Guitar Techniques for the Right Hand

In this article I want to give the readers a brief introduction to the many right hand techniques that guitarists employ. A player would be selling themselves terribly short if they stuck to only one of these techniques. Sadly, many players do just that. They are taught a certain way and they stick to it for the rest of their playing careers. Adding different right hand techniques will allow you to insert more harmonic and melodic ideas into your playing.
Alternate Picking: This is the most common right hand technique that guitarists today employ. In this technique the player used a plectrum to strike the guitar strings in an alternating up/down/up/down fashion. No matter which string is to be struck next the pattern is always up/down/up/down. The reason that this is such a popular way to pick is because it is so effective. Alternate picking allows the player to have a good rhythmic foundation in their right hand and it allows a lot of freedom of movement over one, two, or more strings. Alternate picking is used in almost all styles of music but it is very prevalent in blue grass and shred metal guitar.
Sweep Picking: Sweep picking is another style of picking that uses a plectrum. In this right hand technique, the player sweeps the picks across the strings in either an upward or a downward motion. This is an extremely efficient way of picking and a flurry of fast notes can be played. This technique is commonly used when playing arpeggios. This right hand technique is very common in neo-classical shred guitar.
Finger Picking: Finger picking is a school of its own in the guitar world. Many guitarists are never taught to use a plectrum but are taught to play exclusively with their fingers. The benefits of finger picking are many. The player can play fast repetitive phrases much faster and more accurately than a plectrum player. Also, finger picking players have much more freedom to mix both harmonic and melodic ideas than plectrum players. Finger picking is the style used most often in classical guitar. Many jazz players will use finger picking as well, especially when comping.
Hybrid Picking: Hybrid picking combines elements of both plectrum playing and finger style playing. In this style, the guitarist hold the pick between his or her thumb and index finger and the other three finger float above the strings and pick the notes. This is a very popular style of picking in jazz where the guitarists must shift frequently back and forth between harmonic and melodic playing.
I hope that my introduction to guitar techniques for the right hand was helpful. I encourage all beginning guitarists to experiment as much as possible with each of these techniques. Your guitar playing will only improve!

My name is Ryan Gloman and I have a passion for guitar and a passion for sharing information. I hope that this article helps you on your way to becoming a great guitarist. I understand that learning to play the guitar can be a daunting task at times. Luckily, you can find tons of helpful info on the net. Check out this site for some great tools.

How Many Songs Are In Your Pocket?

The portable MP3 player continues to be the hot item for those who want music on the go. I was talking to a teen the other day wearing a wristwatch MP3 player she takes on her walks. She showed me how it stores & plays about 60 songs and does everything but tell time.

"Cool", I said, "That's a lot of music."

"Yeah, it's not an iPod, but good enough for me now." She explained apologetically.

Why was the 60 song capacity such a disappointment? I can't even name 60 songs.

Well, the iPod is the undisputed king of all MP3 players and it holds a lot of music. I got my first real demo from my 16 year old niece last Christmas. Her cute and wanting little sister threatened to enter the work force early to obtain her own. Every kid wants one bad, but read on, these gizmos aren't cheap!

The iPod has caused the rebirth of Apple Computer, Inc., which has sold over 10 million units as of Q1 2005, with annual sales growing at a respectable 525 percent! I haven't seen that kind of growth since the invention of toilet paper. Apple has also become an industry-leading innovator in selling music online from their iTunes website.

Take an iPod Tour

The iPod Shuffle is the baby of the family, offering 512MB of space, which can hold about 120 songs and set you back $99.00. But everyone must ask themselves in the mirror, "Can you show your face at a party packing only 99 songs?" If you're not sure, better buy a little insurance in the form of the 1-gigabyte Shuffle, which can hold 240 songs. ($149.00) Your peers will recognize that you're in the iPod game, albeit entry level.

For some, 240 songs barely scrapes the surface dust of their collection, coercing them to consider the iPod Mini which can hold 1,000 songs ($199) or the 6GB Mini, which holds 1500 songs. ($249) I noticed that Apple is still using diminutive adjectives for this product level, and I guess the message is that the "Mini" is for a puny music collection that is tiny and rather small-ish. So be careful when giving this one as a gift.

"Here son, I got you an "iPod Mini" for your birthday!"

"Thanks Dad, but what do I look like, a baby? It only holds 1500 songs! They'll laugh at me! "

"But son, my generation needed a moving crane and a 3 man crew to bring in a machine that could play that much music."

"I thought you loved me..."

If your unsure of the size of your child's music library, the "regular" iPod is the way to go. ($299) Everyone on this level is "normal" and "common" and no one can be singled out for ridicule. Perfect for a young teen! And 20GB of space gives you that benchmark 5,000 songs, which is probably considered usual and customary in a world economy that had a ten-year run at emptying the product off the digital shelves of the record industry for free.

Granted, there are many who would beg for death rather than leave the house with so many songs left behind on their 'big' computers. The 60GB iPod Photo ($449.00) would be the choice for them. It can hold 15,000 of your favorite songs, or 25,000 of only your best looking photos. I keep my 25,000 photos in bins out in the garage. (Admittedly, they're a little bulky to carry around, and I have difficulty with retrieval when I desire to look up a particular birthday or holiday memory.)

But if you're buying any of these for your kids birthday, better up their allowance, or put them to work down at the mill because these iPods are specifically designed to download from the iTunes website for 99 cents a track.

Napster

Napster began hollering "Do the Math!" from the sidelines with a spot during the Superbowl. They spent $2.2 million to ask the question, "How much does it cost to fill up your player?" The spot is no longer on the company website, but it showed a guy in the Superbowl stands holding a sign that read, "Do The Math"

iTunes + 10,000 songs = $10,000.00

Napster + MP3 player = $15.00 per month

It appears like Napster wins the championship of MP3 players hands down! Napster has a million songs that you can download day and night for only $15.00! (I wonder if they paid for all those.) But there was a sentence printed in the ad, that was so small I didn't catch it on my father-in-law's big screen which takes two houses to contain. They only flashed it for a moment so it must not have been important. I looked it up later: "Subscription must be maintained to continue to access songs downloaded from service." Turns out, with Napster's service, you're not buying, but rather, you're renting the music. You can't burn them onto a CD and you can only use them on certain MP3 players. When you quit paying the $15.00 per month, the music disappears...no matter how long it took you to download it all. If you want to buy a song from Napster, it will cost you... drum roll please... 99 cents!

So is the real math?

iPod = Napster?

So my music loving friends, here is how I add up the numbers:

For $9900 you can download 10,000 songs from either Napster or iTunes and own them. Or for the same price you can download an unlimited amount of songs from Napster for 55 years, but you can't leave them to your children.

Rick David writes a humor column called, "Don't Laugh It Could Happen To You" for http://sandiego.merchantamerica.com

Does Practice Make Perfect?

You've probably heard the saying "practice makes perfect" and it sounds true enough, but is t really? We all know the importance of practicing a new skill in order to become proficient at it. This is especially true when it comes to playing the guitar, or any other musical instrument for that matter. But, practicing incorrectly can actually be a detriment to your progress.

How is that you say?

Because you will continue to reinforce whatever it is you practice. So, if you always practice doing something the wrong way, you will end up with the wrong result. For example, if you practice holding your hands in a poor position, it will eventually become a habit that will be difficult to correct. Poor position of either your right or left hand when practicing the guitar can create tension, thus making certain techniques more difficult to execute. Poor hand position can also increase the possibility of developing injuries that are somewhat common to musicians, such as Carpal Tunnel Syndrome. This is a very debilitating injury of the wrist which can bring your guitar playing to a complete halt. When practicing, use a "cupped" hand instead of a "flat" hand to help promote a good relaxed position.

Another problem area for some students regarding guitar practice, is rhythm. Rhythm is so foundational to every aspect of music that I really can't stress its importance enough. Whether or not you know how to read music isn't the issue. But you absolutely should try to learn how to count the beats within a given measure of music in order to play the piece correctly. If you can't keep time, no one will really be able to tell what you're playing anyway. It will also be very difficult for you to play along in a band, or with other musicians who just want to "jam."

Speed is one of the biggest practice obstacles I see among my students. When speed is king, rhythm and timing are often sacrificed. It is absolutely necessary to SLOW DOWN in order to interpret the timing correctly, especially if it is a fast lick or strumming pattern. Speed also affects articulation, which simply means "to pronounce distinctly." What good is it if you can play something real fast,but do it poorly? Who is going to be impressed with that? Instead, take your time and practice playing each tone clearly, at a speed that is comfortable for you. Try using a metronome or drum machine to set a tempo. Then practice short "speed bursts" one section at a time. Keep increasing the speed until you can play the entire lick, riff or measure, etc. at the desired tempo. But, do not sacrifice hand position, rhythm or articulation in the process. These three things should receive top priority when practicing the guitar. After they are well established, work on the speed or tempo of the music.

Knowing what finger position to use when playing notes on the guitar fretboard is also important. If you use a haphazard or random approach, you will likely become confused and disoriented as you begin to move around. I tell my new students that the guitar is "upside down and backward" to give them some idea of what they're facing when it comes to learning the notes on the fretboard. Meaning that the guitar is played both horizontally and vertically, as opposed to the piano which is a linear instrument. When learning to read notes on the guitar, you must flip it upside down to match it to a fretboard diagram. Down is up and up is down when referring to direction and how it relates to the pitch of each string.

To sum things up:

1. Start Slowly
2. Develop a relaxed "cupped" hand position
3. Learn how to interpret the rhythm (timing)
4. Emphasize articulation (clarity)
5. Gradually increase speed (tempo)

So, it is true that "practice makes perfect" if you learn to develop a "perfect" practice routine. In order to do this, you will need to work on establishing your priorities and developing good practice habits. Realize that it takes time to become a good musician so don't rush the process, instead, embrace it and enjoy it.

If you keep these ideas in mind you should see a steady, progressive improvement of your overall playing in a relatively short time. You will also discover that when you develop good habits, you automatically develop good technique. Once you have established good technique, playing the guitar will seem much easier and that will make it all worthwhile in the long run.

FREE Reprint Rights - You may publish this article in your e-zine or on your web site as long as you include the following information:

Kathy Unruh is a singer/songwriter and webmaster of ABC Learn Guitar. She has been writing songs and providing guitar lessons to students of all ages for over 20 years. For free guitar lessons, plus tips and resources on buying a guitar, songwriting, recording and creating a music career, please visit: http://www.abclearnguitar.com

All About Eminem

Marshall Mathers, was born October 17, 72, and could be by far the most notorious and recognised rap music musicians of this age, having the alias Slimshady. Slim Shady is perhaps best known for being one of the very few influencial white rappers in the hip hop industry, and not only one of the most critically acclaimed.

Marshall Mathers is in addition infamous for the controversy with respect to lots of slim shadys controversal lyrics, that has been stated by the critics to be racist, angry and dangerous.

First discovered by the legend Dr.Dre, then the long awaited release of the Infinate, his up-to-date set on Shady Aftermath Records, already had leading fans of hip hop excited about Slim Shady. Jam packed of amazing lyrical hits that delve deep into the outlook of a pervertly distorted but super special rap artist, the hits carries alot of the most unbelievable and scary hurtfull lyrics ever put down.

And the real grounds for the immense profits of Marshall Bruce Mathers III. Marshall Bruce Mathers III perchance sums eminems white hiphop artist label better by announcing "Every now and again 1 motherf***er comes along and guess what that happens to be me."

It remains to be seen for how long Slimshady will be about, but slim shadys potential for certain overstepped the man marshall Mathers is more freqently likened with, Ice. However he is not slim shadys only opposition in the hip hop cosmos. Vanilla Ice told Vibe Magazine of late that Eminem "raps like a school girl" adding "I merely dont like that tiny squealing voice."

Marshall Bruce Mathers III also separates himself from the Ice man by going on the attack against most everybody in his lyrics.

Barry Hynes
For more Eminem info.

How to Remove DRM from WMA - Is It Legal and Worth the Effort?

Technically, it's illegal to remove DRM from WMA protected music. Digital Rights Management (DRM) is part of the music industry's effort to curb piracy. There are legitimate reasons for removing it, but first understand DRM can not be removed from file sharing network downloads. Most tracks can be legally copied 3 to 5 times, and this has been exceeded long before they appear on a peer-to-peer network. You must have either purchased the music or have unrestricted free music downloads.

There is no easy way to remove DRM, but it can be removed with some effort and know-how. The best advice is to only download music in the format you need, and that you have the right to copy to an mp3 player, CD or other device. It's also important to determine that the player will recognize and play the DRM protected WMA track.

What if I Really Like the songs and Want to convert them?

Let's say you've already downloaded music and need to convert to another audio codec. The common conversion method is to burn the tracks on a CD, then rip them in the desired codec's format. Even this requires special ripping software and numerous steps because the DRM is still embedded in the tracks. And because codecs like WMA, mp3, OGG, AAC, etc. are lossy formats, the sound quality will be degraded.

Lossy formats selectively discard sounds the human can't hear to make the file smaller. But each format removes slightly different sounds. For example, converting a track using a WMA to mp3 converter is now missing the sounds that both codecs have deleted.

There are other ways to remove DRM and convert WMA to mp3, but they require numerous steps and more software - and they're not for the technically challenged. Free WMA to mp3 conversion software and detailed instructions are available on the Internet.

MP3 players information from A to Z: player types & features, how they work, accessories,comparisons and more - plus free music download tips and info at A-Z MP3 Players.com, Your Complete A-Z Resource for MP3 Players, Accessories and Information.

This article may be re-printed in its entirety, with no changes and this resource box included. © 2005 http://www.a-z-mp3-players.com All rights reserved

Guide to Finding Music Online

Are you frustrated because finding your favorite songs on the net has become more of a chore than an enjoyable activity? Read this simple guide to finding music online and your troubles will be out of mind before you download your next Green Day hit!

MP3s are compressed music files that are one-tenth the size of regular audio files. As a normal audio file requires about 40 megabytes to download, and MP3 requires four. Although this is still a substantial number, it is much more manageable for the average computer. Thus began the MP3 downloading, sharing and trading craze. There are a variety of options when it comes to playing your MP3s. Media Player comes with Windows, QuickTime 4 comes with Macintosh, and Win amp is the industry standard product.

Music can be downloaded from websites or FTP sites. Websites are easier to use. Songs download automatically when you click on the titles. Finding good websites to download from is difficult. The sites that used to work well now dabble in other venues. AlltheWeb.com and MP3.com usually only contain independent, unknown bands that may be great, but if you're looking for the stuff you've heard of, you'll be wasting your time. Audiofind now carries radio stations instead of music files, and Audiogalaxy.com Music

Search requires a subscription.

Good websites to use are LycoMP3 Search, MP3 Search on Altavista, MP3 Search at Astraweb, and MP3Bot Search Engine. FTP sites usually require special software. Some free software options include WS FTP and FTP Explorer. Oth Net (Kermit search) is a clean fast way to download from FTP sites directly from the browser that works even better than the software options.

In the wake of the Napster downfall, it has become mostly illegal to download and share free music files on the web. Musicians are opposed to the practice, and rightly so, because the free music sharing significantly affects the commercial success of their CD sales in stores. Downloaders tend to think musicians are being unfair by revoking the free music files from the net, but one must remember that selling music is their career. It is nearly impossible to find full albums on the web.

These days, musicians will release a couple of new hits onto the net to try to entice the web surfing crowd to wander into the music store and buy the full album. Remember, if all else fails and you MUST have the MP3 of a song, there are thousands of sites to which you can subscribe and pay for the downloads.

New bands are always willing to put their music out on the Internet in hopes of getting heard, so free downloads are limitless if you are willing to lend your ear to some new tunes.

Keith Kingston is a professional web publisher who offers advice on hoew to find free internet radio stations and source cheap mp3's such as the latest Eminen mp3

Micheal Jackson

I bet your wondering all about the Micheal Jackson Trail. Do you think he's guilty. All of us are entitled to have different opinions. I believe Micheal Jackson isn't guilty, because not enough evidence was shown during the trial.

The child who had cancer switched up his stories so many times you don't know what to believe any more. If there is some one to blame I believe the parents that allow their children to spend the night at Micheal's home should be arrested.

It's like me having cancer(I really do)and asking my mother for "Make A Wish Foundation" to grant my wish for me to meet R.Kelly. Which will be a definite no no no.

If a parent here's all these allegations against a person are supposedly true.Why would they give their child permission to go "Never Land Ranch" to meet this child molester? So much for being a child molester!

Children claim to see nude pics from nude magazines. Knowing children they probably sneaked in Micheal's cabin and were being nosey enough, to get a little taste of the action, that was obviously too much for them.

No they don't want mom and dad to find out that their sweet adoreable son, is a naughty boy, trying to see grownup things, that should only be seen by the 18 and older eyes.Next time you make a judgement about a celebrity.

Make sure you have all your facts straight. Email me at: weslhn@aol.com

I was born in New York, At the age of 15 I was diganosed with leukemia. I'm now in remission. I'm doing fine. Three important people helped me to beat this illness, which makes life much more rewarding.

How To Make Money On A Music Website Through Pay-Per-Click?

Interested in making money while you're asleep, or making money while you're not even on the computer? Well here is a way that you can do that, clicks!! Once you have gone through godaddy.com and purchased your domain name for a cheap $9.20 per year, and found a hosting company such as GoDaddy.com for $3.95 per month, you are set to begin building your website and making money.

It is possible to make money by joining affiliate programs and selling companies' products as mentioned in my previous article, How to Make Money on a Music Website through Affiliate Programs found at:

http://www.best-mp3-music-downloads.com/articles/article13.html

Now how exactly do you make money through people clicking on your website and links on your website? The first step is to get a FREE affiliate account with 7search at 7search.com. What this will allow you to do is place 7search ads and other websites dealing with your topic, in this case music, on your website.

On the 7search affiliate page you will be able to manage your account viewing how many clicks a day you are getting and how much money you are making. How you make money is by placing pay-per-text links on your website. Through 7search you will want to go to:

http://www.best-mp3-music-downloads.com/7searchkeyword.html

This will allow you to look at the price you will make for different keywords that you use. The difference between music and free music for example, results in a change of cost that websites are paying to get their website higher on the search engine.

When creating your pay-per-text once you have come up with a keyword that you want to use, come up with a short sentence or phrase to let people know what they are clicking on. For example, use Top 10 music websites or Best free music websites, to reel them in to see what the top 10 music websites are. You will also be able to choose how many sites you want to come up on your list, from 1 to all that are available. You will want to keep it at 10 or under as the lower down the list the site is, the less you get paid each time a surfer clicks on the link.

As you create this pay-per-text, 7search will give you a code that you place in your web panel creating a link. The great thing about 7search is that there is NO limit to how many pay-per-text links you place on your website, so you can have one on each page of your website or more. It is recommended however, that you don't place more then a couple per page as it will begin to appear cluttered with pay-per-texts. Once you place the pay-per-text links on your website, you are set to begin making money 24/7.

Now that you have a way to make money by people clicking on links on your website, how do you get people to come to your website? You want to get your website out on the internet and get it known. You can run ads through other peoples' websites or on various companies' websites, but this will cost you money varying from website to website. If you want to make money without spending too much money, the way is by exchanging links with other people.

Exchanging links with other people allows you to get your website out on other peoples' website so that when surfers go on to their website, they may see your website and be intrigued. By exchanging links, you are giving your website to someone else to have them place it on their website and in return, you place their website on your website.

The two link exchange companies that I use are infowizards.com and linkmarket.net. Infowizards is free to join and allows you to trade multiple links with people in all categories with no limit. You will want to keep your link exchanges as close to your topic as possible. For example, don't trade links with someone that has a website based on relationships if you have a music website.

The other link exchange company that I use, linkmarket.net, is free to a limit. You may only request 5 links per day for free, or you may request unlimited links per day at the cost of $18.85 a year, which is highly recommended. The linkmarket.net website offers far more links than the infowizards website, and is much easier to maintain and keep track.

Another good way to get traffic to your website is by writing articles on various topics relating to your topic in some way. You then submit your article to as many places as possible such as goarticles.com, article-emporium.com, or ideamarketers.com. If you can submit your articles to 30-50 places, you will create traffic to your website in a hurry. Now you know what to do and the places to join to get money flowing if off of your music website while you aren't even working on it.

© Jeff Schuman II
Jeff Schuman is the creator of Best-MP3-Music-Downloads.com where you can buy CD's and find all of the best free music downloads: http://www.best-mp3-music-downloads.com.

Be Your Own DJ - Digital Audio Processing Tools Overview

SoundEdit Pro is a digital audio editor for a user-friendly price. It's the perfect program for home studio recording and for people who are just getting started with audio editing. SoundEdit Pro provides an intuitive, easy-to-use interface and is designed for the everyday user. It has dozens of amazing audio effects and tools for converting audio files into different formats, including MP3, WMA, WAV, Ogg Vorbis and many others. It even includes the possibility to directly load audio tracks! And that's just the beginning of what you can do with SoundEdit Pro.

Audio Record Wizard 3
http://www.deprice.com/audiorecordwizard.htm

This sound recorder program is designed to work directly with your sound card, so can record almost all audio from your sound card at near-perfect quality. You can record sound from a microphone, line-in, and just about any other programs (such as winamp, realplay, windows media player and others). Direct to disk feature allows you to record sound without running out of memory. Audio Record Wizard can also record directly to the mp3 format if you choose, saving you valuable disk space. You can select the different mp3 recording modes as required.

AudioStreamer
http://www.deprice.com/audiostreamer.htm

AudioStreamer is the Internet radio receiver and recorder that lets you enjoy the thousands of radio stations available on the Internet. While listening to your favorite radio station, you can record any radio station you want, anytime! Browse through the radio stations, selecting a genre and the preferred bandwidth, and enjoy Internet radio! This Internet radio receiver also lets you search for stations by keywords, like 'top 40'! All radio recordings can be saved as individual tracks, and AudioStreamer automatically adds the correct MP3 tag to the recording.

Cool MP3 Splitter
http://www.deprice.com/coolmp3splitter.htm

There are three methods which you can employ to split your tracks - split by section, split by time and split by size. Whichever you choose to use, you should find it very useful for creating audio CDs from your collection, and you can break up live songs from a recording of a concert you may have into individual tracks. What's more, the Multi-Thread split technology that the splitter employs ensures that you can achieve the highest possible performance.

EZ-DJ Plus
http://www.deprice.com/ezdjplus.htm

Anyone can mix music like a pro with EZ-DJ Plus. EZ-DJ Plus is a revolutionary program that lets anyone mix high quality DJ sets from MP3s, and have fun doing it! Use the beat-matched DJ Sets provided or import and mix your own MP3 music files. EZ-DJ Plus lets music lovers focus on the fun parts of mixing like scratching, cuts, fades, tricks, and other cool effects.

Former DJ John Deprice shares his secrets of professional music mastering at http://www.deprice.com/audio.htm

Guitar Tuning Tips

Most new guitar players and even some experienced ones have trouble staying and playing in tune. I'll try listing here some of the common mistakes and there solutions.

When putting new strings on your guitar you must always make sure you stretch them as you tune them to pitch. I always hold them down on the neck around the 24th fret with my left hand while pulling them away from the guitar body with my right hand. You don't have to use too much muscle, a few firm tugs should do the trick.

Whenever you tune a string down in pitch, be sure to use the string stretching technique described above. Remember ALWAYS TUNE UP! It's always better when tuning down, to get close to the note, stretch the string and then tune up to the intended pitch.

You should purchase a quality tuner from a music store like zZounds.com . You don't need to spend your life's saving. An inexpensive tuner should be fine to start out. Remember, this thing will be traveling to gigs and jam sessions with you. I would recommend a good Boss tuner or Korg tuner. Both brands have low cost tuners that will do the job just fine.

If your guitar has a tremolo bridge, always remember that each string that you tune will go down in pitch as you tune the next string. One solution to this is to over tune the strings. That is to say, you may need to tune your low E string to an F in order to have it be around an E note by the time you finish tuning the other strings. Over time you'll get a feel for how much you need to over tune each string and it will become second nature.

If you play in a band, it is a good idea to always tune to the same pitch. Standard pitch is 440 but some bands like to tune down to 430 or even 420 for the heavier sound or vocal reasons or both. My point is that if you're practicing at 430 then you have a gig and your band tunes to 440, everything will suddenly sound different, your singer might not be able hit all the notes he or she did at practice, your solos might even sound wrong. This is because everything is now a half step higher in pitch. Make things easy on yourself, pick a pitch and stick with it, at practice and gigs.

Free online guitar lessons presented by guitarmetal.com
Edward D Cupler is the owner of guitar lessons website guitarmetal.com Offering free guitar lessons to beginners and advanced students. Visit Eds site for free online guitar lessons at Guitar Metal.

5 Sure Fire Ways to Get Radio Play for Your "Independent" Music!

You have to find radio airplay time if you're going to be heard and we're not just talking the local college campus. The trick is called promotion. Now that doesn't mean you just put your press kit in an envelope with a demo and hope they take pity on you. Perhaps you call a station and they give you the standard pitch of, "Send it and if we like it we'll put you in rotation." After a few months of never hearing your music, you automatically think you're not worthy.

First, don't buy that. You're one of hundreds, maybe even thousands depending on your city. Your disc will probably end up in the trash or, for more enterprising DJ's, on Ebay in a one-cent CD sale. If you want to be heard and make potential sales, you have to stand out from the crowd, and in this jewel of an article, I'll show you Five(5) Knock 'em Dead Ways to Do Just That!:

#1 - Get your CD into the right hands. The intern that's too busy to getting coffee or typing up a report for the station manager isn't going to be the one making the airplay decision. So find out who the head honcho is in that department and touch base with them. If the club you're playing at charges an admission or you have a show coming up offer to send the stations tickets to give away to listeners. Now keep in mind you can't give the tickets to the staff, since that's illegal and called payola, but you can offer free giveaway items to your potential audience.

#2 - If you've got one station in your pocket, then drop names. Let them know that WABC is playing your music and it's getting a great response.

#3 - Make genuine friends in the business. If you've got a disc jockey that's got you in rotation and really likes your sound, get to know them. Find out why they enjoy it and see if they've gotten any responses from listeners. If they haven't, ask if perhaps they might Q & A their callers about your music so you get a feel for your target audience. It's not a bad idea to ask them for a testimonial or quote if they're well known in your area if you know them personally. People help people. That's a fact so if you treat your area disc jockeys like a living and breathing human and not dollar signs, that's a foot in the door. Another good source is club owners. If they play your music and the fans go nuts ask them to say a few words about your sound that you can pass along to prospective stations, but be sure to sit down for a drink with them. Ask them about the picture of him and the woman and two kids behind the Magic Kingdom. Don't be fake, but be genuinely interested.

#4 - Network. Find out if someone you know (or someone they know) has connections to the music stations. Remember six degrees of separation - you're only six people away from knowing anyone on the planet and yes that includes station managers, concert promoters and record execs. The trick is it takes a great deal of work and time, but if you're serious, it's well worth it.

#5 - Go local, state, national. Don't think you're going to skip your local and state stations and be the next Matchbox Twenty. It doesn't work that way. Start small and then get big.

Making contacts and getting names can be tough, that's why you should start with a tested and proven music industry resource like The Industry Yellow Pages - Music Industry Contact Directory at http://www.TheIndustryYellowPages.com

The TIYP is helpful and loaded with contacts you can start using immediately without doing all the legwork yourself.

This article was written by Ty Cohen, the music industry's most recognizable voice! Ty is the C.E.O of Platinum Millennium Publishing, Platinum Millennium Records as well as owner of http://www.MusicContracts101.com and http://www.MusicIndustrySuccess.com .
Some of his work includes: books, directories, mini-courses and software programs including the titles: "How to Make a Fortune in the Music Industry by Doing it Yourself" and "How to Make $500,000.00 "or More" A Year in the Music Industry by Doing it Yourself".
To find out more about Ty Cohen, his services, products and how he may be able to help you succeed in the music industry go to http://www.MusicIndustrySuccess.com and sign up for his free limited edition music industry success 10-part "Mini-Course", it will work wonders for you and best of all, it's FREE, but EXTREMELY VALUABLE!

How I Compose a Piece of Music

A number of people have asked about my own methodology for creating a complete piece of music at the piano. At the risk of oversimplification, the steps are as follows:

1. I sit down at the piano without any thought of creating something and tune in to my feelings.

2. I start to play the first thing that comes to mind. In other words, my fingers come before my brain. I let it all hang out and see where the music wants to go. If something resonates or has energy I stay with it until the energy dissipates. If the music does not seem to want to go anywhere I get up and leave.

3. Now, (assuming that I am on to something) I draw bar lines - enough for an 8-measure phrase. I then write down the chord changes on top - hopefully for the entire 8 bars. If the entire 8-bars don't come, I try for four - but I usually succeed in filling up this 8-bar space. I'll then pencil in the melody, but only the first 2-bars.

This way, I let the rest of the melody come of its own accord. The first 2-bars is enough to allow me to improvise the rest until it gels into its final form

4. After the first 8-bar section is complete (or incomplete, it doesn't matter) I'll write down another 8 or 4-bar phrase and listen for the next section of music - if there is a next section. If something comes I follow the same procedure as above.

What I usually try for in this section is contrast. Something different. In this regard, I do usually start out with a preconceived idea of what the final form of the music will be. It will be A-B-A form 90% of the time. Knowing this allows me to use the techniques of composition (repetition and contrast) better.

Although this seems to contradict the idea of letting the music tell you where it wants to go (improvisation) it is useful in composition to give shape to the music. I explain this in more detail in my online class.

5. Now, I have the rudimentary parts of the entire piece. If I only have the A section and the B section does not want to come, I leave it and come back to it. Sometimes it never comes and that's all right too. I can then combine different sections to different pieces of music and all works out. I give it a title (nature titles for me since that is my inspiration).

6. The piece is finished only after I play it a number of times and it has a chance to gel. I can't think of a better word for this process. After you play what you have written down a number of times, the music settles into what it will finally become. You just know when the piece is finished. It is an intuitive thing. Sometimes I'll repeat sections a number of times because the inspiration is fresh and because it feels right. Other pieces are very short because more repetition of a section just does not work.

Edward Weiss is a pianist/composer and webmaster of Quiescence Music's online piano lessons. He has been helping students learn how to play piano in the New Age style for over 14 years and works with students in private, in groups, and now over the internet. Stop by now at http://www.quiescencemusic.com/piano_lessons.html for a FREE piano lesson!

Yo, is Rap Just Another Four Letter Word?

Flaunting any excessive or anti-social behavior is considered brazen. When it is no longer considered brazen it is proof that it has become embedded as part of our culture. Not to say this is a good thing, after all headhunting was considered a cultural norm in some societies. The question to ask here may be, was rap ever truly a part of our culture? Will it eventually run out of steam and go the way of things like doing the twist, afro haircuts or break dancing? I for one would argue that it is not truly a part of the American cultural scene, but is a forced, twisted and contrived money machine that appeals to only the basest passions of the youth in our country.

Long before the "gangsta" element slid over to "hip hop" the reasoning for the whole genre and style was generally purported to be, to show what life in the "hood" was like. That worked for a while and it even drew more sympathy from the otherwise estranged. But as lower passions would have it, the style and language of rap began more and more to take on a life and purpose of its own, namely?sex. If by some magic stroke sex were temporarily extricated from every rappers thoughts and vocabulary, the entire industry would collapse quicker than the stock market in 1929. Now that's brazen!

Referring to rappers as artist and giving them full press doesn't guarantee that it is really an art form, all it says is that its here. But was it here before? Does it really have anything to do with the African American background, culture or heritage? I propose that it does not. Very few whites have succeeded in rap but even that does not prove that it is necessarily a black cultural thing. Growing up as a boy there were only two black families in our town. One of the boys from those families was my best friend. But to say that gave me even a basic knowledge of the African American culture would be an exaggeration. Later I arrived in the city of New Orleans just after the civil rights laws were passed. My exposure to the black culture increased exponentially. Finally I attended two seminaries the last of which was part of the National Baptist Convention a purely African American denomination. What I discovered about the African American culture will always be one of the greatest excursions of my entire life.

Our entire class would sit before some of the most dignified black gentlemen, professors and wait for the streams of their thoughts, opinion and knowledge to flow down to us. Most exciting was when they shifted their emphasis away from the curriculum and began to divulge elements of their private lives and their past. Life in New Orleans as a black man or women was no easy thing. Stories of their upbringing and their struggles would leave anyone with their heart in their throat. These old gentlemen for me were living examples of courage dignity and the best human qualities. What I learned about black culture in short is this. African Americans have a deep and ancient past; they are people with a lasting heritage.

I am sure that the blatant indulgence of sexual descriptive and four letter words that is rap's most prevalent aspect, is not part of their ancient culture and history. It does not accurately depict their culture, their history or any other part of their experience. I don't think my protesting is such a big deal. But I'd guess that if my old seminary professors could see and hear today's rap, you would hear the roar raising up from their graves and billowing down many an American avenue.

Rev Bresciani has written many articles over the past thirty years in such periodicals as Guideposts and Catholic Digest. He is the author of two books available on Amazon.com, Alibris, Barnes and Noble and many other places. Rev Bresciani wrote, Hook Line and Sinker or What has Your Church Been Teaching You, published by PublishAmerica of Baltimore MD. He also wrote a book recently released by Xulon Press entitled An American Prophet and His Message, Questions and Answers on the Second Coming of Christ. Rev Bresciani has his own website at http://americanprophet.org

Your PC Is An Awesome Singer... If You Let It!

As an amateur songwriter, who struggles with a computer far from powerful enough to run the necessary software to record vocals of good quality, I have looked for good solutions. And I've found a few.

In a short while you will hear songs that are totally computer made - including the vocals. Yamaha made the technology, and licensed it to various companies. Vocaloid is the name - remember it if you like music!

I have had the pleasure of testing Leon, the Virtual Soul Vocalist, from www.zero-g.co.uk.

The complexity hid behind the seemingly simplistic interface is astonishing. I hardly had to look at the manual at all while exploring - quite atypical for music software.

You draw your vocals using the mouse, and then add lyrics on top. Then, add harmonics, vibrato, attack etc. as you want, tweak the phonemes (your words are automatically converted, and you can edit them as you wish using the reference guide in the manual) and go. Record the vocals as WAV and import them into your favourite sequencer to add music, or use the program as a VST plugin.

On their site, Zero-G describes Leon: LEON is a virtual male soul vocalist modelled on a real professional singer, and when he is installed into your PC he will literally allow you to create singing of superb quality and realism. LEON will sing ANY words you ask him to in English - literally anything - be they beautiful lyrics or comical trivialities, Monteverdi madrigals or manic chants. You can create vocal tracks of soulful singing in any lyrics you want. You just type in lyrics, and synthesize. Then add expression to taste. LEON is under your total control, and the really mind-blowing thing is - he can truly sound like a professional singing voice. With very little practice the results you get from LEON will completely fool your friends - they will believe they are listening to a real singer performing. The question you will hear will always be "WHO is that?", and not "What is that?".

I quite agree. Leon is astonishing. You need a powerful PC to run the Vocaloid programs. My 1 Mhz AMD Athlon with 512 Mb RAM had problems. (Windows XP, Pentium 4, 1.7 GHz +, 1 GB of RAM or more is recommended). But still - I was able to use the program - and the night I received my copy, I didn't get to bed until 4 am?

You can find a distributor for the Zero-G range at www.zero-g.co.uk. The retail price for both Leon and Lola is $329.95/£199.95/?289. More info on the technology can be found at www.vocaloid.com and a link to raving reviews in various magazines and newspapers (among them one from the New York Times titled Could I Get That Song in Elvis, Please?) are linked to from both sites.

I am now about to enter the vocals for one of my songs using Leon. Gotta go. Drop by www.haakon.nu to listen to the results!

Essential software

Band in a Box is the perfect companion to these plugins. Enter your chords, select the style (from hardrock to soft ballads and classic Mozart) and generate your music. Read more at www.bandinabox.com and buy it for $88 ($249 for the MegaPAK with a multitude of styles). BiaB 2005 also allows you to record vocals and to harmonize them - in addition to a great variety of other features. If you wish, you can have BiaB 2005 create your whole song.

Haakon Rian Ueland is a former columnist of the Mensa International Journal, where this article was first published. smartsoftware.org is dedicated to various Cellphones and to his column. You can contact him at hueland (at) gmail (dot) com.

Does Reading Make Music?

When you read music you are deciphering the printed page and transferring the information to the keyboard. You might say that you are decoding what the composer or arranger put on the page . The symbols put on the paper by the composer are the only means he or she has to convey his/her musical ideas to the performer, hence to the listener.

But! Is decoding a page of printed music and transferring those symbols to sound really making music?

Not necessarily. That is only one step. We might say that reading the notes with our eyes and playing them with our fingers is putting the mechanics to work. If we stop studying the piece as soon as we are fairly fluent in playing the notes we have read, we may be good keyboard mechanics, but we may not be considered "musicians."

No doubt you have listened to a pianist and come away saying, "That performance really carried me away." On the other hand you have also probably heard much so-called "music" that left you cold-that did nothing for you. Perhaps one reason we enjoy listening to "ear" players is the fact that they are listening to what they play and are not distracted by the printed page.

"Ear" players MUST listen to themselves or they would have no idea of what comes next. The music is really speaking to them. Always remember that until music speaks to the player it cannot communicate anything to the listener.

What has all this got to do with reading music? You ask:"Is it wrong to try to learn to read? Since I can't play by ear, should I just forget about learning to play?"

The first question will take a bit of detail to take us from the printed page to good listening. Don't forget that the performer must be a good listener, if not the most critical of all listeners. If, as you perform, you become so engrossed in the printed notes, their pitch, their time, the touch, the dynamics-that you forget that all those things must fit together as a whole to make a good tone story, then you are a note reader, not a musician. But you must learn to read fluently if you can't play by ear.

There are comparatively few people who can play from memory or by ear everything that is on the page, fully and accurately. But, you don't hear them falter and fumble over the spots that are rough because they have learned how to "fake," how to cover their mistakes so the average listener is not aware of their bloopers.

So go ahead-learn to be a good reader. Not just a good letter reader, be a phrase-wise reader. Be aware of everything printed on the page, but read between the lines. Like a good actor, put yourself in the role and project your feelings to your listeners . Don't let your development stop with just reading pitch and time. Include those little nuances: the delicate shadings of volume, the elasticity of tempo�the phrases that punctuate your musical story. Those are the things that make music from the printed page.

Now you know your answer. It is not wrong to learn to read fluently. Reading, as well as good technique, is a vital part of a musician's craft. And the more automatic your reading and technique become, the easier it will be to learn new music. That, of course, is the one big advantage the fluent reader has over the ear player-the player who reads can learn new music he or she has never heard.

Perhaps your second question is also answered. Of course, you can enjoy music even if you have to dig out every note phrase by phrase. A few hints may help you decide how to choose your music and how to go about learning it. First:

Choose music that is well within your present level of playing so you won't have to work forever on once piece.

Don't worry about challenging yourself.

Don't dub yourself lazy just because you play easy pieces. Who cares what grade level your music is? Just play the melody so beautifully that everyone wants to hum along.

Keep the beat moving smoothly and with the proper accent so everyone will want to tap their toes.

Put in enough subtle changes of volume to make the phrases speak.

Deviate from the established beat just enough to enhance the natural flow of rhythm to make the music come alive.

Copyright 2005 RAW Productions

Ron Worthy is a Music Educator, Songwriter and Performer. His Web Site, Play Piano Like a PRO, offers Proven Tips, Tool, and Strategies (that anyone can learn) to Play Rock, Pop, Blues and Smooth Jazz Piano. http://www.mrronsmusic.com/playpiano.htm

Do you really need college to learn to play music?

Music courses are a great way to learn about virtually any area of music; history, theory, and musical instrument instruction -- you name it and somewhere music courses specialize in it. Though generally found through colleges, universities or high school programs, music courses are also offered via one-on-one instruction with a private teacher or community-based workshops. Some churches even offer music courses as a complement to their choirs; the music courses may be offered to the general public, but they're often geared toward the choir members and congregation.

In the last few years, however, a new dimension to learning music has appeared in the form of the internet - the world wide web. Now instead of being limited to classroom courses, students are free to create their own schedules and learn at their own pace. A quick search on Google or Yahoo will turn up online courses in:

-Chord Piano

-Classical Piano For Beginners

-Improvising on the Piano & Guitar

-Rock Guitar

-Praise & Worship Guitar

-Killer Drum Instuctions

-Black Gospel Piano

-Jazz Piano

and many many more?

Music courses offered by colleges are generally far more in-depth than other music courses and are usually only available to degree-seeking students (though some colleges offer music courses as part of their continuing education programs). Lower level college music courses often focus on an amalgamation of music theory and history, teaching individual theory concepts based on the historical period to which they are particular. As the music courses grow in skill level so too does the number of specialized topics. Advanced music courses are available for nearly every historical music period and are sometimes based on one particular movement. Advanced music courses for theory grow increasingly more difficult and slowly teach every detail found in modern music theory; it's during the theory music courses that students intending to major in music have their skills challenged the most -- some even refer to these music courses as a weeding out period.

Instrument-based music courses are equally as tough at the college level, though they usually assume a working knowledge of the instrument before the class begins. Those wishing to learn an instrument, therefore, are better off with private music courses or music courses offered by a community orchestra or social group. These music courses will focus on the basic details of learning an instrument, starting from the very beginning. Fingering, theory and music reading will be covered, in addition to the occasional bit of history. Students of these music courses may then wish to move on to college-level music courses after completing a few years of private instruction.

But for those more interested in "recreational music" - in other words, music that is played for personal enjoyment or to entertain family and friends, college music classes are not at all necessary. The internet abounds with wonderful courses that will help you do everything from play at your church to accompany your child on their flute or trombone, or even play in a jazz or rock or fusion or country group.

Duane Shinn is the author of over 500 music books and music educational materials such as DVD's, CD's, musical games for kids, chord charts, musical software, and piano lesson instructional courses for adults. He is the editor of the review site Killer Music Instruction in Keyboards, Guitar, Drums, Etc. He is also the author of the popular free 101-week online e-mail newsletter titled "Amazing Secrets Of Exciting Piano Chords & Sizzling Chord Progressions" with over 60,100 current subscribers.

Interested in Improving the Sound of Your Stereo? Consider Records

Introduced in 1982, the compact disc was intended to provide better sound than the 40-year-old long-play record album, popularly known as the LP. Using a laser rather than a diamond needle for playback the compact disc was smaller, more convenient to use, and less susceptible to damage than the LP. A bonus was that the format was said to offer "perfect sound forever." "Forever" isn't that long these days; improvements in digital sound have come along in the last twenty years and the music industry introduced two new formats this decade that are designed to improve upon the "perfect" sound of the compact disc. Those formats are the Super Audio Compact Disc (SACD) and DVD Audio (DVD-A.) Over the years, various audio publications have criticized the sound of compact discs, describing the sound as "harsh", "brittle" or "sterile" compared to the sound of the LP. After years of research, SACD and DVD-A were introduced several years ago and introduced sound that was said to be cleaner and more natural than that of the compact disc. In addition, these formats offered multi-channel sound, and artists such as Pink Floyd offered special multi-channel versions of their albums to entice sales. It hasn't worked, and sales of both formats peaked in 2003. What is interesting, however, is that both formats still trail the LP in sales!

According to the Recording Industry Association of America, the combined sales of SACD and DVD-A were less than those of the LP in 2004. The music industry is in a slump at the moment, and sales of all formats were down last year. But sales of LPs were down 13% from 2003, while combined SACD and DVD-A sales were down 33%. It would appear that the new formats are failing, even though they are said to be superior to the compact disc. The LP, on the other hand, continues to have steady sales. While the major labels are still somewhat hesitant to release new product in LP form, labels that specialize in reissuing older material, such as Classic Records, are releasing as much product as their manufacturing capacity will permit. It is worth noting that much of this reissued product comes in the form of high-quality, limited edition LP pressings that often carry premium prices of up to $50 per title. Why are records continuing to sell while the new formats fail?

There are several reasons why records are outselling the new, "superior" digital disc formats:

# Format wars. Like VHS vs. Beta in the 1970's, the SACD and DVD-A formats are largely incompatible. While players have been introduced that will play either one, most players play either one format or the other. Worse, neither one will play on a traditional CD player. You must replace your player to play either one.


# Multichannel sound is difficult to use and requires purchasing new amplification equipment. SACD and DVD-A both have multichannel capabilities, but neither format's players have digital outputs. Both must be connected to amplifiers or receivers with special SACD or DVD-A analog inputs.


# Most of the music fans who preferred the sound of records to compact discs still prefer the sound of records to either SACD or DVD-A. Most will agree that while the new formats sound better than compact discs, the unique "digital" sound of compact discs is still there.


# Many listeners aren't interested in sound quality. Arguments can always be made about the sound of compact disc vs records vs SACD vs DVD-A, but millions of consumers are content to listen to music in MP3 format on portable players. MP3 format is inherently inferior in sound quality to all of the other formats, but MP3 players are selling as fast as companies can make them.


The day will never come when records again become the dominant music format. The convenience of portable players for CD, SACD, and DVD-A discs and MP3 files outweighs the advantages in sound quality that records offer over those formats. Nevertheless, it appears that a small but steady market for records remains very real, and that that market exceeds that of the new "improved" SACD and DVD-A formats, which will probably soon go the way of the forgotten Elcassette, Minidisc, and 4 track tape formats of the past.

©Copyright 2005 by Retro Marketing. Charles Essmeier is the owner of Retro Marketing, a firm that operates several retail Websites, including AluminumChristmasTrees.net, a site devoted to vintage aluminum Christmas trees and accessories, and RarePinkFloyd.com, a site devoted to rare records, compact discs and memorabilia by the band Pink Floyd.

An Introduction to CD Mastering

While many people think that the mixing of the separate audio tracks is the final step, a recording must be mastered well in order to sound good. CD mastering is the last chance for creative input when creating a compact disc. After a disc is mastered, it can be printed, reproduced, and sold.

The process of mastering a CD includes several steps. The first step is putting the songs, called tracks at this point, in order. Next, the volume is leveled for all of the songs. The length of time between songs is also adjusted, and any editing on the intros and ends of the songs (such as fades and crossfades, etc.). Also, any unlisted, secret songs, usually known as hidden tracks, are added at this point.

There are several ways to master a CD. First, the mix can be sent to a professional CD mastering engineer, which is what professional musicians with major recording contracts usually do. These mastering engineers often work in their own mastering facilities, which are different from standard recording studios, in that they have much less gear and are designed for the best playback of the mix as possible in order to fix any slight discrepancies.

Aside from professional CD mastering engineers, CDs can be mastered at home using computer software. This option is usually more realistic for unsigned artists or musicians who are just starting out. Depending on the quality of the software and the skill of the person doing the mastering, the CD may sound great or it may sound muddy and unprofessional.

Online CD mastering is another option. CDs mastered online can be a great time-time, in that, instead of sending a mix to a mastering engineer, the mix is sent over the Internet. This option requires a high-speed Internet connection.

Free CD mastering is obviously the cheapest way to master a CD. Artists may want to use free mastering programs on demos or other early recordings that artists use to send to record labels to generate interest. Many CD burning programs included on many computers can be used to do basic but necessary mastering functions.

The difference between a professional sounding CD and an amateurish recording is often found in the mastering. All of the songs played on the radio are extensively mastered in order to sound slicker and more listenable.

CD Mastering Info provides detailed information on CD mastering engineers, facilities, and software, as well as online and free CD mastering. CD Mastering Info is affiliated with Original Content.

MP3 Music Subscription Services. A Good Deal

There's a reason Apple Computer dominates the legal 99-cents-a-download digital music scene: It does it right. Apple's iPods set the style and ease-of-use standards that other portable music players must try (so far unsuccessfully) to match. Its iTunes Music Store and iTunes software are equally unparalleled.

Still, as I wrote in a column on the Napster To Go subscription service, Apple's path isn't the only one that makes sense.

I remain an unabashed iTunes junkie. But an alternative model - the "portable" music subscription - is growing on me. Now, with the addition of RealNetworks Rhapsody To Go service - and especially with the debut this month of Yahoo Music Unlimited - I imagine it'll grow on others, too.

I did encounter some sour notes with the two services. Yahoo Music is still in "beta" testing, though the more serious snags actually occurred inside Rhapsody. But overall, both Yahoo and Real left a melodious impression. Each claims more than 1 million songs in its catalogs - though they're light on classical. (Apple says iTunes exceeds 1.5 million tracks.)

I'm guessing that Apple will eventually introduce a subscription service of its own.

Why? Under a subscription or rent-a-tune model, you can listen to a boatload of music for a lot less loot than on a buy-only download site. And you can carry those tunes in your pocket, via compatible portable digital music players. Buying 2,000 songs on iTunes would cost nearly 2 grand.

Under Yahoo, you could rent those same tracks for a fraction of that sum. And you can't beat Yahoo's introductory price of $59.88 a year, equal to $4.99 a month. If you prefer to go month to month, you'll fork over $6.99. Subscribers who wish to buy, instead of rent, certain tracks will pay 79 cents each, non-subscribers 99 cents.

At $14.99 a month, Rhapsody To Go is costlier than Yahoo but still a bargain, on a per-song rental basis, compared with iTunes. RealNetworks subscribers can buy downloadable songs for 89 cents a pop. Nice touch: Those who don't subscribe can still listen to 25 full-length "streams" and 25 radio stations a month.

(Napster To Go fetches $14.95 a month and 99 cents a track.)

As with Napster, there's a catch to Real's and Yahoo's rental plans: You must remain a paying subscriber, or the songs you've rented will no longer be playable.

And forget about transferring Yahoo or Real rental tracks to an iPod. (You can still transfer to an iPod songs ripped from CDs and, in Real's case, songs you buy.)

Why rent when you can buy? Aside from the cost savings, you may want to listen to something on a whim. Maybe you're just curious about an emerging artist.

Renting can be complex, though, reflecting conflicts over digital rights. You'll have to buy tunes to burn them to a CD. But some songs can't be bought. Others can be streamed but not downloaded. Some can be downloaded but must stay tethered to a PC. And some can be downloaded and moved to a portable device. Got it?

I prefer Yahoo to Real, and not just because of the lower prices. Yahoo jukebox software (called Yahoo Music Engine) also worked more seamlessly than its Real counterpart. Using both services, I synchronized music with iRiver H10 and RCA Lyra RD2762 devices, though not all tracks ended up on the Lyra. That's because, for now, this model can receive only purchased music, not rented tracks.

When I downloaded or transferred tracks to a portable device, Yahoo displayed a helpful status bar on the Music Engine screen to show the download progress. On Rhapsody, you must visit a separate screen.

Yahoo boasts other sweet touches. Yahoo Music is integrated with Yahoo Messenger. So you can see the music your IM pals are listening to and legally listen along.

You can also search for members who have similar tastes. Members can control who gets to see their collections. People you follow are called "influencers"; their highly rated songs will play on your personalized "LAUNCHcast" radio station. Those who seek your recommendations are deemed "followers."

There were a few annoyances. Yahoo lets you search by album, artist, song or member, though not all at the same time. When I searched Yahoo for certain albums - the soundtrack to the movie Fever Pitch, for example - Yahoo showed a picture of the album cover and listed the songs. But there was no way to stream any of the album tracks. It happens that Yahoo lacks the rights to play those songs or to make them available for sale. Still, I felt teased.

I ran into bigger trouble with Rhapsody, at least at first. Real's software kept freezing and crashing on an HP Pavilion notebook computer. I called Real for help. Disabling a feature in which Rhapsody is supposed to automatically search for and import new tracks into your music library fixed the problem. But that feature is one that many users will want. Real says a fix will be included in the next release.

What's more, if you decide to buy a track as a Rhapsody subscriber, good luck figuring out how. I had to call the company to determine one way: I right-clicked on a song title and then clicked on the menu item "buy track(s)."

Though Rhapsody doesn't have an instant-messaging component as Yahoo does, there are ways to share and discover free MP3 music. You can press a share button to publish a playlist on Rhapsody, e-mail that list to friends or write a blog about the contents. Rhapsody can show an instant playlist based on songs you've been listening to.

Microsoft's digital rights software underpins both Rhapsody and Yahoo Music. So when something goes wrong with the software, it affects all the music services at once. When "licenses" on my machine somehow became corrupted, rental tracks on Rhapsody and Yahoo failed to play. I had to reinstall Microsoft's software.

I don't expect Apple to slip off the online music throne anytime soon. But Yahoo and Real are at least giving digital music fans plenty to think about.

Mary works in US for a media company, occasionally writing for the biggest MP3 music news portal, and drinking too much coffee.

How Many Chords Are There, Anyway?

Since chords (the main component of harmony) are one of the three most vital elements of music - the others being melody and rhythm - it would be useful to know how many chords there are. And it doesn't matter whether you play piano or guitar or some other instrument - chords are chords.

It's certainly not necessary to learn all the chords in the whole wide world, but it is necessary to learn some of them - at least enough to allow you to harmonize the songs you would like to play.

But meanwhile, there are 3 chords -- just 3 -- that you absolutely, positively have to know. If you don't know these three, there's hardly a song in the whole world that you could play. But by knowing just 3 chords, you can play hundreds, if not thousands of songs! And those chords are simply the primary chords in any given key:

·The I chord (the chord built on the 1st degree of the scale)

·The IV chord (the chord built on the 4th degree of the scale)

·The V chord (the chord built on the 5th degree of the scale)

For example, if you were playing in the Key of C, the I chord would be C (c, e, g), the IV chord would be F (f, a, c), and the V chord would be G (g, b, d).

But as you probably know, there are thousands of other chords, so it would be helpful to at least know of their existence and maybe someday learn them.

So here goes:

Since there are 12 major keys one can play in (not counting enharmonic keys - keys that sound the same but are written differently), there are:

*12 major triads (a triad is a 3 note chord)

*12 minor triads

*12 diminished triads

*12 augmented triads

*12 diminished 7th chords (4 note chords)

*12 major 6th chords

*12 minor 6th chords

*12 dominant 7th chords

*12 major 7th chords

*12 minor 7th chords

*12 half-diminished chords

*12 9th chords

*12 flat 9th chords

*12 9th/major 7th chords

*12 9th/minor 7th chords

*12 11th chords

*12 13th chords

*12 suspensions

*12 flat 5th chords

*12 flat 5th maj 7th chords

If that's not enough chords for you, remember that each chord can be inverted - turned upside down. So multiply all the triad chords by 3, and all the 4 note chords by 4, and all the 5 note chords by 5?.

Then there are:

· poly-chords - chords that combine two or more other chords, and

· voicings - the way chords are positioned on the piano keyboard

And that's just in one octave. A standard piano has 7 octaves, so multiply all that by 7 and you get the answer to how many chords there really are:

More than you can count.

But again, you don't need to know them all. Just master enough so that you can play the songs you want to play, then gradually over time learn more and more chords. Your musical world will continue to grow and maturity as a musician will become obvious to others.

Duane Shinn is the author of over 500 music courses for adults. His low-cost CD ROM software titled "Duane Shinn's Instant Piano Chord Finder Chart!" is used by musicians around the world. He is also the author of the popular free 101-week online e-mail newsletter titled "Amazing Secrets Of Exciting Piano Chords & Sizzling Chord Progressions" with over 60,000 current subscribers.

The Gong - An Instrument Everyone Can Play

What exactly is a Gong?

The gong is a musical instrument in the percussion family. A gong can have either a definite or an indefinite musical pitch. Usually gongs that produce a definite, specific tone are played with other specific-tone gongs in a setting like traditional Gamelan, or an innovative rock concert like the Grateful Dead.

Are there different types of gongs?

Gongs come in a variety of sizes, styles, and shapes. Like dialects of language or sects of religion, the instrument evolved differently in each location and culture it was used. Many gongs are flat, but some have a central dome, also called a nipple. The outside rim of the gong is usually turned down; it is not sharp-edged like a cymbal.

Generally, you can think of gongs as having two basic styles: Suspended and Bowl.

Suspended gongs, which are more flat, are called such because they are literally suspended. They are hung vertically using a chord that is passed through holes close to the rim. Suspended gongs are played with a mallet or bamboo stick.

Bowl gongs are called such because they are literally bowl-shaped. They can rest on the ground or special cushions. Bowl gongs can be played in several different manners. A musician can bang a bowl gong with a mallet, but might also rub the rim with his or her finger to elicit a whole other sound.

How are they made?

Gongs are constructed of hammered metal. Most are made out of bronze or brass, but with an amalgam of other metals.

Although a lot of gongs are made in China, they are not mass produced like televisions or plastic toys. Each one is handmade.

If you hear a particular gong, like it and order that style, you must expect that the one you get may not sound exactly like the first one you heard. Minor differences are to be expected, and should be embraced. Don't worry though! Most gong styles, thanks to design specifics, maintain a similarity of tone to the untrained ear.

Andrew Borakove is a media writer and gong aficionado. He also is the proprietor of the internet store, Gongs Unlimited. http://www.gongs-unlimited.com
You can find more info on Gongs there, and all kinds of gongs and related instruments for sale.

14 Ways Musicians Can Increase Their Tips

I was listening to NPR the other day when they did a report on tipping in the restaurant industry. One they had a list of tips on how wait staff can increase their tips.

That got me brainstorming and surfing the net for other ideas to boost tips. That combined with lots of performances at Renaissance Festivals helped me to develop my own list of ways musicians can improve their tips.

1. Introduce yourself by name

Too often musicians forget to introduce themselves on stage. Make sure you tell the audience your band name, but to really boost your tips, you should also introduce yourselves individually. Let people know who you are as an individual and you'll see greater tips.

2. Go out into the audience with a tip jar

You really can't be passive when it comes to getting tips. You have to walk out into the audience with some visual reference that says "Tip Me!", and they will tip you.

3. Meet your audience at their level

Take the time to talk to your audience members at their level. Holding a discussion from a stage puts a wall between you and them. So instead, go out into the audience and talk to them face to face. Kneel if they're at a table, so you're at eye level. And if you have ayour tip jar with you, you will you will not only gain a fan, but you will also improve your tips.

4. Make your appearance personal

We wear kilts to most of our gigs. A kilt adds a very personal touch It links us to a certain culture and makes people take notice. Course you don't have to go that route, instead find some piece of clothing that reflects your personality and you will boost your tips.

5. Recommend your favorite CD

If you have multiple CDs, your audience will always ask for your favorite. Tell them what it is. If you only have one, you can do the same by recommending other artists that you like. That adds a two-fold advantage of helping your audience find music they like and helping your fellow musicians.

6. Smile

A bright, confident smile will bring fans back again and again with lots o'big tips.

7. Involve your audience in the music with a joke or game

Next time you're up on stage, see what happens when you joke around with the audience. Your personality will glow all the more and so will your tips.

8. Chat with fans by name

Music fans love nothing more than to be recognized by the bands they love. So do your best to remember their names. They will feel that much more attached to your music and feel like your friend. And these friends will tip you better for the courtesy.

9. Touch your audience

When you're out socializing with your audience, touch them (in a non-sexual way). Whether you shake their hand, pat them on the shoulder or back, or just brush against them, wait staff find that that even that will boost their tips 50%. And it will yours too.

10. Use tip jars with the VISA/Mastercard Logo

According to studies done in restaurants, just seeing those logos is enough to encourage customers to tip more. I know it sounds crazy, but give it a try. You may be pleasantly surprised with the results.

11. Give your audience something in return for their tip

People love feeling like they're getting their money's worth. And many people don't realize you should tip bands. So give something in return. It could be something as big as a sticker or magnet, or as simple as a business card that might include a $1 off your CDs. Or hey what about feeding their sweet tooth with a piece of candy. Whatever the case, that little gift will mean big tipping results.

12. Draw a picture

On a similar note, if you give them a business card, draw or make a comment on it. That piece will be more valuable to them and will result in bigger tips.

13. Make tipping a part of the show

Why wait until the end of the set to ask for tips. Sing a song about tipping, or get your audience involved in the tipping process by shouting something. Or offer a prize to the first tipper. But integrate it into your show and it won't seem like you're just begging for money, rather you're making it fun to tip.

14. Thank your audience

No gig would be complete without an audience. So thank them for taking the time to watch you perform. They will feel the personal touch and respond when you ask for money.

15. Bonus Tipping Suggestion:

If the change is five dollars, never return a five-dollar bill. Always give back five ones. This allows the customer to tip you with some of the dollar bills you returned. You will rarely get a $5 tip and returning a $5 bill will turn off tippers. In general, it's good to return all ones if the change is less than $8. You want the customer to have at least two ones so they can give it back as the tip.

Bard Marc Gunn of the Brobdingnagian Bards has helped 1000's of musicians make money with their musical groups through the Bards Crier Music Marketing and Promotion Ezine and the Texas Musicians' Texas Music Biz Tips. Now you can get personal advice by visiting http://www.bardscrier.com for FREE "how-to" music marketing assistance.
No time to visit the site? Subscribe to the BardsCrier.com distributed weekly for Free. Just email subscribe@bardscrier.com

Shopping For Your First Drum Set

Your first drum set purchase is very exciting! You have probably waited a long time to buy your first drumset and have thought a lot about it. Even though it is exciting, it is important to be patient and do your research before you buy a drum set.

Where Do I Begin?

If you are new to drumming it can be pretty overwhelming and confusing when you start looking for a drum kit. The first thing that you need to know is that if you are just starting out, you should buy a starter drum kit. These drum sets are designed with the beginner drummer in mind because they come supplied with all of the drums that you will need to get up and running.

What Comes In A Drum Kit?

The typical starter drum kit comes with all of the drums that you will need to get started. The drums in the kit include:

* A bass drum
* A snare drum
* A floor tom
* Two mounted tom toms

You will notice that there are no cymbals included in the starter drum kit. That is generally because drum manufacturers do not usually make cymbals and vice versa. However you will want cymbals with your drum set as well, and you can also purchase a cymbal kit as well, which is usually called a pre-pack.

What Type Of Cymbals Do I Need?

When you are looking for cymbals, a good set to get you started will include a 20" ride cymbal, a 16" crash cymbal and a pair of 14" high hat cymbals. This is a good set to get you started and should serve you well.

If you are just starting out drumming you can buy a combination crash /ride cymbal and combine the two cymbals into one piece of equipment. This will help you save a little bit of money at the beginning of your drumming career, however as your drumming skills advance you will want to purchase a separate ride cymbal later on.

You will want to purchase your cymbals from a reputable cymbal manufacturer, and some good manufactures that put out some pretty good pre packs are: Zildjian, Sabian and Paiste.

What Else Will I Need?

Be sure to check out the drumkit that you are purchasing to see if it includes the hardware or if you have to purchase the hardware separately. Hardware is the term that is used to describe the stands, the pedals and the "throne" or drum seat that you will need.

When you are looking for a pedal you may want to consider investing in a medium to professional quality bass drum pedal. This pedal may cost a little bit more initially, however it will save you money in the long run as it will out perform and out last more basic, beginner pedals.

Many beginning drummers think that they can save a little bit of money by not purchasing a proper "throne" or drumming chair for their new drum set. However, even a bargain basement throne is a better choice than a kitchen chair or other stool that you have around your house. You need the proper seat to support you and absorb the impact of the drumming.

Can I Buy Used Drum Sets?

You can buy a used drum set and get a good set for a reasonable price. There are a few things that you should be cautious about when you are looking at used drum kits however.

Be sure to check for quality very carefully, check that the drum plastic is firmly attached to the shell of the drum and is not lifting anywhere. Be sure to check for the plastic lifting around the bearing edges and be sure that there are no air pockets anywhere.

It is also important to be sure that there is no chipping at all along the bearing edge. The bearing edge is where the drum head comes into contact with the drum shell. It is important that this is level as well.

Also be sure to check all of the hardware to make sure that none of the rims are bent and the brackets are all able to hold the drums securely. Do not be afraid to pull on the drums and twist them a little bit. You need to be sure that the used drum set will be able to stand up to your drumming.

What Can I Expect To Pay?

When you are shopping for drum sets you should be aware that the prices will range according the region that you are living in. However you can expect to pay anywhere between $400 to $1000 for an entry level drum set. A used drum set may cost anywhere between $200 to $800.

What Brand Should I Get?

You are probably going to want to choose a drum kit that is made from a reputable manufacturer. There are a few really well known makers of drums and it is best to stick with them. They include:

* Yamaha
* Pearl
* Ludwig
* Tama
* Gretsch
* Sonar
* Mapex

Bottom Line

The bottom line is that you should take your time when you are looking at buying your first drum set. Shop around a few different stores and find a dealer that you are comfortable with. It is best to find a store that has knowledgeable sales people who will be able to help you now, and in the future.

© 2005 http://www.drum-sets-now.com
About the Author
Kevin Brown is successful author and publisher of many informative websites including http://www.drum-sets-now.com. His websites offer tips and advice on a wide array of topics including drum sets, electronic drums, and other percussion instruments.

Tips for Buying Digital Pianos and Keyboards

Buying a digital piano could be a very delicate attempt, especially if you have no idea about pianos in the first place. This article is written to help you out how to choose the best digital piano.

For starters, digital piano is different from an "acoustic" piano in many ways. A digital piano is a copy of what the "acoustic or original piano is. However, instead of strings and hammers, it uses "digitally sampled" sounds, amplifiers and speakers. It was made to imitate the real sound of that of the original piano. Many people now prefer digital pianos. It is because of its portability, low-to-almost non-maintenance, volume adjuster and various voices.

What you need to know in buying a digital piano is how closely it resembles the "acoustical piano" in terms of the sound, and its total piano-like feel. Do the keys move under your fingers almost the same as the acoustical piano keys do? Sometimes, most digital pianos have damaged spring action on the keys thus they could affect the tone of the piano. Always see to it, when you are in a hunt for a good digital piano, you should bring a good set of headphones. It is one of the advantages the digital piano has compared to an acoustical piano. When a player wants to play loud but his surroundings are opposed to the noise it could bring, he could only attach the headphones and play as loud as his heart desires without causing another's eardrums to bash but his own. Other than that, the headphones could help distinguish faint defects that the speakers couldn't detect. Do not hesitate to try as many brands as you like to compare and choose which sounds better. It is not in the brand or price range that the piano is considered good. It actually depends on the buyer whether he feels good about the sound of the digital piano he chooses.

Do not forget to check out the range of the tone. Does the tone change when you turn up the volume? And what about when you turn it down? The digital piano should be consistent in its tone no matter how low or high the volume is. Also check out the sound as it ends. Does it linger too long or fades easily? If there is an acoustical piano nearby, do try comparing the sound as you play a note and then a chord. Check out the time lapse of the sound as it ends and sense for repeating patterns or loops.

Check out where the notes come from when you play a scale or chord successively. The trebles should be coming from the right side and the bass should be coming from the left side.

Try holding down the sustain pedal and play the two low C's to check out the polyphony or the harmony of the notes. It is good if you can distinguish the two low C's played simultaneously. Most not-so-good quality digital pianos would cut off one tone while being played. Poor quality digital pianos drop both notes prematurely.

Is the digital piano user-friendly? Check out the design and see if you can understand the lay-out of the model. Check out the buttons and if they are functional. Be sure that the "special-effects" buttons are not that close to the keyboard or you might accidentally hit one and then change the entire settings of your piano while you're playing.

Check the manual for other fine-tuning facilities. Some digital pianos come with other special effects such as alternate tunings, variable harmonics and adjustable decay (fading) lengths. These effects can be very useful when you play with a group. You wouldn't necessarily go to lengthy process in adjusting to the level of the group.

Most digital pianos offer various tones and voices to have diversity in voice effects. Some have whistles, echoes, guitars, and other non-piano voices. If you are used to playing the piano and using pressed-pedal for sustain, it might become a hindrance to you if the digital piano you got has an "on-off" pedaling.

Also, other accessories such as amplifiers and speakers must be compatible with the brand or model you have. The digital piano you purchased may be a good quality but when attached with an incompatible amplifier or bigger sound boxes, the sound projected may not be very good.

Lastly, if you doubt your capability to choose for yourself a good piano, ask a friend who plays piano, or even better yet, a professional to help you determine a sound-quality digital piano. However, you must not rely totally on what they say. It is because what is good for them may not be good for you. Buy a digital piano that you are going to be comfortable playing with.

About The Author

The Writer, Ismael D. Tabije, runs the website http://pianos.e-mart4all.com that markets a wide choice of high-quality digital pianos and accessories at the lowest prices in the online market. Brands sold include Casio, Yamaha, Korg, Kurzweil and Roland. The website also features interesting piano articles about piano humor, trivia, myths and facts and even piano lessons and instructions

These MIDI Tools Are Music To My Ears

Curious about MIDI? Want to find out what tools are out there and what they do? Here are a few pointers.

MIDI Maestro is music software designed for use by amateur and professional music directors, conductors, and soloists in live musical theater and similar musical accompaniment situations. Dynamic, intuitive performance control and powerful sequencing and editing capabilities combine to make MIDI Maestro the only music software you will need for your production.

Features:

* These are the views and the layout used most often during a live performance.

* It's always easy to see what's coming up: tempos, cues, instrument changes, etc.

* The current position indicator remains in the center of the display.

* Tracks may be color-coded.

* Most views may be zoomed both horizontally and vertically.

* You may choose to open and work with individual files, or "sets" of songs as used for a performance.

* The current beat number is always prominently displayed. The current measure number is also emphasized.

* A "bouncing ball" metronome may be used to assist you with conducting in slow or tempo-dynamic passages.

* A "tempo ratio" control allows you to make real-time adjustments to the tempo during performance.

* All commands critical during a performance may be mapped to your MIDI keyboard.

* Cues are color-coded and easy to read.

* This example shows a Vamp, a "Cola Voce" section (the conductor follows the singer), and a Caesura.

MID Converter 4.0

MID Converter is an easy-to-use program designed for converting your multiple midi files easily with the one click of a button. You can use MID Converter to playback files directly in the program as well.

With this midi converter you can convert midi to mp3, midi to wav and midi to ogg.

The program also can convert between midi formats. Supported formats are: MIDI 0, MIDI 1, RIFF MIDI 0, RIFF MIDI 1.

The actual conversion process is extremely fast, with the whole process being over in the blink of an eye.

If you are looking for a simple and powerful MIDI converter for your business or for your personal needs, you have already found it.

More information is available at:

http://www.deprice.com/midimaestromm4.htm

http://www.deprice.com/midconverter.htm

If you are looking for software for musicians, make sure to visit John Deprice's website - http://www.deprice.com/audio.htm

3 Quick & Easy Steps To Playing Music by Ear

Playing by ear is the ability to play a piece of music (or, eventually, learn an instrument) by simply listening to it repeatedly. The majority of self-taught musicians began their education this way; they picked up their instrument and began playing an easy melody from a well-known song, slowly picking out the notes as they went along. And even after these musicians master their instruments or a particular song, playing by ear still plays a large role. Many pop and rock bands don't play or write their songs based on sheet music, they figure the songs out by playing by ear. It's even common among non-musicians. Ever sit down a piano and mindlessly pick out the tune to "Mary Had a Little Lamb"? What about grabbing a guitar and suddenly finding yourself playing the opening licks to "Smoke on the Water"? That's playing by ear. You're able to play part of the song just because you've heard it so often.

Since music is basically composed of 3 elements - melody, rhythm, and harmony, it is logical that there are also 3 basic steps to learning to play music by ear:

1. Charting the contour of the melody. Tunes move higher and lower - up and down - as the song progresses. Being aware of that movement is the first step. Once you mentally define the parameters of the melody, you can then begin to hone in on picking it out on your instrument. As an example, think of "Joy To The World". We've all sung it a zillion times, but have you ever noticed that the melody moves down exactly 8 steps (an octave), then gradually moves back up in increments, then repeats the down movement, etc. The entire melody is contained within those 8 notes, so you now know the parameters of the song and can begin to pick out the melody intelligently.

2. Harmonizing the melody with matching chords. The second element of music is harmony, and you can harmonize any melody just by matching the supporting chords to that melody. For example, if the melody is a "G", you can harmonize that melody by using a chord with G in it, such as the G chord (G, B, D), the C chord (C, E, G), or the Em chord (E, G, B), or the Eb chord (Eb, G, Bb) and so forth. By using your ear to guide you, you can learn to harmonize the melody of most any song using matching chords.

3. Using an appropriate rhythm that matches the feel of the song. This is usually the easiest part, since most people "feel" the beat and don't have to do any mental gymnastics to come up with an appropriate rhythm for a song. But for those of us that might be "rhythmically challenged", just by knowing that there are basically two meters available - duple meter and triple meter -- that can be combined in infinite combinations, we can give the song either a "3" feeling (like a waltz or a jazz waltz) or a "4" feeling (like swing or a march or a ballad).

Playing by ear is a valuable technique for many musicians; learning songs based solely on hearing them is a great way to understand song and chord structure. In fact, a great number of rock and pop musicians learned to play their instruments this way. Instead of picking up a book or taking lessons, they concentrated on figuring out the notes and rhythms to a song until it was mastered. Then they moved on to another song. And another. Gradually, they learned their instrument just by playing by ear -- and in the process learned how to effectively structure a song in that particular genre. Playing by ear is also beneficial in helping a musician develop his or her own style; sure, they'll at first mimic the style of the song they're imitating, but the amalgamation of the music that they're playing by ear will help them create something distinctive, something indicative of them only.

Duane Shinn is the author of over 500 music courses for adults. His book-CD-DVD course titled "How To Play Piano By Ear Using Chords!" has sold well over 30,000 copies around the world. He is the author of the popular free 101-week online e-mail newsletter titled "Amazing Secrets Of Exciting Piano Chords & Sizzling Chord Progressions" with over 61,200 current subscribers.