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Archive for the ‘Musical Instruments’ Category

If you have not done it before, and you’re planning to buy your first electric or acoustic guitar, chances are you are a little anxious about the selection and offers at the stores. Either if you look at some of the on-line music retailers as well as the off-line stores close to you, the amount of options and alternatives can sometimes be overwhelming if you are not sure of all the variables.

Let’s go over some basic rules that would help you make the right guitar decision:

Be patient. As they say, good things happen to those who wait. This cannot be more true. You don’t have to rush into making a purchase that same day you go to the store, or simply because you got a new offer in the email. Take your time and explore the alternatives before committing to any instrument.

Keep your cool. Be always in control of the situation. Don’t allow any salesman to intimidate you, even if you’re not certain of instrument’s specifications. Ask questions, don’t be afraid to ask what you don’t know, remember that as a customer, you’re entitled to get answers about the product you’re about to purchase. Read the rest of this entry »

Historical evidence points to the fact that the basic design of all brass instruments, namely a long tube with a bell-shaped front, has been in existence for well over three thousand years. They probably started out as unwieldy straight lengths, but over time people realised that the tube could the bent into more manageable shapes. We’ve all seen the large rounded Roman horns that start at the mouth, curve round the back and end up perched a few inches above the player’s head. This shows an amazing lack of foresight when it comes to hanging flags from them, but they probably caused fewer injuries and de-helmetings on the march.

Around the start of the nineteenth century, the piston valve was invented, and this meant that the effective length of the tube from mouthpiece to bell could temporarily be lengthened by diverting air along extra sections of tubing. This lengthening of the tube causes the pitch of the note played to be lowered, just as an Alpine horn sounds lower than a piccolo. By including three valves, several different lengths could be achieved, making it easier to play various notes more precisely. Along with the ability of players to change the pitch by changing the shape of their lips to achieve various harmonics of the key note, the valves make the cornet a fully chromatic instrument, i.e. one that can play every semitone in its range. Read the rest of this entry »

To many people who are interested in music and want to learn how to play a musical instrument, the tendency for most is to learn how to play the guitar. This is because the guitar is a very convenient instrument to learn and carry around. It can also be used for group sing along wherever you are as the instrument is easily transportable.

People want to learn how to play the guitar for many reasons. For some, they just like to reproduce songs they have heard and liked very much while another may wish to write their own songs while others want to be a rock star. So if you are contemplating in picking up the guitar, here are some tips for beginner guitarists.

The first thing that you should do is to decide which type of guitar you want to learn to play since there are many types of guitars. For instance, the classical guitar has a wider staff compared to others. The classical guitar is of course meant for those who are into classical music as this guitar allows for a more flexible picking of the strings.

Then there is the acoustic guitar which is usually the guitar of choice for the beginner because it can be used to learn almost any genre of music and is a great guitar for social gatherings.

Of course there is also the electric guitar and the bass guitar which is mostly used in bands and especially rock bands. The bass guitar has only 4 strings rather than the usual 6 strings. However, there are also 6 strings bass guitar available or for that matter, 12 strings acoustic guitars. But these are exceptions rather than the norm.

Next, you should decide whether you want to learn guitar by yourself or take formal guitar lessons. Although it is certainly possible to be a self taught guitarist, learning from a good teacher is highly recommended. This is because if you learn by yourself, you could possibly learn the wrong techniques and due to muscle memories, it will be very difficult to correct them in the future. Also, it will be much faster for you to pick up guitar skills from a professional teacher rather than doing it yourself.

Alternatively, you can have hybrid learning. This is because there are now many online guitar courses or teach yourself DVDs by professional guitar teachers which you can use to learn how to play the guitar without a “live” one-on-one teacher from the comfort of your home.

The first thing that a beginner guitar player should know is to learn the fundamentals of the guitar which include knowing the guitar parts, how to tune the guitar strings and guitar maintenance. As a beginner, you should also study guitar theories as this will teach you how to read notes and play scales. This is especially important if you are learning how to play classical pieces as classical music pieces often require you to read notes and play from scores.

As a beginner, you should also learn how to identify and use the right guitar pick. These picks come in various designs and it is important to choose the pick which you are most comfortable with. You should first start with a soft pick so that you can strum faster and use a harder pick for producing a richer quality sound or to pick guitar strings for riffs.

Lastly, the most important thing for a budding guitarist to do is to practice and practice until you are the master of the musical instrument of your choice, your guitar!

Author Bio: Chris Chew is the resident author at How To Play Guitar Lessons and Teach Yourself Guitar Playing

Clip on Guitar Tuner

• Suitable for guitar, bass & violin
• Chromatic tuning mode
• Microphone and clip pickup
• Small, convenient size
• Battery: 1 x CR2032 cell battery (supplied)

Color LCD display, digital tuning Selectable pickups of MIC and CLIP 4 tuning modes of G (Guitar), B (Bass), V (Violin), C (Chromatic) 360° rotatable base, convenient to look at the display and correctly tune the tone Removable cell battery enables using the tuner for a long period Auto power off after 3 minutes' standby time Suitable for guitar, bass, violin and chromatic Pickup modes MIC and CLIP A4 frequency tuning range 430Hz - 450Hz Tuning range 0A - 7C Accuracy ? 1 cent Ba

List Price: £14.99 Price: £6.85

Article by Sean M. Brown

Music is considered to be a sublime form of art, which enthralls the listeners. Only a few gifted ones are able to play on a musical instrument beautifully but for the unenlightened rest music remains a mystery even after pain staking efforts. Learning to play at the piano is no different. Beginners or intermediate level players often get frustrated by the slow pace of learning. The standard of their playing does not reflect the amount of effort and time dedicated by them to piano learning. Their learning is often hampered due to the paucity of good learning packages.

The Piano Encyclopedia has bucked this trend with their revolutionary digital piano learning course: “The Logic Behind Music”. This learning package is giant leap forward from all the conventionally available learning packages in terms of its excellent quality and comprehensive nature. This course focuses more on the logic behind composing music rather than learning from music sheets or memorization. It makes playing the piano a wonderful experience, because now the playing is more feel-oriented, rather than being a mechanical exercise. The learning of the students is accelerated because understanding the music fundamentals makes them able to compose by themselves, thereby eliminating the need for sheet music memorization.

“The Logic Behind Music” comes with a handsome array of features. The software has more than 3000 on-screen virtual interactive piano keyboards and more than 1000 pages of multimedia piano lessons. The piano simulator sounds great and can be used by both keyboard and mouse. It can be a great tool for composing new melodies as you can hear what you are playing is supposed to sound like. You can even save your compositions for future use. The software lets you adjust the tempo according to your convenience so that you can gradually become an adept at the song or the melody which you are practicing rather than rushing through the notes in order to be in sync with the original tempo of the music. For soloing over chords, the chords can be played with keyboard and the notes with a mouse. Along with the software, the product also includes hundreds of multimedia pages in several interactive digital books- The Main Lessons, The Practice Booklet One, The Practice Booklet Two, The Practice Booklet Three, The Practice Booklet Four, Fundamental Intervals Book, Fundamental Scales Book and Fundamental Chords Book. As well as this, “The Logic Behind Music” course also offers a Gold-membership account in the Piano Encyclopedia’s community. The Gold-membership account lets user create their own profile page so that they can access Premium Exclusive Areas like the piano video and audio gallery, ask questions, share your progress, participate in music contests, and interact with other musicians and pianists that are taking the same lessons as you. Interacting with players around the world can be a great step ahead in learning new techniques and clarifying queries. The users can also upload their videos, audio recordings, and join the conversations in the piano, composition, and improvisation forums.Furthermore, to make it a totally unique and unprecedented product, on the occasion of launch of “The Logic Behind Music”, the Piano Encyclopedia are giving a hundred page e-book based on music fundamentals for free as a special promotion. This book has stood the scrutiny of hundreds of pianists across the globe who have all hailed this book for its truly magnificent content and unrivalled quality. The Piano Encyclopedia Blog Page has a collection of the testimonials of such pianists.

It is beyond any doubt that the painstaking efforts of the many collaborators of “The Logic Behind Music” have led to the creation of a learning package which has all the tools required to unveil the mysteries of music.

Reveal the mysteries of music with The Piano Encyclopedia. Start your lessons from the comfort of your own home with The Piano Encyclopedia’s Digital Home-Study Course “The Logic Behind Music”: Piano Course The Logic Behind Music

About the Author

Sean M. Brown is a composer and piano teacher from Dallas, Texas. He gives classes to adults, from beginner to advanced level, teaching his students how to improvise, compose, and play by ear. For those that want to learn piano and are not in Dallas, he recommends the course he uses with his own students: The Piano Encyclopedia’s Digital Home-Study Course The Logic Behind Music: Piano Improvisation and Composition Lessons.

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It's Never Too Late to Play Piano (Tutor book with CD)

• New
• Mint Condition
• Dispatch same day for order received before 12 noon
• Guaranteed packaging
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Do you wish you?d learnt to play the piano when you were younger or that you hadn?t given up? Then this book is for you - because it?s never too late!At last a truly grown-up approach to learning the piano. Pam Wedgwood, author of many popular piano series, takes you through the rudiments of piano technique and music theory in her own friendly style that?s guaranteed to get results. The book is organized into clearly structured progressive units with a fabulous array of music to get you playing

List Price: £9.99 Price: £4.73

Whether you are just starting out with the drums, or have more experience, there are a number of things you need to consider when choosing a drum kit. Although it can be tempting to choose a drum kit that is of the highest quality, the price tag of an exceptionally good drum kit will usually bring you back down to reality in a big hurry. Although there are certainly those who need a high quality drum kit, most drummers can get by with a less expensive set that still has good quality.

The main things you are going to be considering when you choose a drum kit are the quality of the drums themselves, the quality of the sound that the drums make, and the price and affordability of the drum set. Although of course sound and overall quality are important, many people, especially when first starting out, are limited to varying extents by their budget.

In order to find a less expensive drum kit that still has good quality and good sound, you are going to have to shop around a bit. If you have friends or acquaintances who are into drumming, you can often get a lot of information, as well as a good recommendation for choosing a drum kit, from them. Another way of doing some research is checking online or in music publications. Keep your eyes open for drum kit reviews, to see what others think of the various models that are available.

If you are purchasing a drum kit instead of choosing the drums separately, you\’ll want to make sure when you choose a drum kit that it contains what you need. Most drum kits include everything you will need to get started, including all the drums, the cymbals, sticks and often even a stool. There are a number of different manufacturers to choose from, and in fact, a lot of the big companies carry drum kits that are considered \”beginner sets\”, which can be quite budget-friendly. If you choose a beginner kit from a good brand name, you have the assurance that you are getting a drum kit from a company experienced in drums, and that you will likely get a good quality set, even if it is budget-priced. You will want to give some special consideration to your purchase if you are shopping for a drum kit for a young child. There are junior drum kits available, but they are seldom a good choice, unless the child is quite young. These junior kits are designed specifically for children less than eight years old, so if your child is around that age, a full size drum kit is often the better choice.

When you choose a drum kit, remember that regardless of the kit you choose, you are going to have to set the kit up and tune each drum before it will sound great. This is true regardless of the quality of the set you choose, so make sure you learn how to perform basic drum tuning techniques so that you get the most out of whatever drum kit you choose.

Want more advice about how to choose the best drum kit for yourself or your loved one? Just click here for the best electric drum kit reviews.

Full Size Starter Drum Kit by G4M BLACK

• Superb Starter Kit
• Ideal for beginners
• Brass Hi-hats and Crash / Ride cymbal
• Throne and Drum Sticks
• Complete set of skins

This full size drum kit is based on our standard model but features slightly lighter duty hardware. It has the high standard of build youd expect from Gear4music musical instruments but is designed with the home user in mind rather than for gigging on a regular basis. This is an ideal kit for the first time player who wants to get into drumming!

Rating: (out of 6 reviews)

Price:

Full Size Starter Drum Kit by Gear4music RED

• Superb Starter Kit
• Ideal for beginners
• Brass Hi-hats and Crash / Ride cymbal
• Throne and Drum Sticks
• Complete set of skins

This full size drum kit by Gear4music is based on our standard model but features slightly lighter duty hardware this musical instrument is designed for home music use rather than gigging on a regular basis. This is an ideal kit for the first time player who wants to get into drumming!

Rating: (out of 3 reviews)

Price:

The F310 offers outstanding quality at a truly budget price. The lively sound from the spruce/meranti body has a bright, sweet resonance not unlike Yamaha’s renowned FGs, and real rosewood is used for the fingerboard and bridge. The handling comfort of the slightly reduced body depth and intermediate scale length will be particularly appreciated by younger players.On the powered FX310 version, the passive preamp system is delightfully simple – just volume and tone and no battery (more…)

Best Metal Bands

There are thousands of sites available on the internet that provide guitar lessons which would enable you to learn guitar fast. Some deliver lessons free of charge but some do charge an amount to become a member for that particular website.

These websites are usually done by expert guitarists who have made a name for themselves in the guitar world today. They are professionals and their aim is to share their guitar knowledge with the students who know nothing about playing the guitar and also to increase the knowledge of those who know a little about guitar play but are interested in learning the more advanced techniques.

Well, as you know that there is always a good side and a bad side to everything and likewise there are both good and bad points that need to be taken into account if you want to learn guitar fast online.

Pros

Most of the people are not really interested in mastering the technique to play the guitar like professionals. They probably focus on learning a few chords and scales just to play to impress their close mates or family with their abilities. People like that are not keen to spend on a personal guitar tutor as they are really expensive. Instead, they could go for a quality guitar course online which would help them learn guitar fast and easy.

There are also people who want to master the art but cannot find time to do it because of their tight schedules and family commitments. They would find it difficult to allocate time to go for classes which also includes traveling time etc. So the best solution for them is to learn guitar fast at home through online guitar lessons. By doing so, you will be able to go through the lessons at your own pace whenever you have the time to do so.

Studying through theory books can be really boring at times and sometimes you might not understand some of the lessons so you tend to skip them and move on to the next one. But you will rarely face this problem with online guitar lessons as you can ask the instructor for assistance whenever you get stuck with a lesson. And also they use a lot of graphics and animated images which makes the lessons very interesting and easy to grasp.

Online guitar lessons are extremely cheap and the content that you get is huge. But when you go for private tution, the instructors usually charge you for an hour so it is certainly going to be very expensive for you.

Cons

Well there are disadvantages of learning through online guitar lessons as well that you need to consider before deciding which option best fits you if you want to learn guitar fast.

If you really want to master the art of playing the guitar, then hiring a personal tutor for yourself is the best thing to do because he/she will know the exact mistakes that you do and will be able to correct you accordingly. Where as in online guitar lessons, the tutor will not be able to see the mistakes that you commit so you sometimes would not know if you are doing it the right way or not.

Sometimes you don’t want to learn all areas but want to focus on certain key areas and go deep in them. You would not be able to do this with online guitar lessons as they are standardized and deliver lessons keeping in mind the needs of an average guitar player. But a personal instructor could cater to your specific requirements and not go beyond that.

A private tutor will be able to correct your mistakes personally and will praise your progress which will really motivate you a great deal. But you will not experience that with online guitar lessons where you have to do everything on your own.

Therefore, if you want to become a true professional then it might be better off hiring a private tutor for yourself and also you should dedicate more time and put in a lot of effort. But if your intention is not to become an expert but to learn a few key areas then the opportunity to learn guitar fast through online guitar lessons is excellent..

Well, if you really want to learn guitar fast, that too the best possible way then i would recommend that you check out one of the following;

Jamorama Review
Review of Guitar Tutor Pro

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The YPT210 is simply a great starter keyboard. With 375 instrument sounds and 100 acompaniment styles there is no limit to what you can create. It features 61 full size keys and Yamaha’s Education Suite. The Education Suite is an advanced set of helpful learning tools built into the instrument, letting you teach yourself how to play and perform. Y.E.S helps you master a song with easy lesson steps. Each lesson can be done in isolation with either your left, right hand or both to (more…)

So, guitar playing is for you and you want to buy your first instrument and play cool and hip music with it all day long? But what do you do first? Which guitar is best for you? Acoustic guitar or electric? These are just some of the questions guitar beginners need to answer, even before you learn a single riff or chord progression.

Learning guitar can be a little frustrating at times, especially if you are a complete beginner guitarist.

A lot of beginner guitar players buy their first guitar after drooling over guitars on a guitar website or leafing through guitar magazines for months or even years, imagining themselves as a pop star recording their newest album…

No other musical instrument stirrs such strong levels of passion and emotion quite like the guitar, or inspires guitar beginners to fantasize about creating cool tunes for the masses. However, fantasizing alone is not enough to get a ‘real-life’ guitar to sing out in tune. Dedication, hard work and a lot of practise is also needed as well, and during all this effort, it is all too easy to become disheartened and lose sight of the passion and enthusiasm which made you want take guitar lessons in the first place.

Folks turning to the guitar for the first time have never had it so good when it comes to taking the plunge and acquiring their first guitar. With the advent of modern hi-tech manufacturing processes and an ever increasing sales force competing for your money, the price of starter guitars has free-falled in recent years.

Don’t forget though, the old saying “let the buyer beware’ still rings true when purchasing your first guitar. Do not let the avid sale person persuade you into buying a guitar that is neither suitable nor right for the sound and style of guitar music you wish to play. It is no good buying an electric bass guitar if you want to play folk songs around a camp fire!

The first thing you should do is decide in advance what sort of acoustic guitar or electric guitar you want to buy and don’t forget to set a price for your purchase and seek sound advice from a knowledgeable guitar player before going to your local guitar store. A great idea would be to take along your own expert with you when you visit a guitar store… At least they will tell you like it is, without fear of losing their commission!

Your choice of guitar is quite bewildering in ‘guitar land’ and at a wide range of prices too. If you are a person who wants to pick up the guitar and play, no matter where you are, then an acoustic guitar is the choice for you. No messing around with speakers and amplifiers. The cheapest acoustic guitar types tend to be nylon stringed ‘classical’ guitars but these tend to lack powerful tones needed for most pop and rock songs. For this you will probably need a steel strung ‘flat top’ guitar which tend to be slightly more expensive, but are great for finger-picking and fast strumming work.

If you would like to become a ‘rock god’ then there is no substitute for an electric guitar. The musical impact of playing an electric guitar will be with you forever, but to experience it you will need to buy and amplifier, a speaker, and be powered up… In reality though there is no difference in the way you learn to play an electric guitar from that of an acoustic guitar except that electric guitars tend to be a little heavier, but there is no massive difference in the amount of physical strength needed to master the guitar.

So when it is time to make your choice between acoustic and electric, the only deciding factor should be your own musical preferences and the practical requirements of each type of guitar.

Learning and playing the guitar can be great fun. If you want more cool information on the guitar and how to play it come and visit our dedicated guitar pages…

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Do you wish you’d learnt to play the piano when you were younger or that you hadn’t given up? Then this book is for you – because it’s never too late! At last a truly grown-up approach to learning the piano. Pam Wedgwood, author of many popular piano series, takes you through the rudiments of piano technique and music theory in her own friendly style that’s guaranteed to get results. The book is organized into clearly structured progressive units with a fabulous array of music t (more…)