All of us are normally inclined to music, be in any of its forms. Music is something more than what we generally perceive - the ones which are formed out of musical instrumets, the lyrics and the song. Well friends, actually, music exists quite naturally. The great musicians of the past describe it as something that is pleasant to hear, that which can avert your mind between the 2 extremes of your thoughts. The best example for this is, when you wake up in the morning, the chirping of birds, the rustle of leaves, the hither-tither of the softly blowing wind, breeze rather, are all natural forms music melody.

Though the beauty of music is evident in the above said forms, the humans, with their creativity add more life and meaning to it. It is so dominant now that people tend to think that music is something that humans create, the general perception i was talking about earlier. And the backbone to this new era of music are the musical instruments.

One such instrument is the "Guitar". I would say this instrument is something really special, for, even when a layman strikes its strings, it gives out such a melodious tone. This is not the same with other instruments. For instance, if you try a flute for the first time, you may not even be succesful to blow it in the right area. And if at all you succeed, i am sure you'd hear a sound something like a whistle of a cooker in the kitchen. :) Yet another king of instruments is the violin. Though you will be successful in getting a sound out of it when you play it for the first time, i am sure your neighbours will have a problem :) I can even imagine what they would say. It would be this: "Pakkad manevru esht pitil haakthare ri. Keli keli kivi thoothagogatte" Well, all that i am trying to tell here is that, Guitar is something anyone can easily try their hands on without you/others getting bugged or making it mu'sick' :) The sound of it only inspires you to play more.

Well, now it sounds simple and easy isn't it? But there is more to that. Any instrument that you are keen on learning requires practice. Let me make the word "practice" a little heavy. You really need lots and lots and lots of "Practice". A few days ago, i was going through a blog in which i found this video of someone playing guitar. May be it was the author herself and it was very obvious that she was just a starter. She had played this track from backstreet boys - "As g as you love me". The first feeling i had about this lady was that she was very brave. For, the music was so badly played that atleast i wouldn't dare to upload it on a public website like YouTube. It just sounded like "tn tn tn tnt tn". On keen observation only wil one come to know that the notes of some song is being played. I am not trying to humiliate or belittle that person but i just want to convey that getting the notes right isn't music at all. May be it was just that she was very excited to have got the notes right and the tune some what matched the actual song. But let me tell you, there is a lot of difference in just getting the notes right and deriving the melody out of the tone. Its like a music without life. With the life comes the melody. I know it is not very easy as it is told. The mantra behind this is again - "Practice practice and practice".

And now there is again more to it just than pratice. Its the ability to listen and grasp the tunes. For instance, the "sa" in sargam exists in 2 octaves considering Indian music. Though both octaves produce the same note, the melody or the bhaav it creates are like two opposite poles. Hence when you try playing songs, its not only necessary tht you get the notes right and practice hard, one must eventually learn the art of composition. Once you reach this stage, you don't have to google for notes of different songs.

And the last ingredient to playing musical instruments is to sing along when you play. When my guitar master told me about this i used to think, "I chose an instrument over vocal because my voice was bad, and this guy asks me to sing". Most of you out there may have similar thoughts. But that isn't true. I discovered that it is only when you sing that you get hold of the rhythm. How much ever a bad singer one is, if you really want to get the melody of the music from an instrument, it is always better to sing along. Try it once and you will know. Even humming will work great. This gives the "thaala" right for the tone. For any music - "raaga thaala and bhaavam" are the basic essentials. Raaga is achived through pratice, Bhaavam by listening well and thaala by sing along or the usual way of syncing by patting the feet or fingers.

Hmmm quite a huge gyaan on music. :P To tell you the truth, i am also a layman when it comes to music. Most of these are my observations and some inputs from my guitar sir. And it has worked to some extent in my case. Even i am tempted to actually upload a song that i recorded after practising it for 75+ times, with and without background music. It is a track called "Papa kehte hein". But i still feel it is a lot slower than the actual song and that it doesn't have life in it whatsoever. :) But i would want to work more and make it sound decent enough atleast. Wish to blog it in the near future. For guitar tunes login to one of these sites:

http://www.geocities.com/coolv2k/notes.html

http://www.angelfire.com/musicals/musically_urs/links/bookmark2.html