Two different people asked me about musical keys this week.
A key is a collection of notes in a particular pattern. If you start singing a song on one note & then sing the same song but begin it on a different note, it’s still the same song but is in a different key.You’ll also have to play different chords to make it sound right.
Here are two different versions of The Kinks’ Lola – one on Ukulele Boogaloo & one from Richard G’s Songbook. You’ll notice the difference when you play them – you might find the chords easier to play in one version or that you can sing along better on one. Read the rest of this entry »
After discussions at recent club nights from Chris & Paul about movable chords & different chord fingerings, here’s another article to help those with little or no music theory background learn about major chords.
I’ve been enjoying the BBC Two series Howard Goodall’s Story Of Music – in six parts, covering the origins of music from the Stone Age until the Digital Age. It’s being shown on Saturday nights until 23 Feb (with episodes available on the BBC iPlayer for around a month after broadcast). It’s a good way to put the theory into context with different types of music you hear & play. Read the rest of this entry »
EarMaster is another interactive music theory site, with a useful page for learning how to recognise the interval (ie musical gap) between two notes. You can listen to ascending & descending intervals and play a daily quiz, Plus there is a long list of songs that start with each interval: choose the ones you know to make a customised reference chart as an aide-mémoire.
Reading Music Mnemonics – Treble Clef from http://www.squidoo.com/how-to-read-music2 Notes on the lines are E – G – B – D – F = Every Good Boy Deserves Football Notes in the spaces spell F – A – C – E
Another interesting learning resource site I found this week is memrise. Its main section is on-line language courses, with novel ways of getting you to learn the vocabulary (along with mnemonics, submitted by fellow learners, which may or may not seem useful to you!) but it covers a lot more under Other Topics..
It’s a free sign-up. You do short, timed tests to build your knowledge & can return as often or infrequently as you wish to practice. There is a reasonable Musical Notation section with all manner of items to help your music theory knowledge, such as:
In this article I shall attempt to lay out the very basis of how music works in a straightforward, easily understood fashion. Please, if you’re a beginner, don’t be put off by the idea of learning and understanding anything about music. The basic stuff is really easy to grasp and will enhance your playing and following of what’s going on when you play with others. If you’re already into music this isn’t for you, it’s for those with no understanding at all.
Musical Notes – The Octave & Chromatic Scale
If you play a note and then double the frequency (ie the number of times a string vibrates in one second) you get the same note but higher. This is called an octave and can be heard on a ukulele if you play an open string and then count 12 frets up the fingerboard and play that note. It’s the same note an octave higher.
