(Berklee Guide). Learn the essentials of accompanying soloists and playing in jazz ensembles. Comping is the practice of using chords to accompany a melody. Whether supporting a soloist, playing in an ensemble, or performing solo, this book will help you to use chords effectively and appropriately to create a rich jazz feel and enhance the sound of your whole ensemble. It begins with triads and voice leading, and progresses through altered seventh-chord spread voicings for two hands, covering many different techniques for using harmony and rhythm. The accompanying CD lets you practice with a small jazz combo. Suitable for all major jazz styles.

(Berklee Guide). This book by Berklee bass prof Anthony Vitti will help you make your bass lines more creative, unique and memorable. Tap into the groove and evolve your bass lines by using fills. This book brings you beyond the basics and helps you incorporate figures into your lines that are natural to the groove, and applicable to many styles. The play-along recordings let you hear the fills in context, then practice them with a rhythm section.

(Berklee Guide). Whether you're into hip-hop, urban, rock, alternative, dance, electronic, jazz, blues, or country, drums play a prominent roll in the production and arrangement of a song. This book will help to explain everything you'll need to know to produce your own killer beats, from describing individual drums and how they are most commonly played, to MIDI drum sequencing tricks used by the pros, and the proper use of compression, EQ, and group effects when mixing drums. Over time and with steady practice, you'll be able to make these drum production techniques your own, taking your song production skills to the next level while at the same time becoming a master beat-maker.

(Berklee Guide). Learn deep funk/R&B guitar These hands-on exercises, licks, and technical discussions will help you play in the style of Kool and the Gang, Prince, James Brown, Sly and the Family Stone, Jimi Hendrix, Curtis Mayfield, Soulive, and other great artists, spanning from old school to contemporary funk/R&B grooves. The CD features demonstration and practice tracks, played by the Boston-based R&B/funk group the Thaddeus Hogarth Band. Guitar tablature, fretboard diagrams, and traditional notation are included. You'll learn how to: play lead lines and build solos; understand and use scales over funk/R&B harmonies; create rhythm-guitar parts that support funk/R&B grooves; bend strings to expand your palette of scales, harmonies, and ornamentation; and much more

Whether you notate music by hand or use computer software, this practical reference will show you today's best practices rendering the details of your scores and parts. Improve your music's legibility and express your ideas clearly to get the best possible representation of your music. You will learn to: create scores that are easy to conduct and parts that are easy to perform; understand the unique practices and standards for handwritten vs. computer-generated scores, such as those by Finale and Sibelius; lay out scores with proper instrument order, measures per page, and common alignment practices; understand the publication standards for orchestral, big-band, vocal, and rhythm-section-based scores; use appropriate practices for different styles, such as pop, commercial, classical, and jazz; and more. Music Notation - Preparing Scores and Parts is used as a notation textbook by Berklee College of Music's Contemporary Writing and Production Department. It presents the definitive word in score and part preparation, based on contemporary publishing-industry practice.

(Berklee Methods). The Berklee in the Pocket Essential Songwriter is an accessible reference guide that will quickly lead songwriters to ideas that are at the heart of countless hit songs. The tips and strategies jam-packed into this concise guide will help you tackle writer's block and gain fresh insight into the songwriting process. Includes: the 17 chord progressions that are at the heart of the most popular hit songs, guitar charts and keyboard chords showing how to play progressions in all 12 keys, tips to customize essential chord progressions to suit your own songs, contact info for businesses and organizations most important to the working songwriter, and more

(Guitar Method). Play ten blues classics in the style of the masters These transcriptions and annotations show you how the world's greatest blues guitarists created their unique, inspired solos and rhythm parts. Veteran blues guitarist and educator Michael Williams reveals the techniques and nuances behind the notes that give each solo and artist their personal character and sound. By studying these solos by the blues masters, including four complete classic instrumentals and rhythm parts with turnarounds and fills around the vocals, you'll be able reuse their techniques for your own performances. Songs: Okie Dokie Stomp * The Last Time (I Get Burned like This) * Frosty * The Woman I Love * San Ho Zay * The Sad Night Owl * Worried Life Blues * I Need You So Bad * Wait on Time * Papa Ain't Salty.

(Berklee Guide). These time-tested exercises will help you to play by ear. This book introduces the core skills of ear training. Step by step, you will learn to use solfege to help you internalize the music you hear and then easily transpose melodies to different keys. Learn to hear a melody and then write it down. Develop your memory for melodies and rhythms. Transcribe live performances and recordings. Listening is the most important skill in music, and this book will help you to listen better. Gilson Schachnik teaches ear training at Berklee College of Music. He is an active keyboardist, composer, and arranger, and has performed with Claudio Roditti, Mick Goodrick, Bill Pierce, and Antonio Sanchez.

Unleash the creative potential of your guitar, and express your imagination through your music! This inspiring, practical and fun approach to composing and improvising will develop your sense of dynamics, articulation, rhythm, melodic direction and musical E.S.P. Think out of the box, and journey inside this truly unique collection of creative resources for the curious guitarist. Your guitar will thank you! "A wonderful book by a very special musician." - Mike Stern

Spark your imagination with hundreds of creative songwriting techniques! This hands-on guide provides lessons on how to write innovative songs, based on popular songwriting courses at Berklee College of Music. Whether you're a beginning songwriter who can't read a note of music, or an experienced professional looking for new ideas, this book will provide new insight into your craft; it teaches the fundamental techniques behind today's hit songs, together with easy-to-follow exercises so you can immediately apply these tools to your own art. This book comes with a CD so you can practice your songs with accompaniment, even if you can't play an instrument.

Learn the fundamental techniques behind today's hit songs, with easy-to-follow exercises so you can immediately apply these tools to your own songs. Quit wrestling with writer's block, and learn to make the songwriting process easy, fun, and intuitive. Kachulis covers a variety of topics, including: colors of chords and keys * chord embellishments and progressions to enrich your palette of colors * dozens of ways to modify your harmonies and progressions * the most common chord progressions used in hit songs * and more. Practice your songs with an accompaniment on the play-along CD!

Improve the sound of your recordings. Mastering is the art of optimising recorded sound, finding the ideal volume levels and tonal quality, and insuring data integrity necessary to produce a professional quality duplication and distribution ready master. This book introduces the techniques and tools of audio mastering, suitable for commercial and home/project studio environments. Technical discussions address gear, studio setup, methodologies, goals, and other considerations for making tracks sound their best, individually and in relationship to other tracks. The accompanying recording has audio examples that support two detailed case studies where readers can follow a mastering engineer's manipulations step by step.

(Berklee Press). Berklee expert speaks on how to market and distribute your songs and group. Sell more music Learn the most effective marketing strategies available to musicians, leveraging the important changes and opportunities that the digital age has brought to music marketing. This multifaceted and integrated approach will help you to develop an effective worldwide marketing strategy. Step by step, you will develop an active marketing plan and timeline tailored to your unique strengths and budget. You will learn to time your marketing campaign effectively, publicize your music to traditional print outlets and emerging online opportunities, understand the current opportunities for online, satellite, and terrestrial radio play as well as navigate various retail and distribution options, both at brick-and-mortar and online options, such as iTunes, Rhapsody, and other services.