You’ll have to be familiar with the songs you want to learn to be able to read their tab notation effectively because as opposed to traditional musical notation, tablature does not easily indicate rhythm and feel. I guess every system has its own weaknesses! But the strong points by far out weigh the weak ones. The faster you learn, the more inspired you are likely to be… and the better you will express yourself on the guitar.

Guitar tablature is the international language of rock guitarists online and offline. Many a great guitar solos are transcribed by aspiring players using tab notation. It is also a great help for beginners to start learning melodies. It is included in all online guitar teaching courses to facilitate the note reading process. Instead of learning the notes on a musical staff, the notes are shown using numbers on the fret board. Simple, easy and fast learning and a great way to know your way around the fret board.

If you are new to guitar tab, here is a quick way to familiarize yourself with this new language: go to a search engine and type in “a song title” followed by the + sign followed by “guitar tab”. Make sure you put “quotes” around the “song title” and “guitar tab”. For example, if you want to learn how to play “Angie” by The Rolling Stones; type “angie”+”guitar tab” That song will then come up written in guitar tab on all the websites that have it available.

Reading guitar tablature is done from high to low and left to right, just like in standard musical staff. The six horizontal lines represent the guitar strings from 1st, top E (thin) to 6th, bottom E (thick) while the numbers represent the frets where the notes are played. I strongly recommend you join an online guitar learning program where you can be thoroughly shown and taught everything about guitar tab.

Guitar tablature is the easiest method of transcribing and reading guitar music. It is a great tool for learning new songs and growing your repertoire. You don’t need to know how to read music to be able to read guitar music in tab notation. Put simply it is a system of characters and symbols used to express how guitar music is played. It is a simple system that uses illustrations on the fret board of the guitar to show you how to play guitar music with all its wonderful expressive little tricks like bends, pull-offs and hammer-ons.

It is a great method for self-taught guitarists who don’t know how to read music. It is a lot easier to understand and faster to learn than the conventional written music approach. It shows the full fingering layout of a song on the fret board and makes it a lot easier for guitarists to understand what notes to play and where to play them. You will fast-track your learning process knowing which playing position to use for a certain part or riff of a song.

Organizing a Band – Musical Style
Organizing a Band – Musical Style Charles Priore Italian American Baby Boomers Club IABBC.com The talent level you have and the type of music you want to play are determining factors in how long it will take to get your act off the ground. Take a look at the venues that hire musicians to play the style [...]

Baseball, Kids and Piano

October 28, 2008

Luckily, there are many fascinating things about the piano you can interest a child with while they are learning where home plate and Middle C is.

Finding Middle C securely in both the sheet music and on the piano can take kids months and sometimes years. Think of it in terms of baseball: some kids can hit and some can’t. But with piano, those who can’t hit right away can be taught how. In baseball, you seem to have far less of a chance of an infinitely patient teacher.

You have to keep trying to find Middle C again and again, just as you did with the ABCs. It is a ledge on which the child can rest, a bit of security in a sea of uncertain notes on the page. On the subject of learning the notes, see also my game, Mister Notey, in which the teacher uses their head and arms in a comic routine that describes the general shape of notes on the lines and spaces of the five lined musical staff.

You have no idea how hard it is for kids to familiarize themselves with the minutiae of sheet music until you have actually done so for hours a day. You’ll begin to see what is possible and what is not. And how long it will take for each individual child.

Giving things a familiar beginning makes it easier for kids to start over and try the piece again. They are fairly sure that the piece is going to begin on Middle C.

That’s why every beginner’s piano piece starts out with Middle C. It’s like starting the alphabet with A so you know how to get started.

Children readily understand the idea of home plate, and see the similarity of home plate and Middle C. That’s the place we always start from, no matter where we go. And that’s where we always end up. In terms of chords, that would be a C chord.

Make a game of everything at the piano, and you will have a child’s interest at all times.

Baseball, Kids and Piano

I often compare baseball and piano chords when I’m trying to give kids an idea of how chords work together in groups.

There are four chords, just like the bases. Home, 1, 2, 3 are the same as C Dm F G. There are four steps to completing the circle, in baseball just as it is in music.

What I am certain of is that every single child can be taught the rudiments of simple sheet music, if you are patient enough. What I’m not certain of is how long any individual child will take to reach that goal, because every kid is so vastly different, in age, in temperament, in ability, in desire.

How to Read Guitar Notes

October 27, 2008

How to Read Guitar Notes

There are some common elements of guitar playing that I cover such as learning to play solo guitar, how to learn guitar chords, how to learn to read and play easy acoustic guitar tabs, finding a free online guitar tuner, looking for free guitar lessons online, how to learn guitar scales, how to play guitar fast.

Knowing how to read guitar notes is the basic need for anyone wanting to play songs on the guitar. It is very frustrating to be gazing at these dots on the page knowing that they are the key to making guitar music. If you have ever looked at the musical notes in a book you have possibly seen two sets of parallel lines with the notes on them. They are called leger lines. The top lines are the treble or high notes, the bottom lines are the home for the bass notes. In guitar music only the top set of lines is used.

If you want to learn how to read guitar notes the three things you will need are a few minutes every day, a diagram showing the notes on the guitar fretboard and a basic music theory primer. The fretboard diagram and the music theory book can be bought at a music store or online. The other alternative is to make use of the many free guitar lesson sites where you can download or bookmark your guitar note pages. The few minutes a day are often very hard to find but it just takes a little effort to step outside your daily routine and see where you can make time to learn the guitar notes.

So you can see the notes progressing in scales along each individual string and also between strings. For instance you can play the notes on the sixth string and instead of going from the G at the third fret to A on the fifth fret, you can go from the G at the third fret to the A played on the open fifth string. As you learn to play the guitar you will hear the difference in sound you can get from playing the same notes at different places on the guitar.

If you look at your guitar fretboard diagram you will be able to see how the notes progress in steps. You will see that some notes have a whole fret between them. Your music theory book will tell you that these spaces hold notes called “sharps” and “flats”, collectively known as “accidentals”. The note at the first fret on the sixth string is F, the next note is not G as you might expect, but F sharp which is written as F#. The note can also be called G flat or Gb, because it is the note below G as well as being the note above F. You will see that there are no accidentals between the notes B and C or E and F.

The simplest way to start making sense of the guitar notes is to learn the names of the notes of the open guitar strings. If you hold the guitar in playing position, the string closest to the top side of the guitar – the thickest of the six strings – is the E. The next string, the fifth is the A string, the fourth is D, the third G, the second is B, and the thinnest string is E again, only one octave higher than the E on the sixth string.

Mastering Electric Bass (Complete Electric Bass Method)
Mastering Electric Bass (Complete Electric Bass Method) The conclusion to this power-packed electric bass method begins with a brief review of important concepts from the intermediate book. Designed to guide the student into high-level bass playing, this book makes advanced concepts like Rhythm Changes, tritone substitution, odd time signatures and chord playing easy to [...]

Easily Learn How to Play Acoustic Guitar
Easily Learn How to Play Acoustic Guitar Easily Learn How to Play Acoustic Guitar If you really want to learn play guitar and find yourself checking out the acoustic guitars in all the local music stores or if there’s a forgotten one sitting in your garage or attic, get it out and learn how to play it. [...]

Adult Piano Lessons

October 26, 2008

Having first studied piano playing as a child and then returned to the learning process as adult, hidden skills will be uncovered by our brain. On the other hand, if we learn to play the piano from basics as an adult, our brain may be both confused and mystified at the exposure of such new skills.

Adult Piano Lessons

A great deal of effort and a reasonable amount of time is required to learn new motor skills and practice makes perfect as always. If we make a decision not to learn new things as we progress in years, our brain will operate in a mechanical manner where little thinking is required and it will not get any stronger or develop any further than it needs to.

Courses specifically designed to teach adults how to play the piano are different from those that are designed for children. The reason for this is that adults cannot develop new motor skills at as fast a pace as a child and much more effort is required.

In this case we will continue to function as human beings do but, without doubt, we will be less alert as we get older. Taking up new learning challenges will give us the opportunity to provide our brain with new ideas and fresh thoughts.

The developed mind, along with stronger muscles and longer fingers are the main advantages adult students have over children. Long and nimble fingers are required to play chords, octaves and complicated scales.

Piano lessons for children involve numerous exercises such as scales which are repeated to the point of being played to perfection. However, adult piano lessons need to go into more detail and explanations are required. Therefore, lessons for adults will provide clarification appropriate to the more developed mind.

Adult piano lessons are ideal for those who are determined and eager to learn how to play and taking the form of a grown up way of studying they include more ideas and thought with every step along the way.

This is also why adults without a dance or musical background find such pastimes as skating, dancing or playing new instruments difficult. Everyone of these actions need co-ordination of the muscles, eyes, arms, legs or fingers in a way which may well be unknown, strange and to some degree even painful.

In a new environment an alert and curious brain will be keen to take in as much new information as possible to allow stabilization and adult piano lessons provide the challenge your brain needs to discover and enjoy a new skill and all the benefits that come with it.

Adults are set in their motor skill ways and to learn new movements requires them to put aside existing motor skills for the time being.

The Rich Man’s How To Earn Extra Money, Success Principles and Sales Models for Guitar Straps Web Biz 3 CD Course
The Rich Man’s How To Earn Extra Money, Success Principles and Sales Models for Guitar Straps Web Biz 3 CD Course

The Charango – What Is A Charango?

Traditionally, the body of the charango has been made from the shell of an armadillo. This makes the instrument very individual. However, in recent years, there have been some environmental concerns over the use of armadillo shells and they are now produced from wood more often – particularly the high quality ones. Also, armadillo shells are much less durable than ones made of wood.

Legend has it that the charango is small as the Spanish had outlawed the traditional music of Bolivia. The native Bolivians developed the charango so it could be easily hidden beneath a poncho should any Spanish soldiers arrive.

Size

The charango is a great instrument for anyone who already plays a fretted instrument to pick up. It will be instantly familiar yet present you with a whole range of new sounds and note combinations.

When Spanish and Portuguese travellers set off to discover lands in the new world in the early 19th Century, they took with them their musical instruments. The most popular and most portable instruments at the time were small lute type instruments such as the vihuela, and the machete. In Europe, these instruments developed into the guitar, in Hawaii they developed into the ukulele and in Bolivia they developed in the charango.

Playing the Charango

If you know how to play the guitar or the ukulele, you have a big advantage when it comes to learning to play the charango. The GCEA strings of the charango are exactly the same as a ukulele, or the top four strings of a guitar capoed at the fifth fret. Just use the chord shapes you are already familiar with. As for the top E string, the easiest option is to just double what you are playing on the other E string. If you are playing that E string open, do the same for the top E string. If you are playing that E string at the third fret, play the top E string at the third fret and so on.

The charango has ten strings. These strings are divided into groups of two. The string order, starting nearest your head, is G, C, E, A, E. The strings are in unison with the exception of the first set of E strings where one string is tuned an octave lower. This tuning is very similar to the ukulele (with only the high E strings being different).

Materials

The charango is about the size of a ukulele (but with a much wider neck). The average length of a charango is sixty six centimetres with the played part of the string (the scale length) being around thirty three centimetres.

RE-THINKING THE GUITAR STRAP.: An article from: Music Trades
RE-THINKING THE GUITAR STRAP.: An article from: Music Trades This digital document is an article from Music Trades, published by Music Trades Corp. on June 1, 1999. The length of the article is 1072 words. The page length shown above is based on a typical 300-word page. The article is delivered in HTML format [...]

Guitar Lesson – Help Yourself To Practice
Guitar Lesson – Help Yourself To Practice This way of working with my guitar was not a conscious plan to maintain energy and motivation to practice. It just happened to be that way. These moments with my guitar became a part of my personal development. This is how humans often react. If it is a little effort [...]

To motivate soldiers, drums are used. The beat sets a pace just like it would for a rock band who needs their solid pace to create a successful song. In the old-time based movies about colonial wars and such you often see a drummer at the front of an army procession, rat-a-tat-tatting away for the men behind them.

Drums – An Ancient Instrument That Rocks the Modern Music World

Traditional cultures use drums for ceremonies of a religious nature. The beats of the drum in an American Indian pow wow aren’t there for pleasure, you know. Some say that drums can eradicate unruly spirits or bring up good ones during a ceremony.

The vibrations that hitting a drum with a drumstick or a hand produces resound within the shell of a drum. Having a bigger or smaller shell can affect the volume of the sound and the type of sound a drum produces. A jazz drummer might prefer small shells, whereas a rock drummer would want large shells. The type of wood a drum is made of can also affect the sound it makes.

A secondary factor that affects the sound of a drum is the tightness that the drumhead is fastened to the shell of a drum. This is just as important as the type of drumhead because when the hoop that holds the drumhead to the shell is put on, the bolts around the hoop can be adjusted to reduce or increase the amplitude and frequency of the sound the drum produces.

Drums are particularly useful in musical endeavors and knowing a bit about them is extremely helpful when choosing the right one for a sound. Rockers around the world will agree, however, that drums are the best part of a rock band, creating the beat we love to head-bang to! No rock band is complete without a set of drums and a good drummer. Too bad you can’t buy a drummer at the music store too.

AudioFlip.Com is dedicated to rock and roll music and rock culture. The site offers the latest music news, rock band reviews, music videos, free music downloads, indie music, concert ticket information, rock radio, pics of rock stars, rock fashion, tattoos and piercings and everything else rock music fans need. Musicians can also learn about the music industry, get guitar lessons, learn how to play the drums, get independent record label information, learn about concert promotions and much more.

The drums have been around for ages, longer than any human alive today can remember. Although we use drums today mainly for musical purposes, drums served as a source of communication for ancient tribes. Africa uses what is called a “talking drum”, which can convey messages using pitches and inflections used in languages.

I personally prefer the drums because of the loud and solid base they provide for a song. Without them, the song would sound washed out and dull. How many times have you listened to a hardcore rock song and head-banged to the beat of the drums? It’s what keeps the music afloat.

Of course, the same kind of drum is not used for everything. For instance, a rock drummer would like something loud and with a low pitch, whereas a jazz drummer might prefer a softer and crisper drum sound. because of this, not every drum is made the same. The tone of a drum depends mostly on the shell, the different type of drumheads, and the tension of said drumheads.

In addition to being used for those purposes, drums can be used in music therapy. This can provide motor skills to someone in therapy to regain them. There are many reasons why the drums are specifically used for music therapy, among them being their easiness to use and tactile nature.

Musical Feuds
Musical Feuds As Beethoven walked past the cello’s music stand, he snidely grabbed the cello’s sheet music. There are many famous instances of immortal musicians being insulted by other famous musicians. Carefully showing the astounded crowd the page of sheet music, Beethoven sat at the piano and then put the music, upside down, onto the piano music stand. A [...]

PRACTICE EXERCISE: Use this exercise to practice playing clear single notes. Begin with hole 1. Blow through hole 1 to make a single note. Then draw through hole 1 to make a single note. (Notice the different tones created by blowing vs. drawing through the same hole.) Then move on to hole 2. Blow through hole 2 to make a single note, and then draw through hole 2 to make a single note. Then move on to holes 3, and 4, and so on… all the way up to 10. This exercise will also help you to instinctively know how far to move the harmonica when moving from one note to the next.

PRACTICE SONG: Try playing the following notes in sequence. Each number corresponds to a hole on the harmonica. Blow through the numbers WITHOUT the minus sign (say, 4 for example) and draw through the holes WITH the minus sign (like -4). Again, “4″ means to “blow OUT hole 4,” and “-4″ means “draw IN through hole 4.” The song is the campfire favorite, “Kum Ba Yah.” These tabs are written for your “diatonic” harp in the key of “C.” The holes are listed on the left, and the lyrics are on the right.

Purchase a standard ten hole “diatonic” harmonica in the key of “C.” This is the easiest harp to learn with, and most online tutorials (for beginners) are written with this harp in mind. Do not purchase a “chromatic” harmonica, or any other key, until you have learned the basics with a “diatonic” in the key of “C.”

How do I practice blowing single notes, so I can get good at it?

Hold the harmonica as described above. Pick either hole 3, 4, 5, or 6 to focus on because these are the easiest to play.

-5 Oh
5 Lo-
4 rd,
-4 Kum
-4 ba
4 ya

Learn Harmonica – FAQ For the Harmonica Beginner – How to Get Started

4 Kum
5 ba
6 ya,
6 My
6 Lord,
-5 Kum
5 ba
-4 yah,

TIP: ALWAYS MOVE THE HARMONICA FROM NOTE TO NOTE, NOT YOUR HEAD OR LIPS! When moving between notes, you should be sliding the harmonica through your lips, from right to left or left to right (using your hands). It is a very bad habit to hold the harmonica still, while you move your head or lips instead.

One of the best brands (in terms of durability, sound, and value) is called the “Hohner Marine Band” or “Hohner Special 20.” It will cost you 30 dollars or less, depending where you purchase it. Try eBay for a good deal, but try to buy a brand new one so you know it’s already in tune. By practicing regularly, you can learn how to play before you will ever need to tune it.

How do I hold a harmonica?

For songs or tabs, a simple Google search will turn up more material than you could learn in a lifetime.

Click the link below to view other articles by Jacob.

For the purposes of this article, “blow” means to blow OUT, and “draw” means to suck air IN. The same hole will make a different sound depending on whether you blow OUT or draw IN air through the hole.

Your upper lip should extend about halfway over the top of the harp, but your lower lip should extend only slightly over the bottom plate. With your lower lip, you will feel the edge of the harmonica where the side with the holes meets the bottom side. With your upper lip, you should not feel the edge at all. (Again, YouTube is a great source for examples.)

When you can clearly play single notes on all 10 holes without making mistakes, you are ready to start learning songs. The great thing about learning to play a harmonica song is that you don’t have to know how to read music. Many simple harmonica songs are written in the form of “tabs.” Music stores sell books full of these songs, or you can search online for “harmonica tabs” or “harp tabs.”

This is a common problem for many beginners. The simple answer is that by practicing more, proper breathing technique will eventually come naturally to you.

Then apply the same method to learn BLOWING and DRAWING through ALL TEN holes. The really high end holes (8-10) and the very low end holes (1-2) will be the most difficult. A common mistake made by beginners is to think that hole 8, for example, is out of tune or has something stuck in it, because it’s so much harder to play than hole 4. This is not the case. Even though the same basic technique is used to play all ten holes, learning holes 1 and 2 and 8 through 10 may take EXTRA practice and require some adjustments in the techniques you learned by starting with holes 3 through 6.

Begin with holes 3-6. Pick one hole (say, hole number 4) and master it using the technique described in the section above. Once you can clearly BLOW a single note through hole number 4, also make sure you can clearly DRAW a single note through hole 4.

Use your palm of the opposite hand to grip the other end of the harmonica. You may view images and videos of how to hold a harmonica by searching YouTube and other relevant sites. As you learn the basics, feel free to adjust your hold as necessary in order to get the clearest sound.

How do I blow into it?

This FAQ has taken you from harp selection to playing your first song. By following the steps above and practicing regularly, you will have a firm foundation and be able to play any song you can find the tabs for. Good Luck!

The harmonica is the perfect instrument for the beginning musician. It is a cheap instrument, simple to learn, and does not require a proficiency in reading music. Additionally, there is no need to take lessons because all the necessary help is available for free on the internet. Learn to play at home, and take your instrument anywhere in your pocket.

The longer answer is this: Don’t blow so hard! Softer blowing keeps the harmonica in tune, and helps you keep your breath too! Also, any “draw” notes (or “suck air in” notes) are good times to breathe in. With practice, you can play the harp and breathe simultaneously. If you still have trouble, try catching your breath between lines. A short pause of 1-2 seconds between phrases can help your playing sound more emotive, while giving you time to catch your breath as well.

Why would I want to learn to play a harmonica?

4 Kum
5 ba
6 yah,
6 My
6 Lord,
-6 Kum
-6 ba
6 ya,

Which Harmonica should I buy?

How do I play a song?

For beginners, the best thing to do is focus on single notes. When you are able to blow and draw through all ten holes, one at a time, and create clear single notes for each hole, then you are ready to learn a song. Once you have mastered a few simple (single note) songs, you can move onto chords.

Extend your thumb and index finger horizontally, so they are parallel with a half inch space between them. Slide the harmonic into this space, gripping it between your thumb and index finger, so the end of the harp is pressed against the webbing between these two fingers. The holes should be pointing towards your mouth, and the backside of the harmonica (opposite the holes) should be unobstructed. Leave enough space in front of your fingers for your lips.

Continue making adjustments to your lips, hand-holding, and blowing until you can comfortably blow through one hole at a time, and create clear single notes.

What are the best resources online?

How much should I practice?

Alternatively, the same song may be written thus:

You will want to learn chords, octaves, and bending notes. You can practice soloing by playing along to your favorite recordings, or buying special CD’s made specifically for playing your harp with. Learn how to tune a harmonica; invest in a tuning kit and electronic tuner. Also check out other types of harps for playing musical keys other than “C.”

4 Kum
5 ba
6 yah,
6 My
6 Lord,
-6 Kum
-6 ba
6 ya,

Shoot for 30 minutes a day, most days. Don’t worry about how much you learn in one sitting. The emphasis should be on frequency and consistency of practice. Once you’ve learned your first three or four songs, the others will come more easily.

Definitely YouTube. Several harmonica experts have put together entire series of videos aimed at beginners. These videos are a great resource because you can SEE and HEAR the instrument being played, and compare your technique to theirs. They offer examples, exercises, and expertise for all levels of harp players.

Place your lips over the edge of the hole you choose, and tilt the harmonica slightly downward so your upper lip extends further over the top of the harmonica than your lower lip extends over the bottom.

Now I can play a few simple songs. What’s next?

Blowing (or drawing) through several specific holes at once can make musical “chords,” while blowing (or drawing) through one hole at a time makes a “single note.”

Also Wikipedia has a great deal of technical information. Their harmonica page defines terms, breaks the instrument down into its constituent parts, looks at playing techniques, and offers useful resource links (at the bottom of the page).

How do I blow clear single notes?

Conclusion

Blow through the hole. The goal is to create one, clear unbroken and consistent tone (a.k.a. the single note). Adjust your lips as needed by puckering, or tilting the harmonica further up or down. Try moving your tongue so it’s not in the way. Blow softly. If you have to blow really hard to make a clear note, you are doing something wrong.

When I play a whole song, why do I quickly run out of breath?

Don’t over-practice either. If you play for more than an hour straight, you’re bound to start getting sloppy and pick up bad habits (or get frustrated). It’s better to practice 30 minutes a day for 4 days consecutively than to practice for 2 hours every fourth day.

Harmonica tabs use a simple system of notation to list what holes to play, what order to play them in, and whether to blow OUT or draw IN. Each song tab should also tell you whether to use a “diatonic” or “chromatic” harmonica, and which musical key.

Mike Furlong

Neck
The Telecaster had a one piece maple neck, one of Fender’s many innovative design and manufacturing techniques. Today the Tele is available in maple and rosewood fretboard models.

Bridge
The bridge has three adjustable saddles carrying two strings each. For many years the Tele was available with a large chrome cover, Fender seems to have omitted this on many models recently. A popular add-on for the Telecaster is called the B-bender. This attachment allowed a smooth bend of the pitch of the B string, simulating the sound of a steel guitar. This was, of course, popular with country musicians.

Company History
Fender had a troubled history after CBS bought it 1965. However, Fender management bought out the company in 1985 and restored the company’s prestige and reputation as a manufacturer of quality musical instruments.

Pickups
Originally Fender sold a single pickup guitar called the Esquire. A short time later a two pickup version of the guitar was named the Broadcaster. However, the Gretsch company objected due to their line of Broadkaster drums and Fender renamed his guitar The Telecaster. The Telecaster has two single coil pickups, as opposed to the double coil “humbucking” pickups found on some other guitars such as those by Gibson. The pickup nearest the bridge is mounted in a slanted position. The Telecaster had a three position switch to select the pickups. Musicians and Fender have tried other pickup combinations on the Tele, including using double coil or “humbucking” pickups.

Fender Telecaster Electric Guitars

Body
The Telecaster is a single cutaway guitar. A cutaway is an indentation or scallop in the guitar body, where the neck joins the body. Since the Telecaster is a single cutaway, it has only one cutaway below the neck where it meets the body. This cutaway provides room for the guitar player’s hand to occupy when playing notes “high” on the neck.

History
There were other solid body electric guitars before the Fender Telecaster guitar. But the Tele, as it sometimes known, was invented in 1940s by Leo Fender and others in California. Leo later created the successful Stratocaster guitar. The body of the Telecaster is a solid one piece design.

Some Words On The Two Styles Of Music Funk And Disco

Funk Funk music is a musical style which originated in America in the mid to late 1960’s. This musical genre blends together Rhythm and Blues, jazz and soul music into a trendy and danceable style.

Performers in this genre include James Brown with songs such as ‘I feel good’, Earth, Wind and fire, Kool and the Gang who had a hit single with ‘Celebration’, and Tower of Power. Funk has had a large influence on more recent forms of music such as disco and hip hop.

Funk concentrates on a strong rhythmic groove from the rhythm section melody and harmony are de-emphasised. Back line instruments such as electric guitar, electric bass, Hammond organ and drums are used to play interlocking grooves. Most funk songs, unlike other musical styles such as soul and R and B, comprise of very few chords sometimes as little as a vamp on one chord. A horn section (saxophones, trumpets and sometimes trombones) is often used in funk bands to provide stabs and punches to accentuate rhythms and grooves.

Sony PSLX250H Turntable
Sony PSLX250H Turntable Get into the groove with the fully automatic PS-LX250H turntable from Sony. Hook the turntable up to any stereo and reacquaint yourself with all of your old vinyl records. The turntable is compatible with all stereo receivers, even units without traditional phono input jacks. The PS-LX250H doesn’t require a [...]

The Renaissance and Beyond

Did you know that when you picked up your acoustic guitar, you’re picking up an instrument with 5,000 years of history attached to it? Acoustic guitars are descendants of stringed instruments that were found in a variety of cultures thousands and thousands of years ago. As civilizations merged and the world became smaller, the guitar began taking on a unified shape and style. Since then, there has been a lineal evolution of several hundreds of years of instruments that can be directly compared to today’s acoustic guitars.

While in the Middle Ages, the guitar instruments were not terribly popular, being overshadowed by other contemporary instruments, in the Renaissance the guitar began to take a real hold. It was in Italy in 1779 that the first six string guitar was created. Gaetano Vinaccia created this instrument in Naples. Following that, the man known as the “Father of Modern Guitar” made his permanent mark on the course of the guitar and how it would be designed and played.

The instrument that Antonio de Torres created and made popular was the Classical guitar. The acoustic guitar is commonly misinterpreted as being the same as the Classical guitar. This is not true, there are many key differences in the design of these two separate guitars. The most important of which is that the acoustic guitar has steel strings, while the Classical guitar is strung with nylon strings.

The acoustic guitar was actually developed in America from European immigrants. The last major development of the acoustic guitar is the electrical-acoustic guitar. These acoustic guitars can be plugged into an amplifier for increased volume or can be left unplugged and played as is.

The Medieval Period

History of the Acoustic Guitar

The body was also made larger and sturdier still. The acoustic guitar was much better for performing in larger areas as it was increasingly louder than the Classical guitar; the two guitars also produce different ranges and textures of sounds which various styles of music correspond to.

During the Medieval Period of European history, there were several different forms of guitars. These guitars had between three and five strings and were much smaller than the guitars we know today. There were variations of these instruments which had pairs of strings, known as courses. The popular guitars of this period were commonly separated into two groupings. The first, the Guitarra Latina was likely developed from Spain, while the Guitarra Morisca was brought to Spain by the Moorish culture.

The Acoustic Guitar

So next time you pick up an acoustic guitar, remember the history you hold in your hands.