Thoughtful commentary on the craft of songwriting, gear philosophy, and music-making. A text-first space for exploring creative workflows, arrangement notes, and production ideas for independent musicians.
A wealth of knowledge at your fingertips… A person could literally earn a bachelor’s, if not a master’s or doctorate, with the knowledge inside these books. There’s just one obstacle standing in that person’s way… You actually have to read and apply the knowledge… To be clear, I’m referring to The International Library of Music,…
Traveling by air with an acoustic guitar, or anything sensitive in nature to you, is NOT the most relaxed way to travel, for sure. The whole time, you are worried that something could happen to damage said item. Nobody Wants To Worry This certainly goes for an acoustic guitar of just about any size. The…
— Daily Journal Entry 038 — Sometimes you only need a couple of parameters. In this case, an “On / Off” switch and “Speed” dial. I’m talking about the MXR Phase 90 guitar pedal. Just plug the guitar in, then out to the amplifier, stomp to turn it on, and adjust the speed. Doesn’t get…
And in my opinion, takes a bit more effort than your typical “talking head” video. Let’s take a really basic beginner guitar tutorial, for example. In order to make a fairly decent engaging video, one needs to film himself playing the guitar in a full, waist-up (or full body shot) position as well as filming…
Now-a-days there are many to choose from, but I do have mine from 1992, which is pretty thorough. It’s called, “The Guitar Picture Chord Encyclopedia Compiled by: John Pearse.” A lot of work went into this book for him to ensure a picture was taken for every chord that was demonstrated, which very clearly shows…
First of all, I DO NOT want to scare anyone away from buying and selling on eBay. Most of my experiences have been overwhelmingly positive. But when you have taken a break from a particular practice for some time and finally try it again, you might tend to forget a few things. At least, that’s…
When it comes to writing and recording music in the home studio, there are a variety of challenges that await each musician. Sure, there’s the act of creating and recording the music itself. But sometimes before even to get to that part, there are other things that can stall your progress a bit. Things like,…
I guess what I’m wondering is can the 48 Volts that’s needed for condenser microphone phantom power destroy the mic’s circuitry if its applied in the wrong way. i.e., should the 48V be applied after the mic is connected, or before, or does it even matter? Turn on Phantom Power Before or After I usually…
To be perfectly honest (not that I would normally be dis-honest, on purpose), I have complete faith in my ability to occasionally come up with a pretty good musical idea, whether on guitar, or piddling around on the keys; however, I still worry about the audio quality of any future recording. After all, if your…