Showing posts with label Should. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Should. Show all posts

Monday, 16 May 2011

Drum Lessons for Children, Things That You Should Consider

There are a number of things that you should consider before your child begins taking drum lessons. It is important that you start your child's drum lessons right because how your child begins to take lessons determines whether he or she will be interested in continuing. You have to remember that drum lessons not only teach your child how to play different techniques but they also help them develop their own style.

Aside from the lessons you have to consider the kind of drums your child wants to play, or what kind of drums he or she is going to need. You also have to consider the teachers and the number of times he or she attends drum lessons per week. Here are a couple of things that you should consider before you child starts his or her drum lessons.

What type of drums to buy? Before you buy a drum set, it is best if you let your child attend a lesson or two first before purchasing one. You sign up your child for lessons in a music school or with a teacher that has drums available so you don't have to carry your own set or have to buy a new one before the lesson starts. It is also advisable that you buy used ones first before buying a new one. He might lose interest in drums after a couple of sessions and might shift to another instrument.

There are three main types of drums that your child could choose from; there is jazz, rock and big band drums. It is great if your child already knows which ones they want to play with. If he still does not know which ones he wants to learn how to play, the music teacher could help lead the child on which instrument is best suited for him. The different kinds of drums requires many types of lessons, like how to read a music sheet (for jazz and band drums) but all drums involve learning the basic concepts of music and drumming.

Next is the music teacher. In finding the best music teacher that best fits to your child's schedule, needs and your budget, you have to do a little bit of research. Finding the best teacher would require a little bit of work on your part but it would also mean getting the right one. Ask around, from friends whose kids are also enrolled in music school, check online and see if there is an available school near your home. It is advisable to register with an established school for the best lessons. They have experienced instructors and probably have a roster of teachers (so, no miss lessons). Most of the established schools also have the necessary equipment that would aid in your child's training. Also, a great thing about enrolling in an established music school is that your child will be able to interact with many kids with the same interest as him.

Number of lessons a week. The number of lessons your child gets in a week would greatly depend on your child's schedule and the music teacher's availability and suggestion. That is why where you sign up for music lessons is important. More established schools have a wide array of different schedules that would suit your child's schedule and your own. They also have a time-tested schedule and methods on the frequency of the lessons needed in order for a child to be proficient in playing his or her desired instrument.

Saturday, 2 April 2011

Why a Beginner to Piano Should Learn a Simple 12 Bar Blues, There Are Plenty of Free Video Tutorials

If you are a complete beginner to piano and have hardly even played a note yet, then something you should learn first is a 12 Bar Blues Progression. It is something that I teach all my beginner students and it is proven very popular with my students. There are also plenty of really good video tutorials available online that will show you how to play a simple 12 bar blues sequence.

One of the reasons that it is good to learn the 12 bar blues is because you can use it in a variety of different ways, and lots of songs originate from the blues!

Elvis Presley is one famous example of how his simple and effective tunes are mainly formed from a 12 bar blues chord progressions - Hound Dog and Blue Suede Shoes are two of his more famous songs that feature a 12 bar blues sequence.

As a beginner all that most people really want to be able to do to begin with is to be able to play a song, and with the 12 Bar blues, it incorporates chords which are frequent in any song along with a simple bass line. By playing this it has you playing your hands together using chords in your right hand and individual bass notes in your left.

This really helps you get to grips with learning the coordination of your hands together and forces you to get used to the distance between bass notes and higher notes. It gets you moving between various chords, so you learn how to play smooth transitions as a beginner which is important to learn. You will be slow to pick this up initially but if you are prepared to spend a few days practicing this technique you will be rocking and rolling in no time at all.

12 Bar blues is a really good piece to learn, and once you have mastered the simple 12 bar blues you can put a lot more into it, and make it sound different by changing the bass line, switching the chords around or adding some soloing into the piece by using blues scales, and if you were to go on and play in a band, this would really come in handy as you would be used to playing chords.

Other styles of music, particularly rock songs can also have a blues influence or are based in the 12 bar blues sequence.