Eric Miyashiro trumpet high notes on Give It One

(My Original Blog Post: http://ping.fm/IMoQF)
I had the great opportunity to live in Japan for 5 years. While I was stationed in Japan I also had the opportunity to meet Eric Miyashiro in person. It's a funny story really, I was at a music store near Tokyo and heard a trumpet player doing two octave lip slurs in the distance. I was curious to see who it was because the trumpet player was wailing up to double high Cs and beyond in his lip slurs.

I walked towards the trumpet high notes and to my utter amazement, Eric Miyashiro was in a separate room giving a Yamaha trumpet clinic to about 30 viewers. Talk about being in the right place at the right time. I stood outside as the clinic continued on. Eric Miyashiro continued to play some Maynard Ferguson type Jazz licks on different Yamaha trumpets. After each Maynard sound sample he spoke in Japanese about each trumpet.

After the clinic was finished, I seized the opportunity to introduce myself to Eric Miyashiro as he walked out of the room. I haphazardly told him I was a big fan. He asked me if I play. I told him I was in the Navy Band over in Yokosuka. He surprisingly got excited and happily stated that he loved performing with the Navy Band folks. He even mentioned a bunch of names of Navy cats that he used to work with.

That was my first experience meeting Eric Miyashiro. I got to see him perform several times while I was stationed in Japan. Great times!

I love this video of Eric Miyashiro performing Give it One. He has such a powerful trumpet sound.

Monster Bux paid to click community sign up bonus

(My Original Blog Post: http://ping.fm/6smOK)
I ran into yet another bux site, Monster Bux is free to join and they offer a $1.00 sign up bonus as well. I don't know how long the sign up bonus promotion is going to last, so take advantage of it as soon as possible. Just so you know, I'm not a huge fan of bux type websites. Monster Bux is no exception. I would recommend only signing up with Monster Bux if you promise me you WON'T:

• buy any referrals.


• put too much time into Monster Bux.


• upgrade in Monster Bux.


• don't buy advertising. (this is only because I haven't had much success advertising on bux sites)

Why am I asking you not to do these things? It's simply because I've seen a lot of bux sites come and go, what makes me think Monster Bux is going to be any different. Just keep you guard up and you should be fine.

But Greg, if you're asking me to not put any time or money into Monster Bux, what's the point of joining? This is a good question. I am only promoting Monster Bux because they are currently offering a free sign up bonus for joining, which I think is cool. Since Monster Bux is free to join and try, it wouldn't be a bad idea to give it a low maintenance test drive to see if you like the membership.

You can cash out with Monster Bux once you reach $2.00. This is pretty standard with most bux sites. If most clicks actually earn you a hefty 1 cent and you don't refer anyone, after your $1.00 sign up bonus, you'll have to click approximately 100 30 second ads before you can cash out. Unfortunately, Monster Bux only pays its members a monstrous 1/4th of cent per click, so 400 clicks will get you to the required minimum cash out level. That sounds like a lot, because it is. This is why it's good to refer others if you are going to be serious about these kinds of sites.

iDevAffiliate program pays a $25.00 sign up bonus

(My Original Blog Post: http://www.signupandmakemoney.com/blog/2009/07/idevaffiliate-program-pays-a-25-00-sign-up-bonus/)
The iDevAffiliate program is yet another free to join website that will pay you a sign up bonus just for joining their program. If you're not familiar with iDevAffiliate, they offer an affiliate marketing software that allows people like you and me to be able to set up our own affiliate program. If you used Joomla to build your website, they have a plugin just for you. Of course, Joomla is free, but a lot of their mods aren't, this one included, because iDevAffiliate costs $100.00 for the standard version.

I did some research on their actual affiliate program product and wasn't too impressed. The urls aren't SEO friendly and the affiliate program itself looks a little bit too dull for my tastes. That's just me though, you'll have to take a look at iDevAffiliate yourself to get your own opinion of them.

One thing I noticed about the iDevAffiliate program is that they don't offer a way to refer other free affiliates so you can earn a percentage of their sales. I could be wrong, but I did take a really long look at my back office and didn't find anything about it.

I like that the iDevAffiliate program offers a video training library to help affiliate managers train their affiliate to be better Internet marketers. Another good thing about the iDevAffilite program is you only need to earn $25.00 after your $25.00 sign up bonus for minimum withdrawal of only $50.00. This sure beats the normal $100.00 minimum withdrawal rate most affiliate companies follow.

Unfortunately, the iDevAffiliate program only pays its affiliates a measly 15% commission for their efforts. This isn't so great in my opinion, especially when you see a lot of 40% to 50% commission structures out there.

There you have it, take a look at some more affiliate program sign up bonuses and let me know what you think of them.

Jon Faddis trumpet solo on Donna Lee

(My Original Blog Post: http://ping.fm/suDJo)
You're going to love this Jon Faddis Jazz trumpet solo on Donna Lee. If you want to get right to the Jon Faddis trumpet solo, skip ahead on the video to 1:40 . I'm not saying the sax player isn't worth listening to, I'm just trying to save some of your time as these are busy times. Jon Faddis improvises a little bit more towards the end as he and the sax player trade before going back into the head. I love high note trumpet solos that also have Jazz licks in them.

I wonder what tempo they are taking Donna Lee at, does anybody know? This video is of a TV broadcast performed live in the mid 1990s.

The Crocmint free affiliate program sign up bonus

(My Original Blog Post: http://www.signupandmakemoney.com/blog/2009/07/the-crocmint-free-affiliate-program-sign-up-bonus/)
Crocmint is yet another free affiliate program that on top of being 100% free to join, they will throw in a $50.00 sign up bonus as well. That's a pretty generous offer for future Crocmint affiliates.

I'm not to hip on the products Crocmint has available to promote. It looks like just a bunch of pharmaceutical products that focus in weight-loss, hair loss, skincare, sexual health, etc..  Nothing I would really enjoy promoting. Crocmint does however pay a hefty 40% commission to all sales made under $1,000.00 (silver plan). Once you earn over $1,000.00 in one month you'll jump into the gold plan at 45% earned commissions.

If you're anything like me, you'll probably just want to focus on recruiting other affiliates like yourself because with Crocmint you can earn 10% off of all their earnings. Here is an example provided by Crocmint on how much you could potentially earn for referring other free affiliates:

Unfortunately, if you want to receive commissions through Paypal you'll have to earn a minimum of $500.00 in commissions. I'm starting to see where the $50.00 sign up bonus is coming. They are probably offering the sign up bonus knowing that most of the free affiliates that join are probably never going to see that free $50.00 in their bank accounts. If you decide to use ePassporte you'll only need to earn a minimum of $150.00 to earn your first paycheck with Crocmint. I've never owned a ePassporte account and I don't intend to get one just for Crocmint's affilliate program. I'm involved with quite enough payment processors to know that enough is enough.

A good thing about Crocmint, and you don't see this very often, they pay every Wednesday once you earn over the minimum in commissions. I just think that's odd. All I got to say about Crocmint is that they are a free affiliate company to join. If you have a website or blog, you can easily promote their products on your website and hopefully earn some extra cash from home. You're not going to lose any money by doing this at least.

Difference between one time and monthly payment programs

(My Original Blog Post: http://ping.fm/SkIwA)
I'm not big on switching between different online money making programs as it isn't a very wise financial decision, but I have been around the block a quite a few times. I want to briefly explain the difference between joining a money making program that you only have to pay a one time fee to be a member versus joining a business opportunity where you pay a monthly commission.

Essentially, the main difference I wanted to share with you is that the amount of money you can earn with monthly paid programs is significantly larger than the amount of money you can earn with one time payment programs. Monthly paid programs also offer the ability to earn a residual income whether you work or not. With a one time payment affiliate program you will have to keep working in order to receive commissions. Once you stop, the money stops.

For those of you who are jumping from one program to another, make sure you are at least sticking with the memberships that require a monthly payment to stay in. This means all the people you refer will be paying you a percentage of their bill every month instead of a percentage of a one time payment.

Yes, it does suck to have to pay the monthly membership dues to stay active as an affiliate, but you have to think long term. Most new prospecting members are going to be attracted to the better compensation plans because of the more residual money they can make. Plus you want to be able to build your business opportunity of choice to the point where the business grows away from you.

In case you're not sure of what business opportunities require monthly dues and which ones require a one time payment, let me show you some examples.

Examples of some monthly residual programs: (good for long term growth)

• The Global NPN


• Global Domains International

Examples of some one time payment programs: (will have to work harder for the income to keep coming in)

• Mammoth List


• Ez2x2

Remember to always do your due diligence before joining any program that costs you money to join.

Whole tone pattern that walks down the augmented triad

(My Original Blog Post: http://ping.fm/G2MQo)
I can't remember where I got this whole tone pattern from, but the Jazz lick sounds cool to play so I wanted to share it with you. The lick was a little tricky for me to get down on trumpet because of the fingering it requires. I hope the lick is a lot easier for you to learn than it was for me. If anything, you can use this whole tone pattern as a good trumpet fingering exercise.



Here is a sound sample on played on trumpet:

How to memorize this Jazz lick in 12 keys:

This Jazz lick is a whole tone lick so you'll "technically" only need to learn it twice. When I think of executing this Jazz pattern, I think in a combination of going down the augmented triad from the note I start on. In the above example you'll start on the 3rd of the C augmented triad. So you're in second inversion because the 5th is the bottom note.

If you look at the example above, the first note of each measure is part of the augmented triad you are thinking in. If you're not familiar or comfortable playing augmented triads, a good exercise is to just go up and down each augmented triad going up in whole steps, half steps, and alternating in between them until you really have a good feel for them.

So, as you can see the whole tone pattern simply repeats itself over and over again going down the augmented triad. The pattern you're repeating is ( 3 1 2 3 Aug triad down). Thats it, or at least that is how I memorized the lick. You may find a more comfortable way. Whatever works for you!

Get traffic to your site by writing unique content

(My Original Blog Post: http://ping.fm/1K6jA)
I know what it sounds like, when I first heard about this I didn't take it too seriously, but unique content is a way to get free traffic to your website for years to come. How does simply writing or continually outputting new and unique content provide free traffic for life? It's simply because search engines like Google, Yahoo, and Bing absolutely love fresh unique content to help them provide valuable information to their billions of users.

What's the easiest way to get fresh content out to the worldwide web? You're looking at it. If you don't own your own website that provides quality content for search engines, then a blog is your next bet. If you're not sure on which blogging software to use then take a look at the two most recommended blogging software phenomena.

Of course I wish everything could be without recourse, but when you write your content you have to kind of think like a search engine in a way. The simplest way to do this is to think to yourself, "What would someone type into the search engine if they were looking for answers on this particular subject?" The site you write your content on must also be search engine friendly and follow the most basic principles of search engine optimization.

Here are some examples:

• The use of at least one h1 tag for main header and h2 tags for all other headers.


• Make sure you have a unique title, description, and keywords for each page.


• Make sure you have a sitemap to submit to search engines.


• Make sure you're linking properly, link keywords, not things like click here, etc...


• Make sure to name URLs properly so that they describe what's on the page.


• Make sure your site is well organized, keep javascript code in a separate .js file use divs and not tables when possible, but this really isn't that big of a deal.


• Make sure each page specifies a canonical link to let search engines know your desired link for each page. 301 redirects is another solution for this.


• Keep the linking of pages on your site consistent. Linking mysite.com/index.php and mysite.com/ are two separate pages according to the search engines, but the same page to us.


• Try to have at least one link pointing back to your site and outgoing links on each page. This way all your pages will be connected.

Anyway, that's enough about that. Just think about it though. Every new page of content you create is like bringing in hundreds even thousands of visitors to your website over a lifetime. This can only happen if you follow the above search engine friendly principles mentioned above.

It is also good to mention that if your content is really good content, then other people will link to you. This will help you get even more free traffic back to your website.

So what do should you remember from all of this? Continuously add good, quality content to your website and you will see a return on your investment.

Roy Hargrove and Art Farmer soloing together

(My Original Blog Post: http://ping.fm/FQn6l)
Two very different Jazz trumpet styles, Roy Hargrove with a more edgy sound and built up trumpet solo and Art Farmer playing a flumpet had a more mellow sound and went right into soloing strong without the build.  The duet is pretty catchy sounding, but the Jazz trumpet solos is what I'm interested in.

Who do you think sounded better?

Randy Brecker trumpet solo at Jazz Land

(My Original Blog Post: http://ping.fm/P0cJl)
I've always enjoyed the unique Jazz trumpet style of Randy Brecker. There are some really nice diminished patterns that Randy Brecker repeats of few times in this trumpet solo. The trumpet solo starts off with a harmon mute, then Randy plays the rest of the solo open.

Why he did this, I don't know.

It's kind of hard to hear the chord changes going on behind him. It's hard to believe, but Randy Brecker was playing at Jazz Land in Hungary in this video.

Post your link at the new Sign Up Bonus Forum

(My Original Blog Post: http://ping.fm/IJfe0)
I'm excited to announce that the Sign Up and Make Money Forum is now complete and running in full swing. The Forum software I'm using isn't  just any Forum software, it's a Simple Machines Forum. SMF is one of the coolest open source Forum software providers out there. I love the speed, features, and look of their Forums.

With all good things there are always downfalls. Simple Machines Forum isn't the best when it comes to Search Engine Optimization though. This is why I had to go in a tweak the code to make the Forum more SEO friendly.

If you're interested in tackling a Simple Machines Forum yourself, here's some of the things I needed to do to make the site more SEO friendly:

• Had to update my urls with the Pretty URLs module.


• I went into the code and changed all important headings to h1 and h2 tags.


• I made a sitemap manually for the Forum with regular pages, boards, and topics. The mod that you can download from SMF didn't work for me.


• I made a simple if and else statement to provide a canonical link for the home page, plus a unique description and keywords. All other pages I kept the same.


• This also removed the annoying - index behind the title on the main page.


• I also went in on links that ended in /index.php for home page and changed them to /.

The description and keywords aren't as important on regular pages. That's why I added h1 and h2 tags because search engines pretty much take from the text on the page and look for a heading.

Anyway, feel free to sign up for a free account at the Forum and post your link. Forums are a great way to build back links to your websites. Simply put, it's a free way to get traffic back to your websites for life, so sign up and enjoy!

1 Cent Emails offers a sign up bonus, but questionable

(My Original Blog Post: http://www.signupandmakemoney.com/blog/2009/07/1-cent-emails-offers-a-sign-up-bonus-but-questionable/)
Don't get me wrong, I wouldn't write an article about 1 Cent Emails if I didn't think it had some good free money making potential and not a complete scam. For the most part, 1 Cent Emails looks pretty legit for a paid to read e-mail site with a $5.00 sign up bonus. But if you learn anything from me at all, remember this, always check the advertiser section of a website to make sure every looks like it adds up properly.

What do I mean by this? Well, if an advertising website's advertising prices look a little funky, then it's questionable how long the advertising website will be in business. Take a look at 1 Cent Email's advertising prices as of July 15th, 2009.

Do you see how the 1 cent paid email to all members for $15.00 is just one example of risk by the owners of 1 Cent Emails? 1 Cent Emails has over 20,000 members. They are betting, and this is a pretty good bet, that over 80% of their members aren't even going to open the paid advert. $15.00 divided by 1 cent = 1,500 members or less are expected to open the paid advert.

What happens if 1 Cent Email's advertising plan backfires and over 10,000 members open up that e-mail? 10,000 x 1 cent = $100.00. That means 1 Cent Email could potentially lose money on advertising bought by their own advertisers. This is never a good sign, but the likely hood of few members actually being active in the paid to read e-mail site is a high chance anyway. So I'm sure there's nothing to worry about.

Anyway, it never hurts to give the advertising site a try. I mean, it is free to sign up. I just wouldn't invest any money or hard promotion and effort into the sign up bonus site.  Take a look at some more paid to read e-mail sign up bonus sites and let me know what you think of them.

World Solos traffic site offers a sign up bonus

(My Original Blog Post: http://ping.fm/xQegL)
I ran into another traffic website entitled World Solos that is offering a free $5.00 sign up bonus for joining. This particular text ad exchange is a very new site with less than 100 members at the time of this article. Since World Solos is new, they are trying to increase their membership base by offering the free $5.00 sign up bonus. Unfortunately, the sign up bonus isn't automatic. You have to contact the World Solo's support team and ask for the sign up bonus. I contacted World Solos the day I signed up and the sign up bonus was in my back office the same day.

With under 100 members, don't expect a lot of traffic from World Solos right away. You will get 500 points when you sign up as well. I hate that these traffic sites always redirect you when you log in. I mean, I don't mind if I'm redirected to one ad before going to my back office, but 2 or 3 redirects is a little bit of over kill to me. What do you think?

At World Solos you can post different text and html ads with your free credits. That's pretty much the extent of it. Unless you want to buy advertising from World Solos, which I don't recommend, that's what you're going to get. You can actually use the $5.00 sign up bonus you get to purchase advertising with World Solos. Wait until their membership base grows a little more first. I like that you can trade your commissions for points to advertise on the site.

That was a great idea for the site. This makes your $5.00 sign up bonus immediately available for use. You really don't have to wait to use the sign up bonus. Check out some more free advertising sign up bonuses and get free traffic to your sites.

Becoming a millionaire by being a penny pincher

(My Original Blog Post: http://ping.fm/RxfeI)
I don't know about you, but I've always been a bit of a penny pincher.

Is it wrong to do so?

I keep complete track of what I spend my money on every month. I know exactly what's coming in and what's going out. I don't spend my money on unneeded things. I'm the complete opposite of a pack rat. If I got junk in my home I'm not using, it's either on the waiting list to being sold, or I'll simply bring it to Goodwill and write it off on my taxes. I don't buy clothes because I think they look good, instead, I'll only buy clothing if I know I am in need of some more clothes. I truly am a believer in being frugal with my money.

Why do I say all this? I believe in the saying, "A penny saved, is a penny earned." Have you ever read this book, The Millionaire Next Door? This book will open up your mind on a few things. Believe it or not, most millionaires earn their way to the top by being frugal with their money and hard work. They drive normal looking cars, own average sized houses, they simply aren't that flashy with their money.

On the other side of things you've got rappers and movie stars who own 5 to 10 luxury vehicles with multimillion dollar properties. They also stay at luxury hotels that cost over $1,000 a night. Why? Probably because they are concerned about their image.

But the average, everyday millionaire that could be seriously living next door to you right now, doesn't need to maintain a Hollywood image. They quietly go about their lives with millions in assets.

So what's the whole point of this article? Simply to encourage you to continue being wise with your money. Don't buy unneeded things, especially in an uncertain economy. Find ways to make your money work for you. Continue building your online business. As time continues forward, your wealth will continue to grow. Never give up.

Awesome Freddie Hubbard trumpet solo on Cherokee

(My Original Blog Post: http://ping.fm/QOovP)
I just had to share this awesome muted Freddie Hubbard trumpet solo on Cherokee with you. I've never heard Freddie Hubbard play the trumpet so fast and have so many good ideas at the same time. When you watch this Jazz video, keep an eye on Freddie Hubbard's fingers and see how clean his trumpet fingering really is. I don't even think Freddie Hubbard is looking at his trumpet valves either. Smokin trumpet solo, really!

This is a live 1990 recording that took place in Japan at the Blue Note. I had the opportunity to see the Dizzy Gillespie Alumni All Star Big Band perform at the Blue Note in Japan. It's kind of cool to see another live performance at the same place years earlier.

Why the Global NPN should be in your portfolio of businesses

(My Original Blog Post: http://ping.fm/RPqcZ)
If you are like me and have signed up with a lot of different business opportunities and advertising websites, you probably get a whole lot of junk mail. A lot of times in the junk mail you'll see new business opportunities come and go. What I mean is, you'll see tons of promotions for the current best business opportunity until the site finally comes out of pre-launch into full-launch. After this, you'll notice that all the hype dwindles away and you'll rarely ever hear a thing about that business opportunity again.

Have you ever noticed this?

Well, there are good programs and business opportunities out there to take advantage. One of the is The Global NPN. I want to share a couple videos I found on The NPN on why it should be in your portfolio of current programs you are involved because Global NPN is such an easy way to make money online and it can compliment your current business opportunities that you are involved in.

If you are new to making money online then The NPN can be your home program of choice because Global NPN will always be there for you. Take a listen to these two Global NPN videos to get a better idea of what I'm talking about:







With Global NPN it is easy to be in a profitable business because it only costs $10.75 a month to be a member and benefit from the Internet marketing products and business opportunity. Better yet, you can even get a 30 day trial with The NPN so you know what you get before you make a financial commitment. This is an affordable business that everyone can be a part of because Global NPN is a worldwide business opportunity.

Dizzy Gillespie and Charlie Parker performing Hot House

(My Original Blog Post: http://ping.fm/d9BiP)
This is part of where the Bebop style of Jazz came from. Charlie Parker and Dizzy Gillespie helped revolutionize the Jazz world with their new style of bebop. Take a historical trip back to 1952 enjoy some great Jazz music. Charlie Parker sounded great in the Jazz video, but Dizzy Gillespie was definitely more melodic in his trumpet playing. In my opinion, most of the time less notes and more simplicity always pleases the crowds more.

This recording took place before Dizzy Gillespie decided to bend his trumpet bell up closer to his ear.

Wynton Marsalis trumpet solo on Caravan

(My Original Blog Post: http://ping.fm/Enrcc)
Wynton Marsalis takes a really expressive trumpet solo over Caravan after doing a good interpretation of the head using a cup mute. This Jazz trumpet solo of Wynton Marsalis took place back in 1988. It's a live trumpet solo which makes it even cooler. Wynton Marsalis also uses a little bit of circular breathing in the Jazz video.

With online marketing, your success is only a matter of time

(My Original Blog Post: http://www.signupandmakemoney.com/blog/2009/07/with-online-marketing-your-success-is-only-a-matter-of-time/)
One thing I've learned since studying and researching different ways to get traffic to my sites is that most successful online marketers that are making at least six figures a year online have been in the Internet marketing business for a number of years. How many years? It's different for everyone, it depends really on how hard you work at getting your website out there.

I've found some Internet marketers on the web that have achieved success in only a few years time. Most Internet marketers take around 5 to 10 years. Of course I have no historical data on the subject, I'm just going based off Internet marketers I know of online. I don't think I have achieved success online yet, in my mind, a six figure income online is success. Why do I say this? Well, you have to think that after taxes and expenses that $100,000 is going to be closer to $50.000.  I know that's a huge cut of the gross, and it sucks, but that's also reality. I also put a 6 figure income as my goal because in order to live beyond your means, you'll need this much money. What do you think?

So what do I mean by your online marketing success is only a matter of time? Well, what I mean is you just have to stick with it. I've seen blogs for sale that have only been up for a year. The owner is giving up because they are only making $20.00 a month off of ad revenue. Unless your website or blog is a super huge idea or break through, it's not likely that you will have success so quickly. Trust me, I know because this is the case with this blog. My traffic has been increasing steadily over time. I used to pay for advertising, but now I do all my advertising the free way. Using my e-mail lists, social networks, safelists, traffic exchanges, etc...

You have to think of it as the longer your site is online, the more chances other sites will connect with your site. Also the more you'll be able to connect with other sites by linking to them. Plus the more content you add to your blog or website, the more likely you will be found in a search engine. Of course the content has to be 100% unique. I never understood people that buy used content for their sites. What's the point of owning a blog if you aren't writing your own unique content? Plus you have to realize that a number of other people have that same content on their sites as well.

My final comment on the online marketing subject is that you should never give up. Keep putting out quality content, link to other similar websites as much as you can. Keep growing your social networks. Never stop expanding your online empire. Don't think that one website will get you there. Most online marketers have a multitude of websites. Each website being very niche specific. Think about it, instead of having one website bring you in $100.00 a month, why not have 50 websites bring you in $100.00 a month each. Some websites will do better than others, but I know you see the point. What do you think?