Lottery Ticket is a very likeable movie starring rapper, singer and now actor Bow Wow. This could be the movie that transforms him into the next teenage matinee idol.
People who play Powerball and Lotto should watch this movie for tips on what NOT to do if they ever win the big prize!
Bow Wow plays Kevin Carson, a nice kid with a big imagination who lives in the projects with his grandmother (played by Loretta Devine). When Kevin is not spending time hanging out with his best friends Benny (played by Brandon T. Jackson) and Stacie (Naturi Naughton), he works at the local Foot Locker. Kevin dreams of one day of running his own shoe design company, but is constantly derided by people who tell him he will never get out of the projects.
The Powerball lottery has just come to town, causing quite a lot of excitement as people in the neighborhood spend their money trying to get rich. Kevin tells anyone who will listen that the lottery is just a racket designed to keep poor people poor. But soon he too gets caught up in the fever, and he eventually purchases a ticket using the numbers given to him in a fortune cookie.
As luck would have it, Kevins ticket ends up being the winner of the $370 million Powerball jackpot. But since its the beginning 4th of July weekend the lottery office is closed for 3 days. Now most people in that situation might hold up in a motel or their own bedroom for 3 days until the lottery office reopens but after accidently letting it slip that he won the millions, Kevin folds the ticket into his wallet in his back pocket and spends 3 days walking around the projects.
The rest of the movie deals with Kevin trying to hold onto his ticket as everyone comes out of the woodwork to get a piece of the prize.
Comedian Mike Epps has a short but memorable cameo as the Baptist minister who after learning of the winning ticket tries to get his hands on some of the money. He is faithful to his flock but cant help thinking about his possible future with that kind of cash. Epps is very funny and it makes you wish he had a larger role.
Loretta Devine is perfect as Kevins grandmother who always has a Praise-Jesus ready to recite. She is proud of how Kevin is growing up and is concerned about what all that money could do to him.
A couple of old-time gangsters (played by Keith David and Terry Crews) front Kevin a bridge-loan on his winnings and become a real problem.
Teairra Mari plays a local gold-digging temptress who tries using sex to latch onto Kevins millions. A real hottie, she tries to get Kevin to impregnate her, but hes smart enough to say no.
But Kevins most dangerous neighbor turns out to be hardcore criminal Lorenzo (played by Gbenga Akinnagbe). Lorenzo already dislikes Kevin because Kevin refused to give him free shoes from Foot Locker. So when Lorenzo learns that Kevin is walking around with $370 million in his pocket he decides that he will stop at nothing including killing to get that money.
By far funniest character with the best lines has to be Kevins best friend Benny. He is always trying to come up with the big ideas, and when he sees that Kevin is being harassed by everyone he passes on the street he comes up with an absurd but very funny plot to escape the town using an old Underground Railroad map from his high school history book. Fantastic.
Lottery Ticket is a very cute movie with some amusing and thoughtful commentary about sexual responsibility and the need to be charitable to your community.
The lead guitar is normally the guitar part that plays the melody, creating fill passages and guitar solos in the song. Although it is often associated with heavy metal music, it is also present in jazz, blues, pop and a number of other musical genres.
Guitarists, especially beginners, at some point take a lead guitar lesson. This focuses mostly on the essential roles of the lead guitar. One of which is to play the melody lines of the song (melodic playing) and at the same time adorn it as melodic playing enabling the guitarist to play more smoothly as compared to linear playing.
Often lead guitar and rhythm guitar are easily confused with each other, especially when the lead guitarist adds in chords and double-stops to the riffs. It is best to remember that lead guitar is focused on giving the melody, the more single-string guitar playing and solos while the rhythm guitar is mainly characterized by playing chords in patterns.
Some important techniques found in lead guitar lessons are bending, vibrato and slides. These provide the basic means of emphasizing notes and provide greater expression in the melody.
Bending occurs when the guitarist guitar string bends to the side by pushing to the sixth string, or by pulling the first string. The first three strings are normally pushed, while others are normally drawn. Whether the string is pushed or pulled, the note will be raised in pitch.
Vibrato adds feeling and emotion into the notes. It can be done quickly by bending the guitar string back and forth or by exerting pressure parallel to the string to the neck of the guitar, then towards the bridge repeatedly. A helpful hint for the vibrato is that the action should come from the wrist not the fingers.
Slides (or sliding) is one of the simplest but most effective guitar techniques to create a wailing sound on the guitar. There are two types of slides, legato slides and shift. Legato (connected tones) slides are made by picking the first note and slide up or down to the second note. In the shift side, a note is fretted and then the fretting finger slides up or down to another fret.
Another useful lead guitar lesson revolves around the creation of lead guitar lines. This is done by using scales, modes, arpeggios, licks, riffs and fills. It is best to use it together with a variety of other techniques. Learn the blues scale and then the pentatonic scales as these provide a good basis for creating solos, a classical element to the lead guitarist. Arpeggios add depth, and the progression of the solo is often a reflection of the underlying rhythm guitar part. Licks give short improvised solos and while the solo puts the guitarist under the spotlight for a minute or two, riffs and fills supply a series of notes for improvised backing.
With all scales, chords, combinations and variations available, there are thousands of ways to improve your guitar. Imagination and creativity can combine a creative miracle, that’s a lead guitar lesson that everyone should learn.
Info like this will help you learn to play lead guitar you’ll love and also how to play lead guitar
Learning The Guitar - The Adventures Of An Ambitious No Hoper Part 3 of 3
By: Simon Turner
I have a new cherry red Gibson SG. I have a insanely loud 50 watt Marshall amp. I am fully kitted outwith all I need to be a guitar god. Except talent. I do what anybody else in my position would do. I buy every single AC/DC guitar book I can find in the music store. After all, at least I look the part now.
Progress was slow, and now I was depressed as well, having spent a huge amount on my dream guitar and amp combo - I felt like I was letting them down. Luckily, at this point, a twist of fate decided to intervene that would change my life.
I started doing some freelance work for a new client who was a guitar nut. So much so that, in his thirties, he’d taken three weeks off work and instead of going on a summer vacation, booked himself into guitar school with a load of teenagers who were all hoping to be the next Clapton.
He played pretty good but, even more impressive, he had half a dozen guitars and always kept an acoustic at work to practice on when he needed a break. I showed enough enthusiasm (and begged) that he agreed to teach me some stuff. Secretly, he was thrilled and just didn’t want to sound too keen straight off - we both knew that there wasn’t much work going to get done!
He taught me from scratch, and learning on an acoustic was a revelation. I remembered the article I’d read as a teenager and it was dead right. I learned to pay some basic stuff cleanly on the acoustic and then, when I got home and tried it on my electric guitar, it sounded so much better than I’d ever managed before.
I’d been trying to learn the Pink Floyd classic ‘Wish you were here’ and had most of the notes but couldn’t get the timing right. in no time I had all the right notes and was starting to learn about playing with feeling - the fantastic sensation you get when you know the notes to play, and so you can start to put some soul into it - to concentrate on playing the note correctly.
this was really working - the guitar bug had well and truly bitten me once again. I was so happy in fact that I couldn’t stop myself buying another guitar - an electro-acoustic this time, so I could continue to practice ‘unplugged’. It was the best decision I ever made. I have it on a stand at home and pick it up most nights and just noodle away, practicing putting more feeling into what I’m playing, and revelling in the fact that I am actually playing something to a reasonable standard, and not hiding behind effects and overdrive.
My new friend taught me the pentatonic scale next and how, once learned, you can improvise a solo around those notes with ease. Something I’ve spent hours practicing.
Having someone teach me, and learning on an acoustic, has totally reignited my enthusiasm into a deep passion for playing the guitar that I now hope will last me the rest of my life. It’s something I would recommend any frustrated guitarist tries. The last two years have been a truly liberating experience and I have even started to do justice to my beloved SG.
I’ve even learned some stuff I can pass on. I’ve just bought my eight year old son a three-quarter size acoustic and am starting to teach him the same stuff I learnt. We’re listening to music together and picking out songs we want to start learning and you want to know the best bit is. He’s decided that AC/DC is his favourite band. I’m so proud!
A genuine platform, right approach and unbiased decision can open doors for a budding song writer. For songwriters, the world of internet presents several options; however, identifying the most authentic songwriting contest is often difficult. Songwriting contest in California is one of the most reputed online platforms to bring out the talent of an individual.
The world of music is full of opportunities. Song contests offer a great stage for aspiring songwriters to transform themselves from amateurs to professionals in the world of music. Winner of the song contest not only achieves prize money, fame but many music brands approach such aspiring artists asking them to write songs for them. Moreover, the song writers get paid in cash. If you wish to make it big by participating in a music contest, then here are few tips to improve your chances of winning the contest.
Firstly, you need to identify your genre and pen down your thoughts accordingly. Secondly, choose the theme of the song, which is close to your heart. A song writer can compose the ultimate song only when they write about emotions that resonate with them. So, instead of scribbling words, try to convey your feelings through the song. A good approach would be to use of rhymes and choruses in alternating pattern. Thirdly, you need to write down the musical backdrop required for that song. Select suitable instruments that you would like to use in the song such as guitar, piano or drum. Your choice of instruments should be in-sync with the lyrics of the song.
To participate in an online music contest, log onto the internet and submit your song. The song contest gives ample opportunity to the aspiring song writers to present their talent to the world. If you are confident in your songwriting skills, it would be a great idea to enter a contest.
Well, quite frankly by now the whole Bollywood fraternity is well acquainted with Director Sudhir Mishra. After producing classics with the likes of Is Raat Ki Subah Nahin, Hazaaron Khwaishein Aisi, Traffic Signal, the ace director is back with Yeh Saali Zindagi.
Talking about Sudhir Mishra, not many know the fact that Sudhir was the screenwriter of the cult classic comedy Jaane bhi Do Yaaro. The two time national award winner director has yet one more time given the masses exactly what they were waiting for. Yeh Saali Zindagi is basically a twisted romantic thriller film starring Irrfan Khan, Arunoday Singh, Chitrangda Singh and Aditi rao Hydari. The movie hit the theatres on the 4th of February 2011.
The movie gained a lot of attraction when the promos were out. There are numerous characters, sub- plots, voice-overs, flash-backs, which keeps you engrossed in the movie and intrigues more and more interest by the moment. The story kick starts with Arun (played by Irrfan Khan) and Kuldeep (played by Arunoday Singh), two gangsters who commit the biggest gaffe. They get their love life entangled with their illegal felony. When love and fun mixes up with life and gun hell breaks loose and thus emerges a guns and roses love story wherein everyone is trapped in a deceitful game of, love and violence.
So what exactly does the trick for this film? Frankly, its the killer script and some awe-inspiring dialogues that do the trick. The film gives you nostalgic sensation as if you are watching a Quentin Tarantino movie. The dialogues are wicked but at the same time leave an impact on the character as well as on your mind. Excellent demonstration of thug life in detail is something that we expect from a director of the caliber of Sudhir Mishra. He leaves no stones unturned when it comes to his characters in the film. Once you are done watching the movie you will definitely recollect all the characters in the film along with their traits in the film.
It takes some time to have a handle on what exactly is happening as the director introduces his numerous characters and their relevant tracks. But it’s the intricacy that makes the film out of the ordinary and charming. Sudhir accurately handles the romantic tracks and the thrilling portions. Although there’s a lot of cuss words in the film but its the scripts demand and it gels quite well with the goes with the local milieu.
Arunoday is someone people might not know as his previous film Aisha didnt do well at the box office. Yes, he played a cameo in Aisha but the role was at ease an unmemorable attempt, but what surprises is Arunoday under the guidance of Sudhir Mishra has done a terrific job. The young, robust, charming actor has done total justice to his character which he plays of a tough gangster in the film. Irrfan Khan who plays a charter accountant in the film gets full marks for his role. We all know what a class act he is. His expressions, dialogues, mannerism, make this film worth a watch. Chitrangda Singh and Aditi Rao Hydari look beautiful on screen. Chitrangda has already worked with Sudhir Mishra before and has done a commendable job earlier too. She is really soaring up the ladder, It aint long when we see this stunning dusky actress contest the top spot in the actress category.
On the whole Yeh Saali Zindagi is a rough n tough material, guns n roses love story with violence. Bollywood seriously needs more of movies of such kind. Do yourself a favor and watch it.
Learn Piano Chords - How To Play Popular Songs Immediately!
By: Paul Summers
The secret to playing the piano in the shortest possible time, is to first of all learn piano chords. Starting with chords and playing songs you are familiar with from your own record collection gives you the confidence that YOU REALLY CAN DO THIS! There are some terrific tunes and rhythms you can play just by mastering a few easy chords, and the knowledge you gain at this early stage will be invaluable later on.
As you probably know, middle C sits near the center of your keyboard. It is the white key immediately to the left of a group of two black keys. The two white keys to the left of middle C are A and B (from left to right). The next four white keys are D, E, F and G.
The black keys are known as sharps or flats, named after the nearest white key to them on their left or right. For example, the black key between the white C and D keys is known as C sharp OR D flat.
A chord is a group of 3 or more notes that when played together make a complete sound. When this sound is played rhythmically, and chords used in a particular sequence, a background sound is created that can support a melody (the main tune) or lyrics (vocals).
Let’s learn piano chords - by mastering just 4 easy ones you can be playing songs in no time at all. These are the chords C, A minor (or Am), F and G. These are all played using just the white keys, so you should be able to master this in just a short space of time. To play the chord of C, with your right hand, simply place your thumb on middle C, your middle finger on E and your little finger on G. Play these three notes at the same time - and you are playing the C chord.
If you move the whole shape of your hand along two notes to the left, you will play the chord A minor. Your thumb will be on A, your middle finger on C and your little finger on E. Play this for a while, then alternate between the chords of C and A minor.
Now add the chord of F to your repertoire by moving your hand two more notes to the left of your A minor chord, so your thumb is on F, your middle finger on A and your little finger on C.
Finally, by moving your whole hand shape one note to the right, you will be playing the chord of G (i.e. the notes G, B and D).
By repeating the chord sequence of C, Am, F and G you will start to get familiar with it. Your hands may hurt a little at first, but this is normal for a beginner. Keep at it.
Many popular songs use the same sequence. See if you can sing along to “Blue Moon”, “Red Red Wine”, “Always Look On The Bright Side Of Life” or “All I Have To Do Is Dream” as you play the chords. There you go - I told you that if you learn piano chords, you could be making music in no time at all.
This sub class of heavy metal is known as Nu Metal. This has long been recognized to blend distinct styles of music components and styles into their music, like as Grunge, Hip Hop and Punk. Bands commonly used melodic singing, aggressive vocals and types of hardcore punk.
An write-up in Spin magazine featured this type of music as the “new metal” from the neighborhood. The “newl” phrase was altered to “nu” following time pressed on and it was featured inside the movie”Get Thrashed.” This metal genre was released by Korn in 1990 and has grown by means of the 90’s in to the year 2000.
In 1998 Korn released their third album “Follow the Leader” which offered for 9 million copies around the world, this was the start off in bringing nu metal to your local community. This opened the doors to other bands and introduced the community towards the public.
As soon as the community grew, the bands followed. Staind, Coal Chamber and Limp Bizkit started out to have achievement within the neighborhood after the release of Korn’s “Follow the Leader” album. Coal Chamber, Spineshank and Static-X all arrived from Los Angeles, California. Bands like Godsmack, Soufly, Disturbed, Limp Bizkit, Sevendust and Slipknot beginning making an influence to the neighborhood. The majority of these bands would join popular tours like Family members Values Tour, Lollapalooza and Ozzfest. The greatest getting the 30th anniversary of Woodstock that featured primarily nu metal bands.
As time went on increasingly more bands fell into nu metal. Linkin Park, Papa Roach, P.O.D. and Technique of a Down all grew to become big hits, pushing the majority of their albums to platinum. The neighborhood was at its higher in 2001 when it was the most well-liked metal music in American. Nu metal bands had been finding signed with most report labels in the course of this time. With bands finding signed simply, this brought bad high quality for the local community.
To the early years of 2000 popularity died down and bands that started the wave wasn’t marketing their new albums at the same time as their prior ones. With items slowing down, the metal community moved on to your up coming generation of metal music that is a pop / emo punk. Nu metal continues to be are and nonetheless really well-liked. Some bands have altered their fashion other even now the same. Either way Nu metal will usually have that spot in society.
Learn Piano Chords - How To Play Popular Songs Immediately!
By: Paul Summers
The secret to playing the piano in the shortest possible time, is to first of all learn piano chords. Starting with chords and playing songs you are familiar with from your own record collection gives you the confidence that YOU REALLY CAN DO THIS! There are some terrific tunes and rhythms you can play just by mastering a few easy chords, and the knowledge you gain at this early stage will be invaluable later on.
As you probably know, middle C sits near the center of your keyboard. It is the white key immediately to the left of a group of two black keys. The two white keys to the left of middle C are A and B (from left to right). The next four white keys are D, E, F and G.
The black keys are known as sharps or flats, named after the nearest white key to them on their left or right. For example, the black key between the white C and D keys is known as C sharp OR D flat.
A chord is a group of 3 or more notes that when played together make a complete sound. When this sound is played rhythmically, and chords used in a particular sequence, a background sound is created that can support a melody (the main tune) or lyrics (vocals).
Let’s learn piano chords - by mastering just 4 easy ones you can be playing songs in no time at all. These are the chords C, A minor (or Am), F and G. These are all played using just the white keys, so you should be able to master this in just a short space of time. To play the chord of C, with your right hand, simply place your thumb on middle C, your middle finger on E and your little finger on G. Play these three notes at the same time - and you are playing the C chord.
If you move the whole shape of your hand along two notes to the left, you will play the chord A minor. Your thumb will be on A, your middle finger on C and your little finger on E. Play this for a while, then alternate between the chords of C and A minor.
Now add the chord of F to your repertoire by moving your hand two more notes to the left of your A minor chord, so your thumb is on F, your middle finger on A and your little finger on C.
Finally, by moving your whole hand shape one note to the right, you will be playing the chord of G (i.e. the notes G, B and D).
By repeating the chord sequence of C, Am, F and G you will start to get familiar with it. Your hands may hurt a little at first, but this is normal for a beginner. Keep at it.
Many popular songs use the same sequence. See if you can sing along to “Blue Moon”, “Red Red Wine”, “Always Look On The Bright Side Of Life” or “All I Have To Do Is Dream” as you play the chords. There you go - I told you that if you learn piano chords, you could be making music in no time at all.
Nowadays hip hop is more than just drum beats, producers also use baselines and melodies in order to make beats. But it all started with the drums, for which hip hop music is known the most. Disc jockeys used to sample and isolate drums from music tracks, mostly from soul and funk music, to make their own, new sound. This was popular in the 80’s, when people gathered together on block parties and used to dance on these new drum beats. Later on, the Djs started to scratch, put instrument sounds and vocals on their beats. The result was a new music genre named hip hop.
The hip hop music went through a lot of changes, but the drums are still the heart of this genre. Even big producers still work with drum machines and MPCs, like Kanye West for example. And the result is very good! It’s really amazing how something that simple can become and stay so popular and move so many people all around the globe! Now, rap artists come from everywhere, Germany, Russia or Japan…
Some people say hip hop is dead, or is going to die out soon. But I don’t think this is true. It has become an integral part of the music industry and it will be that way. Every year new hip hop artists come on the scene, and they are as successful as the artists in every other genre. If you are fascinated about music, like me, and especially about hip hop, you want to be part of this movement!
Either you are a rapper, singer, producer or you want to do it all yourself, there’s no better time to start making your own music than now! If you are rapping or singing, you need to practice, so you have your own style, and that’s the most important part. Start with freestyling over different instrumental beats, and then, when you’re ready to make your own song, look for beat selling pages, let’s take beats4tracks.com as an example, here you can listen to samples and buy the instrumentals for an accordingly low price. If you want to produce your own beats, you should look for a good and easy to use beat making software, DUBturbo or Fruity Loops for example. You might want to read my other articles on how to make your own beats.
Just try it out! Get yourself a free demo or software if you’re not sure about paying money for a product, there’s plenty good software out there. Feel the vibe and let it inspire you, it’s really fun!
To many musicians, the words transcribing music, are words that induce feelings of despair and nausea. Many musicians that have tried to transcribe music before may have run into problems such as: not being able to hear the bass line, the song may be played at too fast of a tempo to even give it a good try, etc. They may have tried to play a chord, but couldnt make out one or two of the notes necessary to make the chord sound the right way. Transcribing music can be very difficult and challenging process (sigh); but it can also be a very rewarding.
Transcribing a song makes the transcriber listen to a song and play it by ear. Playing by ear definitely makes a person a better musician. Playing by ear makes you more aware of what is going on musically; creates more effective communication with other musicians; and gives you a bigger appreciation for what is being done in a song. A beginning transcriber will make many mistakes and miss some of the importance of a song. This is to be expected, so do not give up so quickly.
In order to transcribe music, there are several steps that must be taken. First, you must listen to the whole song several times, without stopping, rewinding, fast-forwarding, and pausing. Try singing or humming the melody of the song. Take notes. Dont be afraid to write down how you feel about the song. Put chords to the music. Learn the solos, riffs, etc. Put this all down on paper. And in between all of that, also take the time to learn more about theory and other sheet music.
A program like Song Surgeon can be a huge aid for transcribers. It allows you to slow a song down so you can more clearly hear what is being played. It also enables you to set up loop points, so you can focus on specific segments and play them repeated AND at a slowed down pace. Many slow down program introduce distortion when a song is slowed down. Song Surgeon does not, it provides distortion free audio with both key and/or tempo change.
It also contains vocal reduction and EQ functionalities. These features allow you to diminish or minimize certain frequencies (i.e. instruments) so you can focus on others.
Lastly, Song Surgeon offers a fully functional, 4-hour free demo, so you can try the program before you buy it. If you are looking for some BIG time help or assistance with transcribing, take a look at Song Surgeon.
Dont forget that transcribing music is not easy to do. If you fail, pick yourself up and try again. Youre most likely not going to get it right on the first try. It may take several different songs and a long time to develop good, accurate transcribing skills. Lastly, have fun with it and enjoy doing what many musicians are too scared to even attempt.
