Using an electric guitar pickup is not as easy as it looks. If you think it’s all just plugging the guitar in, strumming the strings and you can have the sound that you want, better think again because it’s another story if you really know how to use guitar pickups. There’s more to it if you know what it takes to make it work with the guitar so that you can produce the finest sound that you can possibly have.

Know the sound that you want to have using the guitar pickup. When you play your guitar, try to compare the sound that you get out of your pickups to the sound of the music that you enjoy. If the sound you are hearing while playing the guitar does not appeal to you, then it’s time for some adjustments using your tools and amp.

Once your guitar is plugged-in into the amp, you can set the gain and volume to your preferred level.  You can determine clarity and note definition by playing some barre chords. If this doesn’t work, you can try turning down the amp’s gain. If the guitar has multiple pickups, take note of the height of the pickup’s top from the guitar’s top. The pickups should also have matching pickups. If you prefer to have different volume effects, you just change the height of the other pickups depending on your preference.

For pickups that have adjustable pole pieces, you can raise or lower the individual pole pieces to adjust the sound produced by the corresponding strings. In case the guitar has hard mounted pickups and the pole pieces are non-adjustable, a separate equalization unit can be used to change or adjust the frequencies. Playing barre chords and single note runs will help you assess your new sound. And to set your preferred volume balance, you just have to switch between the pickups. Knowing how to use guitar pickups can really make a difference but if after all the adjustments you still don’t like the sound of your guitar, you can try the aftermarket replacement pickups.

It’s the time of the year again to recognize the various music industry artists in the United States. The 2012 Grammy nominees have been announced. Familiar names were mentioned, expectations were met, but we’ve also witnessed surprises. Everybody expected Adele to dominate all the artists after getting six nominations but Kanye West proved to be the top dog after raking seven nominations including Song of the Year and Best Rap Song.

Here are some of the 2012 Grammy nominees.

For the Album of the Year, Adele’s 21 has been nominated along with Foo Fighter’s Wasting Light, Lady Gaga’s Born This Way and Bruno Mar’s Doo-Woops & Hooligans. Completing the list of Album of the Year nominees is Rihanna’s Loud.

For the Song of the Year, The Cave by Mumford & Sons will try to take the award from Kanye West’s All Of The Lights. Bon Iver’s Holocene has also been nominated. Bruno Mar’s Grenade and Adele’s Rolling In The Deep were also nominated.

Adele and Bruno Mars clash heads again, this time in the Best Pop Solo Performance category with their songs Someone Like You and Grenade, respectively. Lady Gaga entered the scene with her hit You and I being nominated. Pink’s F***in’ Perfect and Katy Perry’s Firework also joined the list.

For the Record of the Year, the nominees are Rolling in the Deep by Adele, Holocene by Bon Iver, Grenade by Bruno Mars, The Cave by Mumford & Sons and Firework by Katy Perry.

The 54th Grammy Awards night will be held on February 12, 2012, at the Staples Center in Los Angeles. The event will be broadcasted on CBS. For more information regarding the 2012 Grammy nominees, visit the Grammy’s website.

As crazy as it may sound, hip-hop artist Soulja Boy just bought himself a customized Gulfstream jet worth 55 million US dollars. The jet alone is worth $35 million. The additional $20 million was for the customizations and upgrades.

And take note, Souja Boy, who’s real name is DeAndre Cortez Way, is only 21 years old. That makes him the youngest African American to own a Gulfstream jet. So much for a Guinness spotlight! Soulja Boy reached stardom when his single Crank That (Soulja Boy) became a number-one hit. He was also listed at #18 on the Forbes list of richest hip-hop artists.

Given the amount of wealth that Soulja Boy has acquired through out his career, I still personally think that buying such an expensive gift is not worth it. But we can never judge his reasons. That’s his hard earned money. He deserves to spend it on anything he wants. Who knows, on his 22nd birthday he might buy a private air strip!

Man, how I wish I could acquire such a huge amount of money. I might buy myself a customized space shuttle, buy a piece of land in the moon and build a castle there.

KISS superstar Gene Simmons is always bragging that he has gone to bed with thousands of women especially during the heights of his rock star career. And he always said that he is not the marrying type and marriage is really not in his vocabulary. Well then, the KISS frontman is probably singing another tune lately. His reality show Gene Simmons’ Family Jewel is already on its season’s finale and as one of the highlights of the show, Gene will finally propose to his girlfriend of 25-years Shannon Tweed. Shannon was a former Playboy model and the couple has two children, Nick who is now 22 years old, and Sophie, 19 years old.

In the season’s final episode, Simmons, together with Tweed and their children Nick and Sophie went on a holiday in Belize. In a sneak peek of the episode, Simmons is shown in a romantic moment with Tweed saying, “I come with so much baggage, but you’re the only friend I’ve got. You’re the only one I love…and you’re the only one I ever will love.” Simmon then gets down on his knees and said, “Please marry me!” Shannon is in awe of the latest turn of events. And with tears on her eyes, viewers will have to watch to see her response.

Last Saturday, the former Fugees singer, Lauryn Hill, gave birth to a beautiful baby boy. The baby boy is the 6th child of the singer. According to E! News, the singer had a hard time delivering the baby into the outside world because the umbilical cord was wrapped around the baby’s neck during the delivery. Thank God, everything went well and both the mother and the baby are now recovering. There is no announcement yet about the name of the baby. This Monday, Lauryn posted a message on her official website. She wrote, “Ms. Lauryn Hill is reported to have given birth to her sixth child, a son.”

Lauryn Hill used to be a member of the famous Fugees. She decided to go solo in 1998 by launching “The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill”. She won five Grammy Awards for that which includes Best New Artist award and the Album of the Year award.

Lauryn have five other children whose father is Rohan Marley, the son of reggae legend Bob Marley. The two are not very open about the status of their relationship. Accordingly, Marley was married by the time the two met in 1996. Marley recently twitted about his relationship with Hill saying “The nature of our relationship something we don’t expect people who spread gossip for a living to fully understand.” Later, he also added, “Ms. Hill is the mother of my children, whom I have a tremendous amount of love and respect for. I would never do that.”

Marc and J.Lo are among Hollywood’s high-profile couples and because they are both in the music industry, the two are always together and everything seems perfect. In one of Jennifer’s  judging stints with ‘American Idol’, Marc even performed for the show with J.Lo dancing at the background, and no one ever noticed that there is something wrong with their relationship.

The two are both from Puerto Rico and were married in 2004. Anthony has two children from two previous relationships and has twins, Emme and Max, with Jennifer. J.Lo on the other hand already got married twice, with Ojani Noa and Chris Judd, and she was also romantically involved with Sean “Diddy” Combs.

Lopez’s publicist released a statement from the couple saying, “We have decided to end our marriage. This was a very difficult decision. We have come to amicable conclusion on all matters. It is a painful time for all involved and we appreciate the respect of our privacy at this time.”

The former captain for team England, Beckham couldn’t contain his excitement as he shared through his Facebook account, “I am so proud and excited to announce the birth of our daughter Harper Seven Beckham”. He also said that the baby weighs 7lbs and 10oz and her big brothers are very excited to see her.

Through Twitter, the couple’s spokesman, Simon Oliveira announced “David & Victoria Beckham are delighted to announce the birth of their daughter.”

Messages of congratulations poured for the couple through popular social networking sites. Mel B wrote on her Twitter account, “congrats!!! Yipeee another spice baby is born, damn it wish it was me this AM coz I feel like I’m about to POP!” Apparently, she is also on the family way and expecting to give birth by end part of this year.

Selena is one of the main casts of the film, Monte Carlo and when she appeared on Daybreak in London just recently for a promo, she said that the scrapbooks she receives from her fans are her favorites. “I got a bunch of scrapbooks. There were tons. Fans from around the world will send stuff in and then other fans will put it in a book. I love those”, Gomez said.

Maybe it’s the things that the fans put inside the scrapbook that fascinates Selena. It’s really hard to tell but one thing is for sure, she definitely appreciates the gestures. And the fans are more than happy that  she appreciates what they would go through just to show their love for her. It’s not that easy to make a scrapbook. It needs time and effort.

Scrapbooking is a tedious and detailed project. For sure, the fans would have included photos of Selena Gomez form her concerts, movies and everything showbiz. And it will not be surprising at all if these scrapbooks include photos of Selena and her boyfriend Justin Bieber.

Following the footsteps of their Dad, the children are also involved in some charitable projects. They are youth board members of the Heal the World Foundation. They also support Red Cross together with their aunt La Toya. Last March when the destructive tsunami hit Japan, the children were very concerned of what they can do to help according to La Toya. Fans of Michael Jackson continue to show their love for him through his children and they have grown to love the 3 siblings. A fan even gave Prince Michael and Paris customized motorcycles each.

Record of the Year
Need You Now by Lady Antebellum

Album of the Year
The Suburbs by Arcade Fire

Song of the Year
Need You Now by Lady Antebellum

Best New Artist
Esperanza Spalding

Best Female Pop Vocal Performance
Bad Romance by Lady Gaga

Best Male Pop Vocal Performance
Just The Way You Are by Bruno Mars

Best Pop Performance By A Duo Or Group With Vocals
Hey, Soul Sister (Live) by Train

Best Pop Collaboration With Vocals
Imagine by Herbie Hancock, Pink, India.Arie, Seal, Konono No 1, Jeff Beck & Oumou Sangare

Best Pop Instrumental Performance
Nessun Dorma by Jeff Beck

Best Pop Instrumental Album
Take Your Pick by Larry Carlton & Tak Matsumoto

Best Pop Vocal Album
The Fame Monster by Lady Gaga

Best Dance Recording
Only Girl (In The World) by Rihanna

Best Electronic/Dance Album
La Roux by La Roux

Best Traditional Pop Vocal Album
Crazy Love by Michael Bublé

Best Solo Rock Vocal Performance
Helter Skelter by Paul McCartney

Best Rock Performance By A Duo Or Group With Vocals
Tighten Up by The Black Keys

Best Hard Rock Performance
New Fang by Them Crooked Vultures

Best Metal Performance
El Dorado by Iron Maiden

Best Rock Instrumental Performance
Hammerhead by Jeff Beck

Best Rock Song
Angry World by Neil Young, songwriter (Neil Young)

Best Rock Album
The Resistance by Muse

Best Alternative Music Album
Brothers by The Black Keys

Best Female R&B Vocal Performance
Bittersweet by Fantasia

Best Male R&B Vocal Performance
There Goes My Baby by Usher

Best R&B Performance By A Duo Or Group With Vocals
Soldier Of Love by Sade

Best Traditional R&B Vocal Performance
Hang On In There by John Legend & The Roots

Best Urban/Alternative Performance
F*** You by Cee Lo Green

Best R&B Song
Shine by John Stephens, songwriter (John Legend & The Roots)

Best R&B Album
Wake Up! by John Legend & The Roots

Best Contemporary R&B Album
Raymond V Raymond by Usher

Best Rap Solo Performance
Not Afraid by Eminem

Best Rap Performance By A Duo Or Group
On To The Next One by Jay-Z & Swizz Beatz

Best Rap/Sung Collaboration
Empire State Of Mind by Jay-Z & Alicia Keys

Best Rap Song
Empire State Of Mind by Jay-Z & Alicia Keys

Best Rap Album
Recovery by Eminem

Best Female Country Vocal Performance
The House That Built Me by Miranda Lambert

Best Male Country Vocal Performance
‘Til Summer Comes Around by Keith Urban

Best Country Performance By A Duo Or Group With Vocals
Need You Now by Lady Antebellum

Best Country Collaboration With Vocals
As She’s Walking Away by Zac Brown Band & Alan Jackson

Best Country Instrumental Performance
Hummingbyrd by Marty Stuart

Best Country Song
Need You Now by Lady Antebellum

So there you go, the complete list of winners for the 2011 Grammy Awards. Congratulations to all the winners. These artists have worked hard and they definitely deserve these awards. See you again next year for the 54th Grammy Awards!