Archive for the ‘Instruments’ Category
Lee Oskar And His Harmonica
Lee Oskar was six years of age when he was given his first harmonica. One of his biggest influences was Ray Charles growing up. When he moved to the states he would play on the streets with his harmonica for money. With the sax from another member and his harmonica they started a horn section of the band War.
Lee Oskar is known not only for his group War, but also as the manufacturer of Lee Oskar harmonica. Oskar is fundamental in the contributions of rock-funk fusion primarily for his harmonica playing. His improve with the harmonica is one that people remember to this day. It is a big part on why War is still a popular rock-funk group.
There are many types of guitars. Musicians have been playing the guitar for centuries. Not only musicians but people that just love the art of music as a whole enjoy the sound that guitars make. You can do many different sounds with a guitar.
An acoustic guitar is a guitar that uses only an acoustic sound board. As with everything else that evolves so does the guitar. You can even make an acoustic guitar into an electric sounding guitar with the right wiring connected to it. The guitar is one of the many instruments that will stand the test of time.
When you think of a travel guitar it is not what you think. It is not just the traveling with your guitar. When it comes to guitars a few come to mind. You have your acoustic guitar and then there’s the electric guitar.
A travel guitar is a small guitar with a full or nearly full scale length. It is different then the regular normally proportioned half and three quarter scale length guitars intended for children. Travel guitars are airline friendly. This makes it easier to travel with.
Banjo plating is synonymous with country, folk, Irish tradition music and blue grass. But the interesting thing is that it started manifesting in Africa. As enslaved Africans, they adapted other instruments with the same basic design. The influences that Africans had in the development of the music that we hear today are phenomenal.
Through the introduction of the banjo and other musical techniques the banjo with the fiddle is a mainstay. Banjos and fiddles have various strings and some form of drone. Banjos have evolved in style and you can even find electric banjos as well.
Who said all video games were just entertainment? While music video games like Guitar Hero and Rock Band might be all that close to the real thing (with the exception of the drums), these video games have inspired kids to learn to play the real instruments. Sales of electric guitars have seen a huge spike since the release of the popular Rock Band franchise, which features both electric guitars and bass guitars as two of the instruments. These video games, in of themselves, can help kids to appreciate the complexities, and inspire them to learn more about music through experimentation with the actual instruments.
Guitar Hero and Rock Band are great guitars for kids and becoming more popular by the day, and it just might be these two video games that inspire more and more kids to start garage bands and pursue a career in music. While just playing the video games doesn’t accomplish much, one has to appreciate what video games can do to inspire and educate kids and teens!
For the last 15 years I’ve worked in customer service for the phone company-by day at least. But my true passion is music. And although I’ve conceded the fact that I will never achieve mainstream notoriety, I enjoy playing small shows at local coffeehouses, open mics and farmer’s markets.
My music centers on acoustic gallagher guitars and subtle keyboard backing, with an overarching minimalist theme. Since there is a serene, tranquil quality to my music, I like to have a small stage show to enhance the effect. I always set up a couple of glass incense burners before the show and have a couple of muted stage lights that I utilize during my nighttime gigs.
For hundreds of years, mother-of-pearl has been used to decorate clothing, knives, guns, watch faces and turquoise jewelry. Many musical instruments include mother-of-pearl accents, including acoustic guitars, saxophones, banjos, violins, and trumpets. Natural mother-of-pearl has the capability of being tinted to almost any color that will complement the piece it accents.
Another name for mother-of-pearl is nacre. Freshwater pearl mussels and pearl oysters as well as other mollusks produce nacre as an iridescent inner shell layer. The majority of mother-of-pearl is produced by abalone native to California and Japan and the pearl oysters of Asia.
Founded in 1974, Taylor Guitars is a California-based company that makes extremely high-quality guitars and guitar cases. It specializes in hollow-body acoustic guitars and semi-hollow and solid body electric guitars. While Taylor guitars are not inexpensive, they are high quality and will serve you well for a long time. Many famous musicians play Taylor guitars, like Taylor Swift, Dave Matthews and Jackson Browne.
A Taylor acoustic guitar was even in the news recently, due to the breakout popularity of the YouTube video “United Breaks Guitars.” Canadian musician Dave Carroll was travelling with his band on United Airlines when he witnessed his $3,500 Taylor guitar being thrown by baggage handlers. It was broken, and United would not compensate Carroll after a year of his requests. Finally, he wrote the song “United Breaks Guitars” and filmed a YouTube video to go along with it, which finally prompted United to get in touch with Carroll. United even asked Carroll for permission to use his video to train baggage handlers, so other musicians’ Taylor travel guitars may be able to survive the journey!
You can find just about every musical instrument in some kind of electrical fashion. The most common are electric guitars. You can even find an electric violin. Every musical instrument nowadays has a rock type of feel to it.
The use of electric banjos is most common with blue grass and country music. It has a distinctive sound to it. You can point it out in any song that it used in. It is amazing the different techniques that are used for playing instruments.
There are all types of instruments that you can choose to play. If you are more of a brass instrument then a trumpet or tuba will be up your alley. If you like an acoustic instruments then a acoustic guitar is something to look into. Violins are another instrument if you enjoy a more classical feel.
Cellos are the second largest instrument in the violin family. This type of instrument has been known to have the closest to a human voice. In modern music it is not that common. Cellos do have a strong presence in European Classical music.