Lady Gaga Videos Rocks the Pop World

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If you're looking for someone who is redefining music videos as we know them, look no further than Lady G. This up and coming singer has already put her mark on the industry because of her unique approaches to pop, fashion, and stardom at large. It is the Lady Gaga videos though that really make this woman stand out in the crowd. Featuring story lines fit for feature films, Lady G's music videos take audiences on a journey through the song, rather than just a display of the lyrics. Here we will look at some of the fan favorites that have shown up over the years.

One of the Lady Gaga videos that really made it big was "Bad Romance". Filmed in a Russian bath house, this video showcases some of the craziest costumes we've ever seen from Gaga, including a full white PVC cat suit and matching mask. There is also a part of the video where Lady G walks around in a fully beaded green couture dress that had matching 8 inch heels. In this video, Lady G ends up burning a man alive who had seemingly been keeping her a slave in the bath house. The last scene is nothing more than Lady G lying on a burnt bed with a skeleton by her side.

Another story telling video from Lady Gaga was made for the song "Paparazzi". In this one, Lady Gaga is a star that ends up killed by a man she was having a relationship with. It turns out that she wasn't dead though and she ends up poisoning that man later on in the video. This one of the Lady Gaga videos is more French than anything, but she does speak Swedish in the beginning. The outfits in this one include a figure fitting Mickey Mouse yellow suit with matching black lipstick.

The most controversial of all Lady Gaga videos though just recently came out. Made for the song "Telephone", this video tells a Thelma and Louise type story with Lady Gaga and Beyonce. The song itself is about not answering a phone at a club, but the video brings it to a whole new level. Featuring everything from the singer clad in nothing but caution tape to a dance number for thong wearing inmates, this video literally dropped some jaws when it came out. You can't even watch it on basic MTV because of the risqu? quality of parts of it. This is just another way that Lady Gaga continues to shock us all.

Chloe Torre Has been involved in fashion since she left school originally as a shop assistant in a clothes shop in the the west end of London. It wasn't long before she started to design her own bespoke clothes for family and friends since then she has moved into fashion accessories and has a large collection of fashion and practical glasses based on famous people including lady gaga glasses along with other's like Elton John.

Learn Guitar Online Today

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You could spend hours and hours searching the internet for the best online guitar lessons, but why? There are many programs on the internet the that can teach you how to play guitar. Lets face it, learning guitar is no easy feet. Some people I grew up with that can play the guitar took them years to get good.

There is no doubt that learning guitar is going to take much effort, the reward for that effort is priceless. How many of us have had a dream of playing in a rock band in front of thousands of screaming fans. Maybe you just want to be able to pick up a guitar around a camp fire and just relax and play for your own enjoyment. Playing the guitar is truly an amazing instrument. So where do we start?

Like we talked about, learning guitar takes time, patience, dedication and a willingness to learn. We find time for things we are passionate about. Our passion for music will make us find the time. It can take years of practice and lessons, patience truly is a virtue. Our strong desire and willingness to learn brings everything together and gives us the mindset to learn guitar.

Private lessons are an excellent way of learning the guitar. The live, one-on-one attention from an instructor who is sitting right with you is invaluable. But can we afford years and years of private guitar lessons? Some of us might be able to and that great. However the majority of people just cannot afford full time, private guitar lessons.

The internet is a powerful tool and there are programs out there that will teach guitar at your pace, in your own home. Some things we need to consider are the cost and the quality of the programs. With these programs and our desire to succeed, the dream of learning guitar is obtainable and affordable.

To see a review of the Guitar Lesson programs on the net, please visit http://www.guitarfornewbies.net/.

Thank you and good luck!
Eric

Justin Bieber - First Step 2 Forever: My Story

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Book Review: Justin Bieber - First step 2 forever

Fans of Justin Bieber know that there are a number of books on him and his life, some even unauthorized. The book in question here though is one which has been made by Bieber himself, that is, the information in this one comes straight from Bieber and nowhere else. There are pictures and posters of Bieber in this book but read the inside cover carefully to locate them. If you are a collector then this might be more useful to you, especially if you have the first edition.

Contents

The book contains a statement that every female fan is Bieber's "favourite girl" and a reason for each of them. There is also information on how to get in contact with him and enjoy his concerts.

There is information on his life and his rise to the top. The book also goes over his relationship with Usher and much more.

There is a complete chapter on his hometown and birthplace along with his parents and their divorce. The life they led financially and other stuff.

Then the book goes into more personal details about the artist and his family, how he spent Christmas with them by exchanging gifts in a very extraordinary fashion and he throws some light on how it all worked.

His mother's admitted mistakes and change in her once she got into the church and the importance of God in his life.

The book covers more aspects of Bieber's life and his stardom in addition with YouTube details where Bieber originally got his fans from. It even contains a page which is full of tweets from the artist's Twitter page and then there are the numerous pictures of him in between different actions and positions. The poster which comes along with the book is not a very big one but it does the job for any fan, and there are also close up pictures of Beiber himself with his very well known and distinctive hairstyle.

All in all a really great book for any Belieber, a well written one that takes the reader into Justin Bieber's personal little world.

If you would like to read a chapter of this must have book click here

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Two Awesome Music Reviews

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Good Vibrations, Second Edition: A History of Record Production
Mark Cunningham

Mark Cunningham created Good Vibrations which is a fun and fascinating journey through the history of record production. If focuses on a particular studio and the musicians who produced albums there. It gives insight as production evolved for many of the major pop recordings in our history, including Sgt Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, Pet Sounds, The Dark Side of the Moon, Telstar, Bohemian Rhapsody as well as others. It shows how the productions evolved, gives insights and images not found elsewhere and on the whole, tells an interesting story.

Some of the interviews are of Sir George Martin, Les Paul, Trevor Horn, Hugh Pagham, Tony Visconti, and scores more. The interviews are really fascinating and create a sense of the entire world of record production.

Mark Cunningham's Good Vibrations is an insightful book but fell a bit short with American record productions. Because it was based on a particular studio, I believe much American innovation of music production was left out of the store. Good companion of a book that covered the entire world's record production history.
Sanctuary Publishing

The Techno Primer
Tony Verderosa

The Techno Primer is a superb introduction to techno trends and engineering. The writer, Tony Verderosa, does a one-man techno/remix show, called VFX, and certainly understands the subject. The book includes a multi-media CD which has samples of numerous techno styles, together with a few videos with the creator playing as well as demonstration variations of a bit of music software.

This publication is split up into three parts. Part 1 offers a bit of framework for the techno genres. Verderosa begins with a short background of digital music. This offers enough to newbies to be aware of exactly where techno originated from, without becoming a dissertation. Then the writer discusses the impact of today's technology on dance tracks, which includes computer systems and platters.

Verderosa additionally features a section which does a great job at detailing most of the apparently limitless styles of electronic music. He offers a brief description of every style, along with a small demonstration of the particular styles which he includes on the included CD. For numerous styles, he gives samples of both songs and artists. For instance, his Hip-Hop model brings together low-fi vinyl examples and Acid loops.

Section 2 in the book describes producing Techno Music by computers. It is an extremely high-level overview, yet offers sufficient material to supply individuals serious about starting to create their own techno music certain focus about how to start. It offers short conversations about lots of the well known audio/MIDI programs, and views a bit of the computing devices required for generating audio. Additionally, it includes a brief intro to sound synthesis, along with a conversation on the way the writer produces live techno.

Section 3 is an accumulation Musician Interviews. Verderosa interviews people who take part in techno in a number of capacities. The writer is not a powerful interviewer - he uses the identical set of queries with all of the musicians, even if they don't make a lot sense. Lots of the interviews are with musicians which readers might not have been aware of.

Even so, the interview part is among the finest areas of the book. The interviews demonstrate there are all sorts of individuals creating in electronica, using a variety of talents, skills and passions. For anyone thinking about creating digital music, it is useful to note that there are numerous folks building careers from this, and they're all engaging in various things.

In general the guide will do an excellent job of presenting techno styles. It is mainly geared to people who would like to explore the types of electronic music and producing their very own loop-based audio. Verderosa's The Techno Primer is superb for young techno enthusiasts and musicians, since the book supplies a framework for the different styles of digital music, along with highlighting a number of recent methods to producing electronica.

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The Hunger Games Soundtrack Review

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The Hunger Games Soundtrack: Songs from District 12 and Beyond will be released March 20, 2012!

This is such a highly anticipated, hyped up soundtrack, and for good reason. The movie itself, coming to theatres March 23rd, 2012, is very highly touted and is likely to be THE movie of 2012. It's based on Suzanne Collins, The Hunger Games trilogy, which features the books: The Hunger Games, Catching Fire, and the third and final book in the series Mockinjay. The film is based on the first book of the harrowing saga The Hunger Games.

Suzanne Collins highly acclaimed trilogy has won numerous writing awards including:
New York Times - Book review Editors' ChoiceBarnes & Nobles - Best books of 2008 for Teens & KidsAmazon - Best books of 2008: Top 100 Editors' Pick & Top 10 Books for Teens

The executive producer is none other than renowned Oscar and Academy Award winner, T Bone Burnett. You will be blown away by the rich and diverse sounds and talents which resonate throughout the album. Hooking up to assure that this soundtrack will garner a huge cult-following now, and likely for years to come are: beautiful, mega-talented, chart-topping, Grammy Award winning Taylor Swift, The Civil Wars, Kid Cudi, Jayme Dee, Miranda Lambert, and many more. It's a roster chalk-full of uber-talented artists that will not disappoint.

Check out the final tracklist:
Arcade Fire - Abraham's DaughterThe Secret Sisters - Tomorrow Will Be KinderNeko Case - Nothing To RememberTaylor Swift - Safe & Sound (Feat. The Civil Wars)Kid Cudi - The Ruler and The KillerPunch Brothers - Dark DaysThe Decemberists - One EngineThe Carolina Chocolate Drops - Daughter's LamentThe Civil Wars - Kingdom ComeGlen Hansard - Take The HeartlandMaroon 5 ft. Rozzi Crane - Come Away To The WaterMiranda Lambert - Run Daddy Run (Feat. Pistol Annies)Jayme Dee - RulesTaylor Swift - Eyes Wide OpenThe Low Anthem - Lover Is ChildlikeBirdy - Just A Game

Taylor Swift did a masterful job in the lead video, "Safe & Sound," from the film soundtrack, which she debuted on MTV.

Arcade Fire will also be contributing to the soundtrack with the song Abraham's Daughter. Don't leave the movie early and miss it because it plays during the final credits.

You are able to pre-order the soundtrack now, through Amazon. And don't worry about a thing, because they protect your purchase with their Pre-order Price Guarantee, which assures that even if the price drops, between your pre-order date and the actual release date, you still are guaranteed the lowest price... Enjoy!

Pre-order now for The Hunger Games Soundtrack here, and to find out everything else you need to know about The Hunger Games trilogy check out The Hunger Games review blog.

Oliver Sack's Musicophilia - Book Review

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Oliver Sack's Musicophilia bridges the gap between music and the brain by using case studies he has personally dealt with and otherwise. The stories range from the totally bizarre to the horribly tragic. Music can affect the brain in peculiar ways. The studies cover how music cannot only be a miracle for the brain but also a torturous thing that haunts it.

The book is organized with chapters that focus on specific ways in which music affects the brain. The book primarily focuses on telling the stories of those affected by music. However, it also analyzes the stories to an extent and talks about how our knowledge of music and the brain has grown because of the case presented. The conclusions that Sacks draws throughout the book are interesting and engaging.

One particularly engaging story was about a Parkinson's patient who used the mesmerizing sounds of a drum circle to calm the tics. His circle consisted of other Parkinson's patients. Sacks recalls watching this inspiring group all sit down at their respective drums, doing their best to not let their tics get in the way as they waited for the leader to start. As soon as he did, the tics stopped almost instantaneously. It was as if some unexplainable force of nature had somehow seeped into the bodies of these patients and enraptured them in serenity and control. It has been proven that a steady, predictable drumbeat, when played in the presence of Parkinson's patients, can almost completely prevent any tics for the duration of the drumming. Even so, we have not even scratched the surface when it comes to using music in a therapeutic setting. That being said, Sacks uses this case and many more to prove that the beneficial effects of music are simply overwhelming and must be investigated further.

For anyone who is interested in music, psychology, or just wants to be amazed, Musicophilia is an excellent read and is extremely informative. This book hopefully will encourage many to see the importance of continued research in the field of music psychology.

Oliver Sacks is currently a physician, best-selling author, and professor of neurology and psychiatry at Columbia University Medical Center. He has written ten books including Awakenings and The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat. He has been involved with a number of feature films, documentaries, and stage adaptations that have been based off of his case studies. Take a look at his website at http://www.oliversacks.com/.

Erika St. Denis is a music education major and studies on the saxophone privately at Ithaca College. She has a considerable amount of performance and teaching experience and hopes to continue that trend. She has a great interest in music psychology as evidenced by this book review! Check out Erika's professional website and blog which she updates frequently at http://www.erikastdenis.com/.

Nikki Sixx's Heroin Diaries - Forward to the Past

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The Heroin Diaries - A Year in the Life of a Shattered Rockstar, Nikki Sixx with Ian Gihins, Pocket Books, 2008.

This is not actually a book, but more of a collection of entries from Nikki Sixx's 1987 diary with additional commentaries by various people who were mentioned in his entries. This is like an additional text book for the hard hitting New York Times bestseller The Dirt, the complete autobiography of his world famous hard rock band, Motley Crue, straight from the horse's mouth. I will be reviewing The Dirt later. Now, let us focus on The Heroin Diaries - A Year in the Life of a Shattered Rockstar by Nikki Sixx with Ian Gihins.

Nikki Sixx was and still is the bassist and principle songwriter of Motley Crue, one of the most influential and prominent hard rock bands in the history of American rock and roll, if the world would be an overstatement. Their insubordinate and wild attitude both in life and music, on and off the stage, was the elementary constituent that shaped the whole music industry in the 1980's. Cock Rock, Glam Metal, Hair Metal, call it what ever you want but it all undeniably started and revolved around bands like Crue when Steven Tyler and Joe Perry were too busy knocking each other off the stage.

Through this diary we can dive deep into Nikki Sixx's life of rock n roll, booze, drugs and sex. Most of the entries contained either about Sixx doing drugs, trying to be sober, preparing to go on stage and a bit about his fellow band members here and there. Each entries comes with additional commentaries from his band members, former managers, ex-girlfriends and Sixx himself, trying to put in little bits of details about what really happened on various events mentioned in each of the entries. That very much helped the readers to understand what in the name of hell is he talking about.

The lay out of this book is all over the place so you really need to focus on what you read. Ghoulish arts and drawings here and there and most of the contents were either black, white or red in color. It was a bit of a turn off for me because more than once that these horrendous lay outs distracted my eyes from reading the texts. Like I said, this book is just a supplemental read for The Dirt. For those who wanted to know more about Motley Crue, I would suggest that reading The Dirt would be more than enough. For collectors, this is a must.

I write about heavy metal music in an obscure land called Malaysia. Help me make my writing better. visit my blog: http://www.thebulletbelt.blogspot.com/

Book Review - Standing in the Shadows of Motown

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What's Standing In The Shadows Of Motown About?

Standing In The Shadows of Motown is a book about legendary Motown bass player James Jamerson. The book is part biography (part 1), part analysis of his style (Part 2) and a collection of 50 or so transcriptions of Jamerson's bass parts (Part 3).

How Is It Presented?

Standing In The Shadows was originally published in my preferred format with spiral binding. My original copy is nearly 20 years old and is still in great condition, despite heavy use. However I bought a copy for a friend and was dismayed to find that Hal Leonard have reverted to a solid binding.

Each of the transcriptions in Part 3 of the book has been recorded by a 'name' player, along with a backing track. The recording has defined stereo separation so you can pan to one side and hear just the bass, or pan to the other side and play along with the now bass less backing. Contributors include Pino Palladino, Anthony Jackson, Will Lee, Paul McCartney, Gerald Veasley, Geddy Lee, John Entwistle, John Patitucci, David Hungate, Rocco Prestia and a whole lot more.

How Could This Book Be Better

There are a few ways this book - which is already outstanding - could be made slightly better.

Firstly the transcriptions are presented in a random order. It would make more sense in my opinion to order the transcriptions either chronologically - so the development of Jamerson's style becomes clearer to the reader/bass player - or the transcriptions could be presented in order of difficulty from easy to hard.

When I wrote my book Deliberate Practice I used this book as an example in the practical section, and I've done the work of ordering the transcriptions in a notional easy to hard order, so if you're interested you could check it out.

A second way the book could be better would be by updating it and including some examples of Jamerson's isolated bass parts from the original masters. There are several performances like this on the Deluxe CD that accompanies the film of the same name - and the author was heavily involved in that, so permission shouldn't be too much of a problem. It's an extremely informative exercise following along with transcriptions when we can hear Jamerson's bass line front and centre.

A third way the book could be better would be the completion of some of the transcriptions. For example there is a fragment of Cloud 9 - but from a personal point of view I'd like to see the complete transcription!

A fourth way the book could be better - and this is purely subjective! - is the inclusion of some transcriptions of more tunes! Personal favourites that I'd like to see included in an ideal world include Different World by The Four Tops, At Last by Stevie Wonder, Fever In The Funkhouse credited to Jamerson himself, Love's Gone Bad by Chris Clark, Living in Shame and Love Child by The Supremes. And a bunch of others.

Review Summary

Standing In The Shadows Of Motown is a great book. You could spend years studying it and devising exercises to incorporate elements of what Jamerson did into your own playing. For bass players serious about getting better - irrespective of their current ability level - Standing In the Shadows is a must. My spiral bound version gets a 5 star review. The hard bound version is still great - but once you get into studying with this book it will fall apart. My recommendation is that you carefully remove the binding and take it to a Printers and get them to spiral bind it.

One Caveat: this is one of the few bass books out there with no tab. So you need to learn to read music to use it.

If you want more bass related info, head over to my how to play bass website where you'll find video lessons, articles, reviews and much more. There's also a monthly ezine you can sign up for - in return for signing up you'll get a PDF file with 5 cool bass lines in - and each month's ezine features a bass line in music notation and bass tab.

http://www.how-to-play-bass.com/

Music - The Heart Healer

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Music, the name itself is lyrical. As if the 'seven notes' flow in a single word. Music is the same wherever you go - The seven notes denote its existence and the songs exist from it. Music has delighted the singers and audience from time unknown. The Raags are considered to be an integral part of Music. Nothing is complete without them. The same music is given different names - as in the south it is known as the Carnatic Shastriya Sangeet and to the north it is termed as Hindustani Shastriya Sangeet or the Indian Classical Music. In any musical style, the grammar and the way each notes are pronounced are taken care of.

There are basically twelve Swaras (Notes). They are grouped in saptak (octave) out of which seven are Shuddhas (pure) and the rest five are called Vikrit (sharp/flat).

The seven shuddha (pure) notes are:
Sa Shadja
Re Rishabh
Ga Gandhar
Ma Madhyam
Pa Pancham
Dha Dhaivat
Ni Nishad

And the Vikrit Notes are:
Komal Re (flat)
Komal Ga (flat)
Tivra Ma (sharp)
Komal Dha (flat)
Komal Ni (flat)

Hence, when sang together they come out:
Sa Shadja
Komal Re (flat)
Re Rishabh
Komal Ga (flat)
Ga Gandhar
Ma Madhyam
Tivra Ma (sharp)
Pa Pancham
Komal Dha (flat)
Dha Dhaivat
Komal Ni (flat)
Ni Nishad

The seven notes are sung in three ways:
Aaroha: Ascending of the notes. Here each note is higher than the preceding note.
Example: Sa, Re, Ga, Ma, Pa, Dha, Ni

Avaroha: Descending of the notes. Here each note is lower than the preceding note.
Example: Ni, Dha, Pa, Ma, Ga, Re, Sa

These are just a basic information on music. Get to know more about through from Classical Music 101: The Complete Guide to Learning and Loving Classical Music by Plotkin, Fred. Coralhub.com provides for the online shopping of this book at 14% discounted rated.

Nuances of Hindustani Classical Music

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Book: Nuances of Hindustani Classical Music
Author: Dr. Hema Hirlekar
ISBN: 9788178062068
Page: 200
Price: INR 395
Publisher: Unicorn Books

For those who listen to Hindustani classical music or those who are looking to improve their knowledge for better appreciation of the music, 'Nuances of Hindustani Classical Music" written by Dr. Hema Hirlekar is the ideal choice.

Hindustani classical music has become very popular in the last few years. Concerts held all over the world are packed to capacity. Statistics reveals that only a handful of audience truly appreciate the classical music with any degree of knowledge. This book aims to lift the rest to total enjoyment at par with the handful circle.

The canopy of Hindustani classical music is vast. There are many books in the market that explore Hindustani music from different angles, sometimes focussing on just one part such as Khayal. Refreshingly, Hema Hirlekar has produced a unique blend that is at once easy for a raw listener yet comprehensive for highly initiated. It is organised for extremely easy understanding of the musical terms, the music, the genres, the gharanas, and the concerts.

Some special features of the book:

* It explains all aspects of Hindustani classical music ably supported with lively anecdotes.
* It carries a useful glossary of prevalent terms and explanations, and not just with dictionary meanings.
* A dedicated chapter on how to appreciate music, what to expect from a concert and what, when and how to listen, is included.
* An interesting take on popular raags unlike in any other book, describes the raag, its features, moods, rasas, and related popular songs sung at specific times.

The recommendations by renowned vocalist Pt. Vikas Kashalkar, classical flutist Pt. Keshav Ginde and dean of music faculty, Delhi University Dr. Anjali Mittal make the book stand out from the rest. A CD revealing the finer points of the music accompanies the book.

Divine Weeks

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Most of us go through a stage in our life where we really want to do or try something but most of never take that step. 33 Days tells the story of a group of southern California rock band members who did take the step. Three of the four members had never been on their own on July 29, 1987 when they climbed into a rented van and left LA for a national tour. They had no idea of how they would be received nor what affect the trip would have on each of them.

Bill See, the author of the book and the singer/leader of the group, felt the urge to break away from an unhappy home life and believed at the age of 22 he was ready to let his music help others break away from their own problems. For three years his band, Divine Weeks, had been playing around in the LA area. They had been received well enough that Bill knew they could become a national name.

His closest friend, Rajesh Makwana, was the guitarist in the group and was having an extremely hard time leaving his Indian family. Their culture did not joyfully accept his band association. Raj had been subject also to much taunting both in England before the family moved to the states and then in this country. Bill was the closest and best friend he had ever had. So Raj was definitely in on the idea of the tour since music had been the best release from his somewhat unhappy life.

Another of Bill's close friends was George Edmondson who was not only the band's bassist but had been dubbed by some to be the best bassist in the LA area. George was also fired up about the trip because he also had become somewhat depressed with his college life and wanted to see Divine Weeks become a national name. However though unhappy with college he still had plans to go on to grad school and he had become quite serious with a young lady.

Dave Smerdzinski was the fourth and final member of the group. Somewhat older and used to living on his own he had recently joined the group and become a powerful force due to his nature, his drumming ability, and his showmanship.

Ian Bader was the group's road manager and pretty much the steadying influence and caretaker of all of them.

For 33 Days they traveled through the western part of the country playing concerts in every type of venue that can be imagined. The shows were played before some packed houses and some very small groups but everywhere they were well received and built quite a following.

However they also had many problems and everything was not as easy as they had imagined it would be. Food, lodging, travel expenses in general were hard to come by for a new practically unknown band as they started out.

Each of the individuals did some growing on his own and they definitely grew as a group as their music and style spread across not only the country but even to MTV and other outlets.

There are many, many references to rock songs of the era as well as groups that were the idols to Divine Weeks. It sometimes seems to be necessary to be a fan of the music and participants to get full enjoyment from 33 Days. The author also tends to lose the thread many times because he moves from present day to past happenings without always making clean breaks.

It is however an easy read and quite enjoyable as the reader makes the trek along with these fired-up young musicians in their van as they travel the rock music venues of yesterday's scenes.

Book furnished by Bill See and Bestsellersworld.com

Anvil! The Story of Anvil Book Review

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I do not know why I had not lifted this one of the bookshelf earlier. Since that day, I made it a mission to get my hands on this book as soon as possible and 2 days ago, I finally got it. Anvil! The Story of Anvil is one hell of a read. I spent one whole day finishing this one. Anvil is a Canadian heavy metal band and many considered them the first few bands whose music paved the way for the entire genre of Speed and Thrash Metal, among those in agreement are the likes of Scott Ian of Anthrax and Lars Ulrich of Metallica.

Basically this book illustrates the journey of two friends, Lips and Robbo, childhood friends who made a vow when they were fourteen years old to rock together, for ever and they meant it. It was an emotional journey. They toured with all the greatest bands ever lived. You name it, Whitesnake, Bon Jovi, Aerosmith, Scorpions and all of these bands sold millions and millions of records around the world except Anvil.

It depicts a story of staying true to yourself, staying true to your dreams, not losing hope and to do things not for the sake of doing it but for the love it. When they first stormed the scene back in the late 70's and early 80's, everybody thought that Anvil was the band that will turn the world upside down with their brand of fast and odd timing heavy metal. Though most of the lyrics are kind of sleazy, but musically they were revolutionaries, ahead of their time. They should have made it big.

Anvil remained obscure. Nobody knows about them. But they were true to their dream to become rock stars and to become successful. They kept releasing albums and do small tours. They lived for music. It takes a heart of a lion to have that kind of dedication, my friend. This also a story about friendship, a story of two heavy metal brothers staying true to each other despite their ups and downs of life. Fighting personal demons in the shape of drugs and what not. It is an emotional read. Whether they finally achieve that dream or not, that you must find out on your own if you choose to read this book.

This book came in support of the movie, a documentary made about them which goes by the same name. I have yet to watch the movie, but judging by the power of this book and the trailer I just watched recently, I know it is a must that I go and see the movie. Even by watching the trailer almost made me cry. I am a fan.

I write about heavy metal music in an obscure land called Malaysia. Help me make my writing better. visit my blog: http://www.thebulletbelt.blogspot.com/

Unsung Heroes - People Who Make it Happen

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We are pretty much aware about the tasks of music bands and the extreme sports athletes at the Vans Warped Tour but have we ever thought about the people who are raison d'?tre for putting together such a great show?

With over 100 bands performing live each day on the Vans Warped Tour, it takes a colossal task to plan and execute properly, so that things are up and running. Who are the real heroes behind the success of the grand festival.

You will be surprised to know that there are more than 400 people who travel with the tour for the entire duration of the rock festival. These folks toil all times of the day, every day to make it happen. Each day they get up at 6 AM in the morning to set up lighting rigs, stages, sound systems and vendor booths. They meet up well before time to schedule the performances for the day. So, who are these people and what do they do?

1. Bus Drivers: There are more than 17 band buses and 19 productions buses (excluding the extra ones) which run day and night, from one place to another. These buses and trucks cover a distance of approximately 500 miles each night and it requires mettle to drive non-stop with almost no rest.

2. Tour nurse: A typical tour nurse hands out more than 1000 Band-Aids and drains out more than 4 bottles of aspirin in each tour. And of course it has to be; after all they are the only ones accountable for the health of artists, fans, crew and the athletes.

3. Caterer: It is virtually impossible to cook for more than 400 people 5-6 times a day but the tour caterer has done it over and over again. With his very own 18 wheeler mobile kitchen, the caterer is ready to cook almost anything any time of the day.

4. Production engineers: It takes a challenge to organize more than 100 music bands and make them perform their best on 10 different stages on a single tour. Production engineers are the ones responsible for it.

5. Security: To ensure that everyone has fun and yet are safe in the entire tour, Vans Warped Tour employs more than 70 security personnel each day.

6. Merchandise Vendors: Fans often wish to collect a souvenir, a T-shirt or a CD so that they remember the fun they had at the tour. For this purpose, merchandise vendors set up and break down their booths each day of the tour.

7. Road crew: Road crew members are in charge to test and tune musical instruments, setting up and breaking down lighting rigs and arranging things in case of emergencies.

8. First Aid tent Personnel: They are always there to treat minor injuries, bandage cuts and even to rehydrate the drained out folks at the tour.

9. Tour Clean-Up Personnel: Once the show winds up, the tour clean-up personnel begin with their work. They collect garbage in large poly-bags and sometimes, the trash weighs up to four thousand kilograms. The personnel work all through the night so that the next morning when the fans return, they find a clean place to hang around.

The author has been writing articles online for over 4 years now. Not only does this author specialize in health, fitness and relationships you can also check out his latest websites on Queen Size Futon and Plumbing Hand Tools [http://plumbinghandtools.com]

Funk and Disco Grooves For Bass & Guiitar - Book Review

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Bernard Edwards of Chic laid down some essential funk grooves during his time with Chic. Finally someone has had the foresight to transcribe some of his greatest grooves and present them for the bass community. Stuart Clayton has released a book of both Bernard's bass lines AND Nile Rodgers' guitar lines. The book is called Funk & Disco Grooves For Bass & Guitar.

So What's The Book About?

This book is a collection of transcriptions of both guitar and bass lines to a host of great tunes that were played on by Nile Rodgers and Bernard Edwards. The book covers songs from Chic, Sister Sledge & Diana Ross - as well as the song they produced for Carly Simon called Why.

How Is The Book Presented?

Because these songs relied heavily on sections built upon grooves that then repeated, the transcriptions are not always presented as 'whole' songs. Instead you might get say the intro, the verse, the chorus and the bridge.

The transcriptions themselves are published in standard notation with chord symbols and tab.

The book is around 140 pages long and soft bound. Stuart Clayton the author has self published this book and previous books of his have featured spiral binding - sadly, this one doesn't have a spiral binding. As well as the transcriptions there are some short sections on gear and technique, and the history of how Chic came together.

What Songs Are Included?

The book features bass and guitar lines to 20 songs. These include Dance Dance Dance, Everybody Dance, Strike Up the Band, Le Freak, Chic Cheer, I Want Your Love, Happy Man, He's The Greatest Dancer, We are Family, Lost In Music, Thinking of You, Pretty Baby, Good Times, My Feet Keep Dancing, My Forbidden Lover, Upside Down, I'm Coming Out, My Old Piano, Burn Hard and Why.

How Could This Book Be Better

There's no CD to playalong to with this book - the author states that he thought about it, but then decided it would be better to play along to the original recordings and absorb the essence of groove directly. I still think a CD would have made this better though.

Some video lessons - whether available with the book, or as additional content accessed via the internet - would also have been good. Especially some footage of the unusual 'thumb as pick' technique that Bernard Edwards used on Everybody Dance.

And from a personal viewpoint there are some songs that Bernard played on that I'd have liked to see included - and some that are included I'd have liked to see not included. But that's always going to be the way with projects of this nature.

Summary

This is a 5 Star book. Even the lack of spiral binding can't stop me giving this book 5 stars. The bass lines of Bernard Edwards are well worth of study and reproduction. Don't let the fact that Chic were a 'disco' band fool you - there are some serious bass lines going on and we should all be thankful to Stuart Clayton that he was transcribed some of Bernard Edwards's finest moments for us.

If you want to learn how to play bass to 10 songs head over to my website at http://www.how-to-play-bass.com/ and subscribe to my free monthly ezine. You can instantly download PDFs with notation and bass tab to 10 songs in return for subscribing. Plus there are how to play bass videos, articles, reviews and tutorials and more.

Top 5 Myths About The Music Business

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If you are involved in the entertainment business then you've probably heard a few tall tales. The following is a list of some of the top myths about the music business.

1. People in the music business will help you out of the kindness of their hearts.

Facts:

The music business is called the music business for a reason. It is a business that just so happens to sell music. Businesses are in business to make money. They are not in business to make ART, however they will sell it. You may find a handful of good Samaritans willing to help for free but generally speaking if helping does not benefit the other party, they won't help.

"People (not counting loved ones) will help you if they think your art will make them money. They will not help you if they think your art will not make them money." -David Naggar, Esq. from  The Music Business Explained In Plain English-

2. Since the economic decline people aren't buying music anymore

Facts:

People are buying music, but they aren't buying it in the same way they used to. Sales of CDs may be down but the sale of single tracks is up! If you are still an unbeliever just check iTunes sales records. Reportedly, Apple has sold 10 billion and counting!

3. Music superstars have and are making tons of money.

This is one of the biggest myths in the entertainment business. When you see a Sean Kingston or Lady Gaga on television you may think that they are living the good life, but really the amount of money he/she brings home is really dependent on the terms of their contractual obligations as well as their money management skills. Simply put, if you spend more than you make you are bound to go broke sooner or later.

Need examples:

MC Hammer

Marvin Gaye

Michael Jackson

Willie Nelson

Toni Braxton

Billy Joel

George Clinton

Isaac Hayes

Jerry Lee Lewis

Ron Isley

Need anymore? The list goes on.

The fact of the matter is that all of these artists have seen the highs and lows of the music business. Micheal Jackson, the "King of Pop", even had his money woes. No "superstar" is exempt. Good money management skills are needed in order to maintain a "superstar" lifestyle.

4. You can become an overnight celebrity in the music business.

This is one of the most common myths about the music business. People believe that you can sign a record deal and then all of sudden you are magically on magazine covers and receiving Grammy awards. All of this talk is nonsense. At the end of the day it takes a decent amount of leg work, dedication, passion, perseverance, and strong networking relationships to achieve "success" in the music business. NO ONE HAS BECOME SUCCESSFUL OVERNIGHT however, some people have achieved their goals faster than others. Artists such as Wiz Khalifa, Kanye West, and Eminem spent years building their reputation and brands to become the people they are today. This is why working smarter and not harder is essential in the music business.

5. Talent Trumps Work Ethic

In today's music business, talent still counts but work ethic counts for more. An extraordinarily talented person with average work ethic will generally not do as well as someone with extraordinary work ethic and average talent.

A strong work ethic, more often than not, means that you can be consistent which is of the utmost importance in the music business.

Why?

One word. Marketing. Being able to consistently deliver high quality to the consumer is paramount.  This is where work ethic trumps talent. A person that is able to consistently deliver a satisfactory product to the consumer is, in the words of Charlie Sheen, WINNING! Because of our increasingly shortened attention spans, having someone or something consistently in our faces helps in branding the product, service, or person. Ultimately, this results in people getting paid!

O Holy Night! So Deep, So True!

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By far and I mean BY FAR this is one of my absolute and without a doubt favorite songs ever written, composed, played and sung. It's not just a Christmas song for me but something that stirs my heart and mind year round. I can't listen to it without wanting to break down and cry. I think there's a little place in heaven reserved for a choir who will sing this song over and over and over and people will want to hear it for all of eternity. Sometimes God does things for men (generic) that moves their hearts so deeply it breaks the chasm between heaven and earth. A little history....

"The words and lyrics of the old carol 'O Holy Night' were written by Placide Cappeau de Roquemaure in 1847. Cappeau was a wine seller by trade but was asked by the parish priest to write a poem for Christmas. He obliged and wrote the beautiful words of the hymn. He then realized that it should have music to accompany the words and he approached his friend Adolphe Charles Adams(1803-1856). He agreed and the music for the poem was therefore composed by Adolphe Charles Adams. Adolphe had attended the Paris conservatoire and forged a brilliant career as a composer. It was translated into English by John Sullivan Dwight (1812-1893)."

Why would God have a 'wine seller' write such an amazing poem? I suppose it's the way He does things, not just at Christmas but all through the year. He picks the least of us, the least of mankind to do things that at the time may seem special but may last for eternity. It's His prerogative to pick through the masses and decide who will do what and at what time. And it's not always in the enormous earth shaking events. Most of the time it's ordinary, very non important people in the scope of the world that He uses to humble us all. Check out the 'real' lyrics...

O holy night! The stars are brightly shining,
It is the night of the dear Savior's birth.
Long lay the world in sin and error pining.
Till He appeared and the Spirit felt its worth.
A thrill of hope the weary world rejoices,
For yonder breaks a new and glorious morn.
Fall on your knees! Oh, hear the angel voices!
O night divine, the night when Christ was born;
O night, O holy night, O night divine!
O night, O holy night, O night divine!

Led by the light of faith serenely beaming,
With glowing hearts by His cradle we stand.
O'er the world a star is sweetly gleaming,
Now come the wise men from out of the Orient land.
The King of kings lay thus lowly manger;
In all our trials born to be our friends.
He knows our need, our weakness is no stranger,
Behold your King! Before him lowly bend!
Behold your King! Before him lowly bend!

Truly He taught us to love one another,
His law is love and His gospel is peace.
Chains he shall break, for the slave is our brother.
And in his name all oppression shall cease.
Sweet hymns of joy in grateful chorus raise we,
With all our hearts we praise His holy name.
Christ is the Lord! Then ever, ever praise we,
His power and glory ever more proclaim!
His power and glory ever more proclaim!

Our weakness is "no stranger"...thank you. In His name all oppression shall cease...thank you. I wonder if God's going to have to tell me in heaven to 'fall on my knees' like He has to now. In the end "all men will fall before Him". It's songs like this that make me fall here on earth. Thank God for this song that goes way beyond my Christmas. Until next time...

P.S. So you know, I started this with Celine singing and finished with Weezer singing it... transcends all!

Scott VanHoogstraat is the owner and Editor of http://www.lifeafter49.com/ a blog devoted to perspectives on growing older into the second half of this life

The Funkmasters - The James Brown Rhythm Sections - Book Review

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This is a review of the book 'The Funkmasters' by Allan Slutsky and Chuck Silverman. This book is not just for those learning how to play bass, it also includes drum parts and guitar parts. So it can serve as an instructional source for a rhythm section.

So What's The Funkmasters About?

The Funkmasters is a book/CD package chronicling some of the best work of the James Brown band rhythm sections during the period 1960 to 1973. 23 songs are discussed and each song has individual mini lessons on the bass line, the drum line and the guitar line. Additionally there is brief biographical and stylistic information about all the players involved.

How Is The Funkmasters presented?

The book is hard bound, around 140 pages long and comes with two CDs that reproduce every single note in the book. Each song is presented as a master score - that is all the instruments are together - and the accompanying CD track has all the instruments played. Then each individual part has its own mini lesson - which is also reproduced on the CD, often at slower tempos to facilitate learning.

The songs transcribed in the Funkmasters focus heavily on grooves. So for individual songs there might be mini lessons on the verse groove, the chorus groove and the bridge groove. The songs are presented in a chronological order so that you can trace the development of the James Brown sound over time - and each song is presented in its historical context.

Songs transcribed include Think, Papa's Got A Brand New Bag, Out Of Sight, I Got You, I Got The Feeling, Licking Stick, Funky Drummer, Sex Machine, Super Bad, Hot Pants, Make it Funky, The Payback and more.

How Could The Funkmasters Be Better?

The Funkmasters book could be improved in the following ways in my opinion. Firstly, as I never tire of saying the book could be spiral bound. That way if you are going to use it for lots of studying - and there are lots of grooves to work on in this book - it will lie flat on your music standing without sustaining any damage.

Secondly the book is a rhythm section study. But if you are working on it with a fellow drummer and guitarist then each of you have to own the book, and you each have to damage your binding to get it to lie flat on a music stand. A better way might have been to have a 'Rhythm Section Practice Version' where the individual instrument parts for each song are printed on detachable pieces of paper so that the musicians can put those on their music stands.

Thirdly some interviews with some of the surviving rhythm section members would have added some additional background material to the book that would have seriously enhanced it. Bass Player Magazine did an issue with interviews with the surviving James Brown bassists which was both illuminating and inspiring. That could of material - repeated with the drummers and guitarists - would have made an excellent addition to the book.

Summary

If you're interesting in adding funk to your how to play bass journey then this is a great primer. James Brown was about grooves - and this is a thesaurus of sweat stained grooves that is essential vocabulary for you to learn. This book gets 4 and a half stars (it loses half a star for the solid binding).

If you want more bass related info, head over to my how to play bass website where you'll find video lessons, articles, reviews and much more. There's also a monthly ezine you can sign up for - in return for signing up you'll get a PDF file with 5 cool bass lines in - and each month's ezine features a bass line in music notation and bass tab. http://www.how-to-play-bass.com/

Bass Grooves by Jon Liebman

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What's Bass Grooves About?

Jon Liebman is the author of several highly respected bass tuitional books covering various styles of bass guitar. His latest book - subtitled 'the ultimate collection' - is a collection of riffs, licks and grooves in various styles.
The grooves are collected into various sub-styles. Those styles are:

(i) Blues
(ii) Jazz
(iii) Rock
(iv) Funk/R&B
(v) Reggae
(vi) Country
(vii) Latin
(viii) Other Grooves (gospel, hip hop, disco, etc)

The author's aim is to provide you with a source book for licks and grooves in different styles that you can master and add to your bass playing 'idea' book. These are practical licks that you can in working situations - ranging from jams, working bands and original bands.

How Is It Presented?

Bass Grooves is 96 pages long and published by Hal Leonard. Hal Leonard have pretty high production standards, so the printing is very clear and very readable. All of the musical examples are presented in notation and bass tab.
Additionally there is a CD that accompanies the book that has all of the licks recorded on it so that you can hear how the bass licks sound. The bass is panned to one channel, so it's very easy to pan your stereo and then play along with the drums and the chordal backing (guitar).

Production standards on the CD are also really good - the CD sounds good and the separation of the instruments is precise, so the CD really does work as something you can practice along with.

What Topics Are Covered?

The different areas of bass grooves that are covered were summarized briefly above. Most styles of music are covered here - even if only briefly.

How Could This Book Be Better

There are some areas that would make a good back outstanding in my opinion.

Firstly - and a pet peeve of mine - the book has a hard binding. This means it won't lie flat on your music stand. I don't know why Music Publishers won't publish books that are meant for working bass players in spiral bound format - or give us the option to have that, even if it costs extra. If you use a book with this kind of binding a lot you'll end up damaging the spine and the book will fall apart. I have a number of books in my library where this has happened - and yet my copy of Standing In The Shadows of Motown (which is spiral bound) and I have had for nearly 20 years is still in really good condition.

The second area the book could be improved is in some guidance for beginners. Most beginners won't know how to take these grooves and adapt them to different keys. Or how to adapt them to different chord progressions.
Or different styles of music. A detailed tutorial on how to do that would have been an excellent feature.

The third area where the book could be improved is with the CD. Some of the grooves will be too fast for beginners to play along too. The provision of backing tracks at say three different tempo levels would have made the grooves far more useful for many beginners.

Review Summary

Although I've pointed out some areas where this book could be improved I have to be realistic and probably the first and third areas I pointed out would probably substantially increase the cost and decrease the profit margins. So there's little likelihood of that ever happening, at the end of the day it's the Publisher who sets the rules on these kind of decisions.

This is a very good book though - and I highly recommend it. Working through each groove will give you a vocabulary of ideas that will really help develop your playing. Additionally I'd recommend that you learn to read music if you can't - these examples are provided in all keys so they are good reading practice too. You can never have enough 'good stuff' to sight read. If you only buy the book for that you'll get your money's worth.

I'd rate this book at 4 and a half stars. (The half star deduction is for the binding - I loathe solid bound music books!). This is a good addition to the library of any one who wants to learn how to play bass.

If you want more bass related info, head over to my how to play bass website where you'll find video lessons, articles, reviews and much more. There's also a monthly ezine you can sign up for - in return for signing up you'll get a PDF file with 5 cool bass lines in - and each month's ezine features a bass line in music notation and bass tab. http://www.how-to-play-bass.com/

Play Bass With Muse - Book Review

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I'm a great fan of people learning how to play bass to apply their knowledge of the bass in real world situations - i.e. songs - as quickly and as often as possible. It's a great way to push your playing forward - much better than the rote learning of scales for example - and for those interested in rock bass lines who want to move onto some harder material the bass lines of the band Muse give great material to work on.

The one problem for players looking to push their technique on is that often their playing ability in the early days of their how to play bass journey outstrips their 'hearing' ability - and so finding accurate representations of these bass lines is critical. The internet is awash with inaccurate or incorrect tabs, so it is often best to seek out published books of bass lines.

For those bass players who want to play rock, and especially those of intermediate standard who want to push their playing on, a great book they can use is Play Bass With Muse.

Now this book is published by Wise Publications and is easier to find in the UK and Europe than it is in North America. However you can find it - and if you're a beginner I do recommend that you make the effort to track it down and order it.

This book contains nine Muse bass lines. They are notated out in standard music notation and bass tab. Additionally there is a CD that comes with the package that has versions of the track with the bass on - so you can hear how it is supposed to sound - and then also has a version of the track without the bass on so that you can play along in a reasonable simulation of a band setting.

The songs included in the book and on the CD are:

Bliss
Hyper Music
Hysteria
Muscle Museum
New Born
Plug In Baby
Stockholm Syndrome
Sunburn
Time Is Running Out

The book comes in a soft binding and weighs in at around 55 pages. The actual music itself is printed very legibly and is very easy to read and use. As well as the bass lines themselves you also get the chords for the tunes and the melody line notated out - so you can do some in depth analysis of what Chris Wolstenholme is playing and work out why it works so that you can reproduce that for yourself.

I recommend this book/CD package for intermediate bass players looking to push their techniques and abilities forward. Chris Wolstenholme of Muse plays hard, fast and aggressive bass lines - often with distortion. So it's a chance to add some pedals to your collection too!

This book gets a 4 star rating and is recommended for intermediates.

If you want to learn how to play bass to 10 songs head over to my website at http://www.how-to-play-bass.com/ and subscribe to my free monthly ezine. You can instantly download PDFs with notation and bass tab to 10 songs in return for subscribing. Plus there are how to play bass videos, articles, reviews and tutorials and more.

Arnel Pineda - One Mans "Journey"

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One of the benefits of growing up in the 80's was listening to legendary bands like Journey in their rise to the top.

I have to say that I was truly inspired last night watching Oprah of all shows. All I have to say is WOW!

I am going to reveal to you a story of struggle and victory here.

Rock Bottom

Coming from a family of four siblings and a sick mother who passed away during their younger years, Arnel was separated from his family who was dispersed to different relatives after his mothers death. Hospital and funeral bills bankrupted the family and they were left to fend for themselves. Arnel fended off hunger with odd jobs, sharing the little he had with his siblings. He was destined to do something and kept on moving toward his dream of becoming a great singer.

The Big Break For Arnel Pineda

Arnel had the gift singing and assumed the role of music journeymen hitting stages in Olongapo, Makati, Singapore and Hong Kong. This took him out of poverty, allowed him to rent a warehouse in which his brother moved in with him. While it was still a far cry from Hollywood, it was a step up from living on the streets.

Personal Challenges

After breaking away from his traveling band, he had a child at the age of 20 but did not marry till later on. He had 2 failed relationships during that time. Though disappointing, Arnel pushed on compiling numerous original material. He started covering great artists like James Brown, Robert Plant and Journey. Foreigners took a liking to his new found talent.

It turns out that through the magic of the Internet a lone fan uploaded his live video performances on YouTube and the posting came at a right time. A legendary rock band was in search of a singer and spent two days scouring Youtube for their future talent.

Journey Guitarist Neal Schon came across Arnel Pineda's performance of a Journey Hit on YouTube and "POOF", history was in the making. After exchanging numerous emails with Arnel, they flew him to San Fransisco and the rest is history.

The "NEW" Journey

Arnel Pineda is now touring the world with the legendary rock band Journey and his dreams have come true. After watching his performance on the Oprah show, I was touched, inspired and moved by this mans uncanny willingness to do whatever it took to rise out of the situation he was in and follow his God given destiny to greatness.

I hope this inspires you to never give up, always move past the obstacles in your life that you run into and rise to the top of your game. For Arnel, this is only the beginning. His new record with Journey went Platinum within three months of being released, he was able to provide a home for his family and his financial woes are gone, FOREVER!

Are you going to turn your excuses into reasons? Don't Stop Believing...

Josh Boxer

Have a look at Arnel Pineda

To Learn How To Live The Life Of a Rockstar, Like Arnel Pineda, visit Internet Wealth Pros

Decoded by Jay-Z

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Book Review: Decoded by Jay-Z

The book in question is more or less how to gain success no matter what life may throw at you. Jay-Z in fact is quite similar to the entrepreneurial master Warren Buffet and they both have similar independent thinking patterns. Both of these guys ignore what others say about them and they take your own steps in life. You may be aware that while Warren Buffet's mentor was his own father, similarly Jay-Z had a mentor in his sixth grade, known as Miss Lowden. Jay Z grew up in New York City, at the place where the J and the Z lines of the subway meet. He has defined the same thing that Warren Buffet has termed as "Discipline to not get caught up in the moment".

Since there are many who doubt Jay Z's stamina as an entrepreneur or a businessman, i advise you to take a look at the statistics. Jay-Z's record sales statistics are very impressive, 11 back to back number one albums which is in itself a world record for the most number one albums by a solo artist. In addition, he has sold over 50 million copies of his albums over the world and won 10 Grammy Awards. The numbers show that he is one of the best musicians or promoter of music that there has ever been.

If you give this book a shot, then you will enjoy the read since it brings out one of the best businessman's ideas, the way he looks at things is unique. The book is quite different from the normal day to day type biographies.

Decoded by Jay-Z looks into the mind of a truly fascinating character, if you are a fan of Jay-Z then this book delivers his career from beginning to end in a phenomenal manner.

If you would like to read a chapter of this inspiring book click here

For your chance to get a free iPad or amazon kindle do check out http://powerfulreviews.com/ thanks.

The New James Taylor Easy Guitar Tab Book

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I came to know about James Taylor through his cover of Carole King's song 'You've Got a Friend'. The fingerstyle guitar work in the song really drew my attention, as it was a time when I was working on my finger picking technique. I started to learn more about the artist and found more fingerstyle oriented music in his 'Greatest Hits' album. As I soon find out, the album was certified diamond and had been sold more than 11 million copies worldwide. I really enjoyed listening the album, which features most of his best works from the 1970's.

Although mostly known for his singing in evergreen numbers such as Fire and Rain, Carolina In My Mind and You've Got a Friend, James Taylor is also a virtuoso fingerstyle guitar player in his own rights. His intricate finger picking style can be heard through out his songs and are not easy to imitate by an untrained ears. I can still remember listening to the intro to Fire and Rain for the first time and thought it was one of the best acoustic guitar intro that I ever heard. For anyone who's been looking for an easy way to learn some of his classic tunes on the guitar, now there's a TAB book that can teach you how to play them!

'The New Best of James Taylor for Guitar: Easy TAB Deluxe' is a highly accurate transcription of some of the best songs recorded by the artist. It is notated with a guitar 'TAB' and also features complete lyrics for every track. With this book, you can expect to learn 12 songs which are: Cooperline, Country Road, Don't Let Me Be Lonely Tonight, Fire and Rain, Mexico, Millworker, Shower the People, Steamroller, Sweet Baby James, Walking Man, You've Got a Friend and Your Smiling Face.

If you're a complete beginner, it would be a good idea to spend some time on dedicated finger picking lessons, as a through understanding of the basic in this style of playing will help you a great deal when working with this book.

The one thing about TAB books is that, it will only be the most useful when you already know what a particular song should sounds like prior to studying it. For that reason, you are going to need the original recording by your side as reference. By the way, there is nothing better than listening to an original recording by James Taylor himself.

Eddie Kisah is a guitar teacher and webmaster of edguitar.com. Visit his website for free guitar lessons as well as to find out where you can get the best deal for the book.

Guitar Aerobics by Troy Nelson

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Book Review: Guitar Aerobics by Troy Nelson

This book is an astonishingly good book except for the audio content that comes with it. I believe that the audio content could have been organised in a more easy to understand way.

There are two CDs that come along with the book and the first one consists of audio tracks, one for each week which plays the different licks that you require for the week. This helps you to hear them out and understand the sound by getting accustomed to it. It is important that you go through all the lessons in order to get to any other lesson that you want and this sometimes gets a little annoying.

Timing is one of the most important things required for being a good guitarist and CD 2 helps you with that by using the number of metronomes and different rhythms that it contains. Go through the book to understand how to go about and mix and match both the CDs together in order to optimize its usefulness. You can play the licks first in order to memorize them and then play the metronomes for the rhythm. Although changing the CDs again and again for licks and rhythms makes it a little annoying but if you keep your head about, then it is worth the effort.

I think that an independent audio track for each lesson accompanied by the licks as well as the metronomes and rhythms would have made for a better and more useful CD. Having said that the book is still immensely useful as is. The book contains each of the lessons along with the musical notes, the tabs and the chords plus the strumming and picking patterns. The same techniques are practiced on again and again meaning that every Monday will be an alternate picking exercise while every Tuesday will be string skipping exercises and so on. All this and more makes this book to be one of the best guitar books available in the market and I would advice any guitar student to use it.

Guitar Aerobics by Troy Nelson is a smart and natural way to improve your guitar technique and is highly recommended by myself and my friend who has played guitar for over 15 years.

If you would like to read a chapter of this excellent guitar techniques guide book click here

For your chance to get a free iPad or amazon kindle do check out http://powerfulreviews.com/ thanks.

Bang Your Head - The Rise and Fall of Heavy Metal - Review

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Bang Your Head: The Rise and Fall of Heavy Metal, David Konow, Three Rivers Press, 2002.

I always have been fascinated with both music and history and a book about the history of a particular music is just like killing two birds with one stone. I have read a few books about the history of heavy metal and Bang Your Head is the least elevating one. Of course it was a fun read, but all Rock n Roll books are fun to read. The only thing that made me bought this book is the fact that I have yet to find a book about the rise and fall of the 80's Cock Rock scene, and this book, although not as comprehensive and thorough as I hoped it should be, contained some murky information about the craze, the 80's world wide fad, which helped launch MTV to a gainful and profitable broadcast.

Towering hairs and cans of hair sprays, fishnets and spandex, groupies and backstage passes and the unforgettable Power Ballads and yes, the bands. Bands in the likes of Motley Crue, Guns N Roses, Quiet Riot and Poison took the world by storm. It made its way to the Malaysian shores and before you know it, Search, Wings, Lefthanded and May, just to name a few, became Sunset strip's little ambassadors.

The book is 496 page thick and the front cover depicts the dullest book cover I have ever seen. Being a person who normally judges a book by its cover (literally), it would have been better if the publisher opted to coat the front cover black and print the title somewhere in the middle white, I would have bought the book right there and then. The cover was sort of a cut and pastes assemble, with xerox quality coloration that I believe for the purpose of going after the old school fanzine feel.

The story telling was light; it gave a good bird's eye view of the cock rock scene back in the early 80's; the book was a fun read nonetheless but it could have been better though. Besides the lack of depth, the book was also in short of photos. You do not write a book about Rock N Roll, describe the glorious vista of the legendary Sunset Strip, illustrate hundreds of crazy ass bands and have just a couple of photos in it!

I write about heavy metal music in an obscure land called Malaysia. Help me make my writing better. visit my blog: http://www.thebulletbelt.blogspot.com/

The Big Acoustic Guitar Chord Songbook Review

AppId is over the quota
AppId is over the quota

If you're looking for easy songs play on acoustic guitar, it can be hard to know where to start. While the internet is full of guitar tabs, these are often inaccurate, and may be beyond the abilities of new guitarists. A lot of them are also songs that you've probably never heard of, and have no interest in playing.

However, another option is at hand in the form of The Big Acoustic Guitar Chord Songbook series from Wise Publications. Let's take a look at what this book has to offer, and see if it really is a good choice for those looking for easy acoustic guitar songs.

What Is The Big Acoustic Guitar Chord Songbook?

As the name suggests, this book contains a number of songs complete with chords, which can be played on the acoustic guitar. More precisely, it consists of 191 pages and 78 songs. The book has a paperback cover and is in easy to read A4 format.

Is It Any Good?

Overall, I think this is a good book, although it is not without its flaws.

Musical styles - the book contains songs across a wide range of musical genres. It was published in 2001, and the songs range from that time back to 40 years previously, so there's a lot of classic rock and pop in here, as well as more modern songs. The artists covered include The Beatles, Pulp, The Corrs, Bob Dylan, Bryan Adams, Oasis, Blur, Eric Clapton, The Jam and many more.

So if you're looking for classic hits that most people recognise, chances are you'll find a good few of them in here. However, if you're more interested in specialist genres or more extreme musical forms, this is probably not the book for you.

Ease of use - the book is laid out in a very clear and simple way. For each song you get the full lyrics with chord symbols added in the appropriate places. Each song also includes chord box diagrams which show you how to play all the chords that are required for that song, which is useful if any of the chords are unfamiliar.

However, the book does not contain tabs or written notation, and if you don't know the melodies of the original songs, this will be an issue, as they're not included here. And while there's a playing guide which gives some useful hints, it's not as if every little step is spelled out for you, which may or may not be a problem.

Accuracy - according to the blurb on the back cover, each song has been arranged in the original key from the original recordings. However, like most books of this type, some of the chords have been simplified, as you'll discover for yourself if you listen very carefully to the original songs and compare them to the chords that are given in this book. This isn't a problem, as they still sound 'right', but if you want to play a note-perfect rendition of the original, you'll probably need to rely more on your own ears.

Playing level - some of the songs in this book contain very easy chords, whereas others are more difficult. Beginners will find the book of value, but those who have a bit more experience will probably get the most from it, as many of the songs will be too difficult for complete beginners to play initially. Also, the lack of step-by-step playing guides may be a problem for those who are just starting off.

Verdict

If you're a guitarist who is interested in playing a wide range of well-known hit songs on your acoustic guitar, this is a great book to have. Just be aware that it is something of a barebones guide - as the title says it's a chord book, so don't expect to find tabs or notation in here.

This book is so popular that Wise published a whole series of sequels - click to find out more about the other volumes in The Big Acoustic Guitar Chord Songbook series.

And to play these songs well you'll need some solid rhythm guitar techniques, which can be gained from following a course of top quality guitar video lessons such as those offered by Jamorama. I bought this course myself and was very happy with it - you can get started for free over at http://learntheguitaronline.info/

Sam Marks is a guitarist and musician who likes to write about music-related topics and sharing helpful, top quality resources, and may receive compensation as a result of making these recommendations.