On the move most of the time and want to get and stay connected all the time? Also want to get entertained wherever possible? What if there is a solution which allows you to remain in touch with your near and dear ones and at the same time be pampered with fine music? What if such a solution comes in a pretty inexpensive way? Surely we all would like to jump for it. Would we not? Well, here is a magic wand which will help you talk to your friends and will also bring you your favorite songs and music. The mobile-music marriage has comes as a great blessing for all music lovers. We can all ride our passion without any loss of time.
In fact the way music has transformed in recent decades is phenomenal. Today music, mobiles and multimedia are all available at one platform and the thin line between distinct technologies is only getting more and more blurred. We can download music on our mobiles, copy it on our PCs and then make CDs for our convenience. What a way to love and appreciate music.
Let us discuss some of the ways with which you can use your simple mobile instrument as a hi-fi system and a powerhouse of music. The mobile-music market is growing fast as more and more people are having mobile phones to get connected. Mobile music does satisfy this very important need for entertainment. Be it a college going teenager or a high flying executive, it is catching up with the imagination of all those who have a passion for music. It is also a great stress buster for those leading a hectic life.
Most new generation phones are equipped with music players that support music stored in various digital formats such as WMA, MP3, M4A and AAC. You can also download the tracks over the air and play it to your liking. It is worthwhile to opt for a phone that has a microSD card of 1 GB to download music software and store your favorite songs and music albums. You can also connect a headphone to the instrument to do multi tasking and to listen to your favorite music without any interruption. In fact if you own a car, no need to have a separate car audio, as your mobile can comfortably serve as one.
The Digital Music Player is the new in thing for those on the move. Today a number of companies in the field such as Nokia, Samsung, Sony and others are making instruments which cater to this very important segment of the market. A few of these phones come equipped with the latest music software to further enhance the quality of music. The mobiles companies are also having tie-ups with the media companies for giving you the latest content. The market is huge and ever evolving with not only music but also clippings of your favorite TV programs, news, sports, weather forecast and other contents available on the fly. A win-win situation for every body.
So if you also want to join the bandwagon, it is not too difficult. Just get a music enabled phone and download your favorite music. You have got the perfect answer to your quest for entertainment all the time. Can it get any simpler? Maybe not in the near future at least. Beyond that - only time will tell.
Sarika Kabra
Tuesday, January 31, 2012
Blues Power - Walk, Don't Run: Slow Blues Comping
When Jimi Hendrix emerged as the major new force in rock guitar in 1967, his style was so revolutionary that many listeners didn't realize just how deeply rooted in tradition his playing was. His personality on the instrument was so strong that he virtually swallowed up his influences. On "Red House," you can hear traces of a style that dates back to the very first master of electric blues guitar, T-Bone Walker.
T-Bone laid down a style of slow-blues "comping" (rhythm playing) that has withstood the test of time, having been handed down to each new generation of blues guitarists for over 60 years now. By learning something of his style, you'll be one step closer to not only understanding Hendrix, but also to developing your own style.
Click below for lesson.
Blues Power - Walk, Don't Run: Slow Blues Comping
T-Bone laid down a style of slow-blues "comping" (rhythm playing) that has withstood the test of time, having been handed down to each new generation of blues guitarists for over 60 years now. By learning something of his style, you'll be one step closer to not only understanding Hendrix, but also to developing your own style.
Click below for lesson.
Blues Power - Walk, Don't Run: Slow Blues Comping
Monday, January 30, 2012
Saxophone Blues Scales
If you're a saxophonist interested in playing any type of blues based music including rock and roll and even jazz then you need to use the blues scale as your number one tool to make things sound right.
A little history
If you want to investigate back to the beginnings of the blues as it came about in America just start with W.C. Handy, who was a black composer active in the early 1900's when the blues form began to get popularized in large part because of his instrumental compositions "Memphis Blues" (1912) and "St. Louis Blues" (1914). Of coarse the blues oral tradition can be traced back to the mid 1800's.
The blues scale
Because our western music has it's roots in European classical music the music theorists needed to notate the blues scale as it was naturally played and sung into an understandable notation which could be analyzed and played by western trained musicians.
The simplest way to explain it's theory is this:
Simply take the traditional major scale; C D E F G A B C and flatten the 3rd, 5th, and 7th. Now it looks like this: C D Eb E F Gb G A Bb C.
(Please look at the example on my website for the full musical notation). Notice the E, G, and B have been flattened, they are the 3rd, 5th and 7th notes of the C major scale and flattening them makes the scale sound minor thus giving it the "blues" or sad sound as opposed to the "major" or happy sound.
For us sax players these flat notes are perfect to incorporate a "growl" sound to further emphasize that "bluesy" expression or make it a bit more nasty. Two other things to notice; the 3rd and 5th can be played as a flat or not but the 7th generally is only played as a flat and not the major 7th in this type of scale or musical genre. (for some audio examples please refer to the website version of this article).
So now our basic major scale of 8 notes is now a blues scale of 10 notes. There are other variations to this blues scale; the basic version for example is a 7 note scale: C Eb F F# G Bb C (the F# being the same as the Gb). Adding the D, E natural and A give us more musical possibilities and will not change the basic sound of the blues scale. Even adding a flat 9th ( D flat) was a favorite thing Charlie Parker did a lot and is a good way to jazz up your phrases.
The blues progression
Of coarse this is all just words and notes and theory. You have to apply it and in any blues music this is done over a musical progression thats 12 measures in length, thus the term "12 bar blues".
We're in the key of C so the first 4 bars will be the C chord. The 5th and 6th bars change to the 4 chord which is F (4th note in the C scale).
The 7th and 8th bars change back to the 1 chord (C). The 9th and 10th bars change to the 5 chord, which is G. The 11th and 12th bars change back to the 1 chord (C). There are variations in this 12 bar pattern and can be seen on the website version of this article.
When starting out you can get away with just playing the same C blues scale over the entire progression but try to emphasize 1 or 2 of the notes in the F and G chord to make things a little more interesting. For example, over the F chord play an F or an A note to emphasize the harmonic color of the chord a little more.
In conclusion
The blues mean different things to many people ranging from musical styles to a way of life or philosophy. The blues do have musical influences from Europe and Africa but it is truly an American musical form and tradition fully rooted in the black experience of the post-war southern United States.
I want to be clear that when I talk about the blues or the blues scale I'm not only referring to this type of musical tradition and style but include funk, R&B, country, jazz and pop. Like the old saying goes; The blues had a baby and they names it rock and roll and from there came just about every form of pop music in western history since that explosive time in the mid 1900's
And so, I think it's safe to say that the blues scale is easily one of the most used and important scales for all types of western popular music.
John Ferreira
A little history
If you want to investigate back to the beginnings of the blues as it came about in America just start with W.C. Handy, who was a black composer active in the early 1900's when the blues form began to get popularized in large part because of his instrumental compositions "Memphis Blues" (1912) and "St. Louis Blues" (1914). Of coarse the blues oral tradition can be traced back to the mid 1800's.
The blues scale
Because our western music has it's roots in European classical music the music theorists needed to notate the blues scale as it was naturally played and sung into an understandable notation which could be analyzed and played by western trained musicians.
The simplest way to explain it's theory is this:
Simply take the traditional major scale; C D E F G A B C and flatten the 3rd, 5th, and 7th. Now it looks like this: C D Eb E F Gb G A Bb C.
(Please look at the example on my website for the full musical notation). Notice the E, G, and B have been flattened, they are the 3rd, 5th and 7th notes of the C major scale and flattening them makes the scale sound minor thus giving it the "blues" or sad sound as opposed to the "major" or happy sound.
For us sax players these flat notes are perfect to incorporate a "growl" sound to further emphasize that "bluesy" expression or make it a bit more nasty. Two other things to notice; the 3rd and 5th can be played as a flat or not but the 7th generally is only played as a flat and not the major 7th in this type of scale or musical genre. (for some audio examples please refer to the website version of this article).
So now our basic major scale of 8 notes is now a blues scale of 10 notes. There are other variations to this blues scale; the basic version for example is a 7 note scale: C Eb F F# G Bb C (the F# being the same as the Gb). Adding the D, E natural and A give us more musical possibilities and will not change the basic sound of the blues scale. Even adding a flat 9th ( D flat) was a favorite thing Charlie Parker did a lot and is a good way to jazz up your phrases.
The blues progression
Of coarse this is all just words and notes and theory. You have to apply it and in any blues music this is done over a musical progression thats 12 measures in length, thus the term "12 bar blues".
We're in the key of C so the first 4 bars will be the C chord. The 5th and 6th bars change to the 4 chord which is F (4th note in the C scale).
The 7th and 8th bars change back to the 1 chord (C). The 9th and 10th bars change to the 5 chord, which is G. The 11th and 12th bars change back to the 1 chord (C). There are variations in this 12 bar pattern and can be seen on the website version of this article.
When starting out you can get away with just playing the same C blues scale over the entire progression but try to emphasize 1 or 2 of the notes in the F and G chord to make things a little more interesting. For example, over the F chord play an F or an A note to emphasize the harmonic color of the chord a little more.
In conclusion
The blues mean different things to many people ranging from musical styles to a way of life or philosophy. The blues do have musical influences from Europe and Africa but it is truly an American musical form and tradition fully rooted in the black experience of the post-war southern United States.
I want to be clear that when I talk about the blues or the blues scale I'm not only referring to this type of musical tradition and style but include funk, R&B, country, jazz and pop. Like the old saying goes; The blues had a baby and they names it rock and roll and from there came just about every form of pop music in western history since that explosive time in the mid 1900's
And so, I think it's safe to say that the blues scale is easily one of the most used and important scales for all types of western popular music.
John Ferreira
Sunday, January 29, 2012
Hole Notes: The Chord and Rhythm Patterns of Django Reinhardt
These videos are related to the February 2012 issue of Guitar World. For the full text and tablature for the column, you can pick up the issue of newsstands now or in our online store.
In this month's "Hole Notes," Musician's Institute instructor Dale Turned takes a look at artistry of guitar great and inventor of "gypsy jazz," Django Reinhardt. Because his famed quintet, Hot Club of France, didn't have a percussionist, the rhythmic patterns and chord choices in Django's unique brand of jazz were of paramount importance.
Click below for lesson.
Hole Notes: The Chord and Rhythm Patterns of Django Reinhardt
In this month's "Hole Notes," Musician's Institute instructor Dale Turned takes a look at artistry of guitar great and inventor of "gypsy jazz," Django Reinhardt. Because his famed quintet, Hot Club of France, didn't have a percussionist, the rhythmic patterns and chord choices in Django's unique brand of jazz were of paramount importance.
Click below for lesson.
Hole Notes: The Chord and Rhythm Patterns of Django Reinhardt
Saturday, January 28, 2012
Fender Guitar: A Fun Investment For You
The first name which strikes us when we think of electric guitars is undoubtedly "Fender". Most every guitarist dreams of owning a Fender guitar. Most of the renowned rock guitarists as well as guitarists of other music genre swear by their Fender guitars. Before we discuss the various types of Fender guitars available, let us take a overview of the Fender musical instruments corporation.
Arizona is the home of this guitar manufacturer. The wild success of Fender's "Stratocaster" and "Telecaster" guitars has helped it's rise to fame. A solid body is a feature of both of these electric guitars. Even though many popular brands of electric guitars are on the market today, the reputation and likability of Fender guitars is without comparison.
The most popular Fender guitar to date is the Fender Stratocaster. This is a solid-body electric guitar with a maple neck. The fret board of this guitar is made of maple, rosewood or ebony. This amazing guitar boasts of three single-coil pick-ups. The Fender Stratocaster is a versatile guitar as it allows the player to produce a large variety of tones. This guitar has been associated with music greats like Eric Clapton, George Harrison, and many more guitar legends.
Likewise, another well-known Fender guitar is the "Fender Telecaster". This electric guitar has two single-coil pick-ups. The Telecaster is popular for its prominent sound quality. Even today, after almost six decades of its birth, the Telecaster continues to impress millions with its crystal clear sound. Many beautiful melodies have been developed on the Fender Telecaster.
Fender manufactures other electric guitars like the "Fender Esquire". Designed in 1950, the Esquire had one single-coil pick-up. This guitar is also a solid body guitar. Though essentially being a single pick-up guitar, the Fender Esquire never failed to impress the audience with its perfect tone and melody.
If you know the type of sound quality you want in a guitar, then it's not hard to select a Fender guitar to meet your needs. Fender electric guitars are available worldwide, plus there are many online music stores where you can purchase your chosen musical instrument. By buying a Fender electric guitar you'll be able to create a melodic aura which will captivate your audiences and make your performance a most memorable one.
Daniel Wright
Arizona is the home of this guitar manufacturer. The wild success of Fender's "Stratocaster" and "Telecaster" guitars has helped it's rise to fame. A solid body is a feature of both of these electric guitars. Even though many popular brands of electric guitars are on the market today, the reputation and likability of Fender guitars is without comparison.
The most popular Fender guitar to date is the Fender Stratocaster. This is a solid-body electric guitar with a maple neck. The fret board of this guitar is made of maple, rosewood or ebony. This amazing guitar boasts of three single-coil pick-ups. The Fender Stratocaster is a versatile guitar as it allows the player to produce a large variety of tones. This guitar has been associated with music greats like Eric Clapton, George Harrison, and many more guitar legends.
Likewise, another well-known Fender guitar is the "Fender Telecaster". This electric guitar has two single-coil pick-ups. The Telecaster is popular for its prominent sound quality. Even today, after almost six decades of its birth, the Telecaster continues to impress millions with its crystal clear sound. Many beautiful melodies have been developed on the Fender Telecaster.
Fender manufactures other electric guitars like the "Fender Esquire". Designed in 1950, the Esquire had one single-coil pick-up. This guitar is also a solid body guitar. Though essentially being a single pick-up guitar, the Fender Esquire never failed to impress the audience with its perfect tone and melody.
If you know the type of sound quality you want in a guitar, then it's not hard to select a Fender guitar to meet your needs. Fender electric guitars are available worldwide, plus there are many online music stores where you can purchase your chosen musical instrument. By buying a Fender electric guitar you'll be able to create a melodic aura which will captivate your audiences and make your performance a most memorable one.
Daniel Wright
Friday, January 27, 2012
Learn Piano Blues
No matter what level of playing you're at now or which musical instruments you may know how to play, learn piano blues and you'll be much better off for it. As someone who spends a lot of time playing the saxophone and writing music I have found learning to play the piano invaluable for musical ideas, arranging for other instruments and just plain fun and relaxation. Not to mention being able to accompany other performers when the opportunity comes up.
Learn piano blues and you have also learned many other of your favorite rock and roll songs as well since that style developed out of blues music so the two styles are harmonically very close.
Another great thing about being able to play some kind of blues piano is that you can learn a couple fairly easy patterns on each hand and as you become more comfortable with them before you know it you can quickly develop them into patterns that are slightly more technical and before you know it you're playing some very decent boogie woogie too.
The boogie style came directly out of the blues and is one of the best ways for a pianist to show what they can do. This style of blues with a bit of speed is very impressive.
I learned by standing behind and beside some of my piano player friends and just watched what they did with their hands. Watching from above you can really see what's going on with both hands and how these repetitive riffs are being executed.
It's amazing how easy it can be when you break it down and take it slow. Then, like anything else, with a little daily practice comes the speed and dexterity. Sure, kids usually pick it up quicker than adults but anyone who has the desire to learn can do it regardless of age.
So, learning to play blues music on the piano is not only very basic technically but is also a great spring board for other styles like gospel and jazz. Even if you only learn to play the blues think of the fun you'll have next time there's a jam session opportunity... you know what they say; Blues is the international language of music.
John Ferreira
Learn piano blues and you have also learned many other of your favorite rock and roll songs as well since that style developed out of blues music so the two styles are harmonically very close.
Another great thing about being able to play some kind of blues piano is that you can learn a couple fairly easy patterns on each hand and as you become more comfortable with them before you know it you can quickly develop them into patterns that are slightly more technical and before you know it you're playing some very decent boogie woogie too.
The boogie style came directly out of the blues and is one of the best ways for a pianist to show what they can do. This style of blues with a bit of speed is very impressive.
I learned by standing behind and beside some of my piano player friends and just watched what they did with their hands. Watching from above you can really see what's going on with both hands and how these repetitive riffs are being executed.
It's amazing how easy it can be when you break it down and take it slow. Then, like anything else, with a little daily practice comes the speed and dexterity. Sure, kids usually pick it up quicker than adults but anyone who has the desire to learn can do it regardless of age.
So, learning to play blues music on the piano is not only very basic technically but is also a great spring board for other styles like gospel and jazz. Even if you only learn to play the blues think of the fun you'll have next time there's a jam session opportunity... you know what they say; Blues is the international language of music.
John Ferreira
Thursday, January 26, 2012
How To Get The Beat Going With Your Guitar
The reason that so many people fail at playing the guitar is because they give up their lessons too soon. They usually think that they are not capable of learning the instrument and think that the problem lies completely with them.
The truth of the matter is that the problem is not with the person learning but the method they are using to learn. If the player finds that he has advanced to a certain level and is unable to continue they should consider the technique they are using to learn the guitar.
The only way to move beyond this problem is to try another technique and see if it helps.
When you ask eight out of ten people who are learning the guitar why they continued they would answer that they learned the approach of feeling the beat.
The experts in guitar playing will tell you that there is a difference between a good guitarist and a great guitarist is their ability to feel the beat.
What you are learning is that feeling the beat will completely change the way you are learning your instrument. When you try to feel the beat as you are playing the guitar you will bring inside yourself the pulse of the song and let it flow out of you to the strings on your instrument.
This is where the understanding of playing the guitar from your soul comes from. That is the approach you are using in this method.
The experts in the music field know that when a singer or composer puts their emotion and soul into a piece of music the result is a person who stands above the crowd. When a musician learns how to feel the beat in the music they are playing they will put the individual notes in their body and let the music flow from them.
So you must be wondering how you learn to feel the beat.
The first thing you will need to do is internalize the beat. You will want to be emotionally ready to play your guitar. Listen to the music and feel a connection between the music and your feelings. This is how you feel the beat when it is flowing in you. Once you have gotten the beat inside of you should play those strings and play the feelings you are having not the song.
You will also need to learn to play a song by ear. Once you learn how to feel the beat you will begin to learn how to play music by ear. The act of playing the guitar by ear involves listening to some music and being able to play it. There have been many great musicians that had this ability. Once they felt the song inside of them they were able to begin playing the notes as the song progressed. Most of the people who write music do not use the tabs and music sheets; they simply play music as they hear it inside of themselves.
You do not have to follow the rules when you are learning to play the guitar. The instrument you are trying to play and the music is available to anyone who wants to play. Take some time to become acquainted with your instrument and learn to feel the beat. It will not happen overnight, you will need to practice and allow the music to become a part of you.
Many people who fail at the guitar just didn’t put in enough time and practice. You will need to put in the time if you ever want to become an expert at playing. Just get started and before you know it you will be playing like a pro.
Rick Napolitano
The truth of the matter is that the problem is not with the person learning but the method they are using to learn. If the player finds that he has advanced to a certain level and is unable to continue they should consider the technique they are using to learn the guitar.
The only way to move beyond this problem is to try another technique and see if it helps.
When you ask eight out of ten people who are learning the guitar why they continued they would answer that they learned the approach of feeling the beat.
The experts in guitar playing will tell you that there is a difference between a good guitarist and a great guitarist is their ability to feel the beat.
What you are learning is that feeling the beat will completely change the way you are learning your instrument. When you try to feel the beat as you are playing the guitar you will bring inside yourself the pulse of the song and let it flow out of you to the strings on your instrument.
This is where the understanding of playing the guitar from your soul comes from. That is the approach you are using in this method.
The experts in the music field know that when a singer or composer puts their emotion and soul into a piece of music the result is a person who stands above the crowd. When a musician learns how to feel the beat in the music they are playing they will put the individual notes in their body and let the music flow from them.
So you must be wondering how you learn to feel the beat.
The first thing you will need to do is internalize the beat. You will want to be emotionally ready to play your guitar. Listen to the music and feel a connection between the music and your feelings. This is how you feel the beat when it is flowing in you. Once you have gotten the beat inside of you should play those strings and play the feelings you are having not the song.
You will also need to learn to play a song by ear. Once you learn how to feel the beat you will begin to learn how to play music by ear. The act of playing the guitar by ear involves listening to some music and being able to play it. There have been many great musicians that had this ability. Once they felt the song inside of them they were able to begin playing the notes as the song progressed. Most of the people who write music do not use the tabs and music sheets; they simply play music as they hear it inside of themselves.
You do not have to follow the rules when you are learning to play the guitar. The instrument you are trying to play and the music is available to anyone who wants to play. Take some time to become acquainted with your instrument and learn to feel the beat. It will not happen overnight, you will need to practice and allow the music to become a part of you.
Many people who fail at the guitar just didn’t put in enough time and practice. You will need to put in the time if you ever want to become an expert at playing. Just get started and before you know it you will be playing like a pro.
Rick Napolitano
Talkin' Blues: Conversational Phrasing
These videos are related to the February 2012 issue of Guitar World. For the full text and tablature for the column, you can pick up the issue of newsstands now or in our online store.
February's "Talkin' Blues" column looks at the ways in which everyday speech patterns influence blues guitar playing, a concept called conversational phrasing. Conversational phrasing could be best epitomized by the guitar work of Albert Collins, but as Keith Wyatt points out, it has remained a secret ingredient in the arsenals of many guitar greats.
Click on the link below for lesson.
Talkin' Blues: Conversational Phrasing
February's "Talkin' Blues" column looks at the ways in which everyday speech patterns influence blues guitar playing, a concept called conversational phrasing. Conversational phrasing could be best epitomized by the guitar work of Albert Collins, but as Keith Wyatt points out, it has remained a secret ingredient in the arsenals of many guitar greats.
Click on the link below for lesson.
Talkin' Blues: Conversational Phrasing
Bummer: All major music publishers are now suing Grooveshark (update) | VentureBeat
EMI, one of the largest music publishers in the world, is suing streaming music service Grooveshark over a discrepancy in royalty payments.
Grooveshark is different from other prominent streaming music services like Spotify, MOG and Rdio because it doesn’t have broad licensing agreements to play the majority of its music. It depends on its users to upload music that can be enjoyed by the community. If a user uploads a file that he or she doesn’t own and it gets a DMCA complaint, Grooveshark takes the file down.
To date, Universal Music Group, Sony Music and the Warner Music Group have filed a lawsuit against Grooveshark for allegedly pirating thousands of songs through its streaming service.
Now EMI is accusing Grooveshark of not paying any royalties since entering into a streaming music licensing agreement in 2009, according to a Reuters report. This means that all four of the major music companies are now tied up in legal disputes with Grooveshark for one reason or another — making the music startup’s future look mighty bleak.
Grooveshark estimates that it owes EMI about $150,000 in fees. EMI, however, says that the amount owed is much larger and that Grooveshark has “continued to exploit” its copyrighted music while ignoring demands for both accounting statements and payments. We’ve reached out to Grooveshark for comment and will update this post with any new information.
Gainesville, Fla.-based Grooveshark has over 30 million active monthly users who stream more than 15 billion songs per year, according to the company. In November, the company rolled out a new design of its online music player that includes a social layer.
Update: 11:00 a.m. PST
A Grooveshark spokesperson responded to our inquiries about the accusations by pointing out that EMI music publishing (not the record label) is the organization currently disputing the royalty payments. The spokesperson also clarified that EMI filed a formal complaint (not a full lawsuit) with the New York State Supreme Court. Here’s a copy of the full court document: EMI Entertainment World Inc v. Escape Media Group Inc, New York State Supreme Court, New York County, No. 650013/2012 (PDF).
Official statement from Grooveshark below:
“We make regular payments to EMI. This is a contract dispute with the Publisher EMI (not the record label) that we expect to resolve.”
Bummer: All major music publishers are now suing Grooveshark (update) | VentureBeat
Grooveshark is different from other prominent streaming music services like Spotify, MOG and Rdio because it doesn’t have broad licensing agreements to play the majority of its music. It depends on its users to upload music that can be enjoyed by the community. If a user uploads a file that he or she doesn’t own and it gets a DMCA complaint, Grooveshark takes the file down.
To date, Universal Music Group, Sony Music and the Warner Music Group have filed a lawsuit against Grooveshark for allegedly pirating thousands of songs through its streaming service.
Now EMI is accusing Grooveshark of not paying any royalties since entering into a streaming music licensing agreement in 2009, according to a Reuters report. This means that all four of the major music companies are now tied up in legal disputes with Grooveshark for one reason or another — making the music startup’s future look mighty bleak.
Grooveshark estimates that it owes EMI about $150,000 in fees. EMI, however, says that the amount owed is much larger and that Grooveshark has “continued to exploit” its copyrighted music while ignoring demands for both accounting statements and payments. We’ve reached out to Grooveshark for comment and will update this post with any new information.
Gainesville, Fla.-based Grooveshark has over 30 million active monthly users who stream more than 15 billion songs per year, according to the company. In November, the company rolled out a new design of its online music player that includes a social layer.
Update: 11:00 a.m. PST
A Grooveshark spokesperson responded to our inquiries about the accusations by pointing out that EMI music publishing (not the record label) is the organization currently disputing the royalty payments. The spokesperson also clarified that EMI filed a formal complaint (not a full lawsuit) with the New York State Supreme Court. Here’s a copy of the full court document: EMI Entertainment World Inc v. Escape Media Group Inc, New York State Supreme Court, New York County, No. 650013/2012 (PDF).
Official statement from Grooveshark below:
“We make regular payments to EMI. This is a contract dispute with the Publisher EMI (not the record label) that we expect to resolve.”
Bummer: All major music publishers are now suing Grooveshark (update) | VentureBeat
Wednesday, January 25, 2012
Hard Rock Rising
FREE Tracks. Download to Vote. Decide a Winner!
Please vote for Jim Duff & the Necessities to play LIVE at Louisville for Hard Rock Rising. Download FREE tracks and vote now! Voting ends February 5th.
Please vote for Jim Duff & the Necessities to play LIVE at Louisville for Hard Rock Rising. Download FREE tracks and vote now! Voting ends February 5th.
Learn How to Play the Guitar Quickly
The guitar is not a difficult instrument to learn how to play, but before you begin taking lessons there are a few basics you should keep in mind. You must be determined to succeed. Without determination, you are destined to give up before you've learned to play this wonderful instrument. Determination is especially important when it comes to learning to play the guitar.
Patience is the Key
Another key to learning the guitar is patience. You cannot become a rock star overnight. Learning the guitar takes time, especially during the initial days. Once you have these two basic tenets, the third thing, which is specific to music, is having a musical ear. You have to be able to, over a period of time, identify the sounds associated with particular notes.
Buy yourself a Guitar
The first step to actually learning how to play the guitar is to get yourself a guitar. Owning a guitar is vital to the learning process simply because learning involves constant practice. You have to constantly practice what you learn, as a lack of practice can make you rusty and setback your learning process.
Having your own guitar enables you to practice whenever you want, at the frequency you desire. Also, the feeling of ownership is a big confidence booster. By purchasing your own guitar, you have taken the first step to learning how to play it. The last and final preliminary step before you kick off the actual learning process is getting yourself a teacher.
Find a Good Teacher
In the days before the Internet, to learn how to play the guitar, you had to learn from a guitar teacher. This meant you had to actually go to the house of a teacher, or have the teacher come to your house. That was quite a limiting experience, because there was no guarantee the teacher you were learning from was the best or was able to teach you the style you wanted to learn.
Did you Know?
These days it's getting harder and harder to find a good guitar teacher that will actually come to your house and teach you how to play the guitar. Most aspiring players are looking towards the Internet for lessons.
Learning Guitar Online
There has been an explosion of online guitar teaching course lately and this has changed the equation forever. There are numerous online websites that are designed to teach a student how to play the guitar. These courses take potential guitar players from the simple basics to complex chords and various playing styles. In order to learn online, all you really need is your guitar, a computer and internet access. You should search for a site that best suits your particular needs. Once you've found the perfect site for you, jump right in and start taking those guitar lessons. You will be glad that you did.
Kirk Downing
Tuesday, January 24, 2012
Get More Bang for Your Buck at Musician's Friend! Take 15% Off and Free Gifts!
It's time to get more bang for your buck at Musician's Friend. Check out these amazing offers at Musician's Friend! Year of the Dragon! Take 5% off $149, 10% off $299 or 15% off $799! Expires 1/30/12. Also, Rock the New Year with a Fender Free " Soul of Tone" Book with select Fender tube amps! Valid 1/24/12-1/31-12 and Get More Bang for Your Buck! Free Gifts with Hundreds of Items at Musician's Friend! Valid 1/24/12-1/31/12.
Additionally, over 53,000 Products Ship Free Every Day at MusiciansFriend.com!
Year of the Dragon!
Take 5% off $149, 10% off $299 or 15% off $799! Expires 1/30/12.
Electric Guitar Winter Deals!
Electric Guitar Winter Deals! Valid 1/24/12-1/31/12.
Rock the New Year!
Rock the New Year with a Fender Free " Soul of Tone" Book with select Fender tube amps! Valid 1/24/12-1/31-12.
Get More Bang for Your Buck!
Get More Bang for Your Buck! Free Gifts with Hundreds of Items at Musician's Friend! Valid 1/24/12-1/31/12.
FREE Shipping!
Over 53,000 Products Ship Free Every Day at MusiciansFriend.com!
Additionally, over 53,000 Products Ship Free Every Day at MusiciansFriend.com!
Year of the Dragon!
Take 5% off $149, 10% off $299 or 15% off $799! Expires 1/30/12.
Electric Guitar Winter Deals!
Electric Guitar Winter Deals! Valid 1/24/12-1/31/12.
Rock the New Year!
Rock the New Year with a Fender Free " Soul of Tone" Book with select Fender tube amps! Valid 1/24/12-1/31-12.
Get More Bang for Your Buck!
Get More Bang for Your Buck! Free Gifts with Hundreds of Items at Musician's Friend! Valid 1/24/12-1/31/12.
FREE Shipping!
Over 53,000 Products Ship Free Every Day at MusiciansFriend.com!
Thanks to all of our fans!
I just want to send a shout out to all of our supporters and fans to let you know that because of you we have sold over 7,000 downloads and 4,000 CD’s! My sincerest thanks to each of you! Who needs a record deal when we have people like you that support what we're doing? I absolutely love our fans and I never will be able to truly express my gratitude for each and every one of you!
People really do have the power to make choices when it comes to music, thanks to the Internet. In the end, a record deal means nothing to me because I didn't start making music for fame. All along, for me, it has always been my passion for music, my passion to share this passion. I care about music and because of music, I care about my fans. Someone asked me the other day if I had “'made it”' yet? I replied, "Well, if truth be known, I "made it”' a long time ago." They responded by saying, "I don't hear you on the radio or see you on TV." I answered by saying, ‘I have raised my son to be an independent, educated young man.' I have taught him that respecting
others and hard work will yield positive results. I am working to instill in my daughter these same values. I have taught them not to be dependent others, but, at the same time to know that we are there for them if and when they need us, that by the will of The Almighty they have the power to be whatever they want to be. In the end, for me, that's really what this life, fame, success -- all of it -- is about to me.
People really do have the power to make choices when it comes to music, thanks to the Internet. In the end, a record deal means nothing to me because I didn't start making music for fame. All along, for me, it has always been my passion for music, my passion to share this passion. I care about music and because of music, I care about my fans. Someone asked me the other day if I had “'made it”' yet? I replied, "Well, if truth be known, I "made it”' a long time ago." They responded by saying, "I don't hear you on the radio or see you on TV." I answered by saying, ‘I have raised my son to be an independent, educated young man.' I have taught him that respecting
others and hard work will yield positive results. I am working to instill in my daughter these same values. I have taught them not to be dependent others, but, at the same time to know that we are there for them if and when they need us, that by the will of The Almighty they have the power to be whatever they want to be. In the end, for me, that's really what this life, fame, success -- all of it -- is about to me.
In Deep: Howlin' Wolf and Hubert Sumlin
In this month's "In Deep," our own Andy Aledort takes a close-up look at the blues guitar artistry of Howlin' Wolf and Hubert Sumlin, the guitarists who epitomized the sound of Chicago blues.
In Deep: Howlin' Wolf and Hubert Sumlin
In Deep: Howlin' Wolf and Hubert Sumlin
The Art Of Practicing
I have always believed that success, in practically any subject you can think of, is a direct result of "clear thinking". That is, the ability to understand very clearly what needs to be achieved and the action to set about surmounting very necessary hurdles in order to reach those goals. Less than successful people are either not clear in their goals or for one reason or another give up along the way. It's leveling that rough terrain, along with a clearly defined end result in mind that will get you there in the end. The success roadmap might go something like this:
Visualize goal => Surmount problems => Score
Sounds simple doesn't it? However, this clear thinking is all very well but it's usually the thought required before step 1 (visualization) that causes problems. Very often the goal does not manifest in mind because the process is so overwhelming.
And so it is with practicing the guitar, or any instrument for that matter. In more laymen's terms it's more like "What the hell should I be practicing?".
Practice is a constant struggle for many people. There is so much to learn and often so little time to allocate to it. For the jazz musician, clear thinking can be as simple as "I really like that Charlie Parker 2, 5 - how does he do that?". Then transcribing the line, practicing it in all keys and working the phrase into your own vocabulary. The 'score' as I like to call it is the ability to work it in to your own playing. I want to talk a little about that in a minute.
First, I think the most important thing to talk about is how to make best use of your practice time. There was a time when I started playing where I used to sit in my room and allocate 15 minutes to practicing scales and arpeggios, 10 minutes on technique exercises, 20 minutes on sight reading and 1/2 an hour on practicing my classical guitar repertoire. Why? because my teacher told me I had to. Years later once I started to study jazz guitar on my own I didn't feel the need to be practicing this way. It wasn't really benefiting me fully. I started to have my own goals in mind that I wanted to reach. I wanted to learn to play like one or two of my heroes, but more importantly because I liked what they played. Even more under the microscope were certain melodic lines and licks that tweaked my ear and fueled me to transcribe or simply copy the way they phrased or 'felt' a phrase. Once I clearly had in mind what I wanted to achieve I could go about achieving it - I knew what I had to do.
It's important to sit down to practice and be really clear about what you are going to do during that practice time. Now, one thing that helped me tremendously was when I made a huge commitment to scheduled practicing. In other words, deciding that every single day, no matter what, I would sit down and dedicate exactly one hour to working at this instrument. The amazing thing I found is that my regularly scheduled practice literally fueled my regularly scheduled practice! Does this make sense? What this means is that, the more I practiced, the more I wanted to practice. What started out as a committed hour turned into committed six hour sessions. Once I got into music college in London I remember waking up in the morning and practicing until I went to bed at night, remembering to eat on occasion. I was so fueled by the commitment to practice that the drive to play took over completely.
Regular practice clearly keeps your guitar technique on tip top form. There's nothing like picking up the guitar and playing a few short runs and being on top of your game, simply because you are playing regularly.
The other wonderful thing about committing to regular practice is that it actually helps you to think much more clearly, because you start to see results. Once you start to see results the concept of learning is much less overwhelming and you are able to make decisions about what you want to work on much more easily.
So do yourself a huge favor, first, make the decision to want to get much better at your guitar playing. Then once you have decided that, make a clear commitment right now and allocate a certain time of day to your guitar practice. If you only have limited time then give yourself what you know you can afford. Once you get your teeth into this system, if you don't have more time, trust me you will want to find more time. You might just want to wake up earlier. The drive to learn will take over.
Quality practice is key. I find now I am older that, if I let myself, I can get more and more distracted because there are so many other facets to my life. When I make the decision to focus 100% on my guitar problems and how I can surmount them, I find I can get completely absorbed for hours once I get going. Sometimes it helps to avoid those distractions from the outset. Maybe turn the phone off!
There is a huge difference between playing the guitar and practicing the guitar. I can play for days quite happily but am I learning anything new? Not unless I stop myself and work on my weaknesses. And there are plenty of those trust me! Many years ago I wanted to learn licks from my favorite players. I would hear a line and transcribe it. Many times I found that those musical phrases would not come out in my playing and I asked myself why. It dawned on me that there were three possible reasons:
1) I found the phrase too technically difficult to pull off.
2) It just didn't feel like it belonged in my vocabulary.
3) I hadn't fully explored the idea enough - perhaps I didn't fully understand how to use it in a practical sense.
Let's talk about these briefly.
Sometimes a horn line does not necessarily fit under the fingers on the guitar. The line might sound just terrific on a sax but if I can't play it on my guitar it's not going to have the same effect. In fact quite the opposite! Everyone is somewhat limited technically (although there are a few players that keep my head scratching I must admit!), every player has a ceiling in their own mind and I think it's perfectly OK to let some things go because they are just two gymnastic on the guitar. It's of course relative to each player's ability and comfort zone.
Occasionally I'll try and work something into my music vocabulary and it just doesn't feel like me. Some players sound great playing certain things and when I play them them they either sound too much like that other great player or I just don't feel it. Music has to be personal, it's OK to weed out stuff that you don't want to use, even when those 'weeds' are a rose garden to others.
The last idea is something very important I think. That is the idea that when you work on some new vocabulary or a new harmonic idea, that you fully understand how to use it and just as importantly, how to work it into your playing so it comes out naturally. Let's assume you are transcribing a lick on a CD you like. The first thing to do is to make sure you get the notes right. You might slow it down (there is plenty of software on the market that enables you to do this now). Whatever it takes, make sure the notes you are transcribing are correct. Then it is a matter of practicing that phrase so it feels good when you play it.
Now most folks stop right there and wonder why the phrase never shows up in their playing. The secret is to figure out exactly what chord (or group of chords) is being played underneath that line. After that, figure out what other chords could also be played underneath that phrase. Next, learn how to play that phrase everywhere on the fretboard, in different positions and keys. Finally and the most important, work the phrase into your own playing. To do this, start by improvising in any way that you normally might and focus on ways to connect that new phrase you want to play. The new phrase starts on a certain note and you will need to focus on that starting note in order to make a connection to it. Practice improvising freely and connecting to that new phrase, focusing on its starting note. Do this in all keys. Pretty soon you will know if the phrase is going to come out into your playing or not.
The art of practice is a huge subject and musicians have written complete books on it. But I do believe the real success starts with clear thinking. Make a decision to focus on something specific. Here is a more detailed roadmap to take on board:
1) Visualize. What do you want to work on - what do you want to achieve?
2) Plan. What exactly do you have to do in order to achieve that goal?
3) Action. Explore the subject in enough detail.
4) Surmount. Expect problems along the way - this is normal - don't give up! Just level the terrain.
5) Score - making sure that the subject is fully absorbed and part of your new musical make up, unless you decide otherwise.
Great players really got to grips with practicing in the early stages. It became fascinating to them and the results they saw fueled more practice. It's a self perpetuating phenomenon. By simply not practicing, the incentive to pick up your instrument diminishes over time. Then the excuses start to pour out in torrents. Then regrets. Then a very dusty guitar possibly in a dark attic somewhere.
Get practicing. Quality practice. Ask yourself questions. Look for the answers. Insist on results. This is the key to improving.
Chris Standring
Visualize goal => Surmount problems => Score
Sounds simple doesn't it? However, this clear thinking is all very well but it's usually the thought required before step 1 (visualization) that causes problems. Very often the goal does not manifest in mind because the process is so overwhelming.
And so it is with practicing the guitar, or any instrument for that matter. In more laymen's terms it's more like "What the hell should I be practicing?".
Practice is a constant struggle for many people. There is so much to learn and often so little time to allocate to it. For the jazz musician, clear thinking can be as simple as "I really like that Charlie Parker 2, 5 - how does he do that?". Then transcribing the line, practicing it in all keys and working the phrase into your own vocabulary. The 'score' as I like to call it is the ability to work it in to your own playing. I want to talk a little about that in a minute.
First, I think the most important thing to talk about is how to make best use of your practice time. There was a time when I started playing where I used to sit in my room and allocate 15 minutes to practicing scales and arpeggios, 10 minutes on technique exercises, 20 minutes on sight reading and 1/2 an hour on practicing my classical guitar repertoire. Why? because my teacher told me I had to. Years later once I started to study jazz guitar on my own I didn't feel the need to be practicing this way. It wasn't really benefiting me fully. I started to have my own goals in mind that I wanted to reach. I wanted to learn to play like one or two of my heroes, but more importantly because I liked what they played. Even more under the microscope were certain melodic lines and licks that tweaked my ear and fueled me to transcribe or simply copy the way they phrased or 'felt' a phrase. Once I clearly had in mind what I wanted to achieve I could go about achieving it - I knew what I had to do.
It's important to sit down to practice and be really clear about what you are going to do during that practice time. Now, one thing that helped me tremendously was when I made a huge commitment to scheduled practicing. In other words, deciding that every single day, no matter what, I would sit down and dedicate exactly one hour to working at this instrument. The amazing thing I found is that my regularly scheduled practice literally fueled my regularly scheduled practice! Does this make sense? What this means is that, the more I practiced, the more I wanted to practice. What started out as a committed hour turned into committed six hour sessions. Once I got into music college in London I remember waking up in the morning and practicing until I went to bed at night, remembering to eat on occasion. I was so fueled by the commitment to practice that the drive to play took over completely.
Regular practice clearly keeps your guitar technique on tip top form. There's nothing like picking up the guitar and playing a few short runs and being on top of your game, simply because you are playing regularly.
The other wonderful thing about committing to regular practice is that it actually helps you to think much more clearly, because you start to see results. Once you start to see results the concept of learning is much less overwhelming and you are able to make decisions about what you want to work on much more easily.
So do yourself a huge favor, first, make the decision to want to get much better at your guitar playing. Then once you have decided that, make a clear commitment right now and allocate a certain time of day to your guitar practice. If you only have limited time then give yourself what you know you can afford. Once you get your teeth into this system, if you don't have more time, trust me you will want to find more time. You might just want to wake up earlier. The drive to learn will take over.
Quality practice is key. I find now I am older that, if I let myself, I can get more and more distracted because there are so many other facets to my life. When I make the decision to focus 100% on my guitar problems and how I can surmount them, I find I can get completely absorbed for hours once I get going. Sometimes it helps to avoid those distractions from the outset. Maybe turn the phone off!
There is a huge difference between playing the guitar and practicing the guitar. I can play for days quite happily but am I learning anything new? Not unless I stop myself and work on my weaknesses. And there are plenty of those trust me! Many years ago I wanted to learn licks from my favorite players. I would hear a line and transcribe it. Many times I found that those musical phrases would not come out in my playing and I asked myself why. It dawned on me that there were three possible reasons:
1) I found the phrase too technically difficult to pull off.
2) It just didn't feel like it belonged in my vocabulary.
3) I hadn't fully explored the idea enough - perhaps I didn't fully understand how to use it in a practical sense.
Let's talk about these briefly.
Sometimes a horn line does not necessarily fit under the fingers on the guitar. The line might sound just terrific on a sax but if I can't play it on my guitar it's not going to have the same effect. In fact quite the opposite! Everyone is somewhat limited technically (although there are a few players that keep my head scratching I must admit!), every player has a ceiling in their own mind and I think it's perfectly OK to let some things go because they are just two gymnastic on the guitar. It's of course relative to each player's ability and comfort zone.
Occasionally I'll try and work something into my music vocabulary and it just doesn't feel like me. Some players sound great playing certain things and when I play them them they either sound too much like that other great player or I just don't feel it. Music has to be personal, it's OK to weed out stuff that you don't want to use, even when those 'weeds' are a rose garden to others.
The last idea is something very important I think. That is the idea that when you work on some new vocabulary or a new harmonic idea, that you fully understand how to use it and just as importantly, how to work it into your playing so it comes out naturally. Let's assume you are transcribing a lick on a CD you like. The first thing to do is to make sure you get the notes right. You might slow it down (there is plenty of software on the market that enables you to do this now). Whatever it takes, make sure the notes you are transcribing are correct. Then it is a matter of practicing that phrase so it feels good when you play it.
Now most folks stop right there and wonder why the phrase never shows up in their playing. The secret is to figure out exactly what chord (or group of chords) is being played underneath that line. After that, figure out what other chords could also be played underneath that phrase. Next, learn how to play that phrase everywhere on the fretboard, in different positions and keys. Finally and the most important, work the phrase into your own playing. To do this, start by improvising in any way that you normally might and focus on ways to connect that new phrase you want to play. The new phrase starts on a certain note and you will need to focus on that starting note in order to make a connection to it. Practice improvising freely and connecting to that new phrase, focusing on its starting note. Do this in all keys. Pretty soon you will know if the phrase is going to come out into your playing or not.
The art of practice is a huge subject and musicians have written complete books on it. But I do believe the real success starts with clear thinking. Make a decision to focus on something specific. Here is a more detailed roadmap to take on board:
1) Visualize. What do you want to work on - what do you want to achieve?
2) Plan. What exactly do you have to do in order to achieve that goal?
3) Action. Explore the subject in enough detail.
4) Surmount. Expect problems along the way - this is normal - don't give up! Just level the terrain.
5) Score - making sure that the subject is fully absorbed and part of your new musical make up, unless you decide otherwise.
Great players really got to grips with practicing in the early stages. It became fascinating to them and the results they saw fueled more practice. It's a self perpetuating phenomenon. By simply not practicing, the incentive to pick up your instrument diminishes over time. Then the excuses start to pour out in torrents. Then regrets. Then a very dusty guitar possibly in a dark attic somewhere.
Get practicing. Quality practice. Ask yourself questions. Look for the answers. Insist on results. This is the key to improving.
Chris Standring
Monday, January 23, 2012
Learn How to Easily Read Guitar Tabs
With all those technical quarter notes and treble clefs, who really has time to learn guitar chords and riffs without spending days, weeks or even months taking private music lessons? Music notation is intimidating, but there is a simple solution to the problem - guitar tablature. Known as tab to professional musicians, it is almost like a diagram that shows guitarists exactly where to place their fingers. Tab presents amateurs and professionals alike with an easy way to learn new guitar chords or even a complete song. Let's break down the basics.
Where to begin with guitar tabs
Think of it this way - if you can read a map, then you can also learn guitar chords from tab. Tab consists of six horizontal lines, representing the strings of the guitar (similar to a guitar chord chart, only sideways). The low E string is represented by the bottom line, and the other strings follow in succession the highest E. Players simply follow symbols on the lines indicating what string should be pushed, and in what location (fret). For example, if the number one appears on the top line, it indicates that a finger should be placed on the highest guitar string, in the first fret. When multiple numbers appear simultaneously, it indicates that certain strings should be pushed at the same time, in the fret indicated by the numbers provided.
Taking guitar tabs to the next musical level
Most tab will indicate the chord symbol above the lines and fret numbers, so that more advanced players can read along with what they already know. Advanced tab notation may consist of complex instructions from the author. For example, sometimes a guitarist will slap their finger down forcefully on top of a string, creating a different sound. This technique, known as a hammer-on, is often indicated by appearance of the letter h in tab.
Unfortunately, tab does not have a set of standardized rules, and there are many variations. There is also little direction for rhythm and timing, but it will work well for musicians who have a good ear, and a preexisting idea about how something is supposed to sound before they play it. It is best to start by picking out a well known, simple folk melody that is easily identifiable, and then move on to more complex patterns including chords and riffs.
Guitar tabs for every musician
Tab is not only an excellent way to learn new guitar chords; it is also used to notate scales, riffs, or entire songs. Guitarists who wish to try their hand with classical pieces, but do not read standard notation can experience the joy of tackling and mastering challenging pieces. Many publishers create albums of classical pieces which include standard notation, chords, and tab. Every genre is available in tab on the Internet or for purchase in a music store.
One of the greatest aspects of tab is that once you learn how to read it, the notation can be applied to many stringed instruments like the mandolin or bass. The possibilities for a blossoming musician are endless with this simple system. From chord charts to power ballads and sonatas, tab will expand your repertoire to include an unlimited number of pieces.
Jay Field
Where to begin with guitar tabs
Think of it this way - if you can read a map, then you can also learn guitar chords from tab. Tab consists of six horizontal lines, representing the strings of the guitar (similar to a guitar chord chart, only sideways). The low E string is represented by the bottom line, and the other strings follow in succession the highest E. Players simply follow symbols on the lines indicating what string should be pushed, and in what location (fret). For example, if the number one appears on the top line, it indicates that a finger should be placed on the highest guitar string, in the first fret. When multiple numbers appear simultaneously, it indicates that certain strings should be pushed at the same time, in the fret indicated by the numbers provided.
Taking guitar tabs to the next musical level
Most tab will indicate the chord symbol above the lines and fret numbers, so that more advanced players can read along with what they already know. Advanced tab notation may consist of complex instructions from the author. For example, sometimes a guitarist will slap their finger down forcefully on top of a string, creating a different sound. This technique, known as a hammer-on, is often indicated by appearance of the letter h in tab.
Unfortunately, tab does not have a set of standardized rules, and there are many variations. There is also little direction for rhythm and timing, but it will work well for musicians who have a good ear, and a preexisting idea about how something is supposed to sound before they play it. It is best to start by picking out a well known, simple folk melody that is easily identifiable, and then move on to more complex patterns including chords and riffs.
Guitar tabs for every musician
Tab is not only an excellent way to learn new guitar chords; it is also used to notate scales, riffs, or entire songs. Guitarists who wish to try their hand with classical pieces, but do not read standard notation can experience the joy of tackling and mastering challenging pieces. Many publishers create albums of classical pieces which include standard notation, chords, and tab. Every genre is available in tab on the Internet or for purchase in a music store.
One of the greatest aspects of tab is that once you learn how to read it, the notation can be applied to many stringed instruments like the mandolin or bass. The possibilities for a blossoming musician are endless with this simple system. From chord charts to power ballads and sonatas, tab will expand your repertoire to include an unlimited number of pieces.
Jay Field
Friday, January 20, 2012
Playing Guitar - A Reflection Of Your Soul
The guitar, be it electric or acoustic, is the most versatile of instruments. You can strum a few chords, adopt a highly disciplined classical guitar technique, or play sophisticated jazz chord and scale progressions. The choice is yours. Whatever your bag, the journey to achieving your goal and the fundamental sound is the real buzz.
It's a funny thing, but music is unlike most other activities. Take football for example, there is no escaping the fact that if you want to play pro-football you had better be good and there are no short cuts. Technique and fitness is an absolute must. Musical expression is different and shares may similarities with the spoken word. A few well chosen words can be far more effective than a tidal wave of sophisticated verbal statement. So it is with playing the guitar.
Arguably, the most successful singer songwriter who ever lived is Bob Dylan, whose delivery is based essentially on guitar sounds combined with an awesome skill as a lyricist. His musical structure is generally simple - but the simplicity of the music combined with great hook lines and lyrics is bang on the nail as a musical statement.
So the fact to take on board is that technical ability has little to do with musical talent. If your groove is a simple country, reggae or blues feel you can be damn good and highly relevant without being a technical genius. The simple player who plays with feel and taste is a musician, the same as a highly accomplished classical or jazz guitarist. It is amazing how formally trained musicians, i.e. classical, or other technical jazz players, are usually the most ineffective exponents of rock, country, pop or blues music.
Playing guitar is essentially an attitude, combined with feel and the necessary musical knowledge to express what you wish to play. Don't be fooled into following the path of so many potentially great musicians and be fazed by more accomplished players. When you tune in to the simplicity of a player such as the great blues guitarist B. B. King, you can't help but be affected by his economy of notes, played in such a meaningful, soulful musical context.
Playing guitar has an infinite number of possibilities. It is the most adaptable, useable instrument, and it's the journey to your goal that's the fun part. You will never stop learning guitar. Each time you pick it up you will discover something new and it needn't be hard to play to be relevant!
Arthor Pens
It's a funny thing, but music is unlike most other activities. Take football for example, there is no escaping the fact that if you want to play pro-football you had better be good and there are no short cuts. Technique and fitness is an absolute must. Musical expression is different and shares may similarities with the spoken word. A few well chosen words can be far more effective than a tidal wave of sophisticated verbal statement. So it is with playing the guitar.
Arguably, the most successful singer songwriter who ever lived is Bob Dylan, whose delivery is based essentially on guitar sounds combined with an awesome skill as a lyricist. His musical structure is generally simple - but the simplicity of the music combined with great hook lines and lyrics is bang on the nail as a musical statement.
So the fact to take on board is that technical ability has little to do with musical talent. If your groove is a simple country, reggae or blues feel you can be damn good and highly relevant without being a technical genius. The simple player who plays with feel and taste is a musician, the same as a highly accomplished classical or jazz guitarist. It is amazing how formally trained musicians, i.e. classical, or other technical jazz players, are usually the most ineffective exponents of rock, country, pop or blues music.
Playing guitar is essentially an attitude, combined with feel and the necessary musical knowledge to express what you wish to play. Don't be fooled into following the path of so many potentially great musicians and be fazed by more accomplished players. When you tune in to the simplicity of a player such as the great blues guitarist B. B. King, you can't help but be affected by his economy of notes, played in such a meaningful, soulful musical context.
Playing guitar has an infinite number of possibilities. It is the most adaptable, useable instrument, and it's the journey to your goal that's the fun part. You will never stop learning guitar. Each time you pick it up you will discover something new and it needn't be hard to play to be relevant!
Arthor Pens
Thursday, January 19, 2012
The 4-Letter Acronym That Could Kill The New Music Industry
As some of you may already know, there are two bills bouncing around Capitol Hill called PIPA and SOPA that are supposed to stop websites and internet services from illegally giving away other people’s music (this also extends to film, books, software, video games etc., but I am only going to focus on the music side of things).
I adamantly believe that when an artist creates and records a song, the artist, and only the artist, should have the right to do with it what they want. If they want to sell it, they should sell it. If they want to give it away, it’s theirs to give away. No one else has the right to make those decisions for them.
As noble as this premise may sound, the reality is that the world is full of good people, bad people, and uneducated people. And, whether we like it or not, all these people have access to technology that makes a lot of my beliefs moot–what good is a belief or law if it is simply unenforceable.
To that end, Congress got lobbied hard by the RIAA to write a new law that allows its label members (note: the RIAA is the trade association for the major labels) to have a new legal weapon to go after “rogue” websites and services that give the middle finger to copyright by allowing people to get music for free from artists that do not want to give it away for free.
The problem is that the bills lobbied for were done so by the RIAA, the organization that no longer represents the music industry. The majority of today’s music is being created, distributed, bought, streamed and shared from artists outside of the RIAA label member system. The RIAA and its members are no longer the voice of the industry; they are the voice of what was, and an ever-shrinking part of what is. Congress needs to wake up to this fact.
Or said more eloquently by the Deputy Director of Future Of Music Coalition Casey Rae Hunter:
“Artists have every right to be wary when powerful entertainment conglomerates push for policies that could undermine free expression, all the while claiming to speak for creators.”
The second problem is that the bill gives the old school players the power to not only protect their copyrights (which I support), but also to kill the new music industry.
Simply stated, if the SOPA bill was signed into law in its original form, TuneCore could have been threatened to be turned off, and thus cut off the choice, freedom, and future revenue from the hundreds of thousands of TuneCore Artists that have earned over a quarter billion dollars. Fortunately, TuneCore would be able to handle the threat, but others with fewer resources may not have the same outcome (not to mention why should TuneCore have to spend its time and money to deal with another entity making frivolous claims).
And before you think I am being hyperbolic, here is a perfect example; the US is already seizing web properties through the Department of Homeland Security’s Immigrations and Customs Enforcement (ICE) division. One of their targets was a hip-hop blog called Djaz1.com which they literally shut down, claiming the hip-hop blog was illegally distributing songs it did not have the right to distribute. That’s right, the government just grabbed the domain and shut the thing down.
Turns out the government had it all wrong – and a year later they finally relented, but not before irreparable damage was done.
The article on TechDirt titled: “Feds Falsely Censor Popular Blog For Over A Year, Deny All Due Process, Hide All Details…” provides a great play by play. The author summarizes it well when he says:
The Dajaz1 case became particularly interesting to us, after we saw evidence showing that the songs that ICE used in its affidavit as “evidence” of criminal copyright infringement were songs sent by representatives of the copyright holder with the request that the site publicize the works — in one case, even coming from a VP at a major music label. Even worse, about the only evidence that ICE had that these songs were infringing was the word of the “VP of Anti-Piracy Legal Affairs for the RIAA,” Carlos Linares, who was simply not in a position to know if the songs were infringing or authorized. In fact, one of the songs involved an artist not even represented by an RIAA label, and Linares clearly had absolutely no right to speak on behalf of that artist.
If this doesn’t scare the crap out of you, it should. If the original versions of the SOPA or PIPA bills passed, TuneCore, just like Djaz1.com could have been targeted.
The concept behind the bill is good—protect copyright—but the execution stinks. Congressman and Senators don’t know that the power has shifted, and they need to hear from you.
Seriously, they need to hear from you.
Take action, get involved. Call your Senator and/or Congressman and tell them what you think and why.
Or go here to learn and do more.
By Jeff Price
I adamantly believe that when an artist creates and records a song, the artist, and only the artist, should have the right to do with it what they want. If they want to sell it, they should sell it. If they want to give it away, it’s theirs to give away. No one else has the right to make those decisions for them.
As noble as this premise may sound, the reality is that the world is full of good people, bad people, and uneducated people. And, whether we like it or not, all these people have access to technology that makes a lot of my beliefs moot–what good is a belief or law if it is simply unenforceable.
To that end, Congress got lobbied hard by the RIAA to write a new law that allows its label members (note: the RIAA is the trade association for the major labels) to have a new legal weapon to go after “rogue” websites and services that give the middle finger to copyright by allowing people to get music for free from artists that do not want to give it away for free.
The problem is that the bills lobbied for were done so by the RIAA, the organization that no longer represents the music industry. The majority of today’s music is being created, distributed, bought, streamed and shared from artists outside of the RIAA label member system. The RIAA and its members are no longer the voice of the industry; they are the voice of what was, and an ever-shrinking part of what is. Congress needs to wake up to this fact.
Or said more eloquently by the Deputy Director of Future Of Music Coalition Casey Rae Hunter:
“Artists have every right to be wary when powerful entertainment conglomerates push for policies that could undermine free expression, all the while claiming to speak for creators.”
The second problem is that the bill gives the old school players the power to not only protect their copyrights (which I support), but also to kill the new music industry.
Simply stated, if the SOPA bill was signed into law in its original form, TuneCore could have been threatened to be turned off, and thus cut off the choice, freedom, and future revenue from the hundreds of thousands of TuneCore Artists that have earned over a quarter billion dollars. Fortunately, TuneCore would be able to handle the threat, but others with fewer resources may not have the same outcome (not to mention why should TuneCore have to spend its time and money to deal with another entity making frivolous claims).
And before you think I am being hyperbolic, here is a perfect example; the US is already seizing web properties through the Department of Homeland Security’s Immigrations and Customs Enforcement (ICE) division. One of their targets was a hip-hop blog called Djaz1.com which they literally shut down, claiming the hip-hop blog was illegally distributing songs it did not have the right to distribute. That’s right, the government just grabbed the domain and shut the thing down.
Turns out the government had it all wrong – and a year later they finally relented, but not before irreparable damage was done.
The article on TechDirt titled: “Feds Falsely Censor Popular Blog For Over A Year, Deny All Due Process, Hide All Details…” provides a great play by play. The author summarizes it well when he says:
The Dajaz1 case became particularly interesting to us, after we saw evidence showing that the songs that ICE used in its affidavit as “evidence” of criminal copyright infringement were songs sent by representatives of the copyright holder with the request that the site publicize the works — in one case, even coming from a VP at a major music label. Even worse, about the only evidence that ICE had that these songs were infringing was the word of the “VP of Anti-Piracy Legal Affairs for the RIAA,” Carlos Linares, who was simply not in a position to know if the songs were infringing or authorized. In fact, one of the songs involved an artist not even represented by an RIAA label, and Linares clearly had absolutely no right to speak on behalf of that artist.
If this doesn’t scare the crap out of you, it should. If the original versions of the SOPA or PIPA bills passed, TuneCore, just like Djaz1.com could have been targeted.
The concept behind the bill is good—protect copyright—but the execution stinks. Congressman and Senators don’t know that the power has shifted, and they need to hear from you.
Seriously, they need to hear from you.
Take action, get involved. Call your Senator and/or Congressman and tell them what you think and why.
Or go here to learn and do more.
By Jeff Price
Free Ringtones
Text JIMDUFF to 69937 (MYXER) to get Jim Duff & the Necessities' content directly from your phone. Download some FREE ringtones.
Do You Want Free Rhapsody Downloads?
Free music is a big deal in this world and more people are finding that they are working the process out to make a change in the way that things are being done. When you are looking to get some free music then you have to be sure that you are getting it from the right place. The last thing that you want is to go through a huge process to get the free music just to find out that you are getting nothing more than a bunch of Indie bands that are covering really old tunes and so on. This will make it impossible for you to get what you are looking for.
Through it all you can see that you are working through the deals in the right way when you investigate the place that is giving away the free music downloads. In this case we are talking about free Rhapsody downloads. This is something that is becoming more and more popular as they are trying to attract some customers. Well those customers are going to be disappointed when they get there because of the fact that most of the songs that the place has are all indie music and cover tunes by bands that no one has ever heard of.
The idea behind the free Rhapsody downloads is to get the customers in there to find the indie bands that have done all of their cover tunes and so on. When you start looking through the catalog of tunes you will find that they have cover tunes of nearly any song that you can dream of. This is where the free Rhapsody downloads come into play. They are willing to give them away because they want to help get the small bands developed and found by the people of the world.
You can see that free Rhapsody downloads is a great thing for those people that are looking to find the newer bands that they have not heard. Well you can see that you are going to have the best time with this company. However, there are a good many people that are not even close to being happy with it. They are looking to have a chance in this process and you can see that they want something more.
So if you are looking for the free Rhapsody downloads then you should think about the fact that they are all indie music and they have nothing to do with the original artists out there in the world at this point.
Hilary Mujikwa
Through it all you can see that you are working through the deals in the right way when you investigate the place that is giving away the free music downloads. In this case we are talking about free Rhapsody downloads. This is something that is becoming more and more popular as they are trying to attract some customers. Well those customers are going to be disappointed when they get there because of the fact that most of the songs that the place has are all indie music and cover tunes by bands that no one has ever heard of.
The idea behind the free Rhapsody downloads is to get the customers in there to find the indie bands that have done all of their cover tunes and so on. When you start looking through the catalog of tunes you will find that they have cover tunes of nearly any song that you can dream of. This is where the free Rhapsody downloads come into play. They are willing to give them away because they want to help get the small bands developed and found by the people of the world.
You can see that free Rhapsody downloads is a great thing for those people that are looking to find the newer bands that they have not heard. Well you can see that you are going to have the best time with this company. However, there are a good many people that are not even close to being happy with it. They are looking to have a chance in this process and you can see that they want something more.
So if you are looking for the free Rhapsody downloads then you should think about the fact that they are all indie music and they have nothing to do with the original artists out there in the world at this point.
Hilary Mujikwa
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Additionally, for a limited time, Guitar Center has extended the Free Shipping offer. Only $49 Minimum Purchase required when shipping to address of your choice, no minimum when shipping to store! Please post the link below to communicate this feature.
Create Your Own Clearance #2!
$15 off purchases of $75; $50 off purchases of $299; $150 off purchases of $799! Use Coupon Code: CYC150. Expires 1/22/12.
12% Off!
Save 12% off online orders of $99 or more when you use coupon code SAVE2012. Valid 01/01/12 - 01/31/12.
FREE SHIPPING!
Free Shipping! No minimum when shipping to store, $49 minimum when shipping to address of your choice!
INTERNATIONAL SHIPPING
Guitar Center Now Ships Internationally!
Wednesday, January 18, 2012
Think and Play Better by Using Your Non-Dominant Hand More Often
Hello, all! In my crusade to blog about things guitarists can benefit from (things that have very little to do with actually playing guitar), I'd like to discuss something that comes up a lot when we are in our practice rooms: dexterity -- dominance or cross-dominance.
Think and Play Better by Using Your Non-Dominant Hand More Often
Think and Play Better by Using Your Non-Dominant Hand More Often
Learn Guitar
If you are similar to many first timers coming to understand how to learn guitar playing, you are likely sitting in front of your computer screen right now with your guitar sitting next to you dreaming of how you are going to impress your friends with something you are going to learn.
Firstly you need to realize that the guitar is a very unque instrument and perhaps you can't make it sound good just yet, if you stick with it though the rewards that come with being able to play well are very much worth the time it took you to learn. You will no doubt find that learning the guitar will give you many hours of enjoyment.
How To Learn Guitar Techniques
One of the many challenges tha you will face is trying to figure out how to learn guitar techniques, with so many teachers and so many different techniques you very well may have to do what you feel is best for you. You might go as far as to modify the technique to make it doable for you.
It may sound strange talking about comfort and ease learning guitar playing techniques, but they do play a huge part with your picking and strumming that new guitar. As you will soon begin to understand.
Not everyones fingers are the same lengths and what works for the person with short, stubby fingers doesn't work for the guitar player who has long, slender fingers. You will notice this once you try to play a few chords and cry out, 'this isn't natural! I can't make my fingers bend that way!" This reaction is typical and takes place with most of us trying to understand how to learn play guitar.
Don't Stop Trying
Hang in there and keep trying to learn guitar because it is a long process and to be truthful, the best advice that any guitar teacher can give is the age-old line of practice, practice,and more practice!
Only practice in playing your guitar is going to improve what you have learned so far.If you aren't willing to dedicate a lot of practice time, more than likley you are going to throw in the towel because you will not be progressing fast enough and your fingertips are too sore to continue.
Tom Johnson
Firstly you need to realize that the guitar is a very unque instrument and perhaps you can't make it sound good just yet, if you stick with it though the rewards that come with being able to play well are very much worth the time it took you to learn. You will no doubt find that learning the guitar will give you many hours of enjoyment.
How To Learn Guitar Techniques
One of the many challenges tha you will face is trying to figure out how to learn guitar techniques, with so many teachers and so many different techniques you very well may have to do what you feel is best for you. You might go as far as to modify the technique to make it doable for you.
It may sound strange talking about comfort and ease learning guitar playing techniques, but they do play a huge part with your picking and strumming that new guitar. As you will soon begin to understand.
Not everyones fingers are the same lengths and what works for the person with short, stubby fingers doesn't work for the guitar player who has long, slender fingers. You will notice this once you try to play a few chords and cry out, 'this isn't natural! I can't make my fingers bend that way!" This reaction is typical and takes place with most of us trying to understand how to learn play guitar.
Don't Stop Trying
Hang in there and keep trying to learn guitar because it is a long process and to be truthful, the best advice that any guitar teacher can give is the age-old line of practice, practice,and more practice!
Only practice in playing your guitar is going to improve what you have learned so far.If you aren't willing to dedicate a lot of practice time, more than likley you are going to throw in the towel because you will not be progressing fast enough and your fingertips are too sore to continue.
Tom Johnson
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Free Fender DPT100 Pedal Tuner MSP $129.99 on all Fender Standard Basses!
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Free Fender DPT100 Pedal Tuner MSP $129.99 on all Fender Standard Basses!
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Over 53,000 Products Ship Free Every Day at MusiciansFriend.com!
Tuesday, January 17, 2012
Learning To Play Guitar By Ear
You have a huge advantage if you are a guitar player who can immediately play a new tune you have just heard. You can improvise in your performance and promptly learn new music. Being able to play guitar by ear will not just make you the soul of a party. You also gain professional standing as a competent musician.
You have a lot of choices if you want to learn how to play the guitar. The traditional method is to take private lessons from an expert guitar teacher. You can also teach yourself from a book, an instructional video or DVD, or online from a website. Multimedia guitar lessons on the internet have become a leading choice. No matter how you learn how to play the guitar, you will soon reach to a point when you will be keen to learn how to play a familiar song or a new one you heard on the movies. Maybe you want to learn how to play your favorite song from your favorite CD by your favorite band. What about your favorite television theme song?
Whatever song it is, one way to learn the tune is to purchase the sheet music or score and learn how to play it from following the written music notes. Just getting the score for a new song can be difficult, and there is usually a cost and a delay before you can even start to learn. An alternative more flexible way to learn the song you want, is to learn to play the guitar by ear. If you learn guitar by ear, you will be able to pick up just about any song you want just by listening to the CD. This will become a very useful skill, especially if you want to have a career in a music related field. You could take the following two steps if you want to learn guitar by ear.
How To Learn Guitar By Ear
If you want to learn guitar by ear, here are a few tips that will help. The first thing you will need to do so that you can learn guitar by ear is to train your ear to listen. Contrary to popular belief, you do not need to be born with an ear for music in order to learn guitar by ear. You can, in fact, train your ear to pick up the guitar chords of the music. The main thing you will learn to pick up just by listening to the music is changes in the chords, as well as to identify the differences between chords. It is important to be able to recognize the difference between major and minor chords.
The next step when you learn guitar by ear is to develop the skill to tune your guitar to match the song. This may sound easy enough, but this is an art you must learn. You need to tune your guitar so that it is in tune with the song you want to learn. Sometimes this is best accomplished by tuning individual strings to be in tune with individual notes.
If you can follow these two basic steps, you are well on your way to learn guitar by ear.
Alastair McLea
You have a lot of choices if you want to learn how to play the guitar. The traditional method is to take private lessons from an expert guitar teacher. You can also teach yourself from a book, an instructional video or DVD, or online from a website. Multimedia guitar lessons on the internet have become a leading choice. No matter how you learn how to play the guitar, you will soon reach to a point when you will be keen to learn how to play a familiar song or a new one you heard on the movies. Maybe you want to learn how to play your favorite song from your favorite CD by your favorite band. What about your favorite television theme song?
Whatever song it is, one way to learn the tune is to purchase the sheet music or score and learn how to play it from following the written music notes. Just getting the score for a new song can be difficult, and there is usually a cost and a delay before you can even start to learn. An alternative more flexible way to learn the song you want, is to learn to play the guitar by ear. If you learn guitar by ear, you will be able to pick up just about any song you want just by listening to the CD. This will become a very useful skill, especially if you want to have a career in a music related field. You could take the following two steps if you want to learn guitar by ear.
How To Learn Guitar By Ear
If you want to learn guitar by ear, here are a few tips that will help. The first thing you will need to do so that you can learn guitar by ear is to train your ear to listen. Contrary to popular belief, you do not need to be born with an ear for music in order to learn guitar by ear. You can, in fact, train your ear to pick up the guitar chords of the music. The main thing you will learn to pick up just by listening to the music is changes in the chords, as well as to identify the differences between chords. It is important to be able to recognize the difference between major and minor chords.
The next step when you learn guitar by ear is to develop the skill to tune your guitar to match the song. This may sound easy enough, but this is an art you must learn. You need to tune your guitar so that it is in tune with the song you want to learn. Sometimes this is best accomplished by tuning individual strings to be in tune with individual notes.
If you can follow these two basic steps, you are well on your way to learn guitar by ear.
Alastair McLea
Download MP3 Music From Legal Sources
You can see that many of the parts of the internet are considered to be dark alleys. Like the towns and countries of the world there is much in the way of bad parts of the internet. You will find that most often these places are where the illegal happens and the last thing that you want to do is get caught using the places where illegal activities take place. If you are caught there then you have to be sure that you getting some legal help because you could be charged with several crimes that are able to land you in jail for a good long time.
More often then not these illegal places are working with things like download MP3 music. They know that people will come and do what they want with the idea of music. So they are going to post as much as they can along the way but you have to be sure that you are not taking part in this. Legal download MP3 music sites do exist out there and you do not want to get into trouble. The fact of the matter is that many people are doing this and things are starting to go bad for them.
There is also the idea of the viruses. When you go out to download MP3 music then you have to be careful about where you are finding it. The fact is that the illegal sites are most likely going to have files that have viruses and so on. They will also put spyware and adware on their files. When you download them then you are going to be infected. This is part of the process where they make money and you have to be sure that you are not getting taken for this system.
The legal sites are not going to have any of this kind of thing. They know that people are going to come to download MP3 music and they want it to go smoothly without worry and if they end up getting a virus then they are going to leave in a big hurry. Of course that is not going to stop some people from still trying to get to the illegal sites. However, there are many more enforcement branches out there that are working to get to the people that do the illegal downloads.
All in all it is best to download MP3 music from the legal sources to protect yourself legally and protect your computer and vital information from the hackers.
Hilary Mujikwa
More often then not these illegal places are working with things like download MP3 music. They know that people will come and do what they want with the idea of music. So they are going to post as much as they can along the way but you have to be sure that you are not taking part in this. Legal download MP3 music sites do exist out there and you do not want to get into trouble. The fact of the matter is that many people are doing this and things are starting to go bad for them.
There is also the idea of the viruses. When you go out to download MP3 music then you have to be careful about where you are finding it. The fact is that the illegal sites are most likely going to have files that have viruses and so on. They will also put spyware and adware on their files. When you download them then you are going to be infected. This is part of the process where they make money and you have to be sure that you are not getting taken for this system.
The legal sites are not going to have any of this kind of thing. They know that people are going to come to download MP3 music and they want it to go smoothly without worry and if they end up getting a virus then they are going to leave in a big hurry. Of course that is not going to stop some people from still trying to get to the illegal sites. However, there are many more enforcement branches out there that are working to get to the people that do the illegal downloads.
All in all it is best to download MP3 music from the legal sources to protect yourself legally and protect your computer and vital information from the hackers.
Hilary Mujikwa
Monday, January 16, 2012
Buried Alive in the Blues
"Buried Alive in the Blues" tonight at 9 eastern USA on WPBK-FM www.wpbkfm.com 102.9fm & 105.9fm
Unlimited MP3 Downloads Changing Digital Music Concepts
The idea of getting music for the MP3 player that you have is starting to get much easier. We have seen in the past where people have had to go to great lengths to make sure that they are getting the songs that they want. Well that is not always the way it will be for you when you are willing to get a little information under your belt. The changes that have been made in recent years are really helping matters and as such you have to see that you are getting more from the entire process with just a little bit of help.
Unlimited MP3 downloads are the wave of the future for the music lovers out there. When we are looking to this system we can see that we are getting all that we can from the system. When you have unlimited MP3 downloads then you are able to get all the songs that you want without having to spend a fortune on the individual tracks. This is something that is cost effective for those that have a lot of different tastes in music and want to have something that is mixed up on their players.
Unlimited MP3 downloads are not hard to come by anymore. Most of the companies that offer music downloads are doing the unlimited idea per membership fee. This means that you can download as much as you want as long as you have paid the monthly membership fee. Most often the unlimited MP3 downloads like this are going to be far more impressive then the pay per track listings. This is due to the fact that you can get a lot more for the money when you are using the unlimited MP3 downloads section.
You need to be sure that you are getting the best of the best in the pricing department here though. Some of the companies list unlimited MP3 downloads but then you visit the site and find out that you have to have the highest membership level if you are planning on doing the unlimited downloads. You do not want to get stuck with a plan that you cannot afford.
Always check the terms and conditions for the unlimited MP3 downloads as well. You do not want to be stuck with some really off the wall terms that you cannot live with .The companies on the web are required to have clear terms and conditions posted if they charge for their service.
Hilary Mujikwa
Unlimited MP3 downloads are the wave of the future for the music lovers out there. When we are looking to this system we can see that we are getting all that we can from the system. When you have unlimited MP3 downloads then you are able to get all the songs that you want without having to spend a fortune on the individual tracks. This is something that is cost effective for those that have a lot of different tastes in music and want to have something that is mixed up on their players.
Unlimited MP3 downloads are not hard to come by anymore. Most of the companies that offer music downloads are doing the unlimited idea per membership fee. This means that you can download as much as you want as long as you have paid the monthly membership fee. Most often the unlimited MP3 downloads like this are going to be far more impressive then the pay per track listings. This is due to the fact that you can get a lot more for the money when you are using the unlimited MP3 downloads section.
You need to be sure that you are getting the best of the best in the pricing department here though. Some of the companies list unlimited MP3 downloads but then you visit the site and find out that you have to have the highest membership level if you are planning on doing the unlimited downloads. You do not want to get stuck with a plan that you cannot afford.
Always check the terms and conditions for the unlimited MP3 downloads as well. You do not want to be stuck with some really off the wall terms that you cannot live with .The companies on the web are required to have clear terms and conditions posted if they charge for their service.
Hilary Mujikwa
Sunday, January 15, 2012
trombone.alex: "Suburbia" - Trombone Shorty
trombone.alex: "Suburbia" - Trombone Shorty: "Suburbia" (PDF) from the Trombone Shorty album, Backatown . The great thing about this album is that there are direct references to the...
How To Seriously Improve Your Guitar Playing
There are bedroom guitar players and there are live performers. There doesn't seem to be anything in between. The minute you walk on to a stage (whether you get paid or not) you are a professional. You are in the business of entertaining and displaying your wares, so to speak. And if you really want to seriously get your guitar playing together it is the latter you need to strive for in my opinion. I am not suggesting you 'turn pro', you know attempt to do this thing full time, that is a whole other set of issues itself, but in order for your guitar playing to really get to where it needs to get to, you simply have to play in a live performance setting, preferably in a public forum. Ideally with other musicians you can interact with.
You can spend a lifetime reading books, studying your musical heroes, playing along to music minus one records, but none of this will ultimately give you the full picture. In order to be a true well rounded musician, you have to have real world experience. I'll try to explain why...
When I was just starting out in the profession as a fresh untainted fish in the vast sea of the London music business, I had to get myself known in order to find work. So I set about to answer ads in music papers. Now, after studying classical guitar at the London College of Music, I came out of a 3 year course with a facility to sight-read. Or should I say the beginnings of sight-reading ability, as jazz and pop music written on paper is a whole other world, as I was about to find out. I remember having to sight-read a piece of jazz music with a dance band at an audition. There were about 10 guitar players going for this gig. I must have been about 23 years old. The musical director said "I kind of like what you did Chris but you didn't really cut it mate! There are other guys here that have what I need". Ouch!!! That hurt. But I was young. It was actually good to hear. So I went back to my music library, pulled out a ton of violin music and practiced reading in different positions on the fretboard. Not to mention learning how to grab chords on sight in different fret positions.
Another time, I went down to audition for the National Youth Jazz Orchestra, a band known to be extremely taxing musically, and a training ground for London session players. I sat in the guitar chair with my Gibson 335 on my lap, ready to play. The director called a chart, I placed it on the stand and he counted it off. He counted it off around 250 BPM. Frighteningly fast! Well, it was all I could do to get my eyes to follow the music, measure by measure, much less play the music that was written within those bars! I didn't even touch my guitar that rehearsal. I simply placed it back in its case and went home. Ouch again! That was a hard knock! I gave myself exactly a year to get it together. I went back to my practicing with a vengeance. A year later I joined the band for about a year and a half.
Another for instance; about 13 years ago I was playing with a jazz singer in a trio situation with an eminent LA drummer and acoustic bassist. I hadn't done much trio playing, if any at the time, but I was looking forward to playing. At the end of one of the songs I completely messed up the ending. In fact I would go further, I hadn't really worked on any song endings. Didn't really have that together at all. The drummer scowled at me, particularly because I threw him off, as I was not definite in how I wanted to end the song (because I didn't know myself!). He was furious when I made him look bad. He said to me "Dude, you've got to dictate these endings, you're the one playing the chords!". He was right. I was crushed! I went home, sulked for a week (maybe two). Then I went back to my practice room. I was not to be defeated.....
These are the hard knocks you simply have to get in your music life to dictate what you need to work on to get your total musicianship together! You just cannot expect to perfect your instrument without real world experience. You can't get that experience any other way. I can recount tons of times that this sort of thing has happened, and there are still things today that I learn on a weekly basis at live gigs, telling me what I need to work on. The difference today of course is that it's me who is being critical of myself, rather than other bandmates and musical directors telling me I suck!
And the neccessity of performing live is true of any musical genre you choose. Interacting with other musicians is an art in itself. I know technically great players who can't play with others. Does this make them great musicians? I'm not so sure. But they sure can get round the instrument. But if they were to do any amount of live ensemble playing they would have one or two knocks coming, and if they are smart they would work on those issues. Otherwise it's back to solo guitar playing in the back of their local restaurant. (A noble and valid thing to do, let me also say).
There are many issues that come up in a real live playing situation that just don't come up in a bedroom practice session. Time, time-feel, supportive ensemble playing, projection of sound and tone, and most of all a sense of energy and commitment within a performance that is extremely different, and is very difficult to even put into words frankly. You just need to experience it, and that experience will improve your playing tenfold.
So get out there and do some gigs. I know it is hard to make that happen sometimes, but if you cannot make it happen then start a rehearsal band with a few others and play through repertoire. Get together with other guitarists and play through tunes, take solos and take turns being supportive. As you improve, take the plunge and take yourself to the next level.
And by recommending you do all this I am by no means suggesting you put away your books, records and Jamie Abersold play alongs. Absolutely not. This is something of course you should continue to do. But it is only 50% of your musical makeup. I promise you, by performing live you will improve yourself as a guitar player, but most of all as a musician, and at the end of the day this is what we all need to aspire to.
Go to it and have fun!
Chris Standring
You can spend a lifetime reading books, studying your musical heroes, playing along to music minus one records, but none of this will ultimately give you the full picture. In order to be a true well rounded musician, you have to have real world experience. I'll try to explain why...
When I was just starting out in the profession as a fresh untainted fish in the vast sea of the London music business, I had to get myself known in order to find work. So I set about to answer ads in music papers. Now, after studying classical guitar at the London College of Music, I came out of a 3 year course with a facility to sight-read. Or should I say the beginnings of sight-reading ability, as jazz and pop music written on paper is a whole other world, as I was about to find out. I remember having to sight-read a piece of jazz music with a dance band at an audition. There were about 10 guitar players going for this gig. I must have been about 23 years old. The musical director said "I kind of like what you did Chris but you didn't really cut it mate! There are other guys here that have what I need". Ouch!!! That hurt. But I was young. It was actually good to hear. So I went back to my music library, pulled out a ton of violin music and practiced reading in different positions on the fretboard. Not to mention learning how to grab chords on sight in different fret positions.
Another time, I went down to audition for the National Youth Jazz Orchestra, a band known to be extremely taxing musically, and a training ground for London session players. I sat in the guitar chair with my Gibson 335 on my lap, ready to play. The director called a chart, I placed it on the stand and he counted it off. He counted it off around 250 BPM. Frighteningly fast! Well, it was all I could do to get my eyes to follow the music, measure by measure, much less play the music that was written within those bars! I didn't even touch my guitar that rehearsal. I simply placed it back in its case and went home. Ouch again! That was a hard knock! I gave myself exactly a year to get it together. I went back to my practicing with a vengeance. A year later I joined the band for about a year and a half.
Another for instance; about 13 years ago I was playing with a jazz singer in a trio situation with an eminent LA drummer and acoustic bassist. I hadn't done much trio playing, if any at the time, but I was looking forward to playing. At the end of one of the songs I completely messed up the ending. In fact I would go further, I hadn't really worked on any song endings. Didn't really have that together at all. The drummer scowled at me, particularly because I threw him off, as I was not definite in how I wanted to end the song (because I didn't know myself!). He was furious when I made him look bad. He said to me "Dude, you've got to dictate these endings, you're the one playing the chords!". He was right. I was crushed! I went home, sulked for a week (maybe two). Then I went back to my practice room. I was not to be defeated.....
These are the hard knocks you simply have to get in your music life to dictate what you need to work on to get your total musicianship together! You just cannot expect to perfect your instrument without real world experience. You can't get that experience any other way. I can recount tons of times that this sort of thing has happened, and there are still things today that I learn on a weekly basis at live gigs, telling me what I need to work on. The difference today of course is that it's me who is being critical of myself, rather than other bandmates and musical directors telling me I suck!
And the neccessity of performing live is true of any musical genre you choose. Interacting with other musicians is an art in itself. I know technically great players who can't play with others. Does this make them great musicians? I'm not so sure. But they sure can get round the instrument. But if they were to do any amount of live ensemble playing they would have one or two knocks coming, and if they are smart they would work on those issues. Otherwise it's back to solo guitar playing in the back of their local restaurant. (A noble and valid thing to do, let me also say).
There are many issues that come up in a real live playing situation that just don't come up in a bedroom practice session. Time, time-feel, supportive ensemble playing, projection of sound and tone, and most of all a sense of energy and commitment within a performance that is extremely different, and is very difficult to even put into words frankly. You just need to experience it, and that experience will improve your playing tenfold.
So get out there and do some gigs. I know it is hard to make that happen sometimes, but if you cannot make it happen then start a rehearsal band with a few others and play through repertoire. Get together with other guitarists and play through tunes, take solos and take turns being supportive. As you improve, take the plunge and take yourself to the next level.
And by recommending you do all this I am by no means suggesting you put away your books, records and Jamie Abersold play alongs. Absolutely not. This is something of course you should continue to do. But it is only 50% of your musical makeup. I promise you, by performing live you will improve yourself as a guitar player, but most of all as a musician, and at the end of the day this is what we all need to aspire to.
Go to it and have fun!
Chris Standring
Download Music For Free Online Legally
Knowing the right places to download free music is a major key to avoiding a law suite. Thanks to the tough lesson we learnt from Jammie Thomas, the now famous thirty something year old lady that was brutally attacked by a RIAA (Recording Industry Association of America) law suite, it now makes sense to legally download music for free online. For the simple reason of avoiding a costly law suite.
Due to rise of illegal free music sites like Kazaa and Limewire, it's pretty easy for many people to download music for free online. This is something that many people have done at one point in their lives, but have never seen it to be a big deal since everyone else used to do it all the time. That was until the music industry decided to sue people who illegally download music for free online.
I personally don't think it was the right way for the Recording Industry Association of America to deal with people because sueing individuals that are interested in their product doesn't make much sense. It would have made sense to continue letting people download music for free online, then create a new business model that can thrive in that environment, instead of suing potential potential clients who might have actually created a new revenue stream for the major lables.
Either way, the music industry decided to wage war on the people downloading music from certain music sites, so it now makes sense for us to know where to legally download music for free online.
Due to rise of illegal free music sites like Kazaa and Limewire, it's pretty easy for many people to download music for free online. This is something that many people have done at one point in their lives, but have never seen it to be a big deal since everyone else used to do it all the time. That was until the music industry decided to sue people who illegally download music for free online.
I personally don't think it was the right way for the Recording Industry Association of America to deal with people because sueing individuals that are interested in their product doesn't make much sense. It would have made sense to continue letting people download music for free online, then create a new business model that can thrive in that environment, instead of suing potential potential clients who might have actually created a new revenue stream for the major lables.
Either way, the music industry decided to wage war on the people downloading music from certain music sites, so it now makes sense for us to know where to legally download music for free online.
How to Download Free Music Legally
Digital music seems to be big these days and we all can't help but notice how everybody seems to be interested in finding out how to download music for free. Nobody likes to pay for CD's any more, since it's no secret that most of the new albums being released only contain a few good songs on them. Thats why it's important to learn how to download free music legally.
Not to long ago, the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) made a decision to financially assassinate any one they caught downloading music from web sites that are considered to be illegal. This has left many unexpecting individuals facing a law suite simply because they didn't know how to download free music from legal sources that would have kept them out of trouble and gave them instructions on how to download music for free online.
The first thing you might want to do to find these kind of web sites is to do a search on either Google, Yahoo, and MSN. Once you get the search results from the search engine you decide to use, you might want to go to the "FAQ" or "Terms of Use" page of the music website you are visiting. They usually give you some information about the downloads on their web site and this will give you an insight about how to download free music from their catalog legally.
A few good sites to download legal music for free are Napster and Rhapsody. They let you download as many tracks as you want before having to spend any money.
Hilary Mujikwa
Not to long ago, the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) made a decision to financially assassinate any one they caught downloading music from web sites that are considered to be illegal. This has left many unexpecting individuals facing a law suite simply because they didn't know how to download free music from legal sources that would have kept them out of trouble and gave them instructions on how to download music for free online.
The first thing you might want to do to find these kind of web sites is to do a search on either Google, Yahoo, and MSN. Once you get the search results from the search engine you decide to use, you might want to go to the "FAQ" or "Terms of Use" page of the music website you are visiting. They usually give you some information about the downloads on their web site and this will give you an insight about how to download free music from their catalog legally.
A few good sites to download legal music for free are Napster and Rhapsody. They let you download as many tracks as you want before having to spend any money.
Hilary Mujikwa
Saturday, January 14, 2012
Friday, January 13, 2012
Music Downloading - Now and in the Future
Lots of people download music and movies using file sharing software. Especially young people, those who grew up with Internet, find it totally normal to download music. Most of them are very adept at finding their kind of music and downloading it straight to their PC.
Online piracy has cut into national music sales by nearly a third since 1999, sending record and film revenues into a downward spiral, which hits everyone in the industry hard, from the record store clerks, songwriters, and technicians, to the artists themselves. Sometimes referred to as P2P, file sharing applications like the original Napster are a virtual treasure trove of music, movies, and software. If you use P2P software to download music, movies, or software, you may also be sharing those files to others.
Increasingly frustrated by the rise of illegal downloading, the music and film industries have been making examples of individual file-swappers. During the past year, the music and film industries have been bombarding colleges and universities with notices of illegal downloads of music and movie files by students. Recently, the music industry filed suit against four college students across the country, seeking billions of dollars in damages.
Despite all these lawsuits targeting campus pirates, more than half of all college students still download music and movies illegally, according to the University of Richmond’s Intellectual Property Institute. The music industry is fighting a losing battle to stop this downloading; they should realize that it is impossible to stop the downloading of music, it will only grow. Trying to stop it is a dead end street, it is much better to use the Internet.
Many musicians, artists, and software developers are changing the way they do business and are providing their works on the Internet for free. Maybe this is the way it should be. Musicians could make their money with performing, they could use the Internet to promote their music, and so they can charge more for their concerts. In the future they could even use the Internet to broadcast their live shows and in this way make more from a single concert. Then they still have a lot of other money making opportunities, for example commercials. A lot of musicians make a lot of money this way.
What ever the future brings, no one knows, but it is pretty sure that downloading of music for free from the Internet is here to stay, and the musician of today will be better of if they understand this and use it to their advantage.
Online piracy has cut into national music sales by nearly a third since 1999, sending record and film revenues into a downward spiral, which hits everyone in the industry hard, from the record store clerks, songwriters, and technicians, to the artists themselves. Sometimes referred to as P2P, file sharing applications like the original Napster are a virtual treasure trove of music, movies, and software. If you use P2P software to download music, movies, or software, you may also be sharing those files to others.
Increasingly frustrated by the rise of illegal downloading, the music and film industries have been making examples of individual file-swappers. During the past year, the music and film industries have been bombarding colleges and universities with notices of illegal downloads of music and movie files by students. Recently, the music industry filed suit against four college students across the country, seeking billions of dollars in damages.
Despite all these lawsuits targeting campus pirates, more than half of all college students still download music and movies illegally, according to the University of Richmond’s Intellectual Property Institute. The music industry is fighting a losing battle to stop this downloading; they should realize that it is impossible to stop the downloading of music, it will only grow. Trying to stop it is a dead end street, it is much better to use the Internet.
Many musicians, artists, and software developers are changing the way they do business and are providing their works on the Internet for free. Maybe this is the way it should be. Musicians could make their money with performing, they could use the Internet to promote their music, and so they can charge more for their concerts. In the future they could even use the Internet to broadcast their live shows and in this way make more from a single concert. Then they still have a lot of other money making opportunities, for example commercials. A lot of musicians make a lot of money this way.
What ever the future brings, no one knows, but it is pretty sure that downloading of music for free from the Internet is here to stay, and the musician of today will be better of if they understand this and use it to their advantage.
Thursday, January 12, 2012
Create Your Own Clearance at Guitar Center!
Create your own clearance and FREE Shipping at Guitar Center! Save on items you want by taking 10% Off Any Single Item (up to $500) - Use Coupon Code CYOC12. Valid 1/12/12-1/15/12. Save 12% off online orders of $99 or more when you use coupon code SAVE2012. Valid 01/01/12 - 01/31/12.
Additionally, for a limited time, Guitar Center has extended the Free Shipping offer. Only $49 Minimum Purchase required when shipping to address of your choice, no minimum when shipping to store!
Create Your Own Clearance!
10% Off Any Single Item (up to $500) - Use Coupon Code CYOC12. Valid 1/12/12-1/15/12.
12% Off!
Save 12% off online orders of $99 or more when you use coupon code SAVE2012. Valid 01/01/12 - 01/31/12.
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Free Shipping! No minimum when shipping to store, $49 minimum when shipping to address of your choice!
INTERNATIONAL SHIPPING
Guitar Center Now Ships Internationally!
Additionally, for a limited time, Guitar Center has extended the Free Shipping offer. Only $49 Minimum Purchase required when shipping to address of your choice, no minimum when shipping to store!
Create Your Own Clearance!
10% Off Any Single Item (up to $500) - Use Coupon Code CYOC12. Valid 1/12/12-1/15/12.
12% Off!
Save 12% off online orders of $99 or more when you use coupon code SAVE2012. Valid 01/01/12 - 01/31/12.
FREE SHIPPING!
Free Shipping! No minimum when shipping to store, $49 minimum when shipping to address of your choice!
INTERNATIONAL SHIPPING
Guitar Center Now Ships Internationally!
Hound Dog Taylor (April 12, 1915 – December 17, 1975)
Theodore Roosevelt “Hound Dog” Taylor was an American blues guitarist and singer.
Taylor was born in Natchez, Mississippi in 1915 (although some sources say 1917). He originally played piano, but began playing guitar when he was 20. He moved to Chicago in 1942.
He became a full-time musician around 1957 but remained unknown outside of the Chicago area where he played small clubs in the black neighborhoods and also at the open-air Maxwell Street Market. He was known for his electrified slide guitar playing roughly styled after that of Elmore James, his cheap Japanese Teisco guitars, and his raucous boogie beats. He was also famed among guitar players for having six fingers on his left hand. After hearing Taylor with his band, the HouseRockers (Brewer Phillips on second guitar and Ted Harvey on drums) in 1970 at Florence’s Lounge on Chicago’s South Side, Bruce Iglauer – at the time a shipping clerk for Delmark Records – tried to get him signed by his employer. Having no success getting Delmark to sign Taylor, Iglauer formed a small record label with a $2500 inheritance and recorded Taylor’s debut album, Hound Dog Taylor and the House Rockers, on his fledgling Alligator Records in 1971. It was the first release on Alligator records, now a major blues label. It was recorded in a studio in just two nights. Iglauer began managing and booking the band, which toured nationwide and performed with Muddy Waters and Big Mama Thorton. The band became particularly popular in the Boston area, where Taylor inspired a young protege named George Thorogood. A live album Live At Joe’s Place documents a Boston appearance from 1972.
Their second release, Natural Boogie, was recorded in late 1973, and led to greater acclaim and touring. In 1975, Taylor and his band toured Australia and New Zealand with Freddie King and Sonny Terry and Brownie McGhee. His third Alligator album, Beware of the Dog, was recorded live in 1974 but was only released after his death. More posthumous releases occurred as well, including Genuine Houserocking Music and Release the Hound, on the Alligator label as well as some bootleg live recordings.
Taylor died of lung cancer in 1975, and was buried in Restvale Cemetery in Alsip, Illinois.
Taylor was posthumously inducted into the Blues Hall of Fame in 1984.
Taylor was born in Natchez, Mississippi in 1915 (although some sources say 1917). He originally played piano, but began playing guitar when he was 20. He moved to Chicago in 1942.
He became a full-time musician around 1957 but remained unknown outside of the Chicago area where he played small clubs in the black neighborhoods and also at the open-air Maxwell Street Market. He was known for his electrified slide guitar playing roughly styled after that of Elmore James, his cheap Japanese Teisco guitars, and his raucous boogie beats. He was also famed among guitar players for having six fingers on his left hand. After hearing Taylor with his band, the HouseRockers (Brewer Phillips on second guitar and Ted Harvey on drums) in 1970 at Florence’s Lounge on Chicago’s South Side, Bruce Iglauer – at the time a shipping clerk for Delmark Records – tried to get him signed by his employer. Having no success getting Delmark to sign Taylor, Iglauer formed a small record label with a $2500 inheritance and recorded Taylor’s debut album, Hound Dog Taylor and the House Rockers, on his fledgling Alligator Records in 1971. It was the first release on Alligator records, now a major blues label. It was recorded in a studio in just two nights. Iglauer began managing and booking the band, which toured nationwide and performed with Muddy Waters and Big Mama Thorton. The band became particularly popular in the Boston area, where Taylor inspired a young protege named George Thorogood. A live album Live At Joe’s Place documents a Boston appearance from 1972.
Their second release, Natural Boogie, was recorded in late 1973, and led to greater acclaim and touring. In 1975, Taylor and his band toured Australia and New Zealand with Freddie King and Sonny Terry and Brownie McGhee. His third Alligator album, Beware of the Dog, was recorded live in 1974 but was only released after his death. More posthumous releases occurred as well, including Genuine Houserocking Music and Release the Hound, on the Alligator label as well as some bootleg live recordings.
Taylor died of lung cancer in 1975, and was buried in Restvale Cemetery in Alsip, Illinois.
Taylor was posthumously inducted into the Blues Hall of Fame in 1984.
Music Industry Survive and Thrive
The Music Industry as everyone knew it slightly over a decade ago has undergone a revolution. The core middleman in the music industry that we came to know from the 50s to the mid-90s was always the record company aka the record label. During that time period, the label had access to the platforms of sales and distribution, and perhaps more importantly the label had virtual monopolistic access to marketing and the means for discovering new talent. Amazingly, this was hardly the limit of the record company’s control.
From the perspective of the many who dreamed of landing music industry jobs, the road leads through the many areas of influence or outright ownership of the big record company. The acts themselves relied on the label to take their talent and turn it into money. The record deal was the coveted result for securing monetary return for the artist’s work. It seemed to all, that labels were the only ones who knew the path.
Fast forward to the music industry of today and with it the emergence of the internet as a platform for sharing and distributing musical content digitally. Now the artists can go directly to the people in minutes without the help of middlemen. This has lessened the value of the record deal and records in general. The value now is more centered in the personage and original unique content of the musician. This is because the content of the records themselves are shared widely on a free platform (the internet).
This has served to decrease the value of the traditional record, tape or cd. While this technology trend has actually empowered musicians who choose to capitalize on it, it has greatly muddied the waters for people who are searching for a traditional music industry job. With labels generally contracting trying to figure out their most profitable place in the post-internet world, vertical integration and traditional jobs have become scarcer.
With all that said, the formula for making it in the music industry still comes down to the basics of attacking passionately and following through with dogged determination. The same fundamentals apply for either more conventional employment or in the form of someone paying you for your artistic work. When asked once what the secret to life was, legendary rock musician Bruce Springsteen was said to have commented: “find what really makes you happy and stick with it.” This concept is actually the basis for success in the music industry. Remember that the music industry itself is based on the difficult to quantify tastes of individuals. These tastes are ever-shifting. Even in the glory days of stability, the record-label dominated industry was constantly in flux. Today it is much more chaotic.
So knowing that, when looking for a music industry position, you first want to clearly understand what you are really passionate about. Then when you choose that aspect of the music industry, use the internet to understand the trends and future outlook. The most important question you will want to answer about your passion is: where is the greatest area of need and where can I focus my efforts to give the greatest value within my area of interest? Then you must be very willing to do whatever it takes, including working for no compensation to prove your worth to break in with music industry jobs. The rewards of being able to spend your days doing something you love will be well worth the sacrifices at the beginning. A cool secret about initial sacrifice is that it doesn’t feel like sacrifice because you are knee deep pursuing what you love.
Now if you are a musician and you want to get a record deal, the idea of pursuing your dream is probably already deeply ingrained. You are hopefully very experienced in having people critique your work positively and negatively. Even with the new technologies emerging, getting a record deal is still a very relevant goal. The relationship that you should want to create with a label within the music industry is collaborative. Don’t fall into the trap of being the servant or begging for the existence of the relationship thinking it will answer all your financial problems.
Today’s musician must be knowledgeable about how to control his entire production and distribution as if the record labels don’t even exist. This knowledge building process will invariably create a deep understanding of the business side of the industry. The use of digital technology and online distribution will also allow the musician to create his own buzz and identity. This is power for you as an artist in the process of growing a brand and eventually partnering (not serving) with a record label in a business relationship.
From the perspective of the many who dreamed of landing music industry jobs, the road leads through the many areas of influence or outright ownership of the big record company. The acts themselves relied on the label to take their talent and turn it into money. The record deal was the coveted result for securing monetary return for the artist’s work. It seemed to all, that labels were the only ones who knew the path.
Fast forward to the music industry of today and with it the emergence of the internet as a platform for sharing and distributing musical content digitally. Now the artists can go directly to the people in minutes without the help of middlemen. This has lessened the value of the record deal and records in general. The value now is more centered in the personage and original unique content of the musician. This is because the content of the records themselves are shared widely on a free platform (the internet).
This has served to decrease the value of the traditional record, tape or cd. While this technology trend has actually empowered musicians who choose to capitalize on it, it has greatly muddied the waters for people who are searching for a traditional music industry job. With labels generally contracting trying to figure out their most profitable place in the post-internet world, vertical integration and traditional jobs have become scarcer.
With all that said, the formula for making it in the music industry still comes down to the basics of attacking passionately and following through with dogged determination. The same fundamentals apply for either more conventional employment or in the form of someone paying you for your artistic work. When asked once what the secret to life was, legendary rock musician Bruce Springsteen was said to have commented: “find what really makes you happy and stick with it.” This concept is actually the basis for success in the music industry. Remember that the music industry itself is based on the difficult to quantify tastes of individuals. These tastes are ever-shifting. Even in the glory days of stability, the record-label dominated industry was constantly in flux. Today it is much more chaotic.
So knowing that, when looking for a music industry position, you first want to clearly understand what you are really passionate about. Then when you choose that aspect of the music industry, use the internet to understand the trends and future outlook. The most important question you will want to answer about your passion is: where is the greatest area of need and where can I focus my efforts to give the greatest value within my area of interest? Then you must be very willing to do whatever it takes, including working for no compensation to prove your worth to break in with music industry jobs. The rewards of being able to spend your days doing something you love will be well worth the sacrifices at the beginning. A cool secret about initial sacrifice is that it doesn’t feel like sacrifice because you are knee deep pursuing what you love.
Now if you are a musician and you want to get a record deal, the idea of pursuing your dream is probably already deeply ingrained. You are hopefully very experienced in having people critique your work positively and negatively. Even with the new technologies emerging, getting a record deal is still a very relevant goal. The relationship that you should want to create with a label within the music industry is collaborative. Don’t fall into the trap of being the servant or begging for the existence of the relationship thinking it will answer all your financial problems.
Today’s musician must be knowledgeable about how to control his entire production and distribution as if the record labels don’t even exist. This knowledge building process will invariably create a deep understanding of the business side of the industry. The use of digital technology and online distribution will also allow the musician to create his own buzz and identity. This is power for you as an artist in the process of growing a brand and eventually partnering (not serving) with a record label in a business relationship.
Tuesday, January 10, 2012
48 Hour Sale at Musician's Friend!
This JUST in... start the new year off right and save with the 48 Hour Sale at Musician's Friend - Get $20 off orders $99+ or $40 off orders $349+. Use Coupon code TWODAY12. Valid 1/10/12-1/11/12 Only! This offer is valid for 48 hours only! Time is limited, so be sure to post this offer to boost your sales for the new year!
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Over 53,000 Products Ship Free Every Day at MusiciansFriend.com!
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48 Hour Sale!
Get $20 off orders $99+ or $40 off orders $349+. Use Coupon code TWODAY12. Valid 1/10/12-1/11/12 Only!
FREE Shipping!
Over 53,000 Products Ship Free Every Day at MusiciansFriend.com!
Guitar Tabs Are Your Friends - Learn To Read Them
Although it is not hard to read, many novice guitar players seem to be daunted by the prospect of learning something new. The real difficulty with learning how to read guitar tab is more of a mental block than a real challenge. Even though tablature has a history going back hundreds of years it is generally regarded as a special musical language for guitar players. The internet has further promoted this view of guitar tablature. Guitarists all over the world are writing tabs using Notepad or another basic text editor and sharing their work with other guitar players.
Guitar tab is nothing more or less than a picture of the guitar's neck. You look at the tab on the page and you see the guitar strings. Of course for a newbie guitar player the strings on the guitar may be a bit scary. But there is no need to transpose this fear to the strings on the printed page. Rather than present challenges the one dimensional strings in the tab has information on them which tell you what to do to get the guitar to make music.
Here is tab for a few notes played on the guitar . . .
e---------------------|
B---------------------|
G---------------------|
D-----1-2-----1-2-----|
A--2-------2----------|
E---------------------|
The letters on the end of the strings are the names of the strings, or rather the names of the notes that sound when you play the open strings. You will notice that at the top is a lower case e and at the bottom is a capital E. The top e is the thinnest string on the guitar, also called the first string. The E at the bottom is the thickest string, also called the sixth string. Once you have absorbed this information you will realize that the tab is just a picture of the guitar fretboard as it looks when it is lying in front of you with the end of the neck pointing towards your left side. Why people feel the need to use a lowercase a for the top E and a capital for the bottom E, I will never know - how much easier can it get to tell them apart?
The strings with numbers on them are the A and D strings, and the tab is telling us to place a finger at the second fret on the A string and play that note. Next the tablature is telling us to place a finger at the first fret on the D string, play that note and then move the finger up to the second fret, or place another finger at the second fret and play that note. So using the language of music we know to play the notes B, E flat and E twice. It does not tell us which fingers to use to play the notes, nor does it tell us how long to hold the notes for. In this example we can assume the fingering and note values are up to us.
When we are learning a song the fingering is still usually left up to us but most of the musical notation software programs have the facility to show left hand fingering and/or the use of the right hand fingers when required. For manually produced tab it makes the tab very cluttered to include the fingerings. There are generally accepted abbreviations for left hand techniques which I have included here:
h - hammer on
p - pull off
b - bend string up
r - release bend
/ - slide up
\ - slide down
v - vibrato
t - right hand tap
x - damp the note
There is no way to show the note values in tab but if you are learning a song you are already familiar with this will not be too much of a problem. If you are learning a piece of music that you are not familiar with then guitar tab will not help you much, but there is an answer. If you have learnt to read tab you can download one of the guitar notation programs like Power Tab or TablEdit. It will import your ASCII tab or MIDI and play it for you as well as display it in standard musical notation in addition to tab.
Ricky Sharples
Guitar tab is nothing more or less than a picture of the guitar's neck. You look at the tab on the page and you see the guitar strings. Of course for a newbie guitar player the strings on the guitar may be a bit scary. But there is no need to transpose this fear to the strings on the printed page. Rather than present challenges the one dimensional strings in the tab has information on them which tell you what to do to get the guitar to make music.
Here is tab for a few notes played on the guitar . . .
e---------------------|
B---------------------|
G---------------------|
D-----1-2-----1-2-----|
A--2-------2----------|
E---------------------|
The letters on the end of the strings are the names of the strings, or rather the names of the notes that sound when you play the open strings. You will notice that at the top is a lower case e and at the bottom is a capital E. The top e is the thinnest string on the guitar, also called the first string. The E at the bottom is the thickest string, also called the sixth string. Once you have absorbed this information you will realize that the tab is just a picture of the guitar fretboard as it looks when it is lying in front of you with the end of the neck pointing towards your left side. Why people feel the need to use a lowercase a for the top E and a capital for the bottom E, I will never know - how much easier can it get to tell them apart?
The strings with numbers on them are the A and D strings, and the tab is telling us to place a finger at the second fret on the A string and play that note. Next the tablature is telling us to place a finger at the first fret on the D string, play that note and then move the finger up to the second fret, or place another finger at the second fret and play that note. So using the language of music we know to play the notes B, E flat and E twice. It does not tell us which fingers to use to play the notes, nor does it tell us how long to hold the notes for. In this example we can assume the fingering and note values are up to us.
When we are learning a song the fingering is still usually left up to us but most of the musical notation software programs have the facility to show left hand fingering and/or the use of the right hand fingers when required. For manually produced tab it makes the tab very cluttered to include the fingerings. There are generally accepted abbreviations for left hand techniques which I have included here:
h - hammer on
p - pull off
b - bend string up
r - release bend
/ - slide up
\ - slide down
v - vibrato
t - right hand tap
x - damp the note
There is no way to show the note values in tab but if you are learning a song you are already familiar with this will not be too much of a problem. If you are learning a piece of music that you are not familiar with then guitar tab will not help you much, but there is an answer. If you have learnt to read tab you can download one of the guitar notation programs like Power Tab or TablEdit. It will import your ASCII tab or MIDI and play it for you as well as display it in standard musical notation in addition to tab.
Ricky Sharples
Guitar Theory Lesson - The Circle Of Fifths
Guitar theory has its place in any style of music. Once you have a few songs under your belt, you can improvise a little using the minor pentatonic scale and you know what I IV V means, you can begin to grow as a guitar player. But not indefinitely. Expanding your guitar technique is one way to grow, another is by learning some guitar theory.
An important element of guitar music theory is the circle of fifths. The way it works is if you start a scale from the fifth note of another scale, then start a new scale from the fifth note of the previous scale, and keep going like that, you will end up with the scale you started with. There are no sharps or flats in the C major scale. All the other keys contain some sharps or flats. Here is a formula that might help you learn some of the characteristics of the major scales: if you start a scale from the fifth note of any other major scale, your new scale has one more sharp than the first scale. So, if you begin with the C major scale, your next scale will be the G major, the next D major and so on.
So, if you start a scale from the fifth note of the C. major scale, you will end up with the G Major scale which is G A B C D E F#. If you build another scale from the fifth note of the G major scale, you'll get the D major scale which has two sharps. This is the idea behind the circle of fifths. Now you can tell what key a piece of written music is in by looking at the number of sharps or flats at the start of the music.
Until you actually start writing songs the circle of fifths is more of a tool for the understanding music rather than something you can put into practice. The circle of fifths is used a lot in chord progressions and the more you explore chord progressions the more you'll see how the circle of fifths works.
With the circle of fifths you can organize all twelve possible major scales into a key signature. The "key" is the note that starts the scale, otherwise known as the root. The term "key signature" is a reference to how many sharps or flats are in each key. You can easily organize scales by the key signature because no two major scales have the same amount of sharps or flats.
By Expert Author: Ricky Sharples
An important element of guitar music theory is the circle of fifths. The way it works is if you start a scale from the fifth note of another scale, then start a new scale from the fifth note of the previous scale, and keep going like that, you will end up with the scale you started with. There are no sharps or flats in the C major scale. All the other keys contain some sharps or flats. Here is a formula that might help you learn some of the characteristics of the major scales: if you start a scale from the fifth note of any other major scale, your new scale has one more sharp than the first scale. So, if you begin with the C major scale, your next scale will be the G major, the next D major and so on.
So, if you start a scale from the fifth note of the C. major scale, you will end up with the G Major scale which is G A B C D E F#. If you build another scale from the fifth note of the G major scale, you'll get the D major scale which has two sharps. This is the idea behind the circle of fifths. Now you can tell what key a piece of written music is in by looking at the number of sharps or flats at the start of the music.
Until you actually start writing songs the circle of fifths is more of a tool for the understanding music rather than something you can put into practice. The circle of fifths is used a lot in chord progressions and the more you explore chord progressions the more you'll see how the circle of fifths works.
With the circle of fifths you can organize all twelve possible major scales into a key signature. The "key" is the note that starts the scale, otherwise known as the root. The term "key signature" is a reference to how many sharps or flats are in each key. You can easily organize scales by the key signature because no two major scales have the same amount of sharps or flats.
By Expert Author: Ricky Sharples
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