret next...
How To: Play an afro beat on bongos
In this tutorial, we learn how to play an Afro beat on bongos. Start off by sitting down on a chair with the drums in between your thighs and knees. After this, start to use both of your hands to beat onto both of the drums. As you continue to play, create an Afro beat. The Afro beat is a critical pattern that is not founded in salsa. It's essential to the Afro Cuban tradition to play with the Afro beat. Once you have the beat down, repeat playing so you can better understand how this is play...
How To: Change a string on an acoustic guitar
In this tutorial, we learn how to change a string on an acoustic guitar. First, you will put the string in the bridge pin. Make sure the ball from the string is against the bridge plate. If the ball is underneath the bridge pin it will make the string come out easily. After you have the string locked in, pull the string out tightly until it reaches the bottom of the guitar. Pull it to the tuner you want to wind it to, then pull it out a couple of more inches to know how much slack to give it....
How To: Comprehend quarter, half, and whole music rests
In this tutorial, we learn how to understand music rests (Quarter, half, & whole rests). Rests are signs of silence while you are playing a song. Silence is a very important element in creating music, giving the audience time to reflect on the notes that they just heard. The whole note lasts for four beats and has two half notes. Every half note has a quarter not and every quarter note lasts one beat. The quarter rest means you will count one beat where you will lift your finger from the key ...
How to Use Logic Pro: Screensets
In this tutorial, we learn how to use Logic Pro: Screensets. First, open up the score editor in a separate window to do your editing. Then, open up your arrange menu and edit the piano part of the music. This is a good approach because the windows can both be large, but it can get cluttered quickly. Screen sets allow you to set up windows and save them as a screen set at the top of your screen in the software. When you do this, it will stay locked so those windows always stay the same. Set th...
How To: Use clip envelope modulation in Ableton
In this tutorial, we learn how to use clip envelope modulation in Ableton. This allows you to change parameters over time. You can access this by selecting your audio clip, then hitting the "E" button in the lower left hand corner. Now, you will see the envelope section where you will be presented with drop down menus. These will allow you to choose parameters and modify the tuning or position. This is an easy way to do extreme tuning changes in your audio. Continue to play around with the cl...
How To: Play the "Beat It" electric guitar solo
In this video, we learn how to play the "Beat It" electric guitar solo. You will want to focus on harmonics when you are playing this so it sounds just like the original song. Start out by playing the intro to the song, paying attention to where the highs and the lows of the song are at. Also play the different riffs and then play onto the first verse. After this, play the rest of the verses and incorporate the chorus in between. Once you finish with the song, you can add in lyrics to it and ...
How To: Use the Mastering Suite in Studio One
Two books were presented as suggested reading. One was by Bob Katz: Mastering audio; art and science. The other was Bob Alginski: the Audio Mastering handbook. Mastering takes a collection of songs and makes them sound like they belong together by making certain technical changes. The project page in Studio One is where the mastering is done. Drag in your sound content that you will be working with. Make sure you have the most recently updated version. If you are using multiple tracks, you mu...
How To: Play "Rock and Roll" by Velvet Underground on guitar
In this tutorial, we learn how to play "Rock and Roll" by Velvet Underground on guitar. The chords to play this on the electric guitar would be bar chords D, C, and G. Play these together slowly at first so you understand the rhythm you are looking for. Once you have these down, you will have the basic sounds down for the entirety of the song. After this, play the first verse of the song, then play the second, chorus, and the rest of the verses. You will need to pay attention to where the pau...
How To: Play "I'm a Little More Country Than That" by Easton
In this video, we learn how to play "I'm a Little More Country Than That" by Easton. There is a riff that is played at the beginning, which is played on the fourth fret. Put your middle finger on the third fret of the high E string and your pointer finger on the second string. On the third note, move your middle finger to the third fret and then play it over several times. Once you finish this, you can move into the intro of the song and then start to play the verses. Incorporate the lyrics i...
How To: Add delay to monitor mix on StudioLive 16.4.2
In this tutorial, we learn how to add delay to monitor mix on Studio Live 16.4.2. First, hit the mix control and turn up channel 15 for some volume. Next, you will assign a digital delay to effect a. To do this, hit the effects button, then page down to the first page and you will see the value knob. Put in a mono-delay, then hit recall. You can manually adjust the decay time, or it will automatically adjust to the tempo to the song. When finished, add this to your music and play back to see ...
How To: Start circular breathing to enhance your brass or woodwind playing
Circular breathing is one of the most important physical skills involved in advanced brass and woodwind playing. Kenny G set a world record by blowing one note on sax for 45 minutes and 47 seconds. Watch this video to learn how to start circular breathing and start being able to play longer strings of notes.
How To: Boil vigor into your bass guitar strings for a "brand new" tone
This is an old school trick to revitalizing your bass playing skills— on the cheap. If you're in desperate need of some new bass guitar strings, but can't afford the cost, then there's a solution to bringing new life into them for that "brand new" tone— boil them. Boiling bass guitar strings is a great trick to restoring your sounds, but you can only do this a couple times or it will stretch them out too much and break.
How To: Make high-quality home music recordings on a shoestring budget
If you're a musician, but can't cover the cost of an expensive recording studio to get your song onto a playable media, then this video is what you need. It will show you how to make your own high-quality home music recording studio on a shoestring budget! If you're trying to get the attention of big music record labels, you need some hgih-quality sounds, but you don't need the high-quality costs! The setup is pretty simple— a microphone, MP3 player, sound mixer, headphones and a good-quality...
How To: Bust better rhymes when you freestyle and keep your flows goin' buck wild
Freestyle rapping is one of the most impressive feats of verbal acuity that a person can perform. If you want to get into the rap game or just like rapping with friends or to pass the time (it's great for waiting for things) watch this video for tips on how to flow better and never get caught without a rhyme.
How To: Use the CAGED system on the guitar
The CAGED system is the road map of your guitar, it teaches you how to play any shape for any chord on any point on the neck of the guitar. This system does require you to be able to at least be able to bar anywhere on the neck with your finger. In this video you will learn the entire CAGED system and how to apply it to your playing.
How To: Apply the CAGED system with arpeggios
So you've gotten down the CAGED system, fantastic! You're on your way to be a master of your fretboard! But if you're not sure what else you can do with the CAGED system, try the lesson in this video. You will learn how to arpeggiate your chords in the CAGED system up and down the neck, which if sped up, could be a really awesome lead up for a solo!
How To: Apply the CAGED system over minor chords
The CAGED system is an amazing way of organizing the fretboard to allow you to find any chord on any place of the neck and instantly have a shape to play on, a scale, a triad and even an arpeggio. In this video you learn how to apply the method with minor chords as opposed to major chords.
How To: Play "House of the Rising Sun" by the Animals on an acoustic guitar
Want to play an unplugged version of the Animals' "House of the Rising Sun"? See how it's done with this free video guitar lesson, which presents a complete breakdown of the song and its chords in tab notation. While this tutorial is geared toward those who already have some knowledge of the guitar, players of all skill level should be able to follow along given adequate time and effort. For more information, and to get started playing this Animals song on your own guitar, watch this video tu...
How To: Play basic arpeggios on the guitar
Learning how to play and connect arpeggios is the beginning of getting into not only creating interesting and fresh melodies but also sweep picking! It's very simple to do, you just need to know the formula for the different types of arpeggios out there. In this video you will learn what an arpeggio is and also how to play a few basic arpeggios!
How To: Play "Eye of the Tiger" by Survivor on an acoustic guitar
Want to play an unplugged version of Survivor's "Eye of the Tiger"? See how it's done with this free video guitar lesson, which presents a complete breakdown of the song and its chords in tab notation. While this tutorial is geared toward those who already have some knowledge of the guitar, players of all skill level should be able to follow along given adequate time and effort. For more information, and to get started playing this Survivor song on your own guitar, watch this video tutorial.
How To: Play "Wild Thing" by the Troggs on an acoustic guitar
Want to play an unplugged version of the Troggs' "Wild Thing"? See how it's done with this free video guitar lesson, which presents a complete breakdown of the song and its chords in tab notation. While this tutorial is geared toward those who already have some knowledge of the guitar, players of all skill level should be able to follow along given adequate time and effort. For more information, and to get started playing this Troggs song on your own guitar, watch this video tutorial.
How To: Play "American Woman" by the Guess Who on an acoustic guitar
Want to play an unplugged version of the Guess Who's "American Woman"? See how it's done with this free video guitar lesson, which presents a complete breakdown of the song and its chords in tab notation. While this tutorial is geared toward those who already have some knowledge of the guitar, players of all skill level should be able to follow along given adequate time and effort. For more information, and to get started playing this Guess Who song on your own guitar, watch this video tutorial.
How To: Play "Crazy Train" by Ozzy Osbourne on an acoustic guitar
Want to play an unplugged version of Ozzy's "Crazy Train"? See how it's done with this free video guitar lesson, which presents a complete breakdown of the song and its chords in tab notation. While this tutorial is geared toward those who already have some knowledge of the guitar, players of all skill level should be able to follow along given adequate time and effort. For more information, and to get started playing this Ozzy Osbourne song on your own guitar, watch this video tutorial.
How To: Play "Money" by Pink Floyd on an acoustic guitar
Want to play an unplugged version of Pink Floyd's "Money"? See how it's done with this free video guitar lesson, which presents a complete breakdown of the song and its chords in tab notation. While this tutorial is geared toward those who already have some knowledge of the guitar, players of all skill level should be able to follow along given adequate time and effort. For more information, and to get started playing this Pink Floyd song on your own guitar, watch this video tutorial.
How To: Play "Sweet Child o' Mine" by Guns N' Roses on an acoustic guitar
Want to play an unplugged version of Guns N' Roses' "Sweet Child o' Mine"? See how it's done with this free video guitar lesson, which presents a complete breakdown of the song and its chords in tab notation. While this tutorial is geared toward those who already have some knowledge of the guitar, players of all skill level should be able to follow along given adequate time and effort. For more information, and to get started playing this GNR song on your own guitar, watch this video tutorial.
How To: Play "Sunshine of Your Love" by Cream on the acoustic guitar
Want to play an unplugged version of Cream's "Sunshine of Your Love"? See how it's done with this free video guitar lesson, which presents a complete breakdown of the song and its chords in tab notation. While this tutorial is geared toward those who already have some knowledge of the guitar, players of all skill level should be able to follow along given adequate time and effort. For more information, and to get started playing this Cream song on your own guitar, watch this video tutorial.
How To: Play "Satisfaction" by the Rolling Stones on the acoustic guitar
Want to play an unplugged version of the Rolling Stones' "Satisfaction"? See how it's done with this free video guitar lesson, which presents a complete breakdown of the song and its chords in tab notation. While this tutorial is geared toward those who already have some knowledge of the guitar, players of all skill level should be able to follow along given adequate time and effort. For more information, and to get started playing this Rolling Stones song on your own guitar, watch this video...
How To: Find octave centers on the guitar
Octaves are a cool way of spicing up your solos either by adding in the ocatve note after playing the lower note, or, in the way that George Benson and other great Jazz artists have made famous, playing full octave type power chords that allow you to play all sorts of melodies on the guitar. In this video you will learn how to find octave centers and begin to build your own melodies, solos and rhythm patterns!
How To: Do sweep picking and connect arpeggios on the guitar
Sweep picking is that thing them younguns are into these days, trying to become the next Steve Vai or Eric Johnson, and you have to admit, it is pretty cool if you can use it right. (like anything in guitar and music in general) If you'd like to learn the basics check out this video on how to do basic sweep picking over a I, IV, V progression and connect the arpeggios together!
How To: Set up the intonation on your guitar at home
As a guitar player one thing that you may find yourself running into is your guitar, over time, will start to lose its intonation, especially if you never set it up after you purchased it. You could take it to a tech to have him set it up and fix it for you, but that's expensive, and who wants to spend money when you can do it for free right!? In this video you will learn how to adjust the bridge of your guitar among other things to help get your guitar back into tune!
How To: Play the Ionian mode on the guitar
Ionian mode is the first of the modes, and in a way, is the major scale! It has the same steps as the major scale, for those of you playing from home that's whole step, whole step, half step, whole step, whole step, whole step, half step! In this video you will learn how to play and apply the Ionian mode on the guitar!
How To: Read sheet music on the guitar
In the studio world, and the ensemble scene, you're going to be handed ALOT of sheet music, sometimes it has only a few notes for a specific melody, and sometimes it's a whole lot of notes for the entire song. Knowing how to read these notes are important, and it can be very daunting at first, but if you practice every day anybody can read. In this video you will learn the basics of reading the notes on the staff with the note names for the treble clef.
How To: Read basic rhythms on a chart for the guitar
In almost all charts and forms of sheet music, the composer will more than likely have added rhythmic dictation to the staff, a specific rhythm that he wants you to play over the progression using the chord. In this video you will get a breakdown of basic rhythmic dictation of a quarter note, eighth note and more on top of how to read these in notation format!
How To: Create and build chords on the guitar
For beginners, you may learn a few basic chords here and there, but somewhere in your mind you must think about why do these chords sound like this, why is this an A chord and this a G chord? Well, wonder no more! In this video you will learn how the construction of a chord works, which is basically taking the root and adding a specific formula for what you're looking for. Let's say you want to build an A major chord. Well, you first have to build the triad which is the 1st note of the major ...
How To: Play inversions of triads on the guitar
As a guitar player, you will be faced with various challenges in your career, and one of those are being able to blend in with your rhythm section without stepping on anybody elses toes. One way is playing inversions of triads to give a fresh and unique sound to your rhythm and lead guitar playing. In this video you will learn about rearranging triad shapes to make inversions.