I'm not going to kid you; playing Jazz Guitar is extremely difficult at best and almost downright impossible at worst. However there are things you can do to improve your improvisation skills and feeling and we'll discuss them throughout this multi part series so look for additional parts in the near future.
Practice
What can I say about practice? Just do it and do it often! Do it everyday. When you think you have done enough do it again.
I am not just talking about picking up the guitar and playing a few songs I am talking about real practicing for the environment that you will eventually be playing in which is, of course, in an ensemble with other musicians who we hope will always be better than you.
Here are the basics...
When practicing always use a metronome!
If I didn't make that part clear perhaps this may help: ALWAYS USE A METRONOME!
If you feel that you don't need a metronome stop reading this article, stop practicing and go get some ice cream because you will get the same or even better results and you certainly will enjoy yourself a whole lot more in the process if you do. If you are committed read on.
Still with me?
When using your metronome try to feel your timing on different clicks. For instance for a swing feel have your metronome click on beats 2 and 4 rather than 1 and 3. This will give you an instant swing feel and also take away that nasty crutch so you are forced to know where beat 1 really is.
We never, ever, want to rely on our drummer, who may be in the middle of a complex experimental improvisation just when you need him/her the most, to tell us where beat 1 is. How many times have you been in that situation?
Sound simple? It is!
Sound easy? Try it for a month and you let me know how it goes.
Let's delve into this a little. When practicing using this technique of displacing metronome clicks for beats try these: practice a 3/4 tune using the metronome clicking once per measure and only on beat 2. Then switch to only on beats 3. See how the feeling changes. Practice it, learn it, feel it and then you can start to own it.
If you want to get fancy place the metronome to click every fifth beat while you play a tune in 3. This will shift the accents and feeling from bar to bar and will also allow your brain to break free from it's learned behavior which is designed to make you not want to think.
What did you say?
That's right! More times than not the human brain is your biggest enemy. It always seeks comfort and practicing in the fashion described above is not at all comfortable for your brain. In these cases I recommend telling your brain what my son often likes to say, "To bad..., so sad!"
We as musicians need to experience and comprehend the natural tendencies of the brain's normal behavior so we can learn to truly challenge ourselves to open up our minds to the gargantuan creative possibilities that await us when we do. This doesn't happen by accident nor does it happen by itself nor will it come easy. It takes an extreme effort on our parts.
Whether you have your instrument with you or not you can practice your timing. If you get a small battery operated metronome, which I recommend, you can bring it with you when you are driving back and forth to work. Practice the above examples in your car while singing. Don't worry if you can't sing you are trying to own these feelings and if you can't articulate these feelings with your voice you will never truly own them.
I have outlined several examples for displacement of beats. The idea is simple enough so that you can come up with more deviations on your own and you should keep changing them when you practice.
The point here is that true understanding and your eventual ownership of various beats and feelings associated with them do not reside strictly inside those beats and feelings. By looking only inside the beats you are shutting off all creative thinking that is necessary to truly exploit their full potential.
Real understanding resides outside and you must find out what that means. To truly find it you must force yourself and be willing to look everywhere else but the beats themselves. This simple metronome technique will get you started and point you on your journey to achieving that goal. Don't limit yourself to applying this technique only to timing but that statement is for another part of this series.
Have fun, practice and always play your heart out!
By: John Belthoff
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!
By: John Belthoff
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!
By: John Belthoff
Why Practice Drums with a Metronome?
Practicing with a metronome will improve your time keeping dramatically! What... you say you can already keep time? Try to keep time with a metronome for about twenty seconds. It will show you how good you really can keep time. If you have never tried it...try it! You will see there is room for improvment.
In order to be an outstanding drummer you'll need to keep good time, and practicing with a metronome can help you do that. A metronome can improve your time keeping almost by magic. And, we know how important time keeping is, particularly for a drummer.
You may wonder what the big deal is and think, "No one is gonna be able to distinguish any small changes in tempo in the middle of a song." Well, that may be true, but the major importance of keeping good time is at three different places in a song...
1) The times when you break away for a fill and come back to the original rhythm. 2) If the song contains pauses and later returns to the original rhythm. 3) If the song contains different tempos and returns to the original rhythm.
A metronome is such a vital tool in music education that most teachers of guitar, piano, and violin all utilize the power of metronomes within their lessons. How then, even more important for the time keeper of a band to practice with a metronome.
I can't strees enough the importance of practicing with a metronome. Once you go out and invest in one, start out by setting it at 80 beats per minute and play along with a standard 4/4 disco beat. This is a good pace to begin. It will give you enough time between beats to concentrate and land your beat in sync with the beat of the mertonome.
You will see that when you first start practicing with a metronome it can become very discouraging, but then you will eventually get the hang of it and keep pretty good time. Then it may become a little boring. It's at that point where you must challenging yourself a little bit more.
Adjust your metronome to a few more beats and increase your speed. Not so much where you will sacrifice your form, though. You don't want to become sloppy. Once you feel like you are really getting good at staying in sync with the metronome using a 4/4 beat and at various speeds you should begin to practice a variety of different rhythms, also at various speeds.
Practicing with a metronome will improve your drumming dramatically, so if you don't have one, get one. You will be amazed at how much it will increase your level of playing.
By: Daniel N Brown
In order to be an outstanding drummer you'll need to keep good time, and practicing with a metronome can help you do that. A metronome can improve your time keeping almost by magic. And, we know how important time keeping is, particularly for a drummer.
You may wonder what the big deal is and think, "No one is gonna be able to distinguish any small changes in tempo in the middle of a song." Well, that may be true, but the major importance of keeping good time is at three different places in a song...
1) The times when you break away for a fill and come back to the original rhythm. 2) If the song contains pauses and later returns to the original rhythm. 3) If the song contains different tempos and returns to the original rhythm.
A metronome is such a vital tool in music education that most teachers of guitar, piano, and violin all utilize the power of metronomes within their lessons. How then, even more important for the time keeper of a band to practice with a metronome.
I can't strees enough the importance of practicing with a metronome. Once you go out and invest in one, start out by setting it at 80 beats per minute and play along with a standard 4/4 disco beat. This is a good pace to begin. It will give you enough time between beats to concentrate and land your beat in sync with the beat of the mertonome.
You will see that when you first start practicing with a metronome it can become very discouraging, but then you will eventually get the hang of it and keep pretty good time. Then it may become a little boring. It's at that point where you must challenging yourself a little bit more.
Adjust your metronome to a few more beats and increase your speed. Not so much where you will sacrifice your form, though. You don't want to become sloppy. Once you feel like you are really getting good at staying in sync with the metronome using a 4/4 beat and at various speeds you should begin to practice a variety of different rhythms, also at various speeds.
Practicing with a metronome will improve your drumming dramatically, so if you don't have one, get one. You will be amazed at how much it will increase your level of playing.
By: Daniel N Brown
Music, Your Mood, and What It Says About You
The type of music you listen to has a lot to do with how you approach certain situations. After listening to a Joni Mitchell album, a colleague remarked that we have very different music tastes. She said that my tastes were too "soft" and "whiny". I explained to her that, while working, I prefer a relaxing album to counterbalance my frustration as a writer/programmer.
In fact, music has a tremendous influence on our life. From the songs used in television commercials to what we listen to for pleasure, our auditory senses are overloaded on a daily basis. If we can manipulate ourselves similar to the way commercials do, we can ease the emotional tension inherent in our daily routine. From road rage to romance, our lives can run a little more smoothly.
I have a friend who has a bad case of road rage. He can't drive more than a block without his face turning red. Children run for their lives when they see him barreling down the street in his two-tone pickup. When he's not in the car, however, he is a tolerant, respectable person. What gives?
Metallica. All he had in his car was loud, blood pumping music. It pushed his virtual testosterone level to the point of a knuckle-dragging Neanderthal. When I popped in a little Wes Montgomery, his road rage all but disappeared. He didn't notice much of a difference, but all the passengers quietly remarked at his drastic change of face.
On a larger and more important scale, our relationships can slip into routines that we don't see as unhealthy before it's too late. Once we establish a history with our partner, we also develop patterns that are very difficult to get rid of. Maybe one of you developed aggressive tendencies when playing around, such as hitting or biting. These actions are manifestations of deeper problems.
One way to counteract these patterns is to consciously go against the natural flow. For example, if you and your partner listen to stimulating music and have a contentious relationship, perhaps you should try a more mellow sound. On the other hand, if the relationship is passive to a fault, louder more wrenching music might be in order.
Don't underestimate the power that music has over your emotions. Why do you think they call certain styles "romantic" and others "fight songs"? Think of what was played the last time you were at a sporting event. Elvis Costello's "Pump it Up" is not a song that will put your infant child to sleep. Marvin Gaye's "Let's Get It On" is an obvious choice for seduction, but you can get creative with what works for you and your partner. Sit down and talk about how certain music makes you *feel*, and you can build and personalize your own soundtrack.
Try to remain open minded and broaden your horizons in order to maintain a stimulating environment. This doesn't mean you have to radically change your life; in fact, gradually changing your environment will manifest bigger and better changes in all facets of your life. Having choices in your life enables you to approach trying situations with a plan. My friend now has only calming music in his car in anticipation of his road rage.
Our personalities are constantly shaped by the environment. Some of that is uncontrollable, but some of it can be regulated to achieve a desired result. If you find yourself constantly aggravated, tired, or depressed, change the station. Pop in a new CD. Control your environment with hopes of controlling yourself.
By: Dateable.com
In fact, music has a tremendous influence on our life. From the songs used in television commercials to what we listen to for pleasure, our auditory senses are overloaded on a daily basis. If we can manipulate ourselves similar to the way commercials do, we can ease the emotional tension inherent in our daily routine. From road rage to romance, our lives can run a little more smoothly.
I have a friend who has a bad case of road rage. He can't drive more than a block without his face turning red. Children run for their lives when they see him barreling down the street in his two-tone pickup. When he's not in the car, however, he is a tolerant, respectable person. What gives?
Metallica. All he had in his car was loud, blood pumping music. It pushed his virtual testosterone level to the point of a knuckle-dragging Neanderthal. When I popped in a little Wes Montgomery, his road rage all but disappeared. He didn't notice much of a difference, but all the passengers quietly remarked at his drastic change of face.
On a larger and more important scale, our relationships can slip into routines that we don't see as unhealthy before it's too late. Once we establish a history with our partner, we also develop patterns that are very difficult to get rid of. Maybe one of you developed aggressive tendencies when playing around, such as hitting or biting. These actions are manifestations of deeper problems.
One way to counteract these patterns is to consciously go against the natural flow. For example, if you and your partner listen to stimulating music and have a contentious relationship, perhaps you should try a more mellow sound. On the other hand, if the relationship is passive to a fault, louder more wrenching music might be in order.
Don't underestimate the power that music has over your emotions. Why do you think they call certain styles "romantic" and others "fight songs"? Think of what was played the last time you were at a sporting event. Elvis Costello's "Pump it Up" is not a song that will put your infant child to sleep. Marvin Gaye's "Let's Get It On" is an obvious choice for seduction, but you can get creative with what works for you and your partner. Sit down and talk about how certain music makes you *feel*, and you can build and personalize your own soundtrack.
Try to remain open minded and broaden your horizons in order to maintain a stimulating environment. This doesn't mean you have to radically change your life; in fact, gradually changing your environment will manifest bigger and better changes in all facets of your life. Having choices in your life enables you to approach trying situations with a plan. My friend now has only calming music in his car in anticipation of his road rage.
Our personalities are constantly shaped by the environment. Some of that is uncontrollable, but some of it can be regulated to achieve a desired result. If you find yourself constantly aggravated, tired, or depressed, change the station. Pop in a new CD. Control your environment with hopes of controlling yourself.
By: Dateable.com
Barry Michaels - Radio is My Life!
Thirty year broadcast veteran Barry Michaels, ('Michaels In The Morning') has quite a few stories to tell! His life began quietly enough, growing up a on a picturesque strip of land in the southeastern United States, with a Mom and Dad to admire and a support group of aunts and uncles that many don't have today. Barry became interested in radio at an early age, becoming a 'gopher' for one local radio personality and quickly learning where the emphasis is placed in the term 'show business'. Barry's career began in earnest after college, when he finally screwed up his courage to apply at a small radio station near his hometown, where he spoke mostly to cows. Little did management know that he would have paid them to be on the air! His career has had more than it's share of ups and downs, and you'll get to meet some of the most talented people in the business plus you'll cheer the heroes and clinch your teeth at the bad guys! Barry also honors those who entertained and inspired an entire generation of radio personalities-The voices on those fifty thousand watt behemoths with legendary call letters like WLS, WCFL, WABC and more.
From sleeping in his Volkswagen 'Bug' to traveling across the United States five times in search of the perfect on air radio job, Barry's stories are poignant and laugh out loud funny. Learn how Barry was almost gunned down in a radio station in Orlando, Florida before his boss intervened. See radio through his eyes when he begins work at a rock and roll radio station that employs a Catholic priest as a 'DJ', and dodges beer bottles in one of the many bars he makes appearances in for his radio station.
The 'Radio Road' is fraught with many bumps along the way and you may even see yourself as Barry attempts to raise three young sons as a single father and tries a comeback after a bitter divorce and child custody battle. You may not want to enter the thirty five dollar a week almost condemned house Barry was living in while awaiting the court's ruling. You really don't want to wake up in his room during a thunderstorm as rats prepare to feast on his toes! Meet his new landlord, who's down on his luck too, and has a secretive past with the United States Army. From personal and professional disasters to 'top of the mountain' triumphs, Barry's adventures have taken him from the beautiful stillness of his blue Virginia mountains to the golden Pacific ocean--all seen through the window of his beloved Volkswagen Beetle, which he still owns. It's radio, it's life, and it's real. Come along for the ride, and find out the true stories of those 'masked riders of the hertzian wave.' With photo and audio collection.
By: Dieter Martin
From sleeping in his Volkswagen 'Bug' to traveling across the United States five times in search of the perfect on air radio job, Barry's stories are poignant and laugh out loud funny. Learn how Barry was almost gunned down in a radio station in Orlando, Florida before his boss intervened. See radio through his eyes when he begins work at a rock and roll radio station that employs a Catholic priest as a 'DJ', and dodges beer bottles in one of the many bars he makes appearances in for his radio station.
The 'Radio Road' is fraught with many bumps along the way and you may even see yourself as Barry attempts to raise three young sons as a single father and tries a comeback after a bitter divorce and child custody battle. You may not want to enter the thirty five dollar a week almost condemned house Barry was living in while awaiting the court's ruling. You really don't want to wake up in his room during a thunderstorm as rats prepare to feast on his toes! Meet his new landlord, who's down on his luck too, and has a secretive past with the United States Army. From personal and professional disasters to 'top of the mountain' triumphs, Barry's adventures have taken him from the beautiful stillness of his blue Virginia mountains to the golden Pacific ocean--all seen through the window of his beloved Volkswagen Beetle, which he still owns. It's radio, it's life, and it's real. Come along for the ride, and find out the true stories of those 'masked riders of the hertzian wave.' With photo and audio collection.
By: Dieter Martin
What is Satellite Radio?
Satellite Radio -- Its here! Satellite radio is a new service being offered by two companies, XM Satellite Radio and Sirius Satellite Radio. Both companies are offering over 100 channels of streaming music and entertainment. High quality sound is achieved through the use of satellites orbiting high above. Satellite radio has been commercial free and free from regulations by federal committees. The impossible, is now possible, hearing the same radio station across north America and from coast to coast. All made possible by XM satellite radio and Sirius satellite radio.
XM Satellite Radio and Sirius Satellite Radio have designed satellite broadcast systems that differ but they achieve the same high quality of satellite radio. A milestone of this success is the fact that satellite radio signals that are available across the United States and into Mexico and Canada. Rock and Roll -- No its not a genre any more! XM Satellite Radio has two satellites named Rock and Roll which remain in parallel geostationary orbit to provide radio coverage throughout the United States. Sirius Satellite Radio has chose to use three satellites in an inclined elliptical orbit. This configuration provides 16 hours per satellite of signal, which gives a great redundancy if any satellite were to fail. Playing it smart, Sirius and XM both have spare satellites, which can be called on in a moments notice if needed.
XM satellite radio and sirius satellite radio have Earth based broadcast stations that are used to send up information to the satellites, which is then dispersed through out the globe. Sirius and XM both have disk jockeys that manage, create and program music which is then sent up to the satellites. The information is then taken in by the satellites and sent through a rebroadcast of the streams to earth. The Major advantage of this is that, unlike earth-based radio stations whose signals reach listeners 150 miles away, satellite radio signals have a huge reach, and are receivable anywhere within the continental United States and hundreds of miles in each direction of the borders. Satellite Radio is growing to become a world wide network and offerings are growing throughout the world. XM satellite radio and Sirius satellite radio are making it happen!
So How Does Satellite Radio Work: First, a receiver decodes and plays the received signals through an antenna. In the beginning, some cars have used a tuner that accepts the antenna signals and then passes them to a satellite radio-ready radio for playing. Ad the concept has grown out of the car and into the home, home kits for satellite radio use direct RCA inputs for home theater and traditional stereo systems. A Growing number of choices is occurring and each company is developing a broad scope of products for consumers. Already we are seeing receivers for car-only, boom boxes, computer-only, and portables for use in car and home configurations. The companies making these products are, Audiovox, Delphi Skyfi, Terk, and plenty others are jumping on board. Both XM satellite radio and Sirius satellite radio have licensed recievers and other products for consumers use.
By: Scott Fish
XM Satellite Radio and Sirius Satellite Radio have designed satellite broadcast systems that differ but they achieve the same high quality of satellite radio. A milestone of this success is the fact that satellite radio signals that are available across the United States and into Mexico and Canada. Rock and Roll -- No its not a genre any more! XM Satellite Radio has two satellites named Rock and Roll which remain in parallel geostationary orbit to provide radio coverage throughout the United States. Sirius Satellite Radio has chose to use three satellites in an inclined elliptical orbit. This configuration provides 16 hours per satellite of signal, which gives a great redundancy if any satellite were to fail. Playing it smart, Sirius and XM both have spare satellites, which can be called on in a moments notice if needed.
XM satellite radio and sirius satellite radio have Earth based broadcast stations that are used to send up information to the satellites, which is then dispersed through out the globe. Sirius and XM both have disk jockeys that manage, create and program music which is then sent up to the satellites. The information is then taken in by the satellites and sent through a rebroadcast of the streams to earth. The Major advantage of this is that, unlike earth-based radio stations whose signals reach listeners 150 miles away, satellite radio signals have a huge reach, and are receivable anywhere within the continental United States and hundreds of miles in each direction of the borders. Satellite Radio is growing to become a world wide network and offerings are growing throughout the world. XM satellite radio and Sirius satellite radio are making it happen!
So How Does Satellite Radio Work: First, a receiver decodes and plays the received signals through an antenna. In the beginning, some cars have used a tuner that accepts the antenna signals and then passes them to a satellite radio-ready radio for playing. Ad the concept has grown out of the car and into the home, home kits for satellite radio use direct RCA inputs for home theater and traditional stereo systems. A Growing number of choices is occurring and each company is developing a broad scope of products for consumers. Already we are seeing receivers for car-only, boom boxes, computer-only, and portables for use in car and home configurations. The companies making these products are, Audiovox, Delphi Skyfi, Terk, and plenty others are jumping on board. Both XM satellite radio and Sirius satellite radio have licensed recievers and other products for consumers use.
By: Scott Fish
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