Learn To Play Violin
Filed under: Learn To Play Violin

Playing one of the strings like the violin is always a dream for many of us and there is a general notion that this is the most toughest task. But it is not so, as learning to play violin is very simple and the only factor that is most important is your love for music and the dedication you show towards the activity.

The mental is about your learning plan, and motivation. In this article, I have gathered some steps that you need to take in order to learn your violin lessons.

  • Study the mechanics of the violin. Familiarize yourself with the bow, which is held in the right hand by its heavier, weighted end (the frog). Memorize the names of the instrument’s four strings: G (lowest), D (low), A (high) and E (highest). Finally, learn how to tune the instrument as this will be crucial to its sound quality. This is done by turning the string’s corresponding wooden peg clockwise for a higher pitch, and counter-clockwise for a lower pitch.
  • If you don’t already know how, learn to read music. At the very least you will need to read treble clef as most violin music is written in this clef. Find a private teacher, friend or instruction manuals to help you. Manuals can be purchased at most music and/or bookstores.
  • Perform daily neck, shoulder and wrist stretches. Playing the violin is often taxing on these specific muscles. Shrug your shoulders up and down, turn your head from left to right as well as forwards and backwards. Roll your hands in a circle to loosen your wrists.
  • Learn how to properly hold the violin. The violin should be held in your left hand by its neck, using your thumb and the palm of your hand to support most of its weight. The rest of your fingers should curl lightly around the fingerboard without pressing the strings too hard.
  • Bring the violin to rest on your left shoulder while drawing the bow across each string. Once the movements are comfortable for you, work on refining your precision and accuracy of bowing and fingering the strings simultaneously. If necessary, wear wrist braces, which will support your wrists and avoid straining your carpal muscles.

If you really want to be a violin master, it shouldn’t be hard to follow what previously stated. Many of you may have a feeling that violin is an expensive instrument. However, I’ve seen many people found a low price violin with good quality. So, good luck for your violin lessons.

maynard @ 12:50 pm
Learn To Play The Guitar
Filed under: Learn To Play Guitar

If you have always wanted to learn how to play guitar, then you’ve come to the right place!

Whether you’re interested in folk, country, rock, jazz, or any number of other musical styles, learning how to play the guitar can give you the ability to play and perform your favorite songs, or even write some of your own. But just like any instrument, learning to play the guitar can take a good deal of patience, perseverance, and good old-fashioned practice. For those who stick with it, though, learning how to play the guitar can be an extremely rewarding experience and can provide endless hours of personal enjoyment.

What you need:

  1. A six-string Guitar
  2. A Guitar pick: Light gauge (thinner) picks are preferable for beginners
  3. Patience: Definitely a virtue for learning how to play guitar
  4. A love of music and a desire to learn

Keep in mind:

  1. Keep your fingernails short by trimming them regularly. This will allow your fingers to hold down the notes easier and produce a better sound.
  2. Your fingers will start to hurt as you begin to play. This is normal. Eventually, with time and practice, your fingertips will develop calluses and the pain will go away.
  3. Take some time in between lessons to make sure that you’ve mastered each part. Practice each lesson for a few minutes before moving on to the next.

The Basics

  • Before we start playing, let’s first go over a few of the basic terms and parts of the guitar that you will need to know in order to proceed:

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maynard @ 12:49 pm
Learn To Play Piano
Filed under: Learn to Play Piano

Playing the piano helps to get you into a more musical mood and helps build a more solid connection with the music you are playing, even if you are using sheet music. It has been suggested by many piano masters that in order to learn how to play great sheet music you should learn how to play by ear as well. You never know when you’re going to need to improvise on a piece, and playing by ear comes in handy in many situations. Take the time to learn both to really be on the road to becoming a better piano player.

Introduction

The key to learning to play the piano is being able to recognize patterns.

Let’s take a look at our piano.

Do you see a pattern?

Piano1

There are 3 black keys, a space, then 2 black keys,

a space, then

3 black keys, then a space, then 2 black keys and so on…

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maynard @ 12:48 pm
Learn To Dj
Filed under: Learn to Dj

GETTING YOUR EQUIPMENT

a. Turn tables

The first thing you really have to make sure of is that there is a control on the turntable which allows you to adjust the pitch (the pace at which the record will be played at) of the record. Just a 33 or 45rpm setting is not enough. You’re looking for something that will allow the pitch to be adjusted by AT LEAST + or – 8%. The larger the pitch control, the better. One that runs most of the right hand side of the turntable is preferred and is the industry standard for pitch control. The length allows more fine adjustments than just a small control on the front of the unit (see the Gemini XL-100 as the method you DON’T want to get.

b. Slipmats

The purpose of the slip mat is to reduce the friction between the record and the turntable to the point where you can hold the record still, and the turntable will still turn underneath it (which is yet ANOTHER problem with basic, cheap decks, their power is so weak that this won’t happen). The setup should go like this:- At the very bottom, is the deck plate in all it’s shiny glory (make sure to take off the removable rubber mat that comes with the deck (NOT the rubber coating, the rubber mat). On top of that goes the slipmat, and on top of that goes your finest record.

c. Mixers

The purpose of the mixer is to change the sound you can hear from one turntables output to the other ones, without having a break in sound. Typically, this means that deck 1 is in Channel 1 and deck 2 is in Channel 2. To change from one channel to another, a cross fader is normally included on the mixer, which, as you move it, moves the sound from one deck to the other.

d. Cartridges and needles

These are what transfer the vibrations caused by the grooves in the record to sound. The needle (Stylus) itself sits inside the groove of the record, and as the record passes through it, it vibrates. The cartridge hold the needle, which is then screwed onto the headshell, which is locked onto the tonearm – all of which translate the vibrations to an electrical signal which is turned into the music that you hear.

BASIC MIXING
Now, let’s start with the basics. The mixing table. A normal mixing table has a number of mono and stereo channels. We are only interested in stereo channels. Every channel has

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maynard @ 12:47 pm
Ear Training
Filed under: Ear training

Some people are born with perfect pitch, or the ability to hear and name notes, intervals, chords, scales, and harmonic progressions in music. Some develop the ability to hear these things relative to a particular song or musical key. This is known as playing by ear. Learning to hear these musical elements is within reach of anyone who is willing to work at it. Here are some tips and tutorials to help you begin to hear and recognize music notes.

Learn your Instrument

Before you get started learning to play tunes by ear, though, you’re going to need to know a few basics — like how to hold the instrument and get it to make musical noises, for one. It’s best to get started off on the right foot, so devote some attention to the matter right at the outset.


Learn with “Call and Response” Teaching

The easiest way to learn to play by ear — and probably the best way, for that very reason — is using a method known as Call and Response instruction. Using that method, the teacher plays a few notes, and you repeat them. The teacher repeats those notes and listens to your response. until you’ve “got it”, and then the teacher moves on.

At the very beginning, you may only repeat one note at a time. But within a day or two you’ll be repeating pairs and triples more easily than you would have imagined. After a while, you’ll find yourself easily acquiring a phrase at a time. One day, you find yourself learning entire parts, and possibly entire tunes!

Learn by Picking Out Tunes

This process is harder, but fundamental. It’s what you’ll be doing when you practice tunes you learned with the Call and Response technique, and its what you’ll do to improvise, interpret, or embellish a tune with ornaments.

The best way to do it is to play any tune you can sing in your head. As Radim Zenkl once said, they can be nursery rhymes, advertising jingles, or songs you heard growing up — anything at all. What’s important is that you figure out how to play them on your instrument.

Tip:
When you get stuck on part of a tune, jump ahead — maybe even to the end of that part. Sometimes it’s easier to know how to start when you know where you’re going!


Learn Technique

Each tune has its own set of technical requirements after you spend a bit of time learning the basics of the instrument, move on to playing tunes right away. That makes it fun. Instead of spending years aquiring enough technique so they may one day play, they get up an running in the shortest time possible.

Although it might seem like sight-reading and sight-singing are dependent on the musician’s eyes, a skilled ear is the real key to unlocking these tricky areas of music. The exercises that constitute ear training will develop your sense of pitch, intervals and rhythm, making it possible to sight-read with confidence.

maynard @ 12:45 pm
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