The power of inversions and chord voicing

This month Richard Barrett demonstrates how changing the order of the notes in a chord can open up a lot of harmonic possibilities

Music cannot work a magic spell. It can, however, do wonderful things. In recent issues of BBC Music Magazine, we have explored the benefits to mental health of listening and playing music, not least

Improvisation. For many pianists, the very word can feel intimidating. We see a jazz player fly across the keys and assume they are simply making it up. But improvisation is not a random act. It is ro

Richard Barrett is on a mission to make you a better blues player – with full audio examples and backing tracks

“ACE OF ACES” is the debut track from the 2018 self-titled EP by the Fearless Flyers, which is a side project from the band Vulfpeck that consists of me, guitarist Mark Lettieri, bassist Joe Dart and

LAST MONTH, I demonstrated my approach to soloing over the song ”Hard Wired,” originally released on my 2023 self-titled album. We began with the breakdown section, over which I play simple lines over