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Archive for December, 2009

Nearly 90% of the world’s population is right handed. This means that they use right hand for practically everything. But, what about the left handed people? In the music industry, there are a few people play guitar left hand. Jimi Hendrix, for instance, was left handed. Is this really all that surprising? Other left handed artists switch the strings for their own benefit.

How do lefties learn how to play a custom made, right handed guitar?
Just as long as aren’t quitting, and are among the left handed people who try really hard to play your own way, you can benefit from reading this. There are a couple of things you can actually do: firstly, you can switch the strings, or you can choose to play the guitar upside down. Sounds outrageous, doesn’t it? It’s still a fact and very much effective.

Some articles state it’s way difficult to learn left handed guitar with it upside down, while others believe that nothing is impossible as long as you put your heart into it. The idea of rotating a guitar and playing it backwards can be both accepted and used.
Using basic chords, a left hand player can place his or her fingers on the same set of strings, only it has to be turned around but with the same, basic strings. Regardless of how accustomed people are to playing right handed, some left handed guitarists have introduced new methods.

To start with, you must equip yourself with a good guitar guide or instruction manual. Taking left handed guitar lessons with an upside down guitar does not necessarily mean changing the way fingering should be done. The placement of your fingers will still remain the same, with the only difference relying on the finger you use on the fret.

Typically, when playing a right handed guitar with a right hand, the C would represent the 4th finger must be positioned at the 3rd fret dipping on the 5th string. Then, your 3rd finger must lie on the 2nd fret pressing on the 4th string. Last, your index finger should be on the 1st fret down on the 2nd string.

With learning how to play guitar left hand, the playing should be done in an inverted way. Note that your last string will be on top and the fret would still remain the same. Things can be difficult if you’ve no guitar to practice playing with. Be sure to follow what the diagram shows, and that you don’t make the mistake of strumming the “forbidden” strings in each chord.

This kind of technique is challenging, indeed. So, begin with those chords that only require 2 or 3 of your fingers for right now. Basic chords, such as C, A, G, E, & D, are examples. Once you get the hang of these, try working on harder ones. If you find that you have a hard time coping with this technique to play guitar left hand, you may have to settle with more conventional ways of playing. That is, actually playing right handed even though you are left handed.

Copyright Liam Gibson (Stage Guitarist)

When I first learned to play the guitar I found that the chords were the toughest things to master. What about you?

Most definitely learning guitar chords are extremely difficult. This may be because you must use multiple fingers and strum multiple strings simultaneously. The combinations and finger placements seemed rather absurd at first.

Seriously, because I had large hands, I thought I’d never be able to warp and play those chords. After I learned them I realized I’ve made a big mistake, two perhaps. Assuming my trouble of playing guitar chords was attributed to my large fingers and hands plus getting frustrated by this. Now I know that it all had to do with the placement of my fingers rather than the size of my hands. Hence, the placement of the chord-playing hand (for me, my left hand) is very important.

So if guitar chords learning is giving you trouble, check the placement of your left thumb while playing the guitar. Where is it at? Your left thumb should be sitting on the lower portion of the back of the neck behind the second finger. NEVER place this thumb on the upper part of the neck, this is incorrect. You may find the correct positioning of the fingers feels extremely uncomfortable at first. Although this seems like a comfort issue at first, this is the appropriate technique for most guitar styles. This will differ for each person depending on the length of their fingers, the flexibility of their hands, etc.

It’s important that you don’t forget this posture. So you may play a few notes or songs then give into the temptation of returning to the old habit. That only invites more bad habits. Practicing good habits is absolutely important if you want to master and learn guitar.

Learning guitar chords can be strongly prohibited due to lack of knowledge or support. Trying to learn a 5-string chord before you know the basic chords poses 2 big mistakes:

1.    Trying to learn a 5-string chord before you know all the 2 or 3 string chords is like “going off the deep end”. At first, concentrate on all the basic chords. Once you’ve learned them and playing them becomes second-nature then you can move onto more complex chords and formations.

2.    Using improper finger placement will only make playing guitar chords more difficult. Until I saw the video on the Learn and Master.com site, little did I know that for months before that I was trying to play guitar chords all wrong. I found that using the correct finger placement made playing the chords so much easier than how I tried to do it. It’s the little things that make the difference.

So, before you even try playing guitar chords it’s important that you learn the correct method. This is not likely to happen unless you have some training from an instructor or other reliable resource. Note that guitar lessons are rather “spendy”. On average, they run $16 for a 30-minute session. Learn and Master Guitar is a great resource that offers guitar chord lessons along with techniques and tricks typically taught by a private instructor. You’ll save a lot of money learning from this site.

It doesn’t matter what form of guitar lessons you take, as long as they’re rock solid. If you prefer to take lesson from a personal instructor despite the higher cost, that’s your decision. If you feel online lessons are not the best way to learn guitar, that’s fine. Just find a lesson you’re comfortable with, learn from it, and practice!

As for practicing on the guitar, half an hour per day is adequate. You may disagree with me and feel that’s not enough time and dedication, but I’ve known some novices who’ve attempted to play more than 30 minutes a day. They just became bored and some of them picked up bad habits.

Simply set aside a 30-minute session each day. Pick a time of day where you’re least likely to be disturbed. Find a quiet room free from background noises and other distractions if possible. Do this during a time of day when you have a lot of energy.

Becoming proficient at playing chords requires as much patience and dedication as it does knowledge and skill. To earn these things you must devote 15 minutes of this time exclusively to learning guitar chords. Begin with practicing the simple and basic chords. In a couple weeks I promise that you’ll play these chords like a pro as well as switching from one to the other without any problem.

All you must do is commit yourself to learning guitar chords. Don’t forget, chords are the fundamental building blocks that every song is made of. Once you master the basic chords you’ll be able to play thousands of popular tunes. But you must start by learning chords, OK? You can do it…..I know you can. I just wished I would have learned to play the guitar that way.

One last thing:
Lessons + Practice = You’ll be an awesome guitarist!

Copyright Liam Gibson (Pro Guitarist)

Today singing is considered as yet another hobby of the children. There is an increase push from the teachers and parents towards the singing because they know its long term advantages. Vocal lessons for the children should be made very interesting else they will never enjoy them and will feel bored. They will then resent the time they have to spend learning the lesssons. There are many benefits of the vocal lessons for the children. Some of them are given below:

• Children vocal lessons in Singapore teach the children and enable them to use their voice in a new and an exciting way. There are many schools that impart vocal lessons to their children in a very interesting way. The voice lessons that the kids can look on with affection and enthusiasm will also offer many valuable and relevant tools that they can make practical use of in many aspects of their lives.

• The vocal lessons teach many technical lessons to the young children to help improve their singing abilities and also to equip them with many useful lessons that will help them as they grow into adulthood. These vocal lessons stimulate their memory skills and listening faculties for a more focused and concentrated attention to details. And since the vocal lessons are given to groups or classes, social interaction is encouraged and their communication skills are honed. Their confidence to stand in front of an audience increases with every lesson.

• These children vocal lessons in Singapore let the parents see some good noticeable differences in their child’s singing voice, and also help them to raise their self esteem.

Different voice lessons are taught to children 12 years old or younger, or those not yet in their adolescence. The adolescents also have their own vocal classes. Children have their individual differences and capabilities. Trainors make it a point to learn about the individual personalities of their students and organize the lessons accordingly. The concepts and theories of proper voice management are deemed to be abstract in nature.

Since, children think in a manner that is less abstract than the method used by the adults, therefore it is necessary that they should be made to learn classical songs and must be imparted their vocal training in a manner that is both interesting and funny for them. This is done by making them to play fun and the interactive vocal games. These games enable the children to have fun while learning and also assist them in remembering things more clearly. In addition, playful variations that inspire the kids to use their imaginations are used throughout the entire vocal lessons. Kids are also allowed to present exercises of their own making.

These vocal classes teach the children about breath management skill. Example of common exercises to accomplish this is blowing on pinwheels or soap bubbles. These are good aids to children who are used to learning through muscle sensations so that they can examine their voices more thoroughly. Besides this, these vocal classes also work on the speaking voice, speech habits and improve speech flexibility that are considered as the foundation for a perfect singing voice. These lessons have ear-training exercises that hopes to cultivate better ear-larynx coordination.

Didgeridoo Dreaming

Terra Incognita: golden sands, blue skies, rugged red deserts with the heat haze rising over the hard-packed earth, vast, beautiful, but unforgiving – Australia, the sunburnt country, ancestral home of the Australian Aborigines for over 50,000 years, and birthplace of the didgeridoo.

The didgeridoo is one of the world’s oldest musical instruments,originating in Australia tens of thousands of years ago.

Traditionally crafted from eucalyptus wood that’s been hollowed out by termites, the didgeridoo represents the Rainbow Serpent, a creature from Aboriginal mythology whose tracks are said to have created the riverbeds.

Legend then tells us that, during the Dreamtime, the Great Spirit Byame created man and woman, telling them to create all other life by singing it into form or sounding it into form with the didgeridoo.

A Rose by Any Other Name…

Didgeridoo, Didgeridu, Didjeridoo, Didjeridou, Didge Yidaki, Yirdaki, Ebroo, Bamboo, Dream Pipe, even Bullroarer – a didge by any other name still carries the same unique sound and nuances of musical expression.

No longer crafted solely from native Australian trees, didgeridoos are now also made from materials such as bamboo and Yucca plants, clay, Gourd and plastic tubing (pvc didgeridoo).

The mouthpiece is fitted with bees wax and the didgeridoo is played by blowing and/or singing into the hollow tube. The sound is modulated by use of the tongue and mouth cavity, creating rhythms, animal noises – a whole medley of sounds.

Skilful players use a method of breathing known as ‘circular breathing’ (using the cheeks as a buffer during inhalation through the nose). Apart from creating a better sound, circular breathing brings the added benefits of reducing the heart rate.

The Didgeridoo Conquers the Music World

Beginning in about 1983 the didgeridoo has become ever more popular in the music world.

The man probably most responsible for this is Charlie McMahon, whose band ‘Gondwanaland’ was the first didgeridoo band, and produced the first didgeridoo-based contemporary recordingsmusic tracks.

Charlie always loved the didgeridoo and took up playing the instrument as a child. Over time, he learned how to tune didgeridoos and experimented with different sounds and pitches while jamming with local bands.

In 1983 Charlie collaborated with Peter Carolan on what they called the ‘Gondwanaland Project’, an instrumental album called ‘Terra Incognita’.

The project was a hit and Gondwanaland went on to release a further four albums. They toured the outback and hold the record for Australia’s largest live performance: The Sound Cloud performance to 120,000 people in 1988.

The didge was given international exposure when Charlie first toured the USA and Canada with Midnight Oil in 1984, and then again the USA, Europe, South Africa, Australia and New Zealand in 1994. He performed and recorded on albums with Midnight Oil and other artists such as Snakefinger, Janes Addiction, Hisashi Shirahama and Def FX.

In 2000, Gondwana performed at the World Expo in Hannover, and in the Opening Ceremony of the Sydney Paralympic Games.

Aboriginal elders in the Northern Territory complimented Charlie McMahon `for inventing interesting and complex new ways of playing didjeridu`. In particular the concepts of didj horns in 1996, pitch shift didjeribone in 1981 and face bass in 1997 are Charlie’s inventions which have been widely adopted by didj players.

Thanks to Charlie’s efforts the wonderful rhythms and tones of the Australian didgeridoo can be enjoyed by people from around the globe.

The Didgeridoo and Multiculturalism

The didgeridoo melds effortlessly with instruments and music styles from the world over. Its been recorded on tracks alongside the Maui xaphoon, Mandolin keyboard drums, wooden flutes, the tabla (an Indian percussion instrument) and sticks, to name just a few.

The variety of sounds and timbre that an accomplished player can bring forth from the didgeridoo is staggering. The didgeridoo can provide the bass lines for rock songs, can harmonise in classics, and can be a whole cacophony of sounds all by itself – truly a remarkable instrument!

The didgeridoo – and, by extension, world music – proves that all cultures and countries can work together harmoniously; can find similarities to bridge the differences. Experience multicultural musical expressions from diverse countries, then listen as the sounds flow together in harmony, like a beautiful music mosaic! Listen to the pulse of global harmony!

Are you holding yourself back from singing success by believing some of these blatant singing lies? (For detailed information check out this article about singing lies.)   

Lie – You are born to sing, or you’re not. You have singing talent or you don’t and there is nothing you can do to change your fate.

Truth – Pretty much everybody can talk, and if you can talk then you can sing. This is because the speaking mechanism is the same as the singing mechanism.

Lie – People start out singing all wrong, so they must be taught (or re-taught) EVERYTHING, in order to sing “properly”.

Truth – While you might be doing some things wrong, if you can speak then you must be doing a lot right. You use the same instrument to speak that you use to sing.

Lie – To develop a vocal range of 2 octaves takes literally years of vocal training and practice.

Truth – The human voice was designed to cover well over 3 octaves COMFORTABLY, just by “shifting gears”. It can be learned in less than 2 hours and mastered and improved for the rest of your life.

Lie – A great deal of physical effort is required in order to sing with power and reach high notes.

Truth – Your singing power is less related to the force that you exert that it is a measure of how efficiently you use frequencies and airflow.

Lie – In order to breathe the correct way for singing, you need specialized vocal coaching.

Truth – You were born breathing correctly. You’ve continued to breathe. You breathe in, and speak easily on a regular basis. YOU KNOW HOW TO BREATHE ALREADY!

Lie – If you can sing classical style, you can sing anything.

Truth – Many classical singers have enormous difficulty singing with a tone that sounds natural.

Lie – It takes great effort and the coordination of many varied muscles to sing correctly.

Truth – Counterintuitive as it may sound, chances are if you’re having difficulties with your singing it’s most likely because you’re using TOO MANY muscles. You’ll get much better results if you sing as nature intended.

Lie – Singing is just a skill, like law or accounting, and thus can be educated into someone.

Truth – Music, especially something as personal as singing, is more than a degree to earn. It is connected deeply to the soul and has the ability to move people on a deeper level than most other “mundane” things on earth.

You might now be wondering just what is the best way to learn to sing on a budget. Well, there are a number of high quality online singing lessons. As far as I’m concerned, the critically acclaimed Singing Success program is as good as it gets.

Indian Classical music is an age old treasure. It has been well accepted and respected by western people too. Our lagendary musicans are now world citizen.They have many students from Us,Uk,france,Germany,Middle East.Indian Classical music is an age old treasure. It has been well accepted and respected by western people too. Our lagendary musicans are now world citizen.They have many students from Us,Uk,france,Germany,Middle East.Indian Classical music is an age old treasure. It has been well accepted and respected by western people too. Our lagendary musicans are now world citizen.They have many students from Us,Uk,france,Germany,Middle East.Indian Classical music is an age old treasure. It has been well accepted and respected by western people too. Our lagendary musicans are now world citizen.They have many students from Us,Uk,france,Germany,Middle East.Indian Classical music is an age old treasure. It has been well accepted and respected by western people too. Our lagendary musicans are now world citizen.They have many students from Us,Uk,france,Germany,Middle East.Indian Classical music is an age old treasure. It has been well accepted and respected by western people too. Our lagendary musicans are now world citizen.They have many students from Us,Uk,france,Germany,Middle East.Indian Classical music is an age old treasure. It has been well accepted and respected by western people too. Our lagendary musicans are now world citizen.They have many students from Us,Uk,france,Germany,Middle East.Indian Classical music is an age old treasure. It has been well accepted and respected by western people too. Our lagendary musicans are now world citizen.They have many students from Us,Uk,france,Germany,Middle East.Indian Classical music is an age old treasure. It has been well accepted and respected by western people too. Our lagendary musicans are now world citizen.They have many students from Us,Uk,france,Germany,Middle East.Indian Classical music is an age old treasure. It has been well accepted and respected by western people too. Our lagendary musicans are now world citizen.They have many students from Us,Uk,france,Germany,Middle East.

1.    Giving up too quickly.

As with anything, you are going to have problems when you first start out, and this is true for anyone, no matter who they are. The best thing you can do when starting out is to practice consistently and learn guitar chords. Even if it seems as if you’ve been practicing forever and still aren’t seeing any improvements, you still shouldn’t give up. Keep on trying and trying and practicing.

2.    Not visualizing your success.

When you are learning to form a chord, it’s crucial that you visualize where each of your fingers needs to be placed and what needs to happen. You will speed up your chord changes if you: look at where your fingers are positioned now, visualize where they should be, and figure out the shortest distance in which you can move them. Keep visualizing and looking for ways to speed up your playing.

3.    Making things too complicated on yourself.

Switching from one chord to another isn’t the best means of learning guitar chords. However, if you don’t pick the right chords to start out with you may become extremely irritated. You need to pick up some easy ones, such as G to A, E to A, or D to G.

4.    Not strengthening your fingers.

You need to work on your fingers if you want to form and strum chords. This can be done by using finger weights, pressing down hard on the strings, doing some wide scale exercises, and doing some good ole’ finger press ups.

5.    Looking down at your hands too much.

Believe it or not, you can learn blindfolded than you can looking down at your hands. You should learn to form the chord without looking down at it. After all, do you ever see professional guitarists looking down at their hands whenever they change chords? Of course not! You should be able to change from any open chord to another without looking. After all, practice makes perfect when taking guitar chords lessons.

6.    Only practicing one single chard at a time.

This is an extremely bad habit that some people get themselves into. It’s really not their fault; it’s just the way they were taught by their instructors. It’s actually best to practice three chords at a time rather than one, so that you can learn more quickly. By giving your brain three different patterns to memorize in a variety of different ways will strengthen the pathways to your brain to make future learning easier!

7.    Keeping your pinky out of sight.

This is a strange one indeed, but some people do it all the time. Your fingers need to hover over the strings ALL THE TIME! Meaning that, when you form a D chord, your pinky should be hovering over the high E string or B. Don’t tuck your pinky under the fret board or anything, as it will make playing guitar chords more difficult in the future. You’ll have a tougher time advancing to higher levels.

8.    Not learning or understanding root notes.

The bass note of a chord is the root note. It is what determines which string you should begin strumming or picking from. An E chord’s note is an E, which you play as the open low E string on the guitar. This means you begin to strum or pick from that note.

9.    Not picking the chord.

Occasionally, when strumming a chord, you will notice that you’re hitting a lot of dead notes. However, many beginners will begin strumming it until they finally get it right. As a more learned player, you’ll know it is better to pick each note separately. That way, you can quickly analyze what string it is that is producing the dead note. Then all you have to do is apply more pressure or better-position your finger.

10.    Not using all of your senses.

You should utilize all of your senses when learning guitar chords. You should “see” the chords in a diagram, video, or even in your head. You should also listen carefully to the way each chord sounds as it is strummed. Getting information into your brain needs to be done from every angle. This is the best way to succeed when learning chords in the shortest amount of time.
Conclusion

These tips really aren’t in any particular order. They’re all strong, solid tips that will help you to learn simple guitar chords quickly. You should write down each method onto a sheet of paper and start using it in your daily practice—you will be surprised at how quickly you can see results.

Copyright Liam Gibson (Guitar Master)

Next time you are going to a gig in which the band you are seeing are relatively unknown then take a little peek around the back as you will almost certainly see a small van as the band will use this to transport their things. But just how important is a van the group?

Well believe it or not stars will often think back and name the van their best friend in the early days because it got them where they needed to go both on time and for an affordable price. Many famous bands have a lot of money to spend on gigantic tour buses or they have the sponsorship by a company to actually have the bus during the tour. The sponsors are really only in it for the money which is why many smaller bands will not have funds to gain access to the tour buses.

What happens is the group get together and chip in money towards buying a van so they can use it for transportation use. Once again is can be very difficult to buy a van outright even if there are three or more people paying for it so more often than not bands will look into van leasing because it works out cheaper.

The band then have any damages or accidents covered too so they do not have to take out any extra things they do not need like the band that took out pick up truck leasing just to cover them if the worst case scenario happened.

Although cheap van leasing is likely to be the best option for your band, it is also possible to get a van to run on vegetable oil which of course will save the band on fuel costs. You will need to take at least a trailer full of the oil with you as there are no refuel stations as yet where you can load up on the stuff.

“I wanna rock!” This, of course, is one of the most well known lines ever spoken in regards to rock & roll. This simple statement conveys a lot of meaning. Yes, we ALL wanna rock! That’s precisely why we buy a guitar to begin with!

Sure, some people are more drawn to folk or country music, but the most people want to learn to play rock guitar. When first starting out, however, beginners usually get stuck with playing “Amazing Grace” or “Yankee Doodle”. Now, there’s absolutely nothing wrong with these classic songs, but that’s really not what most people have in mind when starting their guitar lessons.

Simple songs like these are usually taught first because they’re the easiest to learn. They give you a sense of satisfaction in knowing that you can play a song! Over time, you should evolve and progress. Learning one song at a time will progressively make things easier. You will finally be able to move on to rock guitar lessons for beginners rather than kids’ songs!

You can find lessons practically everywhere, including the internet. You can actually find a few online for free! However, the majority of lessons are found in books or on DVD’s. You can also learn a few rock songs through a private instructor if you decide to hire one. No matter how you choose to learn, all lessons teach the use of power chords. So, what is a power chord?

Power chords are those powerful chords you hear in some of the greatest rock songs. Some people like to refer to them as the “meat” of the song. It is the heavy lifting that you hear in a lot of songs. You can learn more about them when you take rock guitar lessons—especially if you learn with an electric guitar!

The great thing about power chords is that they’re easy to play when compared to most other chords. Typically, you will only need to use two fingers. Truth be told, they don’t sound good by how you play them, but rather the size of your amp. Sadly, they don’t sound amazing on practice amps, but you have to start somewhere.

As your skills begin to grow, you may be able to afford a larger amp that can handle the sound that power chords produce. Learning rock guitar will test your solo abilities.

Everybody wants to play guitar solos, and while they’re awesome, they can also be frustrating. Some even take weeks to learn, let alone master! The most important thing is to remember that your lessons are called “lessons” for a reason.  They’re not created to irritate you; rather, they’re designed to help you improve your skills.

You need to master the power chords and guitar solos if you want to try your chances of being a rock star! These two techniques are your key to playing rock music. Everybody buys an instrument because they dream of playing someday. After all, you bought yourself a guitar because you wanna rock. So get started with some good rock guitar lessons right now and practice!

Copyright Liam Gibson

Music is not boring. The main reason behind this is that it now offers various styles like pop, country, rock, rap, etc. But, still there are many children who turn away from their singing lessons. Any force or coercion applied by the teachers or their schools will rob them of the enjoyment in learning.

But if we compare the overall result we will notice that there are many people who are planning to take up for the professional classical singing lessons in Singapore. The number has increasing a lot. Some will enlist just for fun but others will be seriously taking it up as a career. Anybody wanting to improve their singing skills can sign up for the classical singing lessons.

• Classical singing lessons in Singapore provide very simple solutions for those who don’t want to learn it in a boring manner. Before you try to take on classical music, be sure that you have mastery of your full and natural voice. In the classical learning lessons in Singapore, students are provided with the mechanics and the athletics of the singing before they begin to concentrate on any particular style. This enhances their versatility. This is done by taking the help of various folk hymns, and the nursery rhymes. Following this, they will be asked to compose their own classical music piece which they will be asked to perform. These steps will deal primarily with the natural voice and its proper management and production. You will not be allowed to use stylistic nuances at this stage.

• After the complete development of the vocal production, focus is given to the stylistic nuances. It should be remembered that these are not to be sung as accidents; moreover they cannot be placed randomly here and there. Classical singing lessons will teach you the wise introduction and placement of the nuances to give life and the enchanting effect to the song. Overuse and misplacement of the nuances like scooping, sliding of the notes or growling  reduces the impact of the style in any song. Stylistic nuances are not really kind to the natural voice but add a great deal of artistry to a performance. They can be really harmful if not used properly and with moderation. So before taking the classical singing lessons, you must search for a perfect voice coach who is having knowledge about all these things.

• When you take the ideal classical vocal training the benefits are lasting and will stay with you a lifetime. It will teach you how to work out with a song while focusing on the natural, strong, and a powerful voice. Now, you can sing a particular song in many different styles.

• Classical singing is not just about merely memorizing the words or the lyrics of the song. Its range of cover is much more than that. It provides good training for controlling your breathing and manipulating the volume and pitch of your singing voice.

Taking professional classical singing lessons is a very easy job to do. There are various techniques that you can opt for. If you lack the time, you can choose to acquire different types of training CD’s and DVD’s that are available now in music stores. Besides this, you can also opt to have a vocal teacher. You can choose either of these ways to help you . Either you can go to their homes or you may ask them to visit you.