Tab Or Music Notation For Classical Guitarists

Lets take a look at how we see classical guitarists and standard musical notation. My perception of a classical guitar player is someone who is tied to the sheet music from day one. He will not play a note unless it is written on the page. Furthermore, he probably belongs to the school of thought that says that tablature is an inferior form of written music. Incomplete and useless for learning new pieces.

My perception of the classical guitar player cant be entirely accurate because there are lots of classical guitar tabs available on the internet, so maybe attitudes are changing gradually.

Tab is not a bad thing in itself. It is a perfectly good way to quickly find the notes on the guitar as you learn a new piece. The fact that tab does not include all the information you need to play a piece has given birth to a widespread prejudice against tab simply because many musicians think that the written notation should be the sole source of information needed to learn the piece.

Where guitar tab falls down is if you use tab to learn which notes to play, you also need to have an audio record of the piece to refer to in order to play the notes in time. So yes, tab is an incomplete source of music notation but if people want to use tab anyway, then that is their concern.

Back in the nineteen seventies classical violinist Yehudi Menuhin collaborated with sitar player Ravi Shankar on some records. The resulting music was fantastic but Menuhin had to have his music written for him whereas Shankar was able to improvise his parts. So, music notation gives us a more complete representation of the music but if we rely on it too much we learn music in an environment that does not foster musical creativity. The classical guitarist, at least in my mind, is concerned with expressing the composers music through his relationship with the guitar. Improvisation and creativity of any kind are not necessary.

If you want to learn classical guitar and to read standard musical notation then there are a number of books you can work through to get a grip on sheet music written for guitar. If you work at it for a month or so you will have an understanding of single note melodies written to be played in the first position. There is a number of pieces by Sor, Carulli and Carcassi for example, which you can get a great deal of satisfaction from playing using your new grasp of sheet music.

There are some great books available for learning classical guitar through music notation, the tutors by Aaron Shearer, Fred Noad and Christopher Parkening are obvious examples. These books will give you the full story to learn a piece of music but learning tab as well gives you access to a broader appreciation of music and the opportunity to discover parts of your musical self opened up by the work of learning music through tab.

Of course, it gets more difficult as you begin to learn pieces that contain chords in the melody and more than one melody line. The task of learning which finger to use to play the notes as well as the left hand fingering begins to make learning new pieces more tedious.

10 Ways to Save Money When Your Automobile Lease Ends

Paying excess mileage charges when an auto lease ends is something most consumers take care to avoid.  But many of these same careful lessees get an unhappy surprise at turn-in because of other charges and costs they failed to think about.

Carefully considering things such as best length of lease and residual value and then taking a few simple steps at the beginning of the lease and during the lease term can pay big dividends when the lease ends.  The first thing is to read the lease document carefully and clearly understand the sections covering excess mileage, wear and tear, and processing fees.

Then consider what steps you can take to avoid charges when the auto is turned in. What you consider minor dings, dents or scratches can end up costing you a lot.  “When you lease a car, the sticker shock comes at the end, not the beginning,” said Jack Gillis, a spokesman for the Consumer Federation of America and author of The Car Book, a buyer's guide.

A Changing Market

Consumers love auto leasing because it offers an easy way to get into a new car with a lower down payment and lower monthly payments than financing a vehicle to be purchased.  This is because the lessee is only paying for the amount of the car's value that is used.  Typically, people lease for three years, so they only pay for the first three years of a car's life — which are definitely the car's best years.

Before tighter credit and lower residual values, car dealers also loved leasing because it brings customers back into the dealership at the end of the lease, every two or three years.  Also, because many consumers are confused by leasing terms, dealers can more easily take advantage of them.  Particularly in difficult economic conditions, leasing companies are looking for every way possible to improve their revenues.

Unfortunately, leasing which was once a way for car dealers, customers, and manufacturers to all get a decent deal is the latest victim of the economic downturn.  Chrysler, Ford, BMW, GMAC and several major banks have announced reductions, if not complete elimination, of lease programs.  Automobile dealers and experts expect more to follow.  So a consumer who leased in the past should not assume the same rules apply today.

These changes and tighter credit conditions make it more difficult to lease and have caused leasing companies to be more stringent in their lease-end requirements.  Lease contracts typically run 24 to 36 months, and consumers usually turn in their vehicles at the end of the term.

That leaves the auto maker on the hook to sell vehicles that may have declined significantly in value compared to assumptions made at the time the original lease was signed.  And that means lessors are going over returned vehicles with a fine-tooth comb to get all the extra charges they can.

Major Problem Areas

Unexpected shocks and charges at turn-in are primarily associated with three areas of the lease, according to industry reports.

Disposition fee:  This is a charge levied by the leasing company if the lessee chooses not to buy the vehicle at the end of the lease.  This fee is set as compensation for the expenses of selling, or otherwise disposing of the vehicle.  It typically includes administrative charges; the dealer’s cost to prepare the car for resale and any other penalties.

Lessees need to make sure this fee is stated clearly in the contract and is agreeable before signing on the dotted line.  At lease-end, the lessee is left in no position to negotiate as the dealer can apply the refundable security deposit towards this fee.

Excess mileage charges:  Almost all leasing companies will charge a premium for each mile over the agreed upon mileage stated in the contract.  This penalty can be as high as 25 cents per mile and can add up quickly.

To avoid the risk of running thousands of dollars in excess mileage penalties at the end of the lease, always check the “per mile” charges in the contract and be realistic about mileage before signing any contract.  If the limit is unrealistic given the lessee’s driving needs, then negotiate with the dealer to get a higher mileage contract.

Excess wear-and-tear charges:  Another potential major cost at the end of the lease is any incidental damage done to the car during the lease.  This is deemed any excessive damage done to the normal tear and wear of the vehicle.  Notice the use of the terms “deemed”, “excessive” and “normal”.  There is no standard formula to define what’s “excessive” and “normal” and it’s up to the leasing company to assess – or deem – the damage and determine what they are going to charge.

This leaves the lessee at the mercy of unscrupulous leasing agents who set stringent tear-and-wear standards.  Dings, dents, scratches and windshield chips are a major area of unexpected large charges. Lessees need to carefully read the description of these standards, understand them and agree to them.  If the leased vehicle is damaged prior to the end of the lease, the lessee may find it cheaper to repair the damage than pay the excessive charges of the leasing agent.

How Do You Avoid Extra Charges at The End of The Lease?

Many consumers are anxious about leasing's Judgment Day — when the vehicle is returned to the dealer and its condition is inspected for extra charges.  At the top of problem areas discussed above are excess wear-and-tear charges.

These fears are not unfounded, according to Tarry Shebesta, president of Automobile Consumer Services Corp., “As the leasing market tightens up, banks are looking for a way to make money from returned cars.  They will be more critical about wear and tear and any deviations from the lease contract.” 

Bottom line:  Keep the car at a condition above and beyond “average wear and tear” to avoid penalties.

10 Ways to Save Money at Turn-In

Here are ten useful tips to keep in mind before and during the lease to prevent dings to your wallet as you say goodbye to your leased vehicle:

• Choose a car with a naturally higher residual value.  If the vehicle holds its value — or surpasses its expected value — there may be an option to buy it and make money at the end of the lease. This is particularly important in market conditions where the residual value of certain types of vehicles is dropping dramatically.
• Don't go into a lease longer than you would normally keep a car.  If you keep a car about three years, do a three-year lease.  A four- or five-year lease will be harder to get out of and more difficult to turn in without extra fees.  Don't lease longer than the warranty period that covers the car.
• Purchase auto lease protection at the beginning of the lease.  Cigarette burns or tears in the upholstery, certain dents, scratches, windshield chips and mechanical flaws can cause big charges if the leasing company considers them beyond normal wear and tear.  Auto lease protection covers repair of dings, dents, scratches and stone chips that occur during the term of the lease.
• Stay within the mileage limit.  The best way to avoid having to pay for excess mileage is to take the time to estimate how much you will drive the car, including any weekend and holiday use, before you sign the lease.  Then purchase extra miles up front.  Typically, it is less expensive to do this than to pay extra mileage at the tail end of a lease.  If you have really high mileage fees, consider selling the car yourself rather than paying the penalty.
• Treat the car like it was your own.  Elaine Littwer, legislative coordinator of the National Vehicle Leasing Association, says that it’s important for consumers to understand that damage reduces the resale value of a vehicle.  “The 'I don't own it and I don't care' attitude ends up costing them money.”
• Have the vehicle washed and detailed on a regular basis.  Maintaining the vehicle’s appearance conveys that it has been well cared for.
• Make sure the vehicle is serviced at the required intervals.  Keep all maintenance records to provide proof of service and repairs.
• Document the condition of the car.  Research by Tom Incantalupo of Newsday recommends that, just before turning the car in, lessees take clear photos of the interior and exterior, including the odometer, for their own records should a dispute arise over mileage driven or whether specific damages are excessive - and also to protect themselves against damages that occur after the car was turned in.
• Have the vehicle serviced just before you turn it in.  This will ensure that it has no major problems and will provide a final third-party record of condition.
• Any dents should be removed by a body shop rather than turning the car in with the damage.  Repair charges covered by lease protection or paid privately are not subject to some of the expensive mark-ups charged by leasing companies.

Following these simple steps and Investing a little time and money during the course of your lease can ensure your peace of mind and protect your bank account when your leased car’s Judgment Day arrives.

Find Cheaper Cars

If you are planning to buy a new or second hand car, but not able to afford a brand new model, in this brave new, greener world you can look for more economical cars, second hand cars that suits your requirements and budget.

Before you rush to buy a car, carry out the research on the car being sold, their features, strengths, weaknesses, and green issues etc. It will help you decide which type of car matches your requirements and budget. Also, consult with people that you know, to have another viewpoint for the price of the car you are researching, to judge if the real price and running costs are reasonable.

Researching cheaper cars is more than the initial purchase cost as just looking at this can work out to be much more expensive on the running costs. Lots of financial overheads may occur if a wrong car is purchased. So before you start shopping, do take into consideration following tips:

Look at the Fuel Type Used

There is no use of buying a green car at a low price with high operational costs. With ever-increasing prices, it will be best to avoid cars that use costlier fuels like petrol or diesel rather look for cheaper sources such as electric cars or LPG. Look for greener models that are more environmental friendly as car tax is also directly proportional to CO2 emission as per UK car tax rates.

Take time to find good car insurance quotes. It can be significantly reduced by choosing appropriate car model, and maybe using named drivers as insurance policy holders for example. You can contact companies directly or access information online. A good way to obtain cheap car insurance is by using a service that forces insurance agents and brokers to compete. You can contact multiple agents to have a good idea of the insurance range you might expect to pay. Applicable premiums can be reduced considerably by undertaking advanced driving courses. Young drivers face higher insurance charges since they are more like to have an accident.

Maintain your Car

Maintaining your car will keep its maintenance charges to the minimum. Avoid speeding, car and keep a regular checks to keep it in a good condition. Also, check the amount to weight the car carries.

Choose Greener Cars

Applicable car tax rates are directly proportional to the volume of Co2 emitted. For this purpose cars are divided into bands A, B, C and so on, with cars emitting up to 100 gm/km of Co2 placed in band A. Band B contain vehicles falling in the range of 101-120gm/km and so on. Also, prefer smaller cars if possible as big engines emit more gas. So, prefer environmental friendly cars which will help both, your pocket and our environment.

Consider all the important factors before you choose the car. Also, inspect the car very carefully or bring an expert or mechanic with you. This will help in accurate inspection of the car and ensure that the price you are paying in the deal is fair and justified.

Cheap Auto Insurance - Tips and Ways to Get It!

How many of us actually know the ways to get cheap auto insurance? Seriously, majority of us might not even know that cheap auto insurance actually exists! We have been depending on insurance agents to recommend and advise us when we are purchasing our auto policy. Obviously, the agents are the ones who know best about insurance, but they are also interested in making more profit and getting higher commissions. Therefore, we could not blame them if they are trying to talk us into getting expensive policies.

What we can do is to shop around and compare prices between companies before we take up policies with any of the companies. The rates between the companies can vary a lot depending on their profitability and other issues. Try to get several quotes from different companies in advance and compare them in terms of coverage and price. You should always choose the company which is able to offer you low rates with sufficient protection. There are also sites which enable vehicle owners to determine the best cheap auto insurance available in the market easily.

Next, we should always try to make our car as safe as we can. This will not only protect us and our car from accidents and damages, it would also help us to obtain cheap auto insurance. Protected cars have lower risks of getting damaged or stolen, hence lowering the possibility of the car owner to file claims. Therefore, we can consider fitting in some safety features like automatic seatbelts and steering wheel locks.

Besides that, we should not be shy to ask for discounts for our policy. Insurance companies usually do not voluntarily offer discounts to us if we do not ask for them. There are actually many types of discounts available. For example, there are discounts for good grades if you are a student, and also discounts for senior citizens if you have reached the age of 55. These discounts might not be a lot sometimes, but they would definitely help us to lower the cost of our auto insurance in the long run.

Lastly, we should always remind ourselves to drive carefully. Good driving record is a very important determinant when it comes to obtaining cheap auto insurance. No matter how adequate our cars are equipped with safety features, we would still be charged with very high rates if we have very bad driving records over the years. This is because we are directly raising our chances to get into accidents when we drive recklessly. Therefore, if we want to get cheap auto insurance badly, we should always try to maintain an excellent driving record. Your opportunity to learn more about secret tips to get cheap auto insurance has finally arrived!

There are still many ways to get cheap auto insurance quote. The key point is whether you are committed enough to find out the ways to lower rates. One of the easiest things that you can do is to visit my website. There are many tips and tricks available there for you to get the best deal of cheap auto insurance in town!

Google's pay-per-clicks now free

A new breakthrough secret is all you now need in order to get your Google AdWords pay-per-clicks FREE!

A gentleman from New York discovered what he calls an "oversight" on the part of 99.9% of all marketers that allows him to get otherwise paid-for advertising at Google as well as all other search engines that allow sponsored ads.

And no, nothing about his "secret" is illegal - nor does it require that you know someone on the "inside" at Google, Yahoo, MSN, Overture and others.

Instead, the New Yorker boasts proudly "...this is something that I caught onto just before 2000 when there was so much search engine craze running around, and started doing small just to test things at first ... but which I later expanded on after getting the hang of it."

This same fellow went on to start and operate sixteen separate online companies selling everything from pet food, DVDs, children's toys & games, books, software, and sold not only his own manufactured products but became an affiliate for other web businesses - all the while applying his mastermind secret.

Over the course of nearly eight years the New Englander confesses "I've actually gotten over $87 million in advertising that using my secret I never had to pay for ... and the largest share of which was more recently in Google pay-per-clicks as well as other forms of pad advertising at search engines ... all of which I got for free ..."

So powerful is his secret that he's able to monopolize any niche online, and can always secure the top premium spots just above the usual organic results featured at most search engines.

He still has to set up an account with the search engines - but after applying his secret he is removed from having to pay for all the costs otherwise involved. Again, nothing about his secret is either illegal or robs from the search engines.

One spokesperson from one of the most popular search engines said chuckling after being made privy to this amazing secret "Wow! Ha! This is really unique

... and in my expert opinion it would only serve to enhance and bring more business to us at [name of search engine withheld for legal & confidentiality reasons] and not cause us to lose business in the slightest. Amazing!"

The northerner revealed that in this nearly eight years' period of time since applying his secret he's done well over $300 million in sales revenue with a most diverse line of products, and most recently in the last two years netted nearly $166 million after really "buckling down and pressing my secret to its fullest potential."

Now to everyone else's fortune, the city slicker is releasing his secret for getting an unlimited amount of pay-per-click ads to the general public. But he 's not promising any of us for how long.

A bit of an eccentric, the gentleman says "We'll see just how long I can make it available before it saturates things."

One famous public web guru pointed out that although this man may gain economically more so as a result of the publication of his secret "he's already so amazingly rich that whether he continues or discontinues its sale will neither make nor break the man, but not grabbing it for yourself while it 's still available could prove disastrous for you as you may only have one chance, and a very limited one at that, to get this."

Find out How to Get Started In Affiliate Marketing to Make Some Quick Cash

Here are some great ideas you can use to find some affiliate programs to get started in making some money online.

Firstly, you can check inside the private members area on my site where I list a bunch of affiliate locations for you to go to. However, whether you are a member of my site or not, you may want to also check out CommissionJunction.com or Clickbank.com. Those are some other great places for you to access existing affiliate programs to make some quick cash.

However, there are a couple of things that you will want to look for in these affiliate programs. You want to make sure that the individual running that particular affiliate program makes it as simple for you as possible. You’re looking for programs that have emails pre-written and ready to go, so that all you have to do is just send them out to your list to begin making the sale. You don’t want to have to write these yourself. That would take time. If they are already written, you’ll be up and running quicker and on track to begin making some money fast. If the affiliate program you’ve joined also has sales letters created and other marketing tools available and ready for you to use, than this sweetens the deal even more. Why? Well, all you want to do is have all of the marketing tools at your disposal so that you simply need to just push the send button to your list and have them click on links to sales pages so that you can start making some quick cash!

What you also want to do is get on other people’s mailing lists that are in your niche. Why would I tell you to do something like that? Well, the reason for this is because if you were on a couple of different lists and you’re noticing everybody’s promoting the same thing, that means there’s probably a lot of money to be made by you promoting those specific products as well. And if everyone is promoting that product in your niche, then you need to get on board too.

You can find out if that by going to the website of that particular product and then scrolling down to the bottom of their sales letter to see if there’s an affiliate program. You may also want to go another route by consider contacting the list owner and saying, “Hi, I was trying to get in touch with the person in charge of the affiliate program for X product that you are promoting because I’m also in the same niche.” Hopefully, they’ll connect you with that individual to get you started.

However, let’s just say that you’re looking at affiliate programs and you have no list. Well, here’s exactly what I’d suggest doing. You want to throw up some articles. You want to throw up a squeeze page really quickly inside that niche, and you can throw up some articles really quickly and have people sign up through your opt-in page. Then as soon as they sign up, have them redirected straight to the affiliate page that you want them to go to. Then make sure you set up email sequences inside there to drive them back to that page.

It’s a fairly simple process to begin making money with affiliate programs. If you simply have a bit of time to commit to setting up some opt-in pages to capture your audience’s names, you have to freedom to sell them as many products as possible from these affiliate programs in the same niche. Just think, you’re already saving a ton of time in creating your own product. But affiliate programs allow you to leverage other people’s time and money to make things happen for yourself. It really doesn’t get any better than that!

Questions and Answers About Internet Affiliate Programs

Thousands of people go online every day looking for ways to make money. This brings up many questions about Internet affiliate programs as one way to do it. I thought I might answer a few of those questions in this article.

1. What is affiliate marketing? Affiliate marketing is where you get paid to sell other peoples products. It is an agreement between the merchant and a salesperson.

2. How do I make money? You earn a commission whenever you get the desired result. For example, if you make a sale you would earn a commission based on the agreed percentage between the merchant and yourself. You can also make money when people fill out leads, or click on ads, and these are known as pay per lead and pay per click affiliate programs.

3. How often do I get paid? Each affiliate merchant will have a different pay schedule. Some will pay on a monthly basis on the previous months sales. Others will pay two times a month, and its even becoming possible now to earn instant commissions and get paid immediately after you make a sale.

4. Do I need my own website? This is one of the great things about affiliate marketing on the Internet. The merchant will take care of everything and provide everything you need to make money. This includes giving you your own website, collecting the money on all sales and shipping the product.

5. How difficult is it to do affiliate marketing? It will take some effort because you have to master traffic generation skills. Even though much of the initial setup work is done for you, you still get paid to bring visitors to a website and sell products to them. At this point, if you do not have a skill level, then you will have to learn how it is done. The sooner you do that the quicker you will be making money.

6. Where do I find good affiliate programs? You can do a Google search for the words "affiliate programs" and come up with directories that have multiple affiliate products you can sell.

If you are looking for something specifically, you can Google search those words plus affiliate programs after them. For example, "cooking affiliate programs" will bring up some of the top results in that niche and you can then go and visit those websites.

These are six common questions and answers about Internet affiliate programs. It is a simple business model, even though it is new for most people. If you have a lack of knowledge, dont let this be a barrier to you getting involved in this evolving industry.