By Marie@Musicademy | January 10, 2011
How to learn a song the way it was originally played Chris from New Zealand emailed an interesting question: “Do you ever do any stuff like showing how ‘Facedown’ guitar is played – pretty well got that one worked out, but it’s a good example” We thought that this was as good a cue as […]
By Andy@Musicademy | October 11, 2010
You know the scenario, you’re either trying to remember the chords for a song that you don’t have music for, or you’re trying to find some chords to accompany a new melody, so you stab at all sorts – G F, C Em, A, Bb – some seem to work but some don’t. There is, […]
By Tim Martin | September 25, 2010
Troy Friesen, Pastor of Worship at Faith Bible Church in Nebraska asks: “I’m looking for some advice on synthesizer purchases. We are primarily piano and band driven in our worship leading so our synthesizer serves as a secondary keyboard (after piano). I use it mostly for string sounds, synth pad sounds and organ sounds (pipe, […]
By Tim Martin | September 3, 2010
How to play rock keyboard styles Shapwung Valui emailed asking: “Please send me tips about keyboards techniques and styles for playing in a rock band” As you will probably know, Musicademy is primarily focussed on worship music but obviously many of the techniques and styles that we use in worship music do in fact stem […]
By Andy@Musicademy | July 21, 2010
Learning how to play by ear Previously we looked at how to work out all the chords available in the key of G. I suggested you took a song and worked out which chords came where by listening to see which ones sounded major, which ones sounded minor and by the process of elimination work […]
By Andy@Musicademy | July 14, 2010
How to play by ear For many people, the thought of playing ‘by ear’ or being able to anticipate the chords, notes and musical charges in a song you’ve never heard before seems an impossible task. It’s often considered a ‘God given’ gift rather than a skill that can be learned and constantly improved on. […]
By Andy@Musicademy | July 6, 2010
How to play keys in a large worship band Its lovely when there is space for the keys player to work in some riffs, fills, passing notes and the like, but if you have lots of other musicians and vocalists all trilling and frilling its going to be a lot better if you refrain from […]
By Tim Martin | May 28, 2010
Understanding contemporary rhythms Last time we looked at keyboard chords and their voicings. In this post we consider contemporary rhythms. Its a timely post and partly in response to an Ask the Expert question we had recently about mastering syncopated rhythms. Once you can use different chords and inversions properly it’s time to tackle the Achilles heel […]
By Kim Gentes | May 27, 2010
What do all the strange names and symbols mean in guitar chords? First, understand that chord nomenclature is a colloquialism of modern music, and there are occasional variances on how people use the symbols. I used the common forms below, which are a mixture of common pop music (such as the half-diminished) and jazz influenced […]
By Andy@Musicademy | May 21, 2010
How to play syncopated songs on the keyboard David Aldrich emails with an issue that lots of worship keyboards players wrestle with: As a keyboard player, I really struggle with playing syncopated worship songs. Playing on the off-beat just doesn’t come naturally to me. Do you have any tips on how to do this? Andy […]
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