Welcome to, "Figure it Out Fridays: Lesson 019 - Part Two," Ear Training Guitar Lesson.
Here's the Answer Key for, "Figure it Out Fridays," Ear Training Lesson 019.
In this series, we study how to transcribe a new guitar melody or chord progression every week. Musical ideas are released on Tuesday, with the Music and TAB's released that same week on Fridays. Do your best on the days "in between" to learn the different guitar parts.
Up-Load your guess of Tuesdays guitar idea (from the part one lesson) to your YouTube channel. Share your examples on; GooglePlus, Twitter and on FaceBook.
Be sure to check-out the "Part Two" video released every Friday to learn exactly how Tuesdays guitar part looks charted to TAB and in Music Notation. Enjoy the series!
If you’re currently going through a band breakup (or think one is
looming in the near future), here's how to overcome it and get back on
track...
It's fairly common to see bands who have worked together for years break up due to differing long-term goals or personal issues. Whether a band member leaves or the whole group disassembles, it can be tough to recover and recapture the chemistry of the past.
As hard as it may be to put your emotions aside, it's important to think practically and logically about how to move forward in a way that’s best for everybody.
1. Re-evaluate the direction of the group
If one of your band members leaves and there are only a few members left, the first thing to do is re-evaluate the direction of the group.
Every band has different dynamics, but most have certain members who are the "glue" of the group and play a strong leadership role. If one of these people decides to leave, it becomes more difficult to carry on as a team. However, if someone who just recently joined the band departs because he or she wasn’t a good fit, it's much easier to adjust and ensure the progress of the group continues as planned.
Ultimately, no matter who leaves your band, it's essential to make sure everyone is on the same page and know that individual goals are aligned with the mission of the band as a whole.
2. Understand how the music will be affected
Once everyone’s concerns are dealt with and settled, the next step of overcoming a band breakup is realizing how the music is going to be affected.
Depending on who leaves your band, there has to be an honest self-assessment of how live shows will be affected and what urgency there is in replacing this person. Even if everyone is ready to bounce back from the adversity of losing a band member, the musical logistics need to be taken care of in the short term in order to see any sort of long-term success.
3. Make sure all of your business is in order
When all band members are on the same page, the business side of things is less likely to go awry. However, a band breakup greatly increases the chances of complicating all kinds of issues that were once taken for granted.
Ideally, your group has some sort of written band agreement in place, which acts as a contract to ensure all members are fully aligned on important issues. This lessens the chances of awkward conversations taking place in the midst a breakup (which is already awkward enough!). But if your group never created a band agreement, important questions you'll now need to answer include: who has the right to use the band name, how future royalties are going to be handled, and what's going to happen to previously recorded music. These all need to be addressed when a band member leaves or the whole group splits up.
This might not be the easiest conversation to have, but it's better to resolve all business and financial disputes immediately because the longer you wait, the more stress you open yourself up to. People can get extra emotional when money is at stake, so make sure all parties involved are treated fairly in order to save yourself from unwanted legal disputes down the line.
4. Take the time to rebrand
Any time there's a major change within your band, going through the process of rebranding is worth considering, and it may add a spark to the group. From updated merchandise to a new live show experience, there are several ways to successfully rebrand if a band member leaves. But whatever great idea you come up with, it's essential not to rush into it.
Taking enough time to get over the loss of a band member (especially if it was a messy breakup) is necessary in order to execute future plans to the best of your ability. Recharge, reboot, and naturally return to the stage by being patient with your transition and putting revitalized energy into your group.
5. Don't feel bad if going solo is the right decision
We don’t want to end on a somber note, but sometimes the loss of one band member can lead to the entire group parting ways. As tough of a decision as this may be, sometimes going solo is the right choice for your career when this unfortunate circumstance happens. If your band is struggling to revive itself after losing a key member, and the collaborative spirit that once existed is no longer there, it makes no sense to force it.
The last thing any artist wants to do is release lower quality music just for the sake of keeping the band together, and it’s even worse if no one is having fun while doing so. If everyone is honest with each other and recognize that the best choice is to go your separate ways, the careers of each band member will benefit in the long run. And who knows – maybe after some time off, your group can reunite in the future and be better than ever before!
Eric Bernsen is a marketing/public relations professional and music journalist who specializes in the genre of hip-hop. You can find more of his work at HITPmusic (where he is an editor/writer) as well as HipHop-N-More
The Amount of "Patience" You Have is the Primary Trait that Will Make You a More Successful Guitarist and Musician...
Look at the picture above. At first, it may just seem like a dude jammin on a guitar riff. While that's true, there's a far deeper meaning behind this. Inside that guys head, internal war wages on between patience and restlessness. A part of his brain may want to go outside for a walk, watch some TV, visit a friend or maybe eat some candy, but another part urges him to stay on that riff. Work on it, over an over until it is 100% perfect.
Maybe if he just practices a little longer, he'll nail that riff he so patiently wants to be perfect for his next gig. If not, then he may see the whole effort as a waste of time. Believe it or not, this riff analogy will relate to a lot of elements in the music business, so just hang on.
Patience, they say, is a virtue. Sure, that may look nice on a coffee mug or something, but one doesn't have to have particularly high moral standards to exercise patience. Anyone can do it. In the realm of music, patience is particularly important. Unlike learning a single riff, a musicians day won't be one of just waiting around to get their reward. They have a lot to do and to more control over the course of a day and their end result of success will probably take a lot longer than learning one riff. That's not where patience comes in handy. This type of patience relates to your daily, weekly and monthly progression to being a success.
Think about small steps. Whether you're trying to lose weight, memorize the periodic table, or travel the world, you'll never get the end result immediately. These things take time and, above all, these things take patience. A lot of patience. Tiny changes over a period of time will eventually lead to some impressive results. It's these tiny changes that take you from a good musician to a great one, but it takes some work.
Building healthy habits
Like most qualities, patience can be learned. Learning, especially in music, is greatly affected by developing good habits. People aren't just naturally patient. They've built up that skill over repeated practice of a good habit. Like the saying goes, "We are what we eat," we are represented by what we repeatedly do.
Think about your daily habits. Do you have a routine at all? Are there certain habits that would take your playing to another level? Most likely, there are. We all know what it takes to be a better musician, friend, cook, or dog walker. The problem is that we might not actually act on these things.
In the grand scheme of building your music career, the end goal is pretty well defined. You want to be the best musician you can be and have a successful career in music. It seems like a basic conclusion, but the road there is filled with seemingly infinite baby steps.
You have to practice daily, practice mindfully, read music, listen to music, critique yourself, organize your practice sessions, and somehow find time to get some solid rest. That's just the homework, too. Add in all the stress of booking gigs, promoting shows, and recording songs, and the process can become overwhelming. It's understandable why musicians don't have the patience for these baby steps, and for this reason, they seek out one big solution.
The myth of the "big one"
Any number of those famous heist movies all revolve around one big heist. In these films, the charismatic criminals all band together to create one giant plan for one giant solution. To these men, petty thieves are looked down upon as suckers. Why go around stealing a couple thousand here and a few hundred there when you can get five million in one fell swoop? Well, in the art of thievery, this may seem like a great idea, but you're a musician. There isn't a "big one."
When coming across a musical challenge, we have a tendency to search for a radical fix. Perhaps it's just practicing faster to learn more music or buying an expensive new instrument to make you sound better. In a way, dramatic changes like this can have a good result. However, the problem with the "big one" is that it won't help you become a better person.
Let's say a famous band is coming to town and you put all your resources into opening for this act. If you open, instant fame will rain down on you and your bandmates, and the world will be yours to take. If by some chance this works and you find yourself playing at Madison Square Garden, then congratulations. However, if you fail, it's likely you'll just revert back to your old ways and zero progress has been made. There's a way around this, though.
Building a strategy for continuous improvement
There are a wealth of business strategies out there based on the concept of continuous improvement, but we're going to examine a Japanese method for this particular example. Kaizen, as it is called, is one of the most used words in Japan. It's a large factor in Japanese competitive success. In recent years, the Western world picked up on this concept and began using it to improve production. It may sound like a lot of business jargon, but the same philosophy can be applied to your music career.
What you want to do is build your own strategy for continuous improvement, or Kaizen. The reason we're calling it a strategy is because it's complex; it's not just an idea or quick plan. This strategy will need to be implemented over a long period of time until it essentially becomes a part of your personality.
Most quick ideas tend to fail because they require drastic commitment. The overwhelming nature of this takes over our patience and we revert back to our old ways. With a strategy, you can develop small changes in your behavior. Over time, habits will form and your skills will be taken to the next level.
Let's say you have a goal of practicing three hours each day. At the moment, you only squeeze in 30 minutes. Instead of just sitting down and playing for three hours straight, try adding 10 minutes each day. If you're trying to learn a long, complex song, just nail one part at a time.
Want to practice in the morning but hate the idea? Start by simply taking your instrument out in the morning without even playing it. Hopefully, you get the idea by now.
The end results you want as a musician are not impossible. Just exercise patience and you'll be on your way to excellence.
Anthony Cerullo is a nomadic freelance writer and keyboard player. In his spare time, he can be found reading, hiking mountains, and lying in hammocks for extended periods of time.
Before you set aside your guitar, open up a bag of potato chips, lounge back, and expect laziness to make you a guitar god, there are some details to go over...
Laziness in itself will not make you a virtuoso. There are still many negative aspects to laziness that will be detrimental to your career. Instead, let's define laziness in different terms. Working smarter in less time.
This article title probably excited the inner sloth in you, but let's
get this out of the way first: obviously, doing nothing at all will not
create progress. There is a popular belief that we should praise hard work in society while punishing those who are lazy. Kids who underachieve in class are seen as having a poor work ethic. Overweight people are portrayed as idiotic burdens to society. In general, laziness and failure go hand and hand, so it's not often that you'll hear someone praise that quality.
Society has demonized lazy people, but it doesn't consider how dangerous the alternative is as well. Hard work is simply overrated. In fact, laziness might breed more productivity than hard work. Laziness, in this sense, means doing more with less. So, let's look at five reasons why this laid-back style of working can actually be helpful to your music career.
1. It helps you focus on what's important
Overworked musicians are busy stressing about every little aspect of their careers. Because of this, they may fail to see the big picture. "Slackers," on the other hand, don't think too much about the little things in life. They don't run around like a panicked chicken trying to do everything in the world. "Lazy" people will instead focus on what's most important and get to work on that. They're able to organize their to-do list in a unique way, because who really has time to do all that other stuff?
As much as the slacker and over-worker may differ, it's a symbiotic relationship of sorts. Those who work smarter are able to use those who work harder for those small, less important tasks. Meanwhile, the hard worker might be too stressed to see the big picture, and the slacker will actually come to pick up the slack. The slacker realizes that he or she may have to say "no" to certain things in order to tackle the main goal at hand.
These people think efficiently and effectively. They're not just being lazy – they just want to get a positive result at a faster rate.
2. It helps save time and energy Smarter, "lazier" workers never want to do more work than they have to. For this reason, they'll seek out ways to maximize efficiency. Maximizing efficiency helps save time and energy. Not only will the smart worker find an efficient way to tackle a problem, but he or she will do so in a way that it stays tackled. A small, quick fix will only result in more work down the road. The smart "lazy" worker would rather do it right the first time to prevent having to do it again later.
In music, hard workers will practice a piece over and over again until they feel it's mastered. Smart workers, on the other hand, would rather spend more time experimenting with different, but more effective practice methods than a conventional one that might not even work. For example, a creative method of fingering, a different way to space out breaths, a more efficient warm-up, and even better equipment will all help streamline practice sessions.
If there's a better, easier way to do something, the smart worker will do it to save valuable time and energy.
3. It helps you become a better musician
Smart and "lazy" workers always start a task with the end goal in sight. As we saw in the last point, the last thing they want to do is waste time doing work. For this reason, they won't risk wandering in the wrong direction.
If they want to learn a song, smart workers tend to find out what the song sounds like first, and then figure out the technical details later. Hard workers, on the other hand, would learn all the technical aspects first. By the end, they've spent so much time doing that that they now have a poor sense of the "musicality" of the piece, thus resulting in a less authentic rendition.
"Lazy" musicians let the music steer the way they learn a piece. They prefer to know where a given song will go first. That way, they aren't lost in the technicality alone.
4. It helps you become more productive
If lazy workers don't know the purpose of something before doing it, then they won't even attempt the effort. For example, if someone tells them to learn a song or practice a certain way, smart workers will usually ask, "Why?"
They won't do something purely because they were told to do it. They want to ensure that this will be a productive effort, and part of that is knowing the game plan. The benefit of this thought process is, of course, productivity. The end result for a smart worker is always something substantial. They'll come away from practice learning something of value.
5. It helps you become a better performer
People assume that lazy workers will only do things halfway, but it's quite the opposite. Smart workers don't see the benefit of doing anything halfway. To them, just going through the motions or taking part in something of less value is a waste of time. Slackers have better things to do. If they're going to get involved in a project, you can guarantee that it will lead to something great.
Smart workers would join a band that speaks to them on a meaningful level. They would rather be part of something substantial to them personally than take part in what society says should be done. This kind of thought process breeds passion, and passion makes for a quality performance.
Additionally, smart workers know what they're good at. They want to take the path of least resistance by following their strengths. They don't waste time trying to become a musician they're not. They know what to do and how to do it well. Onstage, this translates to a confident and skilled performer, which, in turn, makes them better musicians all around.
Smart work is really the key to success. Cut out all the unnecessary objectives in your life, and your music career will benefit from it.
Anthony Cerullo is a nomadic freelance writer and keyboard player. In his spare time, he can be found reading, hiking mountains, and lying in hammocks for extended periods of time.
Welcome to, "Figure it Out Fridays - Lesson 019," the unique Ear Training Guitar Lesson on YouTube.
The focus of these lessons will be to study how to transcribe, (learn by ear), a new guitar melody or a chord progression every week...
Musical ideas are released on Tuesday's, with the Music and TAB's released that same week on Friday. Do your best on the days in between to learn the musical parts. Then, be sure to check out the "Part Two" video to learn exactly how the musical idea operates. Enjoy, and good luck transcribing!
5 Signs That You May, or May Not, Have the Mental Toughness to Succeed in Music...
For those who engage in physically demanding sports, like mountain climbing or a long-distance running, the phrase "mental toughness" is thrown around quite a bit. Even outside the realm of sports, the word has caught on with business gurus, personal trainers, and, yes, even musicians.
Playing the guitar and climbing a mountain obviously take some sort of physical action, but that's not all there is to it. The psychological attribute of mental toughness can be the extra ingredient that takes your playing to new heights.
So what exactly is mental toughness? To be quite honest, it's a rather controversial term. The loose definition of mental toughness refers to any type of positive attribute that can help a person overcome a difficult situation. Some don't see music as one of these difficult situations, but not everything has to be an epic, physical challenge.
The fact is, mental toughness is beneficial to your music career. Some are naturally gifted with such a trait, while others have to work a little harder at it. If you're on the fence about your own mental toughness, the following five signs should help figure out if you've got it going on.
1. Complete control of focus
Having control over how you focus and spend your time is a sure sign of a tough mentality. As a musician, there are going to be plenty of times when you really need to channel your focus, and there will be times when you need to shut it off as well. For example, during a performance, an intense focus is needed, but when you get off the stage during an intermission, that focus should be turned off.
The mentally weak don't have any power over this quality. As a result, they're left with a fleeting focus that's hard to control.
Not only can you benefit more from learning to enhance and relax your focus in music, but controlled focus can help with situations outside of music too. Music may be your life, but it's not immune to the myriad of personal-life distractions. There may be unpaid bills, dirty dishes, conflict with family, money issues, or other obligations that all add up in an attempt to derail your focus. The mentally tough can deal with these distractions while still remaining focused on their music career.
2. Quick recovery from failure
Staying positive and in control of your mind, even in the face of total utter failure, (which will occur a lot), is another sure sign of mental toughness. You may have gotten lost on the way to a gig, played a song horribly, or gotten sick on the road. The life of a musician is full of these issues, but the mentally tough will not let them stand in the way of success.
Failure is painful and demoralizing. It leaves some deep emotional wounds and can impact us on a subconscious level. If the psyche is damaged from failure, then that will eventually interfere with aspects of your music. That's why it's necessary to stay focused and in control of your mind even in the face of inevitable devastating failure.
3. Confidence
Do you believe in your musical skills and abilities? Can you easily navigate through times of challenge and conflict? Are your social skills well formed?
If you answered yes to all of these questions, then it's likely you're a confident person. People who define themselves as self-confident believe they can succeed despite any obstacles they may face. These mentally tough individuals don't back down from competition either. In fact, they actively try to put themselves in situations like that. They take charge, make decisions, and have large amounts of courage, even if fear is involved. These people crave the limelight – not for the fame and fortune, but for the challenge.
Anyone who wants to truly succeed in music needs to have this quality of mental toughness. Perhaps you have a fear of large crowds or are intimidated by a better musician. That's a natural feeling. If you want to overcome those feelings of anxiety, you need to develop a confidence-building strategy. You need to throw yourself in uncomfortable situations over and over again until strong self-confidence develops. Once you can confidently say to the world, "I'm a great musician," you will be well on your way to mental toughness.
4. Embracing every challenge
Embracing challenges, (and there will be a lot of them) means that you will continually thrive and actively seek out environments that present difficult opportunities. While these challenges are far from easy to deal with, they ultimately help you learn and grow. Most people tend to hide from such events for fear of failure, or out of sheer laziness. People who embrace them, however, will have a certain ability to think outside of the box.
Challenge-seekers enjoy giving their creativity a workout. They love to explore the lesser known parts of innovation. Some people, (especially those outside of the music business), may think these people are crazy for willingly seeking out a risk. But think about risk taking for a second. When you or anyone else takes a risk, (either in music or in life), do you ever seek out a negative outcome? Of course not. You take risks with a sense of hope that there will be a positive outcome. And, if not, you look forward to what you'll learn from the experience.
This is the essence of a challenge-seeker: they are purely focused on the positive. They realize that challenges and uncertainty are concepts that lead to positive human change. They're natural parts of life that shouldn't be avoided, but instead they should be fully embraced.
Constant change is needed to improve as a musician. That won't happen without embracing the challenges. It's a difficult habit to get into, though, which is why it helps make you mentally tough.
5. Committing
Sure, having confidence and the ability to embrace challenge are great qualities, but if you don't commit to anything, they're useless. The deepest part of you has to know that music will be your career. If you're truly serious, you'll realize that this isn't just a stepping stone to something better down the road. Once you have that mindset in place, it's time to commit.
Musicians are often unsuccessful in their mission of being a self-sustained musician for life because they fear commitment to their deepest values. They may think they want to spend months away from family, grunge it out in nightclubs, and practice their craft every day, but when it comes down to it, some just aren't that committed to what comes along with this lifestyle.
These same people believe success is an act of evolution. Unfortunately, you can't inherit competence. True success is the result of hard work, focus, and commitment to finding the end result. Success doesn't happen overnight, and this frustrates the mentally weak.
A fully committed, mentally tough individual always finds an innovative solution to their challenges. That's because commitment comes from passion. Those who are truly passionate will stop at nothing to pursue their goal.
If you think you're lacking commitment or any of these other qualities, it's never too late to work on your mental toughness. This work is similar to working-up a muscle in your body, in that repeated practice will make it stronger. Combining a tough mind with musical skill will only benefit you in the quest for a successful music career.
Anthony Cerullo is a nomadic freelance writer and keyboard player. In his spare time, he can be found reading, hiking mountains, and lying in hammocks for extended periods of time.
The correlation between time of day and productivity has always been a popular study. However, in the realm of music, there's not much focus on what time to practice, but instead, for how long to practice.
Musicians read countless books, sift through interviews, and ask around to find how much time the best artists spend practicing. After all, "practice makes perfect," so they say. It's understandable that some would want to know how much practice it'll take to excel at their instrument.
Practice is a vital part in improving upon any craft, but there are less obvious factors to consider, such as the time of day. To some, four in the afternoon may seem no different than 11 in the morning when it comes to practice, but it does make a difference.
Most musicians would agree that a thoughtful, focused practice session is more effective. The brain can retain more information in this state compared to a mindless, unorganized practice session. Thoughtful practice requires deep concentration so creativity can flow with ease. This doesn't come easy when we lack energy. For that reason, time of day is crucial to how well we perform in practice sessions.
Earlier isn't always better
Much to the dismay of teenagers and adults alike, society has determined that mornings are when we're most productive. For this reason, millions of people drag themselves out of bed early to try to accomplish something before heading out into the world.
Many musicians will tell you they get up before dawn in order to sneak in a practice session before work or school. They will themselves out of bed, take out their instrument, and plop in front of some music, only to slowly and mindlessly wade through a sea of scales and exercises. Upon finishing, a false sense of accomplishment takes over, as they feel they've gotten practice out of the way before anything else. But when you think about it, what was really accomplished?
Practicing like that is just going through the motions. Likely, not much attention is being paid towards practice itself. Have you ever "read" a book only to find out that you've spaced out for three pages and need to go back and read again? You were technically reading the words but not retaining any of the vital information. The same could be said for these early morning practice sessions. It's a waste of time to attempt practice when your mind is somewhere else.
Sleep is an important factor in high performance, but it isn't just sleep alone that you should pay attention to. The key to getting the most out of your practice relates to your personal, internal clock. Everyone has a different biological clock, and it'll help to find out your clock's schedule. By pinpointing the times you're most alert, you can take full advantage of productivity and get more done in less time.
Your internal clock
Just like there are 24 hours in a day, there are 24 hours involved with our biological clocks. There are various cycles that we go through during this 24-hour period. Alertness, hormone production, body temperature, and more all fluctuate. Perhaps you've heard this referred to as "circadian rhythms." For the most part, these rhythms are pretty solid and predictable. That is, as long as we don't interfere.
Think about those times where you pulled an all-nighter or crossed time zones on a plane. Odds are, they throw you off a little bit, resulting in a feeling of general grogginess. That's why some doctors suggest sticking with the same bedtime and wake-up time every day, as to not disrupt the rhythms.
Whether you already do this or not, surely you've noticed that there are certain times of the day when you're more alert and more tired. The nature of productivity is pinpointing these times when you're more active and alert and using those to practice.
Keep an energy journal
Keeping a journal is a good habit to get into for a variety of functions, and it can also help you maximize your energy. The benefit isn't in journaling itself, per se, but in the organization of the process.
There are two opposing forces at play within your body. You can't easily control high energy and low energy, but you can easily observe them.
As mentioned earlier, everyone has a unique set of circadian rhythms. To understand yours, you need to observe it. To do this, set aside a week where you know nothing particularly crazy will be going on (e.g., late night parties, long trips, etc). Every day, keep a record of some sort of your energy. If you're feeling particularly alert, mark that time in the journal. Alternatively, do the same for when you feel sleepy.
Use a separate chart for each day of the week. At the end of the week, combine the data into one single chart or graph. Hopefully, you've collected enough evidence to see a pattern of sorts. Now that you can see what times of day you're more alert, try practicing during those times and see productivity increase.
An additional benefit to this method is relaxation. During those moments of drowsiness, don't force practice. Instead, relax. Take the time to catch up on other activities, read a book, or go on a walk. You won't feel guilty about not practicing because it would be counterproductive anyway. So feel free to take a nice mid-day nap, and when your next period of alertness comes up, it's back to business.
Anthony Cerullo is a nomadic freelance writer and keyboard player. In his spare time, he can be found reading, hiking mountains, and lying in hammocks for extended periods of time.
