Category: Tips

  • It Only Takes 5 Minutes to Master These 3 Simple Vocal Warm-Ups

    It Only Takes 5 Minutes to Master These 3 Simple Vocal Warm-Ups

    In the spirit of the Summer Olympics, here’s a metaphor: Athletes would never dream of competing without warming up first, so why is it that singers so often skip this vital step? Sure, we may not risk seriously injuring our bodies if we don’t warm up, but we can seriously injure our vocal cords! One of…

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  • How to Play the Guitar Without Looking

    How to Play the Guitar Without Looking

    Tired of constantly glancing down at the fretboard during your solos? Having trouble singing while you play? Maybe you’re just out to emulate all your favorite blues musicians, like Blind Willie Johnson, Blind Lemon Jefferson, Blind Willie McTell, or Sonny Terry (also blind)… none of whom could even see their guitar, let alone the fretboard! But for…

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  • 6 Subtle Production Tricks That’ll Bring a Track to Life

    6 Subtle Production Tricks That’ll Bring a Track to Life

    Sometimes having great songs and performances isn’t enough — you also need unique and ear-catching production. What actually makes something sound even better than it does? Well, that’s that true art of audio production. The more techniques a producer or engineer has at his or her disposal, the most opportunities for inventiveness. That’s not to…

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  • Finding the Perfect Practice Space for Your Band

    Finding the Perfect Practice Space for Your Band

    By Colleen Kinsey Guitar player: Check. Drummer: Check. Bassist: Check. That’s not a band, yet. You still need to get it together, and that means rehearsals. It takes a lot of practice to mesh the experience and styles that each player brings to your band. Get everybody together regularly, not only to practice for the next gig, but also…

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  • 5 Easy Ear Training Techniques You Can Work on Every Day

    5 Easy Ear Training Techniques You Can Work on Every Day

    If you’re one of the human beings on Earth born with two functional ears, you should consider yourself lucky. Not only are you a miracle of evolution and natural selection, but you get to experience the vibration of air molecules and interpret them as different sounds! According to Ancient Greek philosopher Epictetus, “we have two…

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  • The Top 10 Apps You Need to Bring on Tour

    The Top 10 Apps You Need to Bring on Tour

    + 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. You’ve heard the glory stories of surviving on tour: nightly pizza and fried food, crashing in run-down motels or the van, waking up to do it all…

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  • Proven Content Ideas for the Musician’s Social Media Calendar

    Proven Content Ideas for the Musician’s Social Media Calendar

    + Pursue your next marketing goal with a Soundfly Mentor! Soundfly offers four-week mentorship sessions with a pro, customized to you. Get in touch. You’ve already taken step one. You bit the bullet and created the essential social media accounts for your music. Now you’re stuck figuring out what content to post, or you’ve been posting, but don’t…

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  • How to Send a Killer Email to Anyone in the Music Industry

    How to Send a Killer Email to Anyone in the Music Industry

    I’ve been to a lot of music conferences. At nearly every single workshop or Q&A session, the question is asked: “What are the dos and don’ts of sending emails to industry people?” Most of the time, the answers are pretty generic and simple, but to be honest, it’s a good question. A lot of people suck…

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  • 3 Strategies to Step Up Your Lyric-Writing Game

    3 Strategies to Step Up Your Lyric-Writing Game

    + Recording and mixing your songs at home? Grammy-winning artist Kimbra explores how to harness the full creative potential of your music in her new course! I have a confession. When I first started songwriting, I didn’t fully understand the importance of lyrics. I focused all my attention on the “music” and threw the lyrics…

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  • Conquering the Sight Singing Challenge

    Conquering the Sight Singing Challenge

    Sight singing: If you are a vocalist, it’s likely you’ve made it your whole career without having to perform this dreaded task. But despite requiring a bit of work to master, being able to transform sheet to sound can make you more marketable, versatile, and easy to work with than the endless number of talented…

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RJD2: From Samples to Songs