7 Ways to Raise A Musical Baby

Author: Simply Music

One of the most wonderful forms of self-expression parents can foster within their children is the ability to play music. Happily, it is possible to get started doing so while the baby is still in the womb. Raising a musical child has many advantages – more even than can be accurately calculated. But just for starters, children who retain music into adulthood say it helps them to be happier, more thoughtful and compassionate individuals, and the world certainly needs more of those, I'm sure you will agree.

You can start your baby off on their musical journey by doing four simple things before birth.

• Sing or hum to yourself and your unborn child. It doesn't matter whether you do so loudly or quietly just as long as you do it often.

• Listen to a wide variety of recorded music. Play the radio or a CD when you are in the car and fill your home with music. Go ahead and play the music you love best but spend some time reaching for other types of music that you don't normally listen to.

• As Professor Harold Hill said in The Music Man, "Think music." Listen for music when you are walking and listening to other people talking. You'll soon realize that there is rhythm in the way we walk, cut a loaf of bread, knock on a door, or in the 'sing-song' quality of speech.

• If you don't already know how to do so, learn to play an instrument. If you've been playing for years, make it a point to play every day. Playing music is a powerful source of prenatal communication. What better way is there to "talk" to your unborn child than with the music that you love?

Once your baby is born, you'll want to continue the four basic steps already outlined and add a few more.

• When you play music, place your baby or toddler close to the instrument. Depending on what you play you might place the child under the instrument or on it so he or she can feel the vibrations as you play.

• Dance to the music with your baby or toddler in your arms. Let the child feel the music in his body and associate listening to music with the freedom of movement.

• As soon as you are willing, enroll your toddler into a music and movement program such as Kindermusik or something similar.You'll want to avoid a formal music instruction at all costs. It is a little-known truth that our traditional approach does more to stifle natural music abilities than to foster them. After decades in the music education field I can safely say that requiring children to read music before they know how to play an instrument is simply counterproductive. It's like expecting children to read before they can talk.

Your child may be ready for music lessons when he has reached the age of five or six. At that point, you should be looking for a music instructor who allows your child to play a great deal, long before he learns to read music. To find the best instructor, interview several. Select someone you connect with on a personal level. Be certain that this individual plays all sorts of music without needing sheet music and that they are willing to teach a variety of musical styles from the very beginning. A helpful question to ask during your interview is: How large a repertoire will my child be playing after ten lessons?"

Best of luck to you and your lucky baby!

 

Article Source: http://www.articlesbase.com/childhood-education-articles/7-ways-to-raise-a-musical-baby-4948771.html

About the Author

Neil Moore, is an Australian music-educator. He is the Founder of Simply Music - the largest, playing-based music education institution in the world. His revolutionary method delays music reading in the early stages, and has students, of all ages, playing great-sounding music from their very first lessons. The Simply Music program has been taught to tens of thousands of people throughout the U.S.A., Canada, Australia and New Zealand, and is making major inroads with students with ADHD, Tourette's and Autism.

Visit http://www.impactmovie.com/simplymusic2 to watch a brief presentation that explains more about Simply Music.

 

Robert Cray Discusses Albert Collins, Gear and His New Album in 1989 Guitar World Interview

Here's an interview with guitarist Robert Cray from the January 1989 issue of Guitar World magazine. The original story, which started on page 54, ran with the headline, "His Time is Now."

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Robert Cray Discusses Albert Collins, Gear and His New Album in 1989 Guitar World Interview

Introducing... Musician's Friend Stupid Deals!

MULTIPLE DEALS, MULTIPLE DAYS... Get Ready for the Musician's Friend... STUPID DEALS OF THE DAY and STUPID DEALS OF THE WEEK! Hurry, Don't Miss out... deals change daily, so be sure to check back often for HOT NEW DEALS! Be sure to tie your savings together with FREE SHIPPING on all Music Products at Musician's Friend!

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GuitarPlayer: Gibson Releases Limited Edition Firebird X

On Friday September 30th 2011 Gibson Guitar Corp will take guitar engineering to new heights with the introduction of the Gibson Firebird X. An evolution of the 1960s classic Gibson Firebird model, the Firebird X is loaded with ground-breaking technologies like fourth-generation Robot tuners for automatic tuning, onboard effects based on computer plug-in technology, and wireless Bluetooth pedals for unsurpassed usability on stage and in the studio.

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GuitarPlayer: Gibson Releases Limited Edition Firebird X

CCR - Bad Moon Rising - Easy Beginner Song - Acoustic Guitar Lesson

Poll: What is the Best Guitar Album of the Eighties?

In the February 1990 issue, the editorial staff at Guitar World assembled a list of their picks for the best guitar records of the eighties.

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Poll: What is the Best Guitar Album of the Eighties?

Things To Consider For Beginning Drums Lessons

Amateur drummer coaching are a required component of mastering basic fundamentals of playing this percussion instrument. In the instructions, you will learn essential facets such as the different jargon found in relation to the piece of equipment, the best way to grip the drumsticks, correct pose, strategies for the bass drum, and the most effective warm ups you can utilize in your practice.

With regards to drums courses, there are various of solutions easily available to you. The 1st of these is to hire a drums tutor to show you starter drumming tuition. This option helps you to learn by the ease of one's own house and with your time frame. Additionally, you will get direct discussion with your trainer, who will provide you with one-on-one hands-on guidance to help you excel at the drums far more effectively when compared with what you'd at a class style. The only real down side to working with a teacher for your personal instruction certainly is the price, that can easily be in excess of $ 1000 every year. If you can afford to pay for them, such newbie drummer classes can be among the best.

For substantially less funds, it's also possible to acquire drumming tuition on the web. There are lots of online sites allowing internet streaming instructional videos for drums playing. Just before you hurry out and sign up for the first site you will come upon, be advised that not all of them are every thing they allege to be. Most of these beginner drummer coaching are made up of instructions coming from an array of tutors in many video tutorials. Their coaching might not be always dependable, and sometimes be quite contrary. With that being said, you should definitely examine any drum tutoring web site diligently before you be involved in their newbie drums playing classes.

Your other selection for newbie drumming classes necessitates the acquisition of some DVD instructional video lessons. Much like the preceding choices, such video tutorials permit you to study on your own speed in your home. You can also find a multitude of helpful DVDs for sale, so you're able to custom your amateur drums courses towards your desires. The problems are the loss of straightforward communication with an instructor as well as the inconsistent calibre from the materials.

The conclusion on any kind of instructional provider is that you must really know what you're buying before you spend on any kind of product. You can find excellent trainers and terrible instructors in the same way there can be very good web pages and informative clips as well as undesirable ones. If you take the time to adequately research your choice in advance of procuring it, you should have little difficulties choosing the best source that enables yourself to understand drums.

GuitarPlayer: Joe Bonamassa on Minor Blues Soloing

IN OUR LAST INSTALLMENT WE SAW JOE Bonamassa take us through a sweet and sorrowful minor blues progression. Now he’s going to show you how to work through your sadness by absolutely shredding over those same changes.

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GuitarPlayer: Joe Bonamassa on Minor Blues Soloing

Guitar Chords For Beginners - The C Chord

Many people want to learn how to play guitar but might think that all of those strings and frets are just too much to tackle. Fear not, because with just a few easy guitar chords for beginners, you can be playing many of your favorite songs in a very short amount of time!

Today we're going to discuss the open C chord which is one of the standard guitar chords for any player. Just for review, if you are a beginner, here is the basic layout of the guitar.

Every standard guitar has six strings on it and they are tuned usually (or standard tuning) to the corresponding notes:

E, A, D, G, B, E

Along with normal music notation, you can also use a numbering system known as guitar tabs that will assist you in seeing the finger placements for your chords.

Each guitar string has a number associated with it beginning from the highest sounding string to lowest. The high E string is normally recognized as the #1 string. So the order of string numbers looks like this:

#1 = E (high), #2 = B, #3 = G, #4 = D, #5 = A, #6 - E (low)

Now that we've got our string numbers dialed in, let's start working on playing our open C chord. Here is the most common way to play this chord.

Step 1 - Place your first finger on string #2 (B) on the first fret.

Step 2 - Place your middle finger on string #4 (D) on the second fret.

Step 3 - Place your ring finger on string #5 (A) on the third fret.


With all three fingers in place, give your guitar a strum. Congratulations! You're playing an open C chord.

It may take a little bending from your fingers to make the curl around the neck of the guitar but keep working on it and you will find it getting easier and easier.

The open C chord is one of the great guitar chords for beginners because it has such a warm and rich sound. Many songs begin with this chord (i.e. Dust In The Wind) so if you continue to practice playing it, you will have a great starting point to launch into other chords that are right near by.

Here are some bonus tips on playing the C chord that will have you impressing all of your friends!

Tip #1 - Start by playing the C chord and then remove your ring finger from the 5th string. You are now playing an A minor 7 chord that makes the sound more haunting and moody. Go back to playing the full C chord and you will notice the sound becoming brighter again. It's a nice contrast.

Tip #2 - Start by playing the C chord and this time take your pinky finger and place in on string #4 (G) on the third fret right next to your ring finger. It makes the chord sound a bit higher as you have just played a C sus (suspended) chord. Now take your pinky finger off and you will be playing the C chord again.

Practicing those fingering moves from the C chord to the Am7 chord to the Csus chord will allow to begin to build a great foundation of chords to work with. As with any guitar chords for beginners, practice will make you a much stronger player. Good luck and enjoy playing!

acoustic blues scale - fun, easy beginner guitar

Keith Wyatt: Talkin' Blues (November 2011) Video

In the latest edition of Talkin' Blues, Keith Wyatt talks about soloing over substitutions in part 3 of his series on jazz-blues soloing.

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Keith Wyatt: Talkin' Blues (November 2011) Video

I CAN'T GET NEXT TO YOU - AL GREEN

Great Guitar Chords For Beginners - The Awesome D Chord

Did you ever want to learn how to play the guitar? If your answer is yes then you're in luck as learning guitar chords for beginners is not that difficult.

I've been playing guitar for the past 30 years and although technology has made it easy to watch online guitar lessons, it's up to you to put in the time to learn the chords as well as the music theory behind the chords if you wish.

For this article, we will be focusing on the D chord as well as some other guitar chords for beginners that will help form the foundation of many of the songs that you will end up playing.

Your guitar has 6 strings on it and is normally tuned to the following notes:

E, A, D, G, B, E

There are also guitar tabs that can help you learn to play beginner chords. For reference they number the strings as well as show you where your fingers should be placed to form the chord.

The guitar strings are normally numbered from highest to lowest meaning the last string on your guitar (the high E string) is know as the #1 string. So the numbering orders is as follows:

#6 - E (low)
#5 = A
#4 = D
#3 = G
#2 = B
#1 = E (high)

So without going into too much detail regarding music theory for now, some of the most common guitar chords for beginners are known as "open chords" because of their fingering style. When it comes to playing the D chord, the most common way to play it is as follows:

Step 1 - Place your first finger on string #3 (G) on the second fret.
Step 2 - Place your middle finger on string #1 (E high) on the second fret.
Step 3 - Place your ring finger on string #2 (B) on the third fret.

Congratulations! You just played an open D chord. You may want to work on bending your fingers, especially your ring finger, so that the tips of all of your fingers press firmly down onto the fret board to make the chord sound clean when you strum it. When it comes to guitar chords for beginners, if you practice and have some patience, you will see results come very quickly!

The D chord has a really nice and bright sound to it. Learn to play this chord well and you will be on your way to many well known songs that start off with this chord (i.e. Sweet Home Alabama).

Here's a few extra tips on the D chord that will have you sounding like a pro in no time.

Tip #1 - Play the D chord and while strumming or picking, place your little finger (pinky) on string #1 (E) on the third fret and then take it off again. Sounds cool doesn't it! You are playing what is called a D Sus (Sus = suspended) chord when you add your little finger to the mix.

Tip #2 - Play the D chord and this time remove your middle finger from string #1 (E) on the second fret and strum a few times and then put it back on again. When you remove your finger you are now playing what is known as a D5 chord. I love this chord as it has a darker feel compared the the open D chord itself.

So work on playing the open D chord as well as the D Sus and the D5 and you will begin to see lots of opportunities to make some great melodies happen!

Tonkinsongs



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Al Green-Let's stay Together(Live)

GuitarPlayer: David Grissom’s Awesome Open Strings

DAVID GRISSOM HAS BASED A CAREER ON GETTING a great sound, playing perfectly tasty lines that are at home in a variety of styles and never upstage the singer, and being an easy hang. On both his high-profile sideman gigs and his solo albums, a key ingredient to Grissom’s trip is his use of open strings clanging against fretted notes or bends to create big, complex sounds that are simultaneously clean and dirty.

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GuitarPlayer: David Grissom’s Awesome Open Strings

Three Common Mistakes Beginners Make when Starting to Play Guitar

After you have decided to starting to play guitar, you have to consider that you probably will make mistakes, and that is not a bad thing at all when you find the way to correct them. It is like the first time you sat on a a bike, or when you were learning how to drive, I’m pretty sure the first time you did not succeeded.

If you think about it, starting to play guitar is similar to learning how to walk, at first you have to take small steps, and with a tiny push, suddenly walking becomes a common every day activity that we do automatically. After you have mastered the basics, everything else becomes a lot easier.

Never the less, there are a few mistakes that can get you stuck or feel frustrated, and it is important to detect them when you are starting to play guitar, and by following the right guitar lessons and following the proper advice of the experts, you can easily improve your skills as a musician a lot quicker that if you do not have the right guidance.

Common mistake number one: Learning to play on an electric guitar. The issue you will find is that the strings on the electric guitar are metallic, so your fingers will hurt a lot at first, and it could possibly lead to thinking that playing guitar is hard and it´s not for you.

Solution: Start playing guitar with a classical guitar with nylon strings. Not only it is less difficult, but classical guitars are also less expensive than electric guitars, so you are killing two birds with one stone.

Common mistake number two: Taking the Chords lesson as lesson one. Well, playing guitar chords is definitely one of the guitar basics, and it is what you need to learn to start learning songs on your guitar. However, there are other topics you need to master before jumping into learning guitar chords.

Solution: The first few things you need to consider is how to hold a guitar, how to hold a pick, where to put your hands, more specifically your left hand, you need to know where to locate your thumb when you are playing, the sitting position is really important as well and keep your guitar tuned up. All these details should be taken as the first lesson.

Common mistake number three: Overloading of information. It’s very common to see among beginners this mistake, meaning that they want to learn a lot of things at once. What happens is that when you attempt to learn too much too fast, you end up learning nothing properly.

Solution: Focus on one thing at a time, and after you have mastered a single lesson; move on to the next one. It is very important to have a course to follow to avoid getting overwhelmed. Remember, you need to take small steps before learning how to walk, and you need to walk before learning how to run. By doing things in small steps you are going to be able to accomplish great things eventually.

The key to learn guitar online is to play guitar every day. I always say that learning guitar is not a destination, is a journey. To really enjoy this journey find the advice of the experts. Good luck and my best wishes to you.

George Balibrera



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In My Own Way by The Marshall Tucker Band (from Where We All Belong)

MUSIC MUSIC: Psychology of Music

Click over and read the latest "Cracker Marley" blog.


MUSIC MUSIC: Psychology of Music: Lesson #1      The psychology of music is a straightforward and simple concept. Many of my peers at my high school sometimes ask...

I Should Have Never Started Lovin' You by The Marshall Tucker Band (from...

Learn Guitar Solo Without The Bad Habits

So you want to learn guitar solo? In the words of one fairly well known TV presenter with a penchant for fast cars and a complete lack of subtlety, 'how hard can it be? ' The truth is that playing a guitar is easy. Unfortunately the truth is that playing a guitar is also very difficult. Let me explain that somewhat contradictory introduction.

The thing is that learning a guitar can be fairly easy, if all you want to do is to churn out a few popular tunes with your friends at home. If you want to learn to play guitar then you only actually need to learn a few basic chords. In fact it's quite surprising to many people just how many popular, well known tunes and songs can be learned without having to know more than a half dozen or so main chords. If you can learn half a dozen chords you'll be up and running, (or up and strumming), and if you can learn a dozen chords then a whole wealth of songs will be within your grasp.

If you have what it takes to pick up eighteen chords then there really won't be many songs that you won't be able to have a crack at, which will be more than enough for many people. If you just want to have fun, strum a few popular tunes at home and keep your guitar playing at about that level, then this is fine. However, if you have dreams of playing in a band, or performing on stage, then you will need to learn guitar solo playing.

This will inevitably require you to learn more about playing guitar than just remembering a few popular chords. What will have to happen at some point is that you will need to learn guitar tabs, as well as learning better techniques for playing, more effective ways to achieve certain effects and better ways of changing chords, or managing difficult chord combinations. There are really two ways to accomplish this. Either you can hire a guitar teacher to teach you how to play guitar properly, or you could head online and have a look at the many thousands of guitar instruction videos available.

The problem with the first option is that this can become extremely expensive. Guitar lessons may well cost twenty pounds or more for a single lesson. This can easily add up to a hundred pounds or so every month, which for many people learning to play guitar is just not a viable option. There's a problem with the second option too though, because although there are many guitar instructional videos online, many of them have been produced by people with little or no professional experience of playing guitar. For those people learning to play guitar this can be difficult, because it's easy to pick up on bad habits or integrate poor advice into your playing. So what's the answer?

If you're serious about trying to learn guitar solo pieces and really want to take your guitar playing to a higher level then there is a good way to combine the advantage of having your own guitar teacher without the cost, as well as benefitting from online guitar instructional videos without the danger of picking up on bad advice or poor techniques. The answer is to visit a specialist guitar video repository, where you can find a wealth of guitar instructional videos produced by professional, experienced guitarists, helping you learn guitar solo pieces without having to pay a penny, and without worrying about the quality of the tuition.

Justin Arnold



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Albert King - Killing Floor

Improve Your Guitar Skills In 4 Weeks

Learning to play guitar is exciting, but is an even better feeling to see how much you have achieved with time. In fact to improve your guitar skills is easy at all once you have discovered what is it that you really want to play, I mean, what type of music and songs you prefer to play.

Taking the first step is always kind of hard, if you are positive that you want to start learning guitar, the first thing you need to do is to step out of your comfort zone, I know it sound a little bit doll, but the fact is that a lot of musicians start learning something new, and it is not easy for them to overcome tricky lessons or different, and sometimes they continue practicing the way they were playing, this means that instead of taking one step forward, they have not done anything to improve.

Now, to make sure that you are on the right track you need to have the proper mindset, it all starts with your attitude about being a great guitar player; just by having the right amount of motivation you can achieve great things in this journey of becoming a better guitar player. So essentially, if you are serious about making serious changes you will be defined by what you do and how you do it, not just by thinking on how you want to do it.

To improve your guitar skills in a month, you have to plan ahead how you will achieve it, so let me give you a few tips that will get you to start playing guitar in another level, especially if you haven´t practiced in a while:

Week 1: Clean your guitar, buy new strings (if you haven´t already), sometimes, little stuff like this can make a great difference, don´t leave your guitar with the same strings for months and months at a time, try to change them every three months or so (for an electric guitar). After you have done that, it’s a great idea during this first period to start doing finger exercises, learn one scale and play it every day for 5 days.

Week 2: Find one new song to learn, just one, focus your entire attention and your effort to this new song, do what you regularly do to learn a new song, a hard song, listen to it several times, download the tab, only this time try to learn it as slow as possible, play it for at least one hour a day for 5 days with the company of a metronome and try to learn it mistakes free.

Third Week: Continue playing the song you’re already learning, play it and practice as often as you can, you should be gaining some speed by now and your hands will be faster, start putting some speed to the metronome until you are able to play the song on real speed.

Week 4: You have started playing guitar again on the right track my friend; your next move is to keep practicing, on week four start taking classes or join a music academy, this way you’ll have consistency and you will have thousands of lessons ahead of you to learn.

To start playing guitar like a professional all you need is determination and motivation, take the first step, that’s the most difficult thing to do, after that, you have half of the battle won already, have a great day.

George Balibrera



Jim Duff & the Necessities at 303 W in Danville Kentucky November 19th.

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GuitarPlayer: Jon Herington’s Chordal Navigation Tactics

FOR MANY GUITARISTS, MELODICALLY soloing over specified chord changes can seem as daunting a task as navigating the backstreets of an unfamiliar metropolis. Thankfully, we’ve enlisted the aid of a skilled guide to help plot a route through tricky harmonic territory—ace NYC axeman Jon Herington. For the past decade-plus, Herington has been Steely Dan’s guitarist, replicating the band’s rich heritage of 6-string work (originally forged by Jeff “Skunk” Baxter, Larry Carlton, Elliot Randall, Lee Ritenour, and Denny Dias, among others) while adding his own name to the royal tenure via his playing on Everything Must Go and the Grammy-nominated Two Against Nature. Herington has also toured and/or recorded with Bette Midler, the Brecker Brothers, Madeleine Peyroux, and Dennis Chambers, and recently released the solo recording shine (shine shine) [Decorator] showcasing his smoky vocals and pop craftsmanship alongside visceral-yetsophisticated guitar work.

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GuitarPlayer: Jon Herington’s Chordal Navigation Tactics




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Remembering Jimi Hendrix, Warrior Poet

This past Sunday, September 18, marked the 41st anniversary of Jimi Hendrix’s death.

In my last few blogs, I’ve been appealing to the mystic side of the guitar-playing community and feel it's safe to say that between the unending variations of deified imagery of Jimi -- and that even his self-proclaimed "mistakes" have become standard licks passed down through the new generations of guitarists -- we all acknowledge Jimi Hendrix as high priest of the Muse.

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Remembering Jimi Hendrix, Warrior Poet