So what’s the secret to learning to play the guitar super fast? Well, there really is no secret; you just practice a lot… Now before you run off hear me out; there are some things that you can do to speed up the process and make yourself an all around better guitarist.

First things first, you’re going to need to memorize your keys, frets and be able to read notes which may seem hard in the beginning but you’ll catch on quickly.

The next thing you want to work on is your finger placements… It may take a little while for your finger to get the right dexterity; some of the positions are hard when you’re just a beginner so work each day on getting your hands on the chords perfect. You don’t want to start sloppy because it may carry over even when you become experienced.

Now you want to start off slowly when you first start if you have an electric guitar because if your fingers are not used to the metal, you could end up getting some painful blisters which will definitely take away from your practice time.

Mokless Girgis has performed for several reality leaders that include ambassadors of many countries, including Egypt, Israel and the Philippines. Mokless’ performances have been sponsored by many influential organizations around the World. He has been honored to register and talk for the President of Egypt, Hosni Mubarak.

Mokless Girgis

8350 Wilshire Blvd Ste 200

Beverly Hills, California, 90211

http://whywasjesusborn.com/

mokless@moklessgirgis.com

Are you still playing London Bridge is Falling Down or Greensleeves? Grow up! It’s time to move on to the classics like Matteo Carcassi’s Etude No. 13 Op 60 or Beethoven’s Ode to Joy. Of course, expect your unsure fingers to do an acrobatic stunt or two because these classical pieces that you can get from free guitar sheet music are a bit harder than what you are playing now.

What’s in it for you?

You might wonder why you have to read music. Even if it is free, guitar sheet music has to be learned the right way. No ifs, no buts. Since time immemorial, there have been heated debates about guitar sheet music. Cynics and the high and mighty turn their noses up from reading music. What they don’t know is learning how to read even free guitar sheet music is a strength they can count on when playing future pieces.

The natural players versus the learned players

Some people are indeed gifted with a very good ear to music. For them, it’s a cinch to translate the music they hear to the piano, guitar, and to the violin. Natural players learn to play the piano and the guitar just by watching performing artists. In contrast, learned players have to take up lessons under a maestro who, in turn, stresses the importance of the scales and the notes.

When these two kinds of players meet, expect fireworks from diverse attitudes. Natural players tends to scoff at the tedious lessons of reading music, while learned players have a certain bourgeois outlook about natural players who cannot read free guitar sheet music. Unfortunately, the two differing beliefs slow down their development as true guitar artists.

Should you learn to read music?

Along the road to guitar nirvana, the natural player will have to deal with free guitar sheet music if he wants to learn the intricacies of rock, blues, and rhythm guitar music. This will become an obstacle in his early guitar career if he cannot decode the annotations. On the other hand, the learned player can play any piece he can get hold of. Free guitar sheet music will add to the collection of pieces he can play.

A learned player can also learn a few practical guitar tricks from online coaches. There are videos that demonstrate how picks are utilized, or how to play the fingers with such fluidity. He can appreciate the techniques because he has the right music foundation.

Guitar lessons online offer free guitar sheet music of all music genres. This is an advantage for those who know how to read music, and the guitar sheet music copies will also extend a guitarist’s repertoire. His skill with riffs and ornaments will be heightened as he knows the principles behind his guitar playing. Masters will definitely encourage you to learn how to read music. Your emotional attachment to music will have a solid basis, whether you are playing the piano, violin, or guitar.

Learning music also has its shortcuts. Online gurus will dispose of the tedious approaches to learn how to play the guitar. They promise starry-eyed aspirants that they will be able to play the guitar in just a day with no guitar music sheets from the maestros. With the abundance of free guitar sheet music online, what can one do if one does not know how to read music?

Download your free guitar sheet music

Several online sites give free guitar sheet music which you can download easily. You choose a genre, composer, and difficulty level, and voila! Free guitar sheet music aplenty.

Another innovative approach in online guitar lessons is the use of the CD sheet music (Version 2.0). Suffice to say, it will make your computer a music library. Everything your heart desires - from Christian to metal are now available in CD sheet music.

Ah, the blues. One of the most well known forms of music. There’s no other music style quite like it, that has carried such an influence on other music styles and that has such a rich heritage. Surprisingly, though, the Blues isn’t that difficult to play.

The Blues as an oral tradition can be traced back to the mid 1800s, and finds its roots from Europe and Africa. However, the Blues as we know it today is purely an American style of music. It first began to be popularized in the early 1900s, with guys like WC Handy writing songs such as “Memphis Blues” & “St. Louis Blues.”

In the 1920s and 1930s, guitarists used slides from broken bottle necks to create the slide sound (which is something any guitarist should learn when wanting to play the Blues) and in the 1940s Big Band began to take over. This meant that guitars moved primarily into the rhythm section. Then, the 1950s arrived, where piano blues and guitar blues began to develop into rock and roll and other forms of music. This is also when amplifiers and electrified guitar music became more and more common.

The Blues is primarily guitar and piano focused, but it can be played on other instruments too. To play the Blues, there are a few tips and tricks that can get you started quickly. Firstly, the Blues must be played with FEELING. It’s a very less technical style, which you will especially find once you get used to a few progressions, chords and scales. Secondly, get comfy with a Blues rhythm when practicing (most blues is in 4/4 time signature.) Then, learn to play the Blues Scale and a Blues Progression, and you’ll find yourself soon able to play the Blues with feeling and ease.

Let’s look at the Blues Scale. It’s actually quite easy to play and works off the major scale. All it is, really, is the major scale with an added flattened 3rd, 5th and 7th. So, if you were playing in the key of C, the Blue Scale would look like this : C D Eb E F Gb G A Bb C. That’s it. The scale is ideal for improvising over a blues progression, which you should also practice and learn to play.

Typically, Blues progressions are done over 12 measures (bars) - which is why it is known as 12 bar blues. If you were playing in the key of C, for instance, you would play the first 4 bars in the root chord (C), the 5th and 6th bars in the 4th interval (F), the 7th and 8th bars back to the root note (C), the 9th and 10th bars in the 5th interval (G) and end off the last two bars in the root note again (C.) If you wanted to play chords over this progression, you would stick to dominant 7th chords- and to improvise you would just play the Blues Scale as above. Guitarists can add a few tricks - using a slide, or “wriggling” notes for some extra feeling.

Lead guitar and Rhythm guitar. You’ve heard about both, but aren’t quite sure of the difference between the two. That’s understandable, as most beginners (myself included when I was at that stage) are confused by all of the different terms used to describe guitar related things. In this lesson, we’ll go over both the Lead and Rhythm guitar.

The Lead guitar

To put it simply, the Lead guitarist in a band is the one who plays melodies, single notes (and not as many chords), riffs and solos.

Lead guitarists are responsible for providing the most noticeable guitar sound of the song. As a result, lead guitarists must master several more techniques than rhythm guitarists must. These techniques include the basics such as hammer-ons, pull-offs, bends and slides, plus more advanced techniques like arpeggios and trills.

Lead guitarists are, essentially, in the spotlight. They have to be very skilled, as if they mess up, it’ll be pretty noticeable to those listening. They also must be able to improvise—they must be able to come up with catchy riffs, solid solos and good melodies. It takes a lot of practice and knowledge to become a skilled Lead guitarist.

The Rhythm guitar

You’re probably thinking by now that the Rhythm guitar is much easier to play than the Lead guitar is. That isn’t an accurate statement, though. Rhythm guitarists, too, must master several things that Lead guitarists really don’t have to.

Rhythm guitarists are responsible for the timing (rhythm) of the music. They must play the chords that hold the music together. Without a good Rhythm guitarist, the music as a whole suffers no matter how good the Lead guitarist is.

Rhythm guitarists must master the ability to switch quickly and efficiently between chords. They must also be able to strum well and must master the basic hammer-on, pull-off, slide, and bend techniques. Rhythm guitarists must also make sure that what they are playing is in sync with what the drummer and bassist are playing

While Rhythm guitarists play an integral role in the music, they are often overlooked. This is because the Lead guitarist’s playing (which is usually amped louder so that it can be heard over the drums and Rhythm guitar) often overshadows what the Rhythm guitarist does.

Which should I learn to play?

The most skilled guitarists, in my opinion, are those who have the ability to play both Lead and Rhythm guitar. For that reason, it is worth mastering both styles of guitar. That is to say, it is a terrific idea to master not just the techniques associated with Lead guitar(all the basics plus trills, arpeggios and other advanced techniques) but also those associated with Rhythm guitar(the basics plus quick chord switching, good strumming and good timing).

In this blues guitar scale lesson we’ll take a look at a really common guitar scale used for blues improvisation. This scale is great to learn if you want to play blues guitar in an authentic sounding way. In fact, it would be really hard to solo in a blues guitar style without knowing it! Let’s take a look at this guitar scale now…

**Blues Guitar Scale #1: The Minor Pentatonic Scale**

If blues guitar is your passion, then learning the minor pentatonic scale is essential. If you analyse the playing of your favorite blues guitarists you will see them using it in almost EVERY solo. So, with that in mind, let’s take a closer look at this scale…

The minor pentatonic scale is a five note scale that has the following formula:

1 b3 4 5 b7

This formula tells us what we need to change in the major scale in order to create this scale. Let’s work out the notes of A minor pentatonic scale to make things clearer…

Step 1:
Write down the notes of the A major scale. This gives us the following notes…

A B C# D E F# G#

Step 2:
Remove the second and sixth notes from the A major scale. This is because the formula of the minor pentatonic scale doesn’t contain a 2 or a 6. So this would give us…

A C# D E G#

Step 3:
Lower the third and seventh notes of the A major scale by one semitone (1 fret). This is because the formula of the minor pentatonic scale has a b3 and a b7. Once these notes are flattened, it gives us this…

A C D E G

These are the five notes contained in the A minor pentatonic scale.

Obviously, this theory is a waste of time unless you APPLY it. You must learn to use it in real-life playing situations.

To finish off this blues guitar scale lesson, here are a few ideas that would help you learn this scale in a practical way…
-Learning to sing it.
-Learning licks and solos that use it.
-Transcribing the guitar solos of your favorite blues guitar players.
-Practicing soloing using it over backing tracks.
-Memorizing the notes of the scale over the ENTIRE fretboard.

Moving can be a very stressful time in a person’s life, especially if he or she has not hired appropriate help to move their furniture. Piano moves can be especially stressful, because the mover needs to have special knowledge and skills to safely move the piano. In this article I have outline a few frequently asked questions about piano moving in order to help understand what is involved in moving a piano and prepare you with the information to choose the right mover. At the end of the article, I have listed some questions that you can ask to help you choose your piano mover, as well as the information that you should have ready in order for the mover to be sufficiently prepared for your move.

Why do I need to hire a professional piano mover?

Many of you may be wondering why you would need to hire a professional piano moving company to move your piano, rather than using the household mover who is moving the rest of the contents of your house. The main reason for hiring a professional piano mover is that many household movers do not have adequate training or equipment to properly move a piano.

The average upright piano weighs between 400 and 900 pounds. Grand pianos can weigh between 650 and 1300 pounds. The value of a piano can vary from a few hundred dollars to 500,000 dollars depending on the make, model, age and condition of the piano. The majority of piano moves involve moving the instrument through a tight space such as a small door frame or staircase. In some cases, the piano may need to be dismantled in order to get it out of your house. Using and experienced professional piano mover will drastically minimize the risk of damage to the instrument and to your home.

As a piano mover, I have come across many cases where a customer has hired a household piano mover to move their piano and has had to make an emergency call to us because the household mover could not get the piano out of his or her house. In other cases, I have received calls from customers who had hired a non-reliable piano mover because their price was much lower, and had to book an emergency move with us, because that piano mover did not show up to move their piano or call to explain why they were not there.

How are pianos moved?

When you hire a professional piano mover, you can expect 2-3 people to come to your home equipped with piano skids, moving pads, ramps, slings, and the knowledge of how to move your piano safely. They will use special techniques to maneuver the piano out of your house. When the piano is put on the truck, it will be safely secured to the vehicle in order to avoid damage during transport. In the most difficult moves, 4-6 people may be used. Generally when a piano is moved by someone other than a professional piano mover, this equipment, knowledge and these safety precautions are not employed. While hiring a professional piano mover does not completely eliminate the risk of damage, it will drastically reduce this risk. Furthermore, a good piano mover will assess the situation and inform you if there is a chance of damage before he or she begins the move, and will give you the option of proceeding or not.

Are all professional piano movers equal?

Unfortunately, as in any trade, each piano moving company varies in their level of quality and experience. Some piano movers are better equipped and more prepared than others and act with more care and integrity than others. The best way to find a good piano mover is to call around to your local piano stores, piano technicians and piano teachers to find out which company they use. Piano stores in particular have a high stake in ensuring that they use reliable, high quality piano movers who have the least risk of damaging their instruments and are properly insured in the event that the unforeseen does happen.

Are all piano movers similarly insured?

Sadly, the answer to this question is no.

There are 3 types of insurance to consider when hiring a piano mover:

1. Commercial/automotive insurance: Is the company insured against damage to property and or vehicles?
2. Cartage/content insurance: Is the company insured against damage to the piano?
3. Workman’s Safety Insurance: Is the company insuring its workers against injury?

Some piano moving companies are insured for 1 or 2 of these types of insurance, but not all 3. It is the buyer’s responsibility to make sure that he/she is properly insured, not the moving company. It is a good idea to ask about these 3 types of insurance when you are phoning piano moving companies, and also to ask what amount of insurance your piano will be covered for. A properly insured moving company should provide you with a Bill of lading, which is a legal document stating what is being moved, the names of all parties involved in the move, where the piano is being moved from and to, and the full declared insured value of the instrument. The Bill of lading should also include the moving company’s terms of cartage. As a legal document, a proper bill of lading helps to ensure that the piano mover will repair any damages that were incurred during the move (unless a damage waiver was signed). It is also important to note that any damage caused to your piano or your property must be noted on the bill of lading to ensure that you have proper recourse if any action is needed.

Why is worker injury important to me?

You may be wondering why it is important that you ensure that the piano mover you hire has Workman’s Safety Insurance. When you contract a moving company, they are considered your employee for the time that they are working for you. If you hire a moving company that is not covered for Workman’s Safety Insurance, you are accepting full liability for any employees who are injured while working for you. Your liability will extend to medical bills, lost wages and possibly civil law suits. A company who is covered for Workman’s Safety Insurance will take care of most of these problems for you. Some companies do not pay their required insurance premiums and are therefore not covered for all injury insurance claims. You may ask the company that you are hiring to provide you with an up-to-date workman’s safety insurance clearance certificate, in order to ensure that you are properly covered. To be absolutely sure that the moving company’s coverage is up to date, you can contact your local Workman’s Compensation or Workman’s Safety Insurance board to check on the company’s status.

Does moving the piano affect the sound of my piano?

The actual move of the piano does not affect the sound or tuning of a piano. Generally piano tuning is affected by changes in temperature and humidity which cause the wooden and steel parts of your piano to expand and contract. You will probably need to tune your piano a few weeks after moving it, after it acclimatizes to its new location. Other factors that may affect the sound of your piano are the size and acoustics of the room in which the piano is located. Carpet absorbs sound, while hardwood reflects it. Sound reinforces in small spaces, seeming louder, while in large spaces the sound gets lost, seeming quieter.

How much does it cost to move a piano?

Piano moving is generally billed in one of two ways:
1. The household mover way – hourly rate, with a minimum number of hours (usually min. = 3 hours)
2. The professional piano mover way – flat rate based on the following factors:
a. Type (upright, grand) and size of piano
b. Distance being moved
c. Difficulty level due to stairs, grass pulls, tight turns etc.
d. Time restraints place on the move
e. Waiting time that might be incurred.

The advantage of a flat rate system is that, barring any unforeseen events, you be able to get an accurate idea of what the move will cost you before the movers arrive at your house and it is often less expensive than the hourly rate.

How much notice do I need to give the Piano Mover?

The amount of notice needed will depend on when and where you need the piano to be moved. Most piano movers book their deliveries on a first come, first served basis. If it is a high traffic time of year, you may need up to one month’s notice. In a lower traffic time of year, you may only need one or two day’ notice. Generally, if you need your piano moved on a specific day, you should book the delivery well in advance to make sure it’s available to you.

Below are listed some recommended questions to ask when you are looking to hire a piano mover:

1. How long have you been moving pianos?
2. Do you have any references?
3. Do you have full-time, trained staff moving pianos for you?
4. How do you charge for moving, and what are your rates?
5. What days of the week do you move pianos, and what is your availability?
6. Are you covered for Commercial/automotive insurance, Cartage/content insurance, and workman’s safety insurance?
7. Will you provide me with a copy of your workman’s safety insurance clearance certificate?
8. What amount will my piano be insured for during the move? What does this insurance cover?
9. What are your terms of cartage? Will you provide me with a copy?
10. Will I be provided will a bill of lading when my piano is moved?

Listed below is the information that you should have prepared when you book your piano move:

1. What type of piano is it that you require to be moved? (Upright or Grand Piano)
2. What size of piano is it? (upright pianos are measured by height [floor to lid] and grand pianos are measured by longest length [keyboard to curve in bow end])
3. Where is it being picked up from? (Have full address including postal or zip code)
4. Where is it being delivered to? (Have full address including postal or zip code)
5. Are there any stairs that the piano needs to go up or down (inside and outside)? If so, how many? Are they straight, spiraled or curved? Based on what you tell the piano mover, he/she will tell you how many people they believe it will accomplish your move. Missing important details or difficulties, or miss-estimating your move based on the information you have provided could mean that your piano move might not happen that day, and could incur you more charges.
6. When are you looking to have the piano moved?
7. Are there any time restraints involved? (As time-restraints tend to hamper the efficiency of the mover’s day, placing a time-restraint on the mover could more than double your cost.)
8. Inform the piano mover of any problems that you can foresee ahead of time.

Congratulations, you have just acquired a wonderful new addition for your home! This new addition will not only add beauty to your home, but will also bring musical pleasure to you and your family. Now that you have your new piano, you will want to make sure that you are caring for it properly. Caring for your piano properly will not only ensure that it plays to its maximum potential, but will also ensure that the value is maintained and, in the case of a new piano, that your warranty is maintained. In this article, I will outline some tips on caring for your piano, including how often you should have your piano tuned, how to help maintain your piano’s tuning stability, and how to safely clean and care for the exterior of your piano. I will also define piano tuning, and explain why it is necessary for your piano.

What is a piano tuning and why is it necessary?

There are over 200 strings in your piano, which are stretched at high tension across the frame of your piano. When a piano technician performs a piano tuning, he or she carefully adjusts the tension of each of the strings in the piano in order to ensure they not only sound in harmony with each other, but that they are also playing in standard pitch (when A sounds at 440 Hz).

While not having your piano tuned regularly will not in itself damage the piano, playing on a piano that is not in proper tune can be very de-motivating for anyone trying to practice on that instrument. It is common to hear children commenting to their parents that their piano at home does not sound or feel as “good” as their teacher’s piano. This is usually more due to the fact that the piano has not been regularly serviced, rather than that the piano at home is an inferior piano. Not having your piano tuned regularly also increases the risk that problems occurring in the piano due to environmental factors will go unnoticed. This could lead to more permanent and costly damage. In addition, it is more difficult to tune a piano that has not been regularly serviced.

How often should I have my piano tuned?

Generally a piano should be tuned twice per year in order to keep it in good playing condition. Please note that a piano will go out of tune whether it is played or not. A brand new piano or a piano with new strings on it will probably need to be tuned 3-4 times in the first year. This is because new strings tend to stretch as they are being worked in, causing the piano to go out of tune more often. A piano that is used quite often, such as one being used all day for piano lessons, or one being used by high level pianists who practice many hours a day, will need to be tuned every 2 – 3 months.

How can I ensure better tuning stability in my piano?

The biggest factor that causes a piano to go out of tune is the temperature and humidity in the room where the piano is located. In more hot and humid weather, the strings and moving parts on the piano will expand, causing the piano to play sharper than standard pitch. In more cold and dry weather, these parts will contract, causing the piano to play flatter than standard pitch. Unfortunately, the parts of a piano do not all expand and contract at the same rate. This not only causes the piano to go sharp or flat, but it causes the piano to sound out of tune with itself. If the room in which the piano is located is too dry, there is the risk of getting cracks in the sound board of your piano. This can seriously hamper the sound of the instrument. If the room is too humid there is the risk of problems such as sticking piano keys, caused by the swelling of the wooden parts of the piano, as well as a greater risk of rusting strings. While temperature alone does not generally affect tuning stability of pianos, fluctuations in temperature tend to cause fluctuations in humidity. It is therefore recommended that a moderate temperature be maintained in the house throughout the year.

If the temperature and humidity in the room are kept stable, the piano will stay in tune longer. A good way to monitor the humidity in the room is to use a humidistat. This can be purchased at your local hardware store and can be mounted on the wall. The ideal humidity for a piano is between 40 – 50%. In the winter, it is a good idea to have a small humidifier in the room, to control the dryness. Central air conditioning helps to control humidity in the summer. However if you do not have central air conditioning, a dehumidifier may be used. A humidifier or a dehumidifier should be placed in the room with the piano, but not directly beside it.

Placement of the Piano in the Room

Place the piano away from heating ducts, hot air registers and radiators. These items generally dry out the air around them, and can not only affect your tuning stability, but can also cause cracks in your piano’s soundboard. Try to keep the piano out of direct sunlight. Direct sunlight can damage the finish of the piano.

Also, be aware of how other items in the room will affect your piano’s sound. Items such as carpets and draperies tend to absorb sound, while wooden items tend to amplify it or make it sound more “live”. If you feel that the piano you have is either too loud or too muted, try adjusting the items that accompany the piano in the room.

Cleaning and Polishing Your Piano

Polishing the Piano: It is generally not recommended to use furniture polish on pianos. The best way to clean a piano is to use a soft cloth which has been slightly dampened and wrung out. A micro fibre cloth is useful for cleaning dust off high-gloss finish pianos. Micro fibre cloths can usually be found in the same section as home car wash accessories in your local hardware store. Piano polishes may be purchased from your local piano store. Some of these polishes are anti-static, and help to keep the dust off your piano.

Cleaning the Piano Keys: It is recommended to use a clean damp cloth to clean the tops of the piano keys. In cases where the keys are tougher to clean, a mild soap solution may be used. Make sure to thoroughly dry the keys after cleaning and do not let any water spill down the sides of the keys. Never use any chemicals or cleaning fluids on the keys.

Cleaning the Interior of the Piano: It is generally recommended that the inside of the piano be cleaned only by a technician. As there are many breakable parts on a piano, it is best to have a professional take it apart in order to avoid any damage. Dust buildup in the piano may cause the mechanisms to stick or work more slowly.

Do you ever get the feeling that you’re not progressing at your fastest possible rate? Do you ever feel overwhelmed? How about the feeling that you’re not really 100% sure if you’re improving or not? If you do…you’re definitely not alone!

Learning guitar can be a bit overwhelming at times. There are literally enough things to learn to keep anyone busy for MANY lifetimes. This can be both a blessing and a curse. It’s a blessing because you’ll never run out new and exciting things to learn. It can also seem like a curse because you’ll never get to the bottom of your “to do” list! So how do you keep motivated and constantly have the feeling of progress? That’s where speed goals come in…

I’ve been using speed goals for about the last 15 years. They are one of the most powerful weapons in my guitar practice arsenal. Let’s take a look now at what they are, and what benefits you’ll gain by setting speed goals.

***What Are Speed Goals?****

A speed goal is a goal that you set to reach a particular metronome setting. For example, you might say that your speed goal for a particular sweep picking exercise is sixteenth notes at 160bpm (beats-per-minute). You would practice that exercise daily until the target speed has been reached.

An effective speed goal has these qualities…

1. No Deadline. Unlike traditional goal setting, there are no deadlines with speed goals. This is because you must allow your technique to develop in a relaxed and natural way. If you set a deadline, you may be tempted to increase your metronome speeds at too fast a rate in order to meet the deadline. Result? You’ll basically program tension into your muscles and most likely get frustrated.

2. Challenging. Your speed goal must be challenging. It should be fast enough to make you grow as a player. For example, if you can currently play an exercise at 120bpm then something like 144bpm would make a good goal. Once you reach 144bpm, then you might set another speed goal of around 160bpm. See how this works?

3. Realistic. Don’t set your speed goal too high. If you can currently only play an exercise at 120bpm, then 240bpm would probably be too high. I generally set speed goals that I think I can achieve within a month or two.

***Benefits of Speed Goals***

A few benefits of setting speed goals include…

1. They give you something to work towards. This helps you to stay motivated and enthusiastic about your guitar practice.

2. They give you a feeling of progress. You’ll feel great each time you reach a speed goal. These small wins help you feel like you are progressing steadily towards the larger goals that you have set for your guitar playing.

3. They tell you when you can STOP practicing an exercise. Once you’ve achieved your goal you can then move onto something else. The speed goal stops you from mindlessly practicing an exercise that you have already mastered.

4. They give you measurable results. If your speeds are increasing then you have quantitative proof that you are improving. You KNOW for sure that you are getting better. This helps you become more confident about your guitar playing.

There are many ways to compose a piece of music. ABA forms, sonata allegro form, and so on. But the humble theme and variations has been around for centuries. While not used nearly as much as it was during the classical period, it still can be used to create artistic and attractive contemporary piano pieces. Let’s get started!

First, we need a theme! Eight bars are the perfect size to contain your theme. I work within this framework all the time and it has proven to be a workhorse when it comes to capturing musical ideas. Now, we can either begin with chords or melody. For theme and variations, I like to start with the melody (as do most composers.) This is because it’s a lot easier to create variations for a simple melody than it is to create different textures for chord changes.

The melody does not (and should not) be sophisticated for theme and variations. Why? Because we want to change the melody. It’s a lot easier to vary a simple theme than it is a complex one, although I’m sure it’s been done successfully. Look at Pachobel’s canon as an example. The theme is simple yet beautiful - exactly what we want.

Once the first 8-bars is complete, we harmonize it and we have the complete theme. Now we create variation one. Most theme and variations composed by the “masters” start their initial variations with just a little change and gradually vary the theme to where it may be unrecognizable towards the end.

We don’t have to do this here. In fact, I suggest beginners only create 3 variations at the most. Look at it as an arc. You start out with something, let’s say something andante or slow. Now we want to add some contrast to the whole thing so around variations 2 or 3 we speed it up a little. Eventually we close the theme and variations by returning to the original theme. Take a look at the author’s lesson #54 for a good example of how to do this.