Many famous live music bars have started using this technique to target more audiences to get to their bars. This technique might also tempt few celebrities to attend the event. Alicia Keys, Jay Z and other big celebrities were invited few weeks ago to do some live gig. To be fair these are famous bars which already attracts celebrities from hollywood or musical industries but there had never been a live gig done before. Few weekends ago audience of 250 saw Alicia Keys play in her keyboard piano and Lenny Kravitz grooming in his guitars in a famous bar in front of few celebrities and many other people. Even though it was only for few minutes the audience got what they came in to see but stayed all night – meaning they bought drinks – meaning money was spent.

There are various celebrity bars out there which attracts people to come their regularly, such as Jools Holland’s bar in Birmingham, where sometimes you can see Jools Hollands play piano himself. Lot of music bars are following this trend and hiring famous musician to play a gig or too in their bar so they can increase their audience and also their business. Now that the economy is picking up, I believe this is a brilliant idea. Yes you may have to spend a little on marketing and hiring but you will definitely make a profit out of getting more audience. The bars who have tried it say it has been a successful campaign for them and they will keep doing this as a long term thing.

If you have a bar and want to target more people then this is definitely a good idea. Nothing wrong with trying it once and from the feedback of other bars owners, it is a great idea to increase your business.

MTV started on August 1st 1981 in the USA and the first video they played was Video Killed The Radio Star by The Buggles. It was the very first time an entire station had been dedicated to music and only music and as you are aware it became a huge success. There have been many controversial incidents that have occurred at the MTV video music wards since they were introduced in 1985 including fights and several appearances by Madonna each getting more disturbing to watch. It looks like at the moment these awards and a couple of hours of video time a day is all that is left of signs of music on the main MTV channel.

The main reason that MTV have actually decided to put down theirelectric guitars and pick up the more irritating reality shows is simply because more people are searching on the internet for their music now. Now most of the MTV music video playing is actually done on the website and they say that it is better done this way.

To be fair you cannot really argue with what MTV have done because they have many sister channels that they have for fans of anything fromclassical guitars music tobass guitarsmusic and these seem to play a lot more music than anything else. However the strength of the brand still remains in the main channel and with many artists saying they should drop the cheesy shows and bring the music back in, what will happen?

I have been playing guitar since I was a little kid and now it’s time for me to switch to the piano and my dad to switch to the guitar. So I have been looking at few guitars to buy. I started with playing acoustic guitar and I believe as many others do too that acoustic is the best way to learn guitar as it generate an original sound. Acoustic guitar has taught me a lot and because of that now I can play any guitar whether it’s classical, electric or bass.

My dad has been playing piano since he was little. Nowadays he shares his knowledge with the young children in school, giving them lessons on pianos. It’s easy if you have a keyboard piano you will be able to carry it anywhere. I want to start giving lessons to kids in schools as it will help my financial situation with a little bit of income coming towards my household as I am getting married in few months. If we collect few clients may be we can open a business to teach piano and guitar together and learning these different instruments will come in handy then.

Oh and last but not the least don’t be surprised to see a Father and Son playing instruments in Britain’s got talent in 12 to 16 months time.

How to play piano: The basics

Normally experts say to learn any instruments you have to start young but for me it is never too late to learn any instrument. If you are a new starter and learning to play grand pianos, I suggest you learn from an expert other than take online lessons. When you first start you hardly know the codes of the music instrument.

First thing you need to decide if you want to learn through acoustic piano or digital piano. Many experts say they will recommend anyone to start with acoustic no matter which musical instrument they are learning to play. It is simply because acoustic instruments generates the original sound. Acoustic piano keys have a heavy touch, so when you start playing these pianos your fingers will get use to playing light touch pianos such as keyboard pianos. The only disadvantage I see of acoustic pianos is the size, whether it will fit in your house or not.

If you start learning with digital pianos, the disadvantage would be that you will find it difficult to play the acoustic piano because of it’s heavy keys. Not only piano but many guitar learners will face the same piano if they learn from electric guitars, it’s hard for them to play acoustic guitars.

An acoustic piano have a very long life compare to digital pianos and if something does go wrong in a digital piano then repairing can be very expensive. Digital pianos are mostly used in concerts to give digital sound and by many musicians and recording artists. They can use it to create background sounds for their music, record it in their PC and do all sort of other things.

I was 4 years when I started to play the piano. My parents chose acoustic piano for me to start on and I can safely say that after 23 years of playing acoustic does generate a clear and original sound than the digital piano. Doesn’t matter if you are playing guitars or acoustic pianos it’s never too late to start.

It all depends on the reason you are learning to play the piano. Is it for your kids? Is it for fun purpose? Is it just to play with your mates?

There Are Just Endless Forms

There are literally hundreds of different forms of music that you can learn and play from those wild hits on drum kits to the more gentle sound of guitars. Music has such a wide appeal that anyone and everyone can get involved, it doesn’t matter if you are listening or playing the types of music are endless.

The instruments vary too and you do not have to stick to the normal instruments that cost a fortune. You can make an instrument out of nothing, we all did it as kids when sitting at the table, use the table as drums and the bottles to blow into to make a bit of a instrument. People actually make a lot of money by making guitars out of things like cigar boxes. These things actually sound pretty awesome too.

Emotion

It has to be said that when music is created there is always emotion attached to it. Many musicians actually have to get pretty angry or sad before they can write a decent piece of music and once this has been created it has an effect on the people. The slower songs are listened to by people who are perhaps feeling a little on the down side and the happier ones by the people in a good mood.

Music has the ability to cheer people up when they are down, one of the best uses it has in fact, this has to be why it is an awesome creation. Whack on those guitar amplifiers and get playing!

This is officially the very first charity single that came into existence and it has to be the most famous one too. The main reason that this song was made was for the famine in Ethiopia. The song sold a million copies in its first week and was made by artists like Duran Duran, Spandau Ballet, Culture Club, U2, Sting and Phil Collins on the drum kit.

The Living Doll

Clif Richard remade his own song but this time with the help of the young ones cast. All of the money to this one went straight to comic relief. Cliff was really not sure on this one because the comedians might ruin his almost clean cut image, the truth is they didn’t and the song went straight to the top spot.

Earth Song

Believe it or not this was a charity single and certainly not the only one that Jackson sung during his lifetime. Remember Heal The World, Gone too Soon and Man in the Mirror, these were all charity singles too.

Of course just because a song is made for charity it does not mean that it is simply going to become an immediate success it takes a combination of both normal guitars and bass guitars and all of the other instruments along with the perfect sound of backing choirs and all other things that make the songs what they are.

Charity singles help out many causes there is no doubt about that but they should not be brought simply for this reason. There is not point buying the song if you do not like it, just go out and donate to charity.

The Recorder

So many people think that this instrument is a bit of a joke but it is a really good first instrument to learn how to play and play smaller songs to. Cheap and easy to play, this seems to be the reason behind the schools teaching kids how to play these instruments.

The Guitar

Guitars have to be next on the list as they are relatively easy to teach, at least the simple chords are anyway. There are so many songs that can be learnt quite easily however an expert can be playing some of the really great songs.

Drums

Drum Kits also have to be top on the list of instruments to learn. A great thing about the drums is that if you havent got the skill to actually play them you can just sit down and smash them up. This has to be one of my favourites simply because we have a set at home and when I am in the mood I will smash the hell out of them.

These are of course not the only instruments you can learn but just some of the easier ones to pick up. Other trickier ones include the violin, piano and yes DJ Equipment. This is something that is going to be very hard to pick up and although I do not like the music I have to say, it’s a skill to be able to use it.

Although many people think it, it isnt easy to learn how to play an instrument so just be warned on this one.

A straightforward difference is the amplification between the two type of guitars.

An acoustic guitar ampifies the vibrations from the strings through their hollow body. These guitars are also more limited in shape and size, which makes a difference on the sound of the guitar. An acoustic guitars does not have the wider choosing option. One is steel string guitar and another is nylon string guitar. Classical, flamenco and folk tunes are all played in nylon string guitars whereas steel strings are used for country rock music.

The differences between steel and nylon strings are that steel string is much more louder than nylon string, also mostly steel is play with a pick and nylon with fingers, though most guitarist just use their fingers for both type of guitars.

An electric guitar is much easier to play, they have pickups, that are wrapped in steel which hear the vibrations formed by the strings, then sends these signals to an amplifier. Purchasing an electric guitar, will mean a good new amp, which means it can be rather expensive.

People have been looking at a blended guitar, blended as in a guitar which has qualities of both acoustic and electric guitars. As you are the one who is learning to play, you should always go for your own preference. Most people do say that if you start with acoustic guitar then playing an electric guitar becomes rather easy.

Diddly Bo – Seasick Steve (LWJH S35E05)

Music should be fun. Anybody with an inclination to make music should be able to. Unfortunately we are taught that, in order to make music, you need to study music tablature, learn scales and chords, spend money on expensive musical instruments and practice loads. But nothing could be further from the truth.

Have you ever see any African tribes people dancing to drums? The drummers have never studied at music college. Obviously they aren’t familiar with scales, chords or paradiddles. But they’re having a good time. Making music with the simplest of instruments, often nothing more than a hollow log or a an empty gourd with some lose seeds used as a rattle, is great fun and that is what music is all about.

There is a one stringed Brazilian instrument with African roots called a Berimbau. Its not surprising to note that the instrument looks like a bow that might be used for hunting. Now this simple instrument is the precursor to pretty much all forms of stringed instrument including guitars, harps and even pianos.

You may have heard of the Diddley Bow. This is a very simple and easily made African American one stringed folk instrument. These might be made from nothing more than a plank of wood with a length of wire stretched from end to end. The string is tensioned with something uses as a bridge and the pitch is varied by fretting the string with a piece of bone, glass or maybe a knife or some other form of slide.

One notable Diddley bow player, Lonnie Pitchford, would make his Diddley Bows by attaching a wire to a vertical support beam on the front porch of his house. Diddley bows were commonly made by poor field workers and share croppers in the Mississippi Delta region.

The sound of the Diddley Bow is very much the sound of the blues. Many of the early blues orginators from the 1920s and 1930s got their start by twanging Diddley Bows. One modern day exponent of this simple instrument is Seasick Steve. So if you want a bit of fun with a simple one string folk instrument why not make yourself a Diddley Bow today.

Back to the point, Spotify is a service that allows people to listen to their favourite artists without pay, illegal activity or that much annoyance. Basically it works in the same way a Radio station does apart from you are the one picking the songs you want to listen too. There are so many reasons why everyone should have this including being able to listen to entire albums and making a playlist, the only downside are the adverts but they do not appear often. If you are prepared to go that little bit further then you are able to get no adverts as well as get spotify on your mobile for just £10 a month!

Spotify is actually really useful as you do not have to download music before you start to listen to it which means downloader’s have no excuses on why they are downloading music as they can listen to entire albums for free using spotify.

Although Spotify is like the radio it has no annoying DJ’s using the latest DJ Equipment who talk for 50 minutes of the hour and play around 2-3 songs. You get to choose the music that you listen too and you can pause and skip too!

The limits are endless on Spotify and with the future release to the US it is going to make it big.

If you are a big fan of music then why not think about getting one of your very own drum kits. If you are really into your guitars then consider getting one of those brand new bass guitar amps.