Archive for September, 2009
Beginners Blues Guitar Lessons – Play Blues Guitar
Posted by admin on Sep.15, 2009, under people No Comments
Beginners Blues guitar lessons are ideal, if you’re just starting out learning to play the guitar. If you are reading this article then you are proably intrested in learning blues guitar. There is nothing like being able to strum some cool Blues guitar riffs. Blues is an incredible genre of music.
At the heart and soul of most Blues songs is the guitar. If you’re just starting to learn to play, or always wanted to play the Blues, you have to remember one thing: Even the most skilled Blues guitar players were novices themselves at one time or another.
This is usually one of the simplest forms of music that has played a huge part in the evolution of other genres that are popular in today’s culture. The origin of Blues is thought to have began somewhere between 1870-1900.
The Blues peaked in popularity in the 1960′s. Back then it was one of the most cherished and loved music genres. Blues paved the way for many other genres of music. When something becomes loved, its inevitable that it evolves and changes. Creative people, like musicians, often will take something and add their own style or flavor to it. That’s exactly what happened to the Blues.
Blues is often given credit for giving birth to the following genres of music: Jazz, Rhythm and Blues, Bluegrass, and Rock and Roll. Blues is still alive and well. Blues music just doesn’t enjoy the same popularity it once did at its height. Even if Blues itself isn’t as popular, the genres that evolved from it are. You can still get a taste of Blues in some hit songs. Blues will never truly die.
Blues is mainly played with a guitar which makes the music all the more appealing to people who want to play guitar. For amateurs, there are many ways to learn how to play this type of music and one of them is by taking a beginners Blues guitar course. You will most likely learn what exactly Blues is. How it stands out from all the other genres. Most important, how it is successfully played on the guitar.
You can try to learn Blues songs on your own. However, your time would be better spent if you had the proper instruction. You’ll sound a lot better and learn more quickly if you take some beginners Blues guitar lessons.
Considered as one of the most influential genres of music, Blues has contributed much to the success of most genres while retaining its identity as the one that started it all. If you’re a fan of blues who wants to relive those good old days, then a beginners Blues guitar system may just be right for you. As you can see, because Blues influenced so many other types of music, if you can master playing Blues music on your guitar, you’ll more easily be able to play other genres.
Livescore in a Flash an Essential Ingredient for Sport Fans
Posted by admin on Sep.15, 2009, under Sports No Comments
Many websites are displaying scores in a flash about the specific sport as sports stats help people to understand and know sport more deeply. These stats facilitate the sports experts and officials to get hand on details and notes to analyze the performance of team or player. I find these sport scores websites quite helpful because current sports stats make me familiar of how well my favorite player is performing or if he is breaking or making world record or not.
Many sports like soccer and tennis are the most interesting games and hundreds of people attach their expectations and emotions with these games. If they find their favorite team in worse situation, they keep on trying to make a war of rage. Therefore, score like flash sites generate awareness among the sports lovers about various stages of game. Where there is a sport event or tournament, people prefer to leave their day job or try to take out some time from their busy office routine to catch up live actions of their favorite players. In fact, it has become a routine that prevails everywhere at the time of ongoing games series.
These scores in a flash information and details help people to know current situation and results of the match. For working employers and professionals, it is only sports stats that have more significant meaning than anything else. After all, it is the only source that makes them familiar of the latest happening in the turf of different games. These score reports are displayed on the basis of exact information received from the live matches’ updates.
Whether it is soccer, basketball, and the entire performance of a team is shown through these flash scoreboards. Furthermore, you can also get updates about the level of teams and their ranking. These scores are very valuable information that no one desires to miss it at any cost. And especially for sports fans, it is the ultimate and significant source of sharpening their sport techniques and questionnaire response getting from their friends and relatives.
Try to join such flash score site where livescore information is updated regularly to deliver accurate information to sports fans. These types of sites help sport enthusiasts to be a hand on the current matches or tournaments. Many websites presents sport stat information but only few of them maintain regular updates. It is essential to update these flash score stat as no one likes to visit it that there is no use of old information. These are some plus points and benefits that you can get easily if you know about good flash score site to get latest information about your favorite sports stars. Keep visiting these sites to make you absorbed in the world of passion and enthusiasm.
How To Get Noticed As A Singer
Posted by admin on Sep.14, 2009, under Music No Comments
Some singers catapulted to stardom rather quickly, some sparkled, flickered a little and then faded into obscurity while most singers stayed the same for years if not forever at mediocrity level?
Why is it that most singers never make it big in their singing career, not to say becoming superstars? Well, for starters, most singers begin their career as a lounge singer, singing in small clubs and belting out cover versions of established and popular singers. They selection of songs will be dictated by their audiences and so they must cover a wide genre of songs.
At one moment, you can enjoy a Barbara Streisand ballad and then the next song will be a fast Chaka Khan number followed by latin inspired Michael Buble’s ‘Sway’. Yes, it is good to be versatile and able to sing songs of various styles and genre. In fact it is even admirable if you can sing a Celine Dione number and sounded like Celine and then a Frank Sinatra swing sounding like ol’ blue eyes himself.
However, as a famous vocal coach, Brett Manning once said, ‘I have coached dozens of young women who can now sing almost exactly like Celine Dion. But then again, who wants a counterfeit when the real Celine Dione is already available?’ This quote is taken from Brett’s article ‘How to build a successful singing voice’.
In other words, most singers just take it as part of their job to sound like the original cover versions of songs and never try to create a distinctive sound and style of their own. Now, if all singers sounded alike, how would you get noticed and recognized for who you are? How to make it big as a singer when you can only sing other people’s song and imitate other singer’s style of singing?
Let me ask you a question, how many times have you heard a song being sung and immediately able to identify the singer although you have never heard that particular song performed by the singer? Many times isn’t it? Why? Because every prolific singer’s voice and style are like their thumbprint. It is distinguishable from the rest of the pack. That is why they stand out and get noticed.
If you want your singing voice to get noticed and make it big as a singer, develop a distinctive style and voice of your own. After all, you have sung so many singer’s style that you can use these influences to develop your own and stand out from the crowd.
Till next time, happy singing.
They Don’t Make Singers Like That Anymore!
Posted by admin on Sep.12, 2009, under Music No Comments
Thomas Edison made the first recording of a human voice on December 6, 1877, but he did not record a singer. The first great singer to be recorded was Enrico Caruso, and he made over 250 sound recordings. There may have been singers prior to Caruso who were even better virtuosos but we have no way of knowing that because sound recording is the definitive judge of a singer’s ability. In recording studios, it has often been said that “tape don’t lie”. Even the best recording engineers cannot make a good singer sound like a great singer. Skipping briefly through the jazz era, a few great singers who deserve honorable mention are Billy Holiday, Al Jolson, Ella Fitzgerald, Nat King Cole, Bing Crosby and Tony Bennett. The concept of what constitutes a great singer is subjective, but the key qualities a great singer must possess are range, timing, phrasing, pitch, timbre, emotional impact and originality of style.
Elvis Presley was the first great rock and roll singer. His first hit record in 1954 entitled That’s All Right was a blues song written by Arthur Crudup and it proved that Elvis had a unique quality in his voice. Songs like Jailhouse Rock and All Shook Up demonstrated that Elvis was the epitome of rock and roll, and songs like Are You Lonesome Tonight and Can’t Help Falling in Love showed the world that Elvis could put the emotion of love into a vocal track with intense male sexuality. With one of his last blazing bursts of energy in 1972, Elvis proved that he was still a hunk-a hunk-a Burning Love during his twilight years. Elvis can be credited for breaking down the racial barrier that existed for black singers within the record companies in the 1950′s. Little Richard said, “He was an integrator. Elvis was a blessing. They wouldn’t let black music through. He opened the door for black music.” Elvis opened many doors. He let Pandora out of her box and girls all over the country began to scream at the very sight of Elvis. Much has been written about the King of Rock and Roll and his impact on our culture, but the focus of this article is on a unique vocal quality that has not received attention. Elvis pioneered many instantly memorable vocal mannerisms that shall hereinafter be collectively referred to as the rock and roll vocal schtick. It is possible that Elvis picked up his vocal schtick from Otis Blackwell, the songwriter who wrote many of Elvis’ early hit records, because Otis sang his original songs on the demos that Elvis listened to and Otis originated much of the phrasing that Elvis recorded. But much water has passed under the bridge since those days and we may never know whether the Memphis chicken’s schtick preceded the Otis egg.
The word “schtick” is derived from a Yiddish word and it refers to various bits of business that cause an entertainer to be instantly memorable. Prior to Elvis introducing the concept into rock and roll, it was very common in the movie business for actors to achieve fame by virtue of their schtick. Jack Benny became notorious for being stingy and a bad violin player even though in real life, he tipped lavishly and he was an expert violin player. Groucho Marx had his stooped strutting, his lascivious eyebrow raising, and his cigar. Elvis had his gyrating hips and his out of control, shaking leg, but he also put a new kind of mannerism into his singing. On All Shook Up, he turned “Mm mm mm, oh oh oh, yeah yeah yeah!” into a memorable chorus, predating the Beatles famous yeah yeah yeah’s by about 10 years. Predating Elvis by four years, Fats Domino had already developed his signature vocal style by the time he hit the R & B charts in 1950 with The Fat Man which sold over a million copies. One year after Elvis opened the door with That’s All Right, Fats crossed over into the mainstream with Ain’t That a Shame in 1955, and soon millions of people found their threeee-ill on Blueberry heeee-ill. That there is rock and roll vocal schtick in a nutshell, and countless singers picked right up on the groove.
In the 1950′s, original vocal styles literally oozed out of the radio every day. Tony Williams, the lead singer for The Platters, was a truly great singer who had it all – range, timing, phrasing, pitch, timbre, emotional impact and originality of style. As a professionally trained singer, Tony was able to express the emotional essence of previously recorded songs like Smoke Gets in Your Eyes with professional style and grace, but he also influenced the new rock and roll vocal style. In the number one selling hit record, Only You, Tony could have sung the words “Only you can make this change in me” using straightforward and traditional phrasing, but instead he sung “cand-a make this change in me” and threw in a bit of schtick. Marty Robbins and Ben E. King were also two seminal rock and roll singers who embodied all the qualities that define a great singer. There were many other outstanding singers during the 1950′s but the most sublime singer of them all was Smokey Robinson. In addition to every other quality previously discussed, Smokey sang complex blues melismas as if God told him the secret and said “Smokey, you will make everybody think this is easy.” Nobody can sing like Smokey Robinson, nobody can duplicate his vocals, and when Linda Ronstadt recorded her version of Ooh Baby Baby, she had to white out his melismas because she had too much sense to even try to duplicate him. Buddy Holly, among his many achievements, may be credited for introducing the hiccup into rock and roll vocals (fantastic schtick). But the award for Most Outrageous Rock and Roll Schtick of All Time goes to Little Richard for “a wop-bop-a-loo-mop alop-bam-boom” and his earth shaking, high pitched woo’s that Paul McCartney duplicated with enormous commercial success. Other great primal rock and roll singers of the 1950′s who deserve Most Honorable Mention include Roy Orbison, Brenda Lee, Del Shannon, Jimmy Jones, Frankie Valli, and the list goes on and on.
The great singers of rock and roll peaked during the 1960′s and 1970′s with John Lennon and Paul McCartney, Mick Jagger, Jim Morrison, and Janis Joplin. Robert Plant’s 12 year career with Led Zeppelin began with the band’s formation in 1968 and continued until John Bonham’s death in 1980. That fatal day may have been the turning point in the history of great rock and roll singers because even though some very good singers achieved fame and success after 1980, none are in the same exalted league with the Great Ones. Discussing each of the great singers could generate an entire article for each one of them, but suffice it to say that history has already passed judgment on them and declared their venerable status. In terms of the key vocal qualities defined in the first paragraph of this page, Stevie Wonder and Aretha Franklin must also receive honorable mention. But in terms of the sheer number of hit records and brilliant vocals that incorporate all the qualities of a world class singer, Paul McCartney is arguably the best rock and roll singer of all time. It’s always nice to end a treatise with a provocative pronouncement like that one, and then to immediately disappear into oblivion before anyone can throw a tomato.
Get Noticed As A Singer
Posted by admin on Sep.11, 2009, under Music No Comments
Some singers catapulted to stardom rather quickly, some sparkled, flickered a little and then faded into obscurity while most singers stayed the same for years if not forever at mediocrity level?
Why is it that most singers never make it big in their singing career, not to say becoming superstars? Well, for starters, most singers begin their career as a lounge singer, singing in small clubs and belting out cover versions of established and popular singers. They selection of songs will be dictated by their audiences and so they must cover a wide genre of songs.
At one moment, you can enjoy a Barbara Streisand ballad and then the next song will be a fast Chaka Khan number followed by latin inspired Michael Buble’s ‘Sway’. Yes, it is good to be versatile and able to sing songs of various styles and genre. In fact it is even admirable if you can sing a Celine Dione number and sounded like Celine and then a Frank Sinatra swing sounding like ol’ blue eyes himself.
However, as a famous vocal coach, Brett Manning once said, ‘I have coached dozens of young women who can now sing almost exactly like Celine Dion. But then again, who wants a counterfeit when the real Celine Dione is already available?’ This quote is taken from Brett’s article ‘How to build a successful singing voice’.
In other words, most singers just take it as part of their job to sound like the original cover versions of songs and never try to create a distinctive sound and style of their own. Now, if all singers sounded alike, how would you get noticed and recognized for who you are? How to make it big as a singer when you can only sing other people’s song and imitate other singer’s style of singing?
Let me ask you a question, how many times have you heard a song being sung and immediately able to identify the singer although you have never heard that particular song performed by the singer? Many times isn’t it? Why? Because every prolific singer’s voice and style are like their thumbprint. It is distinguishable from the rest of the pack. That is why they stand out and get noticed.
If you want your singing voice to get noticed and make it big as a singer, develop a distinctive style and voice of your own. After all, you have sung so many singer’s style that you can use these influences to develop your own and stand out from the crowd.
Till next time, happy singing.
Find Out How to Play the 12 Bar Blues Guitar – Playing 12 Bar Guitar
Posted by admin on Sep.10, 2009, under Music No Comments
Playing the blues, music is something that many guitarists aspire to do. Some it comes to easily whereas others find it more difficult. Another thing about the blues music is you either love it or hate it. By the looks of how popular it is, one would have to say that those who hate it are in the minority.
One of the greatest if not the greatest blues singers was B.B.King. Many novices to the guitar marvel at how well he plays them and just how it’s done. To do so you need to learn the 12 bar blues. Don’t give up yet with some perseverance and practice you will master the blues as well.
Have you ever been listening to the blues and just know it reminds you of something? Well it may well do so if you remember the African American slaves from down south. It stems from their local traditions of how they would call out and respond to each other. The majority of blues songs is simply based on this and mimics those sounds. It is the progressive scale.
If you have been following the history of blues music then you have heard the name W.C.Handy. By using the 12 bar blues he was able to produce the very first certifiable blue hit. This is going back some years naturally, since blues has been around for a long time. We’re talking back to the introduction of the “St. Louis Blues” back in 1914.
Interestingly enough at that time the blues wasn’t all that well received it was just ok in the opinion of most. It slowly caught on and almost seemed to have an infectious affect to it.It didn’t matter what the ethnic group was it was being accepted. It really was the African American artist that brought the blues to the forefront. Artists such as Billie Holiday played a big part in this roll. By this time, it was well in the 1930′s. As the 20th century grew to a close, B.B.King added a unique touch to the Blues. Being a lead guitar player, he would bring a different touch to the music with his 12 bars blues techniques. From this point on there was no looking back or cooling off for the blues. It has just continued to grow into popularity, as it is known today.
It revolutionized the aspects of guitar playing. The 12 bars blues is now a commonplace and basic way of the guitar. Anyone aspiring to be good guitar player must learn the essential cord progression.
One of the best ways to learn this technique is through iVideosongs. Here is where you will start the beginning of learning the 12 bar blues, and then by taking what you learn here and making it a practice you will soon be surprised and pleased at how adept you will become.
It just seems to be natural to begin to learn how to play the 12 bar blues the moment one becomes serious about learning to play the guitar. Perhaps because rock includes the 12 bar blues this is the reason.
The first thing you are going to learn is that in order to learn the blues you are going to learn three bars that follow each other in succession.
The first measure is learning how to play a chord. If you are familiar with Presley’s some Hound Dog then you already know what a cord is. Don’t even think about moving onto the next step until you have this one down perfectly.
Now moving onto the second measure does not mean you will not be continuing in the 4/4 time meaning each quarter measure is one beat. The difference here is that in the first measure you were playing in “A” now you will be playing in “D” chord. Once again, become really familiar and comfortable at this measure then get ready to move onto the third and final measure.
Finally, you are here on your last measure and guess what? It’s no different from your first two except now you are going to be playing in “E” chord. That really wasn’t so hard was it? Now it means hours of practice and application to really master these 3 measures to make up the 12 bar blues.
Blues Slide Guitar
Posted by admin on Sep.09, 2009, under Travel and Vacations No Comments
Slide guitar playing in blues music had been popular for many years but not many people understand how this guitar playing style originated and the techniques used to produce this fascinating guitar sound. In the early twentieth century many American blues players began their careers playing music on a single string instrument called a diddley bow. This was a kid’s toy consisting of a wire stretched between two screws. It seems logical that without access to store bought instruments the emerging adult musicians would develop an instrument based on what they played music on as children. Of course the early blues players did use conventional guitars but a guitar played with a slide made from a knife or a bottle neck more readily complemented the vocal style and blues harp techniques the people used to express their lives in music.
Blues guitar players who took up slide guitar and influenced other musicians to do so were Muddy Waters and Elmore James. Both of these guitarists were driven by the music of Robert Johnson, built on his legacy and further influenced electric blues players like Johnny Winter and Duane Allman. Elmore actually started his musical career on the diddley bow when he was twelve years old. A confirmed individualist, he played a modified acoustic guitar to sound like a solid body electric.
Many students of blues slide guitar think that Earl Hooker is the greatest slide guitar player ever. He sometimes uses wah-wah with his slide playing and often amazed other musicians with his ability to make the slide guitar “sing”. But Earl Hooker did not need electronic effects to make his playing great as people who played music with him praise his technical skills. Elmore James’ song, “The Sky Is Crying” was covered by modern blues legends Albert King, Eric Clapton, Stevie Ray Vaughn and George Thorogood.
Arguably one of the most high profile slide guitar players is Ry Cooder. He is a skilled guitarist who enjoys injecting his own personality into traditional songs of many genres but he is remembered for his slide guitar on the soundtracks of “Paris Texas” and “Crossroads”. For these contributions alone he must be included in any list of blues slide guitar players.
Duane Allman was a great blues player of the late sixties to early seventies probably most widely known for being the “other” guitarist on the Eric Clapton song, “Layla”. His mastery of blues music is undisputed and there is a story of the joy he expressed the day he discovered how well a Coricidin bottle could be used as a guitar slide. The story goes he had never played slide guitar before but after that day his slide playing became an indispensable part of The Allman Brothers Band repertoire.
If you want to learn how to play blues slide guitar, you will probably need to learn to play using open tunings, maybe even get yourself a guitar with heavy gauge strings and a high action specifically for open tunings. But to learn slide guitar techniques you can begin with any steel string electric or acoustic guitar using standard tuning. You will need your index finger to damp strings that you do not want heard so experiment with your slide fitted to your middle, ring finger or pinky. You will also want to try out finger picking style playing combined with slide techniques.








