Live Wedding Music: Five Secrets Wedding Planners Must Know

February 4th, 2010

Arrangements for live wedding music is just one of about a thousand jobs facing couples and wedding planners. Between flowers, photographers, locales, gowns, parties, rings, video recording, and more, even a tiny and low-keyed wedding requires a great amount of planning. It can be a stressful time because if even one of these areas falls through the cracks, your big day can end up being a huge letdown.

Here are five secrets to employing live wedding bands for your ceremony and reception:

1. Be sure you rent a dance band with a established track record of professionalism. Does the director return your phone calls promptly? Does the dance band have a internet site? Business cards? Other promotional materials? Or do you get the sense you’re talking to a guy practicing in his garage with his pals? The way the band represents itself as you begin speaking with them is a genuine indicator of how they’ll come on (or not!) on your big day.

2. Punctuality is critical. When you set an appointment to meet personally or on the telephone, it’s like a mini-contract. If the band director is late to meet with you, it’s a warning sign that they don’t take their agreements earnestly. If they can’t make it on time in the preparation phase, what other arrangements will they abandon with you on your wedding day? This extends on to you, too - being prompt is just one way you can live a life that displays that you abide by your commitments.

3. Make certain the dance band is easy-going rather than being a bunch of prima donnas. By now you’ve probably heard a thousand Bridezilla stories, even if you’re not hard to please or excessive. Imagine engaging the equal in flakiness for your wedding band. The last thing you want on your wedding day is to have to wait on your musicians hand and foot, fetching them food and beverage, having the thermostat adjusted for them, or catering to other demanding wants. The greatest band for you is one that can take care of itself, one that’s easy to get along with, and one that does all it can to make sure your day is fabulous and fun for you.

4. Book a wedding band that’s fun. Getting hitched is one of the heaviest choices you’ll ever make. It’s important business. The music on your wedding day should be beautiful and fun. You don’t want to see your invitees inattentive, spaced-out, and wishing the event was all over. You want them up, dancing, singing, and grinning. If you pick out a live wedding music band well, your choice will do lots to make your wedding day unforgettable in a good way. This is the big day you’ve been looking for, and music is such a critical part of it. Be sure you engage a band that makes the day flawless - pleasurable for you and your invitees.

George Pollis is the handler and a instrumentalist with Reel Ting Steel Drum Band. For a professional, timely, easy-going, talented, and fun live wedding music band, see Reel Ting at http://www.reelting.com.

How Formal Training Can Improve Your Singing

November 22nd, 2009

As a singer without any formal vocal training, you would probably have wondered whether to hire a vocal coach to train your singing voice. Well, your procrastination is hurting your singing career. If you’re in the UK you can find some great singing lessons in London if you know where to look.

Just name me any famous singer who never had any vocal training? Yes, some of them may have gotten popular without any formal singing lessons but all these popular singers, without exception realized that they have to engage a vocal coach at one time or another take their spectacular singing career to superstardom and to stay up there.

So what makes you think that you do not need vocal lessons? If you are already singing professionally, then it is vital that you take up voice training to separate you from the mediocre singers. This is how you can get noticed when you are above the pack and above your singing competitors.

If others do not believe in vocal training and you do, then you would already have won because you will be singing much better and control higher fees for your performances.

You need to take care and respect for your voice. That is your musical instrument and your voice determines whether you succeed or fail in your singing career.

Finding a good singing teacher can be a little tricky. There are many so called vocal coaches out there proclaiming themselves to be singing teachers after merely reading up a few books. As this industry is not regulated, there are many charlatans out there.

The best way to determine a good singing teacher is to ask good singers. After all, they are already good singers themselves and their recommendation won’t be all that bad isn’t it?

However, since singing teachers are human beings, it is thus important that the teacher student relationship is good and you can get along your vocal coach. The chemistry between you and your coach must be good, otherwise when you are singing under stress, your voice will come out as very strained and that voice is awful to the ears. If you can’t along with your singing teacher, then you may need to change your vocal coach.

One way of eliminating this human problem in learning how to sing is to get VCDs, DVD and video singing lessons of famous and proven vocal coaches. Not only is it much less expensive than hiring a vocal teacher, you can work at your own time and own pace. Since the teaching tools are yours, you can practice your vocal training anytime and anywhere. Better yet, you are learning from the best!

Sennheiser - Achievements in the Audio World

September 9th, 2009

As one of the world’s leading manufacturers of microphones, headphones, and wireless transmission systems, the Sennheiser Group with its headquarters in Wedemark near Hanover, Germany, had total sales of over 237 million in 2003. The export share is about 80 percent. Sennheiser has a total workforce of approximately 1,600 employees, of whom 60 percent are employed in Germany. Sennheiser is active worldwide and, in addition to other partnerships, has its own sales subsidiaries in France, the UK, Belgium, the Netherlands, China, Singapore, Canada, Mexico, and the USA.

Established in 1945 in Wedemark, Germany, Sennheiser is the acknowledged world leader in microphone technology, RF-wireless and infrared sound transmission, headphone transducer technology, and most recently, in the development of active noise-cancellation. Sennheiser Electronic Corporation is the U.S. wholly-owned subsidiary, with headquarters in Old Lyme, Conn. Some products are the RS120 headphones, Sennheiser RS130 headphones and the higher end Sennheiser HD650 headphones

The inventions produced by Sennheiser and his team revolutionized the field of sound transmission. Their pioneering developments included the first interference shotgun microphone for the film industry, the first professional wireless microphones for television, reporters’ transmitters, RF condenser microphones for outside broadcasts, the automatic answering machine, the first baby monitor, infrared audio transmission technology and the first open headphones.

Music Videos Are a Vital Part of Online Entertainment

September 1st, 2009

Everyone likes music as they play an important role in our lives. You can discover a complete new experience while listening and watching CDs and DVDs. Online music shops have unique videos for the people having very specific tastes and also for those having broad tastes. Keeping in mind the different tastes, you can see all latest and oldest compilations.

The internet has facilitated you with several streaming audio websites that offer melodious music videos which means that you can now see videos as soon as you like. This also means that you can watch your favourite videos whenever you want to without waiting for it to appear on television. The only thing that one has to do is to just explore, choose and click. There are several online music stores who have well-defined music CDs and DVDs categories and vast archives of excellent videos.

You can choose from any genre you like to see. You can buy music videos of renowned artists like Eddie Grant, Madonna, Night Ranger, Beastie Boys, Metallica, Pearl Jam, Fountains of Wayne, Breaking Benjamin, OutKast and lots more. They form a wonderful means of entertainment.

You listen to music which refreshes your mood and gives a soothing experience to your ears. For example if you see a Goth subculture, there is an influence of music that they listen to. They wear same dress in the club so that, they can be easily identified. Similarly the Ravers also listen to Rave music and have formed their own subculture.

Modal Theory for Guitar Players - Part 1

May 24th, 2008

Introduction

The fact that you are holding this in your hands suggests that you have got to the point in your explorations of, and curiosity about the guitar that the next step is the modes. Maybe it’s because you have read somewhere that Steve Vai loves the Lydian mode, or you have listened to music by Frank Gambale and wondered what he was up to. Whatever the reason, the material you have here should set you on the road to opening up new ways to express yourself, to get different sounds into your melodies and harmonies.

First off you need to know that this material alone will not have you ripping exotic solos up and down the fret board, smoke and fire on your fingertips. It will take the same process and work that has brought you your level of chops with the pentatonic, major and minor scales, arpeggios and your own licks. What it will do is give you the information you need, and the backing tracks so that you can practice and familiarise yourself with the patterns of the modes, and get used to the sounds.

Ultimately it’s down to the time you put in and your motivation to go beyond what you find within these pages. But if you’re serious about learning the modes, you knew that already. Anyone promising you a quick fix, whether conscious or subconscious, is at the very least pulling your leg.

The second thing you need to know is that a certain facility and knowledge is assumed. If you find yourself flailing in a sea of non-comprehension it is hopefully only because you’re not ready to move on to this stage of learning, and you need to tuck this back under the bed and give yourself a little more time with the basics. You could ignore the theory section altogether. It’s up to you what you want to do with this now it’s yours, but hopefully, if you do ignore it now, perhaps you will come back to it and then it should make some sense and help you with other aspects of using the modes.

Let’s start with the good news. There are 7 modes built on the major scale and you already know two of them. The major scale is a mode itself, called the Ionian, and the minor scale is another mode, called the Aeolian. So, more than a quarter of the work is done. If you thought that getting to grips with those two scales wasn’t too complicated, then you should get on fine with the other material here. If you are in a state of experience where playing the major and minor scales in 5 positions on the guitar neck, in any key, is not something that you are familiar or comfortable with, back this goes under the bed. Although both of these modes will be covered you really should be worrying about the basics at this point. Any half way decent book about playing the guitar, or song writing, should provide you with the information to get these two modes under your fingers. For the rest of you, let’s go.

The Modes

Before we get to anything even remotely like playing a scale, we need to have a think about the theory to understand where these modes come from. It is not essential to understand this to learn the modes, you could just learn the patterns, but, knowing some of the theory should help you to know when the modes could be employed, why they sound different etc. There are seven modes, named Ionian, Dorian, Phrygian, Lydian, Mixolydian, Aeolian, and Locrian. The reason why there are seven modes is because each mode is built on a different tone of the major scale and there are 7 different tones in the major scale. If we take the scale of C Major as an example, so we don’t have to worry about sharps and flats, this should be clearer.

As you are probably aware, the C Major scale consists of the following tones:

C D E F G A B C

If we think of the major scale as a mode, then what we are saying is that if we start on the tone C, and then play all seven tones of the C Major scale, we are playing C Ionian. The same is true for any other major scale. If you start on the tone B and play all 7 tones which make up the B Major scale, you have played B Ionian.

Another way to think of this is to consider the way in which this scale is constructed. All major scales are constructed with the same distance between pairs of tones. Again, considering the C Major scale, the distances between the pairs of notes is:

Note Pair…….Tone distance…………Fret distance

C to D……….a whole tone (T)………..i.e., 2 frets)

D to E……….a whole tone (T)……….(i.e., 2 frets)

E to F……….a semi-tone (S)………..(i.e., 1 fret)

F to G……….a whole tone (T)……….(i.e., 2 frets)

G to A……….a whole tone (T)……….(i.e., 2 frets)

A to B……….a whole tone (T)……….(i.e., 2 frets)

B to C……….a semi-tone (S)………..(i.e., 1 fret)

So, we could say that the structure of any major scale, or Ionian mode, is

T T S T T T S

We can check this. You should check this on your guitar neck to convince yourself that it is true, but here we’ll do it on paper. Let’s say we want to construct the G Major scale.

Knowing that all major scales are constructed using the formula T T S T T T S, and starting on G we would get the following:

G up a whole tone to A

A up a whole tone to B

B up a semi-tone to C

C up a whole tone to D

D up a whole tone to E

E up a whole tone to F#

F# up a semi-tone to G

Producing the scale

G A B C D E F#

Do this with other major scales just to check that there’s no trickery here. If you didn’t know that the G Major scale has an F# in it, back under the bed this goes and find a theory book!

Ok, so we can think of the Ionian (from now on the Major scale will always be referred to as the Ionian, as we are thinking in modes here) as having a particular structure. The next theoretical step we’ll take is to build the other modes on the notes of the Ionian, and then look at their structures in exactly the same way. Taking C Ionian again, and only using the tones of this mode, consider the following.

If we take all the notes from C Ionian, and only those notes, and we start on C

C D E F G A B

We are playing C Ionian.

Now we’ll look at the other modes, remembering that as we are building them on the tones from C Ionian, these are the only tones we can use, i.e., C, D, E, F, G, A, and B.

If we take all the notes from C Ionian, and only those notes, and we start on D,

D E F G A B C D

We are playing D Dorian.

If we take all the notes from C Ionian, and only those notes, and we start on E,

E F G A B C D E

We are playing E Phrygian.

If we take all the notes from C Ionian, and only those notes, and we start on F,

F G A B C D E F

We are playing F Lydian.

If we take all the notes from C Ionian, and only those notes, and we start on G,

G A B C D E F G

We are playing G Mixolydian.

If we take all the notes from C Ionian, and only those notes, and we start on A,

A B C D E F G A

We are playing A Aeolian, also known as the
minor scale, which you know.

If we take all the notes from C Ionian, and only those notes, and we start on B,

B C D E F G A B

We are playing B Locrian.

If you know your Ionian modes, then you will have instantly seen that the scales we are producing in this way are not the same as the Ionian modes you know. For example, the G Mixolydian we have built does not have an F#, which the G Ionian does and the F Lydian we have built does not have a Bb in it, which the F Ionian does.

Noticing these differences means you have noticed one of the key aspects of the modes. The reason why, for example G Mixolydian does not sound like G Ionian is because the relationship between the notes has changed, the pattern of tones and semi-tones between the notes has changed and as such the tones in the scale are different. These changes in the relationships are what give the modes their characteristic sounds and determine why they can be used in some instances, and not in others. But more of that later.

You could now start comparing some of your modes. For example, you could play a D Ionian, and then play D Dorian and compare the sounds. You’ll probably hear that your Dorian sounds slightly more ‘minor’. Part of the work you need to find time to do is to start to hear these differences, but when we get to the playing part of this package you’ll be doing that anyway, so just hold on one moment. The next thing we will do is look at the structures of each of the modes, again using as our base example C Ionian. Below you will find each of the 7 modes built on C, starting with C Ionian, the others built on the tones which make up the C Ionian mode (C, D, E, F, G, A, B).

Starting Tone…..Mode Name…..Mode Notes…Mode Structure

C,…………………C Ionian……..CDEFGABC……T T S T T T S

D,…………………D Dorian……..DEFGABCD……T S T T T S T

E,…………………E Phrygian……EFGABCDE……S T T T S T T

F,…………………F Lydian……..FGABCDEF……T T T S T T S

G,…………………G Mixolydian….GABCDEFG……T T S T T S T

A,…………………A Aeolian…….ABCDEFGA……T S T T S T T

B,…………………B Locrian…….BCDEFGAB……S T T S T T T

As you can probably see, each of the modes has its own, unique structure of tone and semi-tones between notes in the scale. What this means is that if you learn, for example, that the Locrian mode is constructed by spacing notes according to the formula of S T T S T T T, you can play the the Locrian mode in any key by choosing your start note, and then building the scale according to this formula.

One final way we can think of the modes shows very clearly how each mode differs from its own Ionian mode. Again, taking as our basis the C Ionian, we will number each of the notes in the C Ionian scale, as below.

C D E F G A B

1 2 3 4 5 6 7

Now, we will look at the modes based on C Ionian, and show how each mode differs.

D Dorian

D…E…F…G…A…B…C

1…2…b3..4…5…6…b7

This merely means that D Dorian differs from D Ionian by the third degree of the scale and the seventh degree of the scale being flattened. So, whereas in D Ionian the scale has an F# and a C#, D Dorian has an F and a C. We’ll look at the other modes in the same manner.

E Phrygian

E…F…G…A…B…C…D

1…b2..b3..4…5…b6..b7

F Lydian

F…G…A…B…C…D…E

1…2…#3..4…5…6…7

G Mixolydian

G…A…B…C…D…E…F

1…2…3…4…5…6…b7

A Aeolian

A…B…C…D…E…F…G

1…2…b3..4…5…b6..b7

B Locrian

B…C…D…E…F…G…A

1…b2..b3..4…b5..b6..b7

What the previous list demonstrated is how each of these modes differs from the Ionian mode starting on the same root node. So, for example, A Aeolian differs from A Ionian by the third, sixth, and seventh degree of the Ionian mode being flattened. Once again, you could learn how the individual modes differ from their Ionian modes and alter the way you play the Ionian to take account of this.

By now you have probably got a bit of an ache in your head from all this theory. It’s not crucial at this stage that you have got all of this committed to memory and have it all worked out. Give it a little time, and when you have had a chance to get a bit of modal playing done, you can pick the ones that you like, or that fit your style, and then just get your head around those ones.

This is end of the main theoretical section. Bits will creep in, or will seem to creep in when we look at chords for each of the modes, but really, as long as you have a basic understanding of music it shouldn’t be any more troublesome than what you’ve been through already. I hope.

Feedback welcome.

Guitarist and therapist: http://members.lycos.co.uk/newtballon/, http://www.hypnotherapies.co.uk, though not necessarily in that order, and not exclusively either.

How to Improvise Using a Few Chords

May 12th, 2008

When a painter is getting ready to paint, a color palette is usually chosen first. For example, if a forest is to be painted, the artist may choose browns, greens, and blues for the sky. Once the palette is chosen, it makes it easier to create the painting. Why? Because color decisions are now out of the way.

We can apply this concept to music as well. In particular, New Age piano playing. In your lesson, Reflections in Water, we have four chords to play with and we have the order in which they are to be played. Now, all that is required “to paint” your sound portrait is the ability to take these chords and play around with them.

Once the decision about what chords to play and how to play them are out of the way, you can now focus on making music. This is how I created Reflections in Water. I knew that the piece would be in the Key of C. I then chose a few chords from this key and fooled around with them.

It can be very confusing for the beginner in improvisation.

There are so many choices and ways to go about making music. This is why limiting choice is important. Also, it is equally important to begin by using simple means. Many students think that if they can’t compose like Beethoven or Mozart, they are untalented. Get rid of this idea quickly. Everyone starts from simple means and it’s a good idea to begin your experience in improvisation the same way.

Edward Weiss - EzineArticles Expert Author

Edward Weiss is a pianist/composer and webmaster of Quiescence Music’s online piano lessons. He has been helping students learn how to play piano in the New Age style for over 14 years and works with students in private, in groups, and now over the internet. Stop by now at http://www.quiescencemusic.com/piano_lessons.html for a FREE piano lesson!

The Great Guitar Playing Secret

April 12th, 2008

So, you want to be a guitar player huh? You want to strut like Chuck Berry, be as cool as Keith Richards, rock like Jimi Hendrix and astound like Steve Vai. You want to wake up in the morning a beginner and go to bed at night an expert. You want to be hero-worshipped and have people chant your name. Idolised, admired, remembered and revered. You want your money for nothing and your chicks for free. You want all that and more!

Good for you! You have ambition; fire in your belly and a lion in your heart. It takes a lot of gusto to want to be a great guitarist. I wish you well and hope you achieve your dreams many times over.

Now that we’ve established that you want to be a great guitar picker, how would you feel if I said I know the secret of being a great guitar picker? Furthermore, how would you feel if I told you I was going to share that secret with you right now, free of charge? I suppose you would think there’s a catch and that really I just want to sell you something. Well, it’s true that I do have an on-line store that sells great guitar tutorials. It’s also true that I would love you to visit and buy everything in the shop. However, that’s not why I’m going to share this secret with you. No way, I have another reason for giving you this information.

When I was starting out playing the guitar, I always wished that I could have known somebody who could already play and could teach me a few things. Unfortunately, in those early days I didn’t know anybody that played. I had to struggle along trying to learn chords, scales and arpeggios from the printed page. I used to worry about whether I was holding the guitar correctly, or if I was putting my fingers on the correct fret or string. A lot of it was pretty much hit and miss. More often than not…..it was miss!!

For that reason, I would like to offer some advice to guitar players that are just starting out. If you promise to listen and take notice of my advice, I promise I will share with you the secret of becoming a great guitar player. Deal? Ok, settle down with a cold can of fizzy pop, and read on……

I’m going to list these pieces of advice one by one in a bulleted list. Remember, the deal is you read and digest the information and then I will tell you the great guitar playing secret. Press your focus and concentration buttons………Now!!

1. BUY A GUITAR TUNER AND TUNE UP! If you don’t know anybody who can tune the guitar for you, and you can’t yet tune it yourself, then you need to invest in a tuner. Do this today! Don’t struggle along on a guitar that sounds like elastic bands on a shoebox. You will not get any enjoyment whatsoever from an out of tune guitar. So, piece of advice number 1 - Tune it and keep it tuned!!

2. CONSIDER LESSONS! When beginning anything in life, it is good to get off on the right foot. A teacher, a mentor, an advisor, call it what you will. To teach is one of the most fantastic things we can do. Find a teacher that takes great pride in what he does. Usually the best ones are found by word of mouth. Ask people, make enquiries, e-mail, telephone, write a letter, anything it takes to find the right person. Remember, no matter how good you get there is always somebody who can teach you something new. Hiring a teacher is not just for when you are starting out, it is something you should consider throughout your guitar playing life. A good teacher will advise you on technique, theory, performance, attitude and practicing. He or she will set you goals and reward you when you accomplish them. He or she will also explain the small things such as the importance of using a metronome in your studies, keeping your instrument clean and changing strings. Advice number 2 - Find a mentor!

3. PRACTICE, PRACTICE, PRACTICE…………BUT NOT TOO MUCH!! What does that mean “Practice, but not too much?” Well, if we want to get good at anything then obviously we do need to practice. With regards to learning the guitar, we need to get our hands to play the right notes in the right way. Although great technique takes a lot of time, effort, commitment and PRACTICE, we need to be aware of when to draw the line. Sometimes we can get that wrapped up in something that we are interested in; we can forget that there are other things in life. Our family, our friends, sports, the theatre, cinema, books, etc… Advice number 3 - Practice to get good, but chill out and relax to get even better!

4. KNOW WHAT YOU HAVE TO LEARN AND ITS IMPORTANCE TO YOU NOW!! There are so many things to learn on the guitar that it is inevitable that you will get distracted. Chords, scales, arpeggios, licks, tunes, exercises etc… They all have to be learnt as they are all important. If you realise the importance of learning these things before you start to practice them, you will stand a better chance of keeping your focus and completing your studies. If you are learning a new chord for example, think about why it is important that you learn the chord. How will it benefit you? How will it help you to advance? How will it help you to evolve into a better musician? Everything you learn is important, understand its importance. Advice number 4 - Make sure you know the relevance of everything you need to learn.

5. LISTEN, LISTEN, LISTEN!! Ok, this piece of advice has two parts. The first part means listen to a lot of music. Try and have many influences. Remember, there is no bad music, only bad musicians. Be open to jazz, blues, rock, funk, pop, country, classical, anything! We can learn such a lot by listening. It plays a major part in our musical development. The second part of this piece of advice involves you training your ears. Try to learn to recognise chords just by the sound they make. Be aware of the subtle differences between a 7th chord and a 9th chord. It takes a long time to be able to do this properly. Stick with it and don’t worry when you get them wrong. Each time you try, you improve a little bit more. Advice number 5 - Use those ears!!

6. PLAY WITH OTHER PEOPLE!! Join a band or form a band as soon as you can. You will learn so much from playing with other people. Put an advertisement in a music shop advertising your services as a guitar player. Don’t worry if you don’t feel ready, do it anyway. The experience will be priceless! Everything improves when you play regularly with other musicians. Your time, your feel, your technique, your confidence, EVERYTHING! Make sure you do this at the earliest opportunity! Advice number 6 - Take the licks out of your room and into a band!!

7. LEARN YOUR THEORY!! Ok, your guitar teacher will probably stress the importance of this to you. The more theory you learn, the more your guitar playing will improve. Learn chord construction, diatonic harmony, learn about triads, intervals, major scales, relative minors, modes, etc… A lot of guitar players don’t like studying theory. Make sure you are not one of them. Advice number 7 - Read lots of music theory books!!

8. VISUALISE!! A lot of people do not realise how powerful a tool this is. There is nothing you can’t do in your mind! Visualisation will not improve your technique. The only way to improve technique is to sit down and play for long hours. Visualisation helps in other ways. It helps you commit things to your long term memory. Use it when learning chords, scales, arpeggios, songs, in fact, anything. There is however, a time and a place for visualisation. You can use it while travelling on a bus, waiting for your date to turn up, while falling asleep at night, sunbathing or relaxing. You must NOT use it while doing anything that requires your full attention. For example; driving, using tools, cooking and riding you bicycle. You get the idea, right? Also, do not ever think that visualisation is a substitute for hands on practice - it isn’t! You have to do that as well. Advice number 8 - Practice in your mind!!

9. BE INQUISITIVE!! The more you play the more chance you have of meeting other guitar players. Never, ever be afraid to ask them questions even if they haven’t been playing as long as you have. We learn off everybody. Ask probing questions to see how they developed their technique. Check out the chord shapes they use. If you see one that you don’t recognise, ask them what it is. Remember your job is to improve your playing at every opportunity - do your job! Advice number 9 - Ask lots of questions and you’ll get lots of answers!!!

10. SMILE!! Sometimes the stress of being a practicing guitar player can get us down. Maybe a lick you are working on just isn’t happening, or no matter how hard you try you just cannot execute a new scale properly. This is normal. Sometimes it’s better to put the instrument down and come back to it later on. Never, ever let it get you mad and never, ever get frustrated. Fight back at these challenging situations with a big smile. Try it now, right this minute. Think of something that is bothering you although deep down you know it isn’t important. Visualise it. Ok, hold it there and…….SMILE! Laugh even. Not just a chuckle but a big laugh right from your belly. Go on, feels good, doesn’t it? Treat your guitar playing challenges in exactly the same way. Deep down you know they aren’t really that important. Tomorrow is another day. I’m not saying don’t take your guitar playing seriously; just stop and smell the flowers now and again. Be optimistic, be bold, be the best you can be and……..smile!! Advice number 10 - Playing the guitar is fun - Enjoy it!!

There you go, that’s my advice to you.

Right, all that’s left for me to do is tell you the great guitar playing secret. Are you ready? Well, don’t tell anybody but the secret of being a great guitar player is………………………………………………………
…………………………………………………………
…………………………………………………………
…………………………………………………………
…………………………………………………………
…….in everything you’ve just read!!

Sorry guys, but there ain’t no shortcut to greatness. If you follow the 10 pieces of advice I’ve just given you then you won’t go far wrong. I still haven’t achieved it and I may never will. One thing is for sure, I’m gonna keep on plugging away, and, who knows, maybe one day I’ll get pretty close. The fun is in the trying.

So, you want to be a guitar player huh? You bet your life I do……

www.jack-sky.com

Peter Jones is the Managing Director of jack Sky Ltd. Based on the banks of the River Mersey in the great city of Liverpool, Jack Sky is committed to providing quality guitar tutorials to advancing guitar players.