Monday, July 13, 2009

The Amazing History Of Gibson Guitars

By Frank Frederics

Anyone that has just started playing guitar or has been playing for a little (or long) while has probably wanted to have a Gibson guitar if they do not already own one of the many fine models. Over the years, Gibson has made themselves known as a top player in the music and guitar industry and many famous guitarists have been using their guitars exclusively.

Gibson began with their first guitar that they brought out to the world back in 1936, the ES-150. This popular guitar became, at that time, top electric guitars for jazz music for its sound alone. For it's time, it was quite an accomplishment in the music world.

However, it was in 1952 when they released their most well known and popular model, the Les Paul. The first Les Paul solid body electric guitar had a single coil pick up called the P-90 which is part of the reason for the amazing tone that they can produce by a skilled player.

About nine short years later, they came out with another very popular model (best known for being used by AC/DC's guitarist, Angus Young), the SG. Some people say that the SG stood for standard guitar. This guitar has a thinner body than the Les Paul creating a slightly different tone.

After the success of these two guitar releases, Gibson started designing other models which included the Explorer, Flying V, Firebird and others. Just about all of the models of guitars became very successful which says something for the company itself.

With the amount of other guitar companies emerging in the music world, it is amazing to see Gibson staying on the top end of the pack. They have always been committed to making the highest quality instrument that they are able to make. If you do not own one yet, get one or at least try one out!

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Sunday, July 12, 2009

Online Bass Lessons: Learn Without Adquiring Bad Practice Habits

By Marshal Washington

Maybe you're a fan of Flea of the Chili Peppers, or Sting, or Paul McCartney. Bass can be almost as prestigious as drums, the bass is more important to a bands sound than the drums are. Drums set the tempo, but bass truly sets the groove of the song. It's both rhythmic and melodic.

Tune all your strings one by one by matching the sound of the strings to the corresponding note on your tuner. Tuning your bass is not hard. But as with any other instrument it involves practice,and of course, practice makes perfect. After a while you may find that you do not even have to rely on an electronic tuner to tune your bass.

Whatever your reasons, you want to learn how to play bass. You don't have to go to music school to do this. You can take online bass guitar lessons. You don't even need a bass guitar to start out with. Any acoustic guitar will do, since the top four strings of any guitar are the four strings of a bass guitar. What you learn on an acoustic guitar you can then transfer to bass.

The standard tuning of a four string bass guitar from highest (thinnest string) to lowest (fattest string) is G-D-A-E. On a five string bass the tunings are similar with the addition of a low B string. On a six string bass guitar, a thinner (higher pitched) string is added, and is tuned to C, In other words on a 6 string bass guitar the settings are B-E-A-D-G-C, where B is the fattest string or lowest note and C the highest and thinnest.

Learning how to play slap bass and incorporating slap techniques into your bass playing will not only make you a better bass player, but also a more versatile one. To learn slap bass is not as hard as some people may think. You just have to keep with it and you will get it.

When you hear the term learn slap bass, what it refers to is learning how to play certain techniques on the bass guitar. No matter what the other instruments in a band sound like, the bass guitar is crucial and is really the glue that holds the whole thing together. Slap bass is a way of playing the bass guitar.

Also, crucial to slap bass is the "snapping" sound produced by pulling the strings up and letting them snap back onto the fretboard - this is called "popping". Of course, all the other more usual techniques of bass playing are still used, such as hammer-ons and crosshammers, lift-offs, slides, string bends and harmonics - but rather than plucking the string with the finger or pick, it might be slapped with the thumb or popped.

A bass guitarist/bassist is like the anchor of a band. He/she outlines the harmony of the music being performed, while simultaneously indicating the rhythmic pulse of it. The bass guitarist is like the lifeblood of any band, and the bass guitar is his/her tool of choice, used to mesmerize audiences. A bass guitar is a bass stringed instrument that is played with the fingers.

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Saturday, July 11, 2009

The Best Titles For Your Xbox 360

By Larry Moon

Searching for an Xbox 360 game can be a little bit tough, because of the amount of titles that are piled on retail shelves daily. The reason there are so many titles on the shelf for Xbox is because they were the pioneer of the seventh generation gaming consoles that were released. The newest games that come out for the Xbox 360 are almost $60 no matter what the title is. So instead of going out and blowing your money on a cool game that looks awesome on the box, you should consider these titles.

One of the top games last year based on reviews from very well known gaming sites was Fallout 3. Fallout 3 was developed by the same company that made Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion, and is an engrossing action role-playing game with post World War II setting. The Character levelling system, unreal graphics, and open-ended game play earned Fallout 3 some of the highest marks last year from reviewing sites. So if you were an Elder Scrolls IV fan you will definitely be a fan of Fallout 3.

Role-Playing games have been in high demand on the Xbox 360 ever since Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion came out. If you liked Oblivion, then you will surely like Fallout 3. Fallout 3 is an engrossing action role-playing game with a great story line, and a post World War II setting. This game comes with eccentric open-ended game play and unbelievable graphics, and is setting the pace moving forward in the Role-playing game industry.

Looking for the "World's Scariest Game"? Look no further than Dead Space. Dead Space is a very dark and thrilling game that will keep you on the edge of you seat with a third-person shooter, leaving no room to be bored.

Gears Of War 2 was another game that was highly anticipated and rated as one of the best games of the year. This game won quite a few awards this year making this game a must have and well worth money. It offers unreal graphics, high speed game play, great single player action, as well as the ability to play with up to as much as 9 others.



If you are looking for a more economically sound game, then Evolved 2 is the best on the list. Because it is an Xbox Live arcade title you can pick it up in stores for quite a bit less than your normal brand new titles. Evolved 2 were praised as the best arcade title out there at the time of its release leaving no doubt that it's worth the money.

Although a bit more expensive than most of the Xbox Live games out there Braid is a great one to have. This is a puzzle game that will stimulate your mind, and make you think a little bit in a fun fashion. The musical score and the story line were very highly recommended and will make your gaming experience one to remember.

Making sure that you know what you are looking for in a game will help you tremendously to find a game that will satisfy your gaming needs. It may not seem like it would be that hard to find one, but go check out your local electronics store, and see how many titles fit what you want, and it will become clear.

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