Music & Instruments: Page 7

The Roland TR-808 drum machine is one of the most important modern instruments, forming the backbone of both hip-hop and electronic music percussion. If you have gotten your hands on one, you're a lucky devil, but you have a long way to go before you can unlock it's true potential. Watch this video to learn how to program an 808 all the way up to a 64-step beat!

Old drum machines make some of the coolest sounds in modern music, but can be very hard to get used to for beginners. If you're lucky enough to have gotten your hands on a Roland TR-909 Rhythm Composer drum machine, watch this video to learn how to program it.

"Fireflies" made Owl City a star, and it a stirring piece of modern songwriting. If you have a piano and want to capture the amazing textures of the song in a solo piano cover of it, watch this video to learn how to play it.

Yiruma has written many of the most beautiful new piano pieces of the last ten years, and is a truly special figure in the world of piano composition. If you're looking for an easy way to access his remarkable work, watch this video to learn how to play an easy arrangement of his classic song "River Flows in You",

The Roland TR-909 Rhythm Composer is one of the greatest drum machines ever made, and one of the pillars of electronic music. If you're lucky enough to have one and aren't quite sure how it works (they are quite intimidating) watch this video to learn how to make a simple beat really quickly on your lovely 909.

Unfortunately for electronic music, there are not very many Roland TB-303's in the world and the ones that are here are quite old. Many suffer from broken tactile switches, which can cause them to play double notes and have other problems. Watch this video to learn how you can replace the switches yourself and get your amazing piece of gear working perfectly.

Yiruma is one of the biggest names in contemporary piano composition. His song "Kiss the Rain" is guaranteed to make any listener reflect honestly on their life in a way that few songs ever have been, and in this video you'll learn how to play the whole thing on piano. It's not easy, but you can do it!

Rascal Flatts are one of the biggest groups in country music, and their song "Bless the Broken Road" is a great uplifting ballad. Watch this video to learn how to play this relatively easy song on piano, then go out and play it. It'll probably bring some love you way.

The TB-303 is nothing short of legendary on the electronic music scene. It is possible there would be no such thing as house music without it. They are rare and extremely complicated, so if you're lucky enough to have one you should pursue whatever help you can get on playing it properly. Enter this video, which will teach you how to quickly and easily program your 303 and get on your way to making phat old-skool tracks.

Do you yearn for the days when house music had a soul and didn't sound like something that combat robots are supposed to dance to? Check out this video. It features a veteran DJ explaining all sorts of techniques for creating old-skool house beats, mostly using amazing 1980's equipment like the Roland TR-808 and 909.

A MicroKorg synth / vocoder combined with a Micron BANSHEE talk box allow you to make a lot of great, funky music without too much equipment. Finding the right patches on the synth that make the talk box sound the best can be tough, so TalkBoxerDX made this video to demonstrate one way to patch the MicroKorg so it will sound awesome with your talk box, be it BANSHEE or otherwise.

A shuffle LFO (low-frequency oscillator) is a cool effect in many synths that gives bass lines a swing feel to them. In this video you'll learn how to apply a shuffle LFO to any sound that you can access on your computer using NI Massive, a quasi-analog PC synth.

Do you want to bust out your talkbox vocals really gorilla style? Hauling a synth keyboard and a talkbox around is a lot of baggage. Did you know, however, that you can set up a talkbox WITHOUT a synth keyboard? Watch this video to learn how to do it.

Want to master "Brown-Eyed Girl" by Van Morrison? See how it's done with this free video guitar lesson, which presents a complete breakdown of the song and its chords. While this tutorial is geared toward those who already have some knowledge of the guitar, players of all skill level should be able to follow along given adequate time and effort. For more information, and to get started playing "Brown-Eyed Girl" on your own guitar, watch this video tab!

Want to master "Foxy Lady" by Jimi Hendrix? See how it's done with this free video guitar lesson, which presents a complete breakdown of the song and its chords. While this tutorial is geared toward those who already have some knowledge of the guitar, players of all skill level should be able to follow along given adequate time and effort. For more information, and to get started playing "Foxy Lady" on your own guitar, watch this video tab!

Want to master "Sweet Emotion" by Aerosmith? See how it's done with this free video guitar lesson, which presents a complete breakdown of the song and its chords. While this tutorial is geared toward those who already have some knowledge of the guitar, players of all skill level should be able to follow along given adequate time and effort. For more information, and to get started playing "Sweet Emotion" on your own guitar, watch this video tab!

Want to master "In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida" by Iron Butterfly? See how it's done with this free video guitar lesson, which presents a complete breakdown of the song and its chords. While this tutorial is geared toward those who already have some knowledge of the guitar, players of all skill level should be able to follow along given adequate time and effort. For more information, and to get started playing "In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida" on your own guitar, watch this video tab!

Want to master "Voodoo Chile" by Jimi Hendrix? See how it's done with this free video guitar lesson, which presents a complete breakdown of the song and its chords. While this tutorial is geared toward those who already have some knowledge of the guitar, players of all skill level should be able to follow along given adequate time and effort. For more information, and to get started playing "Voodoo Chile" on your own guitar, watch this video tab!

Want to master "The Final Countdown" by Europe on the guitar? See how it's done with this free video guitar lesson, which presents a complete breakdown of the song and its chords. While this tutorial is geared toward those who already have some knowledge of the guitar, players of all skill level should be able to follow along given adequate time and effort. For more information, and to get started playing "The Final Countdown" on your own guitar, watch this video tab!

Want to master "Rock N' Roll All Nite" by Kiss on the guitar? See how it's done with this free video guitar lesson, which presents a complete breakdown of the song and its chords. While this tutorial is geared toward those who already have some knowledge of the guitar, players of all skill level should be able to follow along given adequate time and effort. For more information, and to get started playing "Rock and Roll All Nite" on your own guitar, watch this video tab!

Want to master "Back in Black" by AC/DC on the guitar? See how it's done with this free video guitar lesson, which presents a complete breakdown of the song and its chords. While this tutorial is geared toward those who already have some knowledge of the guitar, players of all skill level should be able to follow along given adequate time and effort. For more information, and to get started playing "Back in Black" on your own guitar, watch this video tab!

Want to master "Paradise City" by Guns N' Roses on the guitar? See how it's done with this free video guitar lesson, which presents a complete breakdown of the song and its chords. While this tutorial is geared toward those who already have some knowledge of the guitar, players of all skill level should be able to follow along given adequate time and effort. For more information, and to get started playing "Paradise City" on your own guitar, watch this video tab!

Want to play "Sir Duke" by Stevie Wonder on the ukulele? Learn how with this free video ukulele lesson. Whether you play the ukulele or bass kazoo, there is no better way to improve your chops than by learning to play your favorite songs. Not only is it more fun and much easier than running drills or memorizing a chord book by wrote, it's obviously also a wonderful way to build your repertory of songs. For more information, and to get started playing "Sir Duke" on your own uke, watch this video...

Want to play "Turn My Swag On" by Souljah Boy on the ukulele? Learn how with this free video ukulele lesson. Whether you play the ukulele or bass kazoo, there is no better way to improve your chops than by learning to play your favorite songs. Not only is it more fun and much easier than running drills or memorizing a chord book by wrote, it's obviously also a wonderful way to build your repertory of songs. For more information, and to get started playing "Turn My Swag On" on your own uke,...

Want to play a medley of "Where is the Love" by the Black Eyed Peas, "Superman" by Five for Fighting, "She Will Be Loved" by Maroon 5, "Collide" by Howie Day, "No One" by Alicia Keys and "I'm Yours" by Jason Mraz? Learn how with this free video ukulele lesson. Whether you play the ukulele or bass kazoo, there is no better way to improve your chops than by learning to play your favorite songs. Not only is it more fun and much easier than running drills or memorizing a chord book by wrote, it's...

Want to play "Talking to the Moon" by Bruno Mars on the ukulele? Learn how with this free video ukulele lesson. Whether you play the ukulele or bass kazoo, there is no better way to improve your chops than by learning to play your favorite songs. Not only is it more fun and much easier than running drills or memorizing a chord book by wrote, it's obviously also a wonderful way to build your repertory of songs. For more information, and to get started playing "Talking the Moon" on your own uke,...

Want to play the Tetris song on the ukulele? Learn how with this free video ukulele lesson. Whether you play the ukulele or bass kazoo, there is no better way to improve your chops than by learning to play your favorite songs. Not only is it more fun and much easier than running drills or memorizing a chord book by wrote, it's obviously also a wonderful way to build your repertory of songs. For more information, and to get started playing this song on your own uke, watch this video tutorial.

Want to play "Is There a Place" by Gyptian on the ukulele? Learn how with this free video ukulele lesson. Whether you play the ukulele or bass kazoo, there is no better way to improve your chops than by learning to play your favorite songs. Not only is it more fun and much easier than running drills or memorizing a chord book by wrote, it's obviously also a wonderful way to build your repertory of songs. For more information, and to get started playing "Is There a Place" on your own uke, watch...

Want to play Michael Jackson's "Billie Jean" on the ukulele? Learn how with this free video ukulele lesson. Whether you play the ukulele or bass kazoo, there is no better way to improve your chops than by learning to play your favorite songs. Not only is it more fun and much easier than running drills or memorizing a chord book by wrote, it's obviously also a wonderful way to build your repertory of songs. For more information, and to get started playing "Billie Jean" on your own uke, watch...

Beat Rhyming is an advanced version of Beatboxing mixing in melody and drums with some sound effects. If you're curious how to create some of the unique snare hits, bass drum hits and how to drop your rhyme while still keeping a simple beat going on underneath check out this great video tutorial!

"California Love" by 2Pac, Dr. Dre, and Roger Troutman is one of the best rap songs ever and brought Roger Troutman's incredible use of the talkbox to mainstream audiences. If you have a talkbox and a keyboard, check out this video to learn how to play this hip-hop classic on the best instruments to do so.

The Prodigy were one of the first groups to really grasp the potential of electronic music and bring it to the forefront of pop, and they are still fucking legend on the electronic scene. If you have Ableton Live 8, check out this video to learn how to produce their classic song "Voodoo People" in Ableton, including what samples to use and what to do with them.

The raging debate in the electronic music world between digital and hardware music production is virulent and unnecessary when the best setup is clearly a mix of the two. In this video you'll learn how to get your computer and your DJ hardware together by using the Ableton Live external effect plugin to control sounds from your gear using the computer. It's the best of both worlds!

Does traveling between the world's finest nightclubs getting paid to play music sound good to you? Then a career as an international superstar DJ may be for you. But where to start? This video might be a good place. It will teach you the basics of mixing two songs together using Ableton Live, the premier live sequencing and mixing software, to create your very first DJ mix.

Ableton Live can turn your computer into an electronic music producing and sequencing machine pretty quickly, but making sure your sound card is configured correctly before you use it on stage is crucial. Watch this video to learn how to set up your sound card for Ableton Live quickly and easily.

In this tutorial, we learn how to play "Part of Your World" on a piano. First, you want to start out with the introduction to the song. You should have each of your hands on the piano sitting next to each other. The middle finger of the right hand should hit the "C" chord. Once you have this down, start to play in the rest of the parts of the song. Play the different notes as they are shown on the paper. Then, you will continue to play until you have it finished! Just practice and run through...

In this tutorial, we learn how to make a kazoo out of a clothespin. This musical instrument can be made at home with just a few minutes. You will need: 2 rubber bands, a clothes pin, and tape. First, take the clothes pin apart and then take one side and wrap both ends with tape. Throw the metal part away, you won't need this anymore. Next, you will take this side and wrap a rubber band across it. Then, put the two flat sides together on top of the pin. Wrap a rubber band around the entire...

In this tutorial, we learn how to understand the basics of reading sheet music. What you will first see are the basic clefs. One is for the right hand and one is for the left. In the middle is the middle c and on the far right is the c above the right hand. The notes continue in each direction but they follow an exact pattern. In the beginning, memorize only the middle "C", where it is on the piano. After this, you will learn the upper and lower "C". Continue to practice with reading the music,...

In this video, we learn how to start out on the harmonica with Mike. When you start out learning, you will first need to learn the single notes that you will play on the harmonica. You should use a harmonica that you are comfortable with and that fits your mouth well. After you have learned how to play the single notes, then you can start to play the notes together. This will help you create different songs and different types of sounds when you are playing. Practice the notes a lot to learn...

In this keyboard tutorial, you'll learn how to play Evanescence's "My Immortal" on the piano. While this tutorial is best suited for intermediate or advanced piano players, players of all skill levels can play along. Watch this tutorial to get started playing "My Immortal"!