Music For Your Life

About Jackson :

Jackson guitars and basses have contributed an important chapter to the history of heavy metal. The popularity of these guitars exploded during the late '70s and early '80s as a new breed of guitarists came of age during the MTV era. Founder, Grover Jackson and his team of skilled craftsmen developed heavy rock-friendly guitars for these artists lusting after new loud and heavy sounds. Jackson answered the call delivering guitars and basses that have integrated into every sonic mutation of punk, hard rock, and metal including thrash metal, speed metal, death metal, goth, industrial, nu metal, skate metal, grunge, metalcore, rap metal, and more.

Jackson is based in the USA and its custom shop is one of the longest-operating facilities of its kind in the world. Jackson comes by this legacy naturally; the company got its start as a custom shop, employing the talents of open-minded and professional luthiers who had the freedom to dream up outlandish instruments and make their designs a reality. Today the company continues to flourish, providing world-class, high-performance instruments perfect for heavy, aggressive music.

Jackson's high-performance shred machines possess distinguishing features that set them apart from other guitars and basses. Two such features are the trademark "shark fin" fret inlays and compound-radius fingerboard that curves more dramatically at the nut for easier chording and low-action bends. Almost all of their axes feature pointy, drooped headstocks, originally designed by legendary rock icon Randy Rhoads who first collaborated with the company on his signature guitar in 1980. Rhoads and Grover Jackson sketched out the guitar design on a paper napkin and eventually it became the timeless classic Jackson Rhoads guitar, an instrument still revered and credited as the wellspring of Jackson's bloodline.

Building on the success of the Randy Rhoads signature guitar, the company has worked with several phenomenally talented metal guitarists to develop signature instruments that emphasize the uniqueness of each player. Today, Jackson instruments bear the names of musicians such as Phil Collen from Def Leppard, Mark Morton and John Campbell from Lamb of God, Phil Demmel from Machine Head, Chris Beattie from Hatebreed, Adrian Smith from Iron Maiden, and Matt Tuck from Bullet For My Valentine to name a few.

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About Ibanez :
Dating back to the late 19th and early 20th century, the Ibanez lineage can be traced back to Spanish luthier Salvador Ibanez. His guitars, mandolins, ukuleles and other stringed instruments, are still prized for their workmanship. After the workshop was destroyed during the Spanish Civil War in 1936, their Japanese distributor, Hoshino Gakki, purchased the highly esteemed trademark and began making acoustic and electric guitars in Japan.

In the mid-1970s Ibanez guitars gained popularity due to their excellent construction and a decline in quality of some famous U.S. brands. In the late 1980s and early 1990s, they began a long-term relationship with guitarist Steve Vai, leading to the JEM and Universe electric guitar models. The company released their first Artcore hollow-body guitars in 2002 in an appeal to entry-level guitarists. The Artcore line has since gone on to earn a reputation as one of the best guitar values available.

Ibanez produce a full line of amplifiers, including amp heads, speaker cabinets, combo amps and acoustic guitar amplifiers. Well-known amps include the Tone Blaster and Troubadour. Bassists are well served by Sound Wave combo amps. Ibanez' series of guitar effects pedals also equip you with powerful tools to bring out the expressive tone you're after. They released their first Tube Screamer effect pedal in the late 1970s. It featured an integrated circuit that made it one of the best solid-state pedals to simulate a tube guitar amp on overdrive. So popular are these pedals that they have reissued the TS-9 and TS-808 Tube Screamers to the delight of vintage gear hounds who know a good deal when they see one.

Fortunately for all of us, Ibanez has reissued some of the classic Tube Screamers, and has brought out some new pedals like the TS-808, TS9, and TS9DX. Other esteemed guitar effects include the AD9 Analog Delay Pedal, the WD7 Weeping Demon Wah, the DE7 Delay/Echo, the SB7 Synthesizer Bass Pedal, the CS9 Stereo Chorus Pedal, the Tube King High Voltage Tube Distortion Pedal, and more.

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About Fender :

When inventor Leo Fender started making electric guitars in the '40s and '50s, he may never have imagined that two of his creations, the Telecaster and Stratocaster guitars, would become icons ushering in entirely new styles of music. And he certainly couldn't have known that Fender Musical Instruments Corporation would become one of the world's foremost makers of guitars, basses, amplifiers, and guitar accessories revered by countless musicians the world over.

Fender started with a desire to meet the needs of rhythm and blues, Western swing, boogie, and honky-tonk players as the popularity of big bands declined. Electric guitars gave a small group of instrumentalists the ability to fill a dance hall or bar with sound the equal of an entire horn section. Fender's instrument designs gave bassists and guitarists instruments that they could afford. His creations made it possible to mass-produce guitars and electric basses that met the needs of gigging musicians.

In 1951, Fender introduced the prototype for what eventually became the Telecaster guitar, a solidbody electric guitar that is still in production and still beloved by country, rock, and blues guitarists. Famous Telecaster masters include Buck Owens, Waylon Jennings, Keith Richards, and Muddy Waters. Today you can still see rockers like Bruce Springsteen, Jonny Lang and James Root of Slipknot and Stone Sour deliver their sound on a classic Telecaster.

They also introduced the Precision Bass in 1951. A split humbucker pickup model that met bassist's needs for a louder, more portable electric bass guitar to replace the acoustic upright double bass, the name "Precision" refers to the bass guitar's frets and neck shape, which allow precise hand placement and articulation. The P-Bass as it's often called, remains a top choice among bass players today. In 1960, the company released the Jazz Bass, a bass guitar with a thinner neck, an offset-waist solid body, and 2 single-coil pickups. The J-Bass was an instant hit, as was its predecessor, the P-Bass.

During this same era, Fender introduced the Bassman, a 45W bass amplifier with four 10" speakers. Other classic Fender amps have included the Princeton, Champ, Twin Reverb, Deluxe, and Vibrasonic, as well as many other amplifiers, guitar combos, and amp heads that are prized for their "California" sound.

The Stratocaster is probably the most famous guitar ever productd. It gave many electric guitar virtuosos the sound they sought. The Strat also had features such as shape, weight, pickup configuration and construction that pros wanted in their electric guitars. From Jimi Hendrix and Eric Clapton to Dave Gilmour and Stevie Ray Vaughan, musical artists have found their voices with Stratocaster guitars.

The FMIC line now includes the Charvel, Gretsch, Guild, Jackson, Olympia, Orpheum, SWR, Squier, and Tacoma brands. FMIC also manufactures a complete line of professional audio equipment under the Fender brand, including Passport portable PA sound systems. Fender also manufactures a complete line of music accessories, including guitar strings, authorized replacement guitar parts, cases for guitars and basses, straps, rock clothing, shoes, and lifestyle accoutrements like wristwatches, belt buckles, and more.

To this day Fender Standard Strats and Teles, and the American Deluxe guitars, as well as the famous Fat Strat, are in big demand. So is Fender's Highway One series of Stratocasters and Telecasters. Other popular Fender guitar models are the Jaguar, Jazzmaster, and Showmaster electric guitars. And let's not forget the Jazz Bass, the Precision Bass, those great Frontman and Super Champ amps, or the new Fender G-Dec Entertainment Centers. In July of each year, Fender has what it calls a Fender Sonic Boom , where you can save up to $100 with instant rebates.

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Review by Stephen Thomas Erlewine

So the story goes like this. Inspired by their work on the Leon Russell duet album The Union, producer T-Bone Burnett encouraged Elton John to return to making albums like he used to in the old days for 2013's The Diving Board, harking back to the days when he wrote quickly and recorded with little more than a rhythm section. This all sounds like a major shift in aesthetic for John, but Elton has been on a decade-long quest to tap into that old magic, beginning his voyage into the past with 2001's Songs from the West Coast and getting progressively elliptical with each subsequent release. The Diving Board does indeed evoke ghosts of Elton past but it never suggests the hits. It's an album consisting almost entirely of songs that riff on "Sixty Years On" and "Rotten Peaches" -- long, languid ballads or open-ended blues-rockers where atmosphere trumps hooks. Occasionally, Elton musters up elongated melodies that eventually catch hold, but The Diving Board isn't a collection of finely sculpted pop; it's a set of song poems and ballads, all placing emphasis on mood, not immediacy. This is an exceptional idea in theory; in practice it is ever so slightly gormless, floating whenever it should be taking root. There are moments where the tempo gets ever so slightly sprightly -- "Take This Dirty Water" has a dirty gospel shuffle reminiscent of a toned-down "Take Me to the Pilot," "The Ballad of Blind Tom" is faithful to the spirit of Tumbleweed Connection, "Mexican Vacation (Kids in the Candlelight)" not only rocks but has a welcome gust of tastelessness -- but that only emphasizes just how ponderous the rest of the record is. There is much that is admirable about The Diving Board -- the feel is spacious and haunting, the ambition is commendable -- but the emphasis on tone over song means it leaves only wistful wisps of melancholia behind with the actual songs seeming like faded, distant memories.

Source : http://www.allmusic.com/album/the-diving-board-mw0002558809

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Some people spend hours at the gym or pounding the pavement to keep their bodies in shape. But beyond singers and actors, who worries much about their voices?

You should, say Norman Hogikyan and colleagues at the University of Michigan Health System. "Your voice is your ambassador to the outside world," Hogikyan contends. "It portrays your personality and emotions. People make assessments about you based on your voice, so it is very important when you're speaking or singing to think about what people are really hearing. Problems with your voice also can have a tremendous impact on your life."

Some 7 million Americans have some type of voice disorder, according to the American Academy of Otolaryngology. 

Hogikyan and colleagues have put together the following 10 tips to help keep your voice in shape :

Further, warming up the voice is not just for singers, the researchers say. Think of it like stretching and loosening up before exercise. Easy, daily warm-ups for your voice:

Source : http://www.livescience.com/4078-10-tips-healthy-voice.html

Related : 10 Tips for a Healthy Voice