Playing an instrument isn’t easy to begin with, but these instruments will really test your patience! From Harp, Guitar, Piano, Accordion and Drums to Oboe, Violin, French Horn, theremin and bagpipes, these instruments are all incredible musical tools – but only if you know how to use them.
How Artists Can Learn To Create Better Middle Eights From Tylor Swift
In music theory, “middle eight” (a common type of bridge) refers to a section of a song with a significantly different melody and lyrics, which helps the song develop itself in a natural way by creating a contrast to the previously played, usually placed after the second chorus in a song.
And nobody does it better in modern music than Taylor Swift. Check out the theory here.
That Time In 1999 When Freddie Mercury Was On A Stamp
In 1999, Freddie Mercury, who passed away in 1991, was honored with a stamp as part of the Royal Mail’s millennium series recognizing some of the most famous Britons of the last 1000 years.
Jimi Hendrix’s Electric Ladyland Contains Some Cool Backwards Messages
Jimi Hendrix’s Electric Ladyland has been featured on many greatest album lists, including a number 10 ranking on Classic Rock magazine’s list of the 100 Greatest Rock Albums Ever, and number 37 on The Times’ 100 Best Albums of All Time. In 2003, Q magazine included it on its list of the 100 greatest albums ever, while Rolling Stone ranked it 54th on its list of the 500 greatest albums of all time.
It kicks off with And the Gods Made Love, a track that intentionally incorporated backmasking. Play the song backward, and you hear Hendrix say, “Yes, yes, yes, I get it. Okay, one, okay, one more time.”
Here it is forward:
And backwards:
https://youtu.be/W58JdkoJeOw
Wiz Khalifa Breaks Down His Most Iconic Songs |
Wiz Khalifa reflects on his most iconic songs, including “Pittsburgh Sound,” “This Plane,” “We’re Done,” “Black and Yellow,” “Young, Wild, and Free,” “Payphone,” “We Dem Boyz,” “See You Again,” and “Something New.” Wiz Khalifa’s new album Rolling Papers 2 comes out July 13.
73 Questions With Saoirse Ronan
While packing for an Ireland-bound flight, Oscar-nominated actress Saoirse Ronan answers 73 questions from Vogue. Saoirse talks about her famously difficult first name, the causes closest to her heart, and best advice she’s ever received. Also, according to Saoirse, the Irish goodbye is NOT a thing…
That time the Royal Mail created awesome Pink Floyd stamps to mark 50 years of the band.
The Royal Mail released commemorative stamps in 1996 to mark 50 years of one of the greatest bands, Pink Floyd.
Did The Beatles Put A Message To Fans When They Played “I’m So Tired” Backwards?
At the very end of The Beatles’song I’m So Tired, what seems to be nonsensical mumbling can be heard in the background. The mumbling, if played backwards can be imagined as something along the lines of “Paul is a dead man. Miss him. Miss him. Miss him.” This only adds to the many supposed references to the “Paul is dead” conspiracy scattered throughout the White album. Mark Lewisohn has said that the nonsensical mumbling is actually Lennon muttering, “Monsieur, monsieur, how about another one?”
Photo Gallery: The Trews with Arrested Development at Buffalo’s Canalside
All photos by Mini’s Memories. You can contact her at minismemories@hotmail.com
Colin James Announces New Studio Album – Miles To Go – Out September 21
With his 19th album, Miles to Go (out Sept. 21, on Stony Plain Records in the USA and True North Records ROW), Colin James is getting back to the blues.
Miles to Go, Colin James’ ambitious sequel to the critically acclaimed Blue Highways, continues James’ story with a collection of carefully curated songs handpicked from some of the greatest blues artists.
In the months leading up to the recording, as James was reflecting on songs for the album he decided to reacquaint himself with a beautiful red Gibson ES-335. It was just like the guitar he played as a teenager but regretfully had to sell for rent money.
While James reconnected with this guitar, Miles to Go seemed to just flow onto the studio floor.
This album blends songs old and new, some of them completely reimagined and some almost perfect homages. But all are unified by a theme of undying love for the blues and the highest respect for the creators that led the way.
Known as one of Canada’s best blues musicians, it wasn’t until 2016’s Blue Highways that James found himself on a blues chart: the album spent 10 weeks at No. 1 on the Roots Music Report’s Blues Chart. It also landed him one of his biggest hits: “Riding in the Moonlight”. A Willie Dixon song that James once covered when busking in the streets and subways of Toronto and Montreal that landed on a Spotify playlist garnering millions of streams.
When James set out to make Blue Highways, an album of blues covers recorded with his touring band, he always intended it to be the first of two installments. Now we have Miles to Go, in which James records nine new covers of his favourite artists (Howlin’ Wolf, Muddy Waters, Blind Willie Johnson, Blind Lemon Jefferson, Little Willie John, Robert Johnson, etc.) and adds two originals, “I Will Remain” and “40 Light Years.” “Blues has always been a pass-it-forward kind of thing,” says James. “It’s also surprisingly hard to write. You have to be careful how modern you get in your phrasing. Certain writers can write a song that sounds like it was done 40 years ago, but it’s deceptively hard.”
To be a blues musician is to always have a dialogue with the past. As with much blues music, it’s the performances on the original versions rather than the actual song that drew James to them. That said, what could he possibly bring to them in 2018? “You bring what you can,” he says. “If I feel like I’ve brought enough, then I put it out. I knocked a bunch of songs off this record when I realized that I can’t bring anything to them that isn’t there already. All my life I’ve tried to bring vitality to older songs. Hopefully my dedication to it is what floats it over the mark. That’s a subjective thing; some people will always prefer the original. However, there’s always a group of people coming up to see me after a show who might say, “Oh, I never would have heard ‘One More Mile’ by James Cotton—nothing in my life would have pointed me there.”
So much of Colin James’s career has pointed him to this moment: joyfully tangled up in the blues, which, as he notes, “is the only genre where you can maintain a young profile at the age of 53.”
07/13/18 Windsor, ON Bluesfest Windsor
07/14/18 Ottawa, ON Ottawa Bluesfest
08/17/18 Grande Prairie, AB Bear Creek Folk Music Festival
08/19/18 Salmon Arm, BC Salmon Arm Roots & Blues
08/25/18 London, ON London Bluesfest
09/08/18 Blue Mountain, ON Blue Mountain Village