Not the easiest name but a great little tuner that always causes other players to go, "What kind of tuner is that, that is really cool looking." The Intelli IMT-500 clip on chromatic tuner that works with electric and acoustic guitars, basses, violins, banjos, mandolins, all without the use of wires, microphones or pickups. Tuning in noisy environments is a easy because the unique, flexible clamp actually "feels" the instrument's vibrational energy instead of relying on sound. And, the swivel allows a perfect view of the back lit display. The best part is that this amazing quality tuner costs a fraction of what other similar tuners cost. It works great and keeps you in tune.
Another in the popular Gig Bag Book series, Gig Bag Book of Picture Chords for Guitarists also got a lot of interest on our Back to School Gift List. This book is packed with information, it fits in your case and has a comb-bound binding so it lays flat. With over 1,000 standard chord forms in easy-to-read diagrams and close-up photos this is an excellent reference for the student or the experienced player.
One of today's great mandolin players, Mike Marshall, has a new two DVD set for beginners to experienced mandolin players. In his DVD set he takes you through proper techniques, problem solving and exercise regimen. He begins with the basics, holding the instrument, correct posture, how to eliminate tension by having the proper hand and pick positions. Using Mike's Fingerbuster exercises you can build your physical abilities while getting command of the mandolin fingerboard. With exercises on scales, chord shapes and arpeggios you will learn to visualize the mandolin fretboard and improve your overall playing ability.
A big thank you to one of our readers, for picking up one of our new T-shirts at our AMTV store, excellent. To anyone, buy one of our new Tees or bags or mugs, take a picture of you with it and send it in and we will put it up.
Our Banjo chords are here for both G and D tunings. Check out the above chart for Banjo Chords in G Tuning. The Banjo is essential in everyones Bluegrass band. Download and 3 hole punch for your jam note book. Available for Free after signing up on the form to the right.
Our Banjo chords are here. Above check out our Banjo Chords in D Tuning. Download and 3 hole punch for your jam note book. The Banjo is essential in everyones Bluegrass band, so download and enjoy. Available for Free after signing up on the form to the right.
I had a great idea the other day, I have drawn all of these cool instruments for my chord charts, the guitar, mandolin, ukulele, banjo, etc, and thought wouldn't these look good on a t-shirt. I have always wanted to produce a line of t-shirts, and I now have all this cool art so why not. So over the next bit of time I will be putting up all kinds of shirts, and gifts using the art from our charts. Everything is located on Cafepress, so it makes it easy to order and it is ready to go. If anyone has a cool idea for a shirt, it isn't to hard to make one up so let me know and I can pull one together. I would also love to see you wearing one so take a picture and send it in and I will post it.
Look at this cool picture from 1856, The Banjo Player by William Sidney Mount, pretty neat. Summer has finally arrived in the north east and we are finished with all the end of school year stuff, so back to working on Acoustic Music TV.
We received a great email the other day from one of our readers. It had to do with a different 2 finger chord for the (1) One chord for the key of G on the mandolin, the G Chord. This one using the middle two strings, the D and the A strings. I haven’t used this position before but found that it gives a nice bright sound. I often use the lower position for the verses and the higher position for the chorus. This position like the others is movable up and down the fretboard. I think it is brighter sounding because the notes are reversed with the B on the higher string. This fingering can be moved all over the place so try experimenting. Very cool.
We have been busy over here at Acoustic Music TV trying to get all of our different publications out. Our latest book is Acoustic Music TV Blank Guitar Sheet Music with Staff and TAB Lines. The book contains 100 Blank Staff and Tab pages with coil binding for easy use. The Staff and TAB lines have also been spread apart to make them easier to write your music on. Includes chord box for each measure.
Inside page from our newest book Blank Mandolin Sheet Music with Staff and TAB Lines, available on www.lulu.com and shortly from our AMTV Book Store
Have you ever tried to write down your Mandolin or Violin music and discovered that the blank sheet music you could find had six lines for the TAB notations instead of the four for mandolin. Well that is what we found along with the lines just to close together. So we remade this one also. Blank sheet music for mandolin and violin, nice and clear with lines well apart for lots of scribbling. Sign up over on the right and download our free mandolin and violin blank sheet music.
Our latest post is a blank guitar sheet for writing music. I often found that the lines on the blank sheet music I could find on the web were just to close together. I always wanted a little more room. So that is what we did, expanded it out a little. Just sign up over in the right hand corner and download our pdf blank guitar sheet music. This sheet also works for piano music as well.
To make carrying the Barre chord chart a little easier we combined the 5th and 6th string chords into one chart. This gives you all the essential positions for these movable chords. By using both positions you can stay in one basic position on the fret board and look cool at the same time. Also start experimenting with taking a few fingers off the strings for a rougher sound or just use the top three strings and start thinking about triads. Download over on the right.
The Ukulele is growing and growing in popularity, this free pdf chart has the basic essential chords to get you going. This is the coolest of instruments. The Ukulele can do way more than just Hawaiian music. If you ever get a chance to catch Pete Kennedy of the Kennedys and watch him play Gershwin's Rhapsody in Blue you will be amazed at what can happen. A great source to get started is with the books of Jim Beloff and his Jumpin' Jim's series of Ukulele song book. Jim breaks it all down to really nice and clear instructions and a wide range of music. We have a couple his books on the Uke page on the pdf download site.
In music, an arpeggio is a broken chord where the notes are played or sung in sequence, one after the other, rather than ringing out simultaneously. The word, like many other musical terms, originates from Italian, in which it means "in the manner of the harp". These are formed from scales, The arpeggio is based on the relative scale playing the "key" notes or those affected the the key signature. For more information on arpeggios check out Wikipedia.
Our latest chart is a soloing scale for the Minor Pentatonic Scale for Blues, Rock or Latin music for any key.
This chart shows a Major Movable Soloing Scale for Folk or Country Music for any key. Great for playing soloing notes over a song while someone else is playing or you can use it to add accent notes to your own playing.
