Archive for August, 2011

Online Music: Exciting Developments

Music could never be bound by any man made barriers, they said. And it has been proved beyond doubt, at least in today’s ongoing web boom. The market for buying, and receiving free rights to download online music, has always been bullish. That’s what we have been witnessing for close to a decade now. The reasons too could simply be enlisted here. First of all, it doesn’t take anybody making more than only few mouse clicks to begin listening to their favorite songs, or start gathering information on music events, singers and individual performers. Music listeners often queuing up to download music for free online would know much better how to make an actual purchase. The possibilities to choose from within any given genre are immense, and so is the information available these days. It simply helps to free download online music or demos first and then only decide for a certain label. Besides as mentioned above, it all gets to your headphones free of any social barriers, protocols or any market generated prejudice. You could just logon to your preferred music site anytime and start being part of a universal audience instantly.

There are several types of resources available on the Internet today that will let you download online music and just begin having fun. Sites with massive databases of songs have been offering downloads for years now. You could either pay for specific compositions, or simply hit the button to download music for free online. More recently though, a growing number of Internet broadcasters have been making ripples over the Internet. These are Internet radio stations that will let you listen to their streaming songs, just like any music event. No doubt, it took some time for them to be able to broadcast, since the issues of bandwidth had to be resolved. It’s extremely feasible nowadays though, to own broadband connectivity and allow their soundtracks to instantly flow.

Incidentally, these radio stations have more to offer, apart from just giving you a chance to download music for free online. It’s not so long ago, when people had begun realizing how blogs too could be used for increasing sales. The same stands true today in the segment of Internet radios as well, specially, when you look how widely they might be getting listened to. One would like to make therefore, a mention of BlueBeamRadio.com here, which apart from being a method to download online music does also happen to be a music event organizer. Remember, how it were the off stream methods of the 80s and 90s that led to the present day glory of the Indie rock and pop. BlueBeamRadio.com might just be the same unconventional stop for you, since not only do they offer to showcase your own songs, but also call you to perform at their musical event. They are quite forthcoming about all this and plenty more. “Just be part of BlueBeamRadio.com and plan out your first music outing”, they insist!

Those planning to start their professional music careers should have a look of BlueBeamRadio first. There is a plethora of information available on several aspects. These range from knowing how to plan your first label, and go up to deciding the stage when you might be performing your first gig. Many of the known performers have already been through this taxing experience. BlueBeamRadio seems to have taken a good note of their heroics, as you’d be finding some of their profiles being stacked there. Beside, they would also be organizing, as mentioned earlier, a music event in Manhattan by late 2006, something that should leave all wannabe musicians excited. Last but not the least, the freedom to download online music will always be there. So, plenty could be achieved by signing in at BlueBeamRadio.com, apart from what you have in general, the streaming soundtracks, and the chance to download music for free online.

To summarize it all, the world of online music has been witnessing new ideas and developments. The boom of Internet broadcasting just proves out the same. So, it does suggest how different it might be the scenario tomorrow. The walls separating singers, performers and their fans are about to fall off. It’s up to the common man now to decide, which side he or she might be willing to stand on. One could be a successful musician, if they have the right amount of creative burst. This is what BlueBeamRadio.com seems to suggest here.

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Festivals in New Jersey

All round the year New Jersey keeps in full swing. The people there love to party and celebrate. Festivals in New Jersey are not only enjoyable and memorable, they are full of life, color, music, and an experience in them that is totally unforgettable. Tourists from all over the world and from within the country comes to get a taste of New Jersey’s festivities.

Beginning with the famous New Jersey Film Festival (ATLFF), it is an Academy Award status like, international film festival that is held in New Jersey every year. It was inaugurated in 1976 and since then takes place every year in April. The festival showcases an assorted range of independent films, as well as genre films like horror and sci-fi. The Landmark Midtown Art Cinema, situated in New Jersey’s Midtown, is the official venue for the festival since the year 2007.

The New Jersey Dogwood Festival is definitely the thing for art lovers. It is an arts and crafts festival that held every spring at Piedmont Park in New Jersey. Initially it was a nine days festival spreading over two weekends and the weekdays in between, but now it is held only one weekend in the beginning of April, when the native dogwoods are in full bloom.

The National Black Arts Festival, as the name suggests is another arts festival. It was founded in 1987 after the Fulton County Arts Council led a study to explore the possibility of creating a festival devoted to celebrating the work of artists of African descent. The Festival’s very first summer festival was held in 1988 and since then has been held twice a year.
Since 1988, when spring is in the air, the Southeastern Flower Show is all set to mesmerize people. It is the trademark gardening and horticultural event in the Southeast United States. The show is held annually in of course early spring in New Jersey at the Georgia World Congress Center.

Tour de Georgia is a U.S. professional cycling stage race across the state of Georgia with its starting line in New Jersey. The race first began in 2003 and has been conducted six times since then. It is one of those three events in North America that are ranked as Hors Classe race events by the UCI, which is cycling’s official international, central governing body, along with the Tour of Missouri and the Tour of California.
As New Jersey is famously known as the land of trees, it every year hosts the Festival of Trees, a charity annual event held around Christmas time to help raise funds for some local charity often, a hospital or more specifically, a children’s hospital.

The Children’s Christmas Parade is a much celebrated Christmas parade held to assist and help the Children’s Healthcare of New Jersey. The Parade was first started in 1981 with the help of Egleston Children’s Hospital. It is now held on the very first Saturday of December, which is also the second weekend after Thanksgiving.

The Peach Drop is referred to the annual gala on New Year’s Eve held at famous Underground New Jersey. This event is similar to the events held in Manhattan, New York City, and the Times Square Ball Drop, except that the ball is an imitation of a peach.

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Find Out How to Play the 12 Bar Blues Guitar – Playing 12 Bar Guitar

Playing the blues, music is something that many guitarists aspire to do. Some it comes to easily whereas others find it more difficult. Another thing about the blues music is you either love it or hate it. By the looks of how popular it is, one would have to say that those who hate it are in the minority.

One of the greatest if not the greatest blues singers was B.B.King. Many novices to the guitar marvel at how well he plays them and just how it’s done. To do so you need to learn the 12 bar blues. Don’t give up yet with some perseverance and practice you will master the blues as well.

Have you ever been listening to the blues and just know it reminds you of something? Well it may well do so if you remember the African American slaves from down south. It stems from their local traditions of how they would call out and respond to each other. The majority of blues songs is simply based on this and mimics those sounds. It is the progressive scale.

If you have been following the history of blues music then you have heard the name W.C.Handy. By using the 12 bar blues he was able to produce the very first certifiable blue hit. This is going back some years naturally, since blues has been around for a long time. We’re talking back to the introduction of the “St. Louis Blues” back in 1914.

Interestingly enough at that time the blues wasn’t all that well received it was just ok in the opinion of most. It slowly caught on and almost seemed to have an infectious affect to it.It didn’t matter what the ethnic group was it was being accepted. It really was the African American artist that brought the blues to the forefront. Artists such as Billie Holiday played a big part in this roll. By this time, it was well in the 1930′s. As the 20th century grew to a close, B.B.King added a unique touch to the Blues. Being a lead guitar player, he would bring a different touch to the music with his 12 bars blues techniques. From this point on there was no looking back or cooling off for the blues. It has just continued to grow into popularity, as it is known today.

It revolutionized the aspects of guitar playing. The 12 bars blues is now a commonplace and basic way of the guitar. Anyone aspiring to be good guitar player must learn the essential cord progression.

One of the best ways to learn this technique is through iVideosongs. Here is where you will start the beginning of learning the 12 bar blues, and then by taking what you learn here and making it a practice you will soon be surprised and pleased at how adept you will become.

It just seems to be natural to begin to learn how to play the 12 bar blues the moment one becomes serious about learning to play the guitar. Perhaps because rock includes the 12 bar blues this is the reason.

The first thing you are going to learn is that in order to learn the blues you are going to learn three bars that follow each other in succession.

The first measure is learning how to play a chord. If you are familiar with Presley’s some Hound Dog then you already know what a cord is. Don’t even think about moving onto the next step until you have this one down perfectly.

Now moving onto the second measure does not mean you will not be continuing in the 4/4 time meaning each quarter measure is one beat. The difference here is that in the first measure you were playing in “A” now you will be playing in “D” chord. Once again, become really familiar and comfortable at this measure then get ready to move onto the third and final measure.

Finally, you are here on your last measure and guess what? It’s no different from your first two except now you are going to be playing in “E” chord. That really wasn’t so hard was it? Now it means hours of practice and application to really master these 3 measures to make up the 12 bar blues.

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Blues Guitar Riffs; Where Did It All Start?

Blues music really started in the Deep South of America in the late 19th Century, but blues guitar and blues guitar riffs did not did not appear until about the early 1920´s. The first songs ever published where “Delta blues,” and “St. Louis Blues,” where the foundation of the familiar chord progressions that we hear today.

Before that songs used consisted of one line being repeated four times, and where sung to let people know of the singers trouble and strife, and where often adaptations of spiritual songs.

It wasn´t until after World War 2 that the great Guitar players started playing the blues, Elmore James and Muddy Waters, introduced us to slide guitar often played using an empty bottles, and electric guitar. Muddy Waters recorded his fist successful song in 1948 called “I can´t be satisfied,” and it was influence by the Mississippi style of blues.

Since then the blues has continued to grow in popularity, and progress in style, and white performers started to copy it, people like Elvis Presley did a lot to make it popular, and rock and roll was developed, it was about this time that we started to hear great blues guitar riffs, such as Chuck Berry’s Johnny Be Good, which influenced a lot of the British bands back in the 1960´s.

The Beatles where heavily inspired by Chuck Berry, and so where the Animals, Fleetwood Mack, the Rolling Stones, the Yardbirds, and Cream, Led Zeppelins early songs where very much blues based, and without the blues there would never have been Status Quo.

The British bands inspired the American ones, and in the early 1970´s the Texas rock blues emerged, and with bands such as, Stevie Ray Vaughan, The fabulous Thunderbirds, Johnny Winter, and ZZ Top, but these bands didn´t see much success until the early 80´s.

Since the 80´s there has been revival of interest in the blues by the African American people, particularly in the Deep South in the regions of Jackson and Mississippi, often termed “Soul Blues,” performers of this type of Blues, include Marvin Sease, Denise LaSalle, Bobby Rush, Bettye LaVette and Peggy Scott-Adams.

Blues continued through the 80´s in both the traditional form and new forms emerging, some of the artist´s where growing in popularity, and include a revival of John Lee Hooker with an album called The Healer, and Eric Clapton formally from Cream and The Blues Breakers with his album unplugged released in 1990 on which he played some standard blues on both acoustic guitar and on his Fender electric guitar, with some really great blues guitar riffs.

We have a lot to be thankful for the Blues, without it there would not have been the great artists mentioned in this article, and there would not have been, some of the great guitarists that we are seeing today.

I hope that you have enjoyed this article, and I hope that some of you guitarists out there feel inspired to go out and play some of those great blues guitar riffs.

I wish you all the best with your blues guitar riffs.

“Wolfie”

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