Personally I haven’t been forced to make the decision between buying a normal upright piano and a digital piano as I have both in my home. I can see advantages in both types of pianos when practicing the art of learning to play piano.

A normal upright piano produces sounds with hammers that strikes the strings. A digital piano on the other hand tries to duplicate the feeling of playing an acoustic piano.

Most people are familiar with the normal upright piano but what advantages has a digital piano?

First let us describe a digital piano.

A digital piano consists of a keyboard with weighted key action, sensors that detect the velocity when you play the keys and a set of sounds you can choose from. To make it possible to listen to the piano when you play you have an amplifier and loudspeakers and headphone jacks.

Here are some advantages with a digital piano:

1. A digital piano doesn’t need to be tuned. A normal acoustic piano you should tune once or twice a year. If you can’t tune a piano yourself you have to turn to a piano tuner. It can be quite expensive of course. Even a piano tuner has to pay his bills.

2. You can practice silently. A digital piano usually has a headphone jack so by using headphones you can practise as much as you want without disturbing neighbours or family members.

3. Midi interface. A digital piano usually has a midi interface which makes it possible to connect your piano to a computer and use music software like notation programs or a sequenser program or a software synthesizer.

What then are the disadvantages of having a digital piano?

1. The sounds in an acoustic piano are produced by strings vibrating and the different pitches interact in ways that you cannot copy on a digital piano. The sound quality of the sounds produced by digital pianos are becoming better and better but it is still a completely different way of producing sounds.

2. A digital piano is limited when it comes to producing different tone colors by different ways of playing. An accomplished pianist might feel limited by the sampled sounds.

There are many more things to say about choosing a piano but this is a beginning.

As you can see it is not so easy to decide what’s best for you. If you can’t decide what type of piano to buy you can do as I have done. Have both types of pianos and keep smiling.

Peter Edvinsson is a musician, composer and music teacher. Visit his site Capotasto Music and download your free sheet music and learn to play piano resources at capotastomusicdotcom

I don’t know about you but the idea of putting on a set of wings held together by wax doesn’t get me excited. In today’s world almost anyone can become a pilot and learn to fly, in this article we will take a closer look at what is required.

The basic requirements one must have prior to being able to hold a PPL or Private Pilot License is that you be 17 years of age although you may start flying earlier. The only restriction here is that you must be 16 before flying solo. There is also no specific educational requirement as the practice of piloting is based more on practical skills.

The first stage on the way to getting your PPL is the General Progress Flying Test or GFTP. This usually takes about 35 hours at which point you may take other people with you in a limited area. Next, you must complete around 20 hours of cross country navigation. To receive your PPL you must have a minimum of 40 hours flying time, three theory exams, and pass a flight test. In contrast a CPL (Commercial Pilot License), takes 150 hours, four theory exams, and two flight tests.

If you have designs to be a pilot another thing you need is patience. Obtaining a pilot license is not something that can be done in a matter of weeks. It takes about eighteen months to receive a PPL and at least two years for a commercial license.

Another thing you should know upfront is the cost. The cost for PPL training can be from $8-$10,000 depending on how long it takes you to learn. A CPL will cost you more like $40,000.

Generally, if at all possible you should treat learning to fly like you would obtaining a college degree. What I mean is that you should make it a priority and do it fulltime. This will make it much easier for you to learn and also give you much more flexibility on when you are able to fly, remember if the weather is bad you can’t fly.

If you are seeking to go further and get your CPL with the hopes of getting hired by a commercial airline you should be sure to include Mathematics, Physics, and English in your studies as these are the main areas of concern to the airlines.

Learning to fly is a rewarding endeavor so get out there and do it.

Gregg Hall is a business consultant and author for many online and offline businesses and lives in Navarre Florida with his 16 year old son. To get the pilot gear you may need go to aircraftaccessoriesplusdotcom

Flamenco Guitar: Learn To Play Malaguena With Guitar Tab

Flamenco guitar is an art that it is hard to master. But is it possible to play a flamenco guitar melody that is easy to learn for a beginner. Come and see!

Flamenco is a song, music and dance style which has its roots in Moorish and Jewish musical traditions.

Flamenco culture has become one of the icons of Spanish music and even Spanish culture in general.

The flamenco guitar comes from the lute and is made of Spanish cypress and spruce and is smaller than a classical guitar with a sharper sound.

Malaguena is a flamenco style with its roots in the local fandango of Malaga.

You will not need to read sheet music to play this flamenco guitar piece. We will instead use guitar tablature. You will only use four strings on the guitar.

The string with the highest pitch is called the first string or E-string. Look at the following guitar tab with four strings indicated:

1. ————————-
2. ———0———–0—
3. —–1———–1——-
4. -2———–2———–

This is a tablature staff and the number 2 on the fourth string indicate that you play the fourth string while pressing down the second fret.

The next note is played on the first fret on the third string. The zero indicate that you play the note without pressing down any fret.

Play the melody with your thumb and with your first finger resting on the first string for later use.

Here is the next guitar tablature part:

1. ————————-
2. —–1—0—————
3. -2———–2—0——-
4. ———————3—

After the last note on the third fret on the fourth string you just start over again with the first guitar tab staff.

Now it is time to introduce your first finger on your right hand into the melody. After every note you play with your thumb you just have to pluck the first string with your first finger. In guitar tab it looks like this:

1. —–0——-0——
2. —————–0–
3. ———1———-
4. -2——————

And so on for the rest of the melody!

I hope you will find this very simplified flamenco guitar tab melody enjoyable. I guess many people will recognize the melody when they hear you play it.

Flamenco guitar playing is of course an art that is hard to master but this little flamenco piece doesn’t sound so bad. Does it!

Peter Edvinsson is a musician, composer and music teacher. Visit his site Capotasto Music and download your free guitar sheet music and guitar tablature at capotastomusicdotcom

What is a fake book?

A “fake book” contains songs written in a concise format that includes only the melody and chords, letting you interpret the song’s performance according to your own taste.

The songs in a fake book have a single melody written out in notes with the lyrics written beneath the notes. Above the notes of the melody you’ll find the names of the chords to play.

This format is very compact. You will often see fakebooks containing 500 or more songs. Here are some suggestions on how to use one of these songs for increasing your improvisational skills:

1. Chords. The suggested chords are often very rudimentary. Most jazz pianists spice up the songs with more elaborate chord progressions. Try to find more chords to use in the song. This exercise will increase your skills in chord theory.

2. Scales. When you have elaborated upon the chord progressions in the song you can choose scales that work with the chords you have chosen. If you find this hard to do you can buy scale books with scale suggestions for different chord progressions. This is an exercise in scale theory.

3. Practising piano chords. Start with the first chord in the song, play it in different positions on your piano and in different combinations.

4. Practicing chord progressions on the piano. Take a couple of bars of the song and practise to play the progressions over and over again varying the chord voicings.

5. Practicing scales on the piano. Begin with the first chord and the scale you have chosen with it and start by playing the scale up and down the keyboard with the right hand and the left hand.

6. Practice piano improvisation with scales. As soon as you master playing the scale up and down the piano it is time to create music with the scale by playing around with it, creating patterns and inventing melodies.

7. Practise piano improvisation. Take a couple of bars and play them over and over again with chord voicings in the left hand and improvising with the appropriate scales with the right hand.

It is also good to practice piano improvisation with your left hand and voicings with your right hand.

There are of course many more things you can do with a song in order to develop your skills in piano improvisation. Help yourself and don’t forget to have fun and to also play the song in its entirety with the melody.

Peter Edvinsson is a musician, composer and music teacher. Visit his site Capotasto Music and download your free piano sheet music and learn to play piano resources at capotastomusicdotcom

Backgammon is a game that is played between two players. However that does not mean the only two people can play. If you are having game night with the family, then you can get everyone involved.

A fun and exciting way to play backgammon is to have tournaments. You can have a couple different boards set up through out your game room or living room. Have different members of your family play opposite one another and then have the winners play the winners and the losers play the losers. This would be considered a tournament of backgammon. If you are good at the game you may be playing at the winners table.

These tournaments are just for fun of course and something that would bring you and your family closer together by doing. You can make memories and have fun with a little competition at the same time.

If you are someone who plays backgammon often, then you may already be in tournaments with other backgammon players. There are different social clubs that participate in backgammon and have certain nights where they all get together to have tournaments. These tournaments may have certain awards presented to the champions. This is just a fun and exciting twist to the game of backgammon.

The people who participate in the tournaments are serious players and play the game for all that they are worth. There are players that wager money just like you would for poker and blackjack. These players are out for one thing and that is to win.

If you having a hard time finding anyone to have a tournament of backgammon with, then you can always go online. There are sites that offer tournaments or information about tournaments on them. These sites are great and can even help you with strategy and tips to become a better player for when you are playing with the family.

There is always somewhere to play backgammon. Whether it is in your living room or at a club or even on the Internet, you will have a great time playing the game.