Recent Articles
Learn to play piano and guitar pop music
The “Music Matters” website has created a new piano teaching method that has been spreading virally around the web. The idea is to teach piano playing while you watch the screen. You learn by seeing and copying. This is a new approach to learning the piano and offers a similar experience to visiting a piano teacher. You get to view videos showing how to play a specific song by observing keyboard fingering on screen and controlling the speed. The songs played in the videos are MIDI versions. The website’s graphics are not very flashy and they do resemble 90’s design, but don’t overlook the practical value of the site.
You can learn to play pop music, and, in particular, songs in the charts today and getting air time on the radio.
The videos are classified based on difficulty, from simple to intermediate.
Students landing on this website will be able to learn sheet music and play songs by ear, as well as by memory.
The website does not rank high in the search engines since it was only launched 1 year ago. However site visitors seem to love it and the number of site visits are huge. The website has hit a niche in the market. The audio library contains 250 songs, and increases every day. You can choose which song you want to be turned into text or video. The animated keyboard available on screen will help you pick up pop music on the piano after you have learned some chords. You can also send your own pop songs by offering a MIDI file .
An incentive to get you on the path to learning is to plan a nostalgia party based, for example, on 70’s music. As well as playing 70s hits in the background you could ask a guitarist friend to bring along their instrument and both of you play a few songs of the 70s together. To help get the party warmed up, you could ask guests to dress up in 70′s fancy dress costumes such as at www.partygetup.co.uk
Lladro Guitar Figurines are Special Guitar Player Gifts
LLADRO GUITAR FIGURINES
Celebrate musical accomplishments and milestones with the gift of a Lladro guitar figurine. These world-renown figurines represent many different forms of guitar playing. You’ll find adorable cherubs playing angelic guitars to modern acoustical guitar players. There’s a guitar figurine to suit every guitar player you know. You can even use guitar figurines for other kinds of figurine lovers.
LLADRO CLOWN WITH GUITAR
Both clown collectors and music lovers will enjoy the Lladro figurine that features a clown playing a guitar. You can get a real sense of the craftsmanship and artistic detail included in all Lladro figurines, when you check out this particular musical figurine. From the details on the clown’s ruffled collar to the guitar strings on his instrument. Also take note of the graceful
Lladro figurines are known for their graceful lines and muted colors. The expressions on their faces and the positions of their hands are usually particularly good. In this figurine note the elegant lines of the clowns legs and feet.
There are dozens of different guitar figurines to choose from. There are small boys and girls playing guitar. Perfect for children just beginning their lessons or preparing for an important recital. Dog lovers will marvel at a whimsical dog seriously playing a guitar.
Put Your Own Karaoke Band Together
With the breakout success of YouTube everybody is trying to become famous these days. There are lots of ways to go about it, and one of them is to create your own band and post videos that people love. Although this isn’t a direct guarantee, getting exposure will help in a variety of ways. Of course if you make a video and it’s no good, no one is going to rush to join your fan club. That’s why if you want to put together your own band, you’ll want to explore various avenues to practice your performance. One option is creating a karaoke band and hit the local circuit in order to improve. Almost any type of environment will help you to become better, and pretty soon your videos will get more plays.
You might be asking yourself at this point – what is a karaoke band? It can actually take a variety of forms so you don’t have to feel like it’s necessary to fit into one format. There are some people who take a group approach with four or five people who go up and sing the same time. There are others who are closer to traditional rock bands. Depending on the venue, you can even play your own instruments to go along with a backtrack. This will give a full and comprehensive experience that combines all the best aspects of your favorite songs.
One important rule of putting together your own karaoke band is to make sure that everyone gets along. While you might have a larger goal, it’s important to focus on the present and what needs to be done in order to achieve success. At this point, there’s no room for egos or people who think they are better than everyone else. Everyone should play a valuable role and have a purpose. It’s also good to get an eclectic group of people so that everyone brings their own skills to the table. Remember, one of the greatest advantages of putting together a band like this is that you don’t have to write your own music. You’re singing karaoke after all and that gives you the freedom to focus on your voice and performance.
Even though your goal is to get out into different venues to perform, you need a solid homebase as well. You should have a good sound space with a solid karaoke machine and a wide collection of music. It will be important to practice as much as possible while buying the best equipment you can afford. There are more supplies necessary than a simple karaoke system, and you should be on the lookout for things like microphones, electronic instruments, and wireless headphones. Once you feel your performance skills are up to par, then record yourself in this private space while making videos in public venues as well. Eventually you’ll see where you can improve and you can come up with a great video to post on YouTube in no time.
Learning Guitar with a Game Could be Fun
Learning to play the guitar seems like an exciting experience when you first set out on the journey. However anyone who knows that’s taken either private guitar lessons or signed up for guitar lessons online the first few weeks of instruction is anything but exciting.
Your hands aren’t used to the difficult shapes you need to make to form chords. Your right hand has a tough time strumming at the same time you’re trying to make those funky chord shapes with your left hand, and don’t forget the concept of musical theory can take a few weeks to really get your head wrapped around.
Recently however a video game company has released a new product they hope will make a big splash and enhance beginner guitarists enjoyment of learning.
Rocksmith is a new video game designed for Xbox and PS3. Like other music video games it displays numbers and colors on the screen letting you know what notes you must play. However, unlike Guitar Hero or Rock Band, Rocksmith uses a real electric guitar as the controller for game play rather then a plastic shrunken down guitar look-a-like.
Game play takes some getting used to. Especially if you’re not a guitarist. There are several different skill levels so as a beginner you’d start out only having to play notes on a string or two. As you feel more comfortable you’ll be able to bump up to playing power chords and even full chords.
The big enjoyment factor of learning the guitar using a game like Rocksmith is that you get to start playing songs you know and love right away.
Songs like:
The Rolling Stones – Satisfaction and Play with Fire
Lynyrd Skynyrd – Sweet Home Alabama
Cream – Sunshine of your Love
The Animals – House of the Rising Sun
Lenny Kravitz – Are You Gonna Go My Way
and more…
Beyond just learning some hit songs there are also some great mini-games built into the bundle that help beginners learn chords, scales and more.
While I wouldn’t say this is a straight guitar lessons game, as the entertainment value is first and the education component second, it is a solid game to get people interested in learning the guitar.
Improvisation
Improvisation in music and dance is often under-rated, but it’s an important skill for any performer.
Being able to improvise means you can adapt to unexpected circumstances during performance, for one thing. It’s also an indication of your progress in your chosen art form – confidence in improvisation is a sign of real command of your genre.
Belly dance improvisation is especially important because belly dance is, essentially, an improvised dance form. “Real” belly dance is all improvised. Choreography only became popular because so many Western belly dance schools encourage their students to perform early. They’re not ready to dance solo, so they dance in a troupe, which must dance in unison. The only way you can ensure that, is to create set steps!
It’s a pity, because it means many belly dancers grow up with little or no confidence in their ability to make up their own steps “on the fly” – which in the end, is what belly dancing is all about.
Tribal bellydance (particularly American Tribal Style) is built around improvising, so Tribal sisters are generally more confident about creating their own moves, although they make heavy use of small routines which are put together to make a larger dance – but then, that’s what impro is really all about!