People in the recording industry spend a lot of time thinking about the best way to produce recordings in order to get the best possible sound onto CD. Engineers and other professionals work on mixing wave files using various techniques in the attempt to create a great finished product. There are a lot of different pieces of hardware and software out there - but the tools you use may not matter as much as you think.

Whatever equipment or software you use to get your recordings or what the setup of your studio is like, there is one thing to keep in mind. This is that a wave file is nothing more or less than a wave file. This sound which goes from instrument to computer is the same file, no matter what sort of processing you perform on it along the way.

Your setup, no matter what its particular configuration, will always end up giving you the same thing - a sound wave, or wave file. This is the lingua franca of digital recording and it is what your recording will be, regardless of how you capture it.

What you should be concerned with when recording is getting the best possible sound. Your mixing and mastering process are all aimed towards this goal; the sound you envisioned for your recording project. You want your finished recording to be clear and at the proper volume level. When working on a recording, this is what should be your concern rather than the particulars of the file format you are working with.

Mixing is the key here - you want to do what is necessary to make your wave file sound its very nest. This entails keeping an eye on the dynamic range of the recording in order to make it sound best for the format you choose for its release.

Sound is the most important thing because it is this and only this which your listener will care about. Keeping this goal in mind will help you stay focused throughout the recording process and get the best possible recording.

So why is a wave file important? Because it is the medium you will be working with to create your recording. You will want to use the techniques and tools necessary to create the sound you want for your finished recording - working with your wave files is the first step to getting your CD mixed and mastered for a great end product.

About The Author

Kevin Sinclair is the publisher and editor of MusicianHome.com, a site that provides information and articles for musicians at all stages of their development.

Music is the most common form of entertainment nowadays for people around the world. Music can bring a feeling of serenity and comfort to the mind. Today music videos are also becoming popular as these provide the music lovers with short clippings of films or videos accompanying the song or instrumental music. Music videos are used as a powerful marketing medium to encourage the sales of some recordings of music. Interestingly enough, the usage of the term music video was not popular till the 1980s, and earlier, music videos were known by the name promotional films or promotional clips. Music video downloads are becoming more and more popular, and there are a number of websites which are offering these download services.

For music video downloads, you can depend on websites which are providing free downloads as well as sites which are providing downloads based on small initial payments. There are many illegal websites featuring a number of pop-ups and advertisements, and clicking on them can install spyware and adware in your system. These malicious programs are capable of fetching your personal data from the machine, which in turn can affect you adversely. The files on such sites can be corrupted or virus infected. By downloading from paid and membership websites, the users are provided with properly scanned and virus free files; besides, these websites will be free from pop-ups or advertisements. The other benefit of opting for membership sites is that they provide you with lifetime membership, which gives unrestricted access to download music videos and other files.

Through music video downloads, you can relish the music videos of your favorite artists. The trend seen in websites that support music video downloads is that they list all the music video albums which are popular at the time. These websites even allow you to download the latest music videos of all your favorite artists. The music video files are usually in AVI, MOV, WMV and MPEG formats and are portable to be played in windows media player and real video player. The latest technology based mobile phones also support these formats, and so it is easy to view the downloaded music videos in a device of your choice.

Through music video downloads, you can easily maintain a collection of music videos of your favorite artists as a library on CDs or DVDs. You can alternately store these files in your computer itself and view them as per your convenience.

About The Author

Make Sure To Visit www.DownloadNexus.com To See Our Review Of The Top 4 Most Trusted Music Download Sites.

If you are on the lookout for a high quality digital music download site, Walmart is the best option. Walmart music downloads comprise a wide collection of music files, available to the users for personal and non-commercial purposes. If you have a PC with minimum specifications and an internet connection, you can access music downloads from Walmart. Walmart music downloads are available in the popular mp3 format files, because mp3 files are more flexible, and can be played on almost all operating systems, all media players and in all portable devices. Walmart music downloads are available at affordable prices. The cost of downloading individual music rather than a particular album will cost a little more. Walmart does not have any restriction as regards copying and burning the downloaded files.

The main factor that distinguishes Walmart from other music downloading sites is its quality of music, provided with a high bit rate and encoded at 256 kilobits/sec. All the music downloads through Walmart are legal and safe. The users can browse through a library collection of more than two million songs, including pop, rap, rock and Christian music before downloading their preferred music. The customer should have Windows Media Player 9 or later versions, and Internet Explorer 6 or its later version to play the downloaded music. Provisions for burning of the downloaded files are available and the burned disk can be played in almost all music players, home audio systems and in portable music players for personal use. Unlimited transferring of files can be done from the PC to any portable device. Walmart music downloads can be played in Apple iPod and Microsoft Zune devices.

Walmart music downloads are totally legal; the only condition is that the purchased material cannot be used for commercial purposes. Moreover, users are requested to accept and obey the end user license agreement. Walmart provides all the required instructions for customers to easily and quickly download the necessary music files. Walmart music downloads are available only to natives of the United States. The secret behind the success of Walmart is that the customers are satisfied with the services provided and the affordable prices they have to pay for their purchase. Customers are not required to pay any monthly subscription fee. Another feature that works in Walmarts favor is that the safety and privacy of customers are strictly maintained. Moreover, the user need not worry about hostile codes and viruses invading his computer.

About The Author

Make Sure To Visit www.DownloadNexus.com To See Our Review Of The Top 4 Most Trusted Music Download Sites.

Reading piano notes may seem daunting at first, but it really isn'’t if you ground yourself in the basics. The first step is learning the names of the notes. The great thing is that you only have seven to memorize.

All music is the result of combinations of these seven. These notes, named after letters in the alphabet, are A, B, C, D, E, F and G. Specific keys on the piano, associated with these notes, comprise your piano playing toolkit.

These seven notes sit on lines and spaces, called a music staff. Piano music consists of two staffs or staves: the Treble Clef and the Bass Clef. The notes from the upper portion of the piano keyboard sit on the Treble Clef. The notes from the lower portion of the keyboard sit on the Bass Clef.

Usually, the right hand plays the notes in the Treble Clef, while the left hand plays notes in the Bass Clef. The key to reading piano notes is in knowing what key relates to what note on the sheet music.

The note A on a piano is a white key. The A on the music staff corresponds to where the A note is on the keyboard. The notes on a keyboard repeat themselves:

A, B, C, D, E, F, G, A, B, C, D, E, F, G, A

Each of these notes is a key on the piano. It’’s that simple, all along the keyboard.

The first A sits on one point of the music staff. As you play along the keyboard, the second A you play sits further up the music staff. As your fingers run up to the upper portions of the keyboard, the higher the notes sit on the Treble Clef. The further down you play on the piano keyboard, the further down the notes sit on the music staff, running into the Bass Clef.

You can group notes together on a music staff vertically. These vertical grouping are chords. A chord is a group of three or more notes played simultaneously. If you play the C, E and G keys at the same time on the keyboard, you play a chord known as a triad. On a piece of sheet music, you will see these three notes as such:

G
E
C …piled on top of one another so-to-speak.

If the composer wants these notes played separately, he would write them out horizontally on the music staff as such:

C E G …moves along the music staff.

Of course, these letters do not appear on the music staff; instead oval notes replace the letters.
When you first begin to read piano sheet music, locate the reference point note of each staff. This allows you to determine the rest of the notes on the staff.

The Treble Clef has the G note as its reference point. This note is on the second line from the bottom of the five line Treble Clef staff. The Bass Clef has the F notes as its reference point. This note is on the second line from the top of the five line Bass Clef staff. Every other note on either staff is easily located from these points.

Reading piano notes will be easier when you study the fundamentals. Learn the Treble and Bass Clefs and where the seven notes sit on them, and your reading skills will improve.

About The Author

Duane Shinn is the author of the popular online newsletter on piano chords, available free at “Exciting Piano Chords & Chord Progressions!”

One of the simple joys in life is the ability to read music. Learning this skill will enable you to express yourself creatively at the piano, playing your favorite songs. It’’s not difficult to learn to read music if you understand its components.

Written music has an architecture all its own. Musical notes sit on a staff. This staff consists of five lines and four spaces. Piano music utilizes two staves: the Treble Clef and the Bass Clef.

The Treble Clef consists of notes in the upper part of the piano keyboard, and the Bass Clef consists of notes in the lower part of the piano keyboard. Music for instruments such as the trumpet uses only the Treble Clef, with additional notes written just above or just below the staff. There are also Tenor and Alto Clefs, which accommodate written notes for a host of other instruments.

There are only seven notes in all of music. Of course, myriad combinations of these notes give us the vast array of music we have available to us today. These combinations of notes will continue to provide us with new music in the future as well. These notes are seven letters from the alphabet: A, B, C, D, E, F and G; what musicians and composers do with seven notes is what makes music so beautiful.

On a sheet of music, the Treble Clef has a figure at the beginning of the staff. This figure indicates where line “G” is, on the second line from the bottom of the staff.

Once you know where line “G” is, you can figure out the names of the other spaces and lines. The Bass Clef has a figure at the beginning of its staff. This figure indicates where line “F” is, on the second line from the top of this staff. Again, you can figure out the other notes, where they sit on the Bass Clef, because you have a starting
point with line “F”.

You can play musical notes individually as single successive notes, or you can play them in unison as a chord. Notes do not all look alike on a musical staff. Some have stems attached to them. Some have what look like little flags on them. Some notes are solid black, while others are clear ovals.

These different characteristic of a musical note represent its value. The value helps a music reader determine the duration of a note, how much time it should take up in a piece of music.

Written music also includes the use of “rests.” These rests are of a different shape than music notes, and they indicate intervals of silence in music. A musician needs to know where pauses in their playing need to occur and for how long these pauses must be.

These are the fundamentals to know when you want to begin a study of music reading. From there you will come to understand time signatures, rhythm, tempo, and phrasing and articulation markings. However, learning those seven notes and the music staff is the first step. After that, it’’s full speed ahead to greater musical enjoyment.

About The Author

Duane Shinn is the author of the popular online newsletter on piano chords, available free at “Exciting Piano Chords & Chord Progressions!”

It seems that the younger generation seriously have lost the art of communication. Yet how is this so, given that communication channels have moved on with technology, bringing us the mobile phone and email, which should, in theory keep us in touch even more than before?

Well, it’’s true. We do have more options but what happened to old fashioned communication skills - you know the ones, talking and writing? Technological gadgets are no longer the domain of adults but of children. If it’’s cool and electronic, they have it.
Mp3 players and iPods for their music downloads, electronic diaries and planners for their hectic social lives, mobile phones for that furious texting art, digital cameras and video to record their days and computers and laptops for emailing, photo sharing and more music downloads.

There have been reports that 224 children (unofficial figure) have been injured this year whilst walking and texting at the same time. It is impossible to see where you are going while you are feeding your addiction of texting useless information to your mates in words abbreviated to two or three letters that resembles a code your parents could never decipher.

Injuries have also occurred that can be attributed to the overuse of personal music players blasting music downloads into the ears at point blank range and at mega decibels. Burst eardrums are a common occurrence in the accident and emergency rooms all over the UK as are thick ears received from the parents when the kids don'’t listen to them.

Email may be a form of communication but what do you get for it and is it any better than snail mail? Of course, in the business arena, not having to wait three days to receive a communication is a godsend and has moved commerce on to unprecedented levels. But for the social life of children, sending an email can surely be nowhere near as satisfying as receiving a letter or am I just being old fashioned?

There is another language building up around emails and mobile phones that means that the English language is evolving into a serious of grunts, abbreviations and smiley faces. Trying to read a text from my daughter is like listening to someone on a dodgy microphone and more often I have to call her to work out what exactly the hell she was on about. I'’ve managed so far that words are often abbreviated by removing most of the vowels, stick a few in and the possibilities are narrowed slightly.

Texts and email that are sent demand immediate responses and the rudeness of young people to put any conversation on hold to answer one of those non-urgent messages is simply infuriating.

Music downloads are another communication killer of our modern times. Wires from the ears used to mean a hearing aid, now they just signal ‘’don'’t speak to me I can'’t hear you'’. More like ‘’don'’t want to talk to you'’! Speaking from personal experience there is nothing more infuriating after a long, hard day at work than sitting on the bus home, craving five minutes peace and being subjected to the tinny racket of someone else’’s so-called musical tastes.

Casualty departments report daily of further accidents that have been caused by these personal music players. Walking in front of cars that you can'’t hear, muggings from people that boldly walk up behind you and would otherwise have been heard were it not for the big band blasting your ear drums and fights that have been sparked by jealousy of someone else’’s gadgetry are big social problems. I suggest we go back to talking, writing and listening to music on the wireless. Well, maybe not that far but you get my drift.

About The Author

Parenting expert Catherine Harvey looks at the way kids would rather listen to music downloads than talk to each other.

Learning to play the guitar is an aspiration that many people have. Unfortunately knowing how to play the guitar correctly can be more difficult than you had expected. This is why many people give in after only a few lessons. The same applies for many different musical instruments. It is important to take the commitment in learning to play the guitar, before you can succeed in playing it well.

Learning the basic steps is of great importance, as is making the time for practice sessions in order to be able to play the guitar well. These basic steps include:

1. Owing your own guitar is the first step. Even though it is possible to purchase guitars for a cheap price at places such as eBay and department stores, it really is worth considering spending a little more money and purchasing a well-made guitar if you are serious about learning. What type of guitar you wish to purchase is another decision that you need to take seriously. You may wish to begin with an acoustic guitar rather than an electric guitar. You may even wish to learn to play the bass guitar.

2. The basic open chords should be the first thing to learn to play on your guitar. Beginners typically learn C, D, G, and A. A chord progression is simply a series of chords that make up a piece of music. The G-C-D chord progression is generally followed in many rock songs. Therefore, once you have learned to play these chords, it should be possible for you to follow along with hundreds of songs. Handy charts of commonly used open position guitar chords can be found on the Internet which will get you started.

3. Tablature, or otherwise known as tabs, should be the next thing that you learn. These show you exactly where your fingers should be placed when you play a chord to a song. Tabs also show you where the words match to the music, and when to tablature for literally thousands of songs.

4. Barre chords should also be learnt. Barre chords are chord shapes whereby one or more fingers are used to hold down multiple strings across the fingerboard of the guitar. Barre chords are also known as bar chords or moveable chords, due to it being possible to move them up or down the neck of the guitar as required.

5. Practice is the most important factor to playing a guitar. Never expect to become an expert overnight, because it won'’t happen. All musicians, regardless of how naturally gifted they are, have had to put in hours of practice. However, it need not be too hard. Practicing and playing songs is great fun, especially when they are songs that you really like. Give some effort when learning to play the guitar and you will be rewarded.

About The Author

Kevin Sinclair is the publisher and editor of MusicianHome.com, a site that provides information and articles for musicians at all stages of their development.

A volume swell is a musical crescendo commonly associated with the electric guitar. Crescendo, in standard musical notation, refers to a passage of music during which the volume gradually increases.

The technique is often executed by the little finger of the guitarist which is wrapped around the volume pot/knob of the guitar. When the note is struck the volume is increased from zero by a rolling motion of the little finger. Alternatively, the effect is achieved with a volume pedal, by moving the pedal forward to increase volume and backwards to reduce vilume. It is sometimes called violinning, because the sound is similar to a bowed violin. Allan Holdsworth pioneered the technique of the pedal swelling along with a delay unit to create a thicker sound that’’s more associated with chellos.

Guitar players who can do volume swells with the volume knob, often change them to round roller knobs to give your pinkie more traction and accuracy. Personally I use the stock Stratocaster knobs and find them very adequate. That is how I was trained, although it is more popular with younger guitarists to use a volume pedal.

To visualize and actually see an example of how to perform a volume swell, most of the video sites have some great tutorials. Make sure to check them out.

Adding volume swells to your repertoire will take some time in terms of practice and patience. It is considered one of the most beautiful flowing sounds an electric guitar can be manipulated into performing. Take a few minutes out of every practice session to develop your technique. In time, you will become a master and more viable player.

Roy Buchanan was famous for his emotive volume swells, often in combination with note bending and vibrato. Roy really hits my soul, a guitar player worthy of listening to. Jan Akkerman used the technique with Focus and precision.

Another early use of swells is found in the Beatles recording of Eight Days a Week.

To watch a guitarist perform a volume swell is better than a thousand words, again, find a video lesson online for free at most video sites or communities.

Volume swells fall into the same category as pinch harmonics, false harmonics or squealies. As far as the people at Guitar Players Center are concrned, small effective guitar tricks such as the ones described in this article and the article on pinch harmonics are wonderful additions that add distinction and flavor to your guitar vibe. Anybody out there good at volume swells? What technique do you use? Do you have any tricks to share? Comment on them please. Enjoy.

About The Author

For more information about Guitar Players Center, Guitar Lessons or Guitar Chord Essentials. Feel free to visit our website, ask questions, share it with others, make comments or simply enjoy.

The matter of setting up a guitar is not a new vibe, especially if you are a regular reader of my blog. My enthusiasm for a good playing guitar is compelling and becomes infectious to people. One more time, if you want to play at your top level, than your guitar needs to be set-up, or adjusted properly, which is a rarity for a new factory guitar. Needless to say your guitar will sound better too.

Realistically speaking, any equipment that is not in proper working order or out of adjustment is a hindrance to your success and can be frustrating. An out of tune car, runs poorly, gets bad fuel mileage and is not much fun to drive, get it?

Simply put, here are the steps considered to be etched in granite for a competent, quality guitar set-up:

#1. Talk to your customer and find out as much about their playing style as possible. If you have an opportunity to watch them play their guitar, that is an added bonus. Perhaps you can make a recommendation.

#2. Inspection of the whole guitar is imperative, we need to repair anything worn or broken before we actually start our set-up procedure.'’Sight'’ the neck for straightness and for any warp-age. So the first thing to do is to check the relief, or bow of the neck with a special tool and then adjust the truss rod. Briefly, the guitar must be strung and tuned to concert pitch to check and adjust relief. We go as far as checking relief in the normal ‘’playing position'’. We try for a flat neck, flat necks play and sound better.

#3. Once the neck is flat the frets must be leveled and dressed up. Meaning that rarely will you find a guitar that all the frets are exactly the same height. If not, we use a precision ground leveling file and make sure the frets are all even, then polish them up with a super fine grade fret dressing file. If you have some custom measurements you would like to use, then this is the time to give them to me.

#3. The act of lowering the string action, meaning, getting the strings the proper distance between the frets and strings is a very precise job, and a mess-up requires a new nut to be cut, so we are very careful at how slowly and accurately we go. Measuring the distance with a dial indicator in a special tool is the most accurate way of checking distance. Other ways such as a feeler gauge is a popular and accurate method as well.

That being said, we use special width diamond files to cut the string notches deeper in the nut, using small increments. Until we have the correct distances set for all strings. We also stagger the heights, to put it in terms you understand, the high E string would be the lowest string, then the B would be two thousands of an inch higher. Each string there after, the B, G, D, A & low E and would receive about the same 2 thousands of an inch in height increase over the string before it. A nice touch that makes the guitar easier to play.

#4. Setting the final height of the strings, which is generally measured at the 12th fret is done by adjusting the tremolo or bridge height. The technicalities of this sort of adjustment vary from guitar to guitar. Don'’t discount it, especially if you play a lot of lead above the 12th fret. Either way, it is a difference maker.

#5. Lastly, and with great precision we need to set the intonation. Intonation is a way of making sure it is in tune anywhere on the neck you are playing. Without getting detailed, the guitar is almost impossible to have and keep in perfect tune. Mainly due to the design, where pushing a string down to the fretboard actually stretches the string a bit and therefore makes perfect tune everywhere on the neck impossible. By intonation of the guitar we get the best of both worlds.

#6. Lastly, I play the guitar for a short while, then recheck and readjust my work, wait until the morning and recheck it again. Then I call my customer. When my customer arrives, I have them play it,and make sure they like it too.

Bottom line, don'’t get set-up with a guitar that is not set-up. The cost is cheap and the results are “priceless”!

About The Author

For more information about Guitar Players Center, Guitar Center or Guitar Upgrades. Feel free to visit our website, ask questions, share it with others, make comments or simply enjoy.

There is a project that consists of several different well known artists that is based in France, known as the Africanism All Stars, the All Stars work with different african based artists and acts. This project was launched in France in 2001 and has since then become more popular among many different kinds of people. Some of the most well known artists involved include Tony Allen, Jeff Kellner, Osibisa, and Tom and Joyce!

In 2005 the project was brought to the United States by Tommy Boy Records where they released the first single Summer Moon. Several other singles besides Summer Moon reached number one on the dance hit list as well. Bob Sinclair is the man behind the hit album Africanism III which is the same album Summer Moon is on. Bob Sinclair is a really popular french producer who has great passion for African music.

On the sixteen track, seventy-seven minute non stop dance mix album, Africanism III, Bob Sinclair decided to bring some of the top African musicians and artists as well as French DJs into the mix. This concluded the album with a really hip rhythmic sound which has resulted in the album becoming one of the most popular Africanism “trilogies” yet. Bob Sinclair notes that even though this album is really different from the other albums, that ts still a complete homage to the best African artists on earth.

If you would like to find more info, as well as interviews, lyrics and more online you can take a look at the sites listed below:

Amazon - Africanism III as well as the other albums are available to buy. You can also have a listen to some of the tracks beforehand!

YouTube - Obviously YouTube is the site to go for videos. So if you would like to see a few videos of the Africanism All stars you should check this site out for sure!

LyricsMode - As far as I can tell lyricsmode has the largest amount of lyrics from the All Stars, a lot of the other sites only offered one or two song lyrics, which is nothing compared to all the songs actually available!

Last.FM - Sites like Last FM offer all sorts of different articles, information and interviews. Unfortunately I couldn'’t find an “official” site for the All Stars but you could also check out sites like Myspace, and OTHER sites for more information!

About The Author

This author is a huge fan of Africanism.com website where you can watch 1000s of music videos.

Ever since broadband was set up and made readily available to the general public, illegal music downloads have gone through the roof. Today, approximately 95% of all downloads are illegal and some 6.5m broadband users illegally download music on a daily basis.

Earlier this year, the music industry decided that enough was enough and that this multi million pound purge needed to stop. Discussions with John Hutton (The Business Secretary), Andy Burnham (The Culture Secretary) and major internet service providers (ISPs) resulted in tough new proposals governing the illegal download scene.

At this point, it is perhaps worth outlining the law when it comes to downloading music. The Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 (CDPA) is the current UK copyright law and gives the creators of literary, dramatic, musical and artistic works the right to control the ways in which their material may be used. These rights cover broadcast and public performance, copying, adapting, issuing, renting and lending copies to the public. By downloading music files illegally, you are in breech of the copying part of this law.

ISPs have been pressurised into clamping down on persistent illegal downloaders and in June of this year, Virgin Broadband (one of the largest ISPs in the UK) agreed to take steps towards culling downloads. Virgin expect to send out more than 12,000 letters over the course of the summer to internet users warning them to stop their illegal downloads or face restrictions on their service.

So what does this mean for internet downloaders? Well, Virgin are keen not to punish their users, they would rather ‘’educate'’ them on the wrongs of downloading illegally. Sounds like a cop out and a good way round enforcing the law, but they might not have much choice on this in a year’’s time.

Huttin and Burnham, along with bosses from the music industry want tighter rules surrounding illegal downloads. One of the proposals includes placing a 30 GBP annual charge on people who want to download files. This would give users unlimited access to download files from anywhere on the net, without the worry of facing up to law. 30 GBP may not sound a lot, but as Peter Jenner stated; “If you get enough people paying a small amount of money you can turn around the wheels of the music industry.” The funds from these fees are worth almost 1.2bn GBP and would be channelled back to the industry and distributed proportionally back to the relative rights holders.

Obviously looking for the toughest penalties for repeat offenders, industry bosses are calling for a ‘’three strikes and you'’re out'’ policy, similar to the scheme currently employed in France. Persistent offenders would be warned and banned if they didn'’t stop. Other proposals include preventative filters which stop the possibility of any illegal download activity or, illegal downloaders'’ details being given directly to the music industry for punishment.

Sites like Napster brought illegal downloads to the masses and were relatively untouched by officials for many years until they realised just how much impact illegal downloads were having on the music industry. In 2001, the company were forced to shut down after being found guilty of copyright infringement laws.

Today, Napster is a legitimate trading company and sells downloads instead of offering them for free. iTunes are the biggest players in this market and dominate the scene with a 70% share of legal music downloads. It took less than five years to reach 1bn downloads, and keen to show that legal downloads are the way forward, the company rewarded the downloader, Alex Ostrovsky, with a brand new iMac, ten iPods and a 10,000 USD (5,700 GBP) iTunes voucher. Not a bad return on his 99p investment.

In 2006, the download market really came up trumps when Gnarles Berkley had a hit with Crazy. The song hadn'’t even been released on CD when it hit the top spot in the UK charts after Zane Lowe championed the song on his New Music Show.

So will pressure from the industry actually have any effect on downloads? ISPs have already cleared themselves of any wrong doing as they are merely ‘’conduits'’ of information - they don'’t personally hold the files.

Illegal downloads will inevitably continue as new methods of file sharing are discovered and employed. At the end of the day, rules are there to be broken and problems are there to be solved. As long as CDs cost as much as they do, downloaders will see no reason to stop what they are doing. If a CD costs less than 1GBP to produce, the question remains: Why are we charged the earth to purchase them?

About The Author

Samantha is an expert Research and Theatre consultant. Her current interests are UK shortbreaks including LEGOLAND Windsor and Alton Towers.

The guitar solo is something that is synonymous with rock music. There have been countless rock guitarists come and go over the years, all with a unique take on what makes a great solo. For as many guitarists as there are playing solos there are far more people listening and forming opinions on them. No one will ever agree on what their favourite guitar solos are, but here are ten of mine in no particular order.

1. For the Love of God by Steve Vai. The seventh song on his breakthrough 1991 album, Passion and Warfare, For the Love of God is often held up to be Steve Vai’’s best work. The song is essentially one long guitar solo and covers almost all aspects of Vai’’s playing. An inspiration when I first heard it, it was the piece that really showed me the depth of emotion that was possible to convey while playing guitar.

2. Comfortably Numb by Pink Floyd. Often revered as having one of the best guitar solos of all time, the guitar playing in Comfortably Numb is outstanding. Pages and pages have been written about this solo, but for me it showed how effective blues phrasing could be in a rock setting. The big draw for me here was the tone as well, Dave Gilmour uses compression wonderfully well to give a warm and punchy tone that fits the song absolutely perfectly.

3. Beat It, solo by Eddie Van Halen. A great song that really comes to life with Van Halen’’s guitar solo mid way through. Eddie Van Halen was the defining guitarist of the 1980s and opened up so many techniques and ideas that would be copied endlessly. He has recorded countless amazing solos across his career but I feel that the one in Beat It is among his best. It’’s only short but is a pure explosion of his style showcasing breathtaking technique, style, tone and phrasing. If you ever want to discover why Van Halen is such a great guitarist then just listening to this solo should be enough.

4. Always With Me, Always With You by Joe Satriani (live version). I'’m picking the extended live version from the Satriani Live! DVD rather than the studio version for this, mainly for Satriani’’s wonderful improvisation section at the end of the track. This song showcases just why Joe Satriani is such a good guitar player. I'’ve heard several different live versions of this song, as well as having seen him live a few times in person and he plays just as well every single time. The song is a masterclass in how to solo melodically and tastefully. Satch never makes a mistake either, and everything he plays is done to absolute perfection. You won'’t find a better played guitar solo, and I doubt you'’ll find a better player either.

5. Nottingham Lace by Buckethead. I only recently started listening to Buckethead, so it’’s hard for me to pick out one solo in particular given that he excels in so many different styles. I picked Nottingham Lace out because it is a marvelous display of his technique as well as his melodic playing. Well worth a try and I'’m looking forward to discovering the rest of his back catalogue.

6. Wonderful Slippery Thing by Guthrie Govan. Guthrie Govan is nowhere near as famous as he should be. An English guitar player, he is absolutely phenomenal, with a complete mastery of his instrument and a remarkable ability to play across a huge range of styles. I picked this song as it has been his strongest for many years, and the version on his recent album, Erotic Cakes, showcases his fluid style. A great player, hopefully soon he'’ll get the recognition he deserves.

7. Goodnight Kiss by John Petrucci. While John Petrucci is most widely known for his lightning fast alternate picking this solo shows that he can pick out some beautiful phrases when playing in a more restrained style. The solo plays smoothly over changes and changes the style of the song superbly to blend into the next track, Solitary Shell. Petrucci is a great guitarist who has managed to blend blues and metal into a unique style, and I feel that this solo is one of his best.

8. Bliss by Paul Gilbert. Again with a player like Paul Gilbert I found it hard to narrow it down to one solo. I knew I wanted something from him in here, but was unsure what exactly. In the end I just picked my favourite song, which also happens to have some fantastic guitar playing in it as well. On Bliss Gilbert shows his Hendrix influence as well as considerable restraint, playing fast just where it is needed for maximum impact. A great player with a fantastic attitude to music.

9. Soma by Billy Corgan. This is pretty much the guitar solo that really started me playing. My biggest early influence was the Smashing Pumpkins, and in particular the album Siamese Dream. The solo in Soma stands out as one of Corgan’’s best and is played to perfection as the song reaches its peak.

10. Bold as Love by Jimi Hendrix. A little cliched to include Hendrix perhaps, but his influence on guitar playing is unquestionable. In a similar situation to Paul Gilbert I was unsure of which to pick so in the end just picked my favourite song. Often overlooked for some of his more famous songs I actually feel that Bold as Love displays Hendrix'’ songwriting at its strongest, of course it helps that is also has the fantastic guitar work you'’d expect from him too.

About The Author

Patrick is an expert Research and Travel consultant. His current interest is in Gatwick parking at Gatwick parking NCP, Gatwick Maple Manor and Pink Elephant Stansted.

Lyrics or the words of a song are one of the most important parts of a song. The words of a song form the most recognizable part of a song and they can be considered as the meat of the song. Background beats, voice of the lead singer, sound of guitar are some of the important parts of a song but the lyrics are the most recognizable part of a song. They are an integral part of any music tune and they turn a song into an appealing song.

It takes good amount of time to come up with appealing and meaningful words for a song and it would be a mistake for any artist to take lyrics lightly. Lyrics have a significant importance and so, it’’s very important to take them seriously. When someone listen a song on radio, he’’s likely to remember some key lines of the song instead of the background beats and other sounds. It’’s much easier to recognize a song with the help of its words instead of using the drum beats to recognize it.

However, the background music is equally important and it should not be neglected. A good song is a song with appealing lyrics and background beats. People usually relate their own life with lyrics of the song, and some people enjoy songs that convey some message or have some meaning. So, it’’s very important for an artist to take lyrics seriously. An artist should spend quality time to make sure that the song has appealing lyrics.

It’’s very important to understand the words of a song in order to understand the meaning of the song. Some people find it tough to remember the lyrics completely and this is the reason why most of the artists publish the lyrics. Some artists usually giveaway lyrics with the CD, and some artists publish lyrics on their web sites. Also, there are a number of web sites that maintain a collection of lyrics. Some web sites charge a small fee for providing the music lyrics whereas some web sites provide lyrics for free. So, if you'’re looking for lyrics of a particular song then you should use the Internet to find the lyrics.

However, you should make sure that you use a legitimate web site for finding and downloading lyrics as there are a number of web sites which provide lyrics without the artist’’s permission. Also, a number of web sites use different kinds of spyware to infect an end-user’’s system. They try to infect the user’’s system so as to collect the personal information of the user. So, an individual should use reputed web sites for finding and downloading lyrics.

An individual should use web sites which provide legal and licensed music lyrics. It is also safe to use web sites which provide licensed music lyrics. A simple web search can get you hundreds of web sites which provide music lyrics and you can also use the reviews to find a reputable site. It is also very easy to search lyrics on a web site as a search box is usually available on a web site. An end-user needs to fill-in the required details in the search box in order to search the lyrics of a particular song.

At the end, the words of a song are very important as people remember songs by the words, and you can use the Internet to find the music lyrics.

About The Author

If you want to find the Lyrics for a particular song visit our database of Song Lyrics.

Of course, if you'’re a great singer, you have an exemplary singing voice. However, you also need other things in order to be successful in your profession. These tools might not be immediately apparent, but you still need them in order to have a successful career.

What are those tools? Humility, health and heart.

Humility
It’’s highly competitive in the music industry, with many people just waiting to both take advantage of and deflate a singer’’s ego. You as that singer have to be able to face legitimate criticism and the challenges that are going to come, whether it’’s performing in a smoky bar gig you'’d rather not do or dealing with arrogant management.

Health
As a singer, your work is both physically and emotionally demanding. Therefore, you need to be in good health. Your work schedules aren'’t necessarily going to be healthy, with long hours put in often at night, and limited sleep. Still, you have to stay in shape and keep your instrument, your voice, in good condition, too.

Heart
If you'’re a singer, of course, you love your work. You'’re moved by the music you sing and are forever inspired by it. It’’s your craft, you love it, and it helps you face all the hardships you'’re going through as you pursue a singing career.

There’’s also another set of tools you need to keep in mind when you pursue your craft. These tools are passion, practice, and personality.

Passion
If you want to make it in the music industry, of course you want to love what you do. However, it’’s going to take more discipline than that and you'’re going to need to want it badly enough to have passion even during difficult times. If this is your dream, keep in mind that you'’re still going to have to put up with pressure and stress and it’’s not is going to be perfect. What’’s going to make you put up with this kind of hardship? Not just talent (which of course you need), but passion, too.

Practice
If you'’ve got a great singing voice naturally, congratulations. However, to keep that singing voice in its best shape and make it even better, you need to practice. You may want to practice only when you want to, but in truth, that kind of skill takes dedication and hours a day, every day of the week. In short, practice really does make perfect.

Personality
In the music industry, it’’s highly competitive. To get noticed in this environment, you need personality. Your personality is going to draw people to you, make them want to get to know you, and eventually, hopefully, to want to hear you sing.

If you want to further your singing career, then, give yourself a good start with these tools. Keep working toward your passion, in order to pursue success.

About The Author

Kevin Sinclair is the publisher and editor of MusicianHome.com, a site that provides information and articles for musicians at all stages of their development.

The graceful flourishes of a well-played piano masterpiece are sounds that many people would love to create. From trained professionals to child prodigies, a brilliantly

played piano can steal the show. But great lessons are costly and involve scheduling time away from your busy life. So how do you learn how to play the piano or deepen your

knowledge of the instrument?

Piano workbooks can provide a solid foundation in theory, an effective practice routine, and piano classics in one package. If you don'’t have the time or money for lessons,

consider buying a few piano workbooks.

The obvious advantages of piano workbooks are the ability to set your own pace and practice at your convenience. Just sit down at the bench after dinner, crack open the

book, and hear your playing improve.

The only downside is that you must develop self-motivation to flourish when studying from piano workbooks. Like any great discipline, you must develop some kind of regimen

to progress. With a teacher, you'’ll always have someone keeping track of how well you'’re doing. By studying from a workbook, you'’ll have to keep an eye on your own

progress.

Piano workbooks range from those that focus on the basics to those that provide a comprehensive explanation of musical theory. The best offer a good amount of theory,

exercise and musical notation. Whatever type of study you are seeking, there are certainly several piano workbooks available that suit your needs.

Some piano workbooks may be a look and listen experience. They may come with CDs that let you hear the examples listed in the book. This is great for the unsure learner who

may need more than just text to explain a concept. It’’s also wonderful for hearing how an exercise is supposed to be played or how a particular piece is intended to sound.

Many books give examples of practice methods. Be sure to follow their instructions so that you don'’t overexert your hand muscles, especially if you are a beginner or trying

advanced techniques. Warm-up your hands with simple and light playing for a little while before going into an extended run across the keyboard.

Workbooks also contain essential piano pieces that combine theory and technique into music. The pieces provided range from simple pop songs to classical standards that will

put your skills to the test. Piano workbooks often include biographical information on the composers of each piece so that you can learn the history of the instrument.

Besides simply playing, a deep understanding of the piano and pieces composed for it provides an appreciation for musical history.

Piano workbooks can offer an extensive training course to anyone willing to invest the time. Since they'’re often compiled by a company, they contain more information than

any one person can offer. Though a book can'’t make you practice, they can be a benefit to dedicated students. So when you decide to fancy yourself a pianist and set out to

master the works of Franz Liszt, consider the tutelage that piano workbooks can offer.

About The Author

Duane Shinn is the author of the popular online newsletter on piano chords, available free at “Exciting Piano Chords & Chord Progressions!”

A huge studio full of equipment isn'’t what you need anymore, in fact, you could do most of the production and post-production elements of a song with just a well-equipped computer! What’’s important is finding a piece of equipment to separately record each instrument on it’’s own track, and there are many such devices priced pretty cheap, and most of them are now specialized to interface with your computer and record directly in!

Let’’s say you are working with a band, aside from that recording equipment, you also need to have proper microphone equipment for each individual piece, and you also should invest in a vocal booth to isolate the vocals for a clean mix at the end. This is especially important with the drums as well, unless you plan on fixing them post-production.

These days, you can find pop-guards, and even movable vocal booth walling that can make this easier than you realize. Sometimes artists only do the vocals, and have all the instrumentation done elsewhere, by a band in a studio or a producer across the world! Home recording makes each take less stressful, as you don'’t have to worry about hourly rates when recording your masterpieces. Now you may be curious as to which software to use when doing home recording. Well, it depends on what you want to do really.

Now you see, I'’m going to first approach it like you'’re the average instrument player in a group. People in that boat aren'’t going to be too concerned with post-production, and simply want to record their jam sessions, and perhaps turn the vocals up for their singer. If that’’s all you'’re trying to do, your basic set-up with a computer and a recording interface should do it, as it'’ll either be a computer add-on or an external addition, either way it’’s job is to record what you'’re inputting.

Those devices always come with software like Nuendo or ProTools that'’ll be just fine for basic recording. Now if you'’re concerned with mastering and a polished sound, that’’s where post-production is absolutely key. Some things aren'’t on time as perfect as they should be, post-production can pull sounds and fix any discrepancy left by the live recording.

Drums are typically reworked in post-production to give a louder, crisper feel. Any kind of samples that come to mind can be added on, and rhythmically if the producer has the skill, etc. For that kind of work I suggest using Renoise and Acid. Acid is also particularly useful in doing remixes if you have to know-how to cut your sample pieces into loops.

In general, every song that you are putting out there also needs to be mastered. What that does *basically* is make your song sound similar to other songs on the radio (volume-wise mostly). Now you can pay for expensive mastering services, but the rule of thumb on the issue is to just use a program like Mp3gain and make it too loud. Strangely enough, too loud is the same volume all popular songs you enjoy will register at, try it for yourself!

Also when you have your finished mp3, use Wavelab or Goldwave to cut it down, as you don'’t want to have an excessive amount of silence before or after the song.

About The Author

Chris Jensen is a contributing author of Jetfly Shop. For more related articles and views visit Jetfly Music Blog now. Also, for the best up-to-date related online products, check out Jetfly Pro Audio Shop for todays current online deals.

When Neil Young wrote the song ‘’Hey Hey, My My'’ in 1978, he would have had no idea of the implications that one of the lyrics would have on music and society. Spoken in full only in the acoustic version of the song, Young states the infamous citation that still resonates today - ‘’it’’s better to burn out than to fade away'’.

The song proved to be a favourite of a young lead singer of a Seattle-based rock band called Nirvana. When Nirvana became a global phenomenon and the young front-man struggled to cope with his new-found celebrity status, Kurt Cobain committed suicide and left a harrowing note with the last line saying ‘’it’’s better to burn out than to fade away'’.

The phrase would become allegorical of Cobain’’s suicide and his memory would be preserved with him at the peak of his career in terms of success and popularity. It is through this reference that the line has become synonymous with the careers of musicians and used to highlight the deterioration of a formerly excellent artist into a mediocre performer.

In the film High Fidelity, Jack Black’’s character quotes the famous Neil Young line when a customer attempts to purchase the latest Stevie Wonder song ‘’I Just Called To Say I Love You'’. Stevie Wonder almost epitomises the concept of the artist fading away as he enjoyed critical acclaim, before seemingly sacrificing this for commercial success.

Wonder’’s peak occurred during the early to mid 1970s with classic recordings including ‘’Superstition'’ and ‘’Higher Ground'’ that helped elevate him to a celebrated 20th century artist. However, as the 1980s approached Wonder began to record more pop-influenced tunes with sentimental lyrics including the sugar-coated ‘’Happy Birthday'’ and ‘’I Just Called To Say I Love You'’.

As Black’’s character questions in High Fidelity “is it in fact unfair to criticize a formerly great artist for his latter day sins, is it better to burn out or fade away?”. This is certainly personal choice as however much one dislikes Wonder’’s latter works, we must remember the influence that he has made upon modern music.

In direct contrast to the example of Stevie Wonder, who has continued to make music throughout his extensive career, there are many examples of artists that have burnt out in their prime. Four of those that have died, all at the age of 27 include Jimi Hendrix, Jim Morrison, Janis Joplin and Kurt Cobain. These musicians'’ careers were cut short when they were still in their prime and so it begs the question - would they have continued to produce outstanding or would they have deteriorated until they became guests on reality television?

It would be uncomfortable viewing, with all that has happened with the post-Cobain Nirvana euphoria to imagine him as one of the celebrity guests on the loosely termed ‘’rock'’ episode of American Idol. In committing suicide, sadly, Cobain has cemented his place in rock history as the frontman of one of the most influential bands of the last thirty years.

At the time of Jim Morrison’’s death, The Doors had recorded L.A. Woman (released in May of 1971) to reinforce the band’’s position as one of the most important rock bands of the time. Following the recording of the album, Morrison moved to Paris where he would die on the 3rd of July 1971. L.A. Woman would go on to sell massively worldwide, The Doors'’ most popular record since their debut album.

Following Morrison’’s death, The Doors continued to perform and produced two more albums with vocals shared between two of the original band members. Inevitably, the albums sold considerably less than those released with Morrison and The Doors disbanded. If Morrison hadn'’t gone to Paris and The Doors had continued making music, the albums would certainly have varied but what would have been Morrison’’s musical fate.

There are many examples of musicians that have continued to make successful, well-received music long after their expected shelf-life has expired. David Bowie, despite some criticism, has continued to perform to a high standard while Madonna has grown from a young pop starlet to global superstar.

The common trait that is shared by those artists that maintain their position is one of progression and evolution. Artists that continue producing the same music for years will inevitably become dated and eventually fade away into obscurity. Maybe it is just a question of choice, and so I too will burn out as my article is at its peak.

About The Author

Patrick is an expert Research and Travel consultant. His current interest is in Heathrow Parking, Hilton Heathrow and Luton Airport Hotels.

To most people the truth about when Jimi Hendrix got his first guitar and what types of guitars he played throughout his career is somewhat of a mystery. Although, he was unarguably the greatest guitar player ever, and with his fertile musical mind, perhaps the greatest composer of our generation or ever for that matter. No disrespect intended, putting Jimi in company with Bach, Beethoven and the likes. True Genius.

The path that will be described here is what I would consider the most accurate, after a lot of research and a little voodoo-magic. Realistically though, boiling down the mixture may leave some people to disagree with me, and I welcome the input.

The evidence and consistencies suggest that his first guitar was a cheap acoustic his dad gave to him, as early as eleven years old. The story goes as such, that even at a young age of six years, his school teacher mentioned to his dad, Jimi obsesses over having a guitar so much that it may be contributing to some mental health issues. Not to discount todays teachers, but that was a very perceptive statement at that time.

His first electric guitar was bought from Myers Music in Seattle in 1959. Professed to be a white, single pickup Supro Ozark. The next axe that Hendrix played was a red Danelectro single pickup Silvertone, nicknamed Betty Jean. In'’62, while doing some gigs with the King Casuals in Tennessee, he traded his Danelectro for an Epiphone Wilshire, which had dual pickups and a glued on mahogany neck with a solid mahogany body, as opposed to the bolt on Fender Stratocaster guitar necks.

In 1964, Jimi would play rhythm guitar for the Isley Brothers. During this nine month gig, he finally got his first Fender guitar, a blond'’59 Duo-Sonic. He next played with Little Richard in ‘’65, and briefly played a Fender Jazzmaster. However, he switched back to a Dou-Sonic when he played with Curtis Knight and the Squires. Even though Jimi later returned to the Jazzmaster.

A point of interest is that none of the gigs he had with the bands mentioned above lasted very long, because Jimi’’s guitar work stole the show. His unbelievable guitar abilities were noticed by all immediately, which took the focus away from the musical-icons he worked for.

Jimi purchased his first Strat from Manny’’s Music in New York in ‘’66 in the summer. Early on he would use a variety of CBS Strats with rosewood fretboards. While he was staying in Greenwich Village in late ‘’66 and ‘’67 he narrowed down his choices to a ‘’60′’s era Reverse Fender Stratocasterblack or white Fender Strats using maple fretboards. Which, most likely is the reason the Fender Stratocaster is the most important guitar in the history of guitars and music.

From then on he played Fender Stratocasters with large headstocks. One of his many unusual playing techniques was to play a right handed guitar backwards, or in the left handed position, obviously because Jimi was left handed. In order to do that one must reverse the strings and (bone) nut so the low E was still on the top. My understanding was that he preferred the controls on the top of the guitar. Apparently he could work his magic easier with the voluminous amount of tricks he performed, partly by messing with the volume control knob. Jimi was not much on tone controls or guitar setup. Mostly Jimi spent the bulk of time modifying his tremolo to do things like lower the pitch more than usual and create trem sounds otherwise unheard of.

Naturally Jim Hendrix had purchased and played a tremendous assortment of guitars in his lifetime. During my fact finding mission, this is the list of the other guitars Jimi most likely owned and played; a Gibson ES-330, a Gibson Firebird, a Mosrite electric resonator guitar, a Guild 12 string acoustic, a Black Widow Spider acoustic, several Rickenbacker’’s including a bass Rick, a double neck Mosrite, a Hagstrom 8 string bass(it was the on played on Spanish Castle Magic from the Axis Bold As Love album'’, a ‘’67 Gibson Flying V, a ‘’67 Gretsch Corvette, a lefty Guild Starfire Deluxe, a Hofner electric, a ‘’55 Gibson Les Paul, a Gibson Dove acoustic, a Martin acoustic, a ‘’68 Gibson SG Custom and a black lefty Flying V. Wow!

It is not surprising that Jimi owned so many guitars. The depth of knowledge and pure unadulterated playing style was not limited to just electric guitars and Stratocasters. His unique abilities allowed him to play any guitar with the deep soul jarring vibes that were all his. It would be unrealistic to think he was limited to one style of guitar. Or for that matter, one type of music. Jimi’’s interest in music extended to the world of classical music as well.

Lost to many, is the fact that Jimi was one of the best rhythm guitarists ever, most folk know him for his lead and solo guitar work, he was also an adept bass player too. And last, he was a master at the acoustic guitar, using chords in a manner unknown to mankind at that time. This combo of skills and abilities produced the man who will be forever the patron saint of rock guitar.

A long article to read indeed. A true joy putting the info together. It turned out to be a long path to find the truth. Enjoy it.

About The Author

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