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Guide to Finding Music Online
Are you frustrated because finding your favorite songs on the net has become more of a chore than an enjoyable activity? Read this simple guide to finding music online and your troubles will be out of mind before you download your next Green Day hit! MP3s are compressed music files that are one-tenth the size of regular audio files. As a normal audio file requires about 40 megabytes to download, and MP3 requires four. Although this is still a substantial number, it is much more manageable for the average computer. Thus began the MP3 downloading, sharing and trading craze. There are a variety of options when it comes to playing your MP3s. Media Player comes with Windows, QuickTime 4 comes with Macintosh, and Win amp is the industry standard product. Music can be downloaded from websites or FTP sites. Websites are easier to use. Songs download automatically when you click on the titles. Finding good websites to download from is difficult. The sites that used to work well now dabble in other venues. AlltheWeb .com and MP3 .com usually only contain independent, unknown bands that may be great, but if you're looking for the stuff you've heard of, you'll be wasting your time. Audiofind now carries radio stations instead of music files, and Audiogalaxy .com Music Search requires a subscription. Good websites to use are LycoMP3 Search, MP3 Search on Altavista, MP3 Search at Astraweb, and MP3Bot Search Engine. FTP sites usually require special software. Some free software options include WS FTP and FTP Explorer. Oth Net (Kermit search) is a clean fast way to download from FTP sites directly from the browser that works even better than the software options. In the wake of the Napster downfall, it has become mostly illegal to download and share free music files on the web. Musicians are opposed to the practice, and rightly so, because the free music sharing significantly affects the commercial success of their CD sales in stores. Downloaders tend to think musicians are being unfair by revoking the free music files from the net, but one must remember that selling music is their career. It is nearly impossible to find full albums on the web. These days, musicians will release a couple of new hits onto the net to try to entice the web surfing crowd to wander into the music store and buy the full album. Remember, if all else fails and you MUST have the MP3 of a song, there are thousands of sites to which you can subscribe and pay for the downloads. New bands are always willing to put their music out on the Internet in hopes of getting heard, so free downloads are limitless if you are willing to lend your ear to some new tunes. Keith Kingston is a professional web publisher who offers advice on hoew to find free internet radio stations and source cheap mp3's such as the latest Eminen mp3
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The Revolution of Electric Guitars Sometime during the 1930's electric guitars were introduced onto the music scene, which began a revolution in sound and technology that continues to this day. After Rock and Roll was born in the 1950's, it didn't take very long for electric guitars to grow in popularity and become one of the most coveted instruments of all time. Things really began to take off when the Beatles turned the world on its ear in 1964 by "invading America". Soon to follow were groups like the Rolling Stones, Cream, and the The Jimi Hendrix Experience. Music was forever changed and today electric guitars dominate the scene. Piano Playing Your Way: How To Have More Fun Playing The Piano Than You Ever Have Before Piano playing doesn't have to be boring. There's no law that says you have to play a song the same way everyone else plays it. By learning some basic music theory and chord formations, you can have the time of your life playing music like you've always wanted to. What Works Best in New Age Piano Improvisation Many students want to know how to improvise. What they really want to know is how to be able to keep an improvisation going. How Can You Make A Rock Vocal Sound Better? Admit it... you were expecting a magic answer to this one. You were going to get advice on what plug-ins and effects can turn an ordinary vocal into that of a true rock god. Or goddess. Legend Vega Releasing New Pop CD Legend Vega is scheduled to release her newest CD this summer, Personal Space. Fans characterize Legend's style as a cross between Mariah Carey and a female version of Ricky Martin. She was born under the lights of Broadway in New York City but raised to the beat of Salsa and Merengue on the hot sands of Puerto Rico. Legend Vega is an experienced singer, songwriter, and model. She has just finished recording her newest CD with all of her own material. Her mainstream pop style and her Latin background make her an excellent crossover artist for the U.S. market. Her album features a broad mix of pop music recorded in English but with many Latin influences. The Secrets of Correctly Stringing Your Guitar Why do you care about stringing your guitar you may ask. Well the reason is simple. It will make you sound better because if your guitar is properly strung, you will get longer natural sustain. JOHN LENNON - The Man and His Times John Lennon wasn't always my favorite Beatle; at first it was Paul. But gradually, over a period of time, it was John Lennon who won my heart. I think the transition began sometime during the latter part of the 1960s. Back then, it seemed to my young mind, that the world was falling apart. Revolution and anarchy were on the doorstep. John F. Kennedy, Martin Luther King and Bobby Kennedy had each been assassinated, riots were springing up all over the south, Watts was burning and the war in Viet Nam was escalating. Out of the turmoil a growing hunger was born among many of my generation, including myself, for truth and peace. Buying a Violin "How do I buy a violin, (or fiddle)?" Writing Hit Songs There are a lot of factors to writing a hit song. First, you should focus on writing a good song. Once you've done that, you are not far away from writing a hit. Like most other things in life, it takes persistence, patience, drive, knowledge, belief and maybe some luck. Stop and think about your favorite songs. Really analyze them and figure out what it is that you like about those songs. Different factors may come to play here. Maybe it is the good beat, lyrics that hit home, a beautiful melody, something spiritual or patriotic, or maybe even that it is humorous. If you include one of these elements in your songwriting you are well on your way. If you combine two or more of these elements, you may have yourself a hit. A Good Beat Rhythm is important in music. I have to laugh and think of Jerry Van Dyke on "The Dick Van Dyke Show" years ago trying to play the banjo and sing, "I've got rhy-rhy-thm, I've got mah-mah-music..." But, unless you are very funny like Jerry Van Dyke, your audience is not very likely to stay with you. Your music not only needs to have a good beat, but must fit the genre of music you are trying to write. A Metallica beat in a George Strait type song may not get you very far. A song with a good enough beat might be a hit even with no melody and no lyrics. Remember "Green Onions?" Along with the beat is the tempo. Country music is easy to write (I did not say it is easy to write well) because it is about people's lives and everyday experiences. However, too often people write slow songs for country music, when in fact the industry is starving for upbeat country material like "Country Roads" and "Rocky Top." It is much harder to write a good up-tempo country song than it is a tear jerker. Lyrics in popular music can range from broken relationships to political issues, and just about any point in between. Those that tend to be the most popular are about situations you and I may encounter in our everyday lives; "Workin' 9 To 5," "I Just Called To Say I Love You," "Your Cheatin' Heart," "God Bless The USA" (which ingeniously incorporates spiritual, political and patriotic views). A beautiful or interesting melody can get you into the ranks of hit songwriter with no lyrics required. Going back in time to prove a point about beautiful melodies, you might consider songs like "Last Date" and "Sleepwalk." Songs with great melody lines are very easy to be found in many hit TV show themes like "Peter Gunn," "Hawaii 5-0," along with many of the 60's surfer songs like "Wipe Out." Well done humorous songs usually find an audience, such as Ray Stevens "The Streak," and Jerry Reeds "She Got The Goldmine, I Got The Shaft." If you have a knack for both humor and music, you might make a fortune. Spiritual and patriotic songs, if they are well done and come out at the right time, are easy hits. Every time the U.S. gets involved in any type of world conflict, the songwriters get their pens out. Keep your ears and eyes open, and keep a shoe box to put your ideas for songs in. Every time you think of an idea for a song or a song title, write it down and drop it in the box. It could be your first, or your next, big hit. Paint Your Own Musical Landscapes! I don't know why, but I find the idea of interpreting nature musically to be very appealing. Maybe it's because I'm attracted to nature's beauty, but the notion of communicating that beauty musically has always intrigued me. Songwriting - The Art of Writing a Good Song Did you know that good songwriting is often the key to establishing a successful music career? But more than that, it can be fun! When you write a song you are able to express yourself in new and creative ways. Whether you're sad, happy, angry, or in love... with words, you can fly! How I Learned How To Play The Guitar After Giving Up In Disgust I was 17 at the time (the Beatles era), and it was considered cool to play the guitar. I had a little training in music in elementary school where I had learned how to play the trumpet. I remember that the only reason I started the trumpet was because my daddy had run across an old beat up horn that a woman was selling for $10. Facts about Betty Kresin, Eminems grandmother Irish Fiddle Ornaments When I started playing jigs, my default bowing pattern made a groove like Pop Goes the Weasel: "Long-short, long-short, muberry bush, the long-short, long-short weasel." Liberate your iPod When Akio Morita came up with the idea of the Sony Walkman all of his colleagues at the thought he was completely insane. The general consensus was that people wouldn't want to walk around the streets wearing headphones. Everyone thought the idea was ludicrous and that it would never catch on. Establishing Your Mix Now that you've spent hours and days and weeks and months recording your musical masterpieces (and you've also read my article "Tips for a Great Recording Session"), you have arrived at my favorite time in the studio; The Mixdown. The Various Countries - A Rant About Country Music It is no secret that over the past couple decades country music has struggled with it's identity far more than any other genre in the industry. At this point nobody can really claim to be a country music fan without being questioned what kind of country fan? The answers being seemingly endless, I've broken them down into a few main categories (but really, there could be so many more). The King of the Delta Blues Singers - Robert Johnson Still Stands at the Crossroads Probably the most enigmatic Singer and Guitarist of the twentieth Century is now one of the most revered and respected of all Musicians who make up the Genre of the 'Blues'. I speak of course about the wonderful Robert Leroy Johnson. Born in 1911 in Hazelhurst, Mississippi, in a Deep South plantation, he, in his pitifully short life, has become one of the founding Fathers of the Blues. Adults Can Learn to Play the Piano Too Are you well past puberty and have always had a hankering for tickling the ivories? Maybe you didn't have the money as a child. Or your family was always moving. Or you probably didn't even know there was such a wonderful thing as the piano. Whatever the reason it is never too late to start. Really! Killer Piano Playing Secrets of a Chord Addict! I wish you could have seen me play the piano when I was just learning. I was the nearest thing to "hopeless" that you could imagine. I was into baseball, not music ? and my heroes were Joe DiMaggio, Mickey Mantle, and Ted Williams. (And by the way, I still have a picture of those 3 guys on my wall.) My dream was to hit baseballs like them, not to play the piano.
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