I Don’t Know What Love Is?

......................A simple love story of a complicated girl.



She always considered herself as a rebel, a fighter and a survivor. Destiny had not always done right by her. Sorrow, she considered, was a faithful friend to her and she learnt to live with it through painful and difficult times.
As a child, she had a troubled upbringing. Her parent, though they “loved” each other, could not stand the sight of each other! She saw violence everyday; and she didn’t want to be like them. Little did she know, that this data was getting imprinted on her subconscious without even her knowing it!

In her teenage years she had a pathetic relationship with a guy who abused her, mentally and physically. But she couldn't escape it, because subconsciously she knew, only this kind of relationship works. Somehow, she succeeded to rid herself from this horror and moved to another city. There she kept herself engrossed in education and kept herself away from relationships and men in general. But somewhere, deep down inside her, she never gave up on love. Soon to her surprise she fell into another relationship, this time with food!

That was a long story until one day she became around 30 pounds overweight and decided she had to do something about it. She did and succeeded in it. Looked better than ever and now that she was pretty again, she wanted to explore the possibility that, she still might have a chance at love. Many relationships later, she found a guy who she fell deeply in love with. Problem was, he was ‘not sure if he was ready for love’. She again suffered a deep and painful heartbreak, as she had put her heart out once again and was left disappointed and shattered.

This time, she decided, to totally give up on finding love. The voice inside her said, “Not any more, not any more”. And then something miraculous happened! The next day she met a guy, and she was shocked to know that he shared his name with the guy who just broke her heart. It was movie like, romance bloomed and loved blossomed in no time at all, and before she knew it, they fell deeply in love with each other. It seemed too simple and too good to be true, but there it was, in front of her, the guy of her dreams. They had so much passion, they could not hide it! Sure, they did have their share of upheavals in their relationship but, it was simple to fall in love this time. Happily ever after, not sure about that, but still in love, for sure!

Humming it softly!

It was a bright blue summer day, when I heard someone in the neighborhood playing a fine melody. It felt like one of my favourite tunes because it was so familiar and quite appealing, I must add, though it was a bit vague and I wasn't very sure of it, as the music was being played at a distance. In no time, I started humming it myself. Mum was in the kitchen and she heard me humming this sweet melody. She has always loved me singing, as in her words, music makes me calm. She came into my room and very pleasingly, asked me, "What is it that you're humming darling?" I didn't know how to respond to her question as I didn't have the answer to it myself, so I kept humming the tune, this time even louder. I saw the clock, it was almost time for me to get ready, "I'll be late for the meeting again" I thought to myself. I opened my cupboard, and found myself lost with an endless choice.

The irony with situations like these for me is that the more variety I have, the more difficult it gets for me to make a choice. Sometimes I miss my school days, when all we had to do for getting ready was to wear the uniform and there, you're all set to go! But let's admit it we used to hate that situation too, perhaps for the lack of choice. Maybe that’s the irony of life, we're never happy with what we have. Anyway, when I finally made a choice, I figured I was already quite late. So I got ready and rushed to my workplace. The meeting went quite well, I still kept humming that song, even on the way back home. Till date I can't figure out what song it was, but maybe I should leave it like that, a sweet melody with a pinch of mystery!

Music Therapy

It Really Works

In this post I would like to present to you some of the benefits of Music therapy. Many people already know the different advantages of Music Therapy. For those of you, who have heard it for the first time, let me put some light on this concept. Music therapy is a medium which uses music to promote positive changes in the well being of an individual. These changes can result positively in physical development, social and interpersonal development, emotional or spiritual well being and cognitive abilities.

The value of music for therapeutic purposes has been known and harnessed since ancient times. However, the use of music therapy in the modern ages dates back to the World Wars. Soldiers who suffered physical or emotional trauma were helped to recover with the help of music in hospitals and rehabilitation centers. The first ever degree course in music therapy in the United States was started by The University of Kansas in 1944.

You must be eager to know by now, that how does music therapy actually work?

Music is a universal language and connects across all strata of the society. It helps most people to respond in some way or another regardless of his/her mental or physical condition.
Music inherently generates an emotional response in the listener. A type of relaxation is stimulated which can therefore lead to physiological and psychological changes in the individual. Music is known for its quality of reducing stress even in day to day life, thus it also results in benefits related to stress such as lower blood pressure, improved respiration, better cardiac performance, reduced heart rate and reduced tension in muscles.

Another advantage of music is its ability to substitute for basic communication gaps between people of different age, culture and language! It helps to promote social interaction and to relate to one another and thereby encouraging verbal as well as non verbal communication. It is considered to be an invaluable outlet for expressing oneself creatively. Pain management is also a very important use of music therapy as it works by providing a distraction from the pain itself and helps to relax and relieve stress.

Research shows that music is processed in both hemispheres of the brain. It causes a kind of stimulation which in turn helps in the development of language and speech functions. It helps improve skills required for socialization and communication, self expression and promotes better motor skills. Music is also very beneficial in helping patients with autism spectrum disorder to respond in a very positive way; many of these patients seem to even posses high levels of musical skill.

Many medical problems such as dementia, developmental and learning difficulties in children and adults, autism spectrum disorder and many other problems can benefit from music therapy.

Initially music therapy was accepted by many quite intuitively and relied purely on its anecdotal evidence; it wasn't until recently that the quantitative evidence of its capabilities started to emerge.

In a recent study conducted by the University of Miami School of Medicine, blood samples of a group of male Alzheimer's patients who were treated with music therapy were found to have significantly elevated levels of melatonin, epinephrine and norepinephrine, which are chemicals which act on the brain to control mood, depression, aggression and sleep. The benefits of the therapy were evident even after therapy was stopped for six weeks and the effects of melatonin persisted even longer.

The acceptance of Music therapy is gaining spectrum in the medical community and outside. One can find music therapists in numerous institutions which deal with mental health developmental and early intervention programs, rehabilitation centres, correctional institutions, to name just a few.
Music therapy is succeeding in areas where traditional treatment methods have remained unsuccessfull.

How to stay Motivated while playing Guitar

What is Music?
The art of arranging sounds in time so as to produce a continuous, unified, and evocative composition, as through melody, harmony, rhythm, and timbre.

Now, learning to play any musical instrument has its own pros and cons. You might think that it's going to be very rewarding, giving you extreme joy to know that you've picked up a new instrument and will learn it in no time. But lets be realistic, you should know that you will not be good at it, at first, and it may even frustrate you at times. So before you even make the decision that you want to buy a guitar; even though you have the money for it and the time to practice, you should know that playing a guitar or any instrument for that matter, is a big investment in context of time and money. If you think you can survive all the frustration and keep a positive attitude towards it, then you should get yourself a gift of music.

I believe this story is true for many aspiring musicians. A lot of my friends have got very excited about the idea of how rewarding it can be to do something like playing guitar and they just go and purchase their instrument, but when they find out that they aren't able to play it just the way their favorite musician play, instantly, they become very disappointed with themselves and get discouraged. You should avoid any kind of anticipation to be developed in the skill that you just started at and really look at it as an investment of time.

Over the years I've had many of my friends become very amused when they saw my ability to play guitar get better and better. Some of them were so excited that they decided to buy a guitar for themselves and learn to play it skillfully. But to there disappointment, a lot of them only played for about a month or so and got fed up of it and sooner rather than later they wanted quit. Most of them actually did! There were only few who had the patience and persevered to become real guitarists.

I can tell you this much, the better you want to play, the more you need to practice. That's about it! There's no other way to it! Though, motivation for music can come in any form and any time. But before that arrives, you will need to take out the time to practice and practice and practice! Once this a habit has become your mindset, it will turn into something you really strive for and you will notice that you're getting better at it day by day. Don't try to see yourself playing with the likes of Santana, but keep a track of your weekly progress and tell yourself "I remember I was so bad at this track even a week ago..." Having a positive outlook towards your smallest progress will keep you motivated to move forward and help you not give up!

Check your improvements first on a weekly basis and then month to month; you will notice that you have improved quite a lot from the time you had started. Of course the cherry on the cake would be if someone close to you compliments on your achievement and notices how much better you have become. Keep doing what you are doing and with the attitude of perseverance the rewards will keep coming your way. You'll feel that in no time you are able to play your first riff, then your first chord and then your first song and this is just the beginning of your success in playing. Also try to set realistic goals for yourself by assigning yourself with a task, for example, decide that you'll be able to play this chord/song in a particular amount of time! When you have completed this task and achieved what you had decided for, it should be motivation enough to keep you going. You'll find yourself getting addicted to it, just don't get too addicted and miss out on your day to day things!

Remember, the most difficult part of the game is the beginning. Once you catch speed there is no looking back. Time is an investment you have to put, to get yourself started. Never get discouraged and if at all you do then push through the frustration and in just a matter of some time you'll achieve your goal. Now pick up your guitar that has been dumped at the back of your room and start setting new goals for yourself.

I hope this comes to you as a little bit of motivation. Best of luck to all you aspiring musicians! Remember, it's a great reward to learn to play music because music is the language of love and humanity. You can express yourself with music in any way you want to. You just need the desire and motivation to do so.

All you need to know about Guitar Capo

_{The Guitar Capo- A Boon For The Guitarists}

A Capo is used to change (raise) the key of your open chords. A capo is most commonly used by guitar players that aren't good at ‘barre’ chords, or for guitar riffs that require open strings in a key other than where open strings are available.
(In a ‘barre’ chord you use your fore-finger as a capo).

A capo can be used on an electric guitar as well. Even though it's electric, it's still a guitar (so same rules apply). Most famous people you see performing with electric guitars know ‘barre’ chords and don't need a capo.
You clamp the capo on the guitar to make a chord an octave higher or make it easier to perform more complicated chords. If it’s in a ‘sone’ it usually stays on the guitar during the whole song but occasionally one performer will remove it in the middle of the song. Usually electric guitars don't use them, but they can, if needed.
Beginning guitarists use capos to change the key of a song so they don't have to learn it in a new key to sing it. Advanced guitarists use capos to extend the range and possibilities of the guitar without constant retuning and detuning. It is also easier to employ a capo, than to purchase a ‘Quinto’ (guitar tuned up a fifth) or ‘requinto’ (guitar tuned up a fourth) and the strings generally last longer.

Capos come in different brands but the common kinds are the elastic capos (the nylon capos and the steel string capos), which are the least expensive and commonly used by guitar players.

To use the capo, attach it in any of the frets. Also make sure the clamp can hold all the strings down. Inspect for any kind of pulling of the guitar strings because it may result in the guitar sounding out of tune.
A special kind of capo, the third hand capo, is a gadget that can surely and easily clamp all the strings of the guitar in place. Like the ordinary capos, it allows the guitar player to play tunes that may be difficult to get or to play using the ‘barre’ guitar strings.

The basic premise of the capo is that, it shortens the length of your guitar's strings. You can technically place a capo anywhere on a guitar's neck, but most players typically don't attach it much higher than the seventh fret. The fret on the neck where you attach the capo now becomes your guitar's nut. For example, if you capo your guitar on the second fret, you have raised your guitar's pitch two half-steps or one whole step. That means that a chord you now play on your guitar (keeping in mind that you need to play the chord in relation to the capo now and not your guitar's nut) will be one whole step higher than it was without the capo. If you finger a D chord, what you will hear will be an E chord. If you finger an A chord you will hear a B chord, and so on. The idea is that if you want to play a song in D sharp, but don't want to learn the complicated way to play a first position D sharp on your guitar, you can simply capo your guitar on the first fret (raising the guitar's pitch one half step) and play a D chord like you normally would. The result is a chord that looks and feels like a D to you, but sounds like a D sharp to everyone else.

The important things to remember while using a capo are:

1) Figure out how your capo attaches to your guitar neck. There are several types of capos on the market today. Some are spring-loaded, others use an elastic type of material, and others are manually clamped to the fret-board by the guitarist. Whichever type you prefer, take a second to understand how it is supposed to hold the strings down to the fret-board.

2) Always attach your capo as close possible to the fret that you want to capo. For example, if you want to capo your guitar at the second fret, don't put the capo right in the middle of the space between the first and second frets, but rather slide it down so it's as close to the second fret as it can be. Don't put it on top of the second fret, but put it as close as it can be without touching it. This helps make sure you stay in tune.

3) Speaking of tuning, always check your tuning when you apply a capo. Often a guitar will have intonation issues, this means that the guitar might be in tune at the first fret but will get further out of tune as you move up the neck. Try to correct any problems with intonation by checking your tuning every time you apply a capo.