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Tag Archive for 'guitar'

Music Throughout Human History

Published
by
Elijah Fynn
on May 19, 2008
in Music
. 0 Comments
by Elijah Fynn

Music has been around nearly since the dawn of time. Throughout the ages, it has been around and used in different formats by different people.

Music has been used for parties and for religious ceremonies. It is considered to be a leisure activity, which relaxes a person and makes them feel better.

A large number of people all around the world are obsessed with music, they use it as a tool to release their tension and forget everything in their life. Over time music has divided into a large number of different forms.

People hear pop music, rap, jazz, orchestra music, metal, hip hop and other forms of music. Rap music is one the most popular forms of music in USA. Some of its genres are as follow.

1. East coast: this refers to New York; some of the notable singers were Rakim, Big Daddy and Run-D.M.C. As a result of there efforts east coast became popular nation wide.

2. In the mid 1980s, singers such as Too Short and Ice Tea were popular. They helped to start rap on this side of the nation.

3. Ghetto Mafia was partly responsible for influencing rap in the south. This came after both the west and east coasts had their success.

4. Gangsta Rap: there is a little bit of confusion about the singer who brought gangsta rap on a national level. Some people think that it was Ice Tea while others say it was N.W.A who took this rap on a national level.

Other forms of rap emerged in the 1980s and have been here since. They include pop, electro, and jazz.

You can find a huge number of music genres all around the world. Some are specific for entertainment purposes while others for religious purposes. Its not possible to know about all of these genres so it can be difficult to identify all of them.

Almost in every religion music has played an important role. People use music to pray to their Gods, sing there prayers in music and even perform them as a ritual. Over time there has been an improvement in these rituals and music that they perform.

You can pick up any religion and look at the importance of music in it. No matter its Christianity, Islam, or Hinduism music has always played an important role. You can go to church or temples and you can see people using music as a medium to offer there prayers.

About the Author:
If you have a yearning taste for guitar music and want to expand your playing skill-set, I suggest you have a look at Steven Krenz’s learn & master guitar program. It is tailored for newbies and pros alike.

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The Art of Guitar Transposition - Guitar Lessons

Published
by
Eugene W
on May 18, 2008
in Music
. 0 Comments
by Eugene W

Every so often, we decide to dive into a new aspect of playing guitar that many are either afraid of, or just simply have no idea what it’s all about. We’re going to tackle one of the more feared issues evolving around guitar… Transposition.

Join us as we teach you the most simplistic and easy ways to transpose your music.

Getting That Riff In Your Favorite Key!

How many times have we composed a riff that we absolutely love, or perhaps found a song that we really enjoy playing and wanted to put it into a new, original song and truly make it ours? Chances are that we’ve all wanted to at least try it out once or twice but always came across one roadblock… Keys.

As mentioned in our last article, the probability that two riffs will be in the same key is very low if you are writing a lot of songs or wish to link two well known songs together. This is where you need to transpose one of those riffs so you can connect them together and put them in that song.

Another scenario is that you just wrote an awesome riff that you envision going into one of your band’s songs… The only problem is that it’s in the wrong key! With transposing, you can still use that riff and play along with the rest of the band.

If you’re a true band nerd, like myself, you have probably been around transposition since the days of Jr. High or Middle School. Now, if you’re still like me, you didn’t have two clicks on how to do it either. I was always amazed to see how my teacher would take a trumpet part and transpose it so I could play it on my sax and still be in the right key!

With guitar, this is invaluable. You can take a sax part and transpose it to your guitar. If you happen to have a sax player around, you can now play along with that sax and still be in the proper key.

One of the most unique things about playing guitar is that we have a number of tools available to us to use for easy transposition. Many other musicians envy us for this and call us cheaters in the game of music theory, however, if you can use it… Why not?

The tools that you can use.

One of the most common tools used to transpose music on the guitar is the capo. The capo is essentially a piece of rubber that is glued onto two pieces of metal with a spring placed in between. When clasped onto the neck of your guitar and placed behind a fret, it acts as a new nut (AKA the “zero” nut.) This new nut raises the pitch of your guitar, therefore changing the key.

Most guitarists use them so they can make really complicated chords into easy open chord shapes. This is where the whole joke about cheating comes in. Instead of actually practicing those really hard chords and getting your technique down, you can transpose that chord using the capo and turn it into an open chord shape such as an E Major or an A and still have the same chord.

While I don’t recommend that you always do that because it’s always good to know how to play a song if your capo breaks, it’s great for live performances where you want to minimize the risk of messing up a complicated chord. If you’re a lead guitarist, you can still use a capo but in all honesty, it’s far easier to find the key that everyone else is playing in relative to the capo and just use the scale that suites the song best.

In most cases, it’s actually quicker for a lead guitarist not to use a capo and just find a scale. Switching a capo around the neck of your guitar can cost valuable seconds between songs.

About the Author:
E Walker is the founder of Planet of Rock Backing Tracks Music Studios. Listen to samples of Free Backing Tracks at Planet of Rock today. Find out how they can bring your skills to the next level. Jam to over 1000 professional tracks.

Music & Guitar

Published
by
Elijah Fynn
on May 17, 2008
in Music
. 0 Comments
by Elijah Fynn

One of the most common musical instruments in the world today is the guitar. It is also one of the most recognizable instruments.

Since the 1500s, the guitar has been in human culture. This is one of the reasons it forms the basis for our modern music culture.

It has three basic types which are the classical guitar, the electric guitar and the acoustic guitar. Also there is the supporting bass guitar that has thicker strings. There are many such variations of guitar all over the world, some with a completely hollow body and some with a lesser number of strings.

The sounds that come out of the guitar also differ vastly with the variations in the guitar. A song can have any type of guitar in the lead. It is mythical to think that only electric guitar should be used for the lead of a song. A guitar is not decided by the lead but buy the way the guitar is played.

In a song, the rhythm of the song is played by a rhythm guitar or a bass guitar. The rhythm of the song is also known as the beat of the song. The most major component of the song would be melody.

This is what gives the music a particular character. This is the part that you would normally remember and later identify with. This is usually done with the help of the lead guitar which is most commonly an electric guitar.

There are different ways that a lead guitarist can produce the melody. It may include fills or even riffs. These are terms you will be familiar with as you progress in your guitar skill.

If you are planning to take up guitar lessons in school, by DVD, or in person, you may find yourself learning chords very soon. Chords form the basis for any kind of song.

Millions of people begin to play guitar each day around the world. With time, your playing ability will be able to surpass most of the general population if you stick with it.

In order to play really well, you will have to play quite a bit. Don’t think of it as a punishment, but rather as an enjoyment. If you enjoy what you do, you will excel at it.

A perfect way to learn guitar and to relax at the same time, is to play your instrument after a long day’s work. It brings peace and comfort to the musician. Just give it a try next time you find yourself stressed out.

About the Author:
New guitar books can teach anyone discover guitar. There are many different books on the market today and each for a particular kind of music.

Acoustic World - Tone Woods of Acoustic

Published
by
E Walker
on May 17, 2008
in Music
. 0 Comments
by E Walker

Tone woods.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

About the Author:
E Walker is the founder of Planet of Rock Music Studios. Find out how GuitarBacking Tracks will improve your guitar playing skills. Jam anytime anywhere with professional free backing tracks