IFR blog > Instrument blogs > Piano blog > Free sample lesson 2 whole steps
How long should I practice Exercise 2 before moving to Exercise 3

I am totally immersed in your system and find that Exercise 2 will keep me busy for the next few months. I practice IFR every day for about one hour. What comfort level should I hope to achieve in Exercise 2 before trying to attempt Exercise 3?

How to recognize a song's tonal center

If I identify a particular note as the tonal center of a song, how can I tell which note of the major scale it is (e.g. note 4)?

Under the Bridge

In IFR Jam Tracks Level 4: Mixed Harmony Essentials, we study both the b7 chord and the 2D chord. What's interesting about these chords is that they have a very direct relationship with chords 4 and 5D from the major scale.

Melody Paths with chords 1, 3-, 4, 5D

In this lesson we study the uplifting movement from the 1 chord to the 3- chord, which is very common in popular music. And we will sing Melody Paths over the chord progression 1, 3-, 4, 5D.

IFR video lesson : Adjacent chords

For IFR students practicing Exercise 3: Pure Harmony, this video lesson demonstrates a great way to accelerate your mastery of all seven chords. By studying these chords in adjacent pairs, we can learn to visualize all of these sounds in the tonal octave much faster.

Applying IFR to the banjo

I play the five string banjo with open G tuning. Yesterday I bought the IFR method book and I see that guitar and bass players use a special version of Exercise 1. Is there a special version of Exercise 1 for banjo?

Why nursery rhymes are great ear training for improvisers

I'm currently singing and playing short tunes like nursery rhymes, hymns, etc. The way I do it is that I will play a tune only once and try to make my best attempt at playing the correct notes the very first time. Is this approach a good one?

How to practice difficult movements in Exercise 1

I'm wondering about the trombone? The image you use of the notes being connected as one long chain doesn’t really fit with the trombone because the notes are not evenly spaced. Do you have any suggestions?

Ear training with All of Me

This is a practice video for Improvise for Real students who are studying the song ‘All of Me’ from IFR Standards Workout 1. In this video we will practice the IFR ear training exercise Melody Paths over the first two lines of the song.

Yesterday

The Beatles song "Yesterday" uses just two chords from outside the major scale. These two chords give the song its exotic touches making the melody so much more beautiful and memorable.