Playing music instruments has enhanced my life and broadened my horizons more than I ever thought it could. I started learning piano and violin as a 5-year-old when I was being carted around to lessons and recitals and told I couldn’t play until after I practiced. Years have gone by since I played in orchestras and chamber music groups. It seems like ages since I had to worry about messing up at a recital and having every half-note seem like an eternity. Music is really something that you appreciate so much more after understanding the way that it comes together and experiencing the effort that goes into perfecting a few difficult measures of new sheet music, then memorizing multiple sonatas and performing them. It’s the funnest kind of hard work. We can all relate to having different emotional reactions when listening to different songs and types of music! Do you have those songs that you love and will blast when you’re alone in their car but won’t admit that it’s your jam to your friends?
If you’re interested in purchasing guitars, drums, amps, DJ/studio equipment, stage lighting, and accessories and more music-related products, shop at Guitar Center, the world’s largest musical instrument retailer. They have everything from keyboards to violin rosin to headphones.
Love your playlist but want to discover new music? There are a bunch of free ways to do so. Pandora is underrated as a way to expand your musical tastes, as most people just tend to stream it in the background and don’t take it too seriously. However, instead of letting a great song pass you by, grab a glance at the song and artist. Once in a while mix in a station that you wouldn’t normally listen to. It might take you by surprise to see how deep the rabbit hole goes.
Second, get a music app or five! Shazam is a free smartphone app, perfect for when you’re out and you hear an amazing song that you’ve never heard before: hold up your phone and Shazam will quickly tell you what song it is! If you like to listen to your music on the go or at the gym, check out the free app Spotify, where you can listen to “radio stations” that you create on your smartphone.
There are quite a few free websites for music discovery (some have more of a social/community component, others feature music bloggers). I recommend Music-Map which is a straightforward website where you can type in your favorite musician and it will reveal all the similar artists in their database in a map form. The most similar musician are placed in closer proximity to the artist. I’m pretty curious to what algorithm they use to create this projection, but it is pretty spot on as far as I can tell. You can listen to the suggested similar artists directly on the website, powered by YouTube videos. YouTube is also a great tool to use to find new artists, especially up and coming bands, and the suggestions are easy to visually browse.
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