Purpose Music Class Spring 2020

It's a nice day for this 80's hard rock classic... BASS This tune is driven by one of the most propulsive basslines known to man.  The main bassline for the intro looks like this: The verse is all steady eighth notes on the bass: ...as is the chorus: GUITAR The guitar is also most interesting in the intro section as it navigates some arpeggiated  tones over the driving bass riff.  With these you want to keep it ringing as much as possible: In the verse and chorus the guitar is back to playing power chords which lock in with the bass. UKULELE There are a few challenging ukulele chords here but totally doable: WHITE WEDDING words and music by: Billy Idol, 1982 Intro: Bm Bm Bm E D Bm Bm D E Bm Bm A E Hey little sister what have you done Bm A E Hey little sister who's the only one Bm Hey little sister who's your superman A Hey little sister who's the one you want Bm Hey l

Howdy everyone! For this week we are going to venture to try some surf music together. If you've never listened to much surf guitar music it was a genre that became popular in the late 1950's featuring instrumental tunes in a rock style with a reverb soaked electric guitar generally providing the melody. Popular surf rock artists include The Surfaris, The Shadows, Dick Dale and the band we'll be looking at today; the Ventures. Give a listen to 'Walk Don't Run'... Here are the parts for guitar, bass and ukulele: Guitar Bass click here for bass tab Ukulele

In music a scale is a series of notes arranged by pitch.  You can have an ascending scale going up in pitch from its lowest note to its highest or a descending scale which goes from high to low. Different scales are given different names.  Your most recognisable scale would probably be the major scale which sounds like this.... Often singers will sing a major scale using solfege words; do, re, mi, fa, sol, la ti, do. Other common scales are your minor scales and pentatonic scales. You have likely heard musicians practicing their scales and may have done your share of scale practice as well but an important question to consider is why ?  What is the purpose of learning and practicing scales? To understand why we practice scales it is crucial to recognise that most of the time, in most songs, all or most of the notes will come from a single scale.  Thus, the musician who has practiced the scale on which a song is built will more easily be able to find the correct

For this week we are tackling the song In Bloom from Seattle rockers Nirvana. I'll break it down for guitar, bass and ukulele... Guitar Bass Riff A Verse Chorus Ukulele Intro: Bb-Gm-F-Ab Repeat Twice Bb-F#-Eb-B-A Also Repeat Twice First Verse Bb F# Eb B A Sell the kids for food Bb F# Eb B A Weather changes moods Bb F# Eb B A Spring is here again Bb F# Eb Reproductive glands B A Bb He's.... #Chorus Gm Bb Gm the one who likes all our pretty songs Bb Gm And he likes to sing along Bb Gm And he likes to shoot his gun C Eb But he knows not what it means C Eb Knows not what it means When I say

All right, it's time to get down to doing some choosing.  Our current song for working on with our virtual class is the Smash Mouth classic 'All Star' but "what about next week?" you ask.  Here are a few candidates... #1.      Lump by The Presidents of the United States of America This tune fills a lot of the requirements for a solid music class number; it is fun, it possesses a few challenges and it contains lyrics which really make you think. #2        Ho Hey by The Lumineers This one has a different feel from any song we've done in the past.   There is an interesting change in rhythm from the verse to chorus and it is a powerful piece of music. #3      Creep by Radiohead A classic which uses dynamics and incisive songwriting to get maximum millage out of a single chord progression #4      Legend of Zelda/ Overworld Theme It would be tricky to play the solo guitar version from this video but we could work up an arrangeme