Donovan Banks

We're playing a 2 song set along with some other great bands. The event is being recorded to be released on DVD with the Zack's compilation album. Stay tuned for more details.

I got my hands on the Snap Jack, which is a guitar lead with a difference. The folks at Zzyxz have created a cable that you can separate at the Jack making the connection faster and a lot quieter.
Take a look at my video


I like it. I'm glad I have one and I want more...

Last night I played a short acoustic set with the singer of Stereo in Flight, Bevan Lynch at Zack's in Windermere rd. It was a simple affair, hosted by Steve Fataar and was very laid back. It is a lovely, intimate environment to play, especially if you want to interact closely with your audience.

Before I get into our little set, I must mention that there was a duo that played before us. They go by the name(s) Matt and Mike, or was it Mike and Matt? Thats aside, they were very good. I enjoyed their set and was very surprised to see talent like this floating around. Great voice, great guitar playing, excellent songs and a very personable interaction with the audience. I am hoping to see them a lot more often.

Our set was planned to be only two songs. Bevan played his Yamaha steel string, I don't know the model number, I played my Aria Nylon String. We played well and executed the songs well enough, but in the video that our drummer, Brett Robertson kindly took I noticed something about my guitar, well, the guitars in general.
There was a major lack of bass presence in the out going sound. Which resulted in us sounding very thin and like half an ensemble. Sure, we were only half the band but plenty people play unplugged with no bass and get a good, balanced sound.

I can only guess what the problem was out of a number of possibilities.

1. My Battery is a little flat. Any adjustments I make to the preamp above or below zero suck so much power out of the already dead batter rendering the guitar a lot quieter. I think it's time to invest in rechargeable's. We'll see how that turns out...
2. My guitar isn't the greatest sounding instrument. I have played guitars with a much better bass response. One of them being Brett's Ibanez that I pinched borrowed, another being a Martin that  I played in store. Maybe, just maybe, it's time to start  looking at a higher end Nylon String. For now I think I'm going to try the stolen  borrowed Ibanez and see what comes of it.
3. We didn't do any sort of sound check. There was no EQ'ing done before we started. We merely tuned and played. It may have been a contributor to the lack of bass response as I don't recall any other performer's sounding very bassy either. 
4. There were only 2 small speakers for the PA. I'm sure my guitar doesn't get down to the frequencies that require bass bins but it could have also contributed with the other, above-mentioned points. 

Yesterday I went to mass at my old Parish on the Bluff. I spent many years playing guitar in a small folk choir there. In fact I started out playing there.
In my confirmation years we were told to do something for the parish and seeing as I just started playing, I tried my hand and joined this group. I had only just started playing and could barely hold a barre chord but I joined anyway. I sat at the back with my trusty old Nylon String and strummed away.
I learned many things in that group. I was forced to play in front of people every week. I learned that mistakes don't count, you must just carry on playing. I learned about song structure and some very strange chord progressions. I made some good friends as well.
I must have been part of that group for over 12 years. I only ever wrote one piece of music I consider a hymn. I taught this choir the song, never letting them know where it came from. they all fancied it and we played it a few times.
I left that parish when I got married (just over a year ago) and haven't been back much. Last night was the second time I have returned in 18 months. I was listening to them play one of my favorite songs and it reminded me how grateful I am to be able to make music. It reminded me of my start, when I couldn't play Bm and I was so nervous. For all my dreams and hopes about music, the foundation was laid there.
they finished the song and I felt humbled.
Then they started to play their next song and a wave of goosebumps came over me. I had completely forgotten about the hymn I had written and they were singing it. They still have no idea who wrote it and I like it that way. It was so surreal. I just sat there, closed my eyes and listened to this small group perform a song that I penned. They sang it with heart and I could feel their belief in the words.
What a humbling experience to know that not only have  I written a song that is a spiritual connection for people, but that they sing it because they like it.

When playing small gigs one encounters a variety of very strange people. It’s not always drunk people either. I will try list those I have come across and how to handle them professionally.

I recently won a challenge on Guitarforum.co.za wherein we had to record a version of the SA National Anthem. The Prize was a year’s supply of strings, 12 sets of my normal strings. I am very chuffed and grateful to the guys from Guitarforum and it posed quite an interesting question for me, one I haven’t asked myself in ages.

I was once accused of hiding behind my effects. It hurt me a little because I like to think that I don't. Then one day my GT8 broke and I had to play without it.

I thought I could get away with it, after all, I only need a clean sound and a lead tone. My amp at the time had 2 lead channels which was more than I needed. That gig was a mess. I had no tuner to reference from, so my guitar was out despite my best efforts (I blame the wind. Thats my story and I am sticking to it)

That played on me a lot. What if it were to happen again? So I went and bought an amp with effects built in. I went for the Vox VT50, but could have easily gone for any of the Roland Cubes or the Line6 amps. Even so I reckon I had better learn to do without any effects at all.

I pitched up at a band practice without my amp or my pedal last week. I had to use my band mates Crate amp. It has a lead channel and a clean channel and I made do. Everything sounded fine, even though I use quite a few volume based effects I had to fiddle with the pickup switch and the volume control a lot more than usual but it happened.

Than yesterday, I carried my amp and all my effects but I think I hit new lows in life when I realised I didn't bring a guitar. It was too late to drive all the way back home and I knew nobody nearby with a guitar I could borrow. So I had to make do with playing on an acoustic guitar. It was an Ibanez MASA commemorative acoustic guitar. There isn't much info on this particular guitar but I can say that this one needs a slight neck adjustment, but all round it's a very nice guitar that belongs to our drummer.

So there I played. I changed a few gain and eq settings to try avoid feedback and I played what is normally electric guitar lines on an acoustic guitar. Soloing was a little tough because it has one less fret than I am used to and the cutaway is hard to get into. Add to that an action that you can park under and there you have it.

Why I write about this is that as an amateur musician, trying to get to the higher ranks, it can be good to be fussy about your gear, but if you are rushed into a studio, you might not have tome to go searching for your perfect guitar or to try find the best feel or tone. You could be in the right place at the right time and the right band will be in the studio. You wouldn't want to tell your favourite band, sorry I can't help you out, I don't have my lucky underpants guitar.

Try playing well on anything, that way you can do it at any time when asked.

I played on Saturday evening with Swell band at a birthday party. Lately with Swell we have been focusing on getting the on stage sound right. This weekend we seem to have nailed it.

The truth be told though, it seems we solved the problem by throwing money at it. Each of us had our own monitor, and we were mixing on a fairly advanced desk.
I had my trusty Vox rather close to me but thanks to the variable wattage I turned the amp down to about 30W and miked it for the Front of House sound.

I had to adjust the gain settings on my favourite lead patch on the Boss GT8 to prevent feedback and then the angels were singing.
Sometimes this is necessary. Much like EQ and reverb gain needs to be set for the venue. Too much will cause headaches and too little will sound weaker than you want it to. The tone you get in the rehearsal room is tough to mimic elsewhere.

I also decided that I was going to hold back a bit on my playing. Too often I try and be too flashy or fast and end up losing the plot. I played simple lines and kept with what I was 100% sure of. As a result my confidence was high and I left feeling like a king.

In my experience there are a lot of things that can go wrong with a gig. if there is a possibility if it going wrong, it probably will at some point in your career. Here are 10 things I like to check before I gig, big or small.

1. Strings. Check your strings a few days before, after your last practice and the day before. If you need to change for whatever reason do it as early as possible so your strings are at least slightly stretched in before you play. Tuning between songs is fine, but if your guitar can't stay in tune for a whole song it's not good enough. Also make sure you have spare strings or a spare guitar. If you do have a spare guitar you need to check that as well.

2. Leads. There is nothing worse than the noise a faulty cable makes on a loud guitar amp. It can make you look unprofessional and stupid to not have working leads. check them, carry spares and check those. Make sure you have more than enough to rig your gear.

3. Power. Never rely on the venue to have enough extension cables or multiple adapters to supply your rig. Even if they do, they may be in an unsafe condition and could possibly kill you mid-gig. Bringing your won makes sure they are there, and that they work.

4. Batteries. Does your guitar or pedal need batteries? Get new ones. or if you use rechargeable batteries, make sure they are charged and carry spares with you.

5. Stands. Microphone stands, guitar stands and amp stands. Make sure you have packed all you need. Venues always seem to be one stand short and to save time or to prevent having to string a mic up from the rafters, just carry that one in your car in case.

6. Toolkit. A basic toolkit in case quick repairs are needed should at least have screwdrivers, hex keys and spare parts for amps and guitars. I carry around a soldering iron as well but I've never needed it to date. The further you are away from home, or a quick place to get something fixed, the more prepared you need to be.

7. Spare Clothes. You are a performer and unless your stage presence relies on you looking a mess it is advisable to have a change of clothes with you. All you need is to be waiting to go on stage, and some drunk bumbling buffoon (because they are there) will stumble and spill his drink and/or food on you.

8. Effects. I like to double check that all my effects are working as planned. I have had my pedal fail on me once and I now have backup effects which I also check are working. I try have contingency plans for my contingency plans...

9. Rest. Try get plenty of rest before hand. You don't want to perform while yawning, that sends a very bad message to your audience. If your energy levels are up you can give that to your fans and they will appreciate it.

10. Be Prepared to Rock. Get yourself into the right frame of mind. Nothing can compare to finishing a gig, having been in the right head-space. Just a short meditation or psyche up and you can get on stage pumped and full of the right energy to put on a great show and soak up some really good energy from a crowd who enjoy watching the performance. I like to stretch before I play, I don't listen to any music and I run through what I need to do in my head before I get on stage.

It's always a great idea to be prepared, you may not be the best musician playing the most technical songs, but you definitely don't want to look unprofessional.
Thanks Arjun for the topic.

I once interviewed a band for a small magazine. They had just recorded an album and were about to sign a distribution contract. They were kind enough to give me a copy of their album and it was extremely well produced, the songs were amazing and the arrangement incredible. I would go so far as saying that it was the best album released in South Africa this millenium. Yet I know few people have heard of them.
So what went wrong? I guess we'll never know. Maybe it just wasn't their time? Maybe the country wasn't ready for this calibre of artist? Maybe there is a conspiracy against SA rock music?

This story has been bugging me for some time. As a musician, especially a rock musician it plays on me. How good do you have to be to be popular in this country?

If I think about the bands that were popular in SA in the last 10 years and what made them stand out for me I see a tale of very fickle South African tastes.I don't want to look at specific bands because some of them irk me to Hellengone, but the general rule is that a band comes out that was different from the norm at the time.
How on earth is one supposed to read the market? Maybe the best bet is to watch the charts and when there is nothing that sounds even remotely like you, and you believe you are good enough, then release your stuff.

Whatever it is, there doesn't seem to be a clear formula. Maybe some sort of trend info would help decipher it and help us understand the culture better. It's either that or constant market surveilance which, I guess, is another area for record labels to handle....

Following my last blog about amp placement I feel it necessary to speak more about stage preparation. 

I used to always have my amp standing on the floor when I played. I battled to get my sound right for ages.
What was happening was that the majority of the sound was hanging out on the floor, and what was coming to my ears was only certain frequencies, mainly higher tones.
So I got an amp stand and now I aim the amp at me, much like a monitor.

Being a musician is tough. Not only do we have to find money to buy great quality gear, we have to choose between a myriad of options, then we need to decide who to buy that from.
I paid a visit to Coastal Music in Durban to find out what makes my favourite local store tick.


Is it Stock?
Coastal music is fairly well stocked with everything you would need, guitars, keys, drums, recording gear, microphones, some wind instruments, strings, stands and most other stuff your average musician would need. They keep and can get all the big brands but seeing as it's not consignment stock, but a buy and re-sell operation keeping a R1million Steinway that one would probably buy once in a lifetime doesn't make much business sense. Dieter Bender, who runs the store, is part of a group that owns a few stores around SA, and imports music gear. He tells me that they will stock any instrument or brand that people ask for, provided enough people ask.

Is it Price?
Durban is a very price conscious city. I don't think anybody knows the reason for that and I'm sure the recession hasn't helped anybody. Generally in SA prices of gear is the same throughout. I have bought a very well priced Nylon String guitar from here before, and have also been shown a more pricey PRS that was in store. Dieter told me about a limited edition Takamine that was one of 80 made for the world that was sold for over R50,000, yet you can get a great set of strings for under R100. I'm not sure money matters too much as they seem to cater for everyone.

Is it Experience?
Dieter has been in the game for many years. He tells me that he was a production manager and got offered a job managing a music store, so he took it. Now he runs a very interesting ship, with all the staff being musicians with experience on the instruments. "The biggest challenge is getting people through the door," he tells me,"Everyone who comes in here does so for a reason and we want to make sure they leave having had a pleasant experience. Even if they don't buy something, they will tell a friend about how great it is to be in Coastal Music." As he tells me this I seem to click, and if you have been in the store you will too. How everyone is very approachable, they are all interested in you, even if you don't know what you are looking for.  I'll often pop in just to browse and Lee Loveridge or Ian Swart will show me the latest guitars or effect. We all know that when something bites you, you'll get it. I had a great opportunity to sit and test out the Roland GR20 and in the end I bought it from Coastal Music because they allowed me to experience it for quite a while, making quite a racket in the store.

Compared to the service you receive in other stores in Durban, Coastal Music is way ahead of the game. I remember once trying to look at a guitar in another store. A salesperson approached me, and before I could ask a question about the instrument, he reached behind me and turned the music up so I couldn't hear the guitar. I have never been back there again. I won't mention the name but it was such appalling service I do feel the need to tell all my mates about it.

Community Activity?
They do host in store workshops with the likes of Mike De Jager and Nibs van der Spuy. They have about 4 or 5 a year and invite the customers to attend. They also have a legendary sale once a year. People Wait in anticipation for this sale and even queue up outside the door before they open. I hope to get some video footage of the madness, there is no way I can describe it. The prices are so low and people go nuts for it.

I asked Dieter if he had any wisdom to give to musicians out there. "If you want to make your mark, you need to practice and apply yourself. Even someone who is tone deaf can play music by learning to read music."

Keep an eye on the Facebook group for info on the sale or ask a question, they are always glad to answer.

A friend asked me to restring a guitar for him. It is a fairly old, no brand, Japanese made Nylon string. At first glance it was a nice little instrument in dire need of new strings and some TLC.

There are a few items that I would like to touch on with this guitar that I found interesting. Let's look at it as a before and after exercise.

When I started removing the strings I noticed one of the tuning poles was cracked. I'm not sure how this could happen but it meant that I could not get a new string through the hole. I have all sorts of spares lying around so I could easily replace that part from bits and pieces lying around. It came out looking and feeling a whole lot better. There is a nasty crack on the head/neck that needs attention as well, but it is entirely fixable.

The music industry has changed quite a lot over the last few decades.In the past, a musician or band was "discovered" by a record executive, was signed to the label and was then paid to make music.

Financially it was a tricky affair. While the famous image would be the band, they couldn't really make all the money. The record label had to make something, after all they put up the money for the record to be made, video's and promotions to be done. They had to recoup that money somehow.

So it was a problem, where the labels and musicians appeared to be working against each other. Labels were made out to be big, bad, corporate, greedy dragons that ate up all the hard work form the poor, tired old musician. It's hard work performing live show, doing interviews and being adored. Sure they had the creative product but the label had the vessel to sell that product. Without either, there was nothing.

There were also a lot of independent labels cropping up. It's not much of a phenomenon, as there is money to be made, and these smaller labels are operating as subsidiaries to the bigger labels, who in turn are acting as publishers and go-betweens. The basic model is still there though as the label and the band working together to create and sell a product.

Very recently bands have begun taking the marketing on for themselves. It's not as easy going as they hoped for. There are a lot of funds to be generated for recording of demo's and albums. Making of videos and publicity material. Contacting the press and venues for performances. There is all this work that needs to go into being a band on top of creating great music to sell.

I'm glad that is the case. We will hopefully see a bit of understanding for the record labels and how hard they must have worked presenting packages to the public. It should also guide musicians to be more responsible, not only with their product, but with their conduct. Imagine how far the Beatles would have got with their albums while they were stoned to high hills if there was no label pushing them to perform? They would have been wasted talent.
Perhaps now, we will see a host of musicians coming to the fore who really WANT to be there. Not just people who were stumbled upon in a recording studio singing a song for his mother and became one of the worlds biggest stars by near accident.

I purchased a set off books recently that I think I should tell you about. They are a short series by David Mead and while I cannot vouch for the author, nor the accuracy of the content in the book, I always feel that if I learn one thing that improves my playing or attitude, then it is worth it.

I have the Basic Scales for Guitar, Basic Chords for Guitar, Basic Kit Repair and the Basic Guitar Workout.

Now I am very impressed with the Guitar Workout as it gives you some very good practice techniques which are very important.
The book works on a simple principle that 10 minutes of good practice here and there is better than not practicing because you only have 10 minutes. How he structures the sessions is that you randomly open the book to any exercise, and spend 2 minutes doing it. He gives a guide on how many repetitions you should be able to achieve in those 2 minutes but the aim is to do as many as you can, while maintaining clear tones.
Some of the exercises are rather tricky though he has split them into three categories, Warm-up; Co-ordination; and Ear Training. They really work your fingers and force you to practice real techniques that matter, not just speed but clarity across all available fingers.

I do like to buy little things like this. My main aim is to learn as much as possible, from all sources possible. That was my first and biggest lesson.

Not too long ago I purchased myself a keyboard to use for MIDI purposes in my music creation. It turns out I am not a keys player. I never have been and in the time it will take me to learn a whole new instrument I can make the money and hire someone to do it for me.

Then I heard about the Roland GR20 guitar synthesizer and figured this is a much better way to get the sounds I want, without having to hire a session musician.
It wasn't the cheapest of options but it certainly works well. But the toughest part is trying to play a guitar like you would a piano, or organ or trumpet etc.
Some of the sounds are very cheesy, others just don't live up to what they should be, but if I want a violin in the background of my piece, you won't know the difference between the real deal, and the synthesized take.

The pickup isn't very hard to mount and can be fitted on all types of guitars. As long as it has steel strings, or steel core strings then it will work.

One of the coolest things you can do is split the guitar and synth signal. You can split it after the pedal unit as well so you can send the guitar signal to a guitar amp/processor, and the synth signal to a PA or another amp.I have used this in a band situation, we didn't have a bass player so I split a bass signal to a bass amp, and my guitar to the guitar amp.
One can set the sensitivity of each string. In this case I had the top two strings on higher sensitivity and the bottom four on much lower. This prevented all my chords and general guitar work, from coming out of the synth and not sounding like a bass should. It would work wonderfully to use strings or other full sounding additions to really beef up your sound.

Here is part 1 of a 4 part video demo I put together.


Here are the rest, Part 2, Part 3 and Part 4.

Please feel free to leave a comment or ask questions. Have fun for now...

My father always used to tell me that when I was working with wood. "Measure Twice, Cut once."

It is an important lesson in preparation, but not long preparation, just the immediate prep before you perform an act. Much like cutting wood, taking a photo or video or recording a take on your guitar.

While on the set of Spud: The Movie I watched with great interest how they go about filming a scene. For each Camera there is a camera operator, a camera assistant and 2 lighting assistants.

The lighting assistants go back and forth a few dozen times with light meters, ordering different light settings in different places and ways, testing again, changing, testing again and so on. when they eventually have it right they test a few more times and then confirm with the camera assistant, who also checks it.

The camera assistant ensures he has the right lens on the camera, physically measures the distance with a tape measure, adjusts the camera, checks focus, measures again, conforms with the lighting guy, measures again, cleans the lens, checks focus again and only then can the camera operator film anything.

They do a few practice runs for the director who double checks everything on his screens before doing numerous actual takes.

This practice of checking, double checking and triple checking is to save film. The thought of using tape to record audio astound me and I wouldn't dream of it but apparently film gives a certain feel and most movies are on film anyway...

When I am recording in studio, even playing live, I am constantly checking my tuning. I always tune before I do a take. It is that small time saver that means I don't attempt to play, start recording and have to stop and tune before trying for real again. Especially when playing live, you cannot stop the band and start again because you are out of tune, that is unprofessional. Most times you wind up playing the song out of tune and it sounds horrible.

The best player playing the most expensive gear out of tune will sound horrible.

Measure Twice, Cut once. It may save your career....

The Ibanez SV Series*

Not only is the Wizard neck quite cool with 24 frets and these dimensions;
Scale 648mm/25.5"
a : Width at Nut 43mm
b : Width at Last Fret 58mm
c: Thickness at 1st 18mm
d : Thickness at 12th 20mm
Radius 430mmR

It has a very versatile pickup switching system*
















So you can have H-S-H or S-S-S

I love this Body **


Comes Standard with locking, auto trim tuners and a graphtec nut*

I haven't looked too hard for a price in SA. Coastal music don't have any in stock. But I found a price for £999 which should be roughly what to expect over here in South Africa


* Images and info Courtesy of Ibanez.com
** Images courtesy of Music Radar.com

I have a fairly good fret-less bass. It does need constant adjusting seeing as the action is so low and the tolerances are small. but when it is right, it is very sweet.

It is an Aria Pro2 and the frets were removed and filled in.

The fret markers are still there so it is slightly easier to find the note.

I have my intonation set that the note is just behind the line.

Here is a short, fairly bad video of how it sounds and plays.

I've been a little busy the last two weeks and have some interesting stories for you all...

Last week, just when I thought my business was never going to make any money a company in Canada mailed me asking for a studio in Durban to record a voice over with John Cleese. I use a few studios and this was my forst opportunity to use Source connect and I think I may be one of the first in Durban to use this instead of the more expensive ISDN.

Needless to say John Cleese is very gracious and a true gentleman. I can only imagine what it must be like having to adapt to new colleagues every job and he does it so well. He is very talented and nailed each of the scripts sent to us.

That same night I played two gigs in one. Swell band is hosting a music evening once a month and my other act, a guitar duo with Tom Hasting that is yet to be named, performed as well. I learned a valuable lesson about cheap strings as well as cheap guitars. While I was restringing in the morning my Ibanez Nylon string broke. I had to replace the tuners with an old one I had lying around. Now I need a new guitar...

Sunday night I played at Sibaya Casino again. I find this very interesting as I play 3 sets with the nylon string and the last with my strat.
What this does is keep things calm for a while, even though we give it some serious stick while I play the nylon string. Hearing a nylon string guitar playing the lead option is so beautiful. It sounds so Mediterranean and really adds so much class to what could be very boring and monotonous with an electric guitar.
The final set is always pumping and gives me the opportunity to rock a little more. We generally end the set with "Gravity", the John Mayer song and it closes our gig off so well.

Then out of the blue this week my band mates and I got called to be extra's in Spud the Movie. I enjoyed the books and am also stoked because John Cleese is in it.I will definitely be feeding back on what I have seen on a movie set so stay tuned.

I got a question from one of the vids on YouTube
"How do you record onto v-track 78_2 and delete the one that's already there?"

To select where to bounce the track move your cursor to the top right of the screen. You will see this;

Select which track by using the scroll wheel, then select which V-Track you wish to use. This is currently track 7/8, V-track 5.

The squares next to the number indicate whether you have something recorded there or not. If they are blank then no data is recorded in the V-Track

Hope That helps. Feel free to ask anything else.

I never really liked the flying V so I advertised it for sale and I was traded a Samick strat style guitar for it. Value wise I reckon they're pretty much the same but the Epiphone has a more popular brand name. The Samick is a basic strat style guitar with two humbucking pickups and a floating Tremolo bridge.

I didn't really find time to play with the guitar much but when I did,
I found the D-string almost jumped out every time I used the trem. The guide at the bridge was broken and couldn't be held in place.


I obtained a new bridge hoping to just slot it in, but the plate was smaller than the current trem and it certainly wasn't going to be that easy. The next thing I thought I could do was to swop out all the guides.








There it is all done. The intonation, luckily, was spot on when I put the bridge on. The hardest part is adjusting the spring for the trem vs. the string gauge. Thankfully I've done that before and it was easier. It has a fatter neck than I thought it would but it plays very smooth and I can see myself enjoying it for a short while before selling it off.

Playing with Swell band has taught me a lot about music performance. I have learned about bad gigs, good gigs, playing outdoors, dealing with some very strange people, being ignored, being harassed, and playing on some tiny stages as well as some big ones.

What stood out for me this weekend was that, when playing covers, you have to believe in the song to really communicate it well. There are some songs we do that the whole band believes in and we really pump those out. We have a lot like that and it is such an amazing feeling to play.

But there are the songs that I battle to get behind. Blue Eyes, by Elton John is one of them. Every time I play that song I feel like I die a little inside. We play it EVERY TIME. I don't believe in it, so I can't follow it, and I have to bury my nose in sheet music to guess what is going on and my performance suffers for it.

So how do I get around this? I dunno. I don't think I can force myself to like certain songs. I guess I must try keep to songs I believe in. Unfortunately in this case the band likes this song. I may be dead by 2015 if I carry on playing it.

That is why it is so much easier to play your own songs, because you automatically believe in them. If you didn't, you wouldn't have written them, or you would have made them somethign you can work with.

Thats just the way the world works. but if you figure out how to pay music you hate, let me know how..

I was in the studio last night again with my mate Brett Robertson and Bevan Lynch finishing off the recording of what will be our first single "Ode to Innocence."

This was my first time working with a producer. Many South African bands are left up to their own devices and come out with takes in the recording that are good enough, but not the best. Marciano Monjane, who incedentally also works at Andiamo Sound, helped us out at Siyabonga Media with the track.

It started out at first like an ordinary pop rock song, simple intro to verse, chorus, verse, basic solo chorus then end. With Marciano's guidance we added little treasuers (as Bevan called them) into the mix. A little bit of guitar here, a change in bass there, some synth that you can hear, but not quite and the harmonies are so subtle yet amazingly effective.

Bevan performed the vocals amazingly well and again, we could have had a take that was good enough but we went for the best and I think we got it.

Keep an ear out for it. Soon enough we'll be hitting your airwaves...

I am starting to think it is easier to get a great tonewith a les paul than it is a strat.

Go to my myspace page and listen to Leap to life (done with the Les paul) and War in the back alley (done with the strat) and tell me what you think.

If you want to hear what I do, you can find my Myspace, or my Facebook page

I uploaded a small tune, Leap to Life, which is an instrumental I did to play around with the tone of my Epiphone Zakk Wylde Bullseye Les Paul.  Go along and take a listen to it, I think I got a fairly good tone this time around.

It is an awesome guitar...