Archive for October, 2011

12 Bar Blues Guitar Find out How Easy it is to Learn

Come with me as I take a peek into some workable suggestions and advice about learning blues guitar. We’ll be studying what the basic principles of blues are as well as the necessity of improvisation, and the rewards of rehearsing with guitar backing tracks.

 

Blues guitar is one of the most artistically expressive applications of guitar that exist currently.  Not many guitarists know this but the blues is the base for a myriad of different styles that are seriously popular today, for instance rock, hard rock, metal, and even some hip hop music. There is a lot necessary in all together mastering blues guitar playing, and it takes a lot of your time and devotion to have the ability to pull it off.

 

If you want to be given the chance to master blues guitar you have to be quite accustomed with the general principle of blues music itself. Blues music is one of the lone genres of music to literally have a scale named after it. Becoming educated and dominating the blues scale is one of the first key steps to totally mastering blues guitar. The blues scale is used in more than blues music. There is a lot of rock music that uses this scale too. So whether you plan on being a blues guitarist or not, this scale is obviously very important to learn and master.

 

What on earth is The 12 Bar Blues?

 

The 12-bar blues progression is the main footing and cornerstone of the great majority of blues tunes out there. Therefore, to start playing blues, you will need to grasp what a 12-bar blues progression is.

 

The main concept of the 12-bar blues is the I-IV-V progression, where I, IV and V represent the chords or notes that you will be using. You will certainly have two questions that spring to mind without delay, “what is I-IV-V,” and how do I use it?”

 

Let me clarify what I-IV-V is all about when you play a blues progression, you will only be required to use 3 chords. The main principle of I-IV-V let you know what are the chords to use, as follows: a somewhat oversimplified method, which happens to get the job done for the keys of A,C,D,E and G, which is an adequate amount for right now, is to just count out the letters of the alphabet commencing with the key you’re playing in. The first, fourth and fifth letter you count represent the chords that you will be using in your blues progression.

 

For the key of A we count: A-b-c-D-E-f-g

 

Thus, for the key of A, we will be making use of A-D-E as our I-IV-V progression. Likewise if you count out beginning with E, you will find that for the key of E we will use E-A-B as our I-IV-V.

 

Music theory students refer to the I as the “tonic”, the IV as the “subdominant”, and the V as the “dominant”. I will not use these terms in this lesson, but knowing that may help you fully understand what other people are talking about sometimes.

 

Chords and Progressions

 

An extra key factor to blues is to learn the chords and chord progressions that are extensively employed in blues guitar. Knowing these will help you to create your very own blues progressions and melodies. It’s important to understand that not all blues music is played at fast speeds. Some blues music is played slowly and soulfully. It’s as if you can see inside of the guitarist’s soul as he tells a story with his music. Accuracy is the foundation of playing solid, soul-bearing blues music, and not just raw speed.

 

A crucial part of playing and mastering blues guitar is understanding how to improvise. After you master the scales and chords, it’s time to put them into practice. Improvising is where your imagination and knowledge get together to create passionate blues music. There are a multitude of distinct improvisation approaches that you should practice along with learning your chords and scales.

 

One of the best ways to totally master blues music is to practice with guitar backing tracks. These backing tracks can greatly improve the productivity of your practice time profoundly. It’s like practicing with an entire blues band, which will help you develop your improvisation as you put to use your knowledge and solo over the backing tracks. These will produce good, solid structure and timing as you learn to play along with other musicians, and learn to play over key changes. Guitar backing tracks are the magic formula to success in understanding blues guitar.

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Celebrate Indonesia’s Rich Artistic Heritage at the Annual Bali Arts Festival

For nearly an entire month the whole of Bali comes alive with a cultural celebration the likes of which is only seen once a year at the annual Bali Arts Festival. Due to take place from the 11th of June to 9th July this year this stunning display of local culture, music, arts, crafts, dance and culinary prowess is set to wow visitors from far and wide with its colour, flavour and distinctly Balinese spirit. This year’s event will mark the 33rd year of the Bali Arts Festival which is also popularly known as the artistic event of the year in Denpasar.

Some of the highlights of the event include traditional dances and forgotten dance varieties from mountainous regions of the country while classical dance forms such as baris, legong, barong, gambuh, kecak and mask dances will also be performed by elaborately dressed Balinese dancers. Unique musical showcases and “kreasi baru” from the dance companies of Denpasar are displayed alongside modern interpretations of conventional dance forms with breathtaking choreography that have a Balinese style of their own. Classical dances that were performed in palaces can also be enjoyed at the festival which also stars many a celebrity from the Balinese stage. Artistic creations from neighbouring islands and other parts of the world also take centre stage at the festival which also features many shadow puppet shows and musical ensembles that highlight traditional Balinese musical compositions and instruments. 

Conducted within an amphitheatre with a spectacular stage which resembles a temple, over 6000 spectators at a time can witness the beauty and elegance of the vibrant cultural showcases on offer at the festival. Fashion shows and model competitions are also a popular facet of the festival which also celebrates the culinary secrets of local cuisine in food contests that are a treat for visitors and locals alike. The Balinese handicraft industry is also prominently featured within the Bali Arts Festival where traditional arts and crafts are celebrated and sold to interested collectors and souvenir hunters.

Tourists in search of a luxury Bali resort with a stunning beachfront location should look no further than theAnantara Seminyak, Bali. Offering guests 59 elegant suites and a penthouse of pure perfection this stylish rest is also one of the most conveniently located Bali hotels at Seminyak with cafes, restaurants and nightclubs in close proximity.

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Blues Music: Reflecting the Atrocities

Blues music has its inclination to African-American community of the USA. It is a kind of vocal or instrumental music which is generally based on blues notes. The concept aroused from the spirituality, chants, work songs and ballads. The African influence is greatly felled in the notes and call-and-response patterns of music and lyrics. The American and Western music is more inclined to this music genre. It became the foundation stone for the different music forms namely jazz, rhythm and blues, heavy metal, bluegrass and hip-hop. The blues mainly reflect the mood of the singer i.e. depression, down hearted feeling or sadness. The Blues word was used for the first time in George Colman’s farce’s ‘Blue Devils’. It was in the 1912 that Hart Wand’s ‘Dallas Blues’ came and it was the first Blues Music to describe the depressing mood. There is common distinctiveness in the music genre. Showing the individual peculiar habits, the music elements were earlier call-and-response shouts. They were just individual’s performance with no harmony or formal music structure. These pre-blues were simply a solo song with emotional touch. They were often heard in shouts and hollers.

The present day music form has harmonic base and call-and-response format of African and European communities which gave new structure to the Blues. The voice and guitar were incorporated in the songs. The elements reflected the songs of Africa. The most common instruments, Diddley bow and Banjo were used in the early music. The Diddley bow belonged to South America whereas the Banjo was mostly used in Africa to increase the instrumental vocabulary. With each passing days it adopted Ethiopian airs, Negro spirituality and minstrel shows together with instruments and rhythmic supplements. The blues are rewarded for preserving the melodic patterns of African music. The songs from this genre have distinct musical structure. The songs recorded by Lead Belly’s and Henry Thomas reflected twelve- and sixteen-bar structure with tonic, sub-dominant and dominant chords. The modern form has 12-bar structure with influence of sheet music.

The lyrics of the blues were based on repetition. Each line was repeated four times. Currently, the lines are repeated once with a standard single line conclusion. They are sung in the form of rhythmic talk than a melody. The Blues music has given great artists like Muddy Waters, Buddy Guy, John Lee Hooker and Bessie Smith. The credit can be given to the hollers and calls without which this genre would not have evolved. It is based on the changing lives of the post slavery era of African-Americans. The music is quite popular amongst blacks and generally reflects on the atrocities faced by the community.

More popularly considered as secular songs, the Blues lyrics highlighted singer’s inner shelf. Thus it was not an innovative approach but simply a presentation of oneself. It describes the condition of African Americans communities. It has descriptions related to slaves’ freedom, Booker T. Washington’s teachings, and the famous Horatio Alger model, who once said that man is the creator of his/her destiny. Lawrence Levine stresses on the fact that national ideologies affect the individual’s behaviour and the blues music reflect this relationship. Blacks were badly treated during the slavery era and were socially and economically exploited. The secular songs reflect this psychological oppression.

The music was earlier treated as folk blues and was sung during leisurely periods. These songs were mostly sung in shows and carnivals. Due to close contact with country singers, the blacks learned to sing professional Blues which are often called classic blues. In the 20th century, African Americans migrated and played the songs in Texas, Chicago, Louisiana, New York, Arkansas and Detroit. Later the classic blues singers introduced this genre to clubs, vaudeville halls, and theaters with the help of New Orleans and Fast Western musicians. It was in 1895 when George W. Johnson recorded the first blues song called “Laughing Song”. The genre gained popularity in 1920 with Mamie Smith’s evergreen songs namely “Crazy Blues” and “It’s Right Here for You”. Online music shop have varied array of latest blues music for the fans.

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The Information Age Makes Music Available To Everyone

Technology has made our lives simpler and with the new developments in technology not only is life getting simpler but technology is continuing to make more differences in our lives by contributing to various spheres of our lives like entertainment . With the internet all this has now come to our very doorstep at just the click of the mouse.

Earlier for the purpose of listening to a song atleast a visit to your local music store was required and seeing a video meant watching the band perform at one of their concerts or then getting  a music video from the music store. Now anytime you wish to listen to some great music or watch a music video just log on and you can watch your favourite songs or watch free music videos and watch music videos in the comfort of your home. There is just no need anymore to venture out , technology has brought everything you desire right into your home or workplace.
There is good news for all music lovers . Now with internet technology , music fans can not only listen to their favourite artists but also watch free lyrics.  All the songs are available at just a click sitting in the comfort of your home. Not only can you now watch songs but also song lyrics and hear and enjoy the music and even sing along with the lyrics and all available to you.

Internet is a world of choices for all music lovers and provides you all the information and the latest happenings in the music world. You can be up to date on all music news and the current hits on the US top 20 or the singles charts. The music site offers you the flexibility of watching your favourite stars totally uninterrupted(free from all the hosts) . The music site is a legal way to watch music unlike using pirated versions .

It not only the music enthusiasts but also the music companies that have realized the potential of the internet as a great marketing tool for promoting their music.  You can not only watch music videos but also rate music videos. This would be useful to the other members in making a decision on their watchs and also provides a good feedback to the music companies about the choices or preferences of the fans.

The music site thus, provides you access into a whole world of music and music alone where you are the King. You can decide as to what you want and bring it home at just a click. You can then listen to the music of your choice or watch music videos at your own convenience and even rewind and see your favourite music videos over and over again. The world of music is now waiting for you to explore and soak in all that you can. Just log on and at the click you can venture into this beautiful melodious world and be lost in the tunes and rhythms of your favourite stars.

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