The end of the year is the perfect time to think of a thoughtful gift for the musicians in your life. As we move into the season of gifts and giving, start planning ahead. November also hosts the ever popular “Black Friday” on the 27th of the month, and it is a perfect opportunity to grab some great online offers for your family and friends. Or why not think of supporting some small local businesses with unusual gifts like a music class, hand made local guitar or artwork. Also remember there are plenty of places where you can buy sustainable gifts, like second hand instruments or equipment. Just make sure check the reviews or test the instrument. Without further ado, here are 20 ideas for fun festive season gifts…
A DIY ukulele for the creative, musical child in your life.
Drumming is hard work, check out this handy drink holder that attaches to the drum kit!
Oblique Strategies is a card stack for musicians created by Brian Eno and Peter Schmidt. Each card has a word or phrase to kickstart the creative process. Amazing for songwriters or generating ideas and breaking through creative blocks (Only in English)
Km0 Spanish Guitars – Germanos Camps produce fantastic Spanish and Flamenco Guitars in Girona. We sell them at Shine in Barcelona
Guitaleles are great little travel companions. A six stringed travel sized guitar that sounds like a ukulele but is played like a guitar with the Capo in the 5th space. It’s versatile and portable. This may be the perfect gift for those who love to play guitar and travel! You can buy one directly from us!
Don’t forget to check out your local music stores, or second hand shops. Online, places like Gumtree or Facebook Market place often have listings for second hand instruments. Support your local teachers too. Many have valuable skills to share, and don’t forget that the internet allows you to have lessons in particular styles with specialised teachers from all over the world.
Music is a fantastic hobby, and playing an instrument can be a great source of entertainment and joy. But times are tough and every budding musician can use a freebie every now and then! Even if you are taking lessons and have invested in a great instrument, having free extra musical resources in your pocket is recommended and useful!
We have put together a list of freebies for you to browse. From free software for editing music, to free tabs and backing tracks.
FREE GUITAR TABS
Ultimate Guitar has about a bazillion guitar tabs that you can browse by genre or difficulty. They have an easy search bar, so finding the tab you are looking for is not at all complicated. Guitar Tabs has tabs listed alphabetically, and you can even submit your own. Acoustic Guitar Tabs has a great archive of free tabs as well as free lessons, so you can learn how to read the tabs too!
FREE BACKING TRACKS
If you are struggling to play your music at home, perhaps a backing track will help. Not only does it help you with improvisation and timing but also fills in all the other instruments! Many websites provide free downloadable tracks so that you can practice anywhere, both online and off. Guitar backing tracks has loads of tracks created specifically for guitarists. Backing Tracks has almost 100 000 tracks that you can download! Karaoke Version has a number of free backing tracks that come with variations, for example instrumental versions, or ones that include backup vocals. You can browse and find the tracks you like, and download them. Each track includes useful info such as Tempo and Key. And if you cannot find what you are looking for here, Youtube has loads of free backing tracks available online too.
FREE MUSIC EDITING SOFTWARE
Audacity, while it might look a little complicated, can be mastered through some trial and error. It has been providing one of the best free music editing tools for over 20 years. If you can get past the intimidating look of the program, and figure out how to use the plugins, you can master the art of music editing for free! TIP: Watch some tutorials online! Ocenaudio is far simpler to use, and may be a better place to start if you are just beginning to set up your home studio! This software also lets you listen to the changes you make to your audio files as you make them. Wavepad has some very useful features, like editing audio tracks in a batch (ie more than one at a time!) which can save you a lot of time! It has plenty of handy features like noise removal, compression and reverb as well as audio scrubbing! And if you need more free editing tools, check out this list which also includes a free lesson on getting started on music editing!
FREE ONLINE MUSIC LESSONS & COURSES
You can find plenty of free lessons online for every instrument. Most of them are introductory, but a free tutorial can really help if you are a bit stuck! MakingMusicFun has some free lessons for kids in everything from Recorders to Guitar and Trumpet! Alison offers full courses in music and music theory, all it requires is a sign up, which you can do easily with your email address. Learn how to write your first song for free with this online course from Future Learn! Study how to play the Jazz piano with The Jazz Pianist’s free courses! Udemy is well known to provide great lessons! If you are a serious musician and want to make a business out of your music or band, why not try the free Band as Business, Musician as Entrepreneur course.
FREE DOWNLOADABLE MUSIC
Perhaps you need some music for your video or school project. If you don’t have time to make your own, there are plenty of places where you can legally download free music without any copyright issues. The Free Music Archive is a wonderful resource full of all kinds of different music that you can use free of charge! Jamendo also offers music for free. Soundcloud is not only a fantastic place to listen and discover music for free, but many artists allow you to use their music under the creative commons usage rights. Youtube now also offers free music to use in making a video, logging in grants you access to loads of royalty free soundbites and background music.
It’s the start of a new school year here in Spain, and at the Shine School of Music in Barcelona we are offering a fresh new group courses in music! After a long summer, now’s your chance for a new beginning! If you ever wanted to start singing or playing an instrument, don’t let “later” becomes “never”, start your musical journey now!
Group lessons are beneficial in that they provide a chance to those who may find shelling out for the private music lessons a bit of an economic burden. Besides being a great way to learn music in a fun environment, group lessons are also a super way to make new friends, all the while learning a new skill!
Shine Music School is running group lessons in the following:
All of these lessons are 4 hours a month, in 4 one hour classes, 1 class each week. You can check out our schedule for the time slots. Each of the lessons is facilitated by a professional music teacher. If you have questions, don’t hesitate to contact the school to find out more!
Besides these fixed group lessons, the Shine Music School also provides the option to arrange your own private group lessons. So if you and bunch of your friends or family would like to get together to learn an instrument or to sing, we can provide a flexible schedule, a talented teacher and great prices!
Let your musical journey begin!
If you don´t have your own instrument, not to worry, we can provide one for your first lesson and we also sell and rent both guitars and ukuleles!
Pianos are one of the most loved and popular instruments in the world. Their wooden cases and keys romantised in films and popular culture, their unique sound can be heard in concert halls, schools and on the radio. Besides being instantly recognised, pianos are also quite cumbersome. They take up room, are very heavy and solid instruments, and when they are not taken care of, they tend to fall out of tune. You would think that with modern living in smaller and smaller apartments that expensive pianos worldwide would be gathering dust in corners and forgotten about.
But with technological advances the piano has been making a comeback in the form of the digital piano. Just imagine! An electronic keyboard that has been developed to both sound and feel like a real acoustic piano. A keyboard that you can travel with, a keyboard that could be stored in a corner of a room, taking up far less room than it’s older cousin, the acoustic upright piano.
Indeed with innovations such as weighted keys, DSP and “sampling”, digital pianos are able to mimic acoustic pianos so well that they are now sought after by professional pianists. You can even practice with headphones and plug your piano into a speaker or computer to record your musical progress or share your playing on your social media accounts. The digital piano has taken pianos into the 21st century, and with piano proven to be the leading instrument to build cognitive and emotional skills, piano playing is here to stay!
At Shine we offer fantastic courses for the budding pianist, and our skilled professional teachers are ready to encourage your musical journey as well as guide you through different techniques and skills. No matter what level you are, we can offer you new and challenging ways in which to enjoy your piano and music! At Shine we sell and rent both Digital and Acoustic Pianos in Barcelona. Feel free to get in touch with us!
Opening of the new studio! Swing by for a glass of cava or for a free trial class!
The Shine School of Music in Barcelona opens doors to it’s new Space on Carrer de Pere Serafi, 23.
There will be music, drink and good people. And free classes! 😀
To reserve your free class in advance, follow the link below:
https://estudioshine.simplybook.it/v2/
Our teachers will be imparting classes from 16:00 to 20:00. Click the link below (or contact us) to book a free trial lesson lesson in any of the subjects on display that day: Guitar, Piano, Ukulele, Singing, Bass Guitar, Drums, Violin, Viola, Double Bass.
