Posts Tagged ‘crafts’

5 Steps To Learn a New Song On The Piano

April 24th, 2011

As we start to get to know the piano, the next natural step is to start learning songs, so that we can impress our friends and family with how talented we are and play them a little something they might know.

There are many different approaches to memorizing songs. This is my preferred method:

1) First things first, listen to the song. I mean really listen. What does it make you think of? Does it spark a particular feeling? The point of this is to develop a relationship with the song before you begin learning.

2) Listen to it again, two times. If you can, write down all of the chords as you listen the first time around. The second time around divide the song in to A’s, B’s and Breaks like this: “A B A B C B B(half tone up)” or “A A B A B C B break B B”. Remember to also include C parts, modulations and other important elements. This last bit provides structure and is a very important step. Imagine yourself as an architect. This is your blueprint to base everything else on.

3) Go through all of the chords on the keyboard, playing them very slowly. Notice “hard parts”, figure out the best fingering and make sure you can play the whole thing without two much hesitation. It is best to reach a state of feeling like it’s effortless before moving on.

4) Do step three once more, but this time apply your metronome. This is a crucial step. Start slow and slowly turn up the pace. Make sure you are keeping the beat and continues doing this until it feels like a walk in the park.

5) Play a final rehearsal without the metronome. Try to play it with as much perfection as you can. Keep the tempo by tapping your foot. Put the piano aside and sleep on it. The next day, play through the song once and leave it at that. Don’t fall in to the trap of obsessing over every little detail. Play it only once.

This method takes a little practice. If you do it correctly, with focus and determination, the next time you sit down at your piano the song will flow naturally from you hands and you will be free to enjoy the experience together with your audience.

For more piano stuff stop by my website with piano lessons and everything else a piano enthusiast could ever think of. 1on1 Piano Lessons Dot Com.

Guitar Plans – How To Make A Carbon Copy

November 5th, 2010

You’ve got simply purchased your very own guitar plans and are ready to get to work constructing your guitar. However you don’t want to cut or damage your original paper plans to construct the drafts. What can you do to solve this problem?

Sure, you possibly can easily make extra copies by going to a copier store however some of those drawings have copyrights attached to them, and we don’t wish to trespass on these laws. This easy yet traditional process of constructing blueprint schematics will work in any situation you are in and in your personal shop.

Supplies You Will Need – Listed below are the things you will need to make the blueprint. You most likely have already got them on hand.

* A pair of scissors or a sharp knife for slicing * Charcoal pencil or colored chalk for carbon copying * Masking tape * A pencil to trace and mark * Blueprint material like thin cardboard or a thick poster board.

Step 1 – Prepare to switch the guitar form to the poster board. This system is called making a carbon copy. Take the guitar plans and place it face down over a white surface on a desk, if you cannot see the lines clearly then take the blueprints and place it downwards on a bright or lighted background. This can be on a lighted desk or against a window in your shop throughout the day. The point is that you wish to clearly see the strains on the entrance when looking on the backside of the plans.

Step 2 – Copy over the lines. Using the charcoal pencil or colored chalk, begin to trace or mark over the featuress of the guitar shape and sound hole. This does not should be pretty or precise just make certain it is thick in width and over the required lines. When you find yourself done take a tissue paper and calmly wipe off the excess charcoal or chalk.

Step three – Now you are able to make your carbon copy. Position the poster board (or skinny cardboard) tightly on a table. Then overlay it with the guitar plan with the charcoal facet face down making contact to the poster board. Subsequently, secure the guitar plan to the poster board with the masking tape. Begin simply tracing over the guitar shape and sound gap together with your pencil. There is no need to press hard because the charcoal will transfer with simply mild pressure.

Step 4 – While you’re finished tracing over the guitar outline, gently remove the tape and lift the plan away from the poster board. Now that the outline is visible on the poster board, take a minute to darken the line with your pencil.

Step 5 – Now it’s time to cut out your template. Utilizing a pair of scissors or a hobby knife, cut out the form of the guitar. Take your time with cutting to avoid any rough edges. Bear in mind, that is your template, and you want it good and smooth.

Your guitar template is now complete just repeat the process for the neck, bracing patterns, side panels, and different templates when you have want of them.

For more information about Build Your Own Guitar visit us at: http://www.guitarplans.net

Banjo Christmas

October 18th, 2009

It seems apparent that you’re looking for some kind of a banjo or you wouldn’t have found this page. I guess chances are good that you have in some way connected your Christmas gift need with banjo. Put those two together and you have banjo Christmas. Isn’t that clever. Well, consider this. Rearrange banjo Christmas and what do you have? Christmas Banjo. I wanted to write an article about a Christmas Banjo. See how this works?

Are you reading this a day or two before Christmas? Maybe not. But if you are, then the phrase, stuck at Christmas without a gift, probably means something to you. Regardless of whether you’re reading this weeks ahead of Christmas or on Christmas eve, follow through with it and you may get ideas about how to come up with a perfect Christmas gift solution. To help with that, let me ask this one question. Do you know what kind of banjo you want? And do you have any idea about what it costs? Okay, sorry, I asked two questions. To ask two in one, do you have any ideas about what kind of banjo you want for what price?

To really answer that question may require a brief encounter with Virginia Woolf or James Joyce. Say what? These two authors wrote in a unique style that often amounted to no style at all. It’s officially referred to as stream of consciousness writing, that is to say they would come up with a subject and write for hours on end recording whatever came into their minds, forgetting about order, grammar, spelling, or sense. Oh, they did some rewriting, but, even with that, a lot of what they wrote is difficult to comprehend. And that’s the key. Each of them understood fully what they were saying, even if the common reader could make no sense of it at all. If that sounds like gobbledygook to you, please don’t click away yet, just bear with me for a moment.

The idea is to use your very own stream of consciousness. Even if it’s a tainted stream, as it is with me, let’s try it anyway. The rule is to let your imagination run wild. Try to listen for things you might overhear in your mind then write them down without any additional thought. That’s another way to define “stream of consciousness”. The following paragraph is an example from my own muddy stream using our subject Christmas banjo:

Working late, hero, come unto me, do it, don’t do it, do it all, my way, I did it my way, again for my in law, brother, sister, yourself, do it yourself, late working, Christmas, don’t know, what can I get, well playing, tie a yellow ribbon, red ribbon, rags to riches, yellow and black, good gift, great gift, guitar, banjo, what am I doing, who cares, late working, belated, better, brother in law, never, tide that binds, banjo, banjo Christmas, Christmas banjo, Xmas banjo, never, not me, same thing, no, late wrapping, good gift, who cares, metal, metal drummer, drummer boy, little, wood, wooden, little drummer, fife and guitar, drum, banjo, how to play, who plays, too late, makes no sense, same thing, always, never, he already played, hate the sound of, no, make my own, economy, downturn, family, family project, yes, no, staycation, lost our way, some trip, we’re together, diy, do it yourself, me.

This is just so much nonsense, you say. Well, that is just as intended, or better than just as intended, just as expected. Sorry, I must remember that the crazy paragraph above is just an example, not the way I’m trying to write. To make sense again, let me suggest that you try this yourself on the subject of Christmas banjo. You can use any subject for that matter, but, since we are considering banjos . . . Using this procedure may provide insight into your inner mind. Often one is shocked at the revealing messages that are sometimes just below one’s surface self. A very revealing ah-ha moment may jump out at you. It may give you a way to determine a unique, great, and perfect Christmas gift, whether you’re somewhat stuck at Christmas without a gift or you are shopping early. Good luck to you.

You can see additional information about A Christmas Banjo Gift or visit me at papasboxes.com and you can see pictures showing how to build your own banjo or get access to completed instruments.

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