New Casio Keyboards & Pianos - Arriving this September

In just a few weeks time we will be heading off to oxford to preview the new Casio Privia range of digital pianos and accessories. 

If you are Casio fan you will will probably be glad to see some of the changes they have made to their models.  All of the Privia Pianos now benefit from an improved key weighting, better sounds and a more elegant styling.

If you are not yet a Casio fan and have always been a fan of Yamaha, Korg, and Roland, just to name a few of the other manufacturers, then, maybe, you might be tempted to change your way of thinking.

The most eye catching of the new portfolio is the Privia PX-830BP

 

The sleek black design of the Privia PX-830 is not just its only good point its has a new Linear Morphing AIF* Sound Source for grand piano level sound quality. In lamens terms this means it has a better chip than previous models and can replicate the sound of a real pinao more accurately.  The speakers are also no mounted underneath adding depth to the sound for the performer.  Casio have also made improvements on the action with their Tri-sensor Scaled Hammer Action Keyboard technology. In a real piano the hammers that hit the strings are heavier on the bass notes than they are on the treble. This makes your bass keys heavier when hitting them.  To synthsis a real piano feel this has been replicated by grading the weight of the keys in the keyboard.

We'll tell you more when we get back from our trip in September and as we hear more developments.  In the meantime, why not browse the selection and see which piano may suit you best. 

Other models to be realeased include;

Privia PX-730 -  An upgrade to the PX-720 which was one of our sure fire favourites, we can only hope the PX-730 lives up to its predecessor.

Privia PX-330 Piano - By far and away the PX-320 was our best selling stagepiano knock the socks socks of anything near its price category.  We can't wait to try this upgraded model.

Privia PX-130 Po Piano Piano - On a budget, don't want to comprimise on qu  Chep; Check out the PX-130, at the smae price as th20 b-120 but with many improvements its sure to impress. Also available in white.

Why not add one to your wishlist, if wewhat youat your looking for we can can tell you when there are offers or competitions to win the gear that you are interested in.

 

Les Paul - Musical Innovator

Lester William Polfuss (Les Paul) -  June 9, 1915 to August 13, 2009

As many of you may know the infamous Lester William Polsfuss also known as Les Paul passed away last week. Les Paul born June 1915 was a musical innovator and inventor. Not only did he design one of the most iconic instruments of our time, The Gibson Les Paul guitar played by iconic musicians like Slash (Guns ‘N Roses) Jeff Beck (The Yard Birds) and Matt Tuck (BFMV) the appearance of the Les Paul guitar is one of the most sought after and reproduced in music today. Without Les Paul we would not have effects like phase on the or delay. But one of his greatest achievements of all is being one of the pioneers of multi track recording without Les Paul recordings would still be listening to primitive one track recordings but thanks to him we are capable of multi track recording with machines like the Zoom H4N and Boss BR600.

Without Les Paul music would be so much different today. Not only a great guitar player but, an amazing inventor also. He will be sadly missed.

Planet WMC Blog is Back

Phew!!  What a lot of hard work has been happening over the summer months here at wmcmusic.co.uk. Not to mention the huge amount of stock we have been taking in, the renovations happening in and around the showroom and many improvements on the website.

So here are a few highlights...........



Delivery Costs Reduced:

Thanks to a new module installed on our website we can now offer much more cost effective shipping options.  This new module give you the opportunity to choose how your parcel is sent.  If you don't want it in a hurry or would prefer to save some money choose Royal Mail, if you would like to insure your item or would like extra care taken of it then choose our courier service with track & trace facilities.

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New Search and Auto-Suggest Feature:

Easily search our site by simply typing the first three letters of the item you are looking for and wait for it to suggest an item and show you a picture, if it doesn't find what you are looking for in the first it give it a few more letters or a couple of letters from another part of its name or description and this clever little fella will narrow the search down.

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Planet WMC is back:

Sadly the creator of our blog function was running short on and time and resources.  Happily however Aheadworks have stepped up to the mark, made some improvements and fixed some of the bugs to leave us will a fully functioning blogging system.  Keep your eyes peeled for upcoming reviews, news, competitions and discounts.  If you use RSS why not subscribe to our feed.

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Instrument Insurance:

WMC is teaming up with Musicguard to offer instrument insurance.  For a free quote follow the link.  We were surprised at the prices, you may be too.

 

Finally it wouldn't be right of me to finish a new blog, telling you how crazy we have been without mentioning Ukulele's. They are the coolest thing to hit the world since the Fonz so if you feel you are missing out and should have one of these then click here and start your ukulele adventure.

TTFN

How long does it take to play guitar????

One of the most common questions we get asked here at wmcmusic.co.uk is "how long will it be before i can play guitar?"

Well the answer is that it is all down to you. Some people play for fun, some wish to make a career from their music. Which ever is closest to you it all comes down to one thing. Practise.
Naturally gifted or just hard-working?

OK some people have a natural talent for music, some have more dexterity in their fingers but there is nothing stopping you from being as good as you want to be. For instance Django Reinhardt, tragically at a young age was caught in fire, he lost the use of two of his fingers on his left had and the use of his right leg. This didn't stop him however becoming one of the greatest gypsy jazz guitar players, in my opinion of all time. Another great Tony Iommi, who is considered the first real ""metal guitar"" player lost the tips of two of his fingers in sheet metal factory accident at the age of 17. Inspired by Django he practised and practised and developed his own new style of playing which later became the foundation sound of Black Sabbath.
Practise, practise, practise

You should expect to practise for about 20 minutes per day. There is some scientific evidence to suggest that practising right before going to bed encourages your brain to repeat the process in your mind through the early stages of sleep. This means when you awaken and practise again the brain has a ""memory"" of what it is meant to do. Expect to see result in around a week to two weeks.
The basics

If you want to play like a Rock God then there are few easy steps you can take to improve the speed of which you learn.

1. Learn Your Basic Chords - Change between them, mix them up, run through them a, b, c, d, e.......go through them backwards. Play them over and over until you can change between them clearly. Pay extra attention to your bar chords and make sure you get a clean sound.
2. Learn some scales - The secret of a great lead player. Learn them near the start of your guitar journey the longer you leave it the harder it becomes. I saw Eric Clapton and John Mayer perform together last year in Hyde Park. Both of whom use the Pentatonic Scale at great force. This is a good place to start.
3. Learn other people's music, play the stuff you listen to even more importantly, play the stuff you don't listen to. It will help you develop your own style. You may find you are better at blues than metal and it could change your life.
4. Have a few lessons. You may need 1 every couple of months, you may want one every week. Lessons can hone the skills you have and weed out any bad habits and help you build new ones. Sometimes there is an easier way to do something and a tutor can guide you.
5. Once you've got a few chords and a few licks under your belt. Start playing with other musicians. Jam with them, talk with them, make up your own songs and cover other peoples. Playing with a drummer will improve your timing, working with another lead player with encourage you to develop your rhythm playing. You don;t have to play Wembley Stadium or Tour the country but playing in a band is a sure fire way to improve your skills.

This list is not definitive and nor will it work for everybody but hopefully you will find some inspiration in here. Once you have your first song it feels like there is no stopping you.

If you have any success stories, tips or advice for other players please leave us a comment.