Music & Life: Teens, Listening, and Ear Training
Teenagers are naturally gifted when it comes to remembering music. Find out what it is about music that imprints a solid memory in teens (and adults too).
Listen Close: "Psychoanalytwist" by Milk Cult
Steel Pole Bath Tub were an undeniably prolific band, releasing somewhere in the neighborhood of ten EPs and LPs between the years 1987 and 1995, as well as a heaping handful of singles. But even this level of productivity wasn’t enough for these noise-rock weirdoes,...
Listen Close: “Give Up the Ghost” by Radiohead
Sometimes it can feel like the music world is just treading water between Radiohead releases. Yes, we’ll listen to tons of other bands and fully enjoy many of them, but Radiohead remains one of the only groups that can still stop everyone dead in their tracks, getting...The Difference Between Hearing and Listening: Deep Listening with Composer Pauline Oliveros
Deep Listening leads to an “appreciation of sounds on a heightened level.” Learn all about the practice of deep listening with expert Pauline Oliveros.
Listen Close: "Turnin’ on the Screw" by Queens of the Stone Age
Recent talk of the possibility of a new Queens of the Stone Age album before the end of 2011 has me certifiably giddy. I’m a big fan of lead-Queen Josh Homme’s side project Them Crooked Vultures, and their 2009 self-titled LP spent some serious time on my...
Free MP3 Download: Note-Finding Practice Tracks
As a guitarist this exercise is the most important part of my practice, excellent for connecting your ears to your fingers. These tracks will help you do it.
Listen Close: "Pack Up The Cats" by Local H
Local H are known for being a reliably straightforward rock band (you probably at least remember them for their few and minor radio hits in the mid to late ’90s), but on Pack Up the Cats, their third proper LP, the two-piece pulled some left-field moves that...
Listen Close: “Better Already” by Northern State
Northern State are no longer together, and though that’s a bummer, they left us with three hyper-fun—and very different—albums before they hung up their microphones a few years back. I’m not here to give you a Northern State history lesson (though I’d love to), but...
Listen Close: "Mehu Moments" by K-X-P
I like to think of myself as an open-minded music fan with varied tastes to match. But if you were to open up my iTunes and scan through the genres, you’d find that my eccentricities, no matter how expansive I wished they were, actually don’t stretch all...
How to transcribe a song: 7 must-know tips and tricks
Transcribing a song by ear can seem like an overwhelming process at first but taking a more structured approach like this makes the whole process much easier.
Open Your Ears to Tuvan Throat Singing!
Believe it or not, it is possible to sing more than one note at once! Discover the Tuvan throat singing method and train your ears to understand how it’s done.
