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Resources
Here are our top equipment recommendations!
Keyboard
Best beginners keyboard - Yamaha P-125
Keyboard stand - Yamaha PKBX2 Double-Braced Adjustable X-Style Keyboard Stand
Keyboard bench - Yamaha PKBB1 Adjustable Padded Keyboard X-Style Bench
Recording
Audio Digital Interface - Scarlett 2i2
Studio Microphone - Audio-Technica AT2020
Here are some of our favorite resources we use for learning music and writing songs.
Ultimate-guitar.com
This is a great website for looking up chord charts to songs. You'll get the chords and the lyrics, which you can use to perform the song if you know how the melody goes. You can also analyze the songs of your favorite artists by seeing what chords they use and how they use them.
February Album Writing Month (FAWM.org)
FAWM is a great organization that plans the February Album Writing Month each year. Join others as you race to write 14 songs in 28 days. This is a great way to challenge yourself and learn more about what creative process works best for you to deliver songs on time.
MuseScore.org
Need to find a music score to a particular song? Musescore is a free software and online database of user generated scores. You can type in a song and it's possible a composer has already written out the music score. Musescore is also a great free software for composing your own music.
MasterWriter
This is the ultimate tool for lyric writing. MasterWriter is a software that I frequently use when writing songs. It has a built in rhyming dictionary that lets you find exact and loose rhymes. Another cool feature is "word families". You can type in a word like "fire" and it outputs a list of words like ablaze, flame, burning, searing, conflagrant, singe. It's a great tool for inspiring your writing and helping you find the right word in your lyrics.
You can check it out here.
Ear Trainer Application
A fantastic iPhone app I use is Ear Trainer. This is chock full of exercises that you can use to train all aspects of your ear. Unfortunately, this is only available for iPhone, Android equivalents are most likely available. Having a great ear trainer app on your phone can be a productive way to pass the time on your commute. You can check it out here.
DM1 Drum Machine
A great drum machine that was recommended to me by an industry executive who signed Bruno Mars among others is DM1. Unfortunately, this only available on iOS. Using a drum machine to write songs with is a great tool and will help you get a different sound. Check out the app here.