Now that we know how to play music’s most popular chord—the major triad—let’s see it in action, shall we? In our next song, we’ll focus on hitting each major chord with the left hand … while playing the melody line with the right hand. In music notation, we show this by splitting the bass staff and

Okay, so this is how chords work … just like scale patterns, chords are totally simple. We use the same 12 notes to make them. And just like before, we label each note using the same number names, or “scale degrees.” Based on these 12 notes, we can create all sorts of cool chords. But

After playing through a couple of songs, we already have a good feel for how music works. And with Color Music, everything is nice and easy. In fact, it’s now so easy to play a melody that it makes me kind of wonder … what’s all the fuss about? Seriously—people make a big deal about how hard music is. And some

Can you name this face? I’ll give you three hints … He wrote hundreds of songs over his lifetime He lived from 1888 to 1989 (101 years!) His real name was Israel Isidore Baline That’s right, we’re talking about Irving Berlin. As a songwriter, he was one of the best … composing classics like “White

Okay, so I’ve sort of criticized Guitar Hero a couple of times already. And I’ve run the risk of sounding like a musical snob. But the truth is, that game is on to something. I mean, what’s easier than following a bunch of colored shapes to make music? In the end, the “musicians” who play this game

With all this talk about sharps … and flats … and key signatures, you might start to think there’s something special or different about the black and white notes of a keyboard. After all, music notation seems to make a big deal about which notes should be sharp, flat, or natural. But the truth is, it doesn’t

So … music notation is just another way of showing the 12 notes of the chromatic scale. Which means we are—yet again—back to square one (or circle one … pardon the pun). You see, nothing has changed about the 12 notes in this pattern. It’s just that we now have the advantage of being able

So … music notation was designed to favor the key of C. And that’s why the grand staff is centered around the note we call “middle C.” But back in the day, when musicians developed notation, they decided to take things even further … and they actually based the layout of the staves on the C major

If you want to make great music, then you need to know more than just the eight notes of a major scale. I mean, the major scale sounds nice and all. But music is full of scales and chords that include those other notes … the ones you skip in the major scale pattern. At

Music is so easy to play when you can actually see what you’re doing. So that’s why I’ve always been amazed by people like Stevie Wonder. I mean, how does he do it … seriously? I am totally impressed by blind musicians. Talk about real skill…. But I’m just as amazed by musicians in general. Because