Questions tagged [technique]
For questions about ways to use one's instrument or voice precisely to produce a desired musical effect.
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Better way of playing major Barre chords
I generally play barre chords by using all my 4 fingers. For example I play B-major chord in this fashion:
So as you can see, I use all my 4 fingers. But recently while I was learning to play a song ...
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Why does Tom Waits' voice sound the way it does?
Do singers like Waits achieve a "gruff" vocal sound by some sort of technique, or is it just from smoking a lot?
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How do I own the music?
Bear with me with this non musical analogy:
I am a driving instructor and one of the things we look for is for a pupil to know they can drive by themselves.
One of the questions they will eventually ...
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Are there any resources to self-learn the bass guitar for those who already know theory?
I am a Music teacher. I hold a Ph.D. in Music Composition, studied piano for several years, and now I want to play the bass.
My concern is that every resource I find to become self-taught ends up ...
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What are the correct mechanics for a guitar F barre chord
I have been having trouble with the F barre chord and have a question about mechanics. As an experiment I've tried moving the body very far to the right so that my eyes are somewhere over the seventh ...
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How do I get my flute to sound clean?
I'm a beginning flute player. When I play, I often- but not always- have a "shh" sound along with it. I noticed that it usually starts out pretty quiet when I start practicing, but after I play for ...
user35655
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Can you strum a bass guitar?
I always had the idea that you can strum a bass guitar. An idea I got from watching Mark Hoppus play. Recently the bass teacher I know told me that you mostly play lead lines with a bass. I'm not sure ...
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Harp - “Half Pedal”
I know from Kurt Stone's book Music Notation in Twentieth Century:
Hold pedal halfway between two notches to allow the string to vibrate against the tuning gear.
So, how exactly is half pedal ...
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How do you play the middle D and F in this passage?
This is from a piano song called "Jane's Song" by Christopher Norton. There are two whole notes that are held for the entire measure, but the left hand is also holding a note way into the bass and ...
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Piano: quaver triplets in RH v dotted quaver and semiquaver in LH
Towards the end of the first movement of Beethoven's Piano Sonata Op 27 No 2 (Moonlight) the right hand is playing triplet quavers while the left has a dotted quaver and semiquaver.
If we are ...
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Violin: How to change left hand position without hearing the change?
Let's say you are shifting from 1st position on the G string with 3rd finger C to third position, 3rd finger E.
Are you shifting position:
Before changing bow direction or
After changing bow ...
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Guitar picking technique: anchoring the picking hand
Is it a good idea to pick strings without anchoring your right hand?
The right hand just stays hanging in the air while picking.Does it decrease accuracy ?
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Should I connect the top melody of the "Moonlight" Sonata 1st mvmt using my fingers?
I'm a beginner piano player and have started learning the 1st movement of Beethoven's "Moonlight" Sonata. I've read many suggestions, and almost all recommend connecting the top melody (ta ...
user15155
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How can I get a sound similar to Shine by Collective Soul?
I love the riff in that song but no matter how much I fiddle with my amp head and pedals, I just can't seem to duplicate that warm, fuzzy feel. Here's a link if you are unfamiliar with the song.
I ...
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How do you play barre chords which are at an angle?
I read about the concept of an angled/oblique barre chord, where you use your index finger to play 2 different frets across different strings like so:
-4- 3rd
-2- 1st
-3- 1st
-4- 2nd
---
-4- 4th
(I ...
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How to stop ringing of a chord in Guitar
Suppose you have to play 0020 in G string. How can one stop the open G from ringing when one tries to play G on the 2nd fret?
And what if I have to change strings? Like, I have to play B string 10 ...
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How does one play a longer note interrupted by the same note in another voice? [duplicate]
I found this note and I couldn't figure it out. How can I play D flat 3 beats when I got in the last beat another D flat? The last one interrupt the first one that why I cant play the first D flat All ...
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Alternate picking for fingerstyle bass
I’m familiar with the different approaches to alternate picking with a plectrum, from economy picking to strict alternate picking. I personally prefer to use down-picks for downbeats and up-picks for ...
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Combining fingerpicking with guitar pick
So I've been playing acoustic guitar for years and have developed a certain fingerpicking style as well as a really good strumming technique. However, I have never used a pick and always thought it ...
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Determining fingering for complex arpeggiations
I've been drafting some composition work and created some arpeggiations in the LH to accompany the RH, but I don't want to start guessing the fingering, ironing in bad habits before asking about it, ...
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Electronic Wind Instrument technique resources
I have an EWI (electronic wind instrument) that I use with a DAW, it's nothing professional; just for bedroom home recording. I have found my techniques to be terrible on the EWI, and was wondering ...
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Chords in Rachmaninoff's 2nd piano concerto
I am currently practicing the first movement of the 2nd Rachmaninoff piano concerto. Luckily I have no troubles reaching the chords in the left hand (Maybe because I am left-handed? The only time it ...
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How to practice trumpet with mouthpiece alone?
I heard that trumpeters in a mariachi band are not allowed to pick up the trumpet until they have mastered playing with just the mouthpiece. How would I go about replicating this technique of ...
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Best way to practice difficult runs
Runs are very common in music; a typical run is a sequence of quick, short, slurred (not always) notes that either ascend or descend and often involve multiple shifts.
The approaches
I've learned a ...
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Beethoven sonata no 8
I'm playing tthe pathetique and in the exposition the Allegra-Di Molto e con brio after the grave section where there is the c eighth notes repeating in the left hand, I can't seem to get it quiet any ...
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Pedaling in D. Scarlatti - Sonata in F Minor, K. 466 L. 118
(self-taught). I see very few pedaling instructions in my edition of the D. Scarlatti - Sonata in F Minor, K. 466 L. 118 - Andante moderato
But recordings I have sound like there is quite a lot of ...
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How to acheive this wide stretch legato?
I am learning Piano Sonata no. 1 in F minor by Beethoven. It looks way easier than the Pathetique Sonata and in a sense it is. But the ending of the exposition for my right hand is quite a stretch. ...
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Electric Guitar | Right hand position
I find it difficult to decide on where to position/rest my right hand (picking hand) when playing electric guitar. I started with acoustic and i have a habit of resting my pinky finger on the guitar ...
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Is there a name for this guitar technique for Paganini's Capriccio #6?
I've spent several years working up Paganini's Capriccio #6 for the violin on the guitar and I wonder if the idea already exists and has a name.
For the violin, the piece is a coninuous double-stop ...
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Why is alberti bass so tiring?
I am practicing the second movement of Mozart's K 545 sonata. I notice that Alberti Bass is very tiring. More so than other 16th note rhythms. So much so that I feel the burn in my left hand because ...
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How can I play that crazy sound in Koko Taylor's "Wang Dang Doodle"?
In Koko Taylor's Wang Dang Doodle,
there's some kind of ringing arpeggio lead that almost makes you forget that the whole song has only one chord. How do you play that crazy lead?
Edit: This isn't ...
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Violin - Playing a slurred staccato [duplicate]
I was reading some violin sheet music when in on measure you had to play something that looked like a slurred staccato. How would you play a slurred staccato on the violin? Here is how the sheet music ...
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Bowing exercises confusion
Either it was lost in translation or it is unclear(if mine, explain what I'm missing that makes it so obvious so I can learn from my mistake).
I will explain the error, or possible ambiguities, in ...
user41431
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How does it feel (or where) to change the pitch while singing?
I unfortunately use my larynx while I change my pitch, and I really don't know where or what or how to feel while I change my pitch without using my larynx. How do I even control my vocal cords ...
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How to Practice Torrent Etude (Chopin, Op. 10 no. 4) measure 2 [closed]
Even though I got my ARCT 5 years ago and can stretch to reach a 10th, simply put, the torrent etude is the hardest etude I have come across played at the right speed, true presto, like how Richter ...
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(How) Can CPE Bach's *Solfeggietto* (Solfeggio) in C Minor be played left-hand alone?
In researching CPE Bach - Solfeggietto - cross-hand playing style?, I stumbled on the following statement in Wikipedia:
The work is often performed by left-hand alone.
How?
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Advice for positioning my pinky on the fretboard, it is slightly twisted toward the ring finger
Hi I am a newbie here trying to learn guitar and I have been having issues with using my pinky. As you can see in the first picture, my pinky has the tendency to rotate toward my ring finger. The ...
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Play Like Wes & Protect Thumb
Trying to play guitar and plectrum banjo using Wes Montgomery thumb technique. This technique uses the fleshy outer edge of the thumb to contact the string, not the fingernail. Also it does not use a ...
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Arpeggio Markings for Chord symbols
Is it common to denote a chord symbol with an arpeggio marking? How else would you indicate that the chord is to be played arpeggio?
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Piano CPE Bach - Solfegietto - cross-hand playing style?
Many years ago, my piano teacher taught me a cool variation to this piece whereby I cross my hands over to play for one or two measures. I don't remember exactly which part though. All I remember is ...
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Fingered glissando, how to do it?
Basically what I mean is scales that are so fast, they sound like glissandos. Generally speaking, I hit the wall at 32nd notes at 120 bpm and it feels like my fingers can't get any faster. That is ...
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What do these grace notes mean, and how do I sing them?
In famous "Turot eszik a cigany" (aka "See the Gypsies Munching Cheese") by Kodaly Zoltan I've encountered with these grace notes, marked on the picture:
What are they for? How to sing them? Maybe ...
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How can I learn foot-from-hand and foot-from-beat independence on the drums?
Similar to How can I significantly improve my hand independence on piano?, I'm wondering how I can improve the independence of my feet from my hands. I have not done much drumming but this was an ...
user28
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What exactly is a double stroke roll
I need some clarification over what is a double stroke roll . Is it using the same hand to hit the drum once and let it bounce twice or using my hand to hit the drum twice in quick succession ??
I ...
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How to re-develop double tonguing?
Two years ago, I had no issue double- and triple-tonguing. After a while, however, I seem to have issues playing quickly enough. I suspect that I have gone back to single-tonguing. How can I go back ...
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How to practice legato slide on the guitar? What constitutes proper technique?
I'm trying to play a song with lots of slides ("Honky Tonk Women"), and I found myself incapable of producing a convincing sound out of them. Sometimes I don't stop sliding exactly at the ...
user36102
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Beethoven sonata "Pathetique" (Op. 13), playing with small hands
Despite much practice, I simply can't play right-hand chords in bar 5 accurately. I would really appreciate any work-arounds. For example, is it acceptable to leave out the highest F after first ...
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What are 1st, 2nd, and 3rd position on a Mandolin?
What are 1st, 2nd, and 3rd position on a Mandolin? "Position" means what? position of fingers? or position of frets?
This is what I have understood:
1st position means the index finger covers frets ...
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Playing legato while staccato in Rachmaninoff's "Etude-Tableaux Op. 33"
In Rachmaninoff's 'Étude-Tableaux Op.33 No.4 in D-minor' there are plenty of places where you are supposed to play staccato while playing legato in the left hand (for example, measures 32-34 below). ...
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How to play the piano using less than ten fingers
In my younger days learning how to play the piano (unfortunately I was never one for spending too much time practising), whenever I struggled to move my hands along the keyboard or had trouble ...
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