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.
It’s easy to create music while traveling these days. Everything you need fits in a small backpack or under an airplane seat. If you don’t mind checking bags with gear, you can take everything you need. This post, however, focuses on the ‘Carry-On’ approach. Before diving into examples, you might wonder: why even consider bringing…
First off, let me say this to all aspiring musicians out there who didn’t start learning a particular instrument until later in life: “It’s NOT a requirement to have learned anything about music when you’re young (in your teens, or earlier).” It’s definitely a plus, but not a “show-stopper” at all. Plenty of people learned…
— Daily Journal Entry 009 — I never knew what the “CAGED System” was for guitar until about four, or five years ago. I had learned the concept of E-Form and A-From barre chords many years ago, and from that learned that there were elements of chords, and chord voicings that you can move up…
— Daily Journal Entry 008 — On my “About Me” page I talk a little bit about how I was first introduced to music. That my first ever introduction was to the piano, then on to the trumpet, until finally the guitar. It was playing the trumpet in junior high that taught me how to…
— Daily Journal Entry 006 — Have you ever found yourself in a course buying frenzy, where you think to yourself, “Ya know, I better just go ahead and buy this course now before I forget about it. It’s exactly what I want to learn and I would just hate to forget about it, and…
The short answer – NO. You are never to “OLD” to try to learn anything, really. As long as your mind and body are up to it, you’re fully capable of taking on any new hobby that you choose. I realize this is NOT exactly the explanation behind the “short” answer that you were hoping…
Of course, there’s no “set-in-stone” time period for changing out one’s guitar strings; however, there are a few decent rules we can follow to ensure our guitars are always ready to go. Then again, if you’ve played guitar long enough, then you know as well as I do that putting on a new set of…
Most of us tend to associate our artistic production with one (or more) musical styles or genres. There are just certain types of rhythms, melodies, and overall tones that draw us closer to that particular type of music. First off, is it even necessary to define your genre? One could say that there are definitely…
It’s understood this day in age that most people recording music at home are using a DAW, or Digital Audio Workstation, such as Logic Pro X, Pro Tools, Cubase, etc. … Using one of these DAWs is pretty much the norm and requires a computer since it is a software-based solution to recording multiple tracks….