All this talk about happy birthdays has got me thinking about another great song for celebrating life … “Birthday” by The Beatles. Written in 1968, “Birthday” was released as a single by the band—becoming an instant favorite for millions of people. It’s even more energetic than the traditional tune “Happy Birthday.” And it features a 1950s

In music, primary chords are so popular it’s almost a cliché. In fact, a lot of musicians live on a simple diet of just those three chords—the tonic (I), subdominant (IV), and dominant (V). Like a nice plate of rice and beans, we can serve these three triads up in a variety of ways … and

You’ve got to admit, the flow between the tonic chord (I) and the dominant chord (V) is nice. And that’s because the movement from one triad to the next is like a short visit with a good friend. But after a while it’s fun to with hang out with other friends, too. So musicians like

If you were asked to name the three most popular shows on TV, what would you say? If you live in the U.S. (or a lot of countries, actually), then one of them would definitely be “American Idol,” right? Since 2002, this singing contest has totally ruled the airwaves. And it’s still getting huge ratings

As musicians, our lives are built around the tonic chord (I) of a song. It’s like our home … which is a pleasant place to spend much of our time. But to keep things interesting, we also have to venture out every once in a while. Otherwise, life might start to get a little boring.

Have you ever noticed that showers are like time machines? It’s strange … whenever you step into one, the world suddenly slows down. Is it magic, or just weird science? If you don’t believe me, then try this little experiment: Step 1 – Begin playing a catchy album on your stereo. It’s important that the music

It’s fun to add chords to a song. Because each one helps “fatten out” the melody and propel the music forward. But at some point, you may be wondering how we decide on which chords to use. In other words, do we just randomly throw chords into a song … or is there some logic

Have you ever been performing on stage when someone in the audience shouts out a special request? It can be a tense moment if you don’t know how to play a particular song. We can’t possibly learn every song on the planet, of course … but there is one song that’s always to good know.

Musicians are always creating cool, new sounds by using different chord patterns in a song. Together with scales and melodies, chords and progressions are like the nuts and bolts of music. All we have to do is combine these patterns, and we really start to see the payoff of everything we’ve learned so far. You see, it

The nice thing about seventh chords is that they have just four notes … which means they’re as easy to play as our old friends, the basic triads. And while you’ll sometimes see different types of seventh chords in music, the most common one is definitely the dominant seventh chord. For some reason, notes “1-3-5-b7” just sound good together.