Music Blog

Between 1966′s Revolver and 1969′s Abbey Road (the last album The Beatles recorded) there was Sgt. Pepper, Magical Mystery Tour, The White Album, Yellow Submarine, & Let It Be (although it wasn’t released until 1970, it had already been recorded.) It’s truly incredible how much great music The Beatles recorded in such a short period of time.

This article compares Revolver and Abbey Road. Both are truly great albums. For me, neither is quite as great as The White Album & Sgt. Pepper but that doesn’t make me appreciate either of these albums less, as they are truly remarkable even 40 years later.

I think Revolver is a more consistant album mostly because “Yellow Submarine” is a better track than “Octopus’s Garden.” The songwriting on Revolver is at an incredibly high level. Songs like “Eleanor Rigby,” “Here, There And Everywhere,” “I’m Only Sleeping,” & “For No One” show The Beatles to be at the peak of their game.

On the other hand, Abbey Road is a more cohesive album. It does, after all, have the medley on side two where the songs all blend together. It’s also The Beatles most “modern” sounding album (mostly because it was their only album recorded on the new 8 track studio at Abbey Road.)

And it’s not like Abbey Road doesn’t have great songs too. How about “Something,” “Come Together,” “Here Comes The Sun,” & “She Came In Through The Bathroom Window” just for starters.

So, in the end, what would be my choice if I had to choose just one or the other? I think I would have to go for Revolver because of it’s slightly higher level of songwriting and that it’s just a more adventerous album (see: “Tomorrow Never Knows.”) This decision is in no way a put down of Abbey Road, it’s just that Revolver is that good!

In this guitar lesson you will learn to play the Christmas song Deck The Halls with the help of guitar tablature notation. I will also explain how to read this easy form of guitar notation!

Guitar tablature notation consists of six horizontal lines representing the six strings of the guitar. The top line of the tablature represents the string with the highest pitch.

Let us take a look at a guitar tablature staff:

1. —————-

2. —————-

3. —————-

4. —————-

5. —————-

6. —————-

On these lines you will find numbers representing the frets to press down. Let’s start with the first line of the lyrics and corresponding guitar tabs:

Deck the halls with boughs of holly

1. ————————————–

2. —3—1—0—————0——-

3. —————2—0—2——-0—

4. ————————————–

5. ————————————–

6. ————————————–

The number 3 on the second string means that you press down the third fret on the second string and play the note with your right hand.

Let us continue:

Fa la la la la, la la la la

1. ——————————————-

2. ——-0—1——-0———————

3. —2———–2——-2—0——-0—

4. ——————————-4———-

5. ——————————————-

6. ——————————————-

‘Tis the season to be jolly

1. —————————————

2. —3—1—0—————0——–

3. —————2—0—2——-0—-

4. —————————————

5. —————————————

6. —————————————

Fa la la la la, la la la la

1. ——————————————-

2. ——-0—1——-0———————

3. —2———–2——-2—0——-0—

4. ——————————-4———-

5. ——————————————-

6. ——————————————-

Don we now our gay apparel

1. —————————————

2. ——-0—1——-0—1—3——-

3. —2———–2—————2—–

4. —————————————

5. —————————————

6. —————————————

Fa la la, la la la, la la la

1. —————0—2—3—2—0——-

2. —0—2—3———————–3—

3. ——————————————

4. ——————————————

5. ——————————————

6. ——————————————

Troll the ancient Yule tide carol

1. —————————————

2. —3—1—0—————0——–

3. —————2—0—2——-0—-

4. —————————————

5. —————————————

6. —————————————

Fa la la la la, la la la la

1. —0—0—0—0—————————

2. ———————-3—1—0————-

3. ————————————2—0—-

4. ———————————————-

5. ———————————————-

6. ———————————————-

Try to use left hand index finger to play the notes on the first fret, the middle finger for the notes on the second fret and so on. This will help you keep you left hand in the same position as you play!

As a musician you know that marketing your work is extremely important if you want people to purchase your work. One particularly good way of marketing your music is through the Internet, though many musicians are left confused as to where they should start. So just how do you market music online, what are the best ways to go about it and why exactly should you market your music online?

Why Market Music Online?

While many musicians have found the Internet to be extremely helpful when it comes to marketing their work, others are left wondering what exactly the benefits would be. After all, surely you want to target the people in your area and marketing to people that you can actually see is surely better than marketing to virtual people? Well, not necessarily! All you really want to do is encourage people to buy your music, so it doesn’t really matter where they live, just as long as they like it.

The fact is, by marketing your music online, you are getting your music noticed by a lot more people than you would through marketing offline. There are literally millions of people who use the Internet daily. Some are in your own area, but you also manage to market your music to a much wider audience too. This means that more people from around the world are likely to purchase the music that you have made and you will become much more widely recognized because of it.

Marketing online gives you a much larger chance of becoming a successful musician than marketing offline. So if you have not yet considered it, then now is the time!

Tips on Image and Relationships

As with every other type of business, if you want to market to the right type of people then your image is everything. You need to be able to create a web presence that shows potential clients exactly what you and your music is about. The best way to go about doing this is creating your own website.

Creating a website allows you to link potential customers to your website whenever you post on forums, or whenever you create a web presence elsewhere such as on MySpace, etc. It is basically a space where potential customers get to see what you are all about and as first impressions are everything, you need to be able to leave a good image of both you and your music on your website.

So how exactly do you do this? Well, think about what type of music you are making. Is it Indie/Rock/Pop/Country music? The type of music you are making will reflect entirely on the image you want to give out. So if you are creating Country music, you will want to have a country theme to your website, not something with a modern and retro type style. Think about it, if you were visiting a musician’s website that created Rap music, you wouldn’t expect to see a Country theme on it would you? So create a website that reflects your theme and that is the first step to marketing both you and your website.

Using Blogs, Podcasts and MySpace

If you really want to draw in a lot of potential customers, then blogs, podcasts and websites such as MySpace and YouTube are certainly the way to go.

Blogs are great because you get to add a voice to your music. Allowing you to link back to your website, people will get an idea of the type of music you make, who you are and what is new with your music. People love getting to know musicians before trying out their songs and so if you do create a blog, it will draw in a lot of new customers for you. Another advantage to a blog is that if you use the right keywords, you can get it recognized by search engines and therefore more people will discover your music. It is by far one of the best methods of online marketing.

Podcasts are also very popular and you can create your own quickly and easily by visiting MySpace and selecting “MySpace Music”. Literally millions of people use MySpace and they are constantly looking at new music on there. So if you want to get recognized fairly quickly, creating a profile and releasing your music on there is definitely a good idea.

Using websites such as the ones mentioned above, you can easily market your music online. YouTube is another website that allows you to record yourself or whatever you like and millions of people will view your video. So get recording, place your songs online, set up a website and start blogging and you should end up with potentially thousands of new customers!

What can you do to stay motivated as you practice on your guitar? How can you increase and maintain the joy of playing? Here are some tips on how to keep that joy that made you start playing the guitar in the first place!

What can you do before setting goals?

The reason why we don’t keep our guitar playing goals might be that we haven’t been honest with ourselves before the goal setting process.

Before actually setting goals you have to decide why you want to play guitar or want to be a better player. Make an honest survey of your assets and wishes in the area of guitar playing.

Your inner wishes will probably conquer your goals if they are not the same.

How to set goals

In order to set goals that you will actually work towards you might ask yourself:

Do I really want to accomplish these goals?

Will I really feel good when I reach my goals?

I guess you will agree with me that the only goals that are really meaningful are the ones that will take you in that direction that leads to a place you want to be at!

I think that a part of your guitar playing goals should be focused practicing melodies you want to play in front of other people.

One common reason for starting to play the guitar is to be able to play the pieces of music you like.

This means that as you learn to play guitar, a goal might be to learn a number of songs or melodies by heart so you can play them in any setting.

These songs or melodies are to be learned so well that you don’t have to worry if you are asked to play.

One reason for having a repertoire with guitar pieces thoroughly rehearsed is that you can feel that you perform at the top of your ability when asked to play.

Remember, it should be guitar pieces you like to play.

If you do not like what you play you run the risk of memorizing these feelings together with the material you play.

When you practice a guitar piece you will memorize much more than the melody. At least these things will be memorized:

1. Hopefully the melody

2. Your attitude

3. Your level of body tension as you play

4. Your posture

5. The pressure you apply when pressing down the strings or holding your pick

If you like what you practice this joy will probably be transmitted to the audience when you perform.

In order to keep your motivation to practice on top and be able to stick with your guitar playing goals I suggest that you consider the following tips:

1. Ask yourself these questions to evaluate your future ability to stick with your goals:

Why do I want to be a better guitar player?

Is it because I like to play guitar?

Is it because I am “forced to”?

Is it because I want to impress my friends?

What things do I like to play on the guitar?

2. Set goals that take into consideration what motivated you to play in the first place. If you like strumming chords and sing your favorite songs your goals should probably be in that area.

3. Learn pieces that you feel good about and let other people listen to them and feel good too.

Acoustic guitars come in all shapes and sizes and they range from a wide variety of prices and costs. The standard acoustic guitar will cost you about $500 and will only feature six strings. Although these are commonly used the most there are still fairly other popular models of acoustic guitars.

The 12 string acoustic guitar is another popular type of guitar because it produces a sound that is far richer then a 6 string guitar. Beginners will find a 12 string a lot easier to play as well since it is generally easier to fret the notes. The only major difference between the two is that you play twelve strings instead of just six.

If you are unsure as to what type of guitar you want to buy, then I would recommend that you get a standard six string and then after if you like, you can try using a twelve string. I say this because most pop and rock songs will use a six string because it is far more common sounding then other types of guitars.

Generally a twelve string guitar is used in classical or very strong acoustic pieces. If this is the style of music that you play or that you like then you may want to get one for yourself. Usually the price for a twelve string guitar is slightly more than others.

The best thing you can do is to go around on other websites and look at reviews and see what types of guitars get the most positive feedback. You can then decide what type of guitar is right for you.

Stuck in a music rut?

It happens. After listening to your favorite song 1,379,614 times, you will, eventually, get sick of it.

So you find a new favorite song, all too aware that you’ll soon grow as tired of it as your previous pick.

This is even more likely to happen when you only listen to one type of music, a habit I’ve never subscribed to and have a very hard time wrapping my mind around (my mind’s not big enough to stretch that far). With all of the wonderful types of music available, why limit yourself to one or two genres?

Do yourself a favor and start branching out. Sure, you love country music, but is it really going to kill you to listen to some R&B? Or maybe you’re all about hip-hop – who’s to say you won’t find a rock song you like just as well? I’m always so impressed when I hear someone list their favorite songs – and the songs actually cover several genres. Or decades! (Yes, oldies are goodies.)

Next time you hear your fave song come on the radio (you know, the one you’ve heard over a million times), consider actually turning away from it. Head over to the station you listen to the LEAST – your new favorite song might be waiting for you.

It is a good thing to be on the right place at the right time, is it not? Sometimes we call this ability timing. When you play piano this is a very important skill. The result will be music!

To play the notes at your piano on the right keys and with timing does not mean that your notes will be played with mathematic precision. That would probably not be music.

This is why a metronome will only help you halfway to this goal.

You have to learn timing together with other people and by listening to good musicians.

You learn timing when you learn to react musically upon other musicians playing.

In music there is usually a pulse. To be able to discern this pulse and become a part of this groove is something we can develop. When you have acquired this skill your own playing will contribute to a good end result musically.

Well, how then can you feel this pulse in music?

You can dance or just move to music. When your whole body feels the pulse you are certainly on the right track. How the actual dancing is performed is no big deal, at least not as far as developing your pulse is concerned.

I guess the most important matter is to cultivate the feeling of floating or surfing on the waves of music without any effort.

Another important and effective way to develop timing in your piano playing is to play drums.

I think this would be of great benefit to all musicians. To be able to create rhythmic patterns when drumming will help you a lot as a pianist.

Actually, drums are not necessary! They can be quite expensive as we all know. You can improvise rhytmic patterns on you laps using you own hands. Quite cheap solution, really.

Just one example, try to play eights by alternating between your hands and place the accent in different hands as you play. I feel that this is a very stimulating exercise for my mind. Maybe a form of meditation.

Another way to develop your sense of pulse in your piano playing is to buy a metronome. This is nowadays a very little musical device that will give a 100% even pulse and it will help you learn to play in different tempos.

As it is 100% accurate it is best not you use it all the time you play. Another more sophisticated rhythmic aid is a rhythm machine. Can also be bought as software to your computer and it has nearly unlimited possibilities.

As before mentioned the art of timing is not the same as mathematically perfect piano playing. Well, in some music styles it might be appropriate to play piano in this way.

When I use my recording software and for example take a look at the bass parts I produce I can see on the graphic representation on my computer screen that I often play before or after the beats on my bass guitar.

As you probably know the notes can be quantisized with the help of the software to play exactly “accurate”. Well, what mostly happens is that the whole production loses something very important. The music disappears.

I usually play the bass guitar parts either ahead of the beat or a bit laid back to create energy in the music.

My definition of pulse is something that is musical and a form of painting feelings with rhythm and notes. To be on time in music is to share your musical feelings with others.

A key component of trying to get your music heard out there in the world is to create your own music albums. After all, you will need to provide it in competitions and music venues in order for them to even choose or hire you! Most bands who are starting out wish not to create their own CD’s due to financial restraints – after all, it takes quite a lot of money to hire a studio and audio engineers and not everyone has that sort of money hidden in their back pocket! However, once you get started and you wish to gain popularity or even are just busking out on the streets, it is imperative that you have something to sell. Sometimes you just need to spend money to make money!

There are music studios in most small towns and major cities in the world. Each studio has different pros and cons, so be careful to study what they can offer you. Some of these music studios can even take you on as a client help promote your music albums if they have the capacity and feel that you are a promising music artist, as sometimes they are linked to local radio stations. This is because a song must be published by a registered music publisher. Some music publishers are registered to performing arts organizations – depending on which country you belong to and how the system works, there can be many different types of performing arts organizations so you must figure out which performing arts organization would be most beneficial to your requirements.

If the music studio you choose does not have the capacity to take you on as a client to promote your music, then you will have to promote your music albums on your own terms as best as you can. This can be done through submitting your record to radio stations, competitions, or even selling them during your performance.