Mega Music Talent

Posts Tagged ‘guitar playing’

Don’t you just envy people who can pick up a guitar and start strumming? Even if you do know a few songs, you need to know guitar chords in order to be able to play guitar well. A chord is a minimum of three pitches played simultaneously. In other words, a specific sound is created when you play at least three strings simultaneously. These strings can be adjacent or separated from each other. Read the rest of this entry »

So you want to write songs, and you want to write them on guitar. This is the book that shows you exactly how. Taking tips and tricks from classic songwriters, from Bob Dylan to The Beatles to Tori Amos, “How To Write Songs On Guitar” takes you through the four main elements of a song – rhythm, melody, lyrics and harmony – and inspires you to combine them in exciting new ways. This revised and expanded edition adds 32 pages of contemporary examples and new ideas. Packed with cho (more…)

When I was a youngster back in the turbulent ’60,s, like most of my peers I used to hang out in the various coffee bars that were around town, and I would feed the juke box which always stood in the corner.

It used to be the unspoken word that everybody drinking coffee in the shop would take their turn to feed the juke box, and by doing this you were announcing to the world (or at least those in the coffee shop) what type of music you enjoyed listening to.

I remember that I used to stay in the coffee bar until about 9 or 10pm each evening (in those days entertainment options were rather limited) and then I would go to my bedroom and tune in to Radio Luxemburg.

Do any of you remember Radio Luxemburg? It was a well known, and much loved, radio station.

There were a lot of radio stations around in the 1960′s, and many of them were stationed in offshore ships. I can’t remember any of the names of those stations or ships now, but if any reader can remember then please let me know.

I also cannot recall now whether Radio Luxemburg was a ship, or whether it was based on land, in Luxemburg. Again, if anybody can enlighten me it would be appreciated.

Well, it was while I was tuned in to these radio stations that I first got a ‘taste’ for the guitar. Somehow it seemed to resonate with my soul and I just loved listening to any record which had a guitar solo in it.

Much as I loved the guitar, I never considered playing it for myself, that is, not until a rather curious event occurred.

Those of you familiar with the road system in the U.K., will know that we have many roundabouts on our roads. These are designed to aid the flow of traffic, without stopping it as happens with traffic lights. They are literally a large circle placed at the junction of two roads, and they often have a small area of grass in the middle just to improve the appearance.

Well one day I was out on my bicycle ( I was too young for a car then) and about a mile from my home I came across a roundabout, and there, sitting in the middle of this roundabout was a friend of mine who was happily strumming away on his guitar.

All the cars that went past could not help but notice him, it was such an unusual sight right there in the middle of a roundabout. It was a bit like being on stage, in the middle of the road!

I sat with him there for an hour or so, and I just wished that I had a guitar to take out and start playing.

But that started me on the path from which I have never turned back. I saved up furiously until I had enough money to go out and buy my own guitar, and the rest, as they say, is history.

Over the years I have played in many bands, and have made music all around the world, but I have never forgotten that ’roundabout experience’.

Now I spend my time teaching others how to play the guitar, and how to find their own roundabout to sit on.

Author Bio: John Charles is a guitar teacher who can teach you How To Play Guitar just like your guitar hero. Click the link for details.

The First Time You Play

When I was a kid, I was in a band as we all like to think we were, even if we couldn’t really play anything. With two classmates in tow, we played about once a week at my friend’s place and made quite a lot of rather strange noises we thought was amazing music!! But we were enthusiastic and loved the idea of being “rock stars.”

We never really thought about concerts or anything serious, we just plodded along rehearsing in with our 10 watt amps when his went away and we were skipping class. We had no idea how tone deaf we were and I thought I could play anything, anytime, anywhere. I didn’t understand that I had to play some sort of scale or key!! I just played anything!!!

Eventually, we went to the year 10 leaver’s social at the local memorial hall. In those days, entertainment was always live. DJs didn’t really exist (yes, it was that long ago!) and so bands were hired.

The group that was performing was rather lame, playing tunes not really suited for a bunch of hormonally challenged 14 ? 15 year old youths. In fact, they reminded me of the scene in the “American Pie” movie where the band is doing an awful version of “don’t you forget about me” and all the kids are bored.

Some friends at school knew my friends and I had a band and suggested we play. All of a sudden our ego disappeared and we got shy. We’re not ready we said. We just play for fun. Fright entered all of us and none of us wanted to go.

However, next thing we know, the “tough boys” who played football and were athletic heroes came over and told us we should play. We didn’t want too but they insisted. We said no. Then they say “get on stage or we are gonna punched ya heads in.” It appeared we didn’t have a choice.

So with the prospect of our heads being smashed heads and loss of any degree of cool we ever thought we had, we trundled toward the stage. Playing others people guitars, amps, and drums is akin to wearing some body else’s underwear- it just doesn’t fit right!!! But we got up there any way, ready to be booed off the stage and into the dark recesses of the hall. We played and the place went wild and with everybody dancing and yelling and smiling. We thought “hey this ain’t so bad” so we kept paying whatever we knew. Nobody, especially us, seemed to care. Everybody loved it. We kept going and going. The tough boys applauded and the girls smiled. My guitar solos still not in any scale or key but hey, there we were a real band on a real stage!! We were suddenly too cool for school and the “it” thing at school.

What we thought was torture turned out to be great and we ended up getting a gig with the other band. It was the start of a long musical career that still continues to this day.

Author Bio: Axebay is for guitar loves and provides a place for musicians to connect with each other. Visit the site at Axebay. There you can find a lot of information on guitars and guitar tuners.