Spark Creativity with Music Lessons for Kids
Today’s children have a wider variety of free-time activities to choose from than ever before. Nearly every middle-class household in the U.S. has cable television with hundreds of channels, sophisticated gaming systems like Nintendo Wii, PlayStation 3, or Xbox 360, and a broadband Internet connection that keeps them wired to the rest of the world. [...]
Easy Guitar Playing: Learning Guitar Chords
For those of us endowed with a reasonable but not extraordinary degree of musical interest, learning guitar chords in place of complicated riffs is sufficient for impressing our friends. Just learn G, C, and D and you can play almost any song, some will tell you. This is of course not entirely true, but its [...]
Electric Violin: Not the New Electric Guitar
Most notably publicized through Yellowcards Sean Mackin, the electric violin combines the classic sound of strumming strings with the power of rocking acoustics. The instrument is not unheard of, but it remains to be seen whether it will achieve as much mainstream acceptance as the electric guitar. Public reaction to the electric violin is varied. [...]
Making Good Music: How to Tune a Guitar
It is absolutely essential for any aspiring pro guitarist or future rock star to learn how to tune a guitar. One of the most important prerequisites to creating awesome, tolerable music is making sure that youre playing in tune. Music is called music for a reasoncalling it such separates it from the uncivilized species of [...]
In almost every area of electronics, solid-state is, and has been since its invention, the best way to go. Transistors have long ago replaced the vacuum tube. Vacuum tubes are big and clunky, slow to operate, and inefficient. Transistors are so small and efficient that you can fit literally tens of thousands of them on [...]
Just as working is more pleasant when you have good office furniture, listening to music is a much richer experience when you have a good stereo system. Ever since high fidelity audio was invented, as a matter of fact, audiophiles have been on a quest to find the best stereo systems. The problem is that [...]
Kids love making noise. Its part of the package of having a child. When they are small they still seem to have trouble understanding what their inside voice is and as they grow older, theyre apt to want to blare their music and maybe even play an instrument of their own. If youve got a [...]
When my girlfriend got a Sirius satellite radio subscription for her birthday, neither of us were particularly overjoyed. Her father has always been a technophile, you see, and so the Sirius radio satellite seemed like the perfect gift. In his mind, the most important thing was getting his girls the newest, most high-tech gadgets and [...]
Classical music has come a long way. Well known classical masterpieces of well renowned classical geniuses like Mozart, Bach and Beethoven still captivate and tickle our ears in most remarkable ways. There are thousands of classical pieces today and hundreds of composers have since then created truly unique musical pieces. Classical mp3 cds can also [...]
Three hit albums and several singles have secured Avril Lavigne’s success as a pop/rock performer. She was signed as a recording artist at the tender age of sixteen years old and has received adulation and awards all over the world. An Avril Lavigne CD is almost guaranteed to sell and she appeals to a cross [...]
Though it will depend on what type of music you play, acoustic guitar can almost always be a great addition to any live show. There are some kinds of music that it wont fit in with very well, but there are also many types that depend on it to get the perfect sound. Though you [...]
The guitar is the defining instrument of blues and rock and roll, so by default it has become the defining instrument of the American music experience. If you want to learn about guitars, you should really understand that you’ll be learning the history of music in America.
The guitar became so omnipresent because it’s such [...]
Ranking the 100 greatest guitarists
When naming the 100 greatest guitarists, most folks would suggest you start with Jimi Hendrix and just go from there. Hendrix was so good, so distinct, so incendiary that most people – critics, other guitarists, etc etc – have a hard time imagining ranking anyone higher than Jimi.
But Hendrix wouldn’t feel that way, because [...]
I was never a big fan of musical theater growing up. I was pretty cynical, and seeing all of those people singing in harmony about love and adventure completely turned me off. My parents were into some pretty corny musicals, and none of them seemed to satisfy my dark mood. I had pretty much given [...]
 |