The new book is jam-packed with lessons, exercises, and illustrations to get any beginner up and running fast. Sweet!

Check back—it’s coming very soon!

I missed her recent concert in my neck of the woods. But I heard it was great. It’s always cool—and rare—when a musician’s live performances are better than their studio recordings. But, according to YouTube, Sara Bareilles is even better in front of an audience. Perfect pitch and interesting melodies … very cool.

A great example is her performance of the song, “Bottle It Up.” Sitting with her band on a pier overlooking a lake, Sara B. totally shines. It’s really good stuff. Check it out:

And he’s especially good at playing the harmonica. You know, that little metal instrument you play with your mouth. When John Popper starts to play, everybody stops to listen. It’s amazing.

But the first few times I saw Blues Traveler on TV, I was confused. I wondered, “Why is that guy wearing machine gun bullet straps across his chest? That’s a weird stage costume.” Ahhh, but it turns out I was wrong. John Popper’s chest straps aren’t for bullets—they hold all his harmonics!

Because each harmonica plays only one key, he has a whole arsenal of harmonicas … read to grab. It’s pretty cool. So if a song is in the key of C, John Popper picks out his “C” harmonica. If the next song is in Eb, then he’ll choose the “Eb” harmonica, and so on.

To see the man in action, check out this band’s most popular song, Run Around.” This is harmonica playing at its best.

Sure, it doesn’t look great. And duct tape fixes can be downright lazy. But who want to get out a hammer or screw driver? After all, a little tape goes a long way. Just slap some on and go!

Musicians aren’t new to duct tape, either. We have our fair share of quick fixes. Some of them are subtle. Like a small guitar strap repair here … or a little piano bench tune up there. But sometimes, you see some really wild jobs. Like these:

Now, those take some really ingenuity. Whoa! So thank you, duct tape. You make the musical world go round.

!!!WARNING!!! Okay, okay, I know. As an artist, you’re probably anxious to cut to the chase. You might be thinking, “let’s put our skills to use, and start making some music already.” And to be honest, I’m right there with you. But have patience, my child. These next couple of lessons focus a bit more on the left brain … talking about structure, form, style, and so on.

But hey, it’s all good stuff to know. So just remember this: we’re looking at the science of sound, so you can then focus on the art of music. Get through these next few posts, and you’ll be well on your way to musical bliss.

Once we have the basic idea for a song—like a simple melody and chord progression—it has to be stretched and expanded into a song. And the easiest way to do this is using “repetition.” In fact, when we played through the blues progression before, we kind of saw how this works. By jumping back to the very beginning, we turned a short, 12-measure pattern into a rockin’ good song.

As it turns out, musicians use repetition like this all the time. It just sounds good. The music builds as you cycle through the notes. Only, instead of using big, clunky arrows to guide us through—like in the example above—musicians rely on more subtle symbols called “repeat signs.” Just like the common road signs you see in the street everyday, these little symbols help us navigate a piece of music like a roadmap.

It’s simple, really. Repeat signs give us direction on how to move through a song. They tell us when to repeat certain sections … and where to jump to other parts within the music. They also help us save space and reduce clutter. By recycling the notes in various measures, repeat symbols spare us the hassle of writing a bunch of notes over and over again. For example, check out the following pattern:

Using just two small repeat signs, we can play through this melody as many times as we want. We don’t have to rewite the exact same notes … because the repeat symbols already tell us everything we need to know. Simply play all four measures—then go back to the beginning and start again.

If we feel like it, we could continue bouncing back through this melody forever. But after a while, that would get a little boring … and maybe start sounding like a broken record. So instead of throwing us into an endless feedback loop, these repeat signs just mean to play through this pattern only once again—like this:

When you first see the start repeat marker in a song, ignore it. It doesn’t come into play until you see the end repeat marker. At that point, return to the start repeat sign, and play though the music between the markers again. After you’ve repeated those notes, keep moving through the song. There really isn’t much to it … just repeat a few notes, and then get back on the road. By using a couple of repeat sings, we’ve expanded our song a bit—while saving a bunch of space.

Sometimes, you might also see a song that doesn’t have any start repeat sign (like in the image above). But no worries … things work out just the same. When you arrive at the end repeat marker, simply return to the very beginning of the piece and play again.

In a nutshell, repeat signs are a nice, clean way to expand our music into larger and more interesting songs—as we can see in the exercise below. With only a few measures, these notes may sound like a cute little snippet of music. But with the repeat sign at the end, we add length to this song … and give it more power and muscle. Like watering a small plant, we use repetition to give life to our music. And help it grow into something a whole lot stronger.

Okay … pop quiz:

What are the two (2) coolest states in America? Are they:

a) Hawaii and Rhode Island

b) Texas and Massachusetts

c) Tennessee and Lousiana

Well, if you ask me, the answer is “option C,” without a doubt. And I’ll tell you why. Because these states have their priorities straight. (On music, that is.) To see what I mean, check this out:

Both Tennessee and Louisiana celebrate music on their state coins. And Tennessee gets especially into it.

A few years ago, the U.S. Treasury released a bunch of collectors’ coins highlighting the cool stuff in each separate American state. Some of the coins show astronauts, mountains, and even animals. But Tennessee and Louisiana went out of their way to include images of trumpets, guitars, violins, musical notes and sheet music. It’s beautiful, I tell you. So I just might have to plan a road trip.

You know, nothing says “summer” like the song “Great Balls of Fire” by Jerry Lee Lewis. It’s a great melody, but the video might be even better. I can’t explain the sudden mood lighting … or the reason Lewis keeps looking at the ceiling. But, hey, that doesn’t matter:

Have you ever had a friend who always borrows stuff from you? Sometimes, they ask for five bucks … and at other times, they might see if you’ll lend them a cup of sugar. But when it comes to borrowing music gear, I definitely have to draw the line.

I mean, c’mon! Who does that? Maybe this just means I’m a bad friend. But I get nervous lending out my microphone or electric guitar. Who knows what happens to them while they’re away?! I wouldn’t lend anyone my own baby, right? So it’s no different with my musical babies….

So if you ask me, I’ll just have to say “No.” Feel free to borrow my shirt … or my car … or my dog … or even my house. But you ain’t touchin’ my musical gear.

Let’s try a little exercise, shall we? Close your eyes and imagine a couple of musical instruments. Which ones come to mind? If you’re like most people, then you probably pictured a piano keyboard or guitar … you, know the two most popular instruments on the planet.

But if you were thinking outside the box, then you might have imagined something different. Say, like the Scottish bagpipes. Although this instrument sounds awesome, it’s not quite as common. I don’t know—maybe it’s because bagpipes can make your face look like this:

Bagpipes are cool because they make a long, droning sound. (It’s kind of like the original DJ trance music.) By squeezing a bag fixed with pipes, players can play some pretty sweet stuff. Just breathe air into the bag, then press it with your arms … and it feels like you’re marching through the Scottish Highlands.

But before you go out and buy a new set of bagpipes, check this out. You might just make your own … like this guy:

I don’t know about you, but I’ve never actually looked at an animal and thought, “I could turn that into a xylophone or a flute.” But this guy has. And sure, maybe he hasn’t been invited to join any bands lately. But at least he can play a rockin’ goat bagpipe like nobody’s business….

It feels nice to know that nothing is set in stone. Because you can simply back out and start again. Unless, of course, you accidentally hit the following sequence of keys on your computer:

Believe me, it could happen. And, personally, this pattern of computer keyboard commands is one of my worst fears. (Oh, the humanity!)

On the other hand, piano keyboard patterns never stress me out. Music is way more forgiving than computers. So go ahead and get crazy. Computers might still be scary … but musical instruments always play nice.