My Time Keeper - All hail the humble metronome!

In praise of 'My Time Keeper'

Anyone out there who has ever tried learning a musical instrument will at sometime made friends with the ever ticking humble metronome! The one device which is ever present in learning rooms, recording studios, bedrooms, schools across the globe.This little device is the unsung hero keeping us in time, helping measure our performance and progressing on the instrument.Metronomes come in all shapes and sizes, all colours and styles, but their fundamental existence is to simply tick tick tick tick, for ever and ever or until you can't take it any more!!

We salute you

So, I thought it was time we took these unsung heroes and gave them their time to bask in the glory, show them that we care, that they are not something which we stick in draw, never really love and begrudge buying as they aren't sexy or cool!Imagine where we would be without them!! Imagine!!

My practice hero

So, here is my timepiece the metronome which I have had for probably 18 years, it still ticks and tocks and ticks and tocks and........it still have the SAME batteries it came with!!! I am actually in shock about that!!I can't believe the hours and hours I have heard you ticking over the decades!What about yours?Go on, give your metronome its fifteen minutes of fame :EnjoyPeaceNeil

New Testimonial

Really love getting testimonials from clients. This was an awesome project to work on and was great fun for me also!!

We worked with Neil on a recent project to formulate and record a song I had written. We had the words and a general idea of the tune but Neil helped us to form the structure and rhythm which came together to form the complete song.  He was really helpful in giving us different options in terms of sounds, rhytym etc and he edited the song to a professional standard.  We were really pleased with the finished piece, which went viral really quickly. If we ever decide to do anything similar again we will definitely be contacting Neil!

Thanks a million Alison and Sandra and hope your song goes everywhere!!PeaceNeil

Steve Vai's Guitar Intervals Ear Training

Training the Ear

So, I thought today I would share an ear training method that I have borrowed from a lesson that I had with Steve Vai. I will put this out there first that there are so many good ways of practicing ear training and.....there are SO many good apps out there are well.

Personally, I recommend having a look at EarBeater (you can use it for free on the website) or download the app.

Visualisation : Auralisation

The best way to start with ear training is to start listening out for intervals, the relationship of one note to another and with each of these relationships for an octave (12 intervals) try and assign a aural ‘clue’ or a visualisation of something you can recognise as the interval from an existing song or theme.For example, a descending 5th is the interval of the first two notes of the Flintstones, an ascending b2 (and descending) is the theme from Jaws.

The link below is a list of intervals that I use to make these associations, you may not know some of these tunes or songs, and I would encourage to use your own if you ‘hear’ something more obvious to you.

Interval list.

Now you have an idea of what intervals sound like and hopefully have some strong associations with existing themes, you should be able to start naming intervals when you hear them.

Steve Vai ?

So where does Steve come in?

Well, Steve suggested a number of great methods for working on your ear, including singing the note before you play it, and singing harmonies to the lines you are playing. The one I am going to expand on here is using an existing recording of lots of intervals with them names after they are played, this should enable you to hear the interval, guess the interval and then get the confirmation of the interval.

He suggests recording a whole series of intervals, both ascending and descending and listening to them when you can.For those of us with busy lives, we could then listen to these recordings on the way to work or on the train or at the gym.

And as a BONUS for my loyal readers, I have recorded a series of ear training intervals for you to download for FREE here.

I hope you find them useful and enjoy this exercise and that it helps you with your ear training. Remember it is a continual learning experience!

Enjoy!

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I hope that you found this article useful and enjoy my blog, podcast and YouTube channel. I’m always happy to share my thoughts and to help others as much as I can and I will never charge for my blog content. Having said that, I truly appreciate when someone supports me in return for the time it takes to write articles, produce podcasts and videos, where I share my years of work and experience with you.

Here are some ways you can show your appreciation:

• sharing my content online.

• buying me a coffee: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/SpencerBruce

• subscribing, liking and commenting on Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/c/NeilSpencerBruce

• Listening to my music on streaming services like Spotify: https://spoti.fi/3llyDSr

• buying my music and sounds on Bandcamp: https://lightb4sound.bandcamp.com/

• Visiting my online store: SpencerBruceStore

Peace

Neil

Guitar Creativity - Finger independence? Chords are your friends!!

Finger indepence is one of the most important techniques to master when playing the guitar, of course you want your fingers to go where you want them to, when you want them to and work independently. Usually when starting off (or even when you reach performing level), you learn a whole series or finger independence exercises and the continue to practise and work on these for years to come. Not only do they help with stamina, coordination and strength but also provide a great warm up too.

So what's the problem?

Well there is no problem!! Except that these exercises can be a bit dull and boring and your mind can wander when doing them (in front of the TV perhaps??) and crucially as they are chromatic, well you can't really use them in playing and well they just aren't very musical are they!! SO, step forward the humble chord. Chord shapes actually require a great deal of independence of your fingers especially when switching between them! So this Guitar Creative Video, suggests that you try using chord shapes are you finger exercise as well. This lesson is using complex chord shapes and switching between them as a 'musical' method to improve finger independence over the more traditional spider exercises.

 Chords are your friends!!

You can download a PDF of the chord shapes used in this video here.The amazing chord swap finger exercises PDFFor more in-depth information on maximising your practice time and finding your own voice on the instrument, check out my book Guitar Creativity - A new way of thinking Enjoy!PeaceNeil

Top Ten Gigging Tips to avoid gigging disaster! FREE PDF Download

We have all had those gigs where everything goes wrong, where the unexpected becomes expected, where you think you are in Spinal Tap. So after years gigging I thought I would put together my my top ten list of tips to help you all be prepared for when gigging, hopefully so you can avoid some of the pitfalls!!! I decided to put all of these tips in a helpful PDF so you can download it an take it with you to gigs! In fact here is a bonus tip for you.

Bonus Tip

So the bonus tip is about using some of the amazing free apps that are out there such as Evernote or Dropbox to store your equipment manuals as PDFs, you can of course also store setlist, chords, charts, PL insurance documents, PAT testing documents, everything in one handy place which you can access on your Smart phone. Of course you can now add the top ten gigging tips as well.

Top Ten Gigging Tips

The gigging tips were to be a bonus chapter in my book, Guitar Creativity | A new way of thinking, but I thought it was slight of topic from the focus of the book, so I have decided to give it to you here as a FREE download, you don't have to sign up for anything, just download it and use it to your hearts content.FREE PDF Download Top ten gigging tips - Spencer Bruce MusicLove to hear your feedback!EnjoyPeaceNeil

Brucie's Extreme Guitar : Opinionated a New Lesson Series Introduction

So I have started a new guitar series of videos. The video below is an introduction to a new creativity and guitar lesson series I am going to be doing. The idea is that I will play devil's advocate on a number of issues that we all may hear about or know about. This is my opinion on the topic and I will also try and question that opinion as well.The main thing is asking the question, and seeing how I would answer and how you would answer, There is no right or wrong, and we all may learn something. Some of the topics might be controversial, some might wind you up a little bit, but please be part of the conversation and let's see where this goes.This lesson is about how to improve your phrasing by stealing rhythms from other melodic ideas. It is a great way to get our of a rut and find new meFor more in-depth information on maximising your practice time and finding your own voice on the instrument, check out my book Guitar Creativity - A new way of thinking https://gumroad.com/l/zCAXyFollow me onTwitter http://twitter.com/lightb4soundFacebook https://www.facebook.com/SpencerBruce...Instragram https://instagram.com/lightb4sound/LinkedIn http://uk.linkedin.com/in/neilbruceEnjoy!PeaceNeil

Light Before Sound New Album | Senescence

I am VERY happy to say that Light B4 Sound's new album Senescence is now released and on top of that you can listen to the whole piece in it's entirety, FREE, just a click away on YouTube (or click the video above).Senescence is an ambient cinematic electronic work exploring meaning in life, death and decay. The album tracks through the journey from conception to the ultimate ending. Ideally, the album should be listened to as one continuous piece, but each track features it's own unique message. It is hoped that the work gives those who listen a positive view and hope for the future. The album features guest appearances from vocalists Katie Muscat (Between the Lines) and Amanda-Rose Hill.Official premiere of Light Before Sound's new album "Senescence", Which is out out now!You can Download the whole album hereSubscribe: http://www.spencerbruce.com/lightbeforesoundStream on Spotify:Also available on Amazon, iTunes and all good online storesThe album consists of the following tracks :-

• Senescence I - Conception
• Senescence II - Memories : Day one
• Senescence III - My dream of life
• Senescence IV - Thoughts and changes
• Senescence V - You are a thing of beauty
• Senescence VI - One day, one chance
• Senescence VII - Day 22
• Senescence VIII - Reduction
• Senescence IX - Silence is present
• Senescence X - In between the silence
• Senescence XI - To try again
• Senescence XII - Who am I? No more
• Senescence XIII - In the end

Check out more music, videos, news and extras on: http://lightb4sound.spencerbruce.comFollow Light B4 Sound at:Facebook - facebook.com/lightb4soundTwitter - twitter.com/lightb4soundEnjoyPeaceNeil