Neal Schon - Oklahoma City's Guitar God

By Nathan Spencer

It is impossible that you have not heard about Neal Schon if you are a music fanatic and one that has a craving for guitars. This world famous guitarist from Oklahoma is considered by many to be the God of guitar. Born on the 5th of February, 1954, this American guitarist is famous for his performances with the world famous band Journey. Of all the members of the band Journey, Neal is the only one to have played in all of their recordings. Neal, who was born in an air force base situated close to Oklahoma City, picked up the guitar at the tender age of 5.

His father too was into music and was a jazz saxophonist but few people know this. Neal was a fast learner and at the young age of 15 he joined Santana. Prior to forming the group Journey in the year 1973, which he still leads, Neal was associated with Azteca. Those who are familiar with the playing style of this guitarist consider it as soulful. Neal has also recorded albums with various other musicians, apart from the 14 studio albums he has made with the group founded by him.

Neal had been requested by another guitar great, Eric Clapton, to join his group, Derek and the Dominos, quite early on in his career. However, this offer was turned down by Neal, since he was first called upon by Santana. Neal Schon joined Santana for recording the album Santana III. Those who are interested in learning electric guitars will be interested to know that the first guitar used by Neal was an acoustic Stella. Two years later this guitar was replaced for a Gibson ES-335. Neal replaced his stolen Gibson with the 1956 make Les Paul Goldtop reissue and he used the same for quite a number of years.

Neal currently endorses Gibson guitars. "Neal Schon Signature Model Custom Les Paul" is one of the limited editions signature models that are also available. According to Gibson's official website, only thirty five of such custom guitars were built. A number of other guitars were also used by Neal during his vast career and Goldin guitar is one of them which he had used for the single album "Beyond the Thunder", which was released towards the end of the 1980's. Gibson, which manufactures some of the best solo guitars, is endorsed by Schon. - 18424

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It's Never Too Late to Learn to Sing

By Amy Nutt

Whether you sing in the shower or love to belt out tunes at church, singing is a part of your life, and it is never too late to refine your skills. Even if you think you couldn't hold a tune in a bucket, you can learn to sing and improve on your current singing ability. First, you need to dispel some common myths about the human singing voice.

Myths About Singing

Many people fail to learn to sing because they think that they can't. Some think that they were born "tone-deaf," and others think that only a select few have singing "ability." While some individuals do have an inborn ability to control pitch or volume better than others, most people can learn these skills. It is very rare for someone to have absolutely no ability to detect tones, which would be true tone-deafness. Statistics show that only around two percent of all people in the world have this problem. Most people who have trouble singing to a particular pitch simply need to have their ears trained to hear these pitches.

Learn Your Range

Are you a soprano or alto, bass or tenor? Learning your range will help you select songs to sing that fit your voice. Just as a trombone cannot play the same notes that a piccolo does, an alto cannot try to sing the same high notes that a soprano can easily hit. If you choose to take voice lessons, have your teacher help you explore your full range, and then choose songs that fall within the boundaries created by your natural voice.

Breathing Correctly

Correct breathing is the key to good singing. Learn to take deep breaths using your diaphragm muscle, not your lungs. To find your diaphragm, take a long, slow breath, and try to push out your abdomen, keeping your shoulders still. If you can do this, you have learned how to breathe with your diaphragm. Then, project your voice out through your head, not your mouth. Visualize yourself sending your breath and voice out through your forehead. This will train you to use your "head voice," which is far more pleasing to the ear than the standard voice used by most amateur singers.

Sing with Emotion

Once you have learned some basic skill and know what your range is, choose some songs and start singing. When you sing, enjoy yourself. Allow your emotional side to show through your song. If you sing with emotion, people will respond and appreciate what you are singing, even if your voice is not on par with the professionals.

Are You Too Old?

Many adults wonder if it is too late to learn to sing. It is never too late to learn. In fact, many singing teachers will not training children to sing, because their voices are not yet developed. However, as an adult, you will benefit from professional training. You have spent a lifetime learning poor singing habits, so learning to sing as an adult will require the help of a qualified singing teacher. However, with the right training and plenty of practice, you can develop a singing voice that you will be proud of! - 18424

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How To Initiate Your Child Into Music Lessons

By Amy Nutt

Introduction

There are many parents these days that want their children to learn how to do something musical. This could be vocal music lessons or it could be learning to play an instrument like the piano. People tend to feel that their children will be far more accomplished in life if they learn some musical skill. Furthermore, people tend to feel that their children will have a hobby that can carry them through the rest of life if they learn how to be musical at a very young age.

This can certainly be a good idea, but you need to be careful if you want to broach the idea to your child in such a way as to make them accept it. Generally, there are three approaches that you can take when it comes to initiating your child into music lessons.

The Hardliner Approach

Interestingly enough, the hardliner approach is actually the easiest approach to pull off. You don't need any level of dexterity when it comes to this approach. In fact, all you need is a willingness to take a mallet and just go into the conversation swinging (metaphorically of course).

Basically, you need to announce to your child that you have decided on their music lessons. Your child might not want to go, but you should not waver in your hardliner approach once you have adopted it. If you do that, the hardliner approach instantly becomes less useful for future situations. You need to drag your kid to the first few music lessons with this approach and keep doing it until their natural enjoyment of the activity starts to take over.

The Coax Approach

The opposite strategy of the hardliner approach is the coax approach. When you are using this approach, what you basically need to do is coax your child into coming with you to the music lesson. You need to make it seem like an exciting adventure that you and your child can share together and therefore pique their interest in the topic.

When you are using this approach however, you need to avoid being overly enthusiastic about the music lessons. Children can sense false enthusiasm in their parents quite easily and are generally not fooled by it. At the same time, they can sense a lack of interest too. It is a fine line to work, but if you know how to work that line you can certainly get more success out of the coax approach than out of the hardliner approach.

Conclusion

Music lessons for children can be very rewarding if done right. If you want your child to truly benefit from music lessons though, you need to get them to the point where they are regularly attending the music classes. If you don't do that, you can pretty much kiss goodbye any of the long term benefit that they might get out of the exercise. Keep that in mind when you are evaluating what your next move is going to be in this particular area. - 18424

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Where To Get Your MP3s From

By Susan Reynolds

Downloading music has always been a quick way for consumers to get new music without having to go to the store. However there are many different sites on the internet that you can choose from to get music from. The problem is that not all of them are legal and that you can get fined heavily if you?re downloading music from a site that isn?t endorsed by the record companies. Before you choose a site to download from you will want to take several factors into consideration.

The most important part of downloading MP3s is to make sure that the site you are going to be using is legal. It?s extremely easy to download music online without even paying for it and without realizing that it?s not legal. There are many sites that boast that you can download as much music as you want per month. Most of these sites will charge you a monthly fee to download from them. The problem is that they do not have copyright permissions to distribute the music and thus you?re still downloading music illegally even though you?re paying for it. Other websites know that they can?t upload music legally so they act as a gateway for users to share music between each other. This method is very effective for downloading music however it?s still very illegal.

To help you escape all of the illegal sites you should use websites that are well known and that have been around for a while. If you download from a reputable site you won?t have to worry about spyware and viruses invading your computer. It?s very easy for someone to give a virus to another user since there are so many people downloading music from sites that aren?t well known.

The next factor is finding a site that has the best price. You will want to check several sites to get an idea of how pricing works. Some sites will charge a flat rate per song and per album while other sites will charge more for newer music and less for older music. There are a few sites that you can legally download many songs for one price per month however you will not own the song you will have the song and be using it legally.

It?s important to compare different sites to help you find the best music for the best price. Sometimes the best price will be a matter of how much you plan on downloading. You may also want to consider if the site allows you to download other things besides music. You may be able to get a deal on video downloads for your iPod as well. If you?re a parent that will be letting your children download music then you will need to ensure that the site has a way that you can block access to your credit card so that your kids can?t keep downloading music past what you?re already expecting. - 18424

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The Top 5 Guitarists Of All Time

By Nathan Spencer

There are many well-known guitarists in the world who have swept the crowd off their feet with their performance. One of the best in the entire genre of rock music is Jimi Hendrix a widely popular American guitarist. He was born in Seattle, Washington on November 27, 1942 and was the first to use phasing and stereophonic effect in rock recording. Due to his unmatchable contribution he has had many awards to his credit which also includes the UK Music Hall of Fame.

Eric Clapton, a famous English blues-rock guitarist, songwriter, and singer was born on the 30th of March, 1945. Due to his great work he has managed to secure the 4th place in the Rolling Stone magazine, amongst the "100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time". One of his best recordings happens to be the song "Layla" which became an instant hit. Eric has been a member of Cream and Yardbirds and has been included into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame for the same.

Jimmy Page, a famous English guitarist was born on the 9th of January, 1944. He also happens to be a record producer and composer. Jimmy's career started in London being a studio session guitarist and later he became a member of the Yardbirds. Soon after, he co-founded the Led Zeppelin, the famous English rock band. Page, as a member of Led Zeppelin and the Yardbirds, has been included into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Some of his well-known albums are The Firm, Mean Business, and Outrider.

Born on the 24th of June 1944 Jeff Beck was and is a famous English rock guitarist. He is amongst the 3 guitarists who happened to play with the Yardbirds. He has managed to gain the fourteenth position as the "100 Greatest Guitarist of All Time" in the Rolling Stone Magazine plus in his musical pieces he has covered genres like heavy metal, blues-rock and jazz fusion. For his great contribution to the field of music, Beck has won the Grammy Award, for Best Rock Instrumental Performance, four times.

Eddie Van Halen is a Dutch American guitarist who was born on the 26th of January 1955. He also happens to be a songwriter, producer, and keyboardist. The popularity of Eddie can be best defined as being the co-founder and lead guitarist of Van Halen, a hard rock band. The other members of the band were Halen's brother Alex on drums and Mark Stone as the bassist. Definitely, Eddie is one of the best rock guitarists of his time with his ability of high frequency feedback, rapid guitar playing and tapping. - 18424

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