A MUSICAL PHILOSOPHY

Hindi song notation for instrumental solo

2011-09-17T02:00:00.000-07:00

Now it is easy to play on your guitar or keyboard or violin your favourite film songs using western notation that is now available for these songs. Click on the heading and find out.

a song about vishu 2011(click to listen)

2011-09-15T09:14:00.000-07:00

The song is sung by udayakumar .The lyrics written by poovachal khader and music composed by sanjeevbabu.

Overcome your anger

2011-08-11T19:13:00.000-07:00

Surdas and the sweeper

There once lived a seeker of God called Surdas. He was eager to study and understand Spirituality (knowledge about God). He approached a Guru and requested that the Guru teach him spiritual practice, so that he could get close to God.

The Guru was well aware of Surdas' defect of anger. He knew that this would prevent Surdas from feeling closeness with God. So the Guru decided to first prepare Surdas before teaching him serious spiritual practice. So the Guru replied, "Dear Surdas, chant the Lord's Name during all your activities, for a month. Then take a bath and come back to me."

Starting the very next day, Surdas chanted the Lord's Name during all his activities. After a month, he went to a river, took a bath and put on fresh clothes to visit the Guru. On the way to the Guru's ashram (hermitage), his clothes got dirty as a sweeper was sweeping the street carelessly. Surdas was furious and shouted at the sweeper, "What you are doing, you fool? Now I have to go back, wash and dry these clothes and bathe again! Such waste of time!"

The Guru had observed the scene. When Surdas reached the ashram, He said, "Dear Surdas, you are not yet ready for further spiritual practice. Chant the Lord's name during all your activities for another month, take a bath at the end of it and come to see me."

Surdas accepted the Guru's wish and went back to chanting along with his daily activities. When that month was over and Surdas was returning to the hermitage eagerly, a similar incident happened. This time, the sweeper accidentally brushed his dirty broom against Surdas. Again, Surdas became furious at the sweeper and again, the Guru sent him back and asked him to chant the Lord's Name for another month.

At the end of the third month, when Surdas was on his way to visit the Guru, something unusual happened. The sweeper saw Surdas approaching and remembered the way Surdas had berated him even though what had happened had been an accident. He noticed that Surdas was once again wearing new, clean clothes. This time, before Surdas could do or say anything, the sweeper, who was furious at Surdas, intentionally poured all the dirt from his garbage can onto Surdas' head.

But this time, Surdas joined his hands in Namaskar and said, "I thank you. You are my master. You taught me how to overcome anger." The sweeper was surprised and hung his head in shame.

This time, when Surdas reached the Guru's ashram, the Guru was waiting for him. The Guru was pleased and patted Surdas on the head, just as a mother pats a child on his achievement.

Moral: We can only imagine how irritated Surdas must have been with the sweeper, who would accidentally come in the way, when Surdas was eagerly returning to his Guru, after a whole month's effort. In our lives, we come across many such situations that anger us. As the story above shows, Surdas completely overcame his anger after three months of chanting the Lord's Name and by obeying the Guru. He viewed the sweeper as the master who helped him overcome his anger. We too can look at every situation as an opportunity to realise and overcome our defects. This is possible only due to the strength of chanting the Lord's Name.

click for malayalam instrumental songs

2010-09-10T22:26:00.000-07:00

Malayalam songs instrumental version is now available for download free. Most of the songs are played in spanish guitar . The songs can be downloaded easily from the site.

click here to listen to my songs

2010-09-07T09:52:00.000-07:00

there are 4 songs
1.sangeetha sagarame by yesudas
2.viriyunna poovin chithra
3.valakilukkiya chithra and joy
4.bhavangal aayiram venugopal

latest film songs by sanjeevbabu

2010-08-03T05:59:00.000-07:00

Four songs were recorded at bhairavi digital , Trivandrum, for the latest film CAPITAL LETTERS.
A semiclassical song to be sung by yesudas, a solo by chithra and a duet by vijay yesudas and chithra, a solo by venugopal.The film is expected to be released in september.

The real saint needs no paint

2010-06-07T20:54:00.000-07:00

I really sorry about my statment about saints.If a real saint exists( i hope they do)he doesn't need any publicity. He will keep aloof from all comforts and luxuries like air travel , air conditioning and so on.He or his disciples (if any) will never have capitalistic attitudes in life.religious polarisation will not be his motto.Real saint will never look for a TV channel for broadcasting his messages.The process should be the opposite. If somebody is in search of a saint for his spiritual emancipation let him find out the real saint.Saints dont have to stand on the fence holding placards.
Saints thrive on the fact that people are dissatisfied with what they have. Saints mislead them to their kingdom and enjoy having a large crowd under their feet.Ignorant people continue to migrate from kingdom to kingdom and ends up their desperate plight to heaven.
Real saints have to be searched out and the search is too difficult for spiritually ignorant people like me.

GODS ON ROADS

2010-03-12T20:06:00.000-08:00

Sanyasi is a person who follows sanyasa. A sanyasi will not have any possessions, he has to relinquish all material wealth and adopt a life of austerity. The person practises yoga and meditation, with single minded devotion to God, to achieve samadhi and subsequently, moksha.

Recently a sanyasi was booked for his alleged illegal activities with an actress .Shame on all indians! In India you can see this rare species among homosapiens . India is the only country where you can see GODS ON ROADS. For any job you require a qualification.There are only two lucrative jobs which needs no educational qualification.One is politician and the other is the saint.Both can succeed if there are gullible public to follow .You can establish a kingdom of your own if you can make them believe that you are exceptional. A politician should have the gift of the gab. But a saint? just a couple of cunningly sharp eyes! Idiot is the best word you can use to describe those who believe that a human being can give salvation to another.

malayalam song kolakkuzhal

2010-02-23T06:13:00.000-08:00

malayalam song ammamazhakkarinu

2010-02-23T05:58:00.000-08:00

original music sheet is available as book of ten songs which cost Rs.100 per book(postage extra)

sheet music available for karnatic music

2010-02-19T05:34:00.000-08:00

Great news for karnatic music students and researchers! Carnatic keerthanas and other krithis are now available in western staff notation sheets. here is an example.

click here for a song about roads

2009-08-22T03:40:00.000-07:00

What is wrong with our roads? We know exactly what happens ,how this happens and why this happens .During the construction of a road the contractors dont follow strict quality guidelines.why they dont do it? There are reasons which we are well aware. better guess it if you dont know.

AKHANDA SWATHANTHRYA GATHA(non stop music on independance day)

2009-08-16T09:30:00.000-07:00

Akhanda swathanthrya gatha founded on 15th august 2002 celebrated 7th yearon 15th august 2009. This year this nonstop music event was inaugurated by cine music director sanjeevbabu .Children from different schools around trivandrum sung patriotic songs and a lot of people took part in the continuous singing programme which lasted until evening. Sangam kala group president Dr.velayudhan,Corporation councellor shri.Maheswaran nair and Architect Sankar were also present on the occasion.

FREE KARNATIC MUSIC LESSONS

2009-08-12T00:47:00.000-07:00

It is very strange that a website is offering free lessons in karnatic music and the site is made possible by shri shivakumar.The site has a large number of keerthanas and other songs in mp3 format as well as real format.To go to the site click on the heading or go to http://www.shivkumar.org/music/index.html It is a great service shri shivkumar is doing to the society. wish him success in his ventures

YMCA school of music

2009-06-16T05:43:00.000-07:00

India Express BuzzTuesday, June 16, 2009 6:10 PM IST RSS LiveCricket E-Paper Indian ExpressHomeNationCitiesStatesWorldBusinessOpinionSportEntertainmentLifeStyleArtsMagazineBangalore YMCA School of Music opened

Express News Service First Published : 16 Jun 2009 12:29:00 AM ISTLast Updated :

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The YMCA School of Music under the aegis of YMCA Swaranjali, Thiruvananthapuram was inaugurated on Monday. K.P. Udayabhanu, Soorya Krishnamoorthy and Ramesh Narayanan jointly inaugurated the school.

Udayabhanu, who has won the Padmasree award, was honoured at the function, which was inaugurated by Soorya Krishnamoorthy. YMCA vice- president Johnson J. Edayaranmula presided over.

Swaranjali president P.R. Sukumaran, secretary T.N. Sreekumaran Thampi, music director Sanjeev Babu, keyboard master Jayahari, YMCA general secretary Thomas Abraham and others attended.

Retelecst of NEELAMBARI in Jaihind TV

2009-05-26T18:49:00.000-07:00

Neelambari featuring cine music director sanjeevbabu is again being telecast on 27th may 2009 in Jaihind TV (2.30PM)

sanjeevbabu interview

2009-03-22T08:15:00.000-07:00

Lalitha ganangal by SANJEEV BABU

2008-12-16T08:09:00.000-08:00

Akashavani thiruvananthapuram has broadcast a song titled "hemantha ravinte" in its light music programme.The song stands out among the conventional type light music usually we hear from time to time.The monotonous and raw songs usually we hear through the AIR has made the light music programme a boring thing.Sanjeev babu has composed a lot of songs for All India Radio.But the song hemantha ravinte sung by sreekanth and composed by sanjeevbabu has a unique note of identity and melodic beauty. Hats off to All India Radio,Trivandrum for this song which they have kept as the song of the month.

"Engine nee marakkum " at tellisserry

2008-12-12T04:34:00.000-08:00

Doordarshan Trivandrum had given the people of tellissery a musical rendezvous with more than fifty songs composed by veteran music director K.Raghavan master.The programme was composed and conducted by none other than sanjeevbabu, the music director who also held the baton of ganaveethi which was one of the best musical programmes of Doordarshan.The singers were Sreekanth,durga viswanath,amritha suresh,kallara gopan and other singer of repute.The programme was named "engane nee marakkum.".The first song on the stage was the nostalgic melody of all the time "engane nee marakkum kuyile"sung by kozhikkode abdul khader in the film neelakkuyil. It was sung by kallara gopan and the audience was uplifted to ecstacy.
The much expected song manjubhashini and karimukil kattile were also hit the stage.

The recording of the programme will be telecast episodewise in the coming months throgh doordarshan malayalam channel shortly.

You are still alive

2008-11-02T05:34:00.000-08:00

We walked together in life
people said you're my wife
But is that word enough?
To describe my betterhalf,
I know tears are not enough
To express my pathetic self
And I will keep to myself
The never ending grief
To remember you in my life

Music album by sanjeevbabu

2008-05-11T04:31:00.000-07:00

Sanjeevbabu is in the making of his dream project-A music album
There is nothing new about music albums.Every tom dick and harry can make it(That is the inference I came into when I saw some of the albums in the channels.)

SONGS WITH A DIFFERENCE

Sanjeevbabu is thinking of an album with songs which have a message.Not just tracks for rocking like lunatics.his songs will carry nice lyrics which will convey sublime stories. More than that he is trying to bring home a new trend in music which in the western countries had already been rolling.

SAVE MUSIC FROM THE PRESENT SITUATION

In india and particularly kerala popular music is still in the claws of film makers.This is the reason why the songs lack identity.
Music has to be independant and the subjects have to be multifaced.Sanjeevbabu assures that the subjects will be novel and totally different from the present day songs which have only one subject called love and lust.

SONG IDEAS INVITED

sanjeevbabu is expecting music lovers to take part in the making by giving him proper guidance and suggestions regarding selection of subjects and even he is ready to introduce new talents in singing and lyrics.
As he said the album will take upto six months to complete the recording and he is in discussion with marketing companies to take up the project.

Let us hope that the album will culminate a different music culture in the history of malayalam popular music.

Anti smoking day May 31st 2008

2008-03-30T04:40:00.000-07:00

Anti Smoking Day, 31st of May.
Every year on 31st of May, the whole world celebrates the Anti-smoking day in the wake of wiping out this disease from our socities.
Let's take views of people to see what they think about smoking and why or why not they quit it for once and for all. I guess the focus should be on the following issues.
Why and how do people start smoking in the first place What is the most vulnerable age for getting hooked-on to it The urge that motivates smokers to smoke Good or Bad affects of smoking The issues involved in quitting it Role of peer/ social pressure in starting smoking Role of peer/ social pressure in quitting smoking The difference a smoker feels in his life, once he quits smoking I hope this debate would be quite healthy and would enlighten a lot of readers to choose or loose smoking.
I have been a smoker for more then 10 years now ! and have always supported smokers as i believe they are part of the society and have a right to smoke but as of today let me answer the question in real fact![also i am the author of the post Smoking is not injurious to health ]

Why did i start smoking ?Just for the sake of it, it can be blamed on Media, probably as if you remember 10 years from now Ad's for cigarettes always portrayed thrill, fun and beautiful women and at the age of 14 - 16 thats what attracts you subconsciously, so for the sake of thrill usually we start to smoke , try something new etc... then there is also easy availability, the upper smoking generation who might inspire you and lots more to be blamed i guess, but in the end its a personal choice to smoke or not to!
What is the most vulnerable age for getting hooked-on to it From age 12 onwards, at my time kids in class 8th & 9th started smoking but now a days its kids in class 5th & 6th as well, who start smoking, so keep an eye on your kids and if you want to know how to find out if your kid smokes ask me. Also there is a rapid increase in Female smoking as well, i personally like women who smoke but yet again its not good :( so keep an eye on your female generation as well.
The urge that motivates smokers to smokeThe taste of cigarettes dies after 1-2 years after which your body becomes dependent on tobacco & nicotean, and if you don't smoke u ll have headaches, nervousness , and anxiety. Its an addiction!
Good or Bad affects of smokingGood effects are that it helps you balance your stress, depression, and gives you mental satisfaction that when you are smoking you are relaxing. Its extremely enjoyable if you smoke after lunch, when you get a "Saroor" out of cigarettes.Bad Effects! It causes cancer, kills your stamina, help you get a heart attack at age 30, and for women cause problems in pregnancy, for passive smokers its more dangerous and injurious and for environment its pollution.
The issues involved in quitting itAs i mentioned your body gets used to it so quiting is bit hard for a week or so,u ll have headaches, nervousness , and anxiety. Quiting is mainly dependent on your motivation to quit, as i say its a personal choice so if you want to quit then you can quit. Also best time for men to quit is when they get engaged or married and there wives ask them then they might for a few years :P
The difference a smoker feels in his life, once he quits smokingThis i don't know how he feels in his life, i haven't quit yet, i guess he would feel like a looser!:)But in the end every smoker quits, cause every smoker knows that it is injurious to health and it will cause him health problems in future. Keeping in view of our current living standards where there is lack of exercise, lack of healthy food, lack of healthy environment smoking is way more injurious then before. So non smokers keep your war alive smokers try to quit ! for me i haven't yet decided to quit but i am trying to reduce it as it do causes certain problems at young age as well.
Thanks for such informing and detailed post. It's good to have such insight from a smoker for all the rest of us to stay away from it. The government should run programs to make sure that under 18 should not be get cigrattes.
i have been a smoker for almost 2 years and i know that it is a bad disease,but i can'nt leave it.....may be i have not tried to leave it....I totaly blame our socity and media.........Our ministry of health heart us....how...and why?????........reason:as we see that the commertials of smoking are so time holding but at the end the ministry of health just show a little statement ... that...smoking causes cancer and many heart diseases .................i think some program should held for antismoking by the group work of ministry of health and media.......thnxxx
i m a passive smoker....i feel so dismayed n helpless when i think of those poor alveoli in my lungs.... media does play a role but it would b blatant exaggeration to make it solely responsible for this habit....i m also xposed to the same adds but they fail to lure me...so i guess one's environment also contributes in this choice in addition to other factors...
Smoked 3 packs a day for 4 years, quit cold turkey about 11 years ago.
As a smoker, 11 years ago, my energy level was always low (lower after a smoke) I could run for half a mile (10 minutes); currently I run 5 miles every other day, work full time, run my own business, remain active througout the day and require around 6 hours sleep time to be ready for a new day.
Thanks to not smoking? You bet

sanjeev babu the artist of the month

2008-03-10T10:01:00.000-07:00

Acethetic is a site where music of kerala gets very good exposure.No annoying pop ups no boring ads a very cool site indeed.The site highlights an artist from the film music world every month and this month we are fortunate to have sri sanjeevbabu as the artist of the month.If you click on his photo at the first page you will be taken to a pageful of his music and life and news about his latest musical activities.

sadhu mirandal

2008-02-21T02:01:00.000-08:00

The tamil film sadhu miranda is concocted by the malayalam writer director sidhique with what stuff he had while doing the malayalam films like ramji rao speaking and mannar mathai speaking.If you have seen the two films mentioned above you will not need to see "sadhu miranda".It is a combination of the two.
Sidhique believes that if you make artist run it will make fun.Two groups of gangsters running here and there and one of them conceals himself in the dicky of the car ! Oh my god ,Don't think of the people, at least sidhique himself will start getting bored about what he has in store.His migration to the tamil film will be a flop if he is around with this box of pebbles
My advice to siddique is to refrain from making films until he catches hold of something new.His filmography is still at "Ramji rao speaking "and he has not moved an inch from there.

Muslim devotional songs

2008-02-20T17:23:00.000-08:00

Allah akbar!The powerful sound of the islam reverberating between the hills of eternity for the emancipation of mankind.Nothing other than music can contain the depth of the meaning of holy Quran and the deepest faith of islam.Because music contains everything.I came to this conclusion when I listened to the songs in the album titled"Allah Akbar".The attractive cover will tempt the buyer to open it and push it into the CDplayer without delay.You are ok! But close your eyes too.It will be like going to heaven with a thousand wings to fly.The songs are very nice despite the singers are not very popular.The song "manimegha therirangi" is melodious."ahadavante" is a female song that is more devotional."samsamil neeradi" is quite rhythmic and pious.You will feel like listening again and again."orikkal" also belongs to the same family.Other songs areKanivin kathirSnehagayakaee vazhitharayil nabiAllah akbarThe only unfortunate thing is the language.The songs are in malayalam which the majority of the world population cannot follow.But music has no language. These songs are enjoyable beyond language.
The songs are available in india.For outside indians the only way to download from http://amiestreet.com/artist/13679

sree narayana guru smrithi

2008-02-15T01:16:00.000-08:00

The latest album "sree narayanaguru smrithi"composed by SANJEEVBABU is something more than an album.Unlike the common albums which have nothing to convey the listener other than a cacophonic series of words in an ununderstandably fashion and a lot of unmusical noises,this album has some good songs with cool tunes that stick to our mind for quite some time.
One song which turns our mind poignant is the one sung by child "varamarulu".This has a hypnotic feel of an orphan child praying to sreenarayanaguru and make our eyes wet. The song about the aruvippuram temple is sung by sreekanth is semiclassical in style.
The other songs are
chembazhanthy
pavana guru hridayam
ethra santham
jathibhaedam
The album gives a feeling of sublime music that takes us to sreenarayana guru's closes premises.

guitar lessons

2008-02-14T18:37:00.000-08:00

The best way to learn guitar is to find out a good teacher and follow his instructions.Systematic learning for six to seven years will take you to the status of a good professional guitarist or if you prefer to be an amature you can strum around with a couple of chords and a few songs in less than a year to attract the attention of your friends in a party or so.

Another hard way is to depend on internet lessons after purchasing a good guitar.For the second method I will propose this online lessons site.

good luck and happy guitaring!

Bacon - Bye-Bye Little School Girl

2008-02-13T18:01:00.000-08:00

Why not make a resolution to help expand the musical horizons of those around you this year? For those of us with friends who are drawn to some of the extremely successful pop punk of recent times, bands like Bacon may be the perfect foot in the door.
These guys in particular have a dynamic delivery and virtually every song bristles with synth-hoisted melodic hooks that will expertly harpoon the involuntary-humming-centers of your brain. This is my favorite song off of their self-titled album of several years ago. Their more recent album “Butterfly” has double its length and number of songs, and a lot more of the same catchy accessible sound and savory name that fans of the genre are almost guaranteed to find appetizing…

ROCK N ROLL which doesn't rock!

2008-02-12T18:46:00.000-08:00

Chandramauli, a world-famous drummer who was a member of a team of six who came to Chennai to make it big in the world of music. But at a point of time of their accomplishments, Chandramauli goes international. He was not available for a long time and none could trace out where he was.Grapevine had many stories like he was settled in London and married a black girl, imprisoned in Latin America for rearing marijuana. Finally, Chandramauli was spotted in Mumbai by one of his old friends, Gunasekharan (Siddhique), now a popular music director. He was immediately lifted back to Chennai, by Guna who wants Mauli to give percussion support to his new song for a Lal Jose film. Mauli, unpredictable and easy-go, initially was reluctant to associate with such a 'silly' song but on insistence from his old friends like Violinist Issac (Lal), Keyboard player Henry (Rehman), Thabalist Balu (Harishree Ashokan), Choreographer Meenakshy (Shwetha) and Rerecordist Vichan (Mukesh), he goes on to play for Guna. Mauli who comes in only for a few days decides to take a happy holiday working together, again with their old friends.And in the process he embarks upon a Mumbai-born, Malayalee singer Daya Sreenivas. Mauli, who never believed in falling in love, instantly fell for her graceful voice and character. ‘Rock N Roll’ then follows what changes Daya brings about in the life of Mauli and his friends. The film is certainly not a racy laugh riot as the title suggests. Dragging sequences with over-built dialogues make the viewers intolerant.But certainly the film can be passed off as yet another also-ran film. The light hearted plot has seemingly endless stream of gags and stressful jokes that pad the movie up and down and sometimes, slightly take away from the parts that work. Post interval, the film gets quite emotional and heavy. It's here that the film tends to drag a bit. If you dig silly stuff, they’re here, but they're an unworthy compliment to a flick that was meant to be carefully shot fun ride, which at least offers a difference in story lines. The story is largely believable but goes ridiculous in many places like a world-famous percussion artist running after many, to get a song tuned and the introduction scene of Syedapet Giri, which we had seen umpteen times before. We can very well anticipate the ending, we know what's going to happen even before it does. And even when it does, Renjith, with his huge experience in scripting, still could have made it better. But, most likely, you will pardon the director for these disregards because this is an entertaining film and is slickly constructed with a hip soundtrack by Vidyasagar and good art direction by Sunil.And as usual, Mohanlal, the one-man entertainment troupe is definitely the highlight of the film. He is adorable with a pony tail and distinct characterizations, looks younger than before and rides the audience as a jockey rides a horse. His comic timing is spot on and his affable easy-going camaraderie with his talented co-artists like Jagathy, Siddhique and Co is pleasant and blends in seamlessly with the theme of the movie. Watching him perform is like being peppered by a Joke Machine Gun. Lekshmi Rai as Daya Sreenivas is gorgeous and gives a good performance all through the film. All others in the cast including Rohini as Nirmala and Anoop Menon as Vivek do their best to make the film a decent affair. The other highlights of the film are good visuals by Manoj Pillai and slick editing by Ranjan Abraham. The film has some daringly different (in terms of Mollywood) songs by Vidayasager set in the lines of Gireesh Puthencherry. The pick among these songs is 'Manchadi Mazha', the title song soulfully rendered by Madhu Balakrishnan and Sujatha. And in the down side is the final punch song of the musical that could have been better and hummable to sustain the spirit of the drama. Renjith too seems a victim of the dialogue in the film which goes on to document that ''There are less film directors in Malayalam with a clear music sense”. The creators essentially must understand that a fresh backdrop, technical finesse and good songs alone do not make a good quality film, but a taut script that moves on to strengths is the absolute necessity. In a nutshell, the film has a breath of freshness with good technical aspects, but also a little clichéd fare with some entertaining moments.

MIDI GUITAR

2008-02-11T22:03:00.000-08:00

MIDI, RMC and the Roland GK system

The Roland GK system also used by RMC, Godin and others isvery much a plug it in and rock unit, but what if you want alittle more out of it, even to know its basic principles of operation?
Unfretted is about to unravel all of that, pass on some tips,some suggested circuit diagrams, and where to source the plugs and sockets.
If it all gets too technical we will try via e-mail or The Forum to provideyou with more answers than questions.

WARNING - If you blow anything up, its your fault, even if we told you to do it.This article is currently being written, not all the info you need to safely carry out suggested tasks is included yet. Even so we strongly discourage the wearing of nylon clothes when using a soldering iron. Do not play the guitar in the bath.

Introduction
Since the advent of MIDI (Musical Instrument Digital Interface) us guitarists have wanted to be in on the act. Why should keyboard players have all the fun?
The main obstacle to MIDI on guitar has been the way the MIDI signal is generated. On a keyboard it is simple, you press the key, you generate a "note on" signal, you release the key and you generate a "note off" signal.
What a MIDI generator for guitar has to do is quite complex, first it has to detect that a note is being played, then convert the pitch of the note so this information can be sent as a "note on" signal. As the note decays there is a point where the MIDI generator has to decide to send a "note off" signal. In addition, if the guitarist bends a note, the appropriate MIDI pitch bend signal has to be sent.
Now if this process didn't seem quite complex already, there is a hitch. You can only do this with one note at a time, more than one note would totally confuse the pitch to MIDI convertor. So the solution is simple, use a MIDI convertor for each individual string. At this point conventional guitar pickups go out of the window, they do six strings at a time. What you need is a pickup with six individual outputs, one for each string, what we call in the trade a "hex" pickup. (I think hex is Latin for six)
The output from commercially available hex pickups is quite low, so they all have a small pre-amp circuit located close to the pickup. In the case of the Roland hex pickup this is either a GK2A or GK3A, and for RMC equipped guitars (Godin, Brian Moore etc.) it is a small pre-amp board located inside the guitar.
What most of these controllers offer via a single 13 pin connector is six individual string outputs, a master output - either a mix of the six strings or a through signal from the guitars normal electronics, a MIDI volume signal - via a volume control, and two control switches - usually up/down patch selection.
Even though these hex style pickups are intended for MIDI implementation, there are now products that use the six individual string outputs to implement guitar modelling and the individual processing of single strings for effects such as harmonists and instant alternate tuning. The Roland VG88 and its predecessor the VG8 being the best known.
What has actually been handed to us guitarists is very interesting, yes we have MIDI, yes we have modelling, but we also have a system giving us signals from each string individually. Imagine taking each string through a different effects box, or sending alternate strings to different sides of the stage. Or setting up drone strings to improvise over?
There are two ways of doing this, you can purchase the RMC fanout box a fine unit but priced at $395 US. That's quite hefty if you have to pay post, packing and duty to Europe. Second method is you can build your own. Not too difficult as we will be building one ourselves over the next few days. Check out Unfretted's hexaphonic break out box and keep coming back for sporadic updates. We will be including all the info to build a custom job to your own specification.

Roland 13 pin system:
This carries six individual signals from the hex transducer AND a single audio feed from the guitar's normal electrics.
If you add a GK pickup there is a flying lead which plugs into your normal guitar jack.

Pinouts & wiring colours, 13 pin DIN cable
Pinouts for the 13 pin DIN connector used with the Roland VG8, VG-88, GR1, GR9, GR20, GR30, GR33, GR50, GI10, GI20, GKP-4, Boss DC-20G, WP-20G, Roland Ready Strat, Axon AX100, Yamaha G50, G1-D, Ibanez RG470GK, Brian Moore Guitars + lots of others.
The Roland cables are good quality 13 core, with a braided copper screen
The pins, signals and wire colours are as follows:
1 - String 1 - Brown2 - String 2 - Blue3 - String 3 - Grey4 - String 4 - Orange5 - String 5 - Pink6 - String 6 - Purple7 - Normal pickups - Green8 - MIDI volume - Yellow / Stripe9 - Unused - Yellow10 - Switch 1 - Red11 - Switch 2 - White / Stripe12 - +ve supply - White13 - -ve supply - Black
These were taken from a Roland cable manufactured in 1998.
Cables do vary and we have also seen the following colours used:
1 - Red2 - Pink3 - Yellow4 - Green5 - Light Green6 - Orange7 - Light Blue8 - Blue9 - Grey10 - Brown11 - White12 - Black13 - Purple
One medium quality cable you may come across with a 13 pin DIN connector was used by the Atari ST computer. (For the monitor we think) This was not a 13 core cable, but a 12 core cable, the cable screen was wired to pin 13:
1 - Purple2 - Grey3 - Dark Green4 - Blue5 - Pink6 - Turquoise7 - Red8 - Brown9 - Yellow10 - White11 - Orange12 - Black13 - Screen
To modify this cable for GK use, first remove the screen from pin 13 and attach to the metalwork of the plug itself. Disconnect the yellow wire from pin 9 and wire to pin 13.(Don't forget to do this at both ends)
This cable would be OK connecting equipment together but the plug is non-locking, so take care if using with an instrument.

13 pin DIN sockets and plugs
Well you know if you have tried, these are devilishly difficult to get hold of.
Medium quality non-locking plugs are available in the UK from Maplin, order code JW95D.
In the US http://www.digikey.com/ supply a range of connectors. Currently the only sell to businesses with a minimum order of $250. (Thanks to Chris Waite for this info)
High quality plugs and sockets are available from Hosiden in Japan, download the adobe pdf "DIN connectors" from the http://www.hosiden.co.jp/ webpage. Their UK distributors, Hosiden Besson Phone: +44-1273-860000, will only sell in quantities in the thousands! (Thanks again to Chris Waite for this info) Non locking plug - TCP9365Non locking PCB mount socket - TCS5044Locking plug - TCP9361Locking PCB mount socket - TCS5115 (EMC rated TCS5116)
In Germany http://www.reichelt.de/ supply medium quality, non-locking types, helps if you speak German!Male plug - SE-DIO 13PCB mount socket - EB-DIO 13Inline female socket - K-DIO 13Now it depends where you are, and how you get along with German language. Minimum order for Germany is 10.- Euro and abroad 150.-(!)Euro e-mail is "info @ reichelt.de" (remove spaces)

Roland GK2A, GK3A
Essentially, these are add on units, The GK2A has been around since at least 1997 and late in 2004 the GK3A made an appearance.
Installing either of these on a guitar requires a little skill and patience to set them up to perform anywhere close to RMC equipped guitars.
Having both of these units gives us a little insight; we don't see much advantage of the GK3A over the GK2A - just easier to fit, but looks and feels cheaper, plus the main switch is a pig to get used to. The GK2A's switch to control output was very easy to flick while playing, the GK3A isn't, physically it is more difficult, a casual glance doesn't let you know what position its in.
Hopefully the price for the GK2A will drop when supplies of the GK3A are more dominant, discontinued bargains waiting we hope!
Peter Woolls has designed a scratchplate adapter for the GK2A pickup which is for sale on his ebay page:stores.ebay.co.uk/Gotta-have-It

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a new revelation in the Guitar World

2008-02-11T21:59:00.000-08:00

Fernando Perez is a new revelation in the Guitar World, he plays Western Classical, Jazz, Flamenco, Hawaiian, Traditional Blues, Latin, Indian, Afrikan, as well as other styles from the latest contemporary to the deep traditions.He combines it all with his originality and interesting view of the world to create a smooth and fresh music that can not be classified. Choosing different instruments such as Resophonic, Hawaiian lap steel, Indian or Flamenco guitars as the color of his sound, we have old and new music performed in old although new instruments that put the soul into ease.
All this along with a wide background in music and culture makes this artist a wonderful choice for those who want to give their musical taste a new flavor.
In a lifetime odyssey Fernando has dedicated his time since the age of seven to learn about music and cultures, studying in world known centers, traveling to many places and performing with the most curious people.
Born in the town of Ejea de los Caballeros, Zaragoza, Fernando’s first contact with classical music was throughout the conservatory of Spain, he studied in the ones located in Zaragoza and Navarra. After these came numerous private instructors and music centers such as ‘Instituto de Musica’ in Zaragoza, ‘Escuela Cardiel’, ’L’Aula de Musica’ in Barcelona, ‘Escuela de Musica Creativa’ in Madrid, ‘Musicians Institute’ in Hollywood, California and Maharaja Sawai Mansingh Sangeet Mahavidyalaya in Jaipur, India.
In these centers he studied classical and contemporary guitar in such styles as Jazz, Funk, Blues, etc, as well as harmony, composition, arrangements, orchestration, ear training, rhythm, sound engineering, production and other special courses such as Film Scoring, Ethnic music, Jazz in the 90s, advanced ear training, etc.
But his interest took him to learn more directly from artits and their cultures, traveling to different places to not only learn but to experience the spirit of the different musical styles.
Nowadays you can realize this experience throughout the talent of this artist who has performed with artists from such exotic places as Hawai’i, Cuba, Jamaica, West Africa, Japan, South, Central and North America, Spain, France, Ireland, India, etc.
The guitar has always been his passion, an instrument which he explores in its many forms, starting by the spanish classical guitar, acoustic, electric, Dobros or resophonic guitars and continuing with ohter interesting ones such as african, hawaiian ki Ho'alu (Slack Key) and Kika Kila (Steel Guitar), the ‘slide’ style from Mississippi, Flamenco, or even the curious way of playing guitar in hindustani music found in India.
He also explores new horizons reflected throughout his arrangements and compositions based on instruments of different cultures, examples are the japanese Koto, chinese Pipa, or african Ngoni and Kora.
http://cdbaby.com/cd/fernandoperez4

How to learn guitar

2008-02-11T19:32:00.000-08:00

Knowing how the guitar strings are identified is foundational to everything else you will learn on the guitar. You will find this first lesson to be very easy and straight-forward, but don't overlook it's importance! With that said, lets begin!

Did you know that you already understand something about playing the guitar? That’s right! Seven simple letters:

A B C D E F G

These seven letters make up the MUSICAL ALPHABET and with them you will learn:

How the Strings are Identified
How the Fretboard Works
How to Read Music
How to Play Chords

It's a good idea to become familiar with the various parts of a guitar before we go any further. Take a minute or so right now to examine the graphics below.

ACOUSTIC GUITAR

Here is another graphic showing the parts of an electric guitar.

ELECTRIC GUITAR

The basic guitar is equipped with six strings. They are numbered in order from the highest sounding (first), down to the lowest sounding (sixth).
1 = First (high)
2 = Second
3 = Third
4 = Fourth
5 = Fifth
6 = Sixth (low)

Each one is also identified with a letter from the Musical Alphabet:

1 = E
2 = B
3 = G
4 = D
5 = A
6 = E
Here is a simple acrostic which I have my students use to help them memorize the letters associated with each string. Start from the sixth and move up to the first.
--------------------------------------------------1 = Ears--------
------------------------------------------2 = Big------------------
----------------------------------3 = Grow------------------------
--------------------------4 = Dogs--------------------------------
------------------5 = And-----------------------------------------
----------6 = Elephants-------------------------------------------

They are referred to as OPEN tones when played in this manner.

LESSON OBJECTIVE: To memorize the letters and numbers associated with each string.

PRACTICE: Play the open by starting on the sixth string and moving to the first. Say the acrostic out loud as you hear the sound of each tone. Then repeat the process saying just the first letter of each word in the acrostic. After you have memorized the letters associated with each tone in this order, try saying them in reverse by starting on the first and moving back to the sixth.
FOR FURTHER STUDY:
See the next lesson to learn about the different types of guitars and how to hold one.
I hope you enjoyed your first lesson on how to identify the guitar strings. Now you're on your way to learning how to play the guitar!

The old hindi melody

2008-02-03T22:04:00.000-08:00

This nstrumental track was downloaded 567 times in the last month from my site at www.muziboo.com

sreenarayanaguru smrithi

2008-02-01T17:54:00.000-08:00