An audio book is simply a book produced in a format that is audible. Audio books started in the Spanish language and soon blossomed into a multi-linguistic media. Many individuals and corporations use them for many reasons. You can purchase audiobooks on online store like http://spokenalliance.com

The very first audio book was produced in 1975 as a collection of short stories. The author was David Sánchez Juliao and the audio book was in Spanish. Since then, audio books have been used to teach children to read, as a method for the blind to have access to books, and as a learning format for everything from learning a foreign language, guitar lessons, motivational seminars, and cooking lessons. The self-help industry utilizes audio books to tape workshops, conferences and basically uses them as a learning tool.

Audio books have become so popular as a learning tool, because of the portability and relative low cost. In this fast-paced society, audio books have allowed us to multi-task while reading a book or learning a new skill. The ability to hear how words are pronounced can make all the difference when it comes to learning a language successfully.

Audio books have features that are valuable when learning a new skill. A feature such as the ability to replay a segment to reinforce what has been said. Another would be having the ability to listen to an unabridged version (word for word readings from a book), while following along in the actual hardcopy of the same book. Audio books make note taking easy, because of the ability to replay a section, as many times as necessary in order to get all the notes you need.

Audio books can be in CD, cassette or downloadable format. Giving a choice of formats allows the consumer to hear a book in the format best suited to their lifestyle. Audio books are very versatile so they fit just about anyone’s need. Audio books are downloadable to your computer or MP3 player, or you can burn them to CDs. You can purchase them in bookstores or borrow them from your local library. You can find free audio books on numerous Websites or buy them from Audio book clubs. Audio books can be found alongside video rentals as consumers find they compliment each other and are likely to buy them at the same time.

Parents have found that taking audio books along on long commutes can entertain the little ones and allow everyone to have a more peaceful drive. Many workers make good use of the daily commute by listening to self-improvement audio books, or pop in a audio book to catch up on their reading or to learn a language. Now the drive to and from work can be a productive time.

Corporations use business audio books as learning tools for employees, to encourage staff in pursuit of higher learning. There are many inspirational speakers on audio book. Business topics cover managing, motivating employees, closing sales, how to conduct successful negotiations and so much more.

The audio books have grown into a billion dollar industry because of their portability, and use as a learning tool and ability to make reading fun. The audio book appeals to all ages and every family member from the youngest who needs to learn to read, a convenient way for mom to keep up with her book club members, a cool way for a teenager to “hear” his English assignment or dad to motivate himself before a big power meeting.

Johnny
http://www.articlesbase.com/self-help-articles/the-many-benefits-of-using-an-audio-book-110804.html

I am 22 years old and have never played in my life. I’d like to learn to play electric guitar, and was pondering whether I should buy one to learn. How long would it take for me to become an average player, and what are some good ways to learn without lessons?

It depends on how much you practice, you can get really good in a few years if you practice everyday. It all depends on effort, and talent haha, if you don’t have natural talent, then work your butt off!!!

All-Guitar-Chords.com is a great place to learn basic chords and scales

also try youtube lol

I’m 15, and I have become really interested to learn how to play the acoustic guitar.
I would like to know if it is hard?
& i know perfect practice makes perfect.

thanks for answers

It’s not hard to learn as long as you have the desire to learn. Some people think that if they take lots of lessons that they will be a good player. NOT SO. You either have talent or you don’t. Music is a gift !
If your really interested, go for it. Hopefully you’ll love playing as much as I do.
And if by chance you make it big one day, I want front row seats at your concert. LOL

In high school, did you ever dream about starting your own rock band? Want to duplicate the soothing sounds of folk tunes for family and friends? Does your favorite musician work magic with a Gibson ES 335? Is Jimi Hendrix your idol? It doesn’t matter the reason why you want to play the guitar - a seed has been planted and now it is time to nurture the desire.

Where to begin? Playing guitar (whether for fun or professionally) takes patience and determination. By following a few tips, you can harness your passion or interest for the instrument. You will also find that fueling your creativity and developing this new form of expression will take time. Great guitar players do not blossom overnight.

Purchasing a Guitar

Before you start learning the ropes of guitar playing, you’re going to need an instrument to carry out your lessons. The type of music you wish to play will determine the kind of guitar you require. For example, an acoustic guitar is used to generate the sounds of country, ragtime or folk. The body of the guitar is large and hollow, creating a sound that many deem “natural.” Rock music often utilizes an electric guitar, which offers a rather distinctive amplified sound. Additional guitars to look into include the steel, solid body, archtop, resonator, bass and twelve-string guitar.

With the purchase of a guitar, there are other necessary pieces of basic equipment. A guitar pick is required to help play the chords of your instrument. The size of guitar pick is quite small, prompting easy breakage and it can also be easily misplaced. This is why beginners should have a good number of guitar picks on hand. When purchasing picks, the medium gauge varieties are suggested because they are less apt to break. You should also invest in a comfortable chair.

Getting Lessons

While some guitar players are able to naturally experiment with chords by ear and strum along with less guidance, others require the assistance of structured lessons. There are numerous ways to learn how to play the guitar. If you are able to afford a private tutor, you can take advantage of one-on-one instruction, which may speed up the learning process. Sometimes, beginners benefit from group learning, which provides a wealth of constructive criticism. The Internet also offers a way for beginners to privately learn online. Some websites offer a computer keyboard lesson on learning scales, which some beginners find quite easy.

Whichever approach you take in learning to play guitar, you should know that setting goals for yourself makes the process more rewarding. Achieving personal milestones further motivates your desire to find a common ground with the instrument and who knows how far your lessons will take you.

Recognizing why you want to play guitar in the first place will also help you to better accomplish your goals. Some people want to learn to play for fun, peaking with a performance in front of family and friends. Others would like to share their talents with a slightly larger crowd, probably visiting a few coffee shops or open-mic nights. Then there are the masses of learners who have bigger dreams of taking to a stage in front of thousands. No matter what the goal is, you can’t get there without loads of practice.

What You Will Learn

Guitar lessons usually start with building a basic foundation, such as how to properly hold the guitar and establishing correct posture when playing. There is a wide range of techniques involved in playing the guitar and after a few lessons, you may start to find your niche.

One of the most important things to focus on when playing a guitar is understanding and mastering the chords. There are books and charts to help you along this important part of the process. There are many different chords to familiarize yourself with and taking them one at a time will lead to better results.

Additional areas of guitar instruction may include learning how to properly hold a pick, memorizing scales, tackling music theory and selecting a music style. Instrument maintenance, such as tuning and caring for your guitar is also of importance.

Sticking With It

Staying motivated is one of the best things you can do when learning to play the guitar. It is easy to become frustrated with a new project and abandon it before truly experiencing any benefits. On some days, you may have to dig deep to reclaim your passion and dedication. Other days, you could be composing the next pop hit. Give the process a chance and remember that it takes time to get the hang of this instrument. The best thing you can do is continue to practice and soon, you will reap the rewards of hard work and focus.

Kevin Sinclair
http://www.articlesbase.com/article-writing-articles/you-can-learn-to-play-the-guitar-76993.html

My guitar teacher is a bit of a slow learner, and all i learned are the notes and sharps and flats… but how do i get used to playing quickly, and remembering songs?
Without having to look at the guitar at every note I play and have pauses between each notes… D=
& also, how can i remember songs without having to look at the notes all the time?|=
LOL, i mean he's a slow teacher…
he teaches slow!
Lols, my bad c(:

Yeah Ladydreamer, right there with ya. I have no idea what it means that the teacher is a slow learner!

Practice is key, yes, but understanding why you are practicing, and having a purpose for practicing is what makes that possible. Also, the old adage "practice makes perfect" is incomplete. Especially with guitar, "perfect practice makes perfect."

You must keep things basic and slow, and get them to a point where they are perfect at a slow rate of speed. Once this is done, the speed will come later.

If you're drilling your scales and chords enough every day, eventually it will get easier to play from "memory" because much of the time you'll end up playing by ear. But starting out, pauses in between notes are not a bad thing. Just make sure you have the same amount of pause so that you maintain the rhythm.

Really, the best way to learn to play guitar quicker is to get a better teacher. Just because someone is a good player doesn't mean he or she is a good teacher. If you're not happy with your instructor, find another one, tell them exactly what you want to do and expect them to teach you how.

Have you spent months and months or possibly years practicing the guitar only to realize that you’re barely any better now then when you first started? After all of your practice time do you have at least one song that you can play all the way through fairly well? Or do you have a collection of songs none of which you can play very well other than bits and pieces of it? If so, this can be remedied if you have a desire to succeed.

The inability to play even the simplest of songs scales or licks can be summed up in three things:

Not understanding how the brain learns something new
Improper practice techniques
Lack of concentration

Lets take the first one. Not understanding how the brain learns something new. Whenever we begin to learn something new our brain develops a pathway for that new information. The more you reinforce that new thing the more ingrain that pathway becomes, to the point that whatever we learn becomes second nature to us. Early in our lives we learned to walk. Since then we have done it so much that we long ago stopped thinking of how to do it. In other words we just do it.

But lets say we want to alter the way we walk. In other words instead of walking left foot right foot, left foot right foot, and so on, we want to walk two lefts then one right then two rights and then one step back with the left foot and so on an so forth. It should be easy, right! Besides we have been walking for twenty or thirty years it should be a piece of cake. But it’s not because we’re asking our mind to do something we have been doing most of our life in a different manner. So we have to go at it in basically the same manner as when we were learning to walk. By making mistakes, trial and error.

Learning to play the guitar is the same way. Most of us can move our fingers (of our fretting hand) in all sort of ways. We can move them fast or slow. Two or three at a time or each one individually. So why can we not just grab a guitar and go to town with it? Because we are requiring them to move in a prescribed manner rather then in a series of random movements. Therefore we must start the learning process once again. Which leads me to our second point. Improper practice techniques.

Improper practice techniques are the second thing that cause a person not to progress with their guitar playing. What is the proper technique? The first is to start very slow. The second is go slower than you can stand. The third is to go so slow people watching think you have fallen asleep. Why? Because to many people practice faster then their mind can record it. Let me say that again. Many people practice faster then their mind can record what they are doing. You must first put in your brain a perfect pathway for the thousands of repetitions you will be performing for just one movement.

Let me give you just one example. Put your first finger on the first string eighth fret. We will perform a very simple movement. Your third finger which should be dangling in the air will come down on the first string tenth fret. Easy right? But I am willing to bet that many don’t do it perfectly. That’s the key to playing like a pro. To not only look relaxed while you’re doing it but making it sound perfect. That’s where slow comes in. You must play a guitar like your reading a book. And how do people who read well read. A person who reads well looks at the word ahead of the one they are reading. This allows for you to read smoothly (without breaks between words) and fluently (smoothly at the desired speed.).

You must do the same with the guitar. While your first finger is on the first string at the eighth fret you pick the string. At the same time you pick the string your eyes are already looking at the tenth fret preparing the way for your third finger. At that moment you are training your mind in what it should do. Instead of your fingers flailing about with no reason, you’re instructing your mind what to tell your fingers what they should do. And however and whatever you tell your mind what you want it to do, it will do it. And once it is in your mind, then with much practice it will become second nature. If you practice with a perfect style you will play perfectly. If you practice in a sloppy manner you will play sloppy. This leads me to my last point. Lack of concentration.

If you do not concentrate while you are practicing you will not be laying a pathway in your mind. Lack of concentration will cause your progress to be slow. What will greatly increase your abilities almost overnight is a metronome. This beeping wonder will do this. You will be forced to listen to the beep which will force you to think about where your finger is going. Hence, it helps with your concentration. I always start at 60. At 60 you have a lot of time between beeps to know ahead of time where your next note is, what finger you will use, and the shortest path there.

My best advice would be to fill your practice session with scales in the type of music you will most likely be playing. Start out at 60 and even if you can go faster resist the urge to do this. Force yourself to go the slow speed. Continue at this speed until the sound of each note is perfect. The movement of your hand glides smoothly over the fretboard. And your arms, hand and body are all relaxed.

If you follow the advice in this article you will in just a very short time notice a considerable difference in your playing. Remember. Play slow. Know what your next note is before you play it. Use a metronome. And above all relax and concentrate.

Jerry Lunsford
http://www.articlesbase.com/music-articles/guitar-practice-techniques-74320.html

For my 13th birthday i got a acoustic guitar! But learning how to play it was not as easy as i thought. Is there any techniques,websites, or even books i can find at the library. Please help this means a lot. <3Thank You<3

all-guitar-chords.com shows you all the different chords
chordie.com is basically a database full of chords for songs

Learning how to play guitar well is not easy. There are so many methods and so many conflicting opinions, it makes it difficult to know what to do.

But the simple fact is, if you want to be the best you can, as soon as you can, then all you need to do is - copy what the pro’s do…

Master the Basics!

Mastering the basics means being able to play in all keys. Being able to transpose any song to any other key - on the spot preferably.

Did you know that 95% of guitarists DON’T master the basics. Oh yes, they mean to get around to it, but they hardly ever do.

Why is that? Well, it’s because they think it’s boring, complicated and too much hard work. And most of all - no fun! And mostly they were right. Well, it needn’t be that way. Mastering the basics can be a lot of fun if you go about it in a methodical set-by-step way.

What does mastering the basics entail?

There are 6 basic steps you need to follow:

1. Learn the names of all notes on all strings, one string at a time.

2. Learn how to construct a C Major scale.

Basic must-know guitar theory. Easy stuff.

3. Learn how the chords of the major scale are made and what they are… their names etc. C Dm Em F G Am Bdim.

Basic chord construction knowledge.

4. Learn the triad patterns for the C major scale all over the fret board.

Triads are simple 3-note chords. Easy and fun to learn and play.

5. Learn to play those triads with common chord progressions.

Learn to play and apply the triads to the most common chord progressions that fit thousands and thousands of songs.

6. Learn to do step 5 in all keys.

Once you can do steps one to five in the key of C, it’s real easy to learn it for the other 11 major keys.

Hint: It’s much easier than you think. All the patterns are exactly the same as what you learn for C major. You don’t have to learn any new patterns. Cookie cutter stuff.

It really is not hard at all. All you need is a methodical step-by-step method that makes sense and is easy and fun to use.

Having taught the guitar for many years, I see the majority of beginners experiencing the same problems and making the same mistakes over and over again in their quest to learn how to play guitar. It’s my job to steer them through these problem areas.

These “mistakes” are basic errors that most beginners naturally tend to make. But these mistakes can cause major problems if you allow them to become habits in your playing. Unfortunately, 90% of guitarists have done just that!

John Pawlett
http://www.articlesbase.com/music-articles/6-simple-steps-to-becoming-a-hot-guitar-player-90978.html

And what style do you play. For me, I use 50% of the gain available to me. Anymore and its way too thick and undefined, any less and notes dont ring out clearly and certain techniques become impossible.
Oh yea I forgot to mention I play metal.

20 to 40% rarely 50%. Yeah above that & chords become muddy & hard to tell one chord apart from the next. Only single notes seem to sound good at high gain.

And what style do you play. For me, I use 50% of the gain available to me. Anymore and its way too thick and undefined, any less and notes dont ring out clearly and certain techniques become impossible.
Oh yea I forgot to mention I play metal.
Matt - There is no such thing as "better" in music. There is only what you like, and what you dont.

I have three pedals on my board: a Digitech Hot Head, a Behringer Vintage Distortion (Big Muff Pi knockoff) and a Digitech Grunge. I'm normally clean in verses, and I'll use the Hot Head for choruses. I've got it set with the gain at one o'clock, so it's a crunch tone…similar to a fully cranked Vox AC30. That has a fair bit of growl, decent sustain, and it still has a lot of dynamic variety. If I want a bigger, richer sound I use the Behringer, with the fuzz all the way up and the tone at like two o'clock. That just drenches the whole thing in fuzz, like a Smashing Pumpkins kind of tone, a wall of sound effect. I use that with open drone strings to make almost just a blur of noise. And the Grunge I kick in for solos; I don't have it anywhere near cranked, and I keep the volume way down, but it saturates my tone until it screams. I play alt-rock and grunge, mostly; you can hear the tone I mean at myspace.com/joecotten or Last.fm/artist/Joe+Cotten.
By the way, Matt's an idiot. Neither acoustic or electric guitar is "better", which is why I play both. If you look at it objectively, though, acoustic doesn't have any advantage except that it doesn't need an amp.