The blues guitar gave birth to pretty much all other forms of music, and for this reason you should look at learning this fascinating genre of music. The blues is considered to be the blueprint for all types of music. The blues came from the Mississippi delta from the cotton workers fields and it developed through the juke joints along the banks of this famous river. Many people believe that blues is depressing music but this is simply not a correct assumption. There are many different styles and moods within the genre of the blues.

These different styles have lead to many different influences of this great music. If you set yourself up with a blues guitar lesson, you will start to learn the most important fundamental parts of this music, and not learn bad technique. These lessons will enable you to understand the fundamental techniques and this will make your playing much better.

You will be able to use these basics that you develop to start to join in with jam sessions with other guitarists. You will also be able to play along to your favourite tracks. Rock and roll came from the blues, and rock and roll in turn has influenced a wide range of musicians. Perhaps you can see the picture of why learning the blues is so useful. The basics you learn will also enable you to start to write your own music, as you’ll be able to understand how the music is put together. There are root notes, solos, and different keys as well as various scales and licks that you will learn.
Getting to grips with this kind of music starts with learning the basics with a good online blues guitar lesson.

One of my favorite music movies, had to be Moulin Rouge.  Even though, it wasn’t entirely music from the eighties, there was enough to keep me interested.  And, how they incorporated all the lines and phrases from different songs was nothing short of genius.  Let’s also not forget how incredible the movie looked.  There’s were some pretty impressive sets here (elephant), and some even more impressive production numbers.  I was quite surprised to discover just how talented a singer and dancer both Nichole Kidman, and Ewan McGregor were.  Nichole was never one of my favorite actresses, but in this role, she did win me over.

If you’ve never seen either of these movies, and like to watch movies online, your in for a bit of a treat.   Another move that has some great music in it, would be the movie Dirty Dancing.  Here’s one I enjoy watching over and over.  While the movie is great, the story and characters are what really hold everything together.  From the starting roles, down to the smallest bit roles, this is a move that obviously enjoyed some great direction and production.  The fact that the music soundtrack went on to being on of the biggest movie soundtrack sellers of all time says something for how good the music is as well.  While it’s not a musical type movie, the Tooth Fairy (2010) movie just stuck in my head.  It’s kind of random I know, maybe because I was thinking of one of Julie Andrews famous musicals that it just jumped out.

And, here’s one more oldie but goldie movie to check out.  All That Jazz by Bob Fossee from back in 1979.  I know, just prior to the eighties, but I must confess to it being one of the movies that got me going with the musical movie genre.

Needless to say, both my wife and I were pretty surprised, as we didn’t know that my daughter even had a YouTube account, let alone was posting videos of herself.  Now this was kind of good and bad.  First of all, my wife was pretty apprehensive as she’s a bit paranoid when it comes to the internet, especially concerning her children.  Me not as much.  But the good thing seemed to be that she was taking an interest in playing piano again, which in my mind is always a good thing.  Anyway, we went home and checked it out.  Found it on YouTube, and gave it a listen.  It was really quite good.  We were both impressed, and so did many of the commenters who had listened to the video.  It had already been viewed like 30,00+ times.  Makes a dad proud doesn’t it?

Anyway, we talked to her about it, and she was even more surprised that we found out about it, then we were when told about it by friends.  Apparently, she had found some free sheet music online, and taught it to herself.  Then she proceeded to record it, and post it online.  It was pretty cool I thought.  Nice to see her playing piano again as well.  I even tried to get her to learn some Radio Head sheet music I also found online.  That didn’t seem to interest her as much, so I left her to find her own stuff she liked playing.  I think eventually she took the video down, as I kept showing it to so many friends and family, she was getting embarrassed by all the attention.  In the end though, I thought it was nice to see how the internet can be a valuable resource for kids.

This was of course, long before the internet, so it wasn’t as easy to just find good world music anywhere.  Now with the internet, you can get samples of all sorts of music to try before you buy.  Maybe a little ancient greek music ( αρχαία ελληνική μουσική ) would be something you enjoyed.  I think, what I liked most about world music, was the variety of different rhythms they employed.  I was brought up as a drummer, in a family of drummers (four boys and dad).  Most music you hear on radio stations these days is pretty cookie cutter stuff.  My the time I got to a certain age, I was ready from something new.

Not only rhythm, but acoustical and flamenco guitar was something that seem more prevalent  in world music like traditional greek music ( παραδοσιακή ελληνική μουσική ) for example.  I think what’s important to take away from here, is to take time to explore things a little.  Like your mom always said when you were a kid, “How do you know you don’t like it, if you never tried it?”.  Sorry Mom, I still don’t like steamed carrots.  But seriously, it never hurts to listen to music from all over the world.  African, Jamaican, Russian, Greek, French, Spanish, or whatever other country may tickle your fancy.

Sure, I know I write a lot about the great bands from the eighties here, but that doesn’t mean I’m a Luddite when it comes to other worldly stuff.  I like variety as much as the next guy.  And you probably do to, even if you’d never admit.  The beauty of getting hooked on Greek or other world music, is that no one else ever needs to know.  You can just squirrel it all away on your iPod under lock and key.  When your plugged into the headphones with the music cranked it’ll be our little secret.

Unlike the traditional headphones which fit with a brace over the head and cover both ears, the earbud is made to go directly into the ear passageway and make the sound more direct for listeners. They are more easily transported to all of your busy spots and often much more easy to stash away when not in use. They are a good option for sport headphones because they are light weight and comfortable to wear when working out.

Many retailers gave a nod to the popularity of the earbud which started in the late 1990s by giving it away free when a customer bought a listening device. The portable CD players that dominated the market at that time were made a little less clunky with the earbud. For many, it was the birth of new sound.

The only thing some listeners complained about was how rough uncushioned earbud plastic seemed to be against their ears. Manufacturers came up with foam covers similar to the foam used for a microphone in order to make listeners more at ease with the devices. There was also a sanitation benefit to earbud covers. They are so inexpensive and disposable that they allow listeners to change them out and keep their earbuds clean.

The biggest benefit to these small miracle sound channelers is the comfort they bring to others around the listener. Unlike their counterparts (the headphones), earbuds make it difficult for others to hear your music. This makes for more peaceful transit rides in cities where people of all musical tastes and cultures are forced to ride the same trains or buses.

The experience of cheap earbud headphones is akin to have a personal stereo that you can place directly in your ear – but for a portion of the price. Many who purchase the earbud cannot remember a time when there was such a foreign thing as headphones. One good brand to look into are the audio technica headphones due to the good price to performance you get.

Two notable and distinct attempts at creating instruments that synthesized sound are the Hammond organ and the Moog synthesizer.   The idea of the Hammond organ was to imitate the sounds (more specifically, the combining of pipes, or ranks) of a pipe organ in a more portable and cost effective music keyboard instrument, using mechanical tone wheels to produce sound.  The Moog synthesizer was created to produce new and distinctive sounds that could be modulated in pitch electronically, and is essentially the progenitor of the modern synthesizer.

The Hammond organ produces sound mechanically and has been used in rock music, particularly during the 1970s.  Todays synthesizers are able to imitate its sound.  The synthesizer, on the other hand, started out as an analog device but, with the help of the transistor, has evolved into a portable, electronic one.

The synthesizer was first used in popular recorded music in the 1960s, and bands such as Pink Floyd used synthesizers quite a bit in th 1970s.  It was in the early 1980s that synthesizers saw their greatest use and popularity in mainstream music, particularly pop rock.  Synths, as they are also known, were used extensively in recordings and concerts by bands such as New Order, Pet Shot Boys, A-Ha, Erasure, and Depeche Mode, all of which are also considered some of the most important exponents of synth-pop.

Synth pop saw a decline in popularity by the late 80s but its influence and the importance of the synthesizer continue to play a major role in music.  The synthesizer itself became portable and accessible – able to be used in concert – in the early 1980s (which allowed it’s popularity to increase), and has advanced technologically quite a bit since then.  The effect is still the same:  unique sounds that expand the creative and aural possibilities of music.

Lately, I’ve been kind of hooked into trance music.  It’s one I’d heard of in the past, but never really paid much attention to it.  Again, I think it really comes down to what your in the mood for.  I’m playing some right now, while I write this post, and I find it pretty motivating while I write.  It sort of just  gets you in the mood to move.  This is not the kind of music for lazy casual surfing.  You can listen to trance music yourself if you want to give it a try.  I’m a drummer, and played a lot from the time I was ten till about twenty one.  It’s still in my blood, and I can’t help but play along while listening to it.

If your looking to learn a little bit more about this interesting genre, then like anything else on the web, it’s always a great idea to talk to others.  A trance forum, is a good place to start.  I used to think trance was all just pounding bass with some  synthesizer thrown in to keep it interesting for the dance floor club.  But, the stuff I like also has some interesting vocal stuff going on.  Not really words so much, but more like Enya or Tangerine Dream kind of mystical floating stuff.  That’s my favorite.  Some of the vocals are actual words, and that’s cool too, but I really like the other stuff.

I guess, it is really a generational thing.  I know, that when I was rocking out to Van Halen, Rush, and Triumph, there was a certain amount of disdain for the generation of hit makers that came before them from my generation.  Now most of those stars made so much money, they didn’t need to wear fake chronographs, not that I would have noticed much anyway.  I was really more into the music, then what my favorite musican was wearing.  I suppose that’s why I liked Phil Collins a lot more than Duran Duran.  I know it sounds a little pretentious, but who cares what a musician wears, or who they sleep with, so long as their music is great.

Although I suppose I shouldn’t get myself all to high and mighty.  As looks did matter somewhat to me.  The look of the album covers anyway.  I would be found guilty of buying more than one record album, because the artwork looked pretty amazing.  Sometimes, even without hearing a single song.  But hey, I also bought my first sailboat without ever having sailed before, so I suppose there was some precedence there.  Anyway, it’s not like I was the first to buy carbon copies when they came onto the market.

I still believe, that it’s the music that should come first and foremost.  Even though I loved MTV from the first day it hit the air, it wasn’t really about what the artists were wearing, as much as it was about visualizing the music that I loved so much.  The little movies accompanying the song were pretty cool.  Don’t even get me going on the whole Micheal Jackson thriller video.  That’s an entire post (or blog) in and of itself.