Showing posts with label music. Show all posts
Showing posts with label music. Show all posts
Tuesday, September 24, 2013
Low Output Pickups for Heavy Music
Many metal and hard rock guitarist are using electric guitars with some high-output humbuckers. However, we shouldn't forget also about those guitar players, who are using some low-output pickups, even single-coils, to get heavy tones.
Do you know Yngwie Malmsteen, Brian May or Paul Gilbert? They've got quite „weak” p-ups in their gear collections.
As examples, here are some cool videos:
Paul Gilbert with his Ibanez Fireman guitar
Yngwie Malmsteen - Seventh Sign
Brian May Band - Love Token
Monday, September 9, 2013
Some Quotations About Making Music Basie Hendrix Parker Pavarotti
Count Basie
Its the way you play that makes it. What I say is, for Christs sake, you dont have to kill yourself to sing. Play like you play. Play like you think, and then you got it, if youre going to get it. And whatever you get, thats you, so thats your story.
Jimi Hendrix
I dont really live on compliments. As a matter of fact, they have a way of distracting me. I know a whole lot of musicians, artists out there who hears the compliments and thinks wow, I must have been really great and so they get fat and satisfied and they get lost and forget about their actual talent and start living in another world.
Blues is easy to play, but hard to feel.
Charlie Parker
Hey man, its just music. Its playing clean and hitting the pretty notes.
Music is your own experience, your own thoughts, your wisdom. If you dont live it, it wont come out of your horn. They teach you theres a boundary line to music. But, man, theres no boundary line to art.
Youve got to learn your instrument. Then, you practice, practice, practice. And then, when you finally get up there on the bandstand, forget all that and just wail.
Luciano Pavarotti
I think an important quality that I have is that if you turn on the radio and hear somebody sing, you know its me. You dont confuse my voice with another voice.
With Wikiquote help.
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Monday, September 2, 2013
Simple Wiring in the Music Man Axis Style
Sometimes simple is best. This is what you can think when you're looking on the Music Man Axis or some Charvel guitars. The MM Axis is a two pickup guitar with a simple, 3-way toggle pickup switch and one pot – volume. This is completely enough if you want to get just clear, distinct signal – especially if your guitar is made from some high-grade wood and got some nice pickups.
This is the wiring diagram for that kind of axe:
Monday, May 27, 2013
Concentrate On The Music Not Your Hands
Focus on the music.
Beginning guitar students tend to watch their hands instead of the music. This usually happens when theyre close to having a piece of music memorized. As their confidence in the song grows, they tend to watch their fingers, look up to see where they are, and then get lost.
Dont practice mistakes.
Listen to yourself perform the song and watch for trouble spots. While I dont advocate watching your hands, I also dont advocate never looking at them. If youve made a mistake, stop, look at your hands and reposition your fingers. Narrow down the trouble area, and slowly and deliberately play through the passage several times. Dont try to speed up until you can play that section perfectly.
Dont go too long without listening to the song.
With You Tube, DVDs, CDs and iTunes available, theres no reason to not have a recording of the song youre trying to play. Listen and/or watch so youre sure you understand what the song is supposed to sound like. Its best to do that when youre not trying to play along. Youll be surprised at what repeated listening can do for you. It helps develop your ear and lots of times youll hear things you missed when you listened earlier.
Play the song for you guitar teacher so you can gauge your progress.
I have students question why I make them play what theyre working on, and the answer is quite simple. We want to correct mistakes, check fingering, and hear how things are progressing. When I took up banjo playing after years of concentrating on guitar, I made the mistake of trying to learn a song I didnt have a recording for. I practiced it for months, then when I tried to play it with others it turned out that I was adding extra notes. I actually quit playing the song for several months and concentrated on listening to the recording when I wasnt trying to practice the banjo. Only after I could visualize how the song went did I go back and re-learn it.
Beginning guitar students tend to watch their hands instead of the music. This usually happens when theyre close to having a piece of music memorized. As their confidence in the song grows, they tend to watch their fingers, look up to see where they are, and then get lost.
Dont practice mistakes.
Listen to yourself perform the song and watch for trouble spots. While I dont advocate watching your hands, I also dont advocate never looking at them. If youve made a mistake, stop, look at your hands and reposition your fingers. Narrow down the trouble area, and slowly and deliberately play through the passage several times. Dont try to speed up until you can play that section perfectly.
Dont go too long without listening to the song.
With You Tube, DVDs, CDs and iTunes available, theres no reason to not have a recording of the song youre trying to play. Listen and/or watch so youre sure you understand what the song is supposed to sound like. Its best to do that when youre not trying to play along. Youll be surprised at what repeated listening can do for you. It helps develop your ear and lots of times youll hear things you missed when you listened earlier.
Play the song for you guitar teacher so you can gauge your progress.
I have students question why I make them play what theyre working on, and the answer is quite simple. We want to correct mistakes, check fingering, and hear how things are progressing. When I took up banjo playing after years of concentrating on guitar, I made the mistake of trying to learn a song I didnt have a recording for. I practiced it for months, then when I tried to play it with others it turned out that I was adding extra notes. I actually quit playing the song for several months and concentrated on listening to the recording when I wasnt trying to practice the banjo. Only after I could visualize how the song went did I go back and re-learn it.
Thursday, May 23, 2013
Music Theory Part 2 The Circle of Fifths and Scales
The circle of fifths. What is it, why would I use it.
As you travel on your musical journey youll certainly read or hear about the circle of fifths. Its a learning tool that helps you remember several important concepts. There are many examples on the internet, just Google circle of fifths. The circle teaches you key signatures, how many sharps or flats are in each key, which chords go together, and the relative minor chords. Going clockwise around the circle you learn the sharp # keys, going counterclockwise you learn the flat b keys. This helps you learn how to play in different scales. The letters around the top can also help you remember what the 3 main chords are in each scale. Pick a letter, then go clockwise 1 and counterclockwise 1 to get the 3 chords that are most common.
Relative Minors.
No, theyre not your young children. Every scale has 2 letters that use the name number of sharps or flats. So C Major and A Minor have the same number, in this case zero, of sharps or flats. To play either one you just start on the first letter and then go through the 7 letters we use in music until it comes back around. For example: C-D-E-F-G-A-B-C is the C Major Scale while A-B-C-D-E-F-G-A is the relative minor.
How is this useful?
By knowing which chords go with which scales you can learn songs more quickly. The other advantage is that it will help you follow along when practicing or jamming with other musicians. This is just a brief explanation, so if youd like to explore the circle further, do some research or have your guitar teacher go over it with you. It can definitely make figuring songs out a lot easier.
As you travel on your musical journey youll certainly read or hear about the circle of fifths. Its a learning tool that helps you remember several important concepts. There are many examples on the internet, just Google circle of fifths. The circle teaches you key signatures, how many sharps or flats are in each key, which chords go together, and the relative minor chords. Going clockwise around the circle you learn the sharp # keys, going counterclockwise you learn the flat b keys. This helps you learn how to play in different scales. The letters around the top can also help you remember what the 3 main chords are in each scale. Pick a letter, then go clockwise 1 and counterclockwise 1 to get the 3 chords that are most common.
Relative Minors.
No, theyre not your young children. Every scale has 2 letters that use the name number of sharps or flats. So C Major and A Minor have the same number, in this case zero, of sharps or flats. To play either one you just start on the first letter and then go through the 7 letters we use in music until it comes back around. For example: C-D-E-F-G-A-B-C is the C Major Scale while A-B-C-D-E-F-G-A is the relative minor.
How is this useful?
By knowing which chords go with which scales you can learn songs more quickly. The other advantage is that it will help you follow along when practicing or jamming with other musicians. This is just a brief explanation, so if youd like to explore the circle further, do some research or have your guitar teacher go over it with you. It can definitely make figuring songs out a lot easier.
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