Sweet Music

We recommend that our students split their practice session into 3 equal parts that can be distributed throughout the day (sometimes that helps with motivating practice!) The first part should always be scales, arpeggios and chords. Always practice scales with 2 octaves using 4th finger on the 7th (or 8th) fret. Don't skimp! Practice different picking patterns with each scale (we recommend quarter notes, 8th notes, triplets, tremolo). That part should at least be 12 minutes, maybe more if there's time, but at least 12 minutes. The second part should always be new material. Whether you're learning bluegrass or roots/folk music or classical, new material is what stimulates our minds and makes us hunger for more. We recommend practicing the tunes note by note initially, using a pencil to make notes on the sheet - pencil is great because you can erase it later. For example, take Red Haired Boy: the first measure is 2 quarter notes and 4 eighth notes. Go slowly and sound...

  Depiction of the Modes We recommend the following mnemonic: "I Don't Play Loud Music About Love" I = Ionian (major) R1,W2,W3,H4,W5,W6,W7,H8 D = Dorian (one of the minors) starts on the 2nd interval P = Phrygian starts on the 3rd L = Lydian starts on the 4th M = Mixolydian starts on the 5th A = Aeolian (natural minor) starts on the 6th L = Locrian starts on the 7th In the key of C: C Dorian = D,E,F,G,A,B,C,D C Phrygian = E,F,G,A,B,C,D,E C Lydian = F,G,A,B,C,D,E,F C Mixolydian = G,A,B,C,D,E,F,G C Aeolian = A,B,C,D,E,F,G,A C Locrian = B,C,D,E,F,G,A,B We require that our students practice 1 different scale around the circle of 5ths each day, with all of the modes. The First Week: Monday C Tuesday G Wednesday D Thursday A Friday E Saturday B Sunday F# The Second Week: Monday C (repeat) Tuesday F Wednesday Bflat Thursday Eflat. Friday Aflat Saturday Dflat Sunday Gflat. Back to C We don't recommend studying C# or Cflat for obvious reasons.