Tips For Rhythm Guitarists

All types of music begin with some kind of a rhythm. Rhythm is the foundation on which the whole song is built - and rhythm gives the support to every other member of the band to help them play the song in a way it was meant to be played. So, being a rhythm guitarist is an important job - a rhythm guitarist practically makes the difference between a band that sounds in-tune and a band that just can not get a clean sound.

There are a few tips you - as a guitar player - should pay attention to. Always remember that the rhythm you are playing is the base of the song - play it right and everything will come out fine. So, let's see what you can do to improve your guitar skills as a rhythm player.

1. Get yourself a metronome. Yes, this is the definite number one on our list. Get yourself a metronome and practice with it as much as you can. You don't need to set it on some insanely high frequencies, as the matter of fact you really shouldn't do that. You set it to an appropriate value of beats per minute, depending on the type of music your band is playing.

Once you get familiar with it, listen to original versions of the songs you like, find guitar chords for them somewhere on the internet, set the metronome accordingly and just play along. This is the part when you need to become a master - keeping a steady beat, not losing the rhythm and sounding clean on the way.

2. Play a lot of songs with different types of rhythms and really try to understand each of them. Every song has its own rhythm and you really should get it exactly right. You would be surprised if you knew how many guitar players tend to play every song too fast! Once they feel that they have no problems with playing it, they just subconsciously speed the song up. And that is BAD. The song was meant to be played in a specific way and you really should not speed it up, most likely you will just ruin it. Remember: Playing slower does not mean that you are a lesser guitarist - it means that you know what the song is trying to say!

3. Learn a few tricks to impress the audience. My personal favourite has always been the following: Your band is playing through the verse and is approaching the chorus, which starts with a very specific riff. Once you get to the end of the verse, don't advance to the chorus right away. Just stop playing for a little while. Every member of the band must stop at exactly the same time, so there is a perfect silence. You can feel the energy of the crowd build up as they wait for that great riff - and they are not getting it. Just have them wait for it. And then, after some exact number of beats of the silence, start with the chorus. The crowd will go out of their minds.

4. Well, the final one is pretty expected: practice, practice, practice. Unfortunately, this is and has always been the only road to perfection.

I wish you a great time playing the guitar and a lot of success with your band!

Anze Sustar is a guitar enthusiast and has been playing a rhythm guitar for almost 10 years. For his guitar needs he uses YourChords.com website that has over 150000 guitar chords and tabs

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Few songs that break the rules of pop songwriting ever achieve mainstream success. Deviate from the predictable verse/chorus structure in 4/4 time arranged for a basic grouping of guitar/keyboards, bass and drums, and you can pretty much guarantee being marginalized. During a 20-year period from roughly 1965-1985, however - a period that witnessed a flowering of musical creativity and widespread openness to experimentation - it was possible to break the rules and have a hit record. Here are ten unlikely hits from that period.

Good Vibrations - Beach Boys - 1966, #1

Brian Wilson spent six months and an unheard of $50,000 perfecting this pop masterpiece. While it starts out with the usual verse/chorus alternation, it moves into a contrasting section that could be a bridge except that it moves on to something yet different. The music quiets down to a hush - highly unusual for the middle of an uptempo song - before the voices launch back into the chorus. Rather than fade out on the chorus at this point (the standard formula), a completely new section intercedes before the outer space theremin from the chorus returns minus the vocals to lead the fade-out.

White Rabbit - Jefferson Airplane - 1967, #8

This quintessential example of pyschedelia is built on an unusual AAB structure. In the first half, the melody follows a folk song pattern: rather than a chorus, the two verses each conclude with a melodic tag. The song then breaks free from this structured section and moves into something that feels more improvisatory. The melody rises higher as the music intensifies and climaxes with the final phrase repeated twice.

Suite Judy Blue Eyes - Crosby, Stills & Nash - 1969, #21

True to its name, this is a mini-suite of four contrasting sections: ABCD. There are no choruses, only a changing sequence of verses. After slowing in the B section, the rhythm picks up in the C section. The sequence of verses becomes condensed in section D, propelling the music to its climax.

Black Dog - Led Zeppelin - 1969, #15

A song in which the music keeps stopping and starting breaks the rule of continuity, but there is a play between symmetry and asymmetry in the structure of "Black Dog" that is both surprising and satisfying. The structure is: A (verse three times) / B (instrumental) / A (verse two times plus "ah ah" melody) / C (contrasting bridge). Then the entire structure is repeated.

Uncle Albert/Admiral Halsey - Paul McCartney & Wings - 1971, #1

Two disparate songs were combined to create this study in contrasts. The opening, slower "Uncle Albert" song is comprised of three verses, two sung and one spoken. The second song, "Admiral Halsey," by contrast, is uptempo and uses a verse/chorus structure. But McCartney further plays with our expectations by putting the chorus first, and instead of a second verse he goes into a third contrasting section in an even faster tempo ("little little be a gypsy"), before returning to the chorus.

Living in the Past - Jethro Tull - recorded 1969 but released 1972, #11

Money - Pink Floyd - 1973, #13

These two songs used unorthodox time signatures: 5/4 and 7/4 respectively (Apparently the irregular beat did not interfere with general public's ability to enjoy the music). The clever use of cash register sounds to set the rhythm in "Money" is also an unusual introduction for a song.

Bohemian Rhapsody - Queen - 1975, #2

The blending of a soulful ballad, a rousing rock-out section, and a tongue-in-cheek opera make this virtuosic song an unlikely hit, but it has become one of the most enduring songs of the 20th century. Probably no other popular song has captured the essence of the surreal so well.

O Superman - Laurie Anderson - 1981, #2 (U.K.)

Everything about this song, from its half sung/half spoken lyrics to its vocoder vocals to its minimalist arrangement and rhythmic pulse built from repetitions of the sound "ha" cry out "anti-pop." Yet its eccentricity was its charm. Groups like Kraftwerk, the B52s and Devo were also having success with eccentric, anti-pop music during this period.

When Doves Cry - Prince - 1984, #1

Prince had to fight hard to stand his ground against Warner executives who could not imagine that a dance song without a bass part could be successful. But the brilliant omission of the bass line heightens the plangent, high register cries of his voice at the end of each chorus. With the minimal arrangement - drums, vocals and simple keyboard motive (augmented by strings in the final chorus) - Prince distills the music into its most basic elements: the percussive rhythm and the expressive lament of the voice.

While many artists continue to write music that isn't a slave to pop song format, such songs have largely vanished from the hit charts since the mid 1980s. Musically, the public has become much more conventional, shifting its focus from musicality to image and celebrity, which increases the pressure on artists to stick to the formula. Perhaps we'll someday see a resurgence of mainstream music that isn't afraid to break the rules.

More music articles at Song of Fire (obergh.net/songoffire)

Tobi Lark with Toronto - Freedom Train

Singer Tobi Lark was born (named Bessie Gupton) in Alabama and raised in Detroit, where, like many soul and r&b singers, she performed in church choirs as a young girl. The daughter of gospel singer Emma Washington ,… (in post Tobi Lark with "Toronto" from Five Bucks On By-Tor. )

Did you know you can learn guitar at home, even if you've never held a guitar in your life? Whether you are picking up the guitar after several years or are a complete beginner there are several ways to get the most out of your guitar lessons.

Of course, you can hire an instructor and get personalized training. This can run into quite a lot of money and you will need to schedule the time for each lesson. For years this was how most people learned to play a guitar. Others were blessed with talented family members who passed along their talent for playing guitar.

Today the most popular method of learning is through online guitar lessons. These allow you to learn guitar at home, at your own pace. If you choose to learn from this method here are a few beginning guitar tips. Practise these tips until they become habit.

First, don't procrastinate! When learning at home it is easy to put off your lessons until later. If you are to ever learn guitar at home you must practise. Practise is the most important part of learning.

Find a good place in your home for your practise sessions. A room with no distractions such as a tv or telephone will work best.

Set aside a time each day for your guitar lessons. If you were paying a professional instructor you would have to be punctual. Don't cheat yourself by becoming complacent or lazy about when you practise.

You must recognize your own work habits. You, alone will know how fast you can learn. Each person will have their own way of learning. Adjust your practise sessions so that you can maintain them throughout the learning process.

Self discipline is a must. Good planning and goal setting will help make sure you follow through and actually do learn guitar at home.

I hope these few beginner guitar tips help. Nothing is more rewarding than relaxing with a smooth melody on your own guitar. Being self taught will make it even better.

If you are serious about wanting to learn guitar at home you will need a serious learning tool. For the easiest and fastest method of learning guitar check out Learn Guitar At Home. Simply the BEST Learn Guitar At Home method around. Check it out now!

The Gourds - Steeple Full of Swallows

Today's free and legal mp3 downloads:Gourds : 2004-11-12, Thomasville [mp3,ogg,flac]"Blue Eyes Cryin' in the Rain (Willie Nelson cover)" [mp3]Gourds : 2004-11-10, Baton Rouge [mp3,ogg,flac]"Steeple Full of Swallows" [mp3]Gourds : 2004-10-27, KUT [mp (in post Daily Downloads (My Morning Jacket at Bonnaroo and more) from Largehearted Boy. Download this at eMusic Amazon iTunes More by this artist at eMusic)

If you are like many people, you have long contemplated learning to play the guitar.
If for whatever reason you have not learned yet, it would be wise for you to remember
that there is no time like the present to learn to play. All of the rockstars and
famous musicians have one thing in common with you ... they all had to learn the key
steps for learning to play the guitar somewhere along the line. A good guitar guide is
just the first step.

There are three fundamental lessons that you must learn in order to be able to play the
guitar well. This will allow you to begin playing real music on your guitar even while
you are still learning to play well and improving your guitar playing. The three lessons
are strumming and picking, tuning and chords.

Some people strum the guitar and others pick the strings. Some guitar players will combine
the two methods in order to enhance their range of skills and the types of music that
they can play well. Strumming usually involves raking your thumb across one or more of the
guitar strings gently causing it to vibrate and create sound. Picking is when individual
strings are plucked. Good guitar players can combine the two often at the same time. However,
you need to learn how to do both separately before you concern yourself with combining
the two guitar playing methods.

Tuning the guitar will be important if you want the guitar music to sound right. If you are
playing the guitar alone, you will not have to tune your guitar perfectly but if you are playing
in a band or with other people, you will have to be certain that all of the musical instruments
are in tune with each other. If not, then it is not very likely that the resulting cacophony of
noise will be confused with real music.

Learning the chords will be important so that you can produce the proper tones to match the other
musicians or if you are just learning, so you can learn practicing the guitar by playing real music
instead of endless days of playing musical scales. Learning to play the guitar by playing real
music will allow you to impress your friends and make the entire guitar-learning process much more
enjoyable for you. Finding a good guitar guide will help you to learn the basics and make playing
guitar music immediately possible.

To learn more about guitar playing, grab your copy of "Play Your Guitar In 48 Hours Or Less!" immediately before it's gone for good... http://www.GuitarGuide.com

Ndidi Onukwulu - SK Final

Today's spotlight shines north of the border on Canadian musician Ndidi Onukwulu . Although born in Canada, Ndidi has Nigerian heritage as well, which peeks through every so often by contributing some funky rhythms here and there, although… (in post Sunday Spotlight - Ndidi Onukwulu from Mainstream isn't so bad...is it?. Download this at Amazon iTunes More by this artist at eMusic)

Ah… the arpeggio. A miracle of cascading notes that produces a beautiful sound on the piano. To most it's a mystery how it's created. But to those who understand chords, it's just a matter of practicing until the pattern is mastered.

Now, the arpeggio can be used either in the right or left hand (or both together) but it's usually the left-hand that takes up this amazing technique. Let's look at how one might use an extended arpeggio pattern to create an improvisation.

The first thing you need to know about most left-hand arpeggios is that they usually start below the middle of the keyboard. Most pianists begin their run below middle C and there's a good reason for this - bass notes!

Those thunderous resonant bass sounds that reverberate in the body are hit and the piano comes alive!

Now, you have to be careful here because if you hit too many bass notes together the effect can end up sounding "muddy." That is, you won't be able to differentiate the notes and you'll end up having sonic sludge. But, if you spread out the first few notes this won't happen. That's why the open position chord is perfect to begin your left-hand arpeggio. For example, let's say you want to play a C Major 9 arpeggio.

Of course, you'll begin with the C note (which is also the root note.) Now, we could play the third (e) but if we do, chances are we'll end up with that "muddy" effect. No, A better way is to play the fifth followed by either the octave or the seventh tone.

What I like to do is play a pattern that looks like this: 1-5-8-9-3 - which means I'm playing these notes: c-g-c-d-e. This pattern produces a beautiful "new age" sound and is used frequently in New Age piano playing.

For example, look at the lesson "Coming Home." Here we play an extended arpeggio in the left hand and use over 2 octaves of the keyboard. It's quite an exercise and is a good one to get your left hand moving!

Edward Weiss is a pianist/composer and webmaster of Quiescence Music's online piano lessons. He has been helping students learn how to play piano in the New Age style for over 14 years and works with students in private, in groups, and now over the internet. Visit http://www.quiescencemusic.com now and get a FREE piano lesson!

How The Words "Sit Up Straight" Have Damaged The Sound Of Your Choir

If you've been around musical ensembles for any length of time, regardless of the type of music, you know that good posture gets harped on repeatedly. Sitting or standing with bad posture reduces the overall wind capacity of the ensemble, and looks sloppy in performance. Specifically for choir, though, bad posture is an immense block to developing a good choral sound. Some of the reasons why:

*Being slumped forward, or to either side, compresses the lungs, and limits the motion of the diaphragm. The stomach is also less able to move freely during the intake of breath. The singer, therefore, is forced into far more frequent breaths, each one being at a highly reduced efficiency. This makes singing extended phrases and smooth lines difficult if not impossible.

*When the body is bent/folded by poor posture, resonating spaces within the body are deformed. This turns what could be a strong voice into a much lighter, less mature sound, often with completely wasted air moving through the mouth. This forces conductors to seek more sound from the ensemble. The ensemble, in turn, has to breathe more often to keep up with their unsupported sound. The same ensemble with good posture would have to work far less to produce an equivalent dynamic, with a much cleaner quality.

*Poor posture generally indicates inattentiveness, whether in a job interview, on a parade ground, or in an ensemble. It encourages singers to talk more, listen less, and pay less attention to the sound of the choir. Inherently, a less attentive choir won't be listening to each other for blend, will take longer to learn music, and is more prone to errors.

To combat the issue of poor posture, choral directors have a standard phrase (learned from their parents): "Stand up straight!" Alternately, in rehearsal, "Sit up straight!" That simple command tells the ensemble several things, some of which fix problems, some of which create them. To further explain:

*It tells the ensemble to straighten their backs. A straight back can remove pressure from the internal organs, open airways, and let each breath be more efficient.

*It tells the ensemble to suck in their stomachs. This looks good, but means that the ensemble can't let their stomachs out when breathing in. If they're also still not allowed to let shoulders go up an down when they breathe, they're back to really small breaths. (For the record, shoulders don't need to move to breathe, as long as the torso is free to expand and contract properly.)

*It tells the ensemble to pull back, or "square", their shoulders. Pulling them back too far can lead to tightness in the chest, and again damage the room available to breathe.

*It tells the ensemble to stiffen their bodies into rigid forms. Any guesses as to where this is going? That's right, limited motion means limited breathing. An ensemble focused on their appearance can't be as focused listening and blending.

In order to correct both extremes, a happy medium must be found. The single easiest way to do that is in rehearsal-- we perform the way we practice. I know that every ensemble has the power to step up a notch when the spotlight is on. Every ensemble goes the extra mile the night of performance. The difference is where the "extra" mile begins. A choir with good posture to start with will be stellar, instead of acceptable. Ways to be a stellar choir (at least for posture and free breath)?

*When rehearsing seated, ask your singers to sit on the front edge of their chairs, and to elongate their spines. The head should rest, almost float, on top of the neck. The spine should continue straight down the back into the pair of "sit bones" on the pelvis. Feet should be evenly spaced, and both on the floor. This distributes weight and pressure evenly into the chair and the floor. (Feet should have a small percentage of the weight.) Weight and pressure are directed to support structures, not to individual joints that were never intended to carry load.

*When standing, have the ensemble place their feet almost directly beneath their shoulders, and arrange themselves so that the weight is carried smoothly into the floor. Weight should be balanced on a tripod between the heel, big toe, and the ball of the smallest toe for maximum stability.

*Encourage your singers to expand from the stomach through the chest when breathing. If they were filling a glass, they'd fill it from the bottom up. Do the same thing with the body.

*Practice long tones in warmups, to ensure that everyone is thinking about how to get the most air.

Doing these things will create an ensemble capable of going with you through the longest phrases, achieving the most diverse dynamics, and the richest sounds possible. Be a stickler for well-supported but not rigid posture in rehearsal. The resulting sound is well worth your investment of time, and the "extra mile" will be fantastic.

Good luck in rehearsal and on the stage.

Watch for my next article The Fastest Way to Put Your Audience To Sleep, for rehearsal and performance technique that will keep your audience with you from the first entrance to the last fermata.

William Hoyle is a student in Music Theory and Composition, a choir member, a student conductor, and an active member of the American Choral Directors Association. He graduates in May 2008, after which he is getting married and moving to Maine. His hope is to become certified as a music educator there, and teach choir while continuing to write his own music. Samples of his music can be heard at http://www.williamhoylemusic.ws and he is available for commission. In his spare time, he also participates in affiliate marketing on his website http://www.earningfastfromhome.com If you're interested in extra income from some time at the computer in the evening, feel free to visit that site.

The Envy Corps - Wires & Wool

I went wireless with the internet last week! Should have done it ages ago! Became my inspiration for today's loosely themed tunes! Enjoy! Athlete - Wires [Live from Glastonbury] MP3 MySpace The Envy Corps - Wires & Wool… (in post Sunday's 7 degrees of Separation from Mixtape 4 Melfi. More by this artist at iTunes)

Guitars are music instruments that are very versatile; most musicians around the entire world use them because they find a guitar to be very easy to play.

They are also the most commonly chosen instrument for a student to start playing their way into music, mostly because it takes very little time to learn how to play it, and of course because it is not rare to be able to find a decent guitar for a very convenient price (unlike other instruments as pianos, for instance).

Today, all music shops offer a very wide variety of guitars, suitable for almost any musician, from beginners to masters. The most popular, however, are these two kinds of guitars: Acoustic guitars and electric 6-strings guitars.

Some very specialized vendors have started selling other classes of guitars; usually adaptations of the classical guitar made by different cultures all around the world. In these vendors shops, regular customers (mostly collectors) are able to buy guitars such as the Mexican guitarron, a huge guitar used by Mariachis, or as the guitarra criolla, an Argentinean adaptation of the 6-strigs classical guitar, used by Tango orchestras and also by the famous gauchos (the south-american version of cowboys).

Another advantage of guitars is that, once you learned the basics of music composition, you will find it easer to move into more complex instruments, such as violins, and keyboard instruments; which are more difficult to use as the first contact with music practicing.

Beyond all that, the key to guitars success (they are the most used musical instrument worldwide, and has been for a very long time) is what matters the most: its sound. The beautiful sound a guitar produces can be compared to the sound produced by instruments that are much more expensive, rare and hard to learn. That is what keeps a good guitar above the rest.

Tamara Williams is a successful author and contributor to Guitars which is dedicated to providing useful guitar help, tips, information on products and services for guitar players.

[NEW RELEASE] LACOSTE - DOT 75 YEAR

Lacoste is above all a legend. The legend of a fantastic tennis player, Rene Lacoste, a member of the famous "Musketeers" team and a star of the courts of Wimbledon, Forest Hills and Roland Garros. The Four Musketeers (Jean Borot, Jacques Brugno, Henri Cochet and René Lacoste) dominated the game of tennis in the second half of the 1920s and early 1930s. They eventually led France to six straight wins (1927 through 1932) in the Davis Cup which was unheard of way back then, with Lacoste the world number one tennis player from 1926-1927. The stand out player, Lacoste, was nicknamed the "Crocodile" and "Alligator" for his  hot headed attitude and eagerness to bust out into a brawl on the court. He is now better known for being the namesake and creator of the Lacoste Tennis shirt and later in 1933, the Lacoste Tennis shoe. Fast forward 75 years, and Lacoste are celebrating this momentous occasion by launching a collectible series inspired from their Tennis and Yachting heritage. Unique to the 75 year collection is the use of the original crocodile (or is it an alligator?) which originated in 1933 and is embossed onto the uppers of each shoe.

 

Many years ago I asked a good friend of mine who is now a very successful professional musician, what my next step in learning was as a musician. I was so surprised with the fact that he could play anything he heard without fumbling for notes; and not only on the keyboard, but also on the bass, the guitar and several other instruments.

He told me that the most important thing a musician should learn is HARMONY. Now, I fully understand why:

When you study harmony, you are not only studying guitar, but all instruments at the same time. Harmony is notes and chords in their context. You start to understand the relationship between note intervals and scales, scales and chords. You know what will work effectively in a musical situation and what will not. You can consciously combine genres (i.e. fusion).

Once you've started learning harmony, you literally 'take off' musically. You have so many directions you can go that you'll never get bored. There's always something new to discover once you get 'out of the box'.

But the problem is which direction to take, what to learn first and what to leave for later on. When people are looking for online jazz guitar lessons; are they just looking for information, or how to put the information to good use?

If it were just a matter of information, the web is filled with hundreds of sources to find out what the Lydian Mode is, for example. Wikipedia itself has the definition and an explanation for anyone interested in knowing about it. But how to put it into use effectively is an entirely different matter.

Good online Jazz guitar lessons are well structured in a step-by-step manner and this takes the guesswork out of your learning. You learn step-by-step through watching videos and seeing it written in musical notation and TAB, practice it and consolidate it by playing along with backing tracks so you get the right feel. By learning in this way, you can clearly see how much you've progressed; and being able to play exactly what you hear is one step closer every time.

I have done extensive research on online jazz guitar lessons and, believe me, there's a big difference between what you can get for free and well structured lessons. Free lessons give you the information, but are very limited in teaching you how to use it. Learning to use the information is the key to really learning, not just the information itself.

Ruben Cardos has been a non stop studio and live musician as well as sound technician, electronics technician and sporadic guitar teacher for well over 25 years. Learn more about the #1 recommended "Play What You Hear" guitar method for learning harmony and improvisation by Chris Standring at:
http://bandsuccess.blogspot.com/2008/02/review-best-online-electric-guitar.html

BAND SUCCESS: WHAT YOU NEED TO GET THE SHOW ON THE ROAD!