+ Learning to read and write music? Access hundreds of lessons from Soundfly’s online courses on music theory, songwriting, production, mixing and more — subscribe here. This article originally appeared on Ethan Hein’s blog. Are you trying to learn scales and patterns, but finding it hard to make yourself practice? Do yourself a favor, and practice over actual…
+ Pursue your dreams faster with a Soundfly Mentor! Share your musical goals with us and we’ll pair you up with a professional musician, engineer, educator, or music industry veteran who will help you achieve them in a customized four-week session. This article originally appeared on Ethan Hein’s blog. I’m in the process of doing some large-scale writing about the…
+ 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. This article originally appeared on Ethan Hein’s blog. The Groove Pizza uses geometry to help visualize rhythms. The NYU MusEDLab (who we partnered with to create our free Theory…
This article originally appeared on Ethan Hein’s blog. When I was nineteen, I was flipping channels on TV late at night, and I stumbled on this: I had no idea what I was seeing, but I was spellbound. I still can’t exactly verbalize what this music means to me, but I know it means something. I’m…
+ 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. This article originally appeared on Ethan Hein’s blog. You can put all recorded music techniques and gestures into three categories: realist, hyperrealist, and surrealist. These categories have soft boundaries that broadly overlap.…
Descending melodies and progressions often sound sad, but one of the most resoundingly happy songs ever, Jackson 5’s “I Want You Back” begs to differ.
The next time you’re writing a heartbreaking, gut-wrenching tune, try using this handful of chords to drive your sadness home.
You might understand the construction of a chord or triad, but here’s how to make your music express the heartbreaking lilt of a seventh chord.
+ The above video is taken from Soundfly’s course Unlocking the Emotional Power of Chords. Learn harmonic theory and maximize the emotional impact of your tracks. When “Crazy” hit in 2006, it seemingly came out of nowhere. CeeLo Green was known among hip-hop aficionados as a member of Goodie Mob. While the group had the heads’ respect, it didn’t always translate…
The first song on Kanye West’s The Life of Pablo album, and my favorite so far, is the beautiful, gospel-saturated “Ultralight Beam.” The song uses only four chords, but they’re an interesting four: C minor, E♭ major, A♭ major, and G7. To find out why they sound so good together, let’s do a little music theory. “Ultralight Beam” is…
