A Huge Concern Over Web: Music Download

Internet has come to change everything that once relations used to be lied on. Since Internet had invaded homes, the daily life has never been the same again. Internet changed the family’s habits, the culture and the way someone sees the world. Music is just a part of this change.
Regarding to music, this issue is even more complicated. People now can prepare their own CDs by downloading music from the Internet. And this has become another problematic thing that has contributed to increase the piracy.
The music download problem lies on two issues:
- If people can have access to the most varied types of music, they can have a better idea of a particular artist’s material, they can find out singers they had never heard of and get their CDs even this. These actions may be a little bit illegal and sometimes reduce the profits of the big music companies, but, however, it increases the range where a singer is known. When this happens, both singer and his/her music records win a special recognition, which may lead to the hire of them for shows and (guess what?) profits.
- But if it is true that music download can be beneficial for an artist, sometimes it can also be harmful, speaking about profits of course. And this loss of money in general happens to already famous artists. People download their songs from the Internet because they already know that singer and because they like him/her.
The big music industry complex has a tough battle to face. Profits or recognition!? Profits and recognition depends on each other: you only have profits when you achieve recognition, but your recognition can be measured by your profits. How to solve the problem?
Well, even if this matter seems to be far from a solution, some measures are being taken by the companies. Some laws have been created and other demands are being done. Even if it is hard to supervise all the websites on the Internet that offer music download, some people have been being charged of piracy and arrested.
Janis Ian on her article states that the music download increases the profit of the music industries, instead of what these industries allege. According to Janis, when people downloads a music form he Internet and get to know that song, they buy the CD because they already liked it and have no way to regret buying that CD. She also states that this happens because most of people cannot pay for a CD just to “give it a try”.
Music download is a reality – no matter what.
www.music-download.leisure-tip.info

How to Write a Chorus

A song without a chorus can hardly be called a song. This rather bad statement is my personal opinion so if you don’t agree, that’s okay. But I would like to start this lesson with this statement, not only to wake you up, but rather because it’s one of the key-statements of this lesson. So if you don’t like songs without a chorus and never intend to write one, than probably you won’t feel at home in this class this month. I must say I never felt at home when I was at
school but that’s another story... But if you do stick around, even if you don’t like to write choruses, maybe you will change your mind about them.

A chorus is more or less the heart of a song, at least if it’s a good one of course. Why this is true is not as obvious as it seems. People always tend to remember the chorus of a song, while it may not even be the most interesting part of the song at all. The easiest explanation of course
is the fact that the chorus is usually played a couple of times during a song. But if this was the only reason why a chorus is the heart of most songs, how come then that lots of choruses are easily forgotten, even if they are played seemingly endless in the
fadeout of a song? So there must be more to it.

In this lesson we will see it’s hard to reveal the secrets of a good chorus. Writing a good chorus may be more a matter of the heart (something called talent?) than the mind. But since this counts for songwriting in general, don’t be afraid; there are always some tricks to learn to help those who have to struggle a little more then the lucky, more talented ones. And believe me, most of us belong to the first group, to put it stronger, even the most talented ones often join the struggling crowd when they’re not inspired...
In lesson 5, we already saw some elements a good chorus should have. Now we will take a closer look at these elements, by discussing some rules you should follow if you want to write a good chorus. These rules are:

It should be catchy
It should contain elements of the rest of the song

It shouldn’t be an anti-climax
Following these rules, you obey to the most important rules of writing a good chorus. We will take a look at these rules in the next paragraph. You can also click on the links to go directly to the discussion of each of these rules.
 
Rule 1: a chorus should be catchy
What makes a chorus catchy? The easiest answer (for me at least) is: listen to all those golden oldies. Almost all the classics from the sixties and the seventies have catchy choruses. Of course The Beatles were real masters at this, but it seems all the bands that became famous in those days were able to write catchy choruses which seem to stick in your mind forever. Who doesn’t know the chorus of Honky Tonk Women for example...
Listening to examples is a great way to teach yourself, and that counts for songwriting too! But there's something more to say about this issue too.

Keep it simple
One of the main rules in writing a good chorus is to keep it simple. Try to avoid to make the chorus sound complicated.
This doesn’t mean that as long as you keep it simple technically spoken the chorus will sound simple! A chorus built around a difficult, but well written musical part will be easier to listen to than a technically simple chorus which is written in an unlogical manner.

How to Make Money on a Music Website through Affiliate Programs?

Do you find yourself looking for a way to make some extra money? How about creating a website on something that everyone includes in their life, Music? The opportunities are endless and what’s great about it is that you can make money on it while you’re eating, sleeping, or just sitting around watching TV.

Don’t get me wrong, it is a lot of work in the beginning to get everything started. Once you get your website built the way you want it though, all that is left is maintaining it to keep it at tip top shape. From there you’ll be making money off of it 24/7. So, how do you get started and how do you make money off of it you may be wondering?

To start off you need to purchase a domain name, which is your website URL. You can do this at GoDaddy.com for a cheap price of $9.20 per year. Now you have your website name, the next
step is to pick a host for your website. This is where you will build your website. You can do this at GoDaddy.com starting at $3.95 per month, or choose to go to another hosting company as there are many out there.

From there you are set to build your website, now how do you begin making money off of it?

There are many ways to make money off of your website. One way is to join affiliate programs through companies around the world. How an affiliate program works is you join under that company and refer people through your website to their website. Then, as people go to the companies website through yours,
whatever the person buy’s you get a certain amount of money off of their purchase.

The amount made varies from company to company and it even varies among the different products sold. The big name companies you’ll often make less money off of, such as Best Buy and Circuit City you’ll make approximately 3-7% on all sales. Smaller companies some times offer more through their affiliate programs, but people sometimes will opt to go to the well known companies instead.

For a music website you’ll obviously want to join affiliate programs dealing with entertainment of some sort. Bestbuy.com and CircuitCity.com are good ones to join, but can be difficult to get into when you’re just starting out. One good one can be found at:

http://www.best-mp3-music-downloads.com/buy.html

How to improve your employment prospects as a musician.

http://freedownload-kuncigitar.blogspot.com/

by: Mantius Cazaubon

How do you expand your opportunities to work in the music business? How do you improve your employment prospects? The key to doing that is developing your versatility. There are many ways of expanding what you already know how to do as a musician. It's all about using the skills that you already possess and channeling them towards related fields.

Ask yourself what your most basic skill is. Let's say you play the guitar. You will find that there are several related instruments that you can easily adapt your skill to. Instead of limiting yourself to the guitar or one kind of guitar, why not expand your employment opportunities? Why not learn to play related instruments?

There are so many guitar related instruments. How about the acoustic guitar, electric guitar, twelve-string guitar, five-string banjo, tenor banjo, ukulele, mandolin, pedal steel guitar, and so on?

You can even learn different styles of playing. Learn to use finger picks. Learn to play both pick style and finger style. Electric guitarists should probably own both jazz and rock guitars. By doing this you increase your musical scope and you will be able to take on new projects easily. There will be more variety in the music that you play. Your arrangements will not all sound the same.

You can apply the examples mentioned above to all instruments and musical skills. Let's look at a few others.

Another example is bass players. The same can be said of them. Instead of limiting themselves to the electric bass, they can learn to use a bow, play related instruments like the upright acoustic bass, learn to play both fretted and fretless basses, and use effects pedals.

Keyboard players should own more than one synthesizer. How about learning to play related instruments like organ, harpsichord and piano? Why not learn about MIDI and hook various keyboards together, along with a PC?

I could go on and on mentioning various instruments and skills and how a musician can become more versatile. Musicians must simply start with their most basic skill and expand it. This is an excellent way of ensuring that you excel in the music business.

The world is a very competitive one and you must continue to be competitive. Don't put all your eggs in one basket. Add some variety and you may be surprised at how far you can reach; and how much more money you can be making.

About the author:
Mantius Cazaubon offers lots of valuable songwriting tips, techniques, suggestions and advice on his site www.ultimatesongwriting.comVisit www.ultimatesongwriting.comfor the ultimate truth about lyric writing and songwriting.

How to Find and Download Your Favorite Music Videos

http://freedownload-kuncigitar.blogspot.com/chord guitar 

 by: Jeff Schuman

With all of the latest technology of downloading songs to burn onto CD’s, iPod’s, and more, the simple thought of music video downloads often passes peoples minds anymore. With burning songs onto CD’s, and listening to songs on your iPod, you’re only retaining the audio portion of music and completely overlooking the visual aspect of music.

Sure you can tune into MTV and VH1 and all of the other music channels. However, anymore there are more TV and reality shows on the music channels then there are actual music videos.

With music video downloads on your personal computer, you can download a video of your favorite artist or favorite song in a matter of minutes depending on your internet connection speed. Once downloaded you can save it to a file or if you download from one site, most contain a library in which all of your favorite music videos will be saved to.

In this day and age nothing is legally free, so one might ask themselves how much it will cost to actually watch music videos? Is it really worth it to pay for music videos when you can watch them on TV? Depending on the site you download from, it is very much worth it to pay the low cost and have a much larger selection than on TV and be able to watch them whenever you want.

There are millions of sites that offer music video downloads for free, so what’s the catch. For a majority of the sites you can only view 30 seconds of the song such as at music.lycos.com. Other sites such as music.yahoo.com allow you to view one music video, kind of like a teaser to see the quality of video. After
viewing the video if you attempt to watch another one, it takes you to the sign in page where you can either log-in if already a member, or you can learn the prices and register to get unlimited access to millions of videos.

How to Become a Filthy Rich Record Label Mogul

by: D.Herren

Let me guess, you love music and would do anything to be able to enter into the fabulous life of the music business? Better yet, you would love to become the next record mogul like P.Diddy or Clive Davis.

Well, guess what? You can start a record a label and enter into the fast paced and competitive world of music labels. And yes, there is a chance you could become a filthy rich record label mogul living the life
of luxury. It CAN happen! But...it WON'T happen if you don't take action. Just think, many of the famous record moguls today started their own record label either in debt or with little to no resources.

But why did they succeed? And how can you succeed?

Let's take a look at the "how and why" you can become a filthy rich record label mogul.

First of all, you need to learn how to start a record label. You will be very surprised
that it doesn't take much money at all to get started. Basically, you need to come up with a name for your record label company first. Use a name that is unique and easy to memorize...and most of all, catchy. While
you are at it, get a business line and a P.O. Box. To make things really official, get a business license for your new label.

The next step, and this is a biggie, is to find the right talent. The record label moguls who have hit pay dirt are the ones who took time out and became dedicated to the artists they took under their wings. They were able to see the unique talent and potential in their artist choices and make them
bloom. http://freedownload-kuncigitar.blogspot.com/


Just think, it only takes ONE great artist or band and one big song to shoot your label into the stratosphere of success. And the good thing is, you can start a record label right out of your own home. Of course, it can get a bit more detailed when it comes to contracts, publishing, and marketing your label.

But if you really want to know all the good stuff on starting a record label so you can take your chance at become a big record label mogul, get a copy of The Ultimate Record Label Handbook (http://www.ultimate-record-label.com). It will cover all the basics you need to get going and it is easy to read.

Why not start a record label of your own and take a shot? If you love music, then you might just hit the jackpot. And better yet, you will finally be able to do work that you enjoy and have fun at.

What more could you ask for?

So in a nutshell, if you want to live the good life as a filthy rich record label
mogul, you have to first start your label and secondly...find good talent. There
is always loads of good talent out there to sign, you just have to have to know how to find the good stuff and market it to the masses!




About the author:
Want to start your VERY own record label? Now YOU can at...
http://www.ultimate-record-label.com

D. Herren is an author, webdesigner, and...music lover!

guitar case

Chord guitar, Pop, rock, jazz, guitar case from http://freedownload-kuncigitar.blogspot.com/

acoustic guitar

 

guardian hardshell

 

gator deluxe

drummer boy ornament

Chord guitar, music, music article


drummer boy ornament little boy

How Has Eminem Risen to the Top?

How is it that a little white boy from Kansas City has becomethe most well known rapper in the world? Starting from nothingand eventually moving up to a multi-millionaire, Eminem over thepast seven years has been in the eye of the public everywhereyou look. He has essentially entered a black man’s business and gone to the top over the course of a few years, but how?

On October 17, 1972 Marshall Bruce Mathers III was born in St.Joseph, MO by his 15 year old mother Debbie. Six months later his father was gone and this began the struggle for Marshall and his mother; one that was just the beginning. Throughout the course of his childhood Marshall and his mother moved numerous
times into different houses from Kansas City to Detroit. The maximum time spent in one house was only 3 months, which caused Marshall to attend many different schools making it difficult to cope to the different surroundings and make friends. Every new school he attended he was bullied as he was the new kid. This was something that he could not change as he was never stationed in one school for a long period of time. At the age of 12 he and his mother finally settled in a house in Detroit. He would later use the bullying to his advantage fueling him to get back
at all his bullies through songs.

How Do You Write Songs?

There was an interesting post today on a message board that I go to. It was about a guy that just started a new band and he wanted to know if anyone could give him some songwriting tips.

First off, there isn't a wrong way to write songs. But after you've done it for a while, you'll find out that some ways to go about it are easier than others.



This is how I do it.

1. Music and Melody Come First

I never fit a melody to pre-existing lyrics. It’s forced and it doesn’t sound good to me. When you write the words before the melody, you’re trying to force the melody to fit your lyrics. The result is it doesn’t sound natural.

A lot of songwriters start with an idea. It's just easier for me to know what angle I'm coming from. Usually how it happens with me is the music comes first and the melody comes right after that.

Why do I write the melody first before my lyrics?

If I don't know how many notes are in the melody, how do I know how many syllables need to be in my lines? I don’t.

If there’s 8 notes in the first part of the melody and 6 notes in the second part , you’ll have to have 8 syllables in the first line and 6 in the second.

Let’s say you want to put 4 lines in each of your verses, You’ll have 8 syllables in the first and third lines and six in the second and fourth.

Here’s an example:

In the song "I want you to want me" the lead singer for Cheap Trick wrote a four line melody that had six notes in the first three lines and seven in the last line. He knew that there had to be six syllables in the first three lines and seven syllables in the fourth.

I Want You To Want Me

I want you to want me =six syllables

I need you to need me =six syllables

I’d love you to love me =six syllables

I’m begging’ you to beg me =seven syllables

2. Figure Out An Idea To Work From

Ideas are everywhere. You can write about what a friend of yours is going through. You can write about what you're going through.

I keep a journal just for this and make daily installments. I write down everything that I can think of that happened that day. And after a few months of that, I'll go through the journal harvest my ideas.

I treat my journal like the garden it is. Most every song I write comes directly from my journals.

3. Put the idea into one to two sentences

The best way to show you this is to give you an example. Keeping with "I Want You To Want Me", here’s the basic idea:

"I want you to want me as bad as I want you."

You only want one idea for each song. If you have any more, your song is going to last too long. And you're listeners won't be able to keep up.

Believe me, nobody but you will understand them. I know from very bad experience.

4. Write The Lyrics To Fit The Melody

Once you have the idea, you start to explain the idea in the verses with the number of syllables you have in the melody. The chorus is just the overall idea in a summed up fashion.

That’s how I write songs. Music and melody come first. The idea comes after that. Write the idea in a statement form. And then, write the lyrics to fit the melody.

About the author:
Larry Ford runs a weblog giving beginner guitarist's quick and easy tips to help them build their skills. His weblog can be found at http://www.larrysjournal.com

Hollywood’s Underbelly Comes to the Surface in Michael Mangia’s The Invisible Wall CD

by: Michael Mangia
September 16, 2005--Los Angeles, CA-- Michael Mangia is not your typical artist. And The Invisible Wall is not your typical CD. Set for release October 4, 2005 on Loft Box Records, the latest album from Hollywood-based singer-songwriter-pianist Mangia, while filled with compellingly beautiful melodies on the surface, actually buries some deep dark themes. In many ways, Michael Mangia is the David Lynch of pop music.



The Invisible Wall is the story of a painter, taking listeners through his canvas, which is filled with the lives of addicted porn stars and their admirers, children’s sci-fi fantasy books, an Italian mobster/father’s death, the façade-filled world of Hollywood and the effects of television on society. The album is all tied together through the haunting themes that lurk beneath the beauty of Mangia’s piano-driven melodies.

The new album was produced and mixed by Mangia over a 2½-year period in his own high-tech loft studio in downtown Los Angeles (which was featured in an article in Keyboard Magazine). “Having my home also be my workspace allowed me to play around with sound techniques, in a Beatles-esque way, with whatever I wanted, whenever I wanted. As I continued to write, the songs pieced themselves together into what would become The Invisible Wall.” Mangia has employed the talents of guest musicians on this remarkably eclectic CD – veterans who have played with a wide range of artists, including Jimmy Paxson (Stevie Nicks), Zac Rae (Alanis Morissette) and Ed Maxwell (Gary Jules, Devics).

But Mangia’s favorite song on the album is actually not even officially listed. There is a new hidden bonus track at the end of the CD entitled “Life Support on Xmas” that – for Mangia – sums up all the themes on this album. “It really captures the meaning and the feel of this record more than any other single song. I wanted it to be like a special gift for listeners. I placed it on the CD nearly four minutes after the album has supposedly ended, because it’s a song that is very much about the peace that follows the silence.”

Influenced by artists as diverse as Tori Amos, Ben Folds, Portishead, Travis and Rufus Wainwright, Michael Mangia is unique. And now, with the release of The Invisible Wall, Mangia is preparing to bring his hauntingly gorgeous melodies and deeply moving, sometimes disturbing, sonic paintings to the world. What is “The Invisible Wall?” For Mangia, “It’s the barrier that separates the good from the sordid, light from dark, even reality from fantasy.” Get ready – Michael Mangia is about to take you on an unforgettable musical trip through The Invisible Wall.

The Invisible Wall Release Party is set for October 4th, 7:30pm at Tangier 2138 Hillhurst Ave. in Los Angeles, CA 90027.

Publicity contact: Versa Manos / Tom Mureika

Email: versa@gorgeouspr.com / tom@gorgeouspr.com www.michaelmangia.com


PR Created By Versa Manos / Tom Mureika and Distributed By MuzikReviews.com


About the author:
Gorgeous PR

Here is the best sourced advice concerning latin music.

by: Tom

Sometimes when you're trying to find superior information on latin music, it will be easier said than done sorting out quality information from misguided latin music suggestions or help so it is important to know how to qualify the advice you are presented with.

Buy 1 Get 5 Free at MSN Music
Download six of your favorite songs for only 99 cents at MSN Music. Choose from millions of tracks, burn downloads to a CD, transfer to your portable player and much more.



Here's a few guidelines that we believe you should consider using when you're seeking information about latin music. Understand that any recommendation we present to you is only pertinent to internet based information concerning latin music. We do not give you any assistance or guidance when you are also conducting research in books or magazines.

Buy 1 Get 5 Free at MSN Music
Download six of your favorite songs for only 99 cents at MSN Music. Choose from millions of tracks, burn downloads to a CD, transfer to your portable player and much more.



A great tip to follow when you're presented with help and advice regarding a latin music web page would be to confirm the sites ownership. This may show you who owns the site latin music identifications The quickest way to work out who owns the latin music website is to look on the 'about' page or 'contact' page.

Any worthwhile website providing information on latin music, will always have contact information which will record the site owner's contact details. The fine points should detail some key points regarding the owner's proficency and credentials. You can then decide for yourself about the vendor's insight and appreciation, to offer help regarding latin music.
About the author:

Heath Macanally is the webmaster for http://www.latin-music-review.info

How Do You Find Sheet Music Downloads Today?

by: Jeff Schuman
Music is a piece of entertainment that is in society’s daily
life consistently. It doesn’t matter whether it is Rock and
Roll, Gospel and Christian music, or jazz, people listen to
music for a variety of reasons. However, today there are more
and more people learning to play instruments and create music
pieces themselves as oppose to simply listening to music. On
the internet you can find sheet music downloads for songs to
sing and play with the piano, guitar, Christian music and more.



When trying to find a certain song or certain kind of sheet
music over the internet, it can get frustrating. There are
millions of sites to look, but in a way that can be discouraging
having to look through millions of sites to find a couple songs.
With this article I’ll lead you towards a few of the more
popular sites that contain many songs, and attempt to help you
in finding sheet music over the internet.

To start, notationmachine is a site where you can find sheet
music to over thousands of songs narrowed down to the decades.
It also has it broken down into author and song title when you
go through the specific decades.

Through this site they also offer a membership that you can
download certain software to help you find the thousands of
different kinds of sheet music on the internet today from
classical to gospel to piano music. With downloading the
software it will help you find all kinds of new sheet music and
give you access to downloading them and printing them out as
oppose to just viewing them. This and much more can be found
here:

http://www.notationmachine.com/

If you are looking for a list of just classical sheet music,
then virtual sheet music is the place for you. Here you will
find a list of the top composers sold, links to specific
composers and instruments, free sheet music, or a list of all of
the sheet music available. The price on this site varies from
$2-$9 for individual pieces of sheet music, but is well worth
the buy as you can play the best classical music made.

This is not a site of just classical music, but a list of the
best composers known today. You can find sheet music from Bach,
Beethoven, Mozart and more. With a few dollars you too can be
playing the greatest classical music made. Find all of the
CD’s, sheet music, links and more here:

http://www.virtualsheetmusic.com

If you’re looking for a broad site that will show you sheet
music to all kinds of music, then check out 8notes.com. Here
you can find sheet music and lessons for numerous instruments
including the guitar, piano, cello, voice and more. Also on the
home page is a music genres section where you can find pieces
and riffs of classical, rock and pop, occasions such as
Christmas, and much more.

To check out all of these categories and find many of your
favorite songs that you too can play simply go here:

http://www.8notes.com/default.asp

In order to print off the sheet music so that you can take it
with you everywhere, there is a $20 per year subscription that
is necessary. However, in order to just observe the sheet music
on the computer it is free. So check out the site where you can
take lessons to improve your skills, and then begin playing all
of the best music of all different kinds of genres.

As you can see there are sites containing all different kinds of
sheet music out there just waiting for you. Now it’s your turn
to find which site suites you best and begin your sheet music
downloading.



About the author:
Best MP3 Music Downloads is a site that contains information, articles, and resources on all genres and styles of music. You can download music and videos, and find links to the best places to download music here:
http://www.best-mp3-music-downloads.com

guitar

by: Tamara Williams
are music instruments that are very versatile; most musicians around the entire world use them because they find a guitar to be very easy to play.

They are also the most commonly chosen instrument for a student to start playing their way into music, mostly because it takes very little time to learn how to play it, and of course because it is not rare to be able to find a decent guitar for a very convenient price (unlike other instruments as pianos, for instance).

Today, all music shops offer a very wide variety of guitars, suitable for almost any musician, from beginners to masters. The most popular, however, are these two kinds of guitars: Acoustic guitars and electric 6-strings guitars.

Some very specialized vendors have started selling other classes of guitars; usually adaptations of the classical guitar made by different cultures all around the world. In these vendors’ shops, regular customers (mostly collectors) are able to buy guitars such as the Mexican “guitarron”, a huge guitar used by “Mariachis”, or as the “guitarra criolla”, an Argentinean adaptation of the 6-strigs classical guitar, used by Tango orchestras and also by the famous “gauchos” (the south-american version of cowboys).

Another advantage of guitars is that, once you learned the basics of music composition, you will find it easer to move into more complex instruments, such as violins, and keyboard instruments; which are more difficult to use as the first contact with music practicing.

Beyond all that, the key to guitar’s success (they are the most used musical instrument worldwide, and has been for a very long time) is what matters the most: its sound. The beautiful sound a guitar produces can be compared to the sound produced by instruments that are much more expensive, rare and hard to learn. That is what keeps a good guitar above the rest.

About the author:
Tamara Williams is a successful author and contributor to Guitars which is dedicated to providing useful guitar help, tips, information on products and services for guitar players.

Guitar Players...Get a Balanced Guitar Practice

by: Craig Bassett
How's your practice diet?

Do you have a wide variety of things that you practice. Or do you like to binge? (You know...the type of player who practices sweep picking for a kazillion hours a day but only know three chords)!

Having a balanced practice routine is essential if you want to become a versatile guitarist. If you just practice one or two things, sure you'll get great at those things...but you'll be weak in other key areas.


In this lesson you'll learn how to create a practice routine that is well-balanced and will help you work towards your ultimate vision of how you would like to play.

I generally categorise what I practice into one of seven areas:
1. Technique.
2. Repertoire (Covers).
3. Composition.
4. Improvisation.
5. Ear Training.
6. Theory.
7. Music Reading.

Everything that you practice will fit into one or more of the above areas. For example,if you are learning a very challenging cover tune by transcribing it off the CD you are essentially working on your technique, repertoire and ear training at the same time. If you also write down the song in standard notation, you will also be developing your
music reading skills.

Now…do you have to practice things in all seven areas? I believe that you don't have
to if your vision doesn't require it. For example, if someone wants to become an
awesome classical guitarist and has no desire to improvise, then I believe that they don't need to practice things relating to improvisation. We all have limited time available for practice, so it's a waste of time working on things that don't specifically help you reach your goals.


Let's go through a few exercises…

Exercise One:

Think about the vision that you have for your playing for a few minutes.How would you like to play in ten years time. Make it exact!

Once you've done that, brainstorm as many things that you need to practice in order to play like your vision. What specific things do you need to learn, develop and practice? Write them down now.


Exercise Two:

Next to each of the things written down for Exercise One, write down a category next to it. For
example, if you wrote "I need to be able to play faster" then write technique next to it. If you feel that something you wrote belongs to more than one category, then write down all the categories it could belong to.


Exercise Three:

Look at your answers for the previous two exercises. Once you've done that prioritise
the categories shown below. For example, if you feel that technique is the most
important thing you need to work on to reach your vision then put a 1 next to it.

**Practice Area Priority Level (1-7)** [Note: 1 is the highest priority].

Technique
Repertoire (covers)
Composition
Improvisation
Ear Training
Theory
Music Reading

Now here's the important point. You should spend the most time practising your number one priority. I know it's pretty obvious, but you'd be amazed at how many people don't do this! I know a few guitar players who would like to be able to play incredibly fast, yet they don't do a lot of technical practice. Talk about setting yourself up to fail!


Exercise Four:

Decide how much time every day you will spend on each category. Write it down below.


**Practice Area Time Invested Daily**

Technique
Repertoire (covers)
Composition
Improvisation
Ear Training
Theory
Music Reading


All done? Great!

So what’s the next step?


The next step is to decide on a specific activity for each practice area.Make sure to write them down.

Here are a couple of examples of what someone might put down...

Technique: I will invest 10 minutes a day on alternate picking exercise one. I will
start with the metronome at 80 beats per minute (bpm) and increase it by 4 bpm daily
(as long as I can play it perfectly).

Ear Training: I will invest 10 minutes daily a day on A minor pentatonic ear training exercise one.

Got the idea? You would have one specific activity for every practice area. If you
have a lot of time to practice you could set more than one activity per practice area.


Give this method a try. I'll think you'll be more than happy with the results!

About the author:
Craig Bassett (The Guitar Solutions Expert) is a professional guitarist, guitar tutor and author who lives in Auckland, New Zealand.
To get a free high-quality guitar lesson e-mailed to you once a month, please go to: http://www.pentatonic-guitar-lessons.com

Guitarists...are you a victim and a loser?

by: Craig Bassett
I was thinking today about THE most dangerous enemy of musical progress…the
victim mentality. What do I mean by this?

Often we can let our personal circumstances dictate our progress. For example, someone may let their guitar practice slide because they were really busy at work. This person may start making excuses such as "I didn't have time". This is victim mentality. It is believing that your musical progress is only possible when external circumstances allow it.

What they are really saying to themselves is that their musical dreams and goals are
not as important as paying a few lousy bills.They are letting their boss's goals get in the way of their own.

Now…I can't point fingers at anyone. I've been guilty of having a victim mentality
plenty of times! Especially when it comes to things like going to the gym :)But I don't have a victim mentality when it comes to guitar practice. There is virtually nothing that I will allow to get in the way of my musical progress.

So…how can you stop yourself from becoming a victim and a loser…

1.Stop making excuses. I can guarantee that for every excuse you can make there is someone out there who has overcome that obstacle. Don't allow yourself to make
excuses. They are the death of your musical dreams.

2. Watch your language. For example, rather than saying "I couldn't find the time" say "I am acting like a complete and absolute loser and if I continue acting like this I will NEVER achieve my musical goals". Because that statement is pretty painful to say, you'll soon stop making excuses!

3. Think of solutions. For excuses that you normally make, think of ways of overcoming those obstacles. For example, if you are constantly using your work as a reason why you can't practice, ask yourself questions like…

"How can I get paid more but work less hours?".
"How can I get paid while I sleep?".
"How can I stay home all day and practice?".

If you ask enough questions like this on a daily basis, you'll find a solution
eventually.

4. Think of your "Why". These are the reasons why you want to achieve your musical goals. If your why is strong enough, You will NEVER want to stop practicing for any reason.

5. Think of your role models. Use your role models to motivate and inspire you to
keep on practicing.Every time you start to make an excuse, ask yourself "Would__________make this excuse?" For example, one of my favourite guitarists is Steve Vai. I could NEVER imagine making him excuses for not practicing!

To finish off here's a quote that you may want to memorize...

"You can either become a great guitarist, or you can make excuses, but you can't do both".