Music Articles

Music | By Duane Shinn @ Tuesday, 8th July 2008 @ 6:42 PM

Possibly the most widely-recognized song in the English language, "Happy Birthday to You" didn't start out as a song of birthday good wishes. The tune of this beloved ditty was penned in 1893 by school teacher sisters Mildred Hill and Patty Hill. The two teachers wanted a sing-song greeting with which to welcome their young charges to school each day. Together they came up with the simple tune that is universally sung to the words of what is now "Happy Birthday to You.... more...

Music | By Duane Shinn @ Tuesday, 8th July 2008 @ 11:02 AM

If you're looking for a perfect way to keep your mind sharp, piano playing is the solution. It exercises several different parts of the mind and body, while providing you with years of musical enjoyment. Whether you play piano currently or are thinking about starting, playing piano is great brain food. Our population is aging. People are living longer lives, and they are constantly looking for brain food to keep their mental prowess in peak condition. One of the best ways to keep tho... more...

Music | By Duane Shinn @ Tuesday, 8th July 2008 @ 11:00 AM

The pleasure of being able to play a song on the piano is something that must be experienced. And playing piano does not have to be difficult -- there are methods for easy piano that get you started with just 3 or 4 simple chords. Repetitive songs are great for beginners to get used to the keys while still being able to create a pleasant melody. Beginning piano players often start out with easy piano classics, such as "Chopsticks," which is a great building block for more complex ... more...

Music | By Victor Epand @ Monday, 7th July 2008 @ 8:50 PM

Almost certainly one of the most, if not the most important part so of the design of a guitar are of course the strings. Whilst the shape of a guitar, its body, frets and even style of play has changed enormously over the years and as it has migrated from one country to another, the fact that it is a stringed instrument has been the case for many thousands of years. What has changed, however, is the type of material used for the manufacture of the strings, the number of strings included on the g... more...

Music | By Victor Epand @ Monday, 7th July 2008 @ 8:44 PM

Acoustic guitars use the hollow resonating chamber of the body of the guitar to amplify and resonate the sound of the strings being plucked, but on an electric guitar, this isn't the case. The body of an electric guitar is usually entirely solid, and the sound of the strings being struck is picked up by something called a pickup, which basically measures the amount of vibration of a particular string, and transmits this frequency to an amplifier. The amplifier then magnifies this frequency ... more...

Music | By Victor Epand @ Monday, 7th July 2008 @ 8:43 PM

Few parts of a guitar, if any, have as many different names and terms used to describe it as the tremolo arm. The tremolo arm is an adjustable lever which is connected to the bridge of the guitar. By moving this arm or lever, the bridge is raised and lowered, and by raising or lowering the bridge, the strings are themselves raised and lowered. This slightly stretches the strings, resulting in a change of pitch, and adjusting this up and down quite rapidly gives rise to the tremolo effect, or rap... more...

Music | By Victor Epand @ Monday, 7th July 2008 @ 7:47 PM

The bridge is a part found on an acoustic guitar, the purpose of which is to act as a way of transferring the vibrations from the strings as they are plucked or strummed, to the soundboard itself. The soundboard then vibrates the air that is inside the hollow body of an acoustic guitar, and this vibration of the air causes a natural amplification of the sound caused by the plucking of the strings. Just as singing in a bathroom causes a louder and more resonant sound than when you sing in your ga... more...

Music | By Victor Epand @ Monday, 7th July 2008 @ 7:47 PM

Because electric guitars are quite different in the way that they produce the sound, the body of an electric guitar is built quite differently to that of an acoustic or classical one. On a classical guitar, the strings, when plucked or struck, resonate, vibrating the air inside the body cavity. This hollow body cavity vibrates with the sound of the strings, and amplifies the notes. On an electric guitar however, the sound is amplified only by an external, electronic amplifier, and so the body of... more...

Music | By Victor Epand @ Monday, 7th July 2008 @ 7:46 PM

If you want to show off your knowledge about guitars, then throwing into the conversation words such as potentiometer, or commenting on the use of electronic preamplification, or even simply remarking on the good use of purfling or kerfing, you're sure to enjoy the blank look on the faces of those who thought they knew most things about guitars. In fact, these are all fairly common features when it comes to the design of electric guitars, but the terms and words are often ignored or forgott... more...

Music | By Victor Epand @ Monday, 7th July 2008 @ 7:39 PM

If you talk to a guitar enthusiast it may well be that they have heard of truss rods, and may even be capable of showing you where their truss rod is to be found, but to the average person or beginner, most people would be hard pressed to know whether their guitar even had a truss rod. So what is this feature, and what does it do? First of all, if we think about the problem that may be caused by not having a truss rod, then we can see where its role fits in. A guitar has a long neck, the ... more...

Music | By Victor Epand @ Monday, 7th July 2008 @ 7:36 PM

The neck of a guitar is frequently something referred to, although there can often be misconceptions as to what part is actually being referred to. The neck of a guitar is usually considered to be a collective term, and refers to the section of a guitar including the fret board, the headstock and truss rod, if included, and the frets along the fret board. Effectively then, the neck is the whole of the long wooden part of a guitar that extends from the round body. When you consider that el... more...

Music | By Victor Epand @ Monday, 7th July 2008 @ 7:30 PM

On a guitar, the fret board is the long neck of the guitar stretching from the body up to the very end, where the strings are tightened. This long neck of the guitar is where the secondary hand plays the chords by pushing down the strings against the fret board in specific places. By pushing the string down against the fret board, effectively the length of the string has been shortened. When plucked, hit or strummed, the vibration or frequency of the strong, which is what creates the spec... more...

Music | By Duane Shinn @ Monday, 7th July 2008 @ 3:03 PM

Improvisation (also known as improvising) is the act of making something up as you go along -- an act with which we all have a little experience. Remember playing House or Doctor as a child, letting the game go wherever your mind would take you? That was improvisation. No rules, no boundaries, just the limitless potential of your imagination. Similarly, musical improvisation is the act of "writing" (creating it as you play) a song while performing it, a technique found most often ... more...

Music | By Mike Shaw @ Sunday, 6th July 2008 @ 3:54 PM

Piano lessons have changed over the years. Now you can download a full piano course to your computer and learn to play in a new and modern way. With the cost of electronic keyboards and pianos becoming easily affordable, especially if you buy a second hand keyboard, now is a good time to start learning to play the piano. Gone are the days when you had to buy a big and heavy upright piano to start learning to play. Today, you can buy a roll up piano. It doesn't take up any room, just ... more...

Music | By Kevin Sinclair @ Sunday, 6th July 2008 @ 12:42 AM

There are several guitars available on the market and the type you choose will depend largely on what kind of music you intend to play. You also need to be physically comfortable with your guitar and this, of course, will be governed by your size. The weight of your guitar is important especially if you will be playing the instrument quite regularly so make sure you do not choose one which is too heavy for you as this will only weigh you down. The look and the sound of the guitar have t... more...

Music | By Mike Shaw @ Friday, 4th July 2008 @ 8:05 PM

To learn how to read piano notes it is essential to learn some basic theory. Nothing to complicated, just enough so you understand what the notes are called. This is actually easier than you might think because there are only seven notes to learn. These notes are C, D, E, F, G, A, B. These are all the white notes. The black notes are the sharps and flats and you won't even need these to start with. There are various ways you can learn to play the piano. There are tutor books for begi... more...

Music | By Patrick Omari @ Friday, 4th July 2008 @ 7:09 PM

As the summer rolls in we're set for another season of music festivals. While festivals are a great place to see bands you wouldn't have normally seen and to discover new acts I've always felt that the only real place to see your favourite bands play are at their own gigs. Nothing quite beats the atmosphere at a small venue created by an audience who are all there to see the headline act. With this article I thought I'd say what my favourite live acts have been and who... more...

Music | By Andrew Stratton @ Friday, 4th July 2008 @ 6:40 PM

Your child can announce that he wants to play the piano when he comes home. The question of he is too young, always arises. Generally anything under 4 or 5 is too young however children under 4 can still be introduced to music in many forms including piano that is appropriate for age and attention span. Many lessons can be learned by young children when put in the form of music. If your child is under 4, check with the local musical schools or pre-schools to see if they have any kind of musical ... more...

Music | By Mike Shaw @ Friday, 4th July 2008 @ 5:53 PM

It's possible to learn anything you want if you have a guide and you're prepared to put the effort in needed to learn. To learn to play the piano you will need a piano course, which you can download from the internet. To start learning to play the piano, obviously you need a keyboard of some kind. This can a be a standard acoustic piano or electric keyboard or an accordion or even a roll up piano. Next, you need a piano course, preferably software that you can download. Next, de... more...

Music | By Victor Epand @ Friday, 4th July 2008 @ 5:24 PM

Although not as commonly experienced, resonator guitars still have a special place, and their distinctive sound is still very popular. Resonator guitars have a quality of sound quite unlike other guitars, and this is achieved through the use of a resonator fitted at the top of the guitar, in the middle. This resonator is made of metal, and its incorporation into the design of the guitar is not unlike that of the banjo, and there is certainly some similarity of sound quality between the two instr... more...