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Choosing a Boston Personal Injury Lawyer

If you have had the misfortune to suffer a personal injury, you will understand just how deeply such an event can change your life. You will probably encounter huge medical bills, and may need ongoing medical care for a long period of time. You may be unable to work, perhaps even permanently, and you may have a spouse or family who are shaken by both the financial implications and changes in their life situation and routine. While obtaining the right settlement will not erase the impact of your accident, either in physical or emotional terms, right attorney will be able to arrange a deal for you that will at least help ease your monetary worries. For those of you living within the confines of this city, here are some tips to help you find a Boston personal injury lawyer who will help you make the most of this difficult time in your life.

Firstly, ensure that your lawyer has direct experience in personal injury law. The law is an enormous area, and specialisations within it have developed for a reason. By choosing a professional who deals primarily with this type of case, you will be ensuring that you are dealing with a lawyer who understands this particular area of the law in detail, which in turn means they will be equipped with the knowledge and experience to get you the best deal possible.

While the majority of personal injury cases are not resolved in the trial court, you should still ensure that your Boston personal injury lawyer is prepared to go the distance if necessary. Select a lawyer who provides a personal service too, one who is accessible to you, and with whom you feel comfortable working. Your initial first impression can go a long way in helping you choose the right lawyer - ensure that at your initial meeting he or she is timely, professional, and communicative. If this is not the case, you may be better off continuing your search.

Above all, do your homework before selecting a Boston personal injury lawyer. Research the credentials of the professional you choose, and, if possible, find personal and professional testimonials regarding your prospective professional. They will all advertise themselves as the best - but try to make that decision for yourself. The settlement you receive could depend upon it.

Dave Hoffman is the founder of Injury Lawyer Search a website dedicated to injury attorneys.

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Where’s an Attorney When You Need One?

Many of us like to think we’ll live forever. Or at least we act that way, never giving thought to the necessary preparations for dying or the possibility of having an accident or becoming a victim to someone else’s negligence. So when these things happen or become imminent, we suddenly are forced to scramble in search of legal advice or assistance. That’s why it helps to have the name of a good local attorney on hand.

Start by checking your city’s legal directory or bar association for the name of a general practice attorney who can help you with a variety of legal questions, including estate planning, making a will, preparing a power of attorney for aging relatives, arranging guardianships, helping with debt management, and offering legal counsel for other matters. You may even want to set up an initial meeting to introduce yourself and provide a personal overview. Your attorney can ask about certain areas of your life that could benefit from legal direction, or you may want to discuss certain areas that you are unsure about.

If your region does not have a local bar association, contact the state bar association to request a referral to a licensed practicing attorney in your area. You also might want to browse the Internet to visit websites of law firms that specialize in various kinds of law that might pertain to your situation. For example, if you were recently involved in a car accident, you may want to find an attorney who handles personal injury or property damage insurance claims. Or if your mother needs help in paying her bills due to declining physical or mental stability, an attorney can help you arrange for power of attorney or a guardianship.

Of course, you can always use that old standby, the yellow pages of the telephone directory and call law firms listed there when you find one or more ads that appeal to you. Word of mouth is another way to find out which attorneys come recommended from family members, coworkers, and friends. Some legal firms advertise in the newspaper or on the radio, so check these areas, too.

Don’t wait until you need an attorney before contacting one. Consider making a living will in case you are seriously injured or ill in the future, and a regular will for making final arrangements for your demise, which all of us must face one day. You also can manage your financial holdings with an attorney’s help so that they are ready to pass down when a minor child comes of age. Whatever your personal circumstances, a lawyer may be able to help you get fair terms and benefits to which you are entitled. Begin searching today so you will have the name of a competent lawyer handy when your time of need comes around.

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Cash for Surveys: Finacial Advisors Suggest Taking Online Surveys

The completion of these offers don’t give you the salary of a salaried job, but you might be able to earn anywhere from pin money to a few hundred dollars more a month if you put in the time. In addition, the likelihood of receiving free samples for your work, on top of a variety of fabulous prizes, is quite high. Getting Finacial Advisors Suggest Taking Online Surveys is simple. With that behind us I’ll show you where you can find the best paid survey site lists on the internet, read on more about Finacial Advisors Suggest Taking Online Surveys. It’s sad to see so many of my fellow waste valuable time making a quarter here and a quarter there while the paid survey site keeps three dollars for themselves. Also see Montana Geological Survey ‘Montana Geology’. Regardless of the type of information required surveys conducted online are perhaps the best way to ensure that a good cross section of people answer with information about the product.

Many individuals have found that they can make money online working from home by taking paid surveys. You just need to find out more about it today so you can begin increasing your profits. You can make money taking surveys online when you know where to start and what to do. After all you are trying to make extra income not lose it. Find out more about Finacial Advisors Suggest Taking Online Surveys and Montana Geological Survey ‘Montana Geology’. The bigger the forum you come across the better off you will be because they are the ones that will have tons and tons of topics on paid surveys.

As a matter of fact you can even use their search function to pull up a boat load of past topics on the subject which comes in very handy. More about Finacial Advisors Suggest Taking Online Surveys and Montana Geological Survey ‘Montana Geology’ at our website. We aren’t really sure how they came up with that actual amount but there has to be some sort of reason behind it. Get all the info on Finacial Advisors Suggest Taking Online Surveys from our homepage. Update it every time you participate in a survey! This will also help you evaluate which survey panel is the most active and which ones are paying well. Get paid survey network list absolutely FREE from our website! Absolutely no charge for joining the industry’s TOP 7 paying survey networks.

Join The TOP 2 Paid Survey Networks Right BELOW!

From personal experience, each of these consumer survey networks contains thousands of high paying multinational companies, ready to pay you $10-$300 for every survey done! Absolutely FREE to join.
Good Luck!

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Separate But Equal Legacy of Chief Justice Bill Rehnquist

On this 50th anniversary of the crowning achievement of Chief Justice Earl Warren, the unanimous decision in the 1954 Brown v. Board of Education case ending segregation in public schools, it is fitting to consider the important legacy of Brown and see just how far we have come. In terms of educational institutions, public universities in Georgia, Alabama, Tennessee, Mississippi, and the rest of the country that were once all-White are now racially integrated. Yet America remains racially polarized and divided at times. We saw evidence of that polarization in the typical Black American’s reaction and the typical White American’s reaction to the verdict in the O.J. Simpson criminal trial.

Elsewhere, most White Americans have no idea that Chief Justice Bill Rehnquist, while he served as a law clerk to Justice Robert Jackson in 1952-53, wrote a legal memo defending the old and reviled “separate but equal” doctrine. But Black Americans are well aware that Rehnquist espoused beliefs that would have kept them out of public schools, out of public colleges and universities, using filthy and cracked public toilets, drinking out of separate water fountains, etc.

In his own defense, Rehnquist insisted during his 1971 confirmation hearings that he had merely been distilling Jackson’s views. But this type of defense displays a shameless streak. You don’t collaborate with the devil and then seek to avoid guilt by saying “the devil made me do it.” It is hard to believe that Justice Jackson, who witnessed first-hand atrocities of the Nazi regime as a judge of the Nuremburg trials, would espouse beliefs of race superiority. If there is any question in White Americans’ or Black Americans’ minds as to whether Bill Rehnquist espoused the beliefs stated in the memo he penned, they need only look to his track record on the court.

Without exception, Rehnquist has voted against nearly every civil rights action before the court on which he sits. He has endeavored to make job discrimination claims harder to win in court. He has rejected the use of statistics showing that the death penalty in Southern states continues to be applied, and always has been applied, in a racially biased way. For Rehnquist, that is not a problem, and it is enough to make the lips of any rabid segregationist smile with glee.

Rehnquist fought with all of his meager intellect as a law clerk to prevent Justice Jackson from voting in favor of the majority in Brown v. Board of Education. Black Americans know that Rehnquist’s memo from his law clerk days entitled “A Random Thought on the Segregation Cases,” stated in part: “I realize that it is an unpopular and unhumanitarian position, for which I have been excoriated by ‘liberal’ colleagues, but I think Plessy v. Ferguson was right and should be re-affirmed.” Plessy, of course, was the infamous 1896 case holding racial segregation to be constitutional. Plessy effectively gutted the progress made in reforming the former Confederate states, and it permitted Jim Crow laws to remain on the books for another sixty years with all the strife and bitterness and lynchings that ensued.

Plessy is routinely taught to law school students across the land as an example of the lowest, darkest days of the U.S. Supreme Court, when the justices caved in to political pressure and did not adhere to the mandates of the U.S. Constitution. Plessy is uniformly cited as an example of one of the worst decisions ever rendered by the U.S. Supreme Court, second only to the infamous Dred Scott decision holding Black people did not have a right to be free under the U. S. Constitution. It is thus remarkable that Rehnquist would write a memo saying Plessy was good case law. He might just as well have donned a Ku Klux Klan hood and said that the Negro is an inferior race. Black Americans are not likely to forget Rehnquist’s words. No forgiveness is necessary, because Rehnquist remains defiant and has never apologized or sought forgiveness from anyone for his words, no matter how much hurt they may have caused.

During Rehnquist’s confirmation hearing in 1986, his opponents again raised the memo as a sign of his latent prejudice. Rehnquist once again defended himself by claiming that he wrote the memo in response to a request from Justice Jackson for a discussion of the legal arguments favoring segregation. But several scholars - most convincingly, Richard Kluger in his epic book Simple Justice on Brown v. Board - have concluded that Rehnquist wrote the memo to express his personal views on the case. In any event, Rehnquist’s voting record on the court speaks louder than any excuses offered during his confirmation hearings. He has sought to gut the holding of Brown v. Board, whenever possible, as with other civil rights holdings, including the important Miranda warnings that police officers must give suspects upon detaining them.

In one final footnote to this story, it goes without saying the Bill Rehnquist is no hero to the Black community in America. On Meet the Press on Sunday, Feb. 15, 2004, Democratic Congressmen Charlie Rangel of New York City stated that many Black Americans regard George W. Bush as the first president appointed by the U.S. Supreme Court. Furthermore, where White Americans feel that stopping the vote count in Florida was correct and that Bush would have won the popular vote there even if the vote count had continued, Rangel stated that most Black Americans felt their votes were not properly counted in Florida. According to Rangel, Black Americans worked hard to register to vote, and then the Supreme Court took away their votes by stopping the count. Rangel suggested the result will be a backlash against the Supreme Court (led by Rehnquist) with increased voter turnout for the 2004 presidential election.

© Copyright 2004 by Michael A. S. Guth. All Rights Reserved. No portion of this article, including this web page, may be copied, retransmitted, reposted, or duplicated in significant portion without the express written permission of Dr. Michael Guth. Users are always welcome to establish links to this web page or to quote from it freely.

Michael A. S. Guth, Ph.D., J.D., is a constitutional law attorney, legal brief writer, and health care researcher based in Oak Ridge, TN. A web page describing his law practice and other legal writings is available at http://michaelguth.com His current research comprises inefficiencies in health care insurance, pharmaceutical pricing, and best available treatments for Alzheimer’s disease, osteoporosis, and high cholesterol. He has developed and/or taught more than twenty on-line courses at more than a dozen educational institutions in the areas of economics, finance, business strategy, business law, health care administration, politics, and criminal justice. Interested students are encouraged to view his web page at http://michaelguth.com/economist.htm and click on some of the papers and articles he has written.

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So You Want To Be A Music Teacher?

I’ve overheard teenage musicians mention casually they are considering teaching music to make extra money. I am compelled to butt in, “Do you enjoy teaching?” the answer I interrupt with “Are you patient?” Their response: “Like, I play wicked, teaching will be an easy gig.”

My response: maniacal laughter.

Teens, let us hear the wise old violin teacher preaching a holy sermon from atop a glorious mountain of experience: Teaching music isn’t a luxurious life of sleeping in late, illuminating the unquestioning minds of flocking prodigies through 30-minute jam sessions and writing off all your music gear and fast food meals come tax time. Lord have mercy on our souls.

Simply put, teaching music is weekly customer service, with occasional late night support calls when the instrument falls out of tune or the player is struggling. A teacher is dealing with customers who are exploring new ground, hence requiring lessons in the first place, and is responsible for helping advance them into musicians who no longer require our services.

Sounds easy, except that the most trying aspect of customer service is, oddly enough, the customer. The human collective is a random grab-bag of mixed egos and inhibitions, fears and potential, attitudes and limitations. Even the ideal customer, who listens closely, asks exactly the right questions and retains everything they have ever been taught, cannot master music in an afternoon. (At least we teachers have a semblance of job security).

Music, a vast system of pitch, velocity and rhythm that can take a lifetime to understand, has been further complicated with pedagogy. There are more styles to teach violin than there are ways to cook an egg. Each method claims theirs is the most effective way to master the instrument, they have countless scientific studies to prove it and please enter your credit card number here.

A teacher has to weed through the dogmatic hype and come out with a cohesive teaching concept that jives with their own approach to playing and learning. They also have to understand their instrument inside and out, keeping in mind a clear idea how and when to introduce new concepts as to not overwhelm the student. After carefully formulating a perfect lesson plan, the teacher will then scrap it all and reinvent their method when it inevitably doesn’t fit the student’s learning style.

A good teacher is not locked into one method or way of explaining ideas. Instead they receive feedback from the player and interpret it into a lesson that will make an impact.

What makes the most impact, you ask? Repetition. Repetition. Then you do it again. Detach yourself from how many times you’ve played “Fur Elise” or corrected that particular eighth note. There are pin-sized holes in my eardrums from “Twinkle Twinkle” and I develop an itchy rash prior to our annual Christmas recital, but I’ve found a Zen peace in accepting my fate.

I see each lesson as a new chapter in the life of a musician I am helping along. With experience, lessons have developed their own rhythm and my teaching days swoop past me.

The repetition can get to some people, like the crusty old piano teacher, the one everyone seems to have had as a child, who wielded a nasty ruler for discipling unwanted notes. I knew a guy in high school who whacked his violin students on the head with his bow whenever he, the teacher, became frustrated.

A teacher cannot crack when the student plays the wrong note for the hundredth time, so impatient musicians must carefully consider their suitability as teachers. “Penny whistle teacher needed: Psychopaths with Intermittent Explosive Disorder need not apply.”

Instead of whopping students with a pernambuco stick with hair, my aforementioned colleague could have channeled his infinite aggression into another enjoyable branch in the music industry, such as fending off broken beer bottles at the country bar or smashing double-neck guitars for screaming mobs at GM Place. Last I heard he’s still teaching at the music store, but has invested in a heavy carbon bow and a cocktail of barbiturates.

Once a player has established that teaching is a good direction to take and they have passed all the inkblot exams without incident, he or she needs to lay down a teaching foundation. Selecting a method book to use is one thing, but the teacher needs to develop a mission statement and their goals in teaching.

My mission focuses on two words: Inspiration and Encouragement. My goals include “music as a life experience” and sharing my love for violin among friends. The mission statement and goals serve as a guide whenever I am faced with a decision or problem in my work, it’s sort of an operations manual for my business. And that’s what teaching music really is: a business.

I urge all musicians who plan to make their music more than a hobby to take business classes on marketing and promotion, finances and taxes, and business plans. Learn to promote yourself because no one will know who you are if you just sit at home chatting on MSN. Keep good financial records so you are prepared for tax season. There are far too many exceptional musicians, performers and teachers who are stuck on the dole or playing for the coming and going liquor store clientèle due to poor business practices.

You don’t have to be a marketing whiz or a lawyer, though your mother would prefer such a career change so she can have her basement back. Just learn enough to keep yourself out of trouble with the tax man and to maintain a full compliment of paying, regular students. For more guidance I suggest the book “Making Money Teaching Music” by David and Barbara Newsam, available for a free read through the Okanagan Library system.

It seems to be an oxymoron, but it is possible to make money teaching music! So teenage musicians, nod your head, say “yes Rhiannon,” and do exactly everything I have ordained in the article above, then watch the money pour into your bank account.

Hallelujah!

And try not to spend it all at the music store filling the blank slots in your gear rack.

Amen.

**Rhiannon Schmitt (nee Nachbaur) is a professional violinist and music teacher who has enjoyed creative writing for years. She currently writes columns for two Canadian publications and has been featured in Australia’s “Music Teacher Magazine.” Rhiannon (age 29, she’s not really old) has worn the hats of businesswoman, performer, events promoter, classical music radio host, school orchestra music arranger and music columnist in rural British Columbia, Canada. Her business, Fiddleheads Violin School & Shop, has won several distinguished young entrepreneur business awards for her comittment to excellence. Her shop offers beginner to professional level instruments, accessories and supplies. http://www.fiddleheads.ca provides a rich resource of information on her school, violin, products for sale and more. Rhiannon is also Founding President of the Shuswap Violin Society. http://www.violinsociety.ca She dedicates much of her time to community music projects and helping young musicians.

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You Can Learn To Read Guitar Sheet Music

When you learn to read guitar sheet music it will be vital in expanding your guitar playing skills. Playing by ear will only get you so far and I am here to help take it to the next step. I will show you some basic tips and tricks to help you learn to read guitar sheet music and hopefully that will make you a better and more versatile guitar player.

I will now give you a list that will show you it is not hard to learn to read guitar sheet music.

Finding the right material

Most guitar books will have some basic sheet music and songs in the front pages that are designed to help you learn to read guitar sheet music quickly. Once you have basic guitar knowledge it is relatively easy to learn to read guitar sheet music. Start in small sections, one chord at a time. Use your guitar and play the chord out loud until you know it sounds correct.

Setting your self up

You will need to be in a small quite room where you will not be distracted by anything when you learn to read guitar sheet music. The only way to know when you get it right is if it sounds right and it can be difficult do that if you have screaming kids in the room with you or loud street noise outside. Concentration is key and this will make it easier to learn how to read guitar sheet music. If you are distracted you may find a whole day can be wasted trying to focus.

Getting started

Remember what I said, be free from distraction! I cannot stress that enough. Now you’re alone and it’s quiet, find a music book with sheet music, try to pick something easy but also try to pick something you are familiar with. It makes it much easier to learn to read guitar sheet music if you are familiar with the tune. Make sure you are confident with one piece before you move on to the next.

Continue practicing

Continue to practice as much as you can, you will find that the better you get the more you will practice. When you enjoy something you will generally apply more time to it. Trying to learn to read guitar sheet music is easy as long as you practice! Once you have mastered reading sheet music then you can attempt to write you own music and that is where the real fun begins! It is essential to make sure you are confident or you will only have to go back and learn to read guitar sheet music all over again.

Article written by real guitar lover. Some of authors articles can be found at:
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Guitar!
Articles to help you learn guitar quick.

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Karaoke Bars

Karaoke bars probably established their roots in the early twentieth century in Japan during the Taisho rule. “Utagoe Kissa,” or “coffee shop,” became popular with customers who tried out their singing talents backed up by music from a live band. Soon, the trend caught up with the rest of the world, and karaoke bars are now the ideal place for fun and unwinding after a hard day’s work.

Picture a typical karaoke bar today. Customers, having a few drinks, and a good time — probably not gifted with the ability to sing, but that doesn’t matter. They take the stage, and with microphone in hand try belting out a popular song- with friends razzing in the background. The lyrics are displayed on the screen, and the music is provided by the karaoke machine.

Simply put, an American karaoke bar is a restaurant or a bar having a karaoke machine that allows customers to exercise their singing abilities publicly. Though it is not uncommon to have karaoke shows every night, the schedule is generally on a weekly basis. There is the ‘rotation’ policy where a singer has to wait his turn to take the stage. The time between different performers is an hour or so.

Karaoke boxes (KTV) are highly popular in some places, especially in Taiwan. In a room of medium size, complete with karaoke paraphernalia, friends can get together and enjoy karaoke. Karaoke boxes are a more private means of entertainment. Around fifteen to twenty of these boxes are scattered around the room accompanying the main karaoke bar. It is commonly believed that the karaoke box concept started in South Korea where it was known as “noraebang” (”norae” and “bang” meaning song and room respectively).

Karaoke boxes became popular in North American during the 90’s. However, karaoke bars are still the major source of karaoke entertainment. In China, there are “mahjong-karaoke rooms”, where teenagers can enjoy karaoke and the aged indulge in mahjong, a game played by four players that originated in China.

Karaoke provides detailed information on Karaoke, Karaoke Machines, Karaoke Music, Karaoke Downloads and more. Karaoke is affiliated with Hip Hop Music.

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The Art of Playing Jazz Guitar - A True Preparation Primer Part 2

In part 1; we discussed various metronome techniques to advance our awareness, concentration, feeling, and broaden our minds while practicing. This article will go into what we should be practicing and, more importantly, thinking when using those techniques.

Music is made up of three basic elements, Melody, Harmony and Rhythm. All are interrelated and we should not try to isolate them because this will not take us where we want to be. We instead want to understand each of them in a unique way so when eventually combined they make a more poignant whole. Melody was first on my list so let’s start there.

Our melodies will make or break our playing - Period!

When we practice melodies we must remember that for each tune we work on there are probably lyrics for it. If you do not know the lyrics, stop and get a copy. Read them, speak them out loud, sing them and learn them until they become part of you.

Next, listen to the greatest vocalists sing these tunes. Listen to their phrasing, their articulation, how they use their mouths, tongues, teeth, lips, lungs, body posture or whatever they do to produce the sounds. Think about the ways we can incorporate all of those things into our guitar playing.

Unfortunately, the guitar is an instrument that has no air blowing through it so we have to improvise. Also the patterns of scales and chord fingerings we were taught when we started don’t help our creativity. I’m not saying that we shouldn’t learn them but many times practicing only these will leave us stale and stiff.

Case in point, did you ever transcribe a great jazz guitar solo only to realize that the fingerings needed to play it are no were near what we were taught about standard fingerings for guitar scales?

So what do we do?

Start off basic and I mean so basic that we’re probably way ahead of ourselves already. Be aware of the endless possibilities of making each note and then break it down to the point where we are left with only the rudimentary elements of producing a single tone on the guitar. The atomic tone so to speak.

For instance, if we play with only the thumb of our picking hand as opposed to a plectrum we get one type of sound. If we play only down strokes with our thumb we get a different sound again.

Let’s delve into this further as it is important.

If we play with our index finger, middle finger, a plectrum on the pointy end, on the fat corner, on the fat end, upstrokes, down strokes, whatever, we can make all kinds of sounds. In fact, there are so many possibilities we may never get to them all in our lifetime.

Hopefully you see where I am getting at and we haven’t even discussed the fingering hand yet nor have we discussed any particular notes, pitches, dynamics etc…

Don’t let that stop you. Start learning this now and you will be happy you did.

Ok what’s next?

Select 3 notes and work with only them while thinking about the spoken voice and how you would convey three words in a sentence. Think about how by changing the phrasing and articulation of our three words, or notes, we can change the meaning of them entirely. In fact pick an actual 3 word sentence and speak it with your guitar rather than using your voice. This is where we truly start learning melody.

If we were to find someone we don’t know and say to them; “What is your name?” We would get a response. Don’t forget that a non response is also a response. We must realize the actual response we get is dependent on how we phrase and/or articulate our words and realize that we can control this response only if we understand its relationship to our actual question.

I’ll explain. If we were to say those exact words in a teasing, tormenting and antagonistic manner we would get one response. If on the other hand we were to use an openly friendly demeanor we get an entirely different response all together.

By doing this simple thought exercise we realize that using the exact same words spoken in different ways produces vastly different responses.

By observing, understanding, and practicing this behavior we can learn to exploit and utilize this technique to our advantage to allow the full potential in our guitar playing that invokes the response were seeking, whatever that may happen to be.

The human voice is of particular concern to us because our ultimate goal is to emulate what it does with our instrument. We want to be able to communicate with our guitars the way people communicate when they speak to each other - which is not unlike melodies.

As babies, we were only able to make rudimentary noises to communicate. Years later, hopefully, we are able to form intelligent rational thoughts and convey them with our words using articulation and phrasing and word combinations to mean many things. We want to apply this to our guitar playing.

Remember, it took us years to be able speak in this manner and we should approach practicing melody with the same realization and not try to run before we can walk.

We should also remember that even babies can communicate in a very compelling manner without using words at all! So don’t be afraid if this practice routine seems too simple. It’s not the notes you use, it’s what they are actually communicating that is important.

What can we deduce from all of this?

When you start finding yourself practicing or playing those blazing fast cool scalar riffs, stop and think about how many times you hear actual people speak like that.

Now - ask yourself how long you would stay and listen to them if they did.

That’s it for now but look for new articles in the future and remember; have fun, practice hard and always play your heart out!

John Belthoff is an avid web developer who plays and teaches Jazz Guitar in his spare time. He owns an Asp.Net Web Hosting Company where you can contact him about hosting your guitar website/blog or just to learn more.

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Learn To Play Guitar: Learn To Play Easy Nice Sounding Guitar Chords

To learn to play guitar is difficult and easy at the same time. The guitar is a fascinating instrument. It is very difficult to master in some areas but you will also find wells of easy to play but nice sounding treasures among the strings.

In this learn to play guitar article I will give some examples of easy to play guitar chords and progressions. I will use guitar tab to help you find the notes on your guitar.

In this article i will only use the first four strings on the guitar. In the guitar tab staff notation I will also use only the first four lines. The first string is the thinnest string on the guitar or the E-string.

The first guitar tab progression will be in the key of D. The chords of the progression is Dmaj7 and Em7. Here is the guitar tab:

1. –2—0—
2. –2—0—
3. –2—0—
4. –0—0—

The guitar chord progression above can be used as a little intro in a song in the key of D. It can also end a song or be used as a break between verses in a song. You can repeat the progression to make it last longer.

The next example will use the first chord and a Gm6 as the second chord. This little passage can also be used as an intro in a song if you like it:

1. –2—0—
2. –2—3—
3. –2—3—
4. –0—0—

The following example will use just one chord, the D chord and it will be moved two frets up. When you move the chord up it will not be D anymore. It will change into a E7 or if you want E/D. This means that you play an E-chord with the note D as a bass note.

The chords in this guitar chord progression will be D and E7. Try it!

1. –2—4—
2. –3—5—
3. –2—4—
4. –0—0—

When you move the chord up the two frets you don’t need to lift you left hand fingers. Just release the pressure of your left hand fingers a bit and slide up to the new position.

This method of sliding to new positions can be used when you change between chords. Many times you can keep one or more of your fingers on your fingerboard and slide when you change to new chords. This will make it easier to find the chord and will speed up the chord change.

Our last little guitar chord progression will use the same progression with just a different way to play the E7 chord.

Remember that all these chord progressions can be repeated over and over as intros or something else in the key of D on your guitar.

1. –2—0—
2. –3—0—
3. –2—1—
4. –0—0—

Observe that you can slide with you first finger that you hoopefully have pressed down on the second fret of the third string when you play D. When you change to the second chord you can slide to the first fret.

The above progressions use the open D-string as a fundament so to speak and this bass note creates an illusion of peace in the chord progressions. In tonal music this bass note is called a pedal point.

If you like finger picking on your guitar I will give you a pattern that can be used with these chords. I will use the common classical guitar symbols for the right hand fingers. P denotes the thumb, i the first finger, m the middle finger and a the ring finger.

1. –a———–a—
2. ———-m——-
3. ——i———–
4. –p—————

I hope you will find this little learn to play guitar lesson helpful. There are a lot of chord progressions that sounds nice but are very easy to play. In other words, I will be back!

Peter Edvinsson is a musician, composer and music teacher. Visit his site Capotasto Music and download your free sheet music and learn to play guitar resources at http://www.capotastomusic.com

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Online PowerPoint Presentation - Convert PowerPoint to Flash

Although we don’t know whether Microsoft ever envisioned such a big market about PowerPoint on its first release. Today this software is impacting profoundly on education and corporation’s activities in the way that nobody could ignore. With a wealth of visual and audio effects people rely on it to express their ideas, plans more intuitively with more effective communication outcomes.

One of most wildly PowerPoint application exists in education. With the booming of Internet, traditional education approaches have been eclipsing by various new emerging ways. And in spite of heavy promotion of supposedly new television educational approaches in recent years, from my point of view, the real innovation and revolution is taking place somewhere else: on the Web, where I truly believe the advantages of PowerPoint will be fully exerted again.

Another great application undoubtly is for entertainment. PowerPoint2003 provides great transition effects and flash movie enable, narration record functions, people are now in favor to use it to make all kinds of brilliant slideshows as a way to store and highlight their precious memory. For businessperson, it’s been an exclusive way to make their conception live for many years.

However like any other softwares PowerPoint has its share of weakness. The final project’s totally dependence on PowerPoint Software requires the Microsoft PowerPoint installed in any computer on which a presentation is running; And its bulky size make it awkward to distribute. In recent years, people come up with an idea to fix this inconvenience - to convert PowerPoint to smaller, multi-platform supported flash files. We can include the merits of this conversion as following:

1. Reduce Size and Email Ready

If you are using PowerPoint presentation frequently in your work, you must feel to be hindered by its bulky size every now and then, which holds you back from any distribution. Now with PowerPoint to Flash Converter, that kind of problem will be eliminated automatically. The converted flash presentation is absolutely a better option for emailing due to its smaller size; it will not clog your partner inbox.

2. Greater and Easier Accessibility for Viewers

The converted Flash presentations can be easily viewed in any Internet Browsers. For most of Browsers have already had Flash Plug-ins installed, so you can email the convert Flash file to your friends directly without worrying whether they have PowerPoint Software installed on their computers. And thanks to its smaller, streaming media format you can just post it on websites or Intranets to share with other people.

3. Keep all original effects in PowerPoint presentation

Convert PowerPoint to Flash will keep all original effects in your PowerPoint presentation without any distortion. After converting your PowerPoint presentation to flash files, you will be surprise to find that the result is amazing; all the original effects are remain unchanged. With this knowledge in mind, you can just go ahead and enjoy it!

4. Secure

PowerPoint files are editable by anyone else who has PowerPoint installed on their machine. Not so for Flash files which allow you to maintain a higher degree of control on your content if you wish to.

5. Firewall Friendliness

Flash-based content has no problem going through firewalls as it behaves just like standard Web content.

There are already PPT to SWF softwares on the market, some of them are really strong. But they all priced at above average level (several hundred dollars) compared with other softwares, their target clients mostly are companies or organizations.

From http://www.sameshow.com
A practical and easy-to-use PowerPoint to Flash Converter

Susan Zheng
http://www.sameshow.com

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