||The Songwriter's Store
Musical Instruments for Songwriters
This section is intended to help you make an informed choice about your preferred musical instrument and to supply you with ideas on how and where to purchase that instrument.
Online suppliers are creating an environment where you can get just what you need for a very reasonable price. I've mentioned several of them here to help you on your way, shown by musical instrument type:
Electric & Acoustic Guitars|Digital Pianos|Recording Equipment
But there's more to the selection of a musical instrument than simply knowing where to purchase it. Here's some information that might help you make a more informed choice, right from the start:
Kinds of Musical Instruments
Instruments can be classified in several different ways: by their material construction, i.e., wood or metal, their musical role, i.e., rhythmic or melodic, or in terms of how they make sound, i.e., winds, strings, and percussion. The piano, however, crosses several of these classifications and uses both strings and a percussion mechanism. So a better classification is based on what it is that vibrates to produce the sound. According to this system of classification, musical instruments fall into five categories, classified by what is vibrated:
Idiophones - virbrating objects or instruments, i.e., a hollow log.
Membranophones - vibrating membranes, i.e., a drum.
Aerophones - vibrating air, i.e., a flute.
Chordophones - vibrating strings, i.e., a guitar or violin.
Electrophones - uses oscillating electronic circuits, i.e., electrophone or digital piano.
If you're interested in more information, you can see the classification chart at the Musical Instrument Classifications website.
What mechanism produces the sound in your musical instrument? And how well do you manipulate that sound? I'll also be including links to some educational products and courses throughout these pages, in order to help you master the use of your chosen instrument (and songwriting in general, too!). These learning tools include:
Find Schools Online - Music Degrees | Guitar Scales & Theory for Songwriters | Berkleemusic.com | SongU.com
To help you with your songwriting, the Muse's Muse, in conjunction with some of the best online suppliers of musical instruments, offers guitars, pianos, and recording equipment. To buy anything from these suppliers, click on any of the text or banner links and you're on your way.
Below are the suppliers I have listed in this section:
If you supply musical instruments and would like to have your store mentioned here, feel free to contact me so that we can talk about it.