How to Get the Most Out of Your Private Music Lessons
Taking music lessons requires dedication and commitment to practicing and meeting your teacher half-way, here are some tips to lightening the load!
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Not Even Aerosmith Can Tell the Difference Between “Cryin’” and “Crazy”!
Last summer, I took a road trip to the Grand Canyon with some friends. After some time passing the aux cable from phone to phone, we ended up on Aerosmith’s 1993 7x platinum, 20-million-selling, mega-hit record, Get a Grip. This was one of the albums that seemed to follow us everywhere we went in the mid-’90s. All…
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Who Is the Art Ensemble of Chicago?
+ Bridge the worlds of theory, improvisation, and jazzy hip-hop, and improve your piano chops with Grammy-winner Kiefer in his course, Kiefer: Keys, Chords, & Beats. For the musicians of the many houses of improvised music out there, the Art Ensemble of Chicago is one of the most influential bands of the 20th century. Yet for…
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Veni Om on Creating Non-Religious Spiritual Music to Seek Inner Peace
Welcome back to Soundfly’s weekly interview series, Incorrect Music, curated by guitarist, singer, and composer Lora-Faye Åshuvud (of the band Arthur Moon). In this series, we present intimate conversations with artists who are striving to push the boundaries of their process and craft. Nick Millevoi has been following the Dutch duo Dead Neanderthals ever since the first…
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Dorothy Ashby Was One Fierce Lady Pioneer of Jazz Harp
+ Welcome to Soundfly! We help curious musicians meet their goals with creative online courses. Whatever you want to learn, whenever you need to learn it. Subscribe now to start learning on the ’Fly. A few years ago, I had one of the most powerful live music experiences of my life when I went to see Stevie Wonder on his Songs in…
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5 Mind-Bending Early Guitar Innovators
Compared to most instruments, the modern guitar is a relatively new instrument. While classical instruments like piano, brass, and woodwinds all have hundreds of years of pedagogy behind them, the language of guitar music and how we learn to play is new and constantly changing. Today, we can find chords to any song on the internet…
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20 Creative Songwriting and Composing Prompts Courtesy of ‘Every Song Ever’
+ Improve your songwriting with Soundfly! Explore our range of courses on emotional chord progressions, basic songwriting technique, songwriting for producers, and many more. Subscribe for unlimited access here. Ben Ratliff’s Every Song Ever: Twenty Ways to Listen in an Age of Musical Plenty is my favorite book I’ve read in the past year. In each chapter, Ratliff details a…
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9 of the Most Ripping Country Guitarists Who Advanced the Language of Their Instrument
It’s unlikely you’ll find any rip-roaring country instrumentals making waves in these modern times. But in the 1950s and ’60s, fast-picking country guitar players were all over television and influenced guitarists of all genres. Though rooted in blues, jazz, and swing, country guitar is mysteriously singular in many of its techniques and approaches. It’s difficult to…
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An Introduction to the Wide World of Alternate 12-String Guitar Tunings
That 12-string guitar is a difficult thing to tune! All those high-tension thin strings can be really difficult to deal with, especially the high G string, so this instrument doesn’t necessarily readily encourage alternate tunings. It is a lot of work, but if you take the time to explore the options for alternate tunings on a 12-string, it can…
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The COMPASS: Philadelphia, PA
I’m a lifetime Philadelphian and proud of it. It’s an interesting place to grow up and be a musician. Philly is a big East Coast city that can feel like a small town of connected, but decidedly distinct neighborhoods and music scenes. The city is full of some of the oldest stuff in the country and…
