Category: Music

Gibson Guitars On The Verge Of Bankruptcy

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It’s a sign of the times or atleast musical times. Iconic guitar company Gibson , whose Les Paul and SG instruments have been played by generations of musicians, including stars such as Slash, Bob Marley, Angus Young and Carlos Santana, was founded more than 100 years ago in Michigan are reportedly on the verge of filing for bankruptcy. CEO Henry Juszkiewicz is thought to be in a race against time to decide whether to exchange the company’s debt, look to try and pay it off using his equity or try to declare the company bankrupt.

Gibson’s Chief Financial Officer Bill Lawrence recently left the firm just six months before $375 million of senior secured notes were due to mature, according to a report by the Nashville Post earlier this month. He had been working for the company for little over a year before departing. Gibson, which has annual revenues of more than $1 billion, has another $145 million in bank loans that will be due immediately if those senior secured notes are not refinanced by mid-July, the report said. The U.S.-based company has hired investment bank Jeffries to help with its current financial situation.

On Thursday, Gibson issued a statement that said an ongoing streamlining strategy would soon help it record the “best financial results the company has seen in its history within the next year.” It also said the firm would have the ability to pay back the company’s debt in whole within seven years.

RIP Pat Torpey

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Pat Torpey, drummer and founding member of rock band Mr. Big, passed away Wednesday (Feb. 7) due to complications of Parkinson’s disease. He was 64 years old. His band shared the news on Twitter, asking for privacy and noting that services have yet to be scheduled for the drummer. “With breaking hearts we tell you that our brother, friend, drummer, and founding member, Pat, passed away Wednesday, February 7 from complications of Parkinson’s disease,” the post reads. He has also played for John Parr, Belinda Carlisle, Robert Plant, Montrose, Richie Kotzen and The Knack. Pat has recorded with Impellitteri and Ted Nugent. He is noted by Neil Peart for composing unique rhythms such as that of “Take Cover”, a rock song from Mr. Big.

Torpey was born in Cleveland andi n high school, Torpey immersed himself in all available music programs, concert, orchestra, marching and stage bands. About his teenage years, he says: “I wanted to play everything percussion and I convinced my mother to buy me a used drum-kit for my thirteenth birthday.” His family moved to Phoenix, Arizona, where he then began honing his skills in local bands, from rock, to funk, to jazz, to pop. After moving to Los Angeles in 1983 became a regular on the American Bandstand and Solid Gold TV shows performing with Ben E. King, Mike + The Mechanics, Melissa Manchester, Bob Geldof, and “a few I can’t even remember.”

1985, Torpey auditioned for the British pop–rock singer John Parr, who was riding high on his #1 hit “St. Elmo’s Fire” and had landed the opening slot for Tina Turner on her Private Dancer tour. When that tour ended he became the drummer for Belinda Carlisle on her first solo tour, opening for Robert Palmer. Playing around Los Angeles with The Knack was the pathway to Mr. Big. Billy Sheehan and Paul Gilbert were starting a new band and were on the hunt for a drummer. They saw Pat playing with The Knack and were impressed with his energy and style. “I loved playing with The Knack but when Billy approached me I jumped at the chance.” Mr. Big secured a recording contract with Atlantic Records but before the band started work on the first CD Torpey was tapped to play drums with Robert Plant on his Now and Zen tour when Plant’s drummer Chris Blackwell was injured.

In 1992, Mr. Big’s international hit song “To Be With You” was no.1 in the U.S. and fifteen other countries and top five in many more. For fourteen years Mr. Big toured the world, headlining as well as opening for Aerosmith, Rush, Bryan Adams and The Scorpions to name a few, garnering a reputation for their world class musicianship and totally ‘live’ performances. Pat Torpey has been noted as a great backing vocalist (with high vocal range) and he often sings some cover songs in the Mr. Big show during his encore. Also he sings some tunes from The Beatles during his drum solo. Because of Mr. Big’s popularity in Japan and Asia, Pat released two solo albums (as a singer) overseas, Odd Man Out and Y2K in 1998 and 1999. He announced on July 25, 2014 that he had been diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease and would be unable to perform all of his normal drumming duties on the band’s 2014-15 world tour in support of the album …The Stories We Could Tell.

Torpey recently acted as a “drum producer” on Mr. Big’s latest album, Defying Gravity, and still plays percussion on tour, though Matt Starr has taken over lead drummer duties. He is survived by his wife and son.

So You Want to Learn Piano Online?

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So You Want to Learn Piano Online?
First of all let’s give some special thanks to Bartolomeo Cristofori for coming up with such an incredible music instrument. The invention of piano has really revolutionized music in general since way back during the 1700s.

We might be taking this instrument for granted but for me I can say it has been a game changer. Even in the modern day world, if you are keen enough, you installment loans poor credit will find out that piano is basically included in every type of music composed by any musician be it pop music, classical music or even obscure art type of music.

This is practically true because piano is usually a versatile and powerful type of music instrument making it a permanent fixture in the musical world. This is an amazing instrument and different people from different backgrounds can get a lot just from learning how it’s used.

We’ve asked the specialists from playgroundsessions.com to give us a few tips of why learning this instrument is a great idea.

Gateway to every music

Most of the time artists would always start playing with a piano when they want to come up with a new music. This is because it has almost everything that a songwriter would need.

These include gorgeous tone, dynamic options, and massive range among others. We’ve seen a lot of musicians shooting to stardom and it all started as a joke, simply by playing with a family piano.

It is a suitable instrument for everyone regardless of your level of skills.

It can be played easily

Piano is an easy instrument to learn compared to others. Actually it has a painless and quick playability thus enabling the learners to quickly grasp the concepts.

Pianos generally have a simple operation mechanism i.e. a sound will be produced if you press down a key. This makes the piano a suitable instrument even for the little children to learn since it is intuitive.

Within a few minutes a child might be able to sit down and learn how to play a piece on the piano and that’s how easy it is.

It can help you to understand the music theory

This is also one of the benefits you get when learning a piano. When you start learning about the complicated concepts of music theory, you should start by throwing a glance at a piano.

This is simply because the music theory as always is visualized as those black and white keys you see on the keyboard. Understanding and learning intervals, scales and chords on a piano is much easier compared to other instruments.

It is often said that if you learn how you can play your first scale, you will also be learning or understanding the low interest unsecured loan music theory. This makes the piano a must learn instrument if you want to have a better understanding of the music theory.

Treats depression and relieves stress

You’ve he installment loans poor credit ard people talking about music being food for the soul? Well, that might just be right. A recent study has shown that learning the piano can be a powerful process towards treating depression and stress relief.

This is according to an article by national library of medicine which stated that piano lessons can actually induce positive mood state and decrease depression on the elderly.

It further states that playing a unsecured payday loan piano can be a useful intervention to help the elderly increase their cognitive reserve among other things.

This process can be of great importance to both the elderly and young children who are suffering from depression and stress.

It gives you the sense of accomplishment

This is true as it can also help the students to be able to finish projects. We both know that feeling you get after completing some tough task or in this case a music piece that seemed to be so difficult, it is always a great feeling right?

Yes, of course you would feel great and this can really motivate you as a student to always complete the tasks you have in your day to day activities.

If you become a successful student i playing piano, it means you dedicated a lot of time, follow through and effort to reach where you are. If you look at our normal routine, you will realize that these are the qualities we usually need to succeed in our areas of work, at school or even in relationships.

In short, I can say that learning how to play a piano can develop perseverance, tenacity and patience in someone.

Conclusion

The above are some of the benefits one can get if they decide to take piano lessons. Well, it might take some time for you to become a pro in playing this instrument but you will realize the benefits as you continue learning.

You might have several reasons why you would want to learn the piano but the most basic reason is because it can act as a source of entertainment.

After a long day at work, you might want to sit down behind those keys and play your old favorite piece as you entertain and feel good about yourself.

With that being said, I would advise you to start thinking about it. Take the lessons and change your life for good.

If you’re interested in learning amazing tricks in learning piano, take a look at this article https://www.wikihow.com/Become-a-Better-Piano-Player