Because all four basic triads are similar, they’re all easy to play. Each one has just three notes … and each one is pretty common in music. But the major triad and minor triad are (by far) the most popular. Together, they just sound more pleasant to the ears. So musicians use them a lot more often. To see what

I think my power bill has doubled in the past couple of weeks. “Why?” you ask … well, because I’ve been listening to Queen’s greatest hits for days on end. If someone could live on music, then this band offers a very good diet. To be totally honest, I’m kind of embarrassed to say that

Pop quiz, y’all. What was the first thing that was ever recorded in audio? Since we’re all music fans here, then it’s good to know a little history. Was the first line: a)  “Oh, Romeo. Oh, Romeo. Where for art thou, Romeo?” b)  “Mary Had a Little Lamb … whose fleece was white as snow.”

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

Have you ever heard a song on the radio that you immediately loved? And for some reason, it just gets stuck in your head and stays there forever? Well, that happened to me the first time I heard “My Best Friend’s Girl” by The Cars. When I was a kid, it was one of my

Now that we know how to illustrate time (or “duration”) in music, we can play anything we’d like. After all, music is really about two basic things: Pitch (that is, the 12 notes of the chromatic scale), and Duration (like whole notes, half notes, quarter notes, etc.) All we have to do is combine these

Let’s face it—snow is unnatural. It might be nice for sleigh rides and skiing. But living in it is something else. Right now, it’s about 486 degrees below zero, the snow keeps falling, and there’s not a snowplow in sight. But hey, there’s still something magical about snow, right? Which is why there are so

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

So … music is all about time. And that’s why we need a way of showing exactly how long each note should last. In music notation, we can do this by using special duration symbols—which are simple because they basically follow the beat of a song. For example, the song “Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star” includes four

Wow. I learned a lot about country music this weekend. My wife and I vacationed in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, which has a very classic western vibe. The downtown area has wooden sidewalks and railings. And there are some old-west saloons, tons of antler decorations, and a lot of cowboy pictures everywhere. It’s a beautiful place.