A Full Motion PC Monitor Arm can help you to read sheet music on your computer

Today I installed a Full Motion PC Monitor Arm to my desk so that I can rotate my PC screen to read sheet music easily.

As I have been doing more teaching from home, and also have had more time to practice my instruments, I have been getting increasingly frustrated when reading music, because in Landscape mode it involves a lot of scrolling. You have to scroll much more frequenly than if the screen was in portrait mode.

I asked my techy gamer friend which one she has in her setup that I have seen, and she said to get this one, so I did.

Moving the monitor and benefits

I can now move the screen into portrait and load up a guitar book pdf and play away. You can go into full screen mode (Ctrl+L) and then press the down arrow key to move to the next page. Or you can use one of the other viewing methods without full screen mode and that way you can see a bit of the next sheet, and then press the down arrow to scroll or PgDn button to jump lower, or use the mouse.

To move the monitor, you can grab the screen and twist it around to make it portrait or landscape, or anything in between. You can also tilt it forwards and backwards and also move it left to right so that it can face someone to your left or right. This I think will come in very handy, because when I have been doing skype lessons on drums, I have been dragging my monitor around to face the drums, so this will be much easier, as you ust move it and then it stays in that position, so no screwing etc to move it.

How to change from Portrait to Landscape

To change the screen orientation to portrait in windows 10, you can right click on the desktop and click ‘Display Settings’ and change it there. My graphics card doesn’t allow the hotkey to change it annoyingly, but most people can change the screen orientation by clicking Ctrl+Alt+arrow keys.

Other Uses

The arm will help in lots of other ways too, like moving the screen so I can see it from the floor for workouts. I have been using the office to do home workouts from centr.com (unleashed and the da rulk masterclass have been enjoyable) and some others like Shona Virtue’s Fitness Programme after purchasing a cheap 8kg kettle bell from Aldi (was a rare find as weights were scarce).

I’m sure it will come in handy for positioning the monitor for gaming too, with a particular interest in F1 games.

 

 

 

Guitar Drums and Bass performance of ‘Indecisive’ – Rockschool Grade 3 Piece

Many of my students have learned this piece and passed their exams. It’s an enjoyable piece to play with lots of energy and it’s deceptively hard to perform the whole song without mistakes.

The videos were recorded using a phone camera and a Zoom HD1 microphone.

I think these performances would get a fairly good mark out of 20 in an exam. Maybe 19 out of 20 each. I think the guitar performance was probably the strongest out of the 3, as there were small misakes in the others. But overall, I hope this is a good demo of the song and a good chance for students to see how the songs are played by each instrument, and give examples of the type of solos you could play in the song.

10 Double Stroke Rudamental style exercises

Video showing Exercise 1 & 2:

There are quite a few double stroke rudiment exercises in the 40 official drum rudiments, but none of these are in them. While the ’40 drum rudiments’ cover many of a drummers needs, in terms of practicing, there are many more double stroke exercises that are useful to learn.

The 10 rudiment – style snare drum exercises here are all involving double strokes. These snare drum exercises are all rhythms that I use quite often in my drumming, so to me they are quite essential I believe.

When learning rudiments, I was always taught that they are preparing you for possible eventualities in drumming – for example by learning and practicing the flam with different leading hands, you have prepared for using it in drum fills in songs, in a variety of situations. So to me, all of these 10 rudiment exercises are essential patterns that you will need at some point as a drummer, so to master these, will be beneficial to you for when you meet the patterns elsewhere.

Here is how all of the exercises sound:

6 Rock & Blues Play Along Backing Tracks [Premium]

Contents

6 Rock & Blues Play Along Backing Tracks (with full sheet music)

★ Over 30 PDF Files of Sheet Music ★ Over 60 MP3 Tracks ★ 6 Guitar Pro Files ★

Buy Now ⟶

This download will be greatly enhanced by having a copy of Guitar Pro installed on your device.

Listen to the 6 tracks here:

  1. Blues in A (Sun Shines Through The Window) – Play Along Track 1

Grade 3 Lead Guitar & Barre Chords
Grade 1 Guitar
Grade 1-2 Ukulele
Grade 3 Bass Guitar
Grade 1-2 Drums
Lyrics for the Verses

  1. Blues in E with swing – Play Along Track 2

Grade 3 Lead Guitar & Barre Chords
Grade 1-2 Guitar
Grade 1-2 Ukulele
Grade 3 Bass Guitar
Grade 1-2 Drums

  1. Slow Rock in A Minor – Play Along Track 3

Grade 3-6 Lead Guitar
Grade 2 Guitar
Grade 3 Guitar (Barre Chords)
Grade 2 Ukulele
Grade 4 Bass Guitar
Grade 1-3 Drums

  1. Alternative Rock in E Minor – Play Along Track 4

Grade 6 Lead Guitar
Grade 2-3 Guitar
Grade 2-3 Ukulele
Grade 3 Bass Guitar
Grade 3-4 Drums

  1. Indie Rock in C – Play Along Track 5

Grade 3-5 Lead Guitar
Grade 2 Guitar 1
Grade 2 Guitar 2
Grade 2 Ukulele
Grade 3-5 Bass Guitar
Grade 3-4 Drums
Grade 2 Easy Drums

  1. Funk Rock in A Minor – Play Along Track 6

Grade 5 Lead Guitar
Grade 2 Guitar
Grade 3 Guitar
Grade 2 Ukulele
Grade 5 Bass Guitar
Grade 6 Drums
Grade 2-3 Easy Drums

Written and self published in 2020 by Theo Lawrence / TL Music Lessons.

Introduction

When the UK went into lockdown in March 2020 due to Covid-19, I quickly moved many of my lessons onto Skype/Zoom online lessons. I decided to make some of my own songs for my students to play so that they had backing tracks to play along with when they had learned and practiced the songs. I wanted to make sure they were possible for them to play, whilst also being a challenge to learn them. By the end of June, I had written these 6 songs and they felt like they worked together as a set of pieces to share with the world.

My students are all at different levels. Many of my beginners pupils of primary school age have been having lessons for at least a year or several years, so I wrote the lowest ability parts at Grade 1-2, and sometimes elements of Grade 3. I also have some grade 4-6 pupils on Guitar, Drums and Bass, so I wanted to make parts for them too. With all those parts together, there is something for almost everyone in here – just not for complete beginners because they need to work on the basics before learning these pieces.

People that might find this book useful

  • Guitar, Ukulele, Bass and Drum teachers can use these resources in their teaching or for their student’s performances.
  • Guitar, Ukulele, Bass and Drum students can teach themselves to play the music if they are able to read the sheet music. The backing tracks can then be used to practice with.
  • The Backing Tracks could potentially be used for school performances, such as for GCSE (check with the music teacher at school for song choice suitability.

 

About the PDF Sheet Music

These are the overall ranges of grades that the instruments cover in this selection of 6 songs. There are separate PDF files for each instrument part.

Grade 3-6 Lead Guitar
Grade 1-2 Guitar
Grade 3 Guitar Barre Chords
Grade 1-3 Ukulele
Grade 3-5 Bass Guitar
Grade 3-6 Drums
Grade 1-3 Easy Drums

About the MP3 Audio Files and the Guitar Pro Files

There are at least 3 different speeds of backing tracks available for each song. With performances in mind (such as for school GCSE submissions, school performances, or Eisteddfod entries), I have also included mp3s for each song without Lead Guitar, without Drums and without Bass Guitar. There are also one or two extras in there, such as ‘Just the Ukulele Part’ for some songs where I felt they would be especially helpful. If you need backing tracks that aren’t in the download pack, I strongly suggest investing in a copy of Guitar Pro, because you can do so much with these files. You can make the pieces be any speed you want, you can edit the parts, you can change the sounds of the instruments, and you can make your own mp3s and pdf files with it. You can also turn on the metronome and loop sections.

Summary

During the last few months, I have noticed that my students that carried on with online lessons have seemed to progress more than usual. I’m not sure if it’s the extra time at home with less going on, or if it’s these songs with backing tracks. I’d like to think it’s a mixture of all of those things, and probably more. I can say for sure that these pieces have gone down well with all of my students and that the range of techniques and rhythms included in the songs have been beneficial for them. It’s also been a nice outlet for me – it’s been like songwriting again (I’ve had a substantial break from it), and even though I was purposely trying not to write things that were out of reach for my students to learn, I was also enjoying the creative flow, and at times really went for it. I got really into the lead parts and was quite creatively free with those mostly, and on the drum parts I added my own style and flair into them, especially on the last piece with adding in fast double strokes on the hi hats and fills.

I hope you enjoy learning / teaching with these pieces.

6 Rock and Blues Play Along Backing Tracks

Buy Now ⟶

 

Theo Lawrence

www.tlmusiclessons.com

www.learndrumsforfree.com

www.payhip.com/tlmusiclessonsdrums

www.learnguitarforfree.com

www.payhip.com/tlmusiclessons

https://www.pinterest.com/tlmusiclessons

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6 Double Bass Drum Practice Exercises

If you have a double bass drum pedal (double kick pedal) and are looking for some exercises to get started with, or to help you practice the basics, then these will be useful to you. These exercises would also be good for anyone that has been playing with a double kick or two bass drums for a while, because they can be played at fast speeds too – making the dificulty level harder.

Intermediate Drum Warm-Up – Part 2

Following on from the Grade 1-3 Drum Lesson Warm Up posted recently, and the intermediate drum warm-up Part 1 for drummers that have reached a higher level of ability (about Grade 4-6 +), here is the second part of the Intermediate drum warm up.

This second part of the warm up consists of stylistic exercise, including Swing in 4/4, Swing in 3/4, Jazz and metal. This is a continuation from part 1 where on exercise 3 there was a funk rock exercise.

Exercise 4 – 8th Note Swing in 4/4.

The snare drums with brackets around are ghost notes, which means small quiet taps on the snare drum about 1-2 inches from the snare head. These beats and fills could be heard in musicals or swing bands for example.

 

Exercise 5 – 8th Note Swing in 3/4

These beats and fill again could be heard in musicals, swing bands, and also in Jazz.

Exercise 6 – Jazz

The ghost note snares and bass drums on the 4th bar are what you might play if you were comping. Here is a video that goes into great detail about comping:

Exercise 6 Jazz Warm up

Exercise 7 – Metal

This exercise is a good warm up for anyone and only needs a single bass drum pedal (kick pedal). It’s sort of an introduction to blast beats. You can learn more here in this video:

 

Intermediate Drum Warm-Up – Part 1

You may also be interested in this drum book: Intermediate Beats Fills and Exercises, which focusses on Rock, Pop, Funk, and progressive styles.

Following on from the Drum Lesson Warm Up posted a few days ago, this intermediate drum warm-up is for drummers that have reached a higher level of ability (about Grade 4-6 but could be used by higher grades too).

Exercise 1 – Intermediate Snare Warm-Up

Each of the 4 lines starts with a paradiddle, then the second half changes each time. The first line is singles, the second line is doubles, the third line is 4 with each hand and the 4th line is a 3-3-2 pattern (RLLRLLRL).

Intermediate Snare Warm Up

Exercise 2 – Paradiddle Drum Beat with Sticking Patterns on the Drum Fill

Using the sticking from exercise 1, we change the paradiddles into a drum beat by moving the right hand to the hi hat and the left hand to the snare drum. The drum fill then borrows the sticking we used in exercise 1, from the second half of each line.

ex2 - intermediate drum warm-up

Exercise 3 – Funk Rock Drum Beat and Drum Fill working on fast double bass drum with 1 foot

A rhythmic bass drum pattern with 16th note hi hats followed by a drum fill that works on the bass drum.

ex3 - intermediate drum warm up

Exercise 4-7

You can continue onto exercises 4-7 here: Intermediate Drum Warm-Up – Part 2.

Drum Lesson Warm Up

5 warm up exercises for the start of a drum lesson. Sticking patterns, drum beats, drum fills and beats with 4 way co-ordination.

These exercises that would be a good warm up at the start of a drum lesson or at the start of a drum practice session. Anyone from Grade 1 up to Grade 6 could use this as a warm up. It would be quite a challenge for grade 1. For a grade 6 player, they should be able to play through this quite quickly.

Exercise 1:

Snare drum exercise with a RRRR LLLL RLRLRLRL sticking pattern.

Snare drum exercise with a RRRR LLLL RLRLRLRL sticking pattern.

Exercise 2:

A drum fill exercise using a RRRR LLLL RRLLRRLL sticking pattern.

A drum fill exercise using a RRRR LLLL RRLLRRLL sticking pattern.

Exercise 3:

A 3 bar drum beat with open hi hats and drum fill exercise using Exercise 2 as the drum fill

A 3 bar drum beat with open hi hats and drum fill exercise using Exercise 2 as the drum fill

Exercise 4:

Working on a 16th note hi hat pattern and moving that to a snare drum whilst adding a stepped hi hat to work on 3 way co-ordination.

Working on a 16th note hi hat pattern and moving that to a snare drum whilst adding a stepped hi hat to work on 3 way co-ordination.

Exercise 5:

Drum grooves focusing on 3 way co ordination and 4 way co ordination between both hands and both feet.

5 warm up exercises to do at the start of a drum lesson

The best practice pad I have ever owned: Meinl MPP-12

The Meinl MPP-12 practice pad is quiet but loud enough that it’s satisfying to play. The rubber surface has some give to it so it’s not like hitting hard plastic. The bounce is realistic and similar to a tightly tuned snare.

I bought this pad to use with a youth snare drum group I tutor in the UK. It’s sort of a Snare Line, but I’m just a normal drummer adapting bits from what I’ve seen drumlines do for my group, and creating something different. We spend a large part of the weekly session on warm ups and exercises using the practice pads before then moving onto the snare drums to play pieces nearer the end of the session. I fell in love with this Meinl practice pad instantly when it came just by how nice it looks, and how it’s made. I was worried the playing surface might be too hard, but it’s not. When I started playing it, I knew this pad was a great choice.

The drum pad can sit on a table or on top of a snare drum just fine without moving around and with the volume staying about the same. It can also be attached to a snare drum stand. Meinl do sell a 6″ one that has a screw hole for attaching to a cymbal stand. I prefer the 12″ one because it can sit on a table or a snare drum and feels more sturdy than on a cymbal stand, which can wobble around. The 6″ pad is also less solid on a table or snare drum and is likely to move around a lot. I have attached a 6″ pad to a snare drum stand before an I can report it’s not good because the 3 parts where the stand grips the pad can get in the way of your sticks and you really have to crank up the screw thing underneath to get it to fit (annoying if you are switching between pad and snare often).

You can also get signature models such as the Thomas Lang practice pad seen in the video below. The video mentions it not being for practicing marching snares but I personally disagree because for the marching snare pads I’ve seen, such as the Ahead 14″ S-Hoop Marching Pad, I don’t think it’s good for people’s hands and arms to be hitting carbon fibre. My drum teachers in college always said it was dangerous to have practice pads that are hard because it can cause tendonitis. So I would say, these Meinl pads would be good for marching practice and general snare drum practice, but check with your drumline / drumming group before buying, because they might prefer something else. The sound of the 12″ pad has a nice crisp sound, not dissimilar to a marching snare.