IPlayMusic enables students to easily incorporate active music making into their daily lives, with the ability to export lessons onto the iPod.

By combining audio, video, animation and interactive technologies, iPlayMusic’s beginner guitar lessons put the fun into learning guitar by teaching users to play actual songs by popular recording artists.

What’s more, iPlayMusic provides a less-expensive and time-sensitive alternative to traditional music study. There is no need to drive back and forth to lessons or purchase costly sheet music. There is no ramp up time as students can purchase their guitar, bring it home and immediately have fun playing songs.

For a sneak peak of iPlayMusic’s suite of music leaning products, visit the site at www.iplaymusic.com for free demos. The following products are currently available for children and adults:

Beginner Guitar Lessons Interactive DVD; Levels 1 and 2
Each lesson presents four on-screen panels that demonstrate a basic guitar skill or technique from different angles. To help beginners master a song or to enable a “karaoke-style” sing-along, a guitar, vocal or scrolling text sections can be easily added or removed.

Beginner Guitar Lessons Level 1 introduces the musician to guitar basics and musical styles. Guitar anatomy, chords, strumming patterns and transitions are demonstrated, as is an introduction to various musical styles, including rock, blues, country and more.

Level 2 presents the next step in content for players interested in mastering the guitar. They are introduced to riffs, licks and tricks that expand on the rock, blues and country styles initiated in Level 1. In addition, musicians are introduced to new styles like reggae and 12 bar-blues.

Beginning Guitar Lessons, Level 1 and 2 are available on www.iplaymusic.com, eBay and Amazon. Each is available for $24.95 as a DVD or for download.

Beginner Guitar Lessons Mac Software
iPlayMusic Beginner Guitar Lessons for the Mac takes advantage of iLife applications including GarageBand, iTunes and iWeb. Aspiring musicians have everything they need to learn guitar, play and sing popular songs and easily create their own performances, which can then be downloaded to iTunes to share with friends.

The software includes more than four hours of video, presented in 140 individual lessons featuring iPlayMusic’s multi-angle video learning method. Users can learn to play more than 25 popular songs made famous by artists like The Beatles and Eric Clapton. Song lessons include guitar chord videos, scrolling lyrics for sing-along, and tips on riffs, transitions, strumming and more.

Beginner Guitar Lessons for the Mac is available for $49.95 at www.iplaymusic.com and carried in select retail stores. A PC version of the product will be available this September.

Play Music Together Interactive DVD Video and Mac Software
Play Music Together, a new Mac software and DVD video product, help preschoolers develop their musical skills and encourages families to learn to play the guitar together.

The interactive learning product features scrolling chords and lyrics, close-ups of the left and right hands and looping features that enables children to learn songs by playing or singing along at their own pace. Capo the puppet models fun songs and activities, so youngsters develop an understanding and appreciation of musical elements including rhythm, tempo and pattern, while parents, teachers or caregivers play along and join in the fun. After just a few basic lessons, children can play and sing-along with six popular family songs including If You’re Happy and You Know It and The Wheels on the Bus.

Play Music Together for the Macintosh is available for $39.95. The video-only DVD version is sold separately for $24.95. The PC version of Play Music Together will be available in September.

For more information, visit their web site at www.iplaymusic.com.

Posted in Computer, Education, Music

Sheets of Sound introduces Sheets of Sound for Guitar II. Sheets of Sound for Guitar II revolutionizes guitar technique while focusing on a radical new way to approach the instrument.

Sheets of Sound for Guitar Vol II is a natural evolution of Sheets of Sound Vol I. It continues along much of the same harmonic and rhythmic path while putting more emphasis on real world examples and delving into asymetrical, odd-meter groupings and artist studies. The artist studies are inspired by Pat Metheny, George Benson, Frank Gambale, Rusty Cooley, Pat Martino and John Coltrane and are very exciting to learn and perform.

Traditional guitar methods focus on playing the instrument horizontally across the fingerboard. By contrast, Sheets of Sound for Guitar focuses on playing the instrument in a more natural vertical orientation. In doing so, a more straightforward and horn-like voice is attained.

The book is a compendium of melodic and harmonic devices featuring the following:

• Tab and standard notation
• Amazing Chops (works for Fusion, Metal, Jazz, etc)
• Arpeggio Scales
• Waterfalls
• Sweep Picking to die for
• Studies inspired by George Benson, John Coltrane, Frank Gambale, Pat Martino, Shawn Lane, Mike Brecker, Rusty Cooley, McCoy Tyner, Rudolphe Kreutzer
• Forward Motion Pentatonics
• Long form swept Pentatonics
• 4ths patterns
• Odd Meter meters/rhythms

For more information, visit their web site at www.sheetsofsound.net.

Posted in Education, Guitar, Sheet Music

Alfred is pleased to release the authentic guitar TAB version of the album-matching folio for Hoobastank’s hit record, Every Man for Himself.

The latest release from pop-rock giants Hoobastank, Every Man for Himself has already reached the No. 12 spot on Billboard’s Top 200 chart (Billboard.com, 2006). This book provides authentic guitar TAB for all the songs on the record.

Titles are: The Rules * Born to Lead * Moving Forward * Inside of You * The First of Me * Good Enough * If I Were You * Without a Fight * Don’t Tell Me * Look Where We Are * Say the Same * If Only * More Than a Memory.

For more information, visit their web site at www.alfred.com.

Posted in Education, Guitar, Tab

Alfred is pleased to release the authentic guitar TAB version of the album-matching folio for the Dixie Chicks’ Taking The Long Way.

Produced by Rick Rubin, Taking The Long Way has already reached the No. 1 spot on both the Billboard Top 200 and Hot Country Albums charts (2006), and produced the hit singles “Not Ready To Make Nice,” “Lullaby” and “Everybody Knows.” This book provides authentic guitar TAB for all the songs on the record.

Titles are: The Long Way Around * Easy Silence * Not Ready to Make Nice * Everybody Knows * Bitter End * Lullaby * Lubbock or Leave It * Silent House * Favorite Year * Voice Inside My Head * I Like It * Baby Hold On * So Hard * I Hope.

For more information, visit their web site at www.alfred.com.

Posted in Education, Guitar, Tab

Alfred Publishing is proud to present the album-matching folio for heavy metal band Mastodon’s latest release, Leviathan.

For the last six years, Atlanta-based band Mastodon has been steadily gaining attention as one of the best new heavy metal groups, receiving tremendous critical acclaim from The New York Times, Spin, Entertainment Weekly, Billboard, Guitar World, and Rolling Stone.

Leviathan, the band’s 2nd release, is Mastodon’s crowning achievement. An epic heavy metal song cycle based on the classic novel Moby Dick, Leviathan was simultaneously awarded 2004’s “Album of the Year” by REVOLVER, KERRANG! and TERRORIZER magazines.

This album-matching folio provides authentic guitar TAB for all the songs on the record. Songs include: Blood and Thunder * I am Ahab * Seabeast * Island * Iron Tusk * Megalodon * Naked Burn * Aqua Dementia * Hearts Alive * Joseph Merrick.

For more information, visit their web site at www.alfred.com.

Posted in Education, Guitar

PC Publishing has announced the Third Edition of PC Music - The Easy Guide. Completely updated with new sections on the MP3 revolution, the PC as a complete Media Center and the realisation of your PC as a recording studio, this new edition of PC Music - The Easy Guide, will show you what can be done, what it all means, and what you will need to start creating and enjoying your own music on your PC.

It’s an easy read, fully illustrated and it will help you understand how a computer can be used as a creative and entertaining musical tool.

Topics covered:

• How do I make music with my PC?
• How do I plug a guitar into my PC?
• Can I record music onto my PC?
• What’s a sequencer?
• What’s sampling?
• How can I get my PC to print a music?
• What sort of a soundcard do I need?
• What hardware and software do I need?
• How do I connect a keyboard to my PC?
• What sort of computer do I need?
• Can I get pro results on my PC?

The book covers soundcards, recording music with sequencers, hard disk digital audio recording and editing, plug-ins, mixing, printing scores with notation software, using your PC as a synthesiser or a sampler, making beats and noises, sorting out the hardware, getting sound into and out of the computer, getting music onto and off the internet, bringing the PC into the living room as an entertainment system, using and understanding Windows and it suggests sample PC music set-ups and discusses computer technology in the simplest terms.

With special sections for guitarists and electronic music fans, it’s all rounded off with advice on the musical hardware and software that you’ll need, and a list of invaluable industry contacts.

Contents:
1 Introduction
2 What can a PC do?
3 Getting deeper into soundcards
4 MIDI sequencing
5 Hard disk recording
6 Sample/wave editing
7 Plug-ins and mixing
8 Notation and score writing
9 Software synthesis and sampling
10 The MP3 Revolution
11 Tackling Windows XP
12 Example PC music set-ups
13 The electronic music appendium
14 The guitarist’s appendium
15 The Media Center PC appendium
16 Product roundup
Glossary
General MIDI

For more information, visit their web site at www.pc-publishing.com.

Posted in Computer, Education, Recording

Alfred is pleased to release Celtic Guitar Solos, one of the latest additions to the Acoustic Masterclass series.

The Acoustic Masterclass Book & CD packages provide guitar arrangements transcribed by the artists themselves, in standard notation and tab. Each edition includes a masterclass-style CD in which the artist walks you through the key aspects and techniques for each arrangement.

Celtic Guitar Solos presents twenty-five beautiful Celtic melodies masterfully arranged for solo guitar, as performed by Jim Tozier on his Celtic Guitar CD (Solid Air Records). Jim has been called “one of most eloquent Celtic guitarists in the world (Guitarnation.com),” and his treatment of these traditional Irish and Scottish tunes is tasteful and true.

This collection is comprised of time-honored favorites and lesser-known Celtic gems, which makes it an essential resource for players of all levels. A CD with full-length recordings and performance notes is included. Songs are arranged in DADGAD, CGDGAD, and CGCGCD tunings.

For more information, visit their web site at www.alfred.com.

Posted in Education, Guitar

Alfred is pleased to release 2000-2005 Best Rock Songs, the latest addition to Alfred’s Best Songs series of books.

Distinguished by genre, each book in Alfred’s Best Song series provides the lyrics along with piano and chord arrangements for some of the most popular hit songs released during the first five years of the new millennium. Songs are listed alphabetically, making it easy to find the songs you’re looking for.

2000-2005 Best Rock Songs includes over 30 Billboard-charting hits from rock artists like Green Day, Nickelback, Bruce Springsteen, Bon Jovi, Simple Plan, Staind, Chevelle, and Sugar Ray.

Titles include: American Idiot (Green Day) * Best I Ever Had (Vertical Horizon) * Broken (Seether featuring Amy Lee) * Devils & Dust (Bruce Springsteen) * Everyday (Bon Jovi) * Hero (Chad Kroeger) * How You Remind Me (Nickelback) * It’s Been Awhile (Staind) * One Thing (Finger Eleven) * The Reason (Hoobastank) * The Red (Chevelle) * Too Little Too Late (Barenaked Ladies) * When It’s Over (Sugar Ray), and many more.

For more information, visit their web site at www.alfred.com.

Posted in Education, Guitar

Avant funk fusion bassist and popular clinician JAUQO III-X has created an instructional program to help bassists improve their ability to groove. The program, entitled “The Essence of the Groove,” ($15) consists of 70 individual practice tracks created by III-X and a live drummer along with transcriptions of all bass lines. The program is available exclusively through the JAUQO III-X website.

Helping bassists to evolve is a natural next step in III-X’s mission to help evolve the bass. He says that he created this program to help bassists expand their ability to express themselves musically and to help them learn to groove more freely. III-X hopes that by helping bassists expand their ability - and thinking - more will become interested in exploring the different and evolving aspects of the bass, including multi-string basses.

According to III-X, the best way to use the program is to listen through all of the tracks until one catches your attention. He says players should then focus on that track and absorb as much of the essence of the groove as possible - without playing along at first. Once the spirit of the melodic idea is understood, he says, then begin working on it and continue working on it until it’s familiar and automatic to play.

The lesson doesn’t end there, however. Once familiar with the track the student is asked to consider (among other things), what characteristics of their playing sets them apart from others, their ability to control note length and tone/volume production and to note the current and desired level of physical endurance.

For more information, visit their web site at www.jauqoiii-x.com.

Posted in Education, Guitar

Alfred is pleased to release the Greater Guitar White Pages.

At 1,096 pages, the Greater Guitar White Pages is larger than “the largest” collection of authentic guitar transcriptions ever published before.

It features more than 230 songs, in complete, authentic TAB transcriptions. This is a self-contained, complete guitar reference library spanning the classic rock era right through the modern rock era. Everything from the Beatles to Limp Bizkit!

For more information, visit their web site at www.alfred.com.

Posted in Education, Guitar