Music Articles

Music | By Victor Epand @ Monday, 15th September 2008 @ 12:13 PM

Guitars are made up of many parts and pieces. Fingerboards, soundboards, strings, headstocks-all of these components are essential to a guitar and all have an affect on the instrument's music. Yet there is at least one piece of the guitar that has absolutely no influence on the sound of the instrument: the pickguard. This piece of laminated material resides under the guitar's strings on the instrument's body. Its purpose is to prevent the guitar's finish from being scratched ... more...

Music | By Victor Epand @ Monday, 15th September 2008 @ 12:10 PM

There are a great many physical components that make up a guitar. Some, such as strings and fingerboards, are obvious. Others, like nuts, are less apparent, but they are still visible. But some guitar components cannot be seen at all because they are hidden inside of the instrument. This is the case with the truss rod, a metal rod that runs along the inside of a guitar's neck. This part of the guitar has existed since at least the early 1900s, although it was not patented until 1921. Despit... more...

Music | By Victor Epand @ Monday, 15th September 2008 @ 11:51 AM

In recent years, there has been a respectable surge in the popularity of "unplugged" performances. Such exhibitions, as one might assume from the name, feature artists in small venues performing acoustically for small audiences. One interesting aspect to these performances is that sometimes the artists perform on electric guitars without using amplifiers. The irony, of course, is that electric guitars were specifically designed to be able to use amplifiers so that the music could be hear... more...

Music | By Victor Epand @ Monday, 15th September 2008 @ 11:46 AM

Conga drums are an integral part of most Latin American music. In North America, everyone has heard of a conga line and unfortunately, most of us have been forced to join one at one point or another, often during a wedding reception. But the music of the conga is far too diverse to be pigeonholed as wedding reception music. These instruments are used not only in genres like salsa and rumba, but in Afro-Caribbean religious music as well. Conga drums are a very important facet of life in South Ame... more...

Music | By Victor Epand @ Monday, 15th September 2008 @ 11:45 AM

I have to admit it, I did not know that the tambourine was originally, and sometimes still is, a type of drum. I mean, it's obviously a percussion instrument, anyone can see that. But it wasn't until I started to look at the surprising variety of tambourines in the world that I realized that it is, at least in its classic form, a drum. Actually, if you look up the instrument in the Merriam Webster Dictionary, the very first definition is "a small drum." Admittedly, many variati... more...

Music | By Stephen Stocker @ Monday, 15th September 2008 @ 9:55 AM

Many piano players have not developed their memory because they never try to play without the printed score in front of them! Musical memory can be improved with practice, here are some tips musicians can use. Pick an easy piece that you can play through effortlessly. Divide the first part of the piece into a short 8-16 bar section. Try to make a section that can be looped, either with both hands together or just one hand at a time. Make sure the loop makes musical sense, don't use a... more...

Music | By Richard Cunningham @ Monday, 15th September 2008 @ 8:55 AM

So you want to watch music videos online? Go ahead. As a matter of fact, it's for free and you can view it anytime you want or whenever you are free. This is what the internet has got going nowadays. Free music streaming is the latest thing in multimedia entertainment. This is true especially with music videos because these videos are promotional by nature. And given the fact that these companies don't really spend anything on the people who freely choose to grab copies of the music vi... more...

Music | By Richard Cunningham @ Monday, 15th September 2008 @ 8:48 AM

If you haven't considered it yet, you might want to try and watch free music videos like the R Kelly tape over the internet. Chances are they are very much available at the exact same spot where you usually view other streamed videos like cartoons and movies. Music videos are fun because not only do you get to enjoy good music you get to watch a well made story depicting the emotions of the artist as well. Every song that's come out and become popular probably has its respective music ... more...

Music | By Roger Munns @ Sunday, 14th September 2008 @ 12:07 AM

When you think of successful Latin music stars, one name instantly comes to mind: Enrique Iglesias. The son of a successful musician, Iglesias has rocked the English-speaking music industry in more ways than one. Born in Madrid in 1975, Enrique's early life was spent in Spain. He and his brother were sent to live with their father, singer Julio Iglesias, in Miami in 1983. That may have been when his passion for music blossomed and grew. With the release of his first album i... more...

Music | By Sean Patrick @ Saturday, 13th September 2008 @ 10:07 AM

Danny sleeps, eats and breathes music from the time he wales up until he hits the sheets for bed. Now 22, Danny was born on September 16th 1985. By eleven he had an agent and was dancing in commercials. By 16 he was practically drowning in gold medals, even netting two consecutive (and aptly-named) Rising Star awards in the annual CNE dance battle. At the same time, he blew away thousands of competitors to become the youngest member of the Toronto Raptors famed Dance Pak and started appe... more...

Music | By Kevin Sinclair @ Saturday, 13th September 2008 @ 1:45 AM

There is science in music too. The excellent chemistry in science is manifested from the mixture of substances but in music it is through the blend of voices. Usually there are four voice groups in music i.e. the tenor (high male), bass (low male) soprano (high female), and alto (low female). This is a base to our study as this would help to see how a singing group is formed. When in close knit groups they don't really find it difficult forming members from the acapella groups. For t... more...

Music | By Althea Tan @ Friday, 12th September 2008 @ 7:45 PM

If you're looking for tips on how to get through the American Idol auditions, then read further. You will find pointers here on how to impress Paula, Randy, and most importantly Simon Cowell. Hopefully, these will prove useful enough for you and actually get that yellow pass to Hollywood. First Step The initial basis of whether or not you'll get through the American Idol auditions is whether you can actually sing! The opinions of your immediate family, your relatives, and... more...

Music | By Stephen Stocker @ Friday, 12th September 2008 @ 9:29 AM

One of the most important piano playing tips is to set aside separate times for piano practice and piano performance. Both practice and performance time are used to improve piano playing, but in different ways. At least ninety percent of playing time should be practice time. This is time to thoughtfully and carefully learn. Every practice session should have a goal, such as learning specific sections of a piece, notes, memory, or just building familiarity. All of this practice playing sho... more...

Music | By Phoenix Delray @ Friday, 12th September 2008 @ 8:33 AM

In the late 1950s a genre of music was born that was to become Memphis Soul Music. Soul is a style of music that combines R&B music with Gospel music. It has been said that Memphis Soul Music is similar to Gospel in almost every way. The only difference between the two would be to replace the word Lord in Gospel to the word Baby and its all Soul from there. The catchy, new, unique blend of R&B and Gospel quickly spread through the African American communities in Chicago, Philadelphia, ... more...

Music | By Phoenix Delray @ Friday, 12th September 2008 @ 8:31 AM

Beale Street in Memphis, Tennessee has always been home to the Memphis musicians who sing the Blues. The Blues is a style of music that grew from the songs that African Americans would sing while they worked out in the fields. For more than 50 years, Memphis musicians have been playing on the corners and in the clubs on Beale Street. Eventually, however, beginning in the 1960s, Beale Street lost its Sparkle, became run down and in very poor shape, and people left to have a better life somewhe... more...

Music | By Phoenix Delray @ Friday, 12th September 2008 @ 7:53 AM

Memphis Blues music first appeared in the 1920s in Memphis, and Memphis ever since has been a Mecca for Blues music lovers worldwide. Beale Street, the heart of Memphis music scene, is home to everything from jug bands to jazz. The sub genre of Memphis Blues music that is Jug Band Blues emphasizes syncopated rhythms and sounds of early jazz and folk songs. Jug bands play on homemade, simple instruments, such as harmonicas, banjos, washboards, and kazoos, and of course, jugs. ... more...

Music | By Victor Epand @ Friday, 12th September 2008 @ 4:40 AM

The history of modern sheet music, at least in the West, can be appropriately begun with the advent of the printing press in the middle of the 15th century. Until this time, music had been handwritten and generally preserved in large, bound volumes of manuscripts. The shift from handwritten to machine-printed did not occur overnight, and much music continued to exist solely in manuscripts until well into the 18th century. However, no one will argue that just as the printing press changed the his... more...

Music | By Victor Epand @ Friday, 12th September 2008 @ 1:21 AM

The image of a lead electric guitarist rocking out on a solo is probably one of the most ubiquitous images associated with the rock and roll industry. Whether you associate rock guitar solos with the afros, fringe and political turmoil of Jimi Hendrix's age or the spandex, makeup and general debauchery of the 1980s, these musical masterpieces are undeniably part of the American rock and roll heritage. Of course, guitar solos can be and are used in any kind of music, and genres like jazz, sw... more...

Music | By Victor Epand @ Friday, 12th September 2008 @ 1:11 AM

Does the artist make the electric guitar, or the electric guitar make the artist? I suspect the answer to that question would vary significantly depending on who you asked. A manufacturer such as Gibson, Fender, or Yamaha would probably reply that an artist can only be as good as his instrument. But a guitarist, while likely to acknowledge the importance of a good guitar, would probably want to take the lion's share of the credit for himself. This is the "chicken and the egg" questi... more...

Music | By Victor Epand @ Thursday, 11th September 2008 @ 11:43 PM

When most people think of a synthesizer, they think of a machine used to reproduce the sounds of a piano via different electric frequencies-a keyboard. I know this is what I associate with the term. Yet synthesizers can be put to many different uses. Often, especially among the professionals of the music industry, a synthesizer is used to imitate the sounds of a drum or other percussion instruments. In such instances, the synthesizer is known as a drum machine. Drum machines can be extrem... more...