Tag Archives: music theory

Practice Tips

Posted on March 16, 2016 by Dwight Mabe

Practicing isn’t really a “whatever works for you” type of skill. It is a vital skill that we all need to use more efficiently. I’ve been revisiting the jazz standard Donna Lee (originally attributed to Charlie Parker but seems to … Continue reading →

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Slonimsky – First Look

Posted on January 10, 2016 by Dwight Mabe

I’ve been digging through the Slonimsky book for a couple of weeks now. It uses several terms that are a bit unusual, so  I recommend anyone trying it to keep a good music dictionary or music theory dictionary at hand. And before we … Continue reading →

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Diminished Scales and More: Nicolas Slonimsky

Posted on December 12, 2015 by Dwight Mabe

The diminished scale has always fascinated me. I understand the 8 notes, half-step, whole step or whole step, half step variations. Lots of musicians from many different genres have used it such as John Coltrane, Jaco Pastorius and Frank Zappa. But after seeing a post by … Continue reading →

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Transcription: A Necessary Process

Posted on November 11, 2015 by Dwight Mabe

I received a couple of questions on the sight reading post that bear some further comments. Most of them are answered by transcribing music. Transcription is an important tool for all musicians in all genres. In some genre, all that is … Continue reading →

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Why Summer is a Great Time for Lessons

Posted on May 21, 2015 by Dwight Mabe

There are quite a few reasons for taking lessons in the summer, none the least of which is the fact that the weather is better. Having taught students with a wide variety of ages for a few decades now, it … Continue reading →

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Reading Music, Tablature and Ear Training

Posted on February 27, 2015 by Dwight Mabe

One of the most common questions that I get asked by students is “Do I need to be able to read music?” Unless you intend to do nothing but play cover songs or original music that isn’t written out, then the … Continue reading →

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The Chromatic Scale – The Underlying Key to Western Music

Posted on September 24, 2012 by Dwight Mabe

The chromatic scale is important due to its very nature. Western music generally has only 12 different pitches. Other music such as Northern Indian Classical and some Middle Eastern music have more. We only need to deal with the 12. … Continue reading →

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More on Chord Substitutions

Posted on July 23, 2012 by Dwight Mabe

Let’s summarize from the last few posts: Interval – the distance from the root note to the note being named. The list: a)      Unison – the same note, same pitch. Perfect, augmented (½ step up), diminished ( ½ step down) … Continue reading →

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A Blues Practice Example

Posted on June 20, 2012 by Dwight Mabe

After all the intensive theory posts, here’s a quick little example of a semi-funky blues bass line in A. It was fun for me, as I did the entire thing without picking up a bass. Here’s the video: You can … Continue reading →

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I IV V Progressions with Substitutions

Posted on June 16, 2012 by Dwight Mabe

The next part of our adventure into harmony deals with chord substitutions. We’re going to take the typical blues-oriented I7, IV7, V7 progression and do some substitutions for the IV chord. The chords in this progression are (key of C) … Continue reading →

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