Beginning Piano Lessons
By Kevin | June 16, 2008
Where can you start with piano lessons?
Beginning Piano Lessons can be really daunting, especially if you’ve never played an instrument before at all!
Luckily, these days there is a computer game available that makes beginning Piano Lessons much more fun than they ever used to be!
Personally I don’t think that this game can actually be a replacement for music lessons, rather it is an excellent supplement to music lessons with a teacher, or it can be a great way for students to begin.
The game is called Piano Wizard - and it is the leader in the field of music games for the Piano. There are other music games which are based around the guitar, such as Rock Band and Guitar Hero, but Piano Wizard is structured all around the piano.
You have a MIDI Keyboard, and hook it up to your computer and away you go.
OK… this might be a bit challenging for the non-technically minded person - Whats a Midi Keyboard? and how do I attach it to my computer?
You can relax. The Piano Wizard company (Allegro Rainbow) have thought of everything and they include all the wires and things you need. You can even purchase a package that has the keyboard, the software and everything for under $200.
For under $200 this is the single best way that you can Begin Piano Lessons - You get the Keyboard, the software and the Midi connector and you’ll be able to get started straight away.
Often you can spend over $200 just on just a learning course, and this wouldn’t even get you the instrument!
Of course if you are really serious you are going to need a more comprehensive instrument that the Piano Wizard Keyboard, but it is still an excellent start to Beginning Piano Lessons.
So click here to visit the Piano Wizard Online Store to check it out »
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Topics: Keyboard, Piano | 1 Comment »
Changing the sub-head on this blog
By Kevin | May 20, 2008
I started this blog with an intention of Cataloging and reviewing every music learning course I could find.
My subhead was “Your no-nonsense guide to what’s hot and what’s not”.
I havn’t been comfortable with the content that I’ve been putting up, because it hasn’t accurately reflected that.
You see… I’m not a person who likes saying negative things. I firmly believe in sending positive messages to the world… and I honestly don’t have too many negative words to say about things I see. I prefer to focus on what is good about a product or service, and help people - both vendors and consumers find what they are looking for.
I’m happy for others if they have negative experiences with any of the products to add their comments.. and I won’t censor them - but the initial post about every product will focus on that products positive features and benefits.
The subhead is now going to be “A catalog of music lessons available online”
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Topics: Announcements | No Comments »
An Online or Software Metronome
By Kevin | May 15, 2008
Are you looking for a metronome that you can use on your computer?
Metronomes used to be big, bulky things with a mechanical action, and even the first electronic ones were quite big and heavy.
Nowadays, you can get software metronomes which will do exactly the same thing, and you can get them almost for FREE.
I’ve tried a few different ones.
Firstly, if you just want a simple metronome tool - and don’t need any advanced features such as accented beats or subdivisions you can visit the online one at http://www.metronomeonline.com its a free tool that I tell all my students about, because you dont need to install software, it works just from the webpage. you can’t get simpler than that!
If you’re looking for something a little more advanced, you can try the Tempo Perfect metronome from NCH software. It is free, however it does come bundled with a lot of other applications which encourage you to upgrade to their paid products.
Another Product which I highly recommend is the Ultimate Metronome. It costs $19.95 USD - but you don’t get any nag screens or included extras that encourage you to buy anything else, and it has an excellent advanced feature which I love - the ability to automatically increase the speed after a given number of seconds.
For example you can set it to a slow speed to practice a scale or exercise, and then gradually increase it every minute, until its at a point that you can no longer play.
This Speed Drill Feature is an excellent tool for practicing Scales and Technique, so check it out!
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Topics: General Music | No Comments »
Learning the Drum Rudiments
By Kevin | May 13, 2008
If you’ve been playing the drums for a little while, you’ll know that the Drum Rudiments are one of the most essential parts of learning to play the Drums
Drum Rudiments are specific patterns that the sticks play that make up the various beats and fills that the drummer uses in a song.
To master the Drum Rudiments you first have to play them slowly and carefully on a practice pad or snare drum, and then when you’ve got the sticking pattern down you can use the Rudiment in your drum patterns on the Drum Set.
I’ve talked a lot about Rudiments on one of my other Blogs, The Percussion Education Blog
The Single best product available for helping you learn the Rudiments is the Drum Rudiments System from Railroad Media. In this product Lionel Duperon methodically demonstrates the 40 Drum Rudiments, and then demonstrates applications on the Drum Set
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Topics: Drums | No Comments »
Advanced Drum Music Sheets
By Kevin | May 8, 2008
Truly some of the best advanced drum music sheets I’ve found recently have been in the Advanced book from The Rock Drumming System by Jared Falk.
The Rock Drumming system advanced book contains complex drum music sheets including Crossover Exercises, Open/Close Hi-hat patterns and Linear Beats.
If you really want to accelerate your Rock Drumming you’ll find hours and hours of inspiration and material to work through with the Advanced workbook from the Rock Drumming System.
I’ve spent many hundreds of dollars and many hours working through Drum Books, and I’ve found that a major indicator of how good a book is is how long it can get me working at it on the drums.
The Advanced Workbook from the Rock Drumming system will have you working for hours to master all of the complex patterns in it - and you’ll experience true growth as a musician if you work through it all.
Click here to check out the complete Rock Drumming System »
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Topics: Drums | No Comments »
learning to play drums
By Kevin | May 6, 2008
If you’ve been learning to play drums just a little while, and feel like you’re a bit “stuck in a rut” with your drumming, then perhaps the Intermediate book from the Rock Drumming System might be the right ticket for you to advance your drumming carreer.
In the Intermediate book from The Rock Drumming system you’ll learn all about Ghost Notes, which are one of the most critical factors in getting yourself to sound good on the drums.
You’ll also learn how to create those open high hat sounds - and create fantastic sounding grooves for pop and dance music.
The beats which you’ll learn in the Intermediate DVD from the Rock Drumming system will really set you up and improve your Rock Drumming.
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Topics: Drums | No Comments »
Music Computer Games - Fun or good learning?
By Kevin | May 1, 2008
Just recently there has been an explosion of interest in music computer games, such as Guitar Hero and Rock Band.
Of course I have my own opinions on the value of these sort of games from a real education standpoint - but I’d love to hear from you about it.
I’d really love to hear from people who have learned from these games - people who started from scratch, not being able to play at all, and then graduated from the game into playing real instruments.
Personally I think they are awesome fun - I played the acade version of the drum game years ago - well before it was released like it is today.
If you havn’t seen it before click on the link below to check it out at Musicians Friend - Its available for Ps3 and XBox360 - and has the works - the guitar controller, the drum kit and microphones.
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Topics: General Music | No Comments »
Learning Jazz Drums
By Kevin | April 29, 2008
Did you know that having the ability to play jazz will improve you in every style whether it be Rock, Fusion or Funk styles?
For this reason I’ve worked a lot on my jazz drumming over the years. I’ve found that the independence and comping skills are particularly helpful in improving my overall drumming.
I recently got a new DVD set from Mike Michalkow called the Jazz Drumming System - and it is the most complete Jazz drumming book I’ve ever seen!
It contains so much material that I think I’ll be practicing for weeks just to get through it all! It has over 650 Jazz Drumming exercises to build up your independence between the hands.
On the DVD Mike even goes through how to tune your drums and pick the right cymbals to sound right for Jazz, something I found really helpful.
It also goes through indepth the Jazz Cymbal Patterns, the Shuffle styles and how to apply them correctly, whether you are playing in a Big Band or a Small Jazz Combo.
So click here to check out the Jazz Drumming System from Mike Michalkow
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Topics: Drums | 1 Comment »
Who Invented the Guitar?
By Kevin | April 24, 2008
The Guitar doesnt really have one “inventor” as such - not that I’ve found anyway!
The Guitar seems to have evolved from the Lute family of instruments, and Guitar type instruments have been used for almost 5000 years.
To read more about who invented the guitar I recommend you check out the article in the Wikipedia on Guitar - as this has excellent references to the history of the classical guitar.
The Electric Guitar can be said to have an inventor, or at least a few people who were influential in its creation.
There were a few inventors messing around with amplifying guitars to make them louder in the 1920’s, however in around 1931 George Beauchamp, who worked with with Adolph Rickenbacker, created an the first electromagnetic pickup, which was the first real way of picking up the vibrations from the guitars strings.
This was really the first commercial electric guitar - but it still had a hollow body.
It was guitar inventor Les Paul who created the first true solid body electric guitar, and in the 1940’s Paul Digsby and Leo Fender were also influential in creating the designs we know today.
There is a wealth of information on Guitar History on the internet, and as I am by no means an expert in this area I’ll simply leave you with a few links to read further on the subject:
- Wikipedia - The Guitar
- Wikipedia - The Electric Guitar
- Invention of the Electric Guitar
- Stalking the Oldest Six String Guitar
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Topics: Guitar | No Comments »
buy a drum set
By Kevin | April 22, 2008
are you looking to buy a drum set any time soon?
Do you know what to look for?
I’ve helped many students out with such things in the past. It can be really hard to really know the good from the bad, particularly if you are a parent and you don’t know anything about drum sets.
Here are a few quick pointers:
- Look for damaged skins
This will indicate that the drum set has been beaten pretty hard, and likely has had a hard working life!
- Look for rust spots around metal parts
Rust (like on a car) is sure to be a bad thing around any metal… it shows the drums may have been kept in damp surroundings
- Make sure everything is working
Pedals and things have to work… don’t buy a drum kit without everything working completely properly!
There is heaps more on the subject - you really need to do your research very well before spending your hard earned dollars.
There is an e-book available by Drummer Dan Poynter for under $20 which gives you all the info you need to make informed choices about buying drums and cymbals.. and if you read the information throughly you’ll be better prepared and you won’t get ripped off!
Click here to check it out »If you enjoyed this post, make sure you subscribe to my RSS feed!
Topics: Drums | No Comments »