Month: June 2010

Lots of you out there will be wannabe electric guitar players. Whether your particular guitar hero is Eric Clapton, Eddie Van Halen, BB King or Richie Kotzen, you’ll want to find the best guitar for you to be using in order to be able to emulate them (well, do your best at least!). So how do you find the right electric guitar for you? 

OK, first and foremost, you need to set a realistic budget. You’ll want to buy the best guitar for the money you have available, as the sound will almost always be better than simply going for the least expensive you can find. Bear in mind, too, that you’ll also need a guitar amp, a lead for the guitar to the amp, a shoulder strap for wearing the guitar round your neck, and a plectrum for picking the strings. An electronic tuner is also recommended, as they’re inexpensive and simple to use for keeping your guitar properly tuned. 

You’ll want to determine what style of guitar playing you’ll be following. Rock and heavy rock playing will generally imply that you need a solid body guitar (eg such as made by Ibanez electric guitars). If you want a more acoustic feel, you might look for a semi hollow version. And if you’re looking for a more jazzy sound, you’ll be after a hollow body guitar. 

The size of your hands will influence the sort of guitar neck that is best for you, with guitars coming in a variety of neck sizes to match every size of hand and length of finger. In relation to the length of the neck itself, almost all electric guitars will have 22 frets (each of which corresponds to a particular note), though you can opt for a 24 fret neck if you wish to play higher notes. 

The key factor in all of this, of course, is how the instrument sounds. There’s no way you’ll ever really understand this without testing it for yourself. However good a particular guitar sounds in the hands of your idol, you should realistically bear in mind that they’re likely to be a lot better than you at playing it, and will make it sound very different from what you will be able to do! 

So the most important recommendation for choosing your guitar – once you’ve fixed a budget you can afford – is to get down to your local guitar shop and start playing. They should have a range of styles to suit every pocket, and a couple of hours alongside an experienced guitar salesperson will be hugely beneficial for the choice you make.

Hip hop music production is the term given to the creation of hip hop music. Hip hop music has been around for longer than generally people know, but it is modern hip hop that has really opened the doors for lots of new music producers to get on board and create some great new exciting sounds.

Modern Hip hop music production uses live instrumentals, samplers, sequences, drum machines, turn tables, online beat makers, live vocals, and synthesizers. You name it, you can use it.

Hip hop production refers to all aspects of the creation and production of hip hop music. Being a hip hop producer refers directly to making the instrumentals of the track itself.

The art form of creating a hip hop instrumental is what the hip hop music producer is most acclaimed for. This is often called a beat, and the producer is often called the beat maker.

The interesting thing that has happened more recently is the progress in technology which is phasing out the role of the producer in Hip hop music production. The production of the entire hip hop beat is often being created by the artist themselves, particularly with regards to new and emerging artists.

The new online music software does everything that a hip hop music producer once did. Young and fresh artists are finding that they’ll create everything from the instrumentals, to recording the vocals, and the mixing and mastering of their track, right from the comfort of their own home. And at a fraction of the price!

Beat making software for hip hop production is available online for less than $30 USD and offers some great tricks and functions for even the beginner producer. Having access to excellent support networks and online tutorials, even anyone who has no knowledge of creating hip hop beats can buy a program and start producing their own music today.

This is causing a bit of a rift in the market as I’m sure you can imagine, and there are a few fundamentals to hip hop producing that every wanna-be hip hop self-producer should know.

The drum beat is the fundamental element of any hip hop track. It’s pace and complexity will dictate the speed and the impact of the production itself. Everything is built on the drum beat, so try to keep it simple when you start or you might get yourself into some real trouble!

Some drum beats are downloaded, some are sampled from online sources, and others can be made by drum beat makers or on your hip hop online music software. This depends on how confident you are that you could make your own sound.

People often start with a download and then move up to creating their own beats eventually. Start simple, and take it step by step and that’s the ultimate way to learn about Hip hop music production.

Once you have a drum beat that you will be really happy with you need to work on the percussion and the sampling elements of your track. Both are really important to punctuate the sound and create something really original.

Whether you need to get into Hip hop music production to enable you to produce your own tracks, or in case you are a producer looking for another way into the industry, there are great options out there for everyone. You just have to get your hands on some online music software.

I’d suggest looking at sonicproducer.com, which offers an affordable and efficient user friendly system that will cater to everyone from beginner to seasoned professional.