How To Be Better At Playing Guitar

You can ask any professional player and they all will tell you the same thing, you never stop learning. If you want to get really good at it, then you do have to continually keep practicing and learning new things, that way you become excellent. So why is it that so many people do not progress further? I think it has to do mostly with being lazy and not wanting to put much work into it. Look for more challenging pieces to learn to play. Believe me it will sharpen your skills and keep you interested.

YouTube

You can always find many helpful and awesome guitar lessons on YouTube. You will be surprised how much stuff is on there for you to learn from. One nice thing is that you can learn whenever you have free time, which can be in the morning, in the evening or even in the middle of the night. You are not going to have that much of a hard time learning new things online, since you already got the basics down. One more great aspect of learning online, is the amount of different lessons you will get. You do not have to settle for any of them and just choose the ones you really want.

Pay someone to teach you

As great as YouTube videos are, they can get a little confusing. There are really no step by step instruction, so it can become overwhelming and even frustrating for some. When you buy guitar lessons, you are not only getting a professional help, but you are not going to waste any more your valuable time. Many musicians need money and teaching others is a great way to earn that money. They can teach you a lot of great stuff. If you get a private instructor it is a lot more expensive, but you can get online lessons that are really cheap. Paying for guitar lessons is the surest way to get really good at learning guitar.

Practice

And of course, do not forget to practice everything that you have just learned, you will be getting better and better every day. You may need more time at first, but as you know you will get really good at it. Many people give up too soon thinking this is as good as they will get. They do not understand that with time they will get really really good. You should always thrive to be better and it is not as hard as you thought it would be. As you can see you can always learn something new. As much as you learn you will be able to see great results faster and faster the more you do it.

In order to get really good with acoustic guitars, you must really devote yourself to getting better. This is true with no matter what type of instrument you are playing. I am not telling everyone to do it. Some of us, just play guitar as a hobby, and that is fine. It might take a long time for you to get to the point where you really want to be, but you will get there, and you will be great at it.

I have been playing and teaching guitar for over twenty-five years.I run a website which helps to learn How To Play Guitar. Lots of beginners ask me "What is the best beginner guitar?" That is why I wrote a Yamaha FG700S Review. This guitar is best for newbies in my opinion.

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Learn How to Sing Better With These Great Tips!

Every singer - both amateur and professional - wants to learn how to improve their singing. While there are people who are indeed born with the gift of perfect singing and pitch, most have to work hard to achieve the voice that they desire to have. Some are even tone deaf, and yet they have risen above their handicaps to develop voices that are a level up from amateur singers.

Let us take a look at some pointers that will help you to sing better.

First of all, it is very important to know your voice type. To determine this, you will need the aid of a voice coach. Factors that are considered in determining voice type include voice weight, timbre, color, range and texture. If you are a man, your voice is either that of a bass, baritone, countertenor or tenor. If you are a woman, you may either be a contralto, mezzo soprano or a soprano. Knowing your voice type will enable you to learn the techniques that are specifically suited for you. Also, you will learn the limitations of your voice so that you don't put undue strain on it when you sing.

Secondly, you need to have a good understanding of vocal tone. Vocal tone refers to the quality of tones that you produce when you sing. No two singers will have the same vocal tone. If you are aware of your vocal tone, you can easily select the songs that are best for your voice, and would bring out its full power. For example, if you produce full, powerful tones, you should go for songs that are frequently performed by belters. If the tones you produce are thin and sharp, you should sing songs that are higher in pitch. Vocal tone will not only make you a better singer; you will be transformed into an intelligent singer as well.

Thirdly, you should always be keenly aware of how you sing. This would entail knowing how best to manipulate essential parts of your vocal apparatus, particularly your velum, diaphragm and your mouth (specifically how you open it). You know you are singing correctly if you are using an open voice. In this form, the notes flow effortlessly and with minimal strain. You are using a closed voice if it croaks, cracks or if there is too much strain in your throat. Ask your vocal coach to check if you are using an open or closed voice.

Next, be aware of your posture. The way you position your body has an effect on the quality of notes that you produce. Make sure that you sing with body straight, chest forward and belly pressed inward. Also, develop the motor skills so that you will be able to produce gestures and other movements that would complement your song. Part and parcel of great singing is stage performance. You should be able to connect with your audience not just with your voice, but also with the way you move on stage.

Last but certainly not least, make it a point to practice. It is only through constant practice that you will be able to further develop and polish the voice that you have. Even if you are not born with the gift, you can improve tremendously if you regularly perform your exercises and sing a wide variety of songs.

Learn more tips on how to sing better today!

There are more tips on how to sing better in my website. Check out http://learnhowtosingbettertoo.com/ Today!

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Is It Better to Start Playing the Organ With Method Books or Organ Repertoire?

When beginners first decide to start playing the organ, they inevitably have a question: where to begin? Having an answer to this question is crucial to the advancement of an organist. Without a clear understanding of what are the strengths and weaknesses of any particular approach, it will be very difficult to succeed in developing one's technique. In this article, I will give you pros and cons of the beginning of organ playing with method books vs. repertoire.

Having a good organ method book, proceeding from the beginning and diligently following the instructions might save a lot of precious time.

You see, the author who writes a particular method book gives you not only very specific exercises to develop your organ technique, but usually a good method book is structured in a very graded manner - from easy to difficult exercises and compositions.

I understand that in many cases method books have long sections with dry unmusical exercises which are focused just on one particular element of organ technique, like pedal playing and the organist is supposed to complete them all. Organ pieces sometimes are only at the end of such method. For some people, this approach might be too boring.

Perhaps they could feel better about them if they had their goal , vision, or a dream in mind. For example, imagine that the organist wanted to play some piece that he or she always dreamed of, like the D Minor Toccata and Fugue by Bach or Toccata by Widor.

But this organist would understand that they are too complicated for a beginner and start studying organ from the method book first with this goal in mind. In fact, it is possible to use a mixed approach.

With this approach you would study exercises from the method book but integrate compositions from the repertoire of your level, too. Incidentally, the best method books available today integrate pieces within the exercises or construct the exercises out of the excerpts of the pieces.

In addition, such a book also has extensive details on early organ technique, registration, ornamentation, service playing, organ construction, and even on the new late 20th century techniques.

Another option would be to start playing the organ with very easy pieces from organ repertoire. However, be aware that you will need to figure out many details by yourself which otherwise would be included in the method book. These details include choice of fingering, pedaling, articulation, registration, ornamentation etc.

So you still probably would need to consult your teacher or a method book. Otherwise, your solutions might not be the best and the road to mastering these pieces would be too long.

In the end, I would say that it is possible to start playing the organ with any approach described here. Of course, the choice is yours but my recommendation would be to choose and practice wisely. Treat the pieces like the exercises, find and isolate the difficulties, practice them diligently and you will have no trouble in mastering any organ piece.

By the way, do you want to learn to play the King of Instruments - the pipe organ? If so, download my FREE video guide "How to Master Any Organ Composition" http://www.organduo.lt/organ-tutorial.html in which I will show you my EXACT steps, techniques, and methods that I use to practice, learn and master any piece of organ music.

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Ear Training Tips For Becoming A Better Guitarist

If you want to be a good musician, it's not enough to be good in playing the guitar or bass. You may handle all the techniques but if you cannot recognize more complex musical sounds by ear alone you will never be really good. The ability to play by ear, to jam with other musicians and to learn new material depends on your ear training. If nobody told you what this means then you have probably never trained by the book. Serious ear training is a must in developing your ability to improve your musicianship, to recognize and correctly identify musical sounds such as pitches, intervals, chords, scales, melodies and rhythms. Having a good musical ear will make you a better singer, and you will not feel weakness when someone in the group suddenly starts throwing in chord substitutions. Thus, if you want to take this seriously, follow our ear training tips:

The most important step is to learn how to read notes.

The syllable system is based on a 8-note major scale like this:
do re me fa sol la si do
C D E F G A B C

Practice singing the syllables as you play the notes on a guitar are absolutely necessary, try skipping notes and finally try it all over again without playing, just singing.

Work with another musician; take turns in playing intervals, chords, rhythms, scales and melodies. The listener has to identify what has just been played in a blind test and try not to get bored easily. Once you have done those exercises, you are ready to move on to the next thing.

Use a software package that generates random sequences within specified parameters. This is the ideal way of ear training but it can be a little too expensive so you should search for free trial downloads that are simple to install and run and that are offering you the possibility to train your ear at any level you like.

Record yourself playing various random chords, scales, melodies etc. and when you have a true collection of them you can randomly play them back and attempt to identify what is being played.

Take a memory test combined with a test of identifying musical sounds by ear alone.

Do what Julie Andrews does in the Sound of Music: use solfeggio (like the song from the movie, "Do-Re-Mi" - "Doe, a deer, a female deer, ray, a drop of golden sun...") and do not sing "nah, nah," for each note because it's tougher for your ear to distinguish the intervals.

Use personal mnemonic devices: for instance, a song may begin with the interval of a Major 3rd (1-3) and the first three notes are scale degrees 1-3-5 so find songs that you know very well and that start with the major and perfect intervals such as the already known M6 "My Bonnie Lies over the Ocean" or P8 "Somewhere Over the Rainbow".

Here you can find the latest music releases, music videos and music lyrics, covering the important artists, their past hits and popular album reviews.

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Write Better Lyrics: Go Back to Elementary School

When it comes to writing songs, I have found most artists, producers and beatmakers struggle with lyrics. Since you are reading this article I will assume you are looking to become a better lyric writer. I'm going to give you a couple of tips you have probably never thought about. I think most artists don't understand that to write better lyrics they need to expand their vocabulary. Most people, in general, get their vocabulary from family and friends. Most young people get their vocabulary from family, friends, television shows and the latest music craze (video and radio). This is not necessarily a bad thing but, it is very limiting. A limited vocabulary will limit your lyric writing.

In school, the way we learned how to write sentences was to read sentences. Once we read the sentences we would then emulate what we saw. Many of us listen to songs and we sing the lyrics, but we never take the time to read the lyrics so our writing suffers.

Tip 1) One of the best ways to improve your lyric writing is to read song lyrics. Google the lyrics to your favorite songs, and not so favorite songs and read them. Read the lyrics without the music and then read them with the song playing. You will get a new appreciation for lyric writing, because it is truly an art form.

Record companies, publishers and even producers have specific people they go to for lyrics. These people specialize in lyric writing. If you research songwriters you will see many of them pop up on hit song after hit song. That is because they are always writing and studying lyrics and studying life (lyrics come from life).

Tip 2) Another good exercise is, find out who the writers are on your favorite songs, find other songs they have written and read them too. You will get a jolt of inspiration and you will increase your lyric writing greatly with this technique.

When I was a kid I would sit and listen to an album (now we have cds) with the words in front of me. I learned so much about production and lyrics by doing that. I wanted to know who wrote and produced every song on an album. That curiosity lead me to become a musician, songwriter and producer.

So remember, you need to become a student of great lyrics and great lyricist. So read song lyrics, books, magazines, newspaper articles, internet articles (like this one) and anything else you can get your hands on to increase your vocabulary. When you come across a word you don't understand go to dictionary.com or google to find its definition. And most of all keep writing.

Richard RJ Johnson is a musician, producer and songwriter. His works have appeared on the CW, LATV, BET, Oxygen, Superstation and Pepsi among others. He is the owner of Floric Music, which is a company geared toward empowering independent artist through information and education. For more information visit http://www.floricmusic.com/.

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