Posts Tagged ‘guitar lessons’

« Older Entries
Newer Entries »

Choosing The Right Musical Instrument For Your Child

June 20th, 2011

A child should learn how to play a musical instrument. Even if your children won’t become famous in the music industry, it doesn’t hurt them to know how to play an instrument. Every child loves music and some are even passionate about it. Still, choosing the best instrument for your kid can be a taxing subject. At first, you should know that it’s not enough for you to choose an instrument. Your child is the one who will finally decide if that is the appropriate musical instrument. If it’s not fun, the kid won’t enjoy playing it and it will all become a huge waste of time and money.

All instruments have their complexities and each parent should take them into account before purchasing one. You shouldn’t try to push your children onto a specific instrument, unless they really like and enjoy. In fact, it has to be your child’s choice. They also have to like their teacher and the music they’re playing in order to keep practicing on a daily basis. In conclusion, the instrument must be fun for each and every child.

You can save a lot of time and money by following a few guidelines in what concerns choosing the right musical instrument for your kid. At the same time, you should be patient and understanding enough to know that it usually takes years to become good at music. Parents should encourage their children to explore their preferences and interest to find the best musical instrument for them.

Parents should find out what the noise level is for each musical instrument and if you have a suited vehicle to carry it around. Besides that, you should see if you have enough storage room in your house, because some musical instruments can occupy a lot of space. Specialists say there is a suited musical instrument for everyone and that the most important thing is that your children find out which ones are suited for them.

Specialists say that the PRS musical instruments are the best; many pop and rock stars begun their musical careers practicing and playing a PRS guitar produced by this well-known firm. After purchasing such a guitar, all you have to do is to encourage your kid to practice each and every day. Many children have talent, but if they don’t practice, and if they don’t take musical lessons seriously, it is hard to believe that they will become stars someday. Music is supposed to be fun, but music is also supposed to be educational and children have a lot to gain from this experience that will help them later in life. Not every kid that owns a guitar will become a rock star, but they can all learn a few things about discipline and the joy offered by music.

PRS Guitar instruments, the best in the world, can be found at Sounds Great Music.

Comments Off »

Posted in Music

Tags:

Things To Consider When Purchasing Drums

June 17th, 2011

So it’s time you finally graduated from smashing your parents pots and pans to knocking around some real drums, or maybe you’re already well on your way to being the next Neil Pert. Cool. Either way, keep these tips in mind and you’ll be focusing on your music instead of your gear.

First consideration is budget. It will dictate what you are and aren’t allowed to buy. First you need to cover the basics, your bass drum, snare, tom toms, hi-hats, and cymbals. Before moving on to other aspects of your kit make sure these basic pieces are of sufficient quality. It’s ok to buy a used set, especially if you’re beginning, but make sure the wear isn’t too bad or you’ll just sink money into replacing the heads once they’re broken through. Starters don’t need a perfect tone but it’s a physical instrument and you don’t want to feel like you’re constantly smashing a fragile instrument. It’s possible to learn on less than five pieces, but it’s more fun to have the basic set. You want to make sure playing is fun at this early stage so you’re motivated to continue.

There is a saying that a drum kit isn’t one instrument, but many instruments put together. With this in mind, after you’ve reached a certain level of experience, make sure you like the sound of each part you’re adding to your kit. It’s hard to have a good kit without a solid snare and a bass drum, so emphasize these. You can start adding more cymbals once you’ve got the experience necessary. By this time you’ll notice that some produce a thin, tinny sound opposed to the expressive richness offered by high end cymbal makers like Zildjian and Sabian. Also, consider the type of sound you’re getting in the store itself when you’re trying all these drums; carpeted floors will deaden the sound and if you’re in a big open expanse the sound will get lost in the space. Ask an attendant if they’re tuned.

In general, when you walk into a store tell them you are seriously interested in buying a kit. Even the worst staff will perk up. Ask him/her as many questions as you can and listen carefully to his responses. Don’t even only go to one store. Comparing allows you to play more instruments, get different advice, and get a feel for different stores. All things being equal, you’d rather buy your instrument from staff who knows what they’re talking about. They’re more likely to give you better advice and carry quality instruments. People who also play and love the instruments will carry instruments they can be proud of, whereas indifferent stores are just looking to move product. Compare, and restrain your desire to buy on impulse. Patience is a virtue here.

Now all you need to do is buy some sticks and a stool and you’re set! Have fun, practice hard, and keep all these tips in mind.

Long & McQuade’s Musical Education Center offers music lessons Ottawa and music lessons Nanaimo. When trying to learn a musical instrument be sure to visit the professionals at Long & McQuade – one of Canada’s largest music stores.

Comments Off »

Posted in Music

Tags:

Stretching Your Guitar Strings

June 13th, 2011

If your guitar strings are not stretched, they may go out of tune or break. A guitar player looks after his instrument with great care and passion. You can create amazing sounds with your guitar and with the effects pedals. The instrument has got to be well looked after because it is enough to do even a slight band on the higher strings and they go out of tune. If you do not stretch your guitar strings, they will loosen while you play.

Stretching your strings takes time and you need to be patient and attentive. When you have new strings, make sure you stretch them in order to keep them flexible.

By stretching them, your strings get more flexible and more durable. To start with, restring your guitar and then stretch the strings. Stretch before tuning, otherwise they break. Your guitar will stay in tune. During the process, your strings might snap and you need to pay attention to keep your face at safe distance.

As a general rule, use a plane surface to place the guitar on. With the help of your pointer and middle finger of your left hand push down on the low E string at the first fret. Grasp the first string halfway between the nut and the bridge. Slide your thumb on your right hand under the low E string at the fifth fret. Now gently pull up the low E string while still pushing down with your left hand. Don’t pull too hard or you’ll break it. One inch away from the guitar bridge will do. Pull it up and down a few times.

When you sense a tension, gradually lower the string back into place. Repeat the same things on the same string two or three times. Do not be hasty and do not make sudden movements.

Now, you have finished stretching the first string. Move your left hand up two frets and your right hand up two frets and repeat procedure. Repeat until you reach the fifteenth fret. Do the same for the rest of the strings.

Tuning your guitar is the next step. Use your own hearing or an electric tuner. After tuning, stretch the strings once again using the same procedure like before. It might be necessary to tune your strings once again after all that. After all, playing the guitar is hard enough and you have to be really passionate to do it.

Stretching and tuning must be done repeatedly until the strings can be stretched without going out of tune. Once you reached the point where they do not go out of tune again, it means you have accomplished your task.

If you use the guitar effects pedals from Sounds Great Music you can surely improve the overall quality of your music.And if you stretch your strings, they will stay in tune.

Comments Off »

Posted in Music

Tags:

Improvise A Recording Studio At Home

June 4th, 2011

You want to be able to record songs any time you want. Or maybe, you just composed a new song and you want to record an initial version of it so you will not forget it. With a home studio, recording and producing songs is easier than ever.

If you have some talent and you are just starting a music career, you know how hard it is to get heard. There are many talented musicians and most of them have real hard time making money from their songs. A good song is not always enough and the right producer can make it even better. But finding and hiring a producer and booking studio time in order to record your album can cost a lot of money and most musicians just do not have that kind of money. Having a small personal studio can give you an advantage over other singers and in time you will be able to produce your songs in the exact way you envisioned them. Besides being very cheap by comparison with big studios, they are also portable and you can take your equipment with you and record songs every time you feel inspired.

If you are planning to make your own studio you should know that you do not need to spend that much money. First of all, you need a room for your recordings and that room has to be as quiet as possible. If you have a basement you could use it as there are no windows, which means there will be less noise from outside. In order to reduce the echoes and reverberations you need to cover the floor with thick rugs. You should even consider covering your walls with carpets.

You need a computer and it does not have to be the fastest one but it has to be able to handle your programs. It is important that you buy a good audio editing software because it will help you manipulate your recordings to your desire. You should buy an external audio interface that connects to your computer via USB but if your quality demands are not that high, you can go with the sound card installed on your computer. A condenser microphone is vital for a quality sound. You also need a set of speakers in order to listen what you recorded and make all the necessary adjustments.

With all the equipment set up you are ready to record a song and even produce an album. All the instruments and vocals you record will come together into the songs your fans have been expecting to listen to. PRS Guitars are of great help.

You can have now your own recording studio at home and one of the perfect equipments are the PRS Guitars from Sounds Great Music.

Comments Off »

Posted in Music

Tags:

How To Build Patterns For Lead Guitar Improvisations

May 31st, 2011

Few strategies are there to build various patterns:

1. Start on the E string on any note of the scale. Keep this fret in your mind . Move up that string playing notes from the scale until the next note would be more than 4 frets from home position (count the home position as fret 1), and place that next note on a higher string. Continue it until you run out of strings.

With this approach you can find regular scale boxes – boxes are great because they help you to hold your hand in the same position throughout the scale.

2. Start on the E string on any note of the scale. For each string, add notes until you have played precisely 3 notes on that string and after that change strings.

You can find 3 notes per string scales with the help of this approach – this is great because they have an even number of notes on each string which actually helps with speed runs.

You can get 2 note per string scales by altering the number from 3 to 2 or 4, or even 4 notes per string scales (possible, but really difficult to play, a favorite of Alan Holdsworth I believe). 2 notes per string are especially suitable for pentatonic.

3. Whole neck approach – in this approach we play entire number of scales by moving up 1 string and handle every string in isolation. Understand that there will be great overlap between strings, and figure out all the practicable means of playing an individual note or run on all strings (very challenging to do in practice but this is how actually top notch performers find out things)

That’s all what the patterns actually are – and as far as a point of terminology is concerned, I would call boxes a special case of patterns that are constructed by applying rule 1, patterns is a more general term that refers to all possible ways to map a scale to the guitar neck.

E Walker is contributes regular to guitar publications worldwide. He is the founder of Planet of Rock. See how guitar backing tracks makes guitar practice more enjoyable! Jam to over 1000 professional tracks including 100s of backing tracks

Comments Off »

Posted in Music

Tags:

You Are Only As Good As The Wood of Your Acoustic Guitar

May 29th, 2011

Believe it or not, your sound is only as good as your wood. Each wood has a very distinct sound that is individual to every acoustic guitar. Like a finger print, it cannot be recreated, even if another piece of wood is taken from the same source.

This is due to the wood’s unique characteristics. Perhaps there are knots in the wood, or a slightly different grain pattern. Maybe there are some other subtle differences but in the end, it all affects how the wood resonates. Resonate is a fancy word for vibration, which is what wood does when you attach strings to it.

How freely the wood resonates will affect your volume (how loud you are) and your tone as a result of that. This explains why that plywood (laminate) guitar sitting in the pawnshop or music store doesn’t sound that great: The wood is too stiff to vibrate freely.

That’s why you may frequently hear the saying “Solid top”. While that may sound great in a sales pitch, the reason it’s actually important is that it’s real wood, not plywood. This transforms your tone to give you a much nicer sounding guitar.

Before the wood actually gets to your guitar, it undergoes quite a few steps. First off, most tone woods are either industrially logged. This is common for many production model guitars. Still sounds great in most cases, but there are some imperfections.

Higher end guitars have their wood hand selected. It is usually cut by hand and the select chunks are chosen for quality and then shipped back to home base for further processing.

Most manufactures of decent acoustic guitars season their woods for a period of time. This removes excess moisture and hardens the fats, oils, murr (gum), and other sticky things that are naturally found in wood. This seasoning protects the wood from warping and prepares it structurally for the building stage.

From that point, a piece of wood is then book matched. This is the process where one single cut of wood is sliced into two pieces. This forms two identical pieces of wood, which can then be used for the front or back of the guitar. That explains why you have that line running down the back of your guitar (it’s usually white). That line just covers up the seam.

Now, onto the woods. Here are some of the neatest and powerful woods out there:

Spruce – Spruce is an extremely strong wood, which is important for building a guitar. It offers some very nice crisp highs and a much more powerful volume. Great wood choice. Used on the majority of guitars.

Cedar – Slightly more mellow than Spruce and has a very warm feel to it. It has a beautiful glow and is aesthetically pleasing.

Maple – A great all round wood that offers a good balance of highs, mids and lows. This is something that many guitarists desire for an all round good projection and clean sound. However, because of this equal balance, it can also sound quite flat for the acoustic world so it’s often used on electrics. It is highly desired for it’s beautiful grain and lusture.

Koa – Known for it’s high range, Koa is known for it’s solid tone. It doesn’t have a good bass response but makes up for it in the high end of the dynamic sound spectrum.

Mahogany – Great projection and nice treble. The flatpickers dream when combined with the dreadnaught body type because it offers such a great response and tone.

Brazilian Rosewood – This wood is probably the most wanted piece of wood for guitars in the world. It’s becoming increasingly rare as it’s becoming extinct, therefore jacking up the price tremendously. It offers a huge bass response with nice treble and mids. Unfortunately, most only come on limited edition guitars that are at the top end of the price spectrum.

Indian Rosewood – The more popular alternative to Brazilian Rosewood and is far more accessible. Has virtually the same tonal characteristics, just not as powerful. It’s used on most professional guitars.

Cocobolo – My personal favorite! In my humble opinion, it takes many characteristics from the above woods and combines them to form a truly unique sound. It produces a great bass, awesome volume and phenomenal overtones. This wood will most likely be on my next acoustic. I suggest you do the same.

…Keep in mind that there are many, many more species of tone woods available to you. There are also some great subtypes of the above woods. For example, Taylor guitars use Sitka Spruce on many of their models and limited edition guitars. It’s in the family of spruce, but offers something different.

In the end, the above comments are extremely subjective. While I have played many of the woods mentioned above, my ear likes things that your ear may not. The only way to find out is to hunt them down and try them for yourself. Many companies use the above woods listed, so it shouldn’t be extremely difficult.

E Walker is contributes regular to guitar publications worldwide. He is the founder of Planet of Rock. See how guitar backing tracks makes guitar practice more enjoyable! Jam to over 1000 professional tracks including 100s of backing tracks

Comments Off »

Posted in Music

Tags:

Using the Tremolo Technique with Backing Tracks

May 27th, 2011

Life couldn’t be easier than this: You get guitar backing tracks for almost all the top rock, metal, blues and progressive music tracks. All you need to do is learn to focus and learn to play along with the guitar backing tracks.The guitar backing tracks are essential for practice because you can play just about anything or any type of lead. You can even conjure your own piece of work.

For example: if you have guitar backing tracks for the Blood and tears by Steve Vai then you don’t have to necessarily play the same lead that Vai has played. You can use all the different advanced guitar techniques using the tremolo and do your original stuff. It’s much more fun that way.

The tremolo technique for playing the lead guitar comes in handy especially when you’re practicing for a live gig. Of course the guitar backing tracks have to be there but then you need to understand how to play around and improvise with the tremolo. While playing a tremolo all you have to do is play the string with an up and down motion with the help of your pick. It is something that was made famous by the legendary guitarist Pete Townshend.

You can use a tremolo on guitar backing tracks at very high speeds as well as slow speeds. More often than not, a tremolo is played rapidly. If this is your first time then all you need to do is get the right guitar backing tracks and start playing the tremolo at a slow speed and then proceed a step ahead and try to play it faster. The firmer your grip on the tremolo, the faster you should play it. The truth is that there is no fun playing the tremolo slow. Here is a tip: try to play thin picks on the tremolos as they are easier to play. Here is an example of a basic tremolo track:

E|–0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0–| B|———————–| G|———————–| D|———————–| A|———————–| E|———————–| |–d-u-d-u-d-u-d-u-d-u–|

Always remember that when you’re playing the tremolo with guitar backing tracks, you need to pick down on whatever string you are playing and then immediately pick up that particular string. It should never be two motions – it should always look like just one motion. Here is another example of a simple tremolo that you’ll be able to practice with guitar backing tracks:

E|–0-0-2-2-4-4-2-2-0-0–| B|———————–| G|———————–| D|———————–| A|———————–| E|———————–| |–d-u-d-u-d-u-d-u-d-u–|

E Walker is contributes regular to guitar publications worldwide. He is the founder of Planet of Rock. See how guitar backing tracks makes guitar practice more enjoyable! Jam to over 1000 professional tracks including 100s of backing tracks

Comments Off »

Posted in Music

Tags:

Jam With Guitar Backing Tracks and How To Benefit From It

May 26th, 2011

Join us as we examine all the benefits of using guitar backing tracks to play live gigs. You’ll learn how using such backing tracks for guitar can improve your skills and ability as well as making practice time more enjoyable, along with the many advantages of using them to play live.

One of the most beneficial learning tools for a guitarist looking to fully master the guitar is to play a lot of live gigs. Playing live shows is great for honing and perfecting your skills and abilities under the pressure of playing in front of an audience. Performing in front of an audience will help you to gauge how far you’ve come and give you a chance to entertain people and put all of that practice time to good use.

One of the many reasons why some guitarists shun away from live performances is because they do not have a band and have no one to back them up on stage. Others may be in a band with members who are not as dedicated, or don’t show up for practices, so playing a live gig would be a disaster. Practice makes perfect and performance at a live gig without any preparation would be the fastest way to end your gigging career. Whatever the reason may be, these individuals are missing out on a great teaching experience that could really help them to master their instrument by not playing to a live crowd.

This is where playing live gigs with guitar backing tracks can be extremely useful. Guitar backing tracks are the serious guitar student’s most effective secret weapon for improving their playing style and perfecting their instrument. These backing tracks sound great, like a professional band playing behind you to back you up. Do ensure that you do play along to professional guitar backing tracks and not “midi” based tracks. Professional tracks are available from online shops such as Planet of Rock.

Guitar backing tracks are great for private practice sessions as well. They increase your skill by allowing you to practice chords and scales as well as improvising solos to a live backing band. This practice experience also helps you to develop the timing skills necessary to play along with other musicians. They improve practice time by making it less dull and helping you to use the knowledge you have gained to create awesome lead work as well as perfecting rhythm techniques. By perfecting your skills with guitar backing tracks, you can also work on perfecting your tone. All great tone comes from the player’s abilities and how well they actually play; it’s not all about the fancy equipment.

Once you have become comfortable with your skills and abilities, you’re ready to put them to the ultimate test! Use these guitar backing tracks for a live performance! They will enable you to express your creativity to improvise great lead work and to thoroughly rock the crowd. You do not have to worry about your back up band messing up or missing the show.

E Walker is the founder of Planet of Rock Music Studios. Listen to samples of backing tracks. Find out how these guitar backing track will bring your skills to the next level. You are just One Click Away!

Comments Off »

Posted in Music

Tags:

Advanced Guitar Theory- The Relative Minors

May 21st, 2011

This short article presents a woolly description as well as a more technical one to make you familiar with Relative Minors.

A relative minor is a musical scale that is “related” to a major scale. As they work together harmonically, thus they can be regarded as being in the same family. Relative minors provide a remarkable mode to move from a major to a minor key without too much of a jump or use of multiplex chord sequences and so they are considered as a well-set tool in songwriting.

Here is a more technical description:

The relative minor of a certain major scale is a scale that starts 6 intervals up and after that shares all of the same notes. Firstly, what is an interval? It is not easy to answer it exactly but you can say that an interval is a note in a scale. You can understand all this with the help of an example. Let’s look at the scale of C ??” it is liked by most of the people because it has no sharps or flats. It comprises of followingnotes

C-D-E-F-G-A-B-C

We find that A is the relative minor of C by moving up 6 notes, (C-D-E-F-G-A). Therefore the possible notes we will use for A minor are A-B-C-D-E-F-G-A.

Although we start on the note of A, all of the notes also exist in the C major scale.

Taking it a step further, looking at the scale in terms of half and whole notes, as in the Major Scale 101 lesson, for a relative minor we would apply the pattern:

W H W W H W W, or

2 1 2 2 1 2 2

You can practice this formula to figure out the relative minor scale for any major scale by starting at the 6th note and applying it.

Now, to conclude, a short note of a couple of fascinating facts about Relative Minors is given. Firstly, three various minor scales are there in western music ??” with a slight divergence in their formula. The scale above is in reality a “Natural Minor” or “Pure Minor” scale – two names for the same thing while the other two are called “Harmonic” and “Melodic”. As their formulas differ from each other, so they do not share the same notes as the associated relative major scale and are harmonically speaking not such a right match as the Natural Minor.

And eventually, the Natural Minor (or Relative Minor) scale of a certain major scale is also known as the “Aeolian Mode”. Modes are a concept that we will discuss later, but for now, you can say confidently that you have correct understanding of Relative Minors, Pure Minors, Natural Minors, and the Aeolian mode.

E Walker is the founder of Planet of Rock Music Studios. Listen to samples of backing tracks. Find out how these guitar backing track will bring your skills to the next level. You are just One Click Away!

Comments Off »

Posted in Music

Tags:

How To Teach Music Lessons

May 16th, 2011

If you want to give music lessons, you need to establish who you want to teach and what you want to teach. The level of experience and any qualifications you have will give you different opportunities for training or teaching. Understanding how you will provide lessons and the format of the classes also need to be considered.

A music teacher can work as a self employed individual or can seek employee as part of a school or college. Within a school, music will be part of a syllabus. A college may be specifically orientated to providing musical training. A self employed teacher will need advertise for pupils and be the administrator of their business as well as providing tuition.

Employment as part of a school means all pupils will be children. For teachers who prefer to work with adults, a college or a self employed career will allow them to choose their pupils. A self employed teacher may choose to teach adults and children but learning styles will differ and the content of the lessons should be adjusted to meet the requirements of the learner.

The tutor might be proficient in many instruments or an expert in one. The provision of music lessons might include theory and exams. It might even extend to training on performance techniques or recording methods used in a studio. Colleges provide classes that extend beyond the technique of playing an instrument and passing exams.

The teacher who works as part of an organization is provided with a classroom. For a free lance worker, there are various options which may come with costs. A rehearsal room will provide a dedicated space but has an hourly charge. Alternatively, tuition may be provided at the home of the tutor or the student if there is a suitable space.

Lessons given within an organization such as school or college will focus on large groups. Tutors providing their own lessons can choose to train one individual per class, or work with small groups. There are advantages to both teaching systems. One to one tuition focuses on one person. Working in groups helps develop the interaction between the student musicians.

The tutor may have different musical tastes to their pupils. If they work as part of a school or college, then there will be a syllabus which has certain requirements. A self employed teacher may prefer to teach certain styles or lack confidence in genres they are unfamiliar with. A good teacher will aim to encourage their pupils to explore different types of music in their learning experience.

In such a wide field of study, a teacher must decide whether to specialize or generalize. The options of theory, practice or performance, of writing and recording are all open to the teacher who makes a living of providing music lessons Oakville.

Music Lessons Oakville as well as Oakville guitar lessons are offered in Oakville and Burlington to beginning and intermediate level students of all ages–from children age 6 and up, to young and older adults.

Comments Off »

Posted in Music

Tags:

Array

Powered by WordPress Lab