Analog Reverb

Well, back in the day, reverb was primarily created in one of two ways.

Method #1:  A spring contraption located within the head of the amplifier would have sound channeled through it, and the sound would reverberate through the spring. A pickup at the end of the spring would channel that fade-out echo into the amp, because as the sound wave traveled it lost intensity, creating that “echo in an empty room” effect. Thus we have spring reverb.

Method #2: The second primary type of reverb is plate reverb, where the sound wave was run through a plate, a small sheet of metal that would reverberate with the sound. In my opinion, this creates a richer, fuller reverb effect.  However, because of its cost, the spring reverb became the main type of reverb in vintage amps.

Digital Reverb

Fast forward to the modern age: digital reverb. The third and most versatile type of reverb. The sound wave of your guitar is fed through algorithms and an echo pattern is created that mirrors, or reproduces, that of a real reverb. There is no actual reverberation occuring within a spring or a plate of metal, it is a purely digital effect. This type of reverberation has opened the door to such reverbs as “hall” and “room” reverb.

Electro-Harmonix makes the Holy Grail reverb pedal (located at http://www.ehx.com/products/holy-grail) which contains a “flerb” setting, where the reverb sound has a flanger effect on it, causing the reverb sound to become slightly detuned and very space-y. I own a behringer digital reverb that has a “modulate” setting that also detunes the echo and makes the sound more out of this world.

So to sum it all up, spring reverb and plate reverb involve reverberation through their respective metals, and digital reverb imitates them as well as providing its own unique types of reverb.

For some of the most popular reverb pedals, visit http://www.ehx.com/browse/reverb

For the cheapest but still decent-sounding reverb, visit http://www.behringer.com/EN/Products/DR600.aspx This pedal will also show you the different types of digital reverb.

1. Your arms slightly higher than parallel with the keyboard.
2. You only have to be in to the key as far as your shortest finger on a black key. Remember that when we refer to “in” on the piano, we are talking how about how far back on the keyboard we are.
3. Lean forward slightly so that your arms hang where they feel heaviest and
   loosest. This is essential for playing using gravity instead of muscling your way through complex passages.
4. Sit tall as though you are pulled up from the center of your head. This allows for you to breathe freely and keeps tension from building up in the lower back.
5. Sit in the center of the hands in order to distribute the arms evenly. This helps to keep the player from overbalancing and playing one hand louder than the other.
6. Keep your wrists level. Don’t break or collapse them and don’t arch
   them too much. This helps to keep the weight of your arms doing the work instead of your muscles.
7. Keep your arms and hands in one line. Tilt your hand VERY slightly towards your thumb. Again, this helps you keep the weight of your arms doing the work, with the added bonus of keeping the carpal tunnel open.
8. When you play, keep your fingers curved, except for your thumb which
   you will keep straight. To play, release the weight of your arm into your hand. Do not contract in your hand or wrist. When your fingers are bent, it is the most efficient way to use gravity to depress the key.
9. Place your feet parallel and shoulder width apart. This allows for proper balance to keep from playing one hand louder than the other

If you need help, you should consider seeking out a qualified piano instructor to aid you in keeping proper posture.  That way, you can get a set of trained eyes watching this entire checklist for you while you play and, in turn, you’ll enjoy playing the piano for longer periods of time with less fatigue.

1. Start with the Lyrics
2. Start with the Melody
3. Start with the Background Part/Accompaniment
4. Start with a catchy Instrumental riff

Note that the old adage holds true: “The journey of a thousand steps begins with one”. In other words, you don’t have to hold yourself to a standard where a song jumps fully formed from inside your head. Write down chunks and put them away, then come back to them. Here’s a little more detail on each of above starting points.

1. Lyrics – You can write the lyrics of the song first and let the meaning of the words set you up to write the music. In other words, the cadence, lilt, length of phrases, etc. can let you know whether to write a fast, slow, poppy, rock-y, or other song. The number of syllables in a line can tell you how many notes are in your musical phrase.
2. Melody – You can write the melody of the song and then fit lyrics to the style and tone of the melody. If you already know the tune, you know approximately how many syllables of lyrics to put to that tune. You can also tell a lot about what mood the song is relating, depending on whether the melody is major or minor, happy or sad, or othewise.
3. Background Part/Accompaniment – You can write a set of interesting chords or a fun groove and then use that to come up with a melody or set the tone for a set of lyrics. A lot of Stevie Wonder’s music used this method.
4. Instrumental Riff – You can write a catchy instrumental riff or a “hook” and build the rest of the song around that. Often the hook can be used as the vocal melody, as well. Check out “Come Together” and “Day Tripper” by the Beatles for examples of this.

Remember, your own personal art is ever-evolving; all of you experiences in the world contribute to what you create in your songs. So, experience and relate it back in your own words. If you are honest and true to yourself, your message will affect someone else who has been in the same situation.

Another tip: if you are interested in songwriting, you can also consider studying with an instructor with a great deal of experience in teaching songwriting and music theory. The real trick to it is no trick at all though, just start a piece and see where it leads.

Quality Over Quantity

Don’t worry about practicing long hours.  Make the your practice time count! As a music student, your job is to improve, master, and remember what you’ve accomplished.

Most students fail in one of two basic ways.

1. They practice in a way that fails to produce improvement.
2. They practice in a way that fails to ensure a lasting memory of the items learned.

Listen to the Music

Music is about listening. Well trained ears help you learn music easily and quickly. If you read music, try to understand how the notation communicates what you are hearing. It should be easy to schedule some listening into your day. If you enjoy music, you will already have listening time built in. Take the song that you want to learn and listen to it. Play it in the background. Listen when you’re in the car. Listen to it while you work out. Listen to each new piece for a few days before you start to practice it. The biggest advantage in listening is that it will help prevent mistakes in rhythm. Rhythm mistakes are the hardest to fix!

Practice Daily.

Daily practice makes for steady progress. I often say in my practice that 5 minutes a day is better than 3 hours all at once in a frantic push to be ready for your lesson. People often underestimate the value of a daily commitment. They don’t prioritize their practice time and skip days with the intention of doubling-up the following day. If they skip a few days, they pledge to catch up with one or more marathon sessions on the weekend.

Unfortunately, these make-up sessions seldom materialize. And when they do, they’re typically counterproductive. Long marathon sessions cause mental, aural, and physical fatigue which leave the student frustrated with little to show for the effort. A regular regiment of marathon sessions may easily take the fun out of music, and lead to a bad attitude toward practice.

Daily practice keeps your physical abilities up to par with your mental understanding. Music practice places many demands on you body. If you don’t warm up and prepare yourself before you practice, you run the risk of developing bad habits and physical tension. If you have trouble practicing every day, try alternating with days of light and heavy practice.

There will come days when you really don’t have time for a full practice session. I realize that there are only so many hours in the day! Things will always come up and some days you’ll honestly feel too tired to practice or you just don’t feel like doing it. On days like these go easy on yourself, but don’t skip practice. Put in five or ten minutes and then call it a day. Consistency is key!

Warm-up First.

Why does everyone want to skip the warm-up? This is true for beginners, advanced students, young students, and adults. The complaint is that the warn-up “it keeps you from getting to the fun part.” A good warm up makes it easier for you to play better during the rest of your practice.

Always start your practice with something familiar. Play some scales. Follow that up with an easy piece or
two. In doing so you’ll establish a baseline for the day. Then continue your warm-up and try to improve on these points before working on new or challenging material.

Strive to Improve from Todays’ Baseline

It’s rare that you pick up right where you left off the day before. This is especially true for beginners. It may take five to twenty minutes to get yourself warmed up and back in touch with yesterday’s best.

With many tasks, you pick up Tuesday right from where you left off on Monday. Unfortunately, this isn’t so with music. There will always be days when your best efforts will fail to surmount yesterday’s accomplishments. You know what? It’s okay. Your improvements aren’t linear. Always set a daily baseline in your warm-ups and try to improve from there.

Technique!

When you learn a piece of music, your attention gets spread over several tasks: reading notes, interpreting rhythm, keeping a steady pace, creating good tone, playing in tune, etc. Because of this multitasking you’ll often lose track of your technique. It is essential that you practice on technique during your warm-up period. Practice technique first and you’ll be more ready to tackle the difficult multi-tasking that goes with learning a new challenging piece of music.

Divide and Conquer

Break tasks into small manageable pieces. If you have a huge hamburger in front of you, do you just shove the whole thing in your mouth? No! Take small bites and you won’t end up with indigestion. There’s no shame in breaking pieces down into a phrase, a measure, or even two consecutive notes. To learn large groups of information efficiently, you must study the material in small sections.

Work on any size piece you want, but make sure that you make steady progress. If you don’t, divide the section it half, and work on the smaller loops. Continue dividing until you reach a size where you can progress quickly. This can be as small as 2 consecutive notes. Learn the piece equally well using this method. It is important that there aren’t any weak sections. This brings us to our next point.

Don’t Obsess

Once you determine an appropriate size section, practice it briefly in a loop, just for a minute or two. Then shift away from this portion of the music to the next section. This approach allows your memory to absorb the experience subconsciously.

Review Frequently

Review is your best practice tool. If you’ve worked on several new sections, review each section occasionally during your practice. When you’ve learned a piece completely, don’t just put it away. Review it occasionally to keep it fresh.

Alternate Between Learning and Reviewing

Don’t spend an entire practice reviewing. Push yourself to learn something new each practice, no matter how small. By the same token, don’t spend an entire practice learning something new. Use review to give your brain a chance to work our the new pieces you are working on. Every practice should contain elements of both new pieces and review pieces.

Get it right the first time!

You’ll learn whatever you practice. Bad habits are learned at the same time as good ones. Be meticulous about your wrist and thumb positions. Make sure you count and practice your rhythms. If you get a piece into your muscle memory the wrong way, it will be more difficult to “un-learn” it. So play it SLOWLY! I often recommend separating the melodic, harmonic, and rhythm aspects of the music into manageable chunks. If you can’t play a piece on time, play it in quarter notes to make sure your hand positions are correct and manageable. Then, when you are ready, count the piece out slowly and play it properly in time. The things to remember is “practice slowly, learn quickly!”

Consistency is Key

Do everything the same way as often as possible. This will help speed memorization and allow your body to relax when you play the piece.

In conclusion, practice is the only way to truly master an instrument. You may see practice as tedious, but it can be challenging and fun, especially if you follow the tips outlined above!