Jimmy Buffett's First Album

When you hear the name Jimmy Buffett, you probably think of the upbeat, carefree songs for which he's famous. These will certainly put a smile on your face and they include songs like "Margaritaville" and "Changes in Latitudes, Changes in Attitude." These songs are famous but Jimmy Buffett's first album had a completely different style than what his later music reflected in these songs.

If you listen closely to the lyrics, you'll discover that most of Buffett's songs tell some kind of story. It could be about having fun, relaxing in the sun, revolve around some adventure or it could be a story about love. Whatever the case may be, there is usually a story in there somewhere.

Jimmy Buffett started writing and performing songs in the late 1960s from his home in Nashville Tennessee where he sang country songs. In 1970, he recorded his first full album "Down To Earth". Travis Turk produced this album and it was backed by the Barnaby Record label.

Jimmy Buffett's first album had a total of 11 songs that consisted of the following titles:

Side A- The Christian, Ellis Dee (He Ain't Free), The Missionary, A Mile High In Denver, The Captain and the Kid

Side B- Captain America, Ain't He a Genius, Turnabout, There's Nothin' Soft about Hard Times, I Can't be Your Hero Today, Truck Stop Salvation

These songs capture a side of Buffett before his change in style got the attention of all types of music lovers. Jimmy Buffett's first album has him playing the acoustic guitar and features more serious lyrics than his later works. His music has a more somber tone as he sang about social awareness and life.

Since this was the very first album he recorded and because it reflects a different side of Buffett, "Down to Earth" can be considered a rare collector's item. This is not something that you'll usually find in your best friend's music collection. There are many Buffett fans that don't know he recorded this and one other album called "High Cumberland Jubilee", before he became famous for his remote humor and carefree attitude portrayed in his later albums.

If you've never heard any of the songs recorded on his first album, you're missing out. Even if you're not a huge Buffett fan, you're sure to find them interesting. Jimmy Buffett's first album did reflect his passion for music and it helped to jumpstart his career, making him the well-known and loved artist he is today.

About the Author:

180 Gram Records is a premier producer and distributor of collectible vinyl records from best selling music artists and other limited-run collectible merchandise. They offer select and expertly crafted items to satisfy the demands of collectors, music enthusiasts, and fans alike.

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Elements Which Make a Great Acoustic Song

A lot of times there is more than just one element which makes a great acoustic song. The best acoustic songs have multiple things working for them which makes them great. Below are just a few of those elements that can turn a middle of the road acoustic song into one of those songs that potentially can live on forever.

Probably the most important element in any acoustic guitar song is how well the guitar is played. Now I do not mean how difficult and intricate the guitar is played, but is it played well. It does not matter how technically difficult a song is to play, if it is played poorly, the song as a whole is going to suffer. Some of the best acoustic songs are nothing more than strummed chord transitions. But the chords are played well enough and crisp enough that the simplicity is over shadowed by the skill.

Next, at least for me, is the lyrical content of a song. No matter how great the music is, if the lyrics are cliche or just plain bad, the song loses any ground it gained, even if the music is out of this world. Being a song writer is probably one of the most demanding forms of art. A song writer has to portray an emotion or a thought for an extended period of time and the words have to flow together perfectly. It is a daunting to task. But this is what separates decent acoustic songs from the best acoustic songs. Lyrics are an essential piece of the puzzle.

Melody ranks right up there with lyrics in my book. It is what draws the listener in and usually what they hum after hearing the song. The melody, and I am referring to the vocal melody here, has to flow effortlessly with what the acoustic guitar is doing. If one is good, but the other lacks, the song is doomed from the start. This combination is one of the most difficult parts of song writing and requires a good ear to be able to hear what works, and what doesn't. A great melody can make a song stand out against all the rest.

Well what I just gave is the basic break up of a song, all the elements, and how they work together. When these three elements combine, they summon a great acoustic song. But remember, when writing your own music, it is important to be overly critical. Never settle for second best. Because if you do, that is all you will ever be.

Benjamin J. Cloyd is a guitar instructor and has a website called best acoustic songs where you can find and print great songs for beginners to intermediate to advanced. He also has a humorous clothing line for musicians at Music Tshirts ETC.

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4 Easy Steps to Make a Beat Selling Website

If you are music producer or beat maker, you know that having your own website to showcase your beats and instrumentals is essential. Often times upcoming producers are strapped for cash and on a strict budget. The following will offer you instructions on how to make your own beat selling website.

1. Create A Free Blog

Creating a blog is one of the simplest ways to sell beats online. There are plenty of free websites available where you can create a blog. Blogger, WordPress, and Tumblr are some of the most popular ones. You could also just Google "Free blog" and you will find plenty of resources online. If you aren't tech savvy and don't know much about HTML code, try Blogger. If you have a little more experience with HTML code and are interested in more customization of your website, start a WordPress blog. If you are interested in being more social with other bloggers, try Tumblr.

Once you've chosen your blog platform and set up your online profile. You will likely want to customize the look and feel of your website. If possible, use a white background or something similar to make the information posted on your site pop out (i.e text, pictures, videos, beats, etc). There a literally thousands of free blog templates and themes available online to customize your site. Google search them and follow their installation instructions.

2. Choose a Domain Name & Hosting

You will want to come up a with a name for your website. By default you will usually get a domain name from your blog platform that is self-hosted. It will look something like this:

so and so beats dot blogspot dot com

or

super hot instrumentals dot wordpress dot com

or

i make dope beats dot tumblr dot com

Try to come up with about 3 different domain names that you like just in case the domain name you choose is already in use.

Once you pick your domain name(s), you can visit a website like GoDaddy.com to purchase a custom domain name. If you need help call the customer support line. GoDaddy will typically try to sell you some extra stuff with your domain name. Ignore the sales offers and just get your domain.

You can get by without changing your default domain name, but it is highly recommended that you buy a custom one. This will help customers easily recognize your brand. In any case, make sure your site ends in dot com. You should also try to avoid hyphens in your domain name.

If you want to use your own blog hosting you can buy it through a website such as HostGator.com or GoDaddy.com. Having your own hosting will allow you more control and customization of your site, but again if the budget is tight you will be fine for now. Call the customer support lines if you are in need of help getting things setup.

3. Create a PayPal Account

You will need to create a PayPal Account to start collecting money from the beats you plan to sell. This is very simple. Just visit PayPal.com and enter in your information.

4. Upload your Beats and Instrumentals

One of the best ways to get your beats uploaded to your blog is to have them hosted via a flash store. It is super easy,convenient AND best of all its free to get started!

Visit Myflashstore.com or isellbetternow.com and create a free profile. Once you've completed that upload your hottest beats or instrumentals for sale. You will be able to only upload a limited number of instrumentals on the free profiles. These beats will be hosted on their web servers which is great! When someone buys a beat they will be emailed a download link to the beat. This completely automates the sales process so customers can download beats instantly!

Be sure to go in the settings section in Myflashstore or the user details section of isellbetternow.com and list your Paypal email address to begin receiving payments.

Next, you will want to post the embedded code for the flash player on your blog.

On isellbetternow.com the embedded code will be in the user details section.

Myflashstore will have the embedded code listed under the members tab in the players link. You will click the get code button to access the html code.

You will finally want to copy this entire code and past it inside of one of your blog pages or posts. Put this code in the html section of your page or post.

YOU ARE NOW READY TO SELL BEATS ONLINE!

For free beats and more tips on how to sell beats online visit http://www.almostfreebeats.com/

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Learn to Play Piano - 5 Elements of Music to Learn Before Taking Lessons

Learning to play piano or any musical instrument needs knowledge of the code that allows music to be read and to make sense.

1. Music is played at a speed depending on the type of music it is. To achieve this two things are written on the music. The first is to split the ledger lines (also known as the staff or stave) into sections with vertical lines. These are called bars or measures. Local to the clef on the left of the ledger lines, a time signature is placed there to show the timing of the music. This could be 4/4 or 3/4 or other such numbers. In the case of 4/4 this would mean that each section between the bars would have 4 beats or counts in each section. The other 4 would indicate the type of note that each of the beats would be. In this example the beats are quarter notes so are short notes meaning that the music would be of an average speed. If the time signature had been 4/2 there would still be 4 beats in each section but the number 2 represents a 1/2 note which is slower than a 1/4 note resulting in a slower speed.

2. The pitch between notes can have half pitch notes. These are called sharp notes or flat notes. They are represented on the music by the sign # for sharp and b for flat. Sharps and flats can be confusing as the same half note can be called sharp or flat. For example the half note above G is G# the whole note above G is A. The half note below A is exactly the same note as G#. This time we call it Ab.

3. Understanding where the half pitch notes on piano are is very easy. All you do at this stage is either go to the next black key to left or right of a white key this is counting up in half notes, Progressing from left to right the black notes will be called sharp and if progressing from right to left the black notes will be called flat.

4. Music can be played in a number of ways. Bright, sad, soft, loud, aggressively, to name just a few. In addition to the notes and timing the music has comments written on it. These can be whole words but are generally shortened to a single letter. An example would be (f) meaning fortissimo or loudly, or (p) meaning pianissimo or softly. There are many more that will need to be learned as your learning increases.

5. Not all music is suitable to be played by all instruments. The piano cannot bend strings as a guitar can or other such things. A guitar cannot play 5 bass notes and 5 upper pitch notes at the same time such as a piano can. A violin cannot play three or four notes at the same time to form a chord which flat string instruments can. The choice of music needs care to ensure it is suitable for your instrument.

Should you be interested in learning more try this link http://www.free.jackieclarkmusic.com/

Jackie Clark has been teaching piano, keyboard and guitar for over 30 years in several countries. She has a 100% success rate with pupils taking exams in traditional teaching methods and also has on line courses of instruction

http://www.jackieclarkmusic.com/

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Tips for Selling Vinyl Records on eBay

Many people use eBay to sell and buy items new and used. It's an excellent way to make money off something that's been sitting around collecting dust or to find something that you've been searching for that is no longer sold in retail stores.

Selling vinyl records on eBay is a big business and you can get in on some of the action, too. It's easy to get started. Just pull out those albums stored in your closet or basement and start going through them to see which ones you're ready to part with.

Once you get a stack of albums ready, here are a few tips for selling vinyl records on eBay to help you get the most from your collection.

· Do some research to determine what is in high demand so you can get an idea of the value of the albums you have.

· Evaluate their condition because this will affect the price as well.

· Set up your account and review the rules so you can compile with them completely. You don't want to get in trouble for breaking the rules.

· List your albums individually with a detailed description. This should include each track and the length of time they play. It should also include the record size, rotation speed and vinyl grade if known.

· Provide a photo of the cover and add this in the description along with any extras that come with the album.

· Give an accurate account of the condition of each album. If it's in excellent condition, that's great and by all means list it as such but if it's in good condition, don't exaggerate. Include any damage to the cover as well if any.

Selling vinyl records on eBay is not difficult but it's important that you know as much about the albums up for sale as you can. This will make it easier for you to set a fair price for the records that you sell. Just because you consider something to be very valuable, doesn't mean that everyone else will.

Value is determined by a variety of things besides the condition of the album. For example, supply and demand plays a major role in how valuable records are. The ones that were mass-produced are not as valuable as the ones that had only a few copies made. The ones recorded on high grade vinyl will also be more valuable than the ones recorded on low grade vinyl. Be aware that records can sell for as little as a $1.00 or they can go for hundreds or even thousands of dollars.

After you gain some experience selling on eBay, you'll pick up a few tips of your own that'll help you along the way. It's a learning process so the more you do it, the easier it'll become. Selling vinyl records on eBay can be quite profitable once you get the hang of it.

About the Author:

180 Gram Records is a premier producer and distributor of collectible vinyl records from best selling music artists and other limited-run collectible merchandise. They offer select and expertly crafted items to satisfy the demands of collectors, music enthusiasts, and fans alike.

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Vinyl Records Have Stood the Test of Time

Vinyl records have stood the test of time throughout the years for several reasons and they will most likely continue to be the favorite of many music fanatics for a long time to come. CDs, MP3s and MP4s may be the cutting-edge technology but nothing can compare to classic songs recorded on an original vinyl record.

Vinyl records have several benefits over other types of music formats, with the most important being the sound. Records produce a pure and true sound, whereas the new music formats are compressed and compromised. Records are recorded in analog instead of digital and that is one of the most important things to remember when looking for a true sound that is incomparable.

Another benefit vinyl records have to offer is being able to listen to music in groups. You can gather around and socialize while playing records in the background and everyone gets to enjoy the crisp, clean sound they produce at once. It makes music a social thing once more. In addition, the unique and colorful album covers that accompany many records are an added bonus.

If you want to experience the unique and beautiful sounds created by records again or even for the first time, finding them is not hard. One of the best places to search for them is the Internet where you'll see firsthand that vinyl records have stood the test of time.

There are many die-hard fans that sell, trade and buy albums online. These sites offer options to buy used or new records that have been kept in good to pristine condition. Sometimes, these sites will have resources listed where you can buy albums from places found right in your own hometown or at least close by. Checking thrift shops, flea markets and garage sales are also a great option when you're first starting a vinyl record collection.

When searching the Internet, you may also run across sites offering you the chance to take part in projects designed to restore some of the classic albums of yesteryear. This is a rare and wonderful opportunity to be a part of restoring classic albums to be released back into the media for sale. Many times, you can be one of the first to collect these albums at a discounted rate for a small donation.

These projects also prove that vinyl records have stood the test of time and it's the perfect way to help keep them available for future generations to enjoy. Who knows, with your support these reproductions could become more common and one day, we could all be listening to newly produced vinyl records again instead of music downloads.

About the Author:

180 Gram Records is a premier producer and distributor of collectible vinyl records from best selling music artists and other limited-run collectible merchandise. They offer select and expertly crafted items to satisfy the demands of collectors, music enthusiasts, and fans alike.

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Create A Unique DJ Sound And Style - Get DJ Gigs!

Part of being a successful DJ is creating your unique DJ sound. Anything is possible in the DJ world. For you to have a chance at real success, locally, nationally or internationally, you'll need to stand out from the rest and create your own unique style.

What is a unique DJ sound?

Many DJs you'll see and hear when you go out in bars and clubs play similar music to each other. There is not much really wrong with this, as long as they are making people happy and as long as people are dancing.

But if you want to be better than them and rise above the average deejay, get real, better paid club DJ gigs and keep on getting them every weekend, then creating your unique DJ sound is essential.

Your music selection, the order of your tracks, the style of mixing and the blend should all be in your style or DJ sound. Your style needs to be so unique to you that you could copyright it. No one else can play in the way you do. DJs may try to copy you, but they'll never do it, because only you know how to react and surprise people with your unique style.

This is how you do it.

1. Find Rare Gems

First up, you need to get busy searching. Whether it's seeking out quiet record shops where the crates have dust on them, finding random websites with solo artists, contacting bloggers that few others know of or digging into your own collection, you need tunes no one else has got.

The ideal way to creating your sound is to find the best combination of least known but most catchy and memorable tunes. What you find should be rare and unknown but also very memorable and catchy. It should have the music freaks on the floor staring at you and crowding around you to find out what it is.

Someone will fail miserably in an attempt to recognise your tunes with Shazam, because Shazam doesn't recognise who this track is by. You need to have tunes that people know but you need rare gems too. These are what make you stand out. How to get ahead of DJ Shazam stealing your tunes

2. Create DJ Remixes

Look at any successful DJ nowadays and you'll see they have a ton of remixes and some of their own tunes to their name. The likes of Soulwax, Boys Noize and Laidback Luke are just a few examples.

With some luck, your great remix you could end up getting you lots of attention on DJ forums and on youtube. With this kind of viral success, getting gigs should be a breeze for you.

I've DJed with a group called Jolie Cherie. Since they got signed to Kitsune records, they get huge DJ gigs in the best clubs in London and Paris. And they're not even DJs, they're musicians. A good tune or remix can let you leapfrog masses of other DJs.

3. Be a punk

By being a punk I mean go against the grain. You're there so that people can enjoy themselves, but there's nothing wrong with being a rebel and shocking people with your DJ sound style.

This doesn't mean you playing a set for yourself and then dancing away in your booth while everyone else looks at you in bewildered silence and disappointment. It means you play against the grain. Drop surprises. Be a bit crazy. How do you do that?

Vary your style and drop the last tune they would expect. Ask yourself a question: what is the last possible tune anyone would expect me to play right now? Then play that track.

Many more other DJ tips, reviews, advice and a free guide to getting DJ gigs can be found at The Total DJ Site

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