MSCI

Picture this... you've been drifting around in the songwriting sea for years, unsure of where to go next. There doesn't seem to be any clear direction to take. That elusive first cut is somewhere out over the horizon, and you're not sure where. Sound familiar? It was to me until I picked up a copy of this book. In it is a wealth of information, good advice, and a practical guide to the songwriting world. You won't learn how to write a song by reading this book, but you'll finally have the answers to what to do once the songs are written. It's all so clear now. I'm not there yet, but I've got a map, and I'm headed for the horizon. Don't leave home without it!

This is a great book for the aspiring songwriter. Songwriting is such a creative process that the basic step by step of getting better, getting songs heard, meeting publishers, and ultimately having a song on the radio is often lost.

This book lays out for the writer in clear and concise steps what needs to be done to get a song on the radio. Not only is the process presented step by step, but also as a pyramid. Completing steps high up on the pyramid can be self defeating if you don't have the foundation laid from earlier steps.

The book is clear, concise, and inspring. Each chapter (or step) includes stories from writers who have "made it" already.

The book is designed to be "loved". . . that is, by the time you complete the last step (have a song on the radio!) it ought to be dog eared, written in, re-written in, and pretty much beat to hell.

If you are serious about becoming a hit songwriter, you need this book.

I made the move to Nashville in November of 1996, not knowing a soul in town. I spent an entire year without a clue or connection. Sadly, it was another 5 years of taking baby steps before I found " Your First Cut ". This fabulous book is a how to for the serious music composer. It focuses on the all elusive goal of getting your songs heard and recorded by music artists. Jerry and Gracie provide the ground work for making that pipedream into a reality. Whether you're a neophite tunesmith, or a solid writer with an impressive catalog of wannabe hits, this book will help you reach your goal of getting your first cut. The chapters walk you through the process of crafting, networking, and self evaluation with complete detail each step of the way. Taken from the perspective of two people that have "walked the walk". I truly believe that by using this book, i'm closer today of realizing my dream of having my first cut. Do yourself a favor, add this wonderful book to your collection! Take it from me, you can wander aimlessly in circles without a true gameplan, or you can own this book, use it as a tool, and be on your way to getting "Your First Cut".

Not involved with playing any instr. in over 10 years, i acquired the desire to play the guitar, picked up a cheap fender 16 months ago (really cheap) and to-date, i've been studying classical guitar for about 5 months. im still working on the noad series instructions, but wanted to fill in 'gaps'. even tho, im only up to #11 in the book, i can see that this book is going to be priceless. firstly, for those that are SERIOUS in learning as much as possible for classical style playing, i would (just as many others would) suggest finding (usually its by word of mouth) a good classical guitar instructor. he/she will be the only one that will be able to guide you in the 'correct' techniques to master with the left hand transitions.. barring.. the 'hinge'.. etc, and the 'correct' right hand finger picking with the corner of the finger. i strongly, and sincerely suggest those that are interested in classical guitar studies to pick up this book. its an excellent repitoir that combines needed technical studies with the classical style music of the classical guitar.
i do agree with the 'drawbacks' of this book, tho if you combine this book with good instruction and some dedication in practice, the right-hand finger picking should not be of much trouble, since noad does not explicitly tell you what finger to pick with.
the 'binding' of the book would have been nice if bounded with rings.. just make due, dont let this interfere with your studies!! photocopy it if you need to :)
i would not suggest this book to those begginers that know absolutely nothing about the guitar. you'll easily get frustrated. noad assumes you can read the trebble cleff (the musical staff).. simply put, he assumes you can read all the musical notations including those for the guitar.
i wish i could say that those that are intermediate or advanced guitarists should use this book, but i cant 'cuz i can't truly relate what it is to be 'intermediate' or a advanced player :) if you just play accasionally or play mostly chords, then you probably wont get much out of this book... for the rest of us, we'll simply be better guitarists :)

This is a collection of studies for the ages. Not only is each one slightly more challenging than the last, encouraging a sequential skill-building approach, but almost everyone except for the first few is musically great, a true performance piece.
The fingering indications are left as the original composer intended. Noad has done a masterful job selecting and organizing these 100 studies from the vast number out there. Carcassi's great 25 studies are all here. Sor's "20 Segovia" studies are here (save one or two), much more by Sor, and some great pieces by Guiliani. I have literally scores of books of studies and this is the only one I ever feel like using. Unless you are near virtuoso or a complete beginner, this book will fit the bill as no other. It's the definitive desert island classical guitar book. (Requires music reading ability, No TAB).

Frederick Noad has done an excellent job of reviewing the studies/exercises available for classical guitarists and selecting this set of 100 from the studies published by Fernando Sor, Mauro Giuliani, and Matteo Carcassi. The studies are arranged in a progressively more difficult order, and Noad includes his comments on each as to what skills it seeks to develop, etc.

While I feel that the book deserves five stars, it is not without problems, specifically:

1. It is extraordinarily difficult to keep the book
open to the desired pages when it is on a music
stand; spiral-binding would have solved this. This
may seem like nit-picking, but it's an important
shortcoming given the purpose of the book.

2. Right-hand fingerings are given for only a few of
the pieces; in many cases, choice of the proper
right-hand pattern can make a huge difference in
the ease of performing a piece.

3. While Noad gives full left-hand fingerings, he
does not give diagrams of hand-positions to adopt
for a passage, with fingers in place for the next
few notes.

Even taking these into account, however, it remains, in my opinion, the best book of exercises available to any but the most advanced classical guitarist.

It is helpful to someone who is learning the Voganova system so you can see what you will learn and review what you have already been thaught. In this book it will show you what you will learn an example is a portde bra.

This book is very good about giving ideas on what to teach from the beginning ballet technique up to advanced levels. From the ideas one can formulate a class and know that it follows a syllabus and will develop the student appropriately. It is a good book to use as a guide and I recommend it for that.

This collection of lesson plans has helped me tremendeousely in my school. I am able to use this and of course make it fit my own classes. Each lesson plans is working on progression gives you something to follow and does not allow you to get into a rutt.
I am also able to give it to other teachers and ask them to follow it. And then I know what the student has been taught.
I personally was taught the chachette method. But can be adapted very easily .
Kathy
New Creation Performing Arts

This product is a godsend; Unlike other template contract sets, the contractual material found within it is fresh, up-to-date and with the times.

I purchased the 101 Music Business Contracts and really like it. Thank you!

A friend of mine in the entertainment business gave me "One Hundred & One (101) Music Business Contracts" as an early Christmas present when I told him I was thinking of handling my cousin's band. There are other contract books on the "music industry" but this one gives you everything you need to...get things done right...from the start. Williams knows his stuff particularly contracts and rights. Even if you are contemplating a career in the music business, get this book, it's worth every penny! It will save me thousands of dollars in lawyer fees and i'll tell you I have never been able to find all these forms without having to run all over town. So please get these if you are in the record business or just starting out. You won't be disappointed.

This was the best music book that I have purchased over the past 25 years as a guitar player. I was hesitant to purchase a music book online and my expectations were low. Suprisingly though, it has provided a great selection of songs sorted chronologically by classical music historical periods together with those musicians with great influence on classical guitar. It was simple enough for a intermediate non-classical guitar player like myself and yet could be used by an advanced beginner or a very experienced guitar player. Today, I have learned 15 songs well and look forward to another 20 from this book in the coming year. Some of my best songs, from all styles of guitar playing, are now from this book. Many finger picking arrangements and styles are poor at best. The arrangements in this book are great. This book is well worth the money.

SINCE ORDERING THE PLAY GUITAR BY EAR BOOK,FOUR MONTHS AGO, I CAN PLAY AS GOOD AS ANY OF THE BOYS!!!!

I don't think this book "sux ", at least I tried to see if it did, and it did not. That was not an advertised feature so I won't consider this a bad thing.

Yes there is tablature. Does this make the music any less useful? I think not. If you can read music notation well enough to play the music presented, then do so. I can't do it well enough or fast enough to suite me. Some day I will. In the meantime I use tablature and progress in my guitar playing technique. Granted, my sight reading and music writing does not improve when I use tablature, but that is my choice.

I learn to love music, all kinds, using tablature, then as I progress music theory and music notation make more sense to me. Now I've decided that I want to learn to read standard music notation. No harm at all in that course.

Not all who play the guitar play in orchestras or bands that require notation. I play for personal enjoyment, not for the edification of people who judge music by the format it is published in.

A similar concept can be seen in the medieval catholic church, where latin (not even the original language the bible was written in!) was the only language that the bible was available in. Most people could not read, and those that could, could not read latin (for the most part). Does that make the bible appropriate for priests only (personally I think so, but my point meant to say NO)?

I liked the pieces presented in this book. They were easy to play (for the most part) and stimulated my interest in classical guitar playing (I think that was the point of the book no?).

One of the disadvantages of not reading music notation (well enough or not at all) is that I cannot accurately reproduce the music without having heard it before. I can approximate and I sometimes luck out and it sounds as it should. Here is my only suggestion for this book--Notation and a CD should be packaged together. This way you can learn to play the music properly. The alternative of course is to learn to read the music notation which would give you most of what you need to play it without the CD. The tablature would then only be used then for finger positioning suggestions from Mr Harris.

I purchased this book as a supplement to round out research I'm doing on the experience of an Anglican minister in Georgian and Victorian England. I had no idea I would be distracted by a tangent so unexpectedly worthy of my time. What a delightfully detailed and well-written book, interesting subject matter with great references. The author is passionate and extremely thorough. Not only does he cover the more famous hymn selections, authors and styles, but he educates the reader about other popular forms of praise - choral, instrumental and otherwise - practiced throughout the Georgian and Victorian eras. I was particluarly surprised and intrigued that the author as well as addressed issues of prejudice and political manipulation in certain denominations concerning the utilization of music. I was so taken with the topic, I've had to resist the urge to purchase even more books on it and direct my own writing in another direction to incorporate what I learned.

The history of hymns - who would have known it would prove such a tantalizing topic?

Having bought this book for research purposes alone, never would I have expected such an enjoyable reading experience. Not only was every line packed with more information than I could wrap my pencil around, but the material was intriguing, the anecdotes well-researched and very accessible, and the references relatable for even the least learned student of the Georgian and Victorian eras (both of which are covered in the book). The author succeeded well at a difficult task by educating his readers, and making a seemingly bland topic enticing - I had no idea hymns could be so political, controversial and liberating. Last week they were staid, measured and over-used songs I was forced to sing as a child in church; today, they are tales of conflict, humility, celebration and seeking, and even more, a complex, inspiring art-form of which I was not fully aware. Author Ian Bradley's own enthusiasm and intrigue for the topic are wonderfully contagious.

This book is thorough, scholarly, entertaining, and very readable. It reveals the immense significance of hymns to the Victorian world and should appeal to readers from diverse backgrounds.

if u own the program u should own this book as well, as it provides a great overview as well as many inspiring ways to use the program, the manual for the program is good but i find this book to cover alot more ground in practically every senario with this program. i am new to the program but i found myself rapidly understanding the program along with its possibilties, obviosly beginners will get the most out of it but so will the people that are experineced with it. plus i really like how the author will answer peoples questions about the both the book and the program in the abelton user forum in addition to a well written book.

This is an excellent reference to an excellent and indispensible application. I have been using the incredible Live 2 program for some months; and thought I had it fairly well figured out. But I have already learned new tips and tricks from Mr Hill's excellent book. Live doesn't come with a printed manual so if you're like me and need something to prop up on your stomach to read before going to sleep each night, you can't do better than this.

The book has been edited by the Ableton team who have vetted the information, and is very up to date (as of Sept 2003)...

Thanks to this new book, Live has quickly become my main application/instrument. The author's musical knowledge, humorous tone and personal insight makes this an enjoyable read. If your the type who likes to wing it without a manual I highly suggest you stop and take a look. There are a lot of useful tips that will improve your sampling/looping chops. I highly recommend this book. Gotta go, there's music to make!!!

A real Classic. Griel Marcus and Greil Marcus both contribute a lot to the book, as designer/illustrator, and it's safe to say that Marcus' book-cover design/drawing really adds to the tone of the tome...which previously had sported a photo of Tina Turner and Mick Jagger touching each other on stage, I believe. Meltzer of course is one of the most serious, committed writers on rock, with a political stance and a moral (but not moralistic) outlook that really gets at why rock remains such an important force for good in the world. He applies philosophy to rock in a way that illumes both disciplines and as in his later work (which explores the humanistic/political ramifications of the work of Springsteen, Tom Petty, and R.E.M.), "Aesthetics" looks at Arthur Lee, Hendrix, the Beatles, Cream, the Move, Jimmy Soul, Arthur Conley, Marvin Gaye, the Searchers, the Left Banke, Van Morrison, Chester Arthur Burnett, and many more in light of their connection to the tenets of Western Philosophy. Who else could have shown us the connection between Howlin' Wolf's "Shake for Me" and "Natchez Burning" to the Political Unrest of the day or given us such a beautifully articulated philosophical/musical analysis of "Here Comes the Sun" and "Sunshine of Your Love," two Rock Masterpieces not commonly associated? Meltzer remains a serious contributor to music magazines and certainly ranks up there, as one of the inheritors of the best aspects of New Deal Democratic thought, with Grail Marcuse and Richard Christgau. Long may he wave.

Richard Meltzer has been going on for years about how he invented rock criticism. He probably did, but that's a bit like saying you invented prog-rock - I love prog-rock, or at any rate some of it, but I don't really care who invented it, cause so much of it is just plain awful. His genius is that he is a great WRITER, on a word-to-word basis. "The Aesthetics of Rock" was considered for years as some sort of prank; I once had a rubbishy hack book called "Atrocities of Rock & Roll", or something, which poked mindless fun at it for being unreadable and pretentious. It's no more unreadable than James Joyce. What Meltzer did was to treat rock, or pop, or whatever, as a field worthy of being looked at, if not always taken entirely seriously, and it mattered nothing to him whether the record under examination was by the Beatles or by the Standells - he was looking for whatever all this stuff had in common. (Personally I think Joe Carducci succeeded better in his wickedly funny "Rock and the Pop Narcotic", but then Carducci had a much wider field to write about, since his book came out in the 90s and Meltzer's book stops around about 1968.)

To read Meltzer applying Heidegger to doo-wop is to have the structure of your brain rewired in new and interesting ways. His actual career as a paid-up rock critic was short and, well, sour, although he nobly championed the Minutemen in later years; but by then he had ceased to be on anyone's guest list. He is a great American writer and this is the opus that gave him, if not exactly fame and fortune, at least notoriety. You owe it to yourself to check it out, and also his wonderful anthology "A Whore Just Like The Rest", in which he savagely tears into Greil Marcus' patronising introduction. A Meltzer could never happen now, when rock writers (I won't dignify them with the name of "critic") have to be industry ... in order to get any work at all; but at least he's still alive, still sane, still as honest as anyone could hope for, and still writing.

The temptation is strong, when reviewing a Richard Meltzer book, to slip into his style of writing. I will resist that, and maintain a dull tone. This is the funniest book I have ever read about rock music; it is also one of the few that I've read more than once. Anybody who's read more than a few serious, scholarly, University-press-published books on rock will find this to be a refreshing alternative. Meltzer's 1988 collection of essays, "L.A. Is the Capital of Kansas," appears to be out of print, but is also well worth seeking out.

This book is a verry good book about our fave little prince Aaron Carter! In the book you can find pictures, tons facts and a little quiz. I think the book are verry good but the book that his mom write is a quite better...read it to..!!
this book is good for you that vanna get to now Aaron better, what he likes, what his fav food & drink is ??
I can just say READ THIS BOOK!

This very colorful book is packed full of information on Aaron. There are lots of pictures and all kinds of info about him, like:
where he was born and raised, his favorite foods, his favorite hobbies, his favorite collectibles, and of course his favorite sports. Most of the pages have an "Aaron sez" quote where he comments on Nick, video shoots, future plans, and recording his albums. You've gotta have this book if you're a fan cuz we have to know everything now don't we?? I think you'll definitely learn some new stuff.

Everybody that reads this messagemust be a Aaron fan. If your a fan. Get this your need it. If your a Aaron lover. I like this book. You should get it. Oh ya if you can't get enough of aaron visit his site at www.aaroncarter.com Later.

I've played guitar my whole life and I just got into AC/DC, most of their songs are just chords, making it simple for beginners to play awesome songs like TNT, Back In Black, and You Shook Me... The only thing I have a problem with this book is that they're missing a great one like Dirty Deeds... which dissapointed me a bit but the book kicks anyway.

Terrific Book by ac/dc. I own a guitar and every song in this book sounds perfect, just like the song! It even has tabs and which count to play each note on, the tempo and the standard notation (sheet music). Great book. In case you don't know, the title BONfire comes from the singer BON Scott. These are all the songs that he performed before his tragic death (choking on own vomit). All of their best songs were performed by him and are in this book. The format is very simple, it gives you the main riffs and labels them such as "Rythm figure 1". Then, when you need to play rythm figure 1 along with the lyrics, it says "with rythm figure 1". It even has the solos!!!!! GREAT BUY. EVERY AC/DC FAN NEEDS IT!!!!

Everything you need for AC/DC from 1975-1980, including never before heard tracks! Easy to use and play. If you want to play the classic thunder chords of AC/DC, this will be a great book for you.