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Filed under: Audio, Web services

Find a home for your unfinished songs on Rifflet

Rifflet
Rifflet is the perfect meeting ground for musicians without a muse. The site allows users to upload snippets of music, up to 60 seconds long, and offer them up to the community to do what they want with them.

The 'rifflet' can be as simple as a drum beat or bass line - as long as it gives another musician something to work with. When you find a 'rifflet' that appeals to you - you can finish it off, remix it, slap some lyrics on it - whatever you want. Anything uploaded on Rifflet is under the Creative Commons license, so whatever you come up with. Users can also share the final product since the 60 second limitation isn't enforced on the actual upload size. Not only does Rifflet target musicians, it also targets DJs, who can take the bits and pieces posted on the site and put them together any way they like.

The musical elitists in us thought that, since the site is open to pretty much anyone, it would be strewn with sorry excuses for songs, but we were pleasantly surprised with the quality and variety of music on the site.

Filed under: Internet, Video, Web services, web 2.0

Learn to play guitar (or drums or piano) at iVideosongs

ivideosongs
Ever get the feeling your guitar teach must suck because he still hasn't been able to teach you to play "Spirit of Radio" by Rush properly? Well, if you'd be willing to pay $10 for a personal lesson from Rush's Alex Lifeson, iVideosongs can help.

iVideosongs provides a selection of video lessons for acoustic or electric guitar, banjo, drums, and piano. Most of the tutorials are presented by iVideosongs instructors, who do a great job of breaking lessons down step by step. But a handful of lessons are presented by the professional musicians who either wrote or performed the songs. In addition Alex Lifeson, there are tutorials from drummer Russ Kunkell, The Allman Brother's pianist Chuck Leavell, John Oates of Hall & Oates, and Graham Nash of Crosby, Stills, and Nash, among others.

You can either learn to play specific songs by paying to download a song lesson, or you can learn a specific musical technique. Most of the technique videos are available as free downloads. Paid lessons from iVideosongs instructors tend to run about $5, while lessons from professional instructors are closer to $10.

[via Somewhat Frank]

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