Learning to play the guitar can be difficult and may require a sense of discipline. Many people have the ability to teach themselves new instruments and with online technology and patients, you can learn to play the guitar online.

Guitar Basics

The first step to learning to play the guitar is learning the basics of the guitar. There are many websites that allow you to research the basic components of the guitar such as each part of the guitar and its function. These websites will offer you all the insight you may need to get familiar with guitar from how to properly hold it, stringing the guitar, and tightening and loosening the strings.

Tuning Your Guitar

The second step to learning to play the guitar is learning to prepare your guitar to be played. Your guitar will have to be tuned every time you play it. Different elements will cause your guitar strings to stretch changing the sound you will get from them. Online resources can provide you with a virtual guitar tuner that you can select your tuning preferences.

Most beginners will use standard tuning which is usually the default setting on most guitar tuners online. The guitar tuners will play each strong for you allowing you to use your ears to compare the sound of the tuner to the sound coming from your guitar. You adjust the sound of your guitar by turning the keys on the top of the guitar loosening or tightening the strings. Tightening the strings gives you a higher sound where loosening them gives you a lower sound.

Reading Guitar Tabs and Chords

The beautiful thing about learning to play guitar is there are two ways to play it. You can stick with rhythm by playing chords, which is where most beginners will start out. Once you have an understanding of the various chords, you can move on to playing individual notes. Part of learning to play any instrument requires learning to read music specific to that instrument.

If you have basic sheet reading skills, learning to read music for a specific instrument is a little bit easier. There are several online resources that can teach the basics of reading music showing note placement on a bar graph.

It is important to have patients when learning to play a new instrument. Though you haven’t learned any basic chords or notes yet, you have started learning the guitar online by getting to know your guitar and the basic functions you will need for when you begin learning to play.

The Internet offers a lot of resources for beginners learning to play guitar that range from Youtube videos, guitar tuners, and advice from professional guitar players. If you have followed these steps in this blog, you have taken the first step to learning the guitar and will be playing in no time.

Robert has over 15 years in the music industry, researching the different forms of music appreciation. Robert has learned to play three instruments through internet resources. He has shared his music experiences through writing for the past three years assisting others in achieving their music goals.

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Being a top musician, or having any job in the entertainment industry, means that your life consists of you being paid – sometimes very well, sometimes not so – to enjoy yourself. Not bad work, if you can get it, in a world where millions are miserable and stuck in the ‘rat race,’ going to their job on a daily basis, promising to themselves that they will change their lives, but never doing anything about it.

For me, though, it was never about the adulation, or the fame, or having myself plastered all over MTV. Being a session musician has always held far greater appeal that actually being front and centre of a band itself.

This is why.

Always at Work

Don’t get me wrong, being in a band is clearly a great gig – literally – but those who talk about the ‘price of fame’ aren’t just making it up. I’ve seen what those guys go through, and having people rush up to you with pieces of paper and magazines, and feeling like you have to sign everyone lest people take to Twitter and call you everything under the sun is not something that is particularly appealing to me, nor has it ever been.

I earn well enough and have everything I always wanted out of life. The difference is I can walk through an airport and no one has a clue who I am; just the way I like it.

The Way I’m Viewed

I’ve never felt comfortable with people feeling star struck around me. Admittedly, it has only happened on the odd occasion when an album recording had an invited audience, but afterwards I was the one leading the conversation!

For the most part, however, I’m just me, and people in those situations recognize that I’m just a normal person, not too different from them, and embrace me as such. I like to think that I haven’t got a lot of airs and graces and that I carry myself well, but I try to let other people be the judge of that.

No Criticism

If a band has a particular track or guitar riff on an album and people think it is rubbish, I don’t get any grief for it. Is there the feeling that I’m missing out when a record is critically acclaimed and goes multi-platinum around the world? In all honesty, there isn’t.

I do what I do out of love for music, not because I want to be the face of a generation. No, I don’t get the credit I maybe deserve, but at the same time I don’t have to face awkward questions or criticism, and calls for me to give up my profession.

For me, being a session musician beats lead guitar in a huge band any day of the week.

Karl is an online content writer and session guitarist, despite never having had a guitar lesson in his life. Karl has played guitar with a number of notable artists in studios across London.

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But, the problem with free music is, that it’s not always legal. When you download music for free you are not supporting the artists, labels and retailers who distribute the songs. For that reason, I want to emphasize that there are dozen of websites out there that allow you to listen to music freely and legally without downloading it. Like Pandora or Spotify for example.

If you’re like the rest of us, and you absolutely must download music, there are safe and legal sites available that you can use. Sites that will not spam your computer with advertisements, fake links or viruses. From the latest pop music to classic rock hits, download Mp3 songs for free using these five music websites:

1. mp3skull

If you haven’t already, you definitely want to use this website. It’s great for downloading, listening and searching for your favorite songs. mp3skull has a database of multimillion quality Mp3 links. The site even provides you with embed link to post music to your blogs and personal websites.

2. emp3World

While this site may be ten years old, it still provides the best and latest songs for free. The interface is simple, it loads rather quickly and there aren’t many annoying advertisements. This site gets two thumbs up!

3. Mp3Raid

Mp3Raid is a search engine that is dedicated to indexing and organizing music that has legally be posted on the Internet. You can easily listen to songs before you download too. While the interface is a bit unorganized, the overall task of searching for and downloading songs is rather easy.

4. Zippyshare.com

Another one of my favorite sites to download music from is Zippyshare.com. This site is easy to use with a very straightforward interface. Songs are 100 percent free and you can listen to the full song before you download it. Definitely worth bookmarking on your Internet browser!

5. Beemp3

Also a music search engine, Beemp3 can be used for locating an mp3-file over the Internet. The only catch is that the site does not actually host the files themselves. This site just searches through the Internet and indexes all the new mp3 songs.

Everyone listens to music. When we’re happy, sad, and anxious or somewhere in between, music is an expression of emotion. What’s better is if we can get all the music we want for free. And without too much hassle, like irritating pop ads and sign ups. There’s a safe way for downloading music there, choose wisely.

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Laura Wolfe is a freelance writer for several music publications. She usually uses KoyoteSoft.com video converter free software for her favorite YouTube videos. She loves having her favorite songs and videos at her fingertips.

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Have a Press Kit

You want to have a press kit that you can give club owners and venue managers. This press kit will have a lot of information about your band in an easy-to-read package. The press kit should include your contact information, a brief biography of your band, an example set list, your musical influences, a band photo and a CD of your music. If you want to make things really simple on yourself, you can have all of this information available on your band’s website. You do have a website, right? If you don’t have one, then you need to set one up right away. No booking agent at a venue will take a band seriously these days without a website. One page on your website can have an electronic version of your press kit.

Find a Venue

Whether you are looking to book your first gig in your hometown or are looking to go out on the road for the first time, it is important to choose the right venue. Set your sights on somewhere small when you are just starting out. Even if you are only playing for a couple dozen people, you have to start somewhere. Find a coffee shop, bar, pub or club that looks like it would appeal to fans of your type of music. Once you find the venue, then you can contact them. Either give them a call or shoot them an email asking who you need to speak to about booking. When you get the booking agent’s contact information, then go ahead and send them a short email. In this introductory email, tell them that you are interested in playing at their venue. Ask them which dates they have available in the next few months. Include a link to the electronic press kit on the band’s website. Keep this introductory email short, somewhere in the neighborhood of 35-50 words. Once you have sent this email, wait three weeks for a response. If you haven’t heard from them after three weeks, send a follow up email asking them if they received your introductory email. After that, keep sending them follow up emails every three weeks. Don’t stop until they either give you a solid rejection or ask you to play. Being persistent is one of the keys to landing gigs. You never know when a follow up email will land in a booking agent’s email box at the perfect time to get you a gig.

Equipment

When planning for your gig, remember that you need the right equipment to sound your best. Scout out the venue to see if they have all the audio equipment you will need. Use the house PA system if they have one. If they don’t, then you will need to bring your own. Depending on the scale of the show you have in mind you may need amps, microphones, speakers, stage equipment, lighting and/or a sound board. You can rent this from an audio visual hire company if you don’t have it. Make sure to include the cost of the rental in your calculations for the gig fee.

Negotiating

Once you receive an offer to play a gig, then the most aggravating part of the process begins. Negotiating a fair deal is one of the biggest headaches in the music business, and it is the primary reason most bands have managers once they can afford one. The booking agents will lowball bands as much as they can get away with. Don’t be afraid to ask for more money than they offer at first. You want to receive enough pay to make the gig worth your time. It should be enough to cover food and drinks for the band for the evening. There should also be enough to pay a fair hourly rate to each member of the band. If the gig is out of town, you also want there to be enough to cover gas and lodging costs. Add all this up and make sure that you are receiving enough dough to make the gig worth your time. Keep after it and you will land a gig before you know it.

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This article is written by Aaron Edwards, a Perth-based musician who has been gigging locally in his spare time for over six years.

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In this context, solos represent notes and riffs that are played over the chord progression of a song, and are relative to minor and major key scales and notes, mixing phrases within the same basic finger positions and combinations of half and whole tones. It’s worth briefly reviewing scales, chord progressions, the uses of pentatonic and blues scales, and how solos can be refined through actual songs.

Understanding Scales

Scales represent variations on a set of twelve basic notes that are are laid out in ascending to descending order of pitch on a fretboard. Whole steps and half steps comprise the difference between the notes, with a scale consisting of a sequence based on a root note, such as G, and a number of sharps and flats. A basic guitar scale is the chromatic scale, which moves down the fretboard of a root note. Other scales include major, melodic and harmonic minors, whole tones and pentatonic scales. The major, or heptatonic scale is among the most popular for songwriting, and has seven notes. For example, a D major scale can basically consist of D, E, F, G, A, B, C, and D, which is played in the pattern of a whole, whole, half, whole, whole, whole and half step.

By contrast, a pentatonic scale consists of just five notes per octave, which can be played in a major and minor key, and tend to involve less frets and changes in finger position along the fretboard. Pentatonic scales can be understood as major sales that have some notes removed, while the minor pentatonic scale is taken from the major pentatonic, and can use complementary keys like G major and E minor, or C major and A minor. Different scale patterns apply for different keys, so try to practice as many as possible.

Chord Progression Variations

Solos work around variations within a scale, in which series of notes are phrased according to the chord progression of a song and its minor and major equivalent. A G major pentatonic scale can be played over a song written in G major, or can be played in the key of E minor. Major, minor and pentatonic scales played by a lead guitarist are generally easier to play over a full chord progression being played by a rhythm guitarist

Using the Pentatonic Scale

The pentatonic scale can be varied through a major and minor key progression, and through a blues progression, which rearranges the order of notes in a scale. The focus should be placed on combining different notes within a scale pattern into a solo melody, which can be varied by alternating major and minor scales. A solo can consequently be matched to the tempo of a song, and can maintain progressions based on a scale within the same key. Solo phrasing can be varied for longer intervals within notes to establish rhythm.

Adjusting for Blues

In terms of blues music, minor pentatonic scales are varied through the use of ‘blue’ notes, which use flattened thirds, fifths and sevenths in scales to alter the pace of a scale’s progression and its transformation into a solo. Twelve bar blues solos depends on varying a five note scale through root, minor third, fourth, fifth and minor seventh patterns.

Understanding Individual Songs

The main thing to focus on is developing solos from scales  and the difference between half and full tones, how scales create a series of notes based on a key, and how this series can be varied and played in a corresponding minor, major and pentatonic scale at its simplest levels. Listen to different songs and see how solos work for respective songs. Led Zeppelin and Jimi Hendrix are ideal starting points for working out the use of different pentatonic and major scales

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Chris is a rock guitarist who has played since 1993. He began learning from a variety of sheet music but soon found that the musicians community at LickLibrary.com was a fantastic place for guitar lessons. His guitar influences include Jimi Hendrix, Jeff Beck, Val Halen, Ritchie Blackmore, Chuck Berry and many more!

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Anyone looking to save money on classic LPs are probably thinking of scouring flea markets. There always seems to be someone with several boxes of unmarked records. Sometimes prices can be pretty good, but some dealers are from record stores and expect to turn a profit. This is why wily shoppers will sometimes carry a cellular phone or pocket PC with a price list, though this behavior isn’t always tolerated.

Looking in Libraries

Library book sales sometimes have records, as well as other types of media. People who are used to going to these sales are probably already familiar with the idea of an ex-library copy. Those who really just want to listen to a record probably won’t mind if there are some markings or a library security tag on the cover sleeve. These don’t affect the playability of the disk at all. On the other hand, people looking to resell their materials wouldn’t be thrilled to see stickers permanently affixed to the front of the slipcovers.

Garage Sale Hunting

A box of records is always a fixture at a garage sale, and these have gotten an undeserved bad image in the last few years. Garage sales themselves aren’t bad, but those who want good deals will need to do a little bit of work to find them. Many records sold in this manner are damaged, so one should be sure to take them out of their dust jackets and ensure that they’re not scratched. On the other hand, it’s possible to find records for half a dollar or less at such venues.

Bidding Online

Online auction sites are probably what most people immediately think of when they think of buying classic albums. Popular bands are always going to be in abundance on the Internet, but what makes these pages really useful is their ability to find otherwise rare releases. Users should be sure to set a limit when they bid on online auctions. Some artists are known to really fetch top dollar on these websites, after all. A recording by Alabama Blues singer DA Hunt famously went for about $10,000.

Retailers Still Sell Them Too

There are few things to keep in mind when shopping for records in these places. While it seems like vinyl is usually associated with the past, there are some companies that continue to produce records. Some of these releases are recordings of underground rock and jazz acts that couldn’t be confused with any big name classic releases, but it’s a good idea to check the copyright date on the album before assuming that something is rare. A few reproductions of classic LPs will sometimes show up as well. Collectors will want to avoid these copies.

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Eric Blair writes about vinyl records and turntables like those found at www.soundstagedirect.com

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 Making Movement into Music: Using apps to plot out notes is last year’s news. Now garage developers and tech companies have more ambitious projects – like turning body movement into music. No surprise, these programs typically use the Microsoft Kinect to produce sounds based on gesture and movement. Think of conducting, but as a way to play music instead of leading it. There is no “official” Kinect program for creating music with your hands, but some of the hacks are serious business, like the project created by Australian composer Chris Vik, which he played at the Melbourne Town Hall. Vik’s program uses an electric interface to play real notes on an ancient organ in accordance with movement picked up by the motion-sensing camera. If it works for an organ, what else could it work with? Expect body-music to pick up steam as people use increasingly elaborate sensors and MIDI devices translate movement into tunes…sometimes with lasers.

Even More Synthetic Materials: Two separate trends are driving synthetic materials in musical instruments. First, the destruction of key forests such as Brazilian rosewood are making the best-sounding woods incredibly expensive to manufacture. While sustainability practices are countering the problem, most manufacturers are devoting more energy to cheaper synthetic materials that have more attraction on the market. The second trend is the development of synthetics themselves – they are getting cheaper and stronger. Nanotechnology and customized manufacturing are creating new possibilities for replacing traditional varnishes or woods with future materials…if manufacturers can get the sound just right.

Combining Synth and Strings: The partnership between digital sound and old-fashioned harmonics is destined to grow ever closer as inventors and researches continue to experiment. While some inventions are a little weird, others are entrancingly practical. Check out the latest synthesizer violin, designed to pick up bow movements with embedded sensors and transform them into digital sounds spanning dozens of instruments (there’s also a video camera, for some reason). If synth violins are becoming this advanced, you can bet that violas will join before long.

Fingerplay: The 2010s are the years of the touchscreen, no doubt about it. We have already seen the rise of iPhone and iPad apps for creating your own music, from child-friendly games to more advanced MIDI interfaces. But don’t expect the trend to stop there. Before long we will see a surge in popular for all digital/traditional instruments you can play with a few taps of the fingers. Dedicated touchscreens and touchboards are already under development or out. New fusion instruments like the HAPI drum are marketing themselves based on a finger-friendly feel. The age of the touch is upon us, so start practicing those delicate tapping motions!

Public Involvement: Can musical instruments be public? Does that even make sense? Some cities are trying nonetheless, especially when it comes to new park projects. If you think you have seen everything, look at the hydraulophones and poseidophones some towns are experimenting with. These are part sculptures, part water features, and part musical instruments. Anyone walking by can play them by blocking the right rivulets of water on a hot summer day…although it takes an expert to turn out a water-sculpture melody. Some cities are getting rid of the human element altogether and creating sea organs that the tides can play. Will architects and landscapers start putting nature instruments everywhere? Apparently all you need is a little wind or water.

Justin Miller is a professional blogger that writes for Jamplay.com. JamPlay is a leading online music educator offering 2,000+ beginning guitar lessons in HD.

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1. Steve Vai – Starting off as a transcriptionist for Frank Zappa, Steve Vai soon made a name for himself as a member of the David Lee Roth band. At 20, Vai was strumming with Zappa and by 25 he was with Roth. His top guitar choices are the Ibanez JEM and Ibanez Universe in addition to a Tom Anderson Drop Top Classic. He also uses exotic guitars and sometimes plays a heart-shaped triple-neck model. Vai is recognized for his understanding of music theory. He is further appreciated by students of the Berklee College of Music with whom he shares his techniques online.

2. Slash – Born Saul Hudson, Slash is a musician and guitarist who came to fame playing for Guns N’ Roses and was later part of Velvet Revolver before embarking on a solo career.  His instruments of choice include a Gibson Les Paul, a B.C. Rich Mockingbird and a Gibson EDS-1275, just three of more than 100 guitars that he owns. In 2008 Slash embarked on a solo career, what he had touched on at earlier times in his life when he jammed for Michael Jackson, the Yardbirds and Paulina Rubio among others.

3. Les Paul – Born Lester William Polsfuss, Les Paul was an American guitarist with a penchant for blues, country and jazz music. He was also a songwriter and inventor. Paul is credited with making rock and roll possible by inventing the solid-body electric guitar, and was also innovative in sound experimentation. The Gibson Les Paul was first sold in 1952 and was designed in collaboration with Ted McCarty. Among the musicians that have played a Les Paul are Eric Clapton, Steve Jones, Sammy Hagar, Billie Joe Armstrong, Peter Frampton and Jeff Beck.

4. David Gilmour – He was brought on the fifth and last musician for Pink Floyd, but last certainly did not meant least in David Gilmour. The English rocker has been credited with shaping Pink Floyd’s ethereal sound, pouring emotion into his guitar that few have ever matched. Gilmour is nearly always seen with a black Fender Stratocaster, but he also plays a red model and a Fender Telecaster.

5. Tom Morello – Not every guitarist seeks to sound like a guitar player or at least not all the time. Tom Morello, inspired by LED Zeppelin and a guitarist with Rage Against the Machine, counts his custom “Arm the Homeless” guitar as his favorite. This guitar is outfitted with a Kramer neck and a custom performance body to produce truly unique sounds. Morello also is fond of Fender Stratocaster, Fender Telecaster, an Ibanez classical acoustic and a Gibson Les Paul.

Claim to Fame   Besides Steve Vai, Slash, Les Paul, David Gilmour and Tom Morello, there are dozens of other guitarists that have had a larger than life influence through their work. Jimmy Page, Carlos Santana, Phil Keaggy, Keith Richards and Brian May are a few that come to mind.    Step back in the 1950s and Chuck Berry, Carl Perkins and Bod Diddley must be recalled. In the 1960s, it was Pete Townshend, George Harrison, Jeff Beck along with Hendrix, Clapton and Richards. By the 1970s, Gilmour, Santana and Duane Allman rose to fame and were later joined by Randy Rhoades, Vito Bratta, Buckethead and a host of other strummers.    Ask any budding guitarist whom they admire most and one or more of these names will likely be mentioned. Down through the years inspiration has been handed off, with a new contingent of guitar artists certain to dominate in the 21st century.

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Justin Miller is a professional blogger that writes for Jamplay.com. JamPlay is a leading online music educator offering 2,000+ online guitar lesson videos in HD.

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This is known as an ‘advance’. An advance is typically handed out from a record label to one of their signed bands in order to record an album, for the fees which can be built up from studio time, promotion, instruments (and so forth) can be pretty costly. However as good as the advance may seem to the outsider, it sometimes can be a band’s demise; on occasion leading to a swift exit from the music industry. This is because as you might well imagine, rockstar’s would rather spend their lovely little packet dining in the Ritz, hotel rooms or fuelling their addictions (whatever they may be…). As proof of this seemingly wild accusation, here are five bands who definitely squandered their label advances.

Sleep

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Sleep had a lot of potential for a heavy metal/rock band. After their release ‘Holy Mountain’ on Earache records, they attracted the attention of many labels including Elektra and London (who Rolling Stones had also been signed on). London gave them an offer they couldn’t refuse in 1992 – full artistic control and a six-figure advance. Rumour has it that sleep spent their advance on two things; vintage tube amps and a bucket-load of marijuana. Given that the band estimates they spent $75,000 on tube amps – speculation has in that they spent pretty much the remaining figure on the finest spliffs that money could buy. All in all the album was dropped and wasn’t even released by the label; could be the fact that it featured just one song being an hour long psychedelic guitar solo.

Happy Mondays

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Yes Please! Was the terrible last album that the critically acclaimed Happy Mondays made, under the label ‘Factory’. The most famous thing about this album was that it was so costly to produce, it drove Factory into bankruptcy. Why did it cost so much? Well, the Happy Mondays wanted to record in Barbados of all places with their families present. Not only that, but the Happy Mondays had a penchant for taking a plethora of drugs; especially when they teamed up with their mate Mick Jagger who was staying nearby.

Royal Trux

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Royal Trux were an alternative rock band straight out of the late eighties, started up by Neil Haggerty and Jennifer Herrema. Due to a growing interest from labels in underground grunge music; after their second album Royal Trux were picked up by Virgin. Virgin offered them a $3,000 advance to record a third album; which Royal Trux proceeded to blow it all on heroin.

My Bloody Valentine

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Irish alt rock band My Bloody Valentine were signed to Island records in 1992, and were given £250,000 to record a belter of an album (they had been given the same amount of money by label Creation to make their second). Whilst the second one was critically acclaimed by many people, the third did not do so well. My Bloody Valentine took the £250,000 and put it all into making their own studio in Streatham – which was riddled with problems. The third album was never released by Island due to lack on any decent material… and My Bloody Valentine went into a band ‘meltdown’.

Warrant

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With all of this in mind, record labels these days have wised up to the cheeky antics of music stars; combining their advance with their own pay packet. This serves as an incentive not to blow it all – because they are eating out of their own pocket at the end of the day! However, truth be told it probably doesn’t stop some rocking musicians still…

Author: This list was put together by Alfie Davenport who works for DV247, suppliers of Fender guitars.

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I can remember trying to make my own cassette tapes by trying to record music off the radio or taping records as they played. When I was young I didn’t have my tape recorder hooked up through the stereo so the recordings were not very good!

By the time I was a young teenager CDs were starting to come into the picture. I don’t think any of us thought they would last at the time. That kind of reminds me of the Beta video. Little did we know that CDs were here to stay and were only a harbinger or things to come in the form of digital music.

It’s so easy to buy music digitally now I bet that almost all the people who read this post have purchased at least one song or album digitally if not hundreds. Have you ever wondered how the online music industry has evolved over time? Here’s some interesting information about it.
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Via: Kaza Gold

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