Blog

  • Getting grips with my electric guitar
    I’ve been working on my electric guitar playing. But have been struggling with back pain. What You Need To Know About Picks And Straps Electric guitar picks can be used to produce specific sounds. That’s not something you can do with your fingertips. Playing the electric guitar with a guitar pick is always recommended. Beginners and experienced players alike can benefit from this. A strap makes playing guitar easier. The following reasons explain why: The first step. Playing an electric guitar on your leg can be uncomfortable. The V-shaped guitars are especially uncomfortable. Using a strap allows some of the weight to be carried by your shoulders instead. The weight of the guitar can also cause you to lose sensation in your leg. Your legs may become tingly. Secondly, there is the option of standing. Additionally, if you ever decide to stand up and play. If you’ve never practiced this before, you should do so before. Beginners should buy a strap that makes them feel comfortable. Despite their great looks, leather straps quickly crack and appear old. Straps made of woven or polyester are more durable. Make sure not to pick one that’s too thin and uncomfortable.
  • Going from vegan to carnivore
    So Long story short I realise that veganism was causing my bones to suffer. It makes sense that the protein is getting from plants just wasn’t sufficient to support my bone density. And therefore cause me to have a fracture last year when I came off my bicycle. I might have still suffered the fracture anyway however the doctors did make a point of saying that my bones are relatively weak and now I should be taking extra supplements to increase my bone density and they recommended that I eat more protein. Going through all the health issues that I’ve been suffering recently made me come across a woman and called Michaela Peterson. You might know her as the daughter of Jordon Peterson, who wrote that self help book. And is a psychologist who has become very famous over his controversial stance on pronouns…. She advocates for a full Carnivore diet. She only eats beef and salt. Yes this is crazy. Obviously coming from being a vegan I thought this was outrageous. I screamed and shouted and was very upset at the idea that someone would only eat meat as a whole diet. Didn’t they know the health implications! And then I did more research into it and I decided to introduce more meat into my diet. And as a result I actually felt like I had more energy and also the extra pounds that I had was coming off. Obviously because of my ethics, I was very careful about the type of meat I would choose to eat. So 2020 was an interesting year I learnt how to cook me and change my diet drastically I even tried going for carnivore at one point. I just couldn’t handle it. Now back to the chocolate.  If any of you are suffering for health issues it’s worth looking at your diet and seeing what might be missing I believe for some people feeding us and what’s the best but for others they need a bit more extra protein I could be introducing fish or other types of meat go organic that will help you to live a healthy life.
  • Getting the hang of playing the guitar
    Here comes 2020, and me trying out playing the guitar for the seventh time. Or it feels like the seventh time. I remember trying when I was a young girl, my uncle had came to visit. And passed me his guitar. I could barely hold it but was fascinated by the instrument. And the sounds he could make from it. I tried it again in primary school, in one of our lessons where someone had brought in a load of musical instruments. I remember that guitar not sounding very pleasant. But perhaps it wasn’t in tune. In high school, there was a cute boy who was trying to impress me with his guitar playing and tried to teach me. I tried a couple of times before realising I much preferred music than the boy. And if you want to count it… guitar hero. I was entranced by Eric Johnson’s Cliffs of Dover in the game. So while I couldn’t play the real thing, I very much enjoyed the game until I realised that this is not real life. Fast forward to now, while I have my many hobbies. Playing guitar is something I still would love to do. My friend is at Guitar Tuition East London at the moment taking guitar lessons in London, and she’s really inspired me to get going again. Seeing her make so much progress being a complete beginner in music has been so encouraging. Perhaps after this whole lockdown I will get to go have some guitar lessons to help me too. Even though I have a background in classical music training, it never seemed to quite translate when I approached the guitar. It seems much more alien to me having never played a string instrument before. I’m excited to see how I progress in learning and hope you will wish my seventh time lucky.
  • How To Play A Trumpet
    I’ve been playing the trumpet since I was little kid and thought it would be helpful to talk about what things you might think about if you wanted to learn too! So, you’re thinking of taking up trumpet playing. Cool. Or maybe you’re just curious how the trumpet makes its sound. Still cool. What is a trumpet? A trumpet, typically, is a metal tube with one end flared like a bell and a narrower end fitted with a mouthpiece. It is often made of a length (6 – 1/2 ft) of hard bronze that had been bent and coiled, and is hollow through and through, with valve-controlled inlets. Between the mouthpiece and the bell, the body of the trumpet viewed sideways, curiously resembles a paper clip! A typical trumpet has three upward protruding valve heads which (you see) the trumpet player alternately presses down and releases when they’re playing music. Each valve is encased in its respective cylinder connected to the main tube. You will also see three rings on different positions on the trumpet’s body. The first ring (sometimes a hook) on the front end of the valves acts as fixed support for the little finger. This helps your right hand get good leverage when pressing/releasing the valve heads. The two other rings located near the bottom, on each end of the cylinders are the slide handles. These slide handles or slides fine tune the pitch and tone of a note. The mouthpiece is a separate piece that is fitted on the narrow end of the tube. There is an assortment of mouthpieces that produce different sound qualities from mellow to sharp, and in different keys. How To Play the Trumpet The sound made by the trumpet is produced by making a buzzing sound with your lips blown through the mouthpiece. This basically creates the trumpet sound. Try it! Pitch is regulated by the different ways your lips open, its position, and the power when you blow on the mouthpiece. You can play a C, a G, and a higher C by just blowing on the trumpet, without playing any of the valves. The three valves also control what notes you play. The first valve opened (pressed or played) lowers the note by one tone (e.g. from G to F). The second valve lowers the note by a semi-tone (e.g. from C to B). The third lowers the note by one and a half tones (e.g. from G to E, or from C to A). Trumpet playing seems complicated! But you can learn and master it with regular practice and determination.
  • Top 10 James Bond Theme Songs
    I freaking love James Bond movies, so I thought I would make my favourite James Bond theme song list considering how much I like the music. James Bond movies have had a good run in coming up with some of the best movie theme songs. Some have made it to the top, while others held their high rank for several consecutive weeks. You may have your own pick on what Bond theme song should be on the top 10. But here are our Top 10 James Bond Theme Songs based on the UK’s Top 100 Singles Chart at the time. Writing’s on the Wall (Sam Smith, 2015). From the movie Spectre, this was the first ever Bond theme song that reached no.1 on UK’s Top 100 Singles Chart. No Time to Die (Billie Eilish, 2020). Because of her phenomenal popularity, Billie Eilish’s rendition of the Bond theme song of the same title as the movie, No Time to Die, made it to no.1 within a week of its debut with the biggest opening for a Bond movie. A View to Kill (Duran Duran, 1985). Though the song did not make it to no.1, A View to Kill is still regarded as one of the best Bond theme songs. It ranked no.2 on the Top 100 for 16 weeks. Skyfall (Adele, 2012). Despite the popularity of the movie Skyfall, which won both an Oscar and a Golden Globe, its theme song held only no.2 for 32 weeks. We Have All the Time in the World (Louis Armstrong, 1969). From the old movie, On Her Majesty’s Secret Service, this hit single was 19 weeks at no.3. Die Another Day (Madonna, 2002). The theme song carrying the movie title was also no.3 in the charts for 17 weeks. The Living Daylights (A-ha, 1987). This was no.5 for 9 weeks. Licence to Kill (Gladys Knight, 1989). From the same movie title, Licence to Kill was no.6 for 11 weeks. You Know My Name (Chris Cornell, 2006). From the latest movie adaptation of Casino Royale, this Bond theme song held no.7 for 19 weeks. Nobody Does it Better (Carly Simon, 1977). From the movie, The Spy Who Loved Me, this single was no.7 for 12 weeks. A lot of popular Bond theme songs didn’t make top 10 based on the UK’s Top 100, including Diamonds are Forever (Shirley Bassey, 1971), Goldfinger (Shirley Bassey, 1964), From Russia with Love (Matt Monro, 1963), Live and Let Die (Paul Mc Cartney and Wings, 1973), You Only Live Twice (Nancy Sinatra, 1967). What was your Bond theme song that didn’t make the Top 10 list?