We hear sounds we like and we want to know how to make them for ourselves. This begs the question, "How do we begin?"
This site is intended to help you find the most appropriate method for you to realize your musical ambition. You can start with the instruments you were born with - your voice and limbs - or you can augment those instruments with other instruments to create the sounds that make up the music you hear. Regardless of what instrument or instruments you play there are many concepts that apply to almost all instruments and I describe several of these here including rhythms - patterns of sounds in time - and the nature pitch - how air vibrates at various frequencies and how those frequencies relate to each other in melodically and harmonically. In other words, what notes do I play and when do I play them.
There are many, many ways to create music but as a teacher the first question I always ask my students is, "What do you want to play?" as the answer to this question is the key to helping the student attain their goal. As a practicing musician I find that I must constantly and consistently practice to both retain and improve my skills and that the journey can be long but the enjoyment one receives from pursuing this ambition is well worth the effort.
The concept for this site is an outgrowth of my desire to share various techniques I have learned over the years and will always be a work in progress. I am developing a companion YouTube video series to be integrated into the site demonstrating these techniques and will be publishing them soon. The initial release for the publication of this material will be sometime in the future, perhaps by June 2017. It will be limited to sharing perhaps 14 videos of practice techniques I have found useful for helping me develop instrumental proficiency as well as some thoughts on composing, arranging, recording, playing both solo and with others in an ensemble, music theory, pattern identification, musical styles, and contrasting playing from written music to playing by ear.
I hope you find the information contained here useful and look forward to expanding upon it throughout the remainder of my life. I ask that you bear with me as I work to make this site an effective resource for all current and prospective musicians.
Greg Shoemaker
