Archive for July, 2011
A New Age for Country Music
What’s your favorite type of music? Most people may prefer rock and roll, pop, jazz punk, etc. These genres are most publicised by television and the radio. Country Music now would seem to mistakenly belong to the category of rock or pop. Publicity of this category started to drop only after the year 2000; however, it did have its peak years just before the decline.
Also, what people may not know is that this type of music inspired rock and roll especially with one of the most iconic figures in music history – Elvis Presley – who is known as the “King of Rock and Roll”. Elvis was a regular at the radio program Louisiana Hayride – which broadcasted Country Music back in the late 1940′s.
A Distinct Genre
Like any genre, country is also influenced by many others such as jazz and blues. Rock music too is influenced by jazz and blues but is also heavily influenced by country such that they may even seem similar. What makes them different then? Rock tends to use more complicated chord sequences and make use of guitars, bass and drums for most cases. Country uses pedal steel, banjos and fiddles to create a more moderate rhythm which rock usually deviates from.
Nowadays, country is closely related to pop due to artists’ preference and popular demand. Starting from the 80′s it slowly divided itself into New and Old Country Music. Legends like Johnny cash began to slip away due to the new perception of country which actually contains pop because his music just doesn’t fit the category ‘anymore’. Fortunately, country music is still heavily promoted through websites and reviews pertaining to its ever-changing genre combinations. Read the rest of this entry »
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A Brief Fact of Country Music
You will discover multitudes of music genres in today’s musical world. Country music is truly one of my personal favorites and so I thought I would provide a little bit of country history to the forefront. If you don’t know a great deal about country music the reality is a large number of country songs tell a tale. It has been said most of these songs are about our lives, who we are and where we came from. Country music generated a couple of the most notable selling solo musical artists in history in the US. Elvis Presley’s early career was naturally country hillbilly music and he proceeded to become one of the defining figures in the birth of Rock n Roll. Garth Brooks is the second bestselling solo artist in United States history and has a very popular show in Las Vegas. That’s quite an amazing start. Going back in history, however, we find that Country music goes back to the early 1920′s in America and it has its roots in classic folk music, Celtic music, Blues, Bluegrass and Gospel music. Early country music was termed “Hillbilly” music although the words changed to Country Music in the early 1940′s. In its beginnings, Country music was pure American; the country music audience was American, its musicians and singers were American and its sound was American.
1925 brought in the era of the “Singing Cowboy” when the first cowboy song was recorded by Carl T. Sprague. The full rise in popularity of the singing cowboy wasn’t really defined until talking movies starring Gene Autry, Roy Rogers, Tex Ritter and even a young John Wayne became popular in the 1930′s. John Wayne, however, didn’t in reality sing; he just played the movie part of the cowboy while some other person presented the singing voice. But he was off to an awesome movie career. With the release of Television to the American people, the era of the singing cowboy movies ended in the 1950′s. Gene Autry and Roy Rogers carried on their roles as “singing cowboys” in a few of the first western series produced for television. In the film Toy Story 2, “Woody’s Roundup” was shown as a depiction of one of those first television series. Read the rest of this entry »
Tags: country music, country music singer, country music singers, country music songRelated posts
Country Music Guitar Chords Aren’t Difficult
There are many great styles of music available and everyone will have their favorite genre or artist. One of the most popular styles of music is country music and this means that many new guitarists would like to learn how to play in the style of all the great country records. It is possible to play guitar in a number of different ways and of course, a person can learn acoustic or electric guitar.
Knowing how to play acoustic guitar allows people to get a head start when it comes to making country music as so many great country artists of the past have played an acoustic six string. If this sounds good to you, makes sure you get beginner guitar lessons that are suited to the style of music you wish to play. This will help you feel more comfortable with the music and ensure that you are happier playing along to it. If you hated blues music, you wouldn’t enjoy learning how to play blues style music on your guitar so it is best to stick to the sounds you like when you are starting out.
Study what you like
It may sound a simple philosophy but new musicians will learn a lot faster if they play the type of music that they really enjoy. This means that if you are a fan of country music, your first few lessons should revolve around country music guitar chords in order to help you learn about your instrument. Being able to play the music that you listen to at home or with your friends will give you the best chance of becoming a good guitarist. It will also let your replicate and mimic the songs you hear a lot and this will boost your confidence and can help you have fun. Learning how to play acoustic guitar can let you and your friends play along with the songs you love. Read the rest of this entry »
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