Are you a guitarist interested in learning the ukulele? If so, here is a quick, easy way to get you acquainted with the chords, scales and notes on the ukulele. All you need are your guitar and a capo.

To start strumming your new ‘guitar-ukulele,’ simply take your capo and clamp it down across the 5th fret of the guitar.
If you limit your playing to the top four strings (or D – G – B – high E), you are playing the in the exact same tuning as a tenor ukulele!

If your capo permits, try a partial bar at the 5th fret that covers the D through high E strings. This will give you a good visual reference point and your capo will act as the nut of your ‘ukulele.’

Note: The guitar-capo method will not create the same tuning as a soprano or standard ukulele. On the soprano ukulele, the open G-string is an octave higher than the open G-string on the tenor ukulele. In order to replicate the sound of a soprano ukulele using the guitar-capo method, the open D string on your guitar would have to be tuned an octave higher. Do not attempt to tune the D string on your guitar an octave higher! The string is guaranteed to snap.

The Miso Music: Plectrum library is filled with great ukulele songs. Now you can double your repertoire by playing all of the guitar and tenor ukulele arrangements available on our app!

We are thrilled to bring you our next amazing promotion. This time, we are joining forces with Steve Aoki, SOL Republic, SURF AIR and Surrender Nightclub to bring you a once in a lifetime experience.

Ready to live the life of a rockstar with Steve Aoki? This is what you can win:
• 2 Backstage VIP passes to see Steve Aoki at I LOVE THIS CITY in San Francisco on Friday May 25th
• Seats for you and a friend to fly with Aoki on a private SURF AIR plane from SF to Las Vegas
• 2 VIP tickets to Steve Aoki’s set at Surrender Nightclub inside the Encore in Las Vegas
• A luxury suite at a Vegas Hotel with accommodations for two
• The Winners will be given transportation back to SF or LA via a commercial airline!

Plus, lots more great SWAG

THIS COULD BE YOU!
Enter now for your chance to win all of the above (and more) at https://www.facebook.com/djaoki/app_28134323652.

Note: Must be 21+ to enter, transport to I LOVE THIS CITY is not included.

See more at SOL Republic’s Blog!

TED Talks are talks by some of the smartest, most inspiring, and most creative people in the world. Over the years, there have been quite a few talks related to music. There have also been some beautiful performances by some amazing artists. We’ll be featuring some of our favorite music-related TED Talks on our blog.

This week we’ll start with Jose Abreu on kids transformed by music. Jose Antonio Abreu founded El Sistema (“the system”) in 1975 to help poor Venezuelan kids learn to play a musical instrument and be part of an orchestra. In this talk he speaks about how music is a vehicle for personal as well as community transformation and empowerment. Abreu is a TED Prize winner and shares his story and wish to impact kids and communities around the world in this inspiring talk.

See @ Jose Antonio Abreu on Kids Transformed By Music

And if the TED Talk got you inspired, check out the documentary called “El Sistema” too!

See @ El Sistema Documentary

We will post many more TED Talks in future blog posts so stay tuned!

Step into the offices of the Venice Beach, CA based music-tech start up, Miso Media, one afternoon and you might be surprised to find the team gathered around a Juicer. Fresh juice has been all the rage at Miso Media in the past two months since the team began to receive weekly boxes of locally grown fruits and veggies from local organic farms delivered straight to the office by Farmigo partner, Underwood Family Farms. Read the rest at Farmigo.

Farmigo is an awesome service that brings fresh veggies to your door at a convenience second to none. Check them out!

Our first instructional guide for guitar has been posted! Learn how to replace the strings on your acoustic guitar with a step by step guide from the Miso Media music department. The first lesson is filled with detailed pictures and instructions on how to restring your guitar correctly. Check it out at the Guitar Maintenance Guide. Many more lessons to come, so stay tuned!

When you think of pioneers in electronic music, you probably wouldn’t
think of a British woman from your grandma’s generation. But Daphne
Oram (1925-2003), creator of the Oramics machine, was just that. Oram
was on the cutting edge of music tech from working for BBC radio in
the 1940s to creating music on the Apple II and Acorn Archimedes in
the 1980s. She spurred the creation of the BBC Radiophonic Workshop
(think experimental electronic sound effects to go along with
programming), only to leave soon after to focus on creating music for
music’s sake.

Oram’s most intriguing work, however, was the Oramics machine, which
is currently the centerpiece of the “Oramics to Electronica: Revealing
Histories of Electronic Music” exhibit at London’s Science Museum.
The Oramics Machine was one of the first forerunners of the modern
synthesizer. It sort of worked like synesthesia (a condition where
one experiences one sense in terms of another–tasting shapes,
smelling colors, etc.), translating shapes into sounds. She would
paint on paper, feed the paper into the Oramics machine, and the
machine would translate the shapes into sound recorded on magnetic
tape.

Beyond creating music, Oram also lectured on electronic
music/techniques and wrote about her philosophical and practical
approach to music in An Individual Note of Music, Sound and
Electronics. In a field that is still largely dominated by men, she
was the first woman to set up and direct an electronic music studio as
well as the first woman to design and build an electronic musical
instrument. While the technology has changed, electronic musicians
today continue the quest for new ways of creating sound and new sounds
to create that Daphne Oram played such a large part in starting so
many decades ago.

For more info and articles about Daphne Oram, go to www.daphneoram.org & NPR

A bug became apparent to us in the last version, which has been fixed in this update (2.2).

Any users using iOS 5.0 or above were unable to purchase songs. When a user signed into their account and downloaded a song, the song did not appear in their library.

**The issue has been resolved in this update**

SOLUTION: If you were experiencing this issue, you must DELETE the app and RE-INSTALL (download) it on your device. Updating the app will not resolve this issue!

IMPORTANT: After re-installing the new version (2.2.), affected users can re-download purchased songs provided that they use the same Apple iTunes ID without being charged again.

We are very sorry for this inconvenience, and we have appreciated your patience while we resolved these issues. Thank you!

Email us at support@misomedia.com if you are still experiencing problems!

A growing body of research shows that exercise improves brain function. In other words, working out not only keeps the body fit, but it makes the mind more creative and productive. Balanced healthy eating translates into sustained energy while having a Snickers and Coke in the mid-afternoon translates into a sugar and caffeine-induced energy roller coaster. Body, mind, and work output are all interconnected. When the body and mind function optimally, work produced will be of the highest quality. When people feel appreciated and related to as human beings, communication flows freely and results are more quickly and easily achieved. And besides, who doesn’t want to feel good, be fit, and actually enjoy more of the endless hours that tech startup teams inevitably spend together?

There’s no junk food police, weekly weigh-ins, or singing kumbaya holding hands in a circle at Miso Media. But we do have a company gym attached to our office and a full kitchen (with a juicer!) that people actually cook in. And we do company dinners once a week where we get to socialize and talk about things other than work. Now if only we could get the vegetarians and meat eaters to get along…

All in all, it was a great night where everyone went home a winner. The two runners up got Audyssey audio docks, and every contestant got a pair of Woodee’s headphones. Thanks SXSW and Austin for a great experience, we hope to be back someday soon! Check out Infinity Spaceship on Facebook.