Does It Pay To Play The Yahama P95?

Yamaha has been in the game of producing quality instruments for many years now. The features of the new P95 looked decent on first glance, but after a close inspection, is it really any good at all?

Epiphone Guitars – A History of Excellence

The Epiphone name has a rich history that dates back to 1863 when Anastasios Stathopoulos, son of a timber merchant was born in Sparta, Greece. In 1873 Anastasios began building his reputation as a craftsman by creating violins, lutes and Greek lioutos.

Crooners – The Timeless Music of Barry Manilow, Writing the Songs That Make the Young Girls Cry

When describing the music of living musical legend Barry Manilow, the best description might be ‘all encompassing’. The multi-talented, multi-faceted artist from Brooklyn, New York has attained success on most every entertainment level: singer-songwriter, producer, conductor, arranger and performer. Well into his 60’s, it appears he has no intention of slowing down.

Becoming the Songwriting Expert – Instantly

Gone are the days when you needed to hire experts to do anything and everything for you. With the advent of new technologies, we can become experts in our own rights at just about anything – without spending a half dozen years training for it and spending a ton of dough in the process. Today we can use “expert” tools that help us shorten any of our learning curves of the past. The following are some of the areas that, not so long ago, were reserved for the experts.

Learning To Play A 12 String Yamaha Acoustic Guitar

If you’ve never played a 12-string guitar, you’ve got to try it. I recommend using a very light gauge pick for strumming. Finger-picking style playing is quite a bit more difficult due to the string spacing being so close together.

Legendary Crooners – The “Unforgettable” Nat King Cole

When you think of an icon in relation to any contribution, it stands to measure someone with greatness. That measure is exemplified with the “Unforgettable” Nat King Cole. Nat King Cole was considered a crooner and is associated with greats, Frank Sinatra, Bing Crosby. and Dean Martin. Nat King Cole’s voice is said to be the most distinctively unique of the bunch. He remains a musical icon to this day and has received many tributes and awards since his death.

Songwriting Tips: Creating Commercial-Sounding Recordings

Like everything, there’s good news and bad news, and the bad news ain’t so bad – so we start with that. You need to learn basic recording skills because you’ll be the engineer, producer, mixer, and mastering artist along with being the songwriter, singer, and instrumentalist (if you’re playing your own stuff).

Rockabilly Is “Red Hot” (Your Gal Ain’t Doodly Squat)

Billy Lee Riley was a pioneer of rockabilly; his 1957 “Red Hot,” originally recorded by Billy “The Kid” Emerson, was covered by Robert Gordon in 1977 and sparked a rockabilly revival. Riley said the success of “Red Hot” was thwarted by Sun Record’s Sam Phillips, who put all the label’s promotional muscle behind Jerry Lee Lewis; Phillips responded that unlike the majors, Sun could only afford to promote one artist at a time and that was Jerry Lee.

Country Joe and the Fish: The War, the Cheer, and the “I-Feel-Like-I’m-Fixin’-To-Die Rag”

1967’s “I-Feel-Like-I’m-Fixin’-To-Die Rag” by Country Joe and the Fish was one of the most controversial and memorable anti-war songs of the Vietnam era. Written by Country Joe McDonald, many know the song from the 1970 “Woodstock” documentary. McDonald was ignored by the festival crowd until he launched into the famous “Fish Cheer,” which by the time of Woodstock had been changed to a different four-letter-word chant.

Legendary Crooners – The Evolution of Crooner Sir Tom Jones

Donning tight leather pants and trendy sideburns, Sir Tom Jones rose to crooner stardom in the mid and late 1960’s. Belting out favorites such as It’s Not Unusual, Delilah, and What’s New Pussycat, the sexy sixties heartthrob started his career somewhat raucous and racy. The singer is still going strong, touring and putting out albums. He topped the UK music charts in 2008 with a cover release of Islands in the Stream. The swooning crooner still delivers his unique style to audiences all over the world.

Legendary Crooners – Frank Sinatra Singing It My Way – The Voice of Ol Blue Eyes

The heart throb of many a teenage bobby-soxer in the 1940’s, Frances Albert Sinatra’s career spanned over seven decades. “Ol Blue Eyes,” or “The Voice”, as Sinatra was often referred, took the torch from idol Bing Crosby and continued the crooning craze until the end of his career in the late 1990’s. Frank Sinatra was tagged the first real pop superstar and his music remains an American standard of today. A resurgence of his easy “crooner” technique is seen in talents like Michael Buble and Michael Feinstein.

The Top 3 Best DMB Songs Of All Time – And Why

I can think of no greater example of creative and original thinking as the Dave Matthews Band. I am personally a huge fan of DMB and when I was hanging out with 2 other fellow fan-friends of mine we each picked what we thought were “the top 3 best DMB songs of all time.”

Digital Piano Review – Guide to Advantages and Popular Styles

If your in the market to buy a new piano this article is a must read. It describes why the digital piano is increasingly popular and gives an overview of features and models.

Bowers and Wilkins 800 Diamond Series Speaker Review

Bowers and Wilkins is without doubt the preferred choice of speaker for recording studios around the world. Almost every major artist will have seen a pair of B&W speakers standing in the corner of the sound studio – or indeed in the centre of the stage when belting out their tunes.

The Dragon Line: Music, Sentiment, and The Compositional Response

Question: Does the sentiment initiate the music or does the music initiate the sentiment? This article explores that question.