Donovan Banks

Too Many Experts

2011-02-15T16:29:00.000+02:00

I read many blog or forum posts from people who own studios, teach music or are in some way involved in the music industry where they claim to know and profess all truth.

It seems to me that there are far too many experts who have done nothing further with their involvement that writing about it online. How do you now who to trust?

I always like to look at it this way, has the person done enough with their knowledge to be considered known for it? meaning is the person at least semi-famous as an engineer, producer, musician, teacher etc. Have they written for any publications that matter or are they doing a buddy a favour?

If the answer for that is no, then I consider how honest the person is. Do they say they are still learning but this is what I know so far? Are they humble about what they know? One can only despise the guy who says, "I teach people how to sing therefore I AM the authoritae on song writing." I've come across someone like that before. He tried to tarnish the good name of my band because we didn't agree with him.

I maintain one thought though, listen, take what you need and can work with . But ALWAYS follow your own thoughts. Nobody knows your plans better than you.

The Fat Strat Diet

2011-01-28T08:35:00.000+02:00

I'm not a big fan of HSS Stratocasters. I've never liked the sound that you get from the humbucker. Maybe I don't use enough gain when I play a strat but it doesn't sound right. In fact it doesn't sound like it's matched to the others. It feels like such an afterthought. "Oh, Ibanez can do it, why don't we?"

The Fender Stratocaster is awesome with 3 single coil pickups. They work well together, when matched correctly, and give you a sound and tone that only a strat could. They have made major improvements for noise reduction and their tone is only getting better.

I put the Fender Hot Noiseless pickup in the bridge. I left the Tex Mex pups in the middle and neck position even though I feel they are not 100% suited to the sound I am after. I am keen for a set of Toneriders or maybe Kinmans if anyone wants to send me a set to demo... hint hint.

Here's the video comparison for my now, better sounding, strat. Enjoy

Upgrading a Squier Stratocaster...Again.

2011-01-26T17:11:00.000+02:00

A while back I acquired a Fender Hot Noiseless pickup which I immediately chucked into a 1990 MIJ Squier Stratocaster.

Well, I recently got my hands on a set of Fender pickups from an American Stratocaster. Of course the first thing I would do is apply them to my Squier and make a video of it. Wouldn't you?

Answer Some Questions

2011-01-12T15:16:00.000+02:00

I do get the odd question from the videos I upload to YouTube. I thought I'd answer them publicly to make myself feel important. ha ha

The first mail comes from Neil.

Hi Donovan Firstly, I would like to thank you for your youtube vids for boss br600. Really helpful. I wonder if you could send me a copy of the drum track list that you mentioned as I had trouble locating it on your blog page. Keep up the good work. Thanks Neil

Thanks Neil and I apologise for taking so long to reply. I might have moved it or misplaced it when I changed servers. So I have loaded it here for your benefit. Enjoy. I certainly found keeping a record of what I had done very helpful when arranging.

The second mail comes from Steve,

Hi there...I can export my ttrack 1 through 4 and 5/6 to my computer but when I try to export 7/8 it says card full...now I'm exporting so I don't understand why it says card full as I have plenty of memory left on the computer external card... Any help is appreciated and thanks for your other videos, I wouldn't be able to do this without your posts :) steve

What the BR600 does when you export a track is copy the .wav file to the USB folder on the card. Which means that if you have recorded 8 tracks, then export 8 tracks there are effectively 16 .wav files on your card taking up storage space.
What I found to be more effective is the Boss WAV converter which can be downloaded here. Basically it is more visual when downloading WAV files from the BR600. I will try get a video done for that soon.

Have fun recording guys.

How'd it Go?

2011-01-04T22:51:00.000+02:00

That's the question I hear all 65 of you ask about the recording of my last gig.

Not so great, is the answer.

There was a lot wrong with the way the whole event was executed to begin with and there are some things we can all learn from here.

Planning
There were 13 bands, each playing 2 songs with no sound check in between. The stage was nicely laid out with enough gear and we as the band knew what was expected of us. We were prepared. So we thought.
I got on stage and made use of a Laney Cub amp. I chose that over the other 2 Fender amps because I knew it had good tone and figured since it was mic'ed up, I could have the mix in the monitors and not hear it too much from the source. Unfortunately when I should have told the sound engineer which amp I was using I didn't because I was rushing to set up. I will NEVER forsake quality of sound for time. The result of this was that when I broke into my solo, and it was a great one, it was inaudible. You could hear nothing at all. I tried in between sections to crank the amp but it was at 10 and still nothing.

Execution
I just carried on playing and by the second song I was definitely hearing guitar. My moment had passed. Nobody heard me. I checked with the engineer recording the audio and he had recorded the stereo mix and not each instrument on separate tracks. Recording stereo can work out awesome when the live sound is up to the right standard. Unfortunately, now there is a recording with absolutely no guitar, not even a track that can be compressed and amplified to rescue it. I can probably try dubbing some guitar over it after the fact but I am not sure how usable that track, or the recording will be.

We played our two songs with gusto and pizazz. The audience enjoyed us and we had fun. Hopefully the end product is usable, or at least YouTubable (c) so you can see it. Maybe I can also get my hands on the audio and add what guitar I can but we will see.

Frankly I can't blame anyone for the shortcomings but myself. We knew what we were getting into and we prepared for it. I just disregarded lessons and experience that I have had from this same venue. I knew something was going to fail and didn't look hard enough at what could go wrong.

I still had an awesome jam though....

Live DVD Recording

2010-12-11T10:40:00.000+02:00

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.

A Big Cover Up

2010-11-18T16:08:00.000+02:00

In South Africa the 6^th Edition of Idols (ptui!) recently closed with a character named Elvis Blue being declared the winner. Now I usually don’t care about this drivel but there are a few things I feel I need to talk about to all 6 people who read this, thanks Mom… (actually if my mother reads this I’ll be very impressed ha ha)

I once interviewed the singer of a local band called The Spoonfeedas. They were relatively successful in SA having a few good singles and some radio play with good sales and a fantastic live performance. The singers, Peter Guthrie, told me how he auditioned for the first SA Idols and never made it through the first round. By the second Idols the contestants were singing one of their songs in the final rounds. It’s a pretty clear indication of where real success comes from, and it isn’t from sms votes…

What made me really mad about this latest outcome is that the “winner” is singing a version of “Things My Father Said,” by Black Stone Cherry. I love Black Stone Cherry, and funny enough I discovered this song shortly before my father passed away 2 days before my wedding on 11 December 2008. It is a brilliant piece of music and BSC deliver it so well. The song was released in 2008 so it is still very recent in the music world. South Africa hasn’t cottoned onto this band and I had to buy the album off Amazon and import it.

Then this twit from Idols releases his version as a single. Now I’m not fully against him, or cover versions but I do feel that a cover version that is arranged exactly the same as the original is a silly idea. I also reckon releasing a cover as your first single isn’t the best way to launch your career.

Let me knock the latter point out the park first. If your first release is a cover, you will gain fans for someone else’s sound. Do you remember Alien Ant Farm? And their cover of Michael Jackson’s, “Smooth Criminal?” Did you hear any more from them? I remember one song and then they disappeared. Even the fact that they did the song justice with their arrangement didn’t help them because it did not allow the fans to get familiar with their particular style. All that happened was a group of closet Michael Jackson fans got to enjoy the song in public. Fall Out Boy also recently covered a MJ song, “Beat it.” They too had some success with it with one difference. They were already established and their fan base grew by those same few closet MJ fans. The only artists I know of who have success with releasing only covers are the crooners and those who sell to old ladies. Michael Buble stands out because his follow up releases, especially his own work were very good and he has earned the respect of this writer…

Seether recently released a cover of Wham’s Careless Whisper. They added their own Seether twist to it and their fans enjoyed it. As well as a few closet Wham fans as well. Micheal Flower covered Oasis’ Wonderwall and arranged it unbelievably well. It makes the original sound like a cover. Alas this isn’t everyone’s cup of tea. Jimi Hendrix made All Along the Watchtower his own as did Garth Brooks with Bob Dylan’s To Make You Feel My Love. Jose Feliciano and the Doors’ single Light my Fire. They all made it in their own style. If it were done according to the original arrangement all credibility would have been lost.

Why would any artist bother making an audio “photocopy” of someone else’s music? Especially as a first release. Please, be intelligent and learn from the mistakes others make.

Free Music Is A Rip-Off

2010-09-20T12:54:00.000+02:00

I see so many bands these days giving out free music online. While I like the idea of free anything, I have to wonder where the product comes from. Where does the money come from to produce it?

Copying music is free, as free as it gets. All you need is a computer. You don’t need to design album art, get CD’s printed, packaged and distributed. I guess the trick is getting people to actually download, or copy with intent to share, your music.

I can see a reason for doing this. One can easily assume that people don’t want to pay for music. We hear a lot of talk in the press about how the downloading of music is hurting the industry. Then we hear the artists saying that they don’t mind, it is getting your work out there. The idea of millions of adoring fans is a great driver for many a musician. Having people sing along to your music at a gig is a great idea. You could be the next big thing, talked about by everyone, mentioned on every top blog; your songs could be on every celebrity’s iPod. You’ll be a star!

But you’ll be broke.

How will you have recorded your massive single? Who will have paid for your studio time? You could record at home, even with free software. Will it be good enough? It takes a massive amount of skill and effort to get a big studio sound out of a small home setup.

Do you think that these same people, who don’t want to pay for your music, will want to pay to see you perform? Will they pay to buy your branded hoodie? Who will hire you to play at their venue if the audience you attract, don’t want to pay for anything? How will the club make any money? Who will buy the beer? The same people who won’t pay for your music?

What if you get big enough to attract sponsorship from a large corporation? Do you expect this same audience, who don’t want to spend, to spend on your partnered brand? You may be attracting a crowd, but you’re not attracting a very good one. I don’t really see the point in being rich and famous, if you leave the rich out. Then you are merely infamous. Let’s leave that to serial killers.

I think the most disappointing factor about a band that gives their music away, is that they clearly don’t value their own product enough. Why would you make a product that you believe is not good enough to ask money for? There are many people who would pay $1 for a single on iTunes. It is an easy transaction. These same people would pay a few more dollars for more of your singles if they like it. They will also buy your merchandise, pay to see you perform and support your sponsors.

Why do bands think their product is so worthless that they have to give it away? I immediately think the band themselves don’t like the music. They don’t think they are worth someone giving them money for making it.

Have some pride in your craft. Make great music, believe in it and sell it. If it is good enough you could sell 100, 000 singles worldwide. If you get 60cents per single you have made $60, 000 dollars. If 2% steal your music, then there will be a further 2,000 copies of your song out there, but you have a wad of cash so you don’t have to care.

Zzyxz Snap Jack

2010-08-27T14:21:00.000+02:00

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...

Acoustic Sessions

2010-08-19T09:10:00.000+02:00

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.

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...
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.
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.
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.

I think we did well last night. I am just being a little bit picky about the sound. Thankfully it was a small gig, not like we were making a DVD of it.

I do think it is important to review your performances. If you can get a simple video of the band so you can watch it later, you get to have an outside look at your performance. Much like any sport you need to improve on your last gig so keeping a reference will help identify areas to work on for your next performance.

Humbling Experience

2010-08-16T14:40:00.000+02:00

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.

The kind of people you encounter at a gig

2010-07-30T08:56:00.000+02:00

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.

The Starer – This is the person who saunters up really close to where you are playing and tries to take in everything without blinking. He/She will walk slowly back and forth across the front of the stage, or round the sides too if it is clear and will glare at every piece of gear on the stage. They only glance at you; the musician and try avoid eye contact. They may get a blank look on their face and their mouth may start to fall open. This is not a sign of awe but more a sign of complete brain shut down. The Starer is harmless but needs to be watched in case they turn out to be a crazy fanatic who thinks you are Elvis reincarnated and is looking for a souvenir to snatch and run away with. Keep an eye on this one.

The Drunk Dancer – This one may appear to be really enjoying the music and embarrassing themselves on the dance floor. They do provide the band with some entertainment as well but may easily turn into the requester or the wannabe-member. Look, smile and enjoy the person who is enjoying you making music.

The Requester – This is the person who hangs around one of the members mid song. They usually target the most accessible, or the most accessible looking member. As the song finishes they pounce and make a request for Elvis, the Beatles, Dire Straits or Wonderful Tonight. If you can fulfill the request then do so if you wish. Always be polite but if they request something you hate playing, ask for all requests to be written on a R200 note. This generally gets them to leave you alone but it may just score you an extra R200.

The Visiting Muso – To me these can be either really encouraging or a massive pain in the butt. He tends to stand somewhere he thinks is inconspicuous but you can spot him a mile away. He stands leaned against a wall or railing with his hands in his pockets or arms folded. He will watch the member who plays the same instrument as him. One has to particularly worry when this one is part requester. He has the potential to approach a member and request the song he finds most difficult to play. When you say no, he will retort with, “Oh, I can play that.” Or, “Real musicians don’t need sheet music.” Or some snide remarks that will make you want to moer him with your instrument. If you are a musician watching a band, smile. Look approachable and happy to be watching the band. Remember the person on stage is just like you and could use encouragement and positive reinforcement whether they are better or worse than you.

The Wannabe Member – She is the person who wants to sing a song. Part requester and usually inebriated this person suddenly gets the courage and talent and wants to be part of your band. My view is to not oblige these people. Politely say, “We have a rehearsed system and we’ll only make you look bad.” Or something else nice but firm. If you do allow them on stage, they could either be really bad in which case you have potentially made the most popular person in the bar look stupid making a few enemies, or they could be really good and make you look bad.

The Interrupter – The interrupter is usually one of the above but with no manners. They will approach a band member mid song, yes, while you are playing or singing and want to engage you in conversation. I have lost count how many times this has happened to me. This is a result of trying to interact with your audience. If you sense he is about to approach you employ the cold shoulder, if you are standing. The Cold Shoulder is deployed by turning your back on the person. If they approach you from behind they will have to make physical contact now which is unlikely. If you are sitting, then the death stare should help but is not very effective. You’re on your own.

String-a-ling

2010-07-13T08:45:00.000+02:00

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.

Normally when I buy strings, I try different gauges and brands. I hardly stick to the same set even though I have been playing for years I still haven’t settled. Now that I am to choose a set that I will stick with for a year, what will I choose?

I tend to stick with lighter gauge strings on my electric guitars, and seeing as I play a lot more electric guitars than acoustic I will go for electric strings. I switch between 9’s and 10’s often. I am still undecided but the last time I put a set of 10’s on a guitar I found I was longing for 9’s more so I think I will stick with that. However, another problem has been arising of late.

I have 4 electric guitars. One Epiphone Les Paul Custom Zakk Wylde Bull’s-eye signature, A 1990 MIJ Squier Stratocaster, a MIM Fender Deluxe Power Stratocaster and a Samick dunno-what-you-may-call-it Strat style guitar with a Floyd Rose Tremolo. I generally like to stick to the same gauge across all my guitars. I don’t have to but it seems the most practical; added to that it is cheaper and more economical to buy strings in a box of three sets than individually. Physically three of the guitars are the same scale length and the Les Paul is shorter. What I find on the internet is that the lightest gauge strings that suit a Les Paul is 10’s, and I am putting 9’s on them.

We often refer to the set by the gauge of the high E. Which means that a set of 9’s or 10’s would have the following string gauges across;

String	9’s	10’s
E	.009	.010
B	.011	.013
G	.016	.017
D	.024	.026
A	.032	.036
E	.042	.046

On my Les Paul I often have the problem of the low E buzzing. This is not because of the setup and the action being too low. This, it turns out, is the fact that my lower string is too thin or the gauge is too low. The complicated answer is that the density, or linear mass of the string is low, and the length is shorter than my other guitars, meaning that the vibration pattern is wrong for this particular guitar. It is even worse if I use Drop-D Tuning.

Now my predicament is two-fold. I prefer lighter than 10 on my bottom strings, but I have to have heavier on the top. It seems manufacturers are considering this issue and now make sets with light gauge and heavy bottom, as some call it.

So what you do get is a set with the following gauges;

String	9’s	10’s
E	.009	.010
B	.011	.013
G	.016	.017
D	.026	.030
A	.036	.042
E	.046	.052

I am still in the experimental stage but I feel I am close to finding the right gauge string for me. Fortunately for me, and thanks again to guitarforum.co.za, I am going to have a yearlong trial of my choice of string. Incidentally I chose Ernie Ball, Hybrid Slinky’s

The stupid things I do

2010-06-24T09:10:00.000+02:00

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.

Good Sound and good fun.

2010-06-22T14:07:00.000+02:00

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.

10 things to Check Before a Gig

2010-06-03T16:39:00.000+02:00

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.

Beware SA Bands...

2010-06-02T22:56:00.000+02:00

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....

Riders on the Storm

2010-05-26T10:42:00.000+02:00

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

There are many factors that influence how we perform, we need to be comfortable, prepared, sober, awake, and hear ourselves well. If these are met than the only thing between us and a good performance is how well we execute what we practiced.

Preparing a stage isn't too difficult, but you need to do it. You can't rock up and expect to stand/sit anywhere and perform at your best. You need to know the layout of the stage, what equipment is available and what you need, where the engineer will be and where the audience will be.

A rider is much like a list of what to expect for a gig. You can see an example of John Mayer's rider here. For the average band, compiling a stage rider for each performance is a good idea. It is helpful to make a list of what equipment the band uses, how many plug points are required, how many microphones and stands are needed and whether there is any gear that can be left at home. It is a useful planning tool for the live performer.

Good stage preparation will only leave you concerned with the performance, that should be all thats on your mind. Worrying about gear and how you sound should be left up to a sound engineer. Trust your rider and the team.

Amp Placement

2010-05-19T15:59:00.000+02:00

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.

Now I am hearing the full effect of the amp, all the tones of my guitar and if I mic it up right, so should the audience. See my Vox on the left.

The next problem comes in with what I had to deal with this week. I played on someone else's amp twice this week, once on Sunday and then again this morning, 19 May 2010. The difference it made as to where the amp was placed is huge.

Sunday I played on a small Fender combo amp. It was placed on a chair right behind me. The stage was small and tight and I was battling to stop any feedback. The amp and guitar were way too close together and as soon as I added any gain for lead sounds, it was uncontrollable. But, because I was in a rush and it wasn't my stage I couldn't change it around. Without gain it was fine, but very loud and it made me uncomfortable. When you sound good, your attitude comes right and then you play better. When you sound bad you focus too much on it and try to fix your sound instead of actually playing.

This morning I played on a Roland JC120. The stage was much bigger and the amp was far away from me, pointing up at me again. When I added the lead patch on my GT8, no feedback, no uncomfortable noise, just pure goodness.

It is very important to take time and find your position for your amp and you. You don't want the amp pointing at the guitar, you will just get feedback. You don't want it aimed parallel to the floor, unless you have ears in your ankles. You want the amp aimed at your head so you can hear it clearly, sound good, and rock out properly.

What makes a music shop stand out.

2010-05-13T11:35:00.000+02:00

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.

Guitars Need Love too

2010-05-12T08:13:00.000+02:00

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 way I string a nylon is very simple. I start at the bridge, then feed the string through the hole on the tuner and start from the outside I wind it over the piece that protrudes. I don't tie a knot as it makes taking the strings off quite tough. Basically I rely on the mechanics of leverage to stop the string from slipping off. I use the tension of the string itself to hold it in place and it works for me. My guitars are fairly stable and look neat.

The tail-piece can be tricky for some and it should end up looking like this. What you do is make a loop around the string passing through and wind it twice around itself. Don't tie a knot as it can come loose or get stuck in the hole of the tail-piece.

There was a fair amount of dirt on this guitar and particularly the frets. which is nothing some Lemon oil can't clean off. I took a photo while I was halfway with the fretboard.

There is still a little more work to be done on this guitar, the action is way too low and it needs a new nut and bridge. But for now it certainly looks a whole lot cleaner and feels a little better.

I love the clean up before putting new strings on. I can appreciate the instrument so much more after that.

Label, No Label. The Independent Choice.

2010-04-29T20:37:00.000+02:00

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.

Working Out

2010-04-29T11:23:00.000+02:00

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.

Roland GR 20

2010-04-26T08:57:00.001+02:00

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...

Measure Twice, Cut Once

2010-04-15T21:24:00.001+02:00

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....

I am GASsing for one of these!

2010-04-12T19:57:00.003+02:00

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 **

the bridge uses Bearings to pivot instead of a knife edge

and you can adjust the springs easily

just look at that finish!

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

My Fretless Bass

2010-04-01T11:27:00.001+02:00

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.

What's taking up my Time?

2010-03-31T10:41:00.000+02:00

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.

Recording over a track - Boss BR600

2010-03-12T10:45:00.001+02:00

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.

Floating Trem Repair

2010-02-18T08:33:00.001+02:00

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.

The new bridge also had smaller screws to adjust the intonation which meant the gap in the "fork" was too smal for the screws in the existing bridge, and the small screws were too small for the holes in the old bridge as well.

This is the broken guide and the new one I put in. There are some very cool differences. The new guide is a string through, meaning I don't have to cut the ball end off to re-string. Although it doesn't have individual height adjusters like the old guides. I'm lucky the neck is fairly flat so it doesnt matter all that much.

Filed out to make it wider.

I filed the top down as well to give the screw more bridge to bite on. With the current height of that guide it only had less than 1mm to grip and I felt it could use more, especially at the tension and use I intend putting it through.

Thankfully this won't make a difference to the action or feel of the guitar. It made more mechanical sense to do this.

There's the bridge all together now.

Here you can see where the strings are threaded. It definitely makes restringing much easier.

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.

I'm GASsing for an Ibanez S Series... mmmmm

Covering all the Bases

2010-02-16T09:23:00.000+02:00

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..

Studio Time Again

2010-02-11T09:43:00.000+02:00

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...

Tone comes easier with some

2010-02-10T14:01:00.000+02:00

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.

Hear my Music

2010-02-10T07:46:00.000+02:00

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...

Fender Bassman in White Vinyl

2010-01-29T09:04:00.000+02:00

2 Years ago I had a 70's Fender Bassman in fair condition but it was looking tatty. I undertook to re-cover it in white vinyl. It was a wonderful sounding amp but it was too big for me to haul around so I sold it.

This is how it looked before. That speaker was from another old valve amp that died.

It was quite old looking and had a fair amount of damage to the tolex

I set about removing the old tolex from the head

and cleaned off the remaining glue

I used the pieces I took off to cut the new vinyl and used contact glue to stick it on.

I covered the front face with the only black fabric I could find at the time using staples

After cleaning up the metal trimming I assembled it again when the glue was good and dry

The Cabinet had water damage (have no idea from where) and it was made out of chipboard. When I tried to remove the tolex it just disintegrated. I bought some pine and made a new cabinet using the same face and back board but I put castors on it this time to make transport easier....

I also covered the cabinet in the same vinyl and black face cloth

It turned out much better and even made my guitar look cooler....

I had a good time with this project and I intend to do it again some time, although not with a new amp, I'll find another old one.

Problems with the industry today.

2010-01-28T13:50:00.003+02:00

When Jimi Hendrix came on the scene he was brilliant. He had showmanship and could play really well for the time and took a new perspective on some old songs as well. He adopted some cool stage moves, loud guitars and what I can only describe is blasting the audience away with something new and exciting.

If I were to go and play like that today I will be seen as unoriginal, with uncontrolled audio, poor guitar tone and I wouldn’t play much again. I certainly wouldn’t become world famous. But Why?

The industry today has become very technical. A lot more people have access to a lot more info and teaching so there are a lot of really good musicians out there. With this amount of technical knowledge, simple music isn’t very simple and has to be really tight to sound good. A good guitar solo today has to be a great guitar solo and must be played extremely well or it will be considered amateur.

I guess it will happen that way, we need to progress with everything, including music. So the musicians we revere and hail as heroes or pioneers have been studied and improved upon. My problem is now we have incredibly high standards being set. The guitar world is made up of rockers like Satriani and Vai who are immensely good. Jazz musicians like Tuck Andress, finger style players like Paco de Luca and yet people are still craving something new and exciting. While the Rock and Roller’s of the 60’s were new and exciting, Then the heavy metal of the 80’s. Nirvana brought something new in Grunge and after that Metal got heavier and even started fusing with Hip Hop. Now we have guitarists like Andy Mckee who plays a very interesting mix of finger style and tapping. Zak Kim who plays 2 guitars at once has also become a YouTube sensation because it is new an interesting.

But what next? Does that mean I need to learn to play guitar in a new, fancy way? Do I need to learn to play ultra fast or with new, crazy effects? The odds are against us as average musicians.

There are a lot of musicians out there. I think even more guitarists because it is fairly easy to learn compared to some other instruments. The competition is hot, the standards are high and I reckon it is a mammoth task to make some sort if living from this industry.

Sometimes I wonder why I bother….

Making Patches on the Boss GT8

2010-01-13T08:07:00.000+02:00

Someone at GT Central has created software to edit the GT8 via MIDI cable from the PC. I have been trying it out and made this short vid so you can see the interface. I do love it as it has taken me from confusing multi effect to having knobs and buttons like using single pedals....

I've loaded it on my netbook so I can use it in the band room....

I won! I won!

2010-01-11T08:39:00.001+02:00

Okay so it's not THAT exciting, but I did win the Beginners Category in the GFSA Birthday theme competition.

Here's my entry to the competiton.

I basically played around with theose chords and tried to use all my guitars in it. I used six guitars in total;
Ibanez Nylon String
Fender Mexican Stratocaster
Epiphone Zakk Wylde Les Paul
Aria Fretless Bass
Warwick Bass Guitar

To get the beginning tone from the Nylon string I taped the strings with insulation tape to dull it a bit. I was very happy with the way that came out. i was also impressed with the transition to the clear guitar.

My prize is a Boss TU-80 Tuner/Metronome. I look forward to getting it and letting you know how it works...

The Prize was sponsored by Music Madness who has also given me some good deals on Gear

Belief is a Beautiful Armour

2009-12-28T16:40:00.001+02:00

I recently read John Smit's book, Captain in the Cauldron and in it, he speaks of how they arrived in France for the 2007 Rugby World Cup. He said the team decided to act as if they had won the Cup already. From my perspective as someone watching, they did play very well and I could see they were going to win, just by the attitude they took on the field.

Here's something I take for myself as a musician from that. I may not be the most talented musician currently, nor am I even remotely famous but I am going to act like I am, so that I can believe it and practice and perform like I am. It is my first step into being as great as I can be...

John Mayer's Tone is awesome!

2009-12-15T16:57:00.002+02:00

It is no secret that I am a HUGE John Mayer fan. Not so much because I am fat, but that I love his work.

I have been trying so hard to get his tone right. I played a little bit with my GT8 and VOX VT50 and came very close to his tone in "Somethings Missing." but now I am very stoked.

I was playing around with the sound of "I dont trust myself (With Loving You)" and found the Boss Slow Gear on the GT8 can get you fairly close.

This is what My guitar sounds like so far. I am trying to get it as close to the original as possible. I don't even know why I just want to conquer this...

Using the GT8 and the Slow gear effect, quite a bit of EQ as well but the slow gear is set with Sensitivity at 47, and rise time 79.

here's my sample...
http://www.box.net/shared/dt7isgqi09

its a little louder than the backing track.
If any GT8 owners can get it closer let me know.
For the record the Preamp was the Tweed, gain 22, bass 83, mid 60, treble 43, presence 7, level 48
and added some reverb and very slight chorus in.

Strat Copy doesn't sound too bad

2009-12-15T09:34:00.002+02:00

I took a chance and bought a no-name strat copy. I bought it on the premise that maybe someone was stupid enough to remove the real branding. I guess someone was clever enough to because it isn't anything if interest. Except a really cool beginner guitar.

Everything feels cheap to me but if this were my first guitar I would have been stoked. It also came with a Marshall MG15DFX which is surprisingly cool.

Here is a little recording I did using this guitar into the Boss BR600...

Feel free to comment, let me know about cool stuff or subscribe to this blog...

Great Moments Playing Guitar

2009-12-09T09:25:00.000+02:00

In 2005 I went to the World Youth Day in Köln, Germany. You can read more about it by following the link. I took a cheap guitar, in case it got lost or damaged, as I was involved in music and they asked me to bring one so we could sing songs as well as so I could lead the music in Masses.

When we were leaving for Germany, Tyler, Calvin and I were sitting in the departure lounge of JHB International (OR Tambo) airport. Tyler was playing the guitar and I was playing trumpet like melodies on a vuvuzela. The kids around us were so amused and it appeared to be quite entertaining for everyone waiting with us. It was so great to just be free and make music with no hindrances, no rules and no boundaries.

I made people sign the guitar and just looking at it brings back such great memories.

You can see the remains of Mich signing, We found a brochure on 100 ways to say no to sex. One of them was "sorry, I have sunburn." so she wrote that on my guitar.

We met Brad in JHB Airport. Tyler's signature is there as well.

We met a young priest who always drew a fish. His name has rubbed off but you can make out OFM just under the fish.

I remember Maggie, she was older than us but she was a music teacher. I can't recall where we met her but I remember why she drew the notes.

We played soccer with Jose and his mates from Honduras

Most have rubbed off because I played the guitar a lot on the trip. I couldn't not but I do wish they had stayed on...

Carrying the guitar around Germany was quite a hassle, but worth it all the time. We met a lot of people and in the end we had just over a million people in the final mass. It was astounding. There were a lot of guitars floating around and I was particularly intrested to see some Mexicans playing and singing, it was such an amazing experience.

As we were leaving it seemed we were due to start our departure lounge tricks again. Our whole group of 36 were sitting in the depature lounge at Dusseldorf Airport and I started playing again and the whole group sang along. We did everything from Children's Christian songs to playing The Calling, Damien Rice, That 500 miles song who I forget the artist. It was such a hoot. Even the other passengers joined in. Tyler was drumming on a plastic chair, there was a man in a suit shaking his Tic-Tacs, some women behind us were clapping their hands. It was such an amazing experience to be part of. The music erased all barriers and feelings of shyness, it removed any language differences and gave a jovial mood to everyone in the lounge.

What an experience and it was made all the better because of a hunk of wood with some string on it. I am very glad I took the time to learn to play.

How to get Fat Guitar Tones on a BOSS BR600

2009-12-07T09:05:00.002+02:00

Basically I pan two tracks left and right to make it feel like a wall, but here are the videos...

Enjoy.
Please feel free to comment and also take some time to visit the sponsors of this blog...

2009-12-02T09:12:00.000+02:00

A short Video Demo on how to Export Tracks using the BOSS BR600

Programming beats in a BR600

2009-11-30T22:07:00.003+02:00

I know a few people battle with this so I put together this video on putting together rhythm arrangements for the BR600. I know the concept is the same for the Micro BR so knock yourself out.

The Song sheet can be found here...

How I do my YouTube Recordings

2009-11-17T13:08:00.003+02:00

I notice so many YouTube videos with sub standard audio. The audio on my videos aren't great, but if I were to use the camera audio as my main audio it would be terrible. As with everything you need to edit and clean things up a bit.

If I talk I use the camera audio. I will be getting a lapel microphone soon so that will be clearer as well but for now I just use the camera.

For the guitar I mainly run into my Boss GT8, then into a small mixing desk and into my Computer.

I use Samplitude 10 as my DAW (Digital Audio Workstation) and Magix Movie Edit Pro 15 as my video editing software.

recording the guitar separate gives me a great clean way to record without external noise influence such as the size of my room etc, so you hear the guitar clearly.

Take a look at my channel and see for yourself.

The BOSS BR 600 is Awesome

2009-11-17T08:47:00.003+02:00

Yes it is....
Recently you may recall I was playing with a Boss Micro BR. I loved it however I was slightly put off by the lack of variety in the drum rhythm patterns.

I looked up the BR600 and it has a built in, velocity sensitive drum machine. I loved the idea and although I am not sued to fiddling around with a drum machine, it turns out to be easy enough if I have the manual handy.

It has a whole lot more rhythm presets to it than the Micro BR and even has more effects using COSM modelling for the guitar effects and a bass and acoustic simulator for the guitar. The bass simulator is a little slow for my liking so I'd rather use a bass guitar anyway.

It has 8 tracks available for recording and I figured I'd post a sample for you to hear.

I love the mastering toolkit and I plan on playing around with it a lot more. The only problem with this is now that I have used the Micro BR, and the BR600 I want the bigger Boss recorders... But for now I'll stick with what I have.

Upgrading a Squier Strat

2009-10-30T15:45:00.006+02:00

I got a Fender Jeff Beck Hot Noiseless pickup for a Strat. Its supposed to be a hotter pup with more gain and stronger tone.

The result is fantastic and I also changed the look slightly of my guitar.

Before

After

I need to find a cover that fits the HN.

Inside before

Inside After

Tonally it sounds very cool. I made a video of that as well,

First Backing Track

2009-10-28T13:36:00.005+02:00

I made a backing track to practice my scales. The first one is a simple blues progression in C#m.
The chords are C#m and A. Then E, F# and A.
Download the mp3 from my soundclick page.

Here I was messing about with it and my Strat.

I'll be doing some more soon. Maybe some Jazz and rock soon.

Tone challenge

2009-10-26T15:44:00.005+02:00

I wanted to see how different the Epiphone Les Paul and Epiphone Flying V sound.

I don't hear much major difference due to the distortion. Next time it will be clean. But the Les Paul has EMG pickups in and the V has Alcino Classic humbuckers in.

They both sound very usable to me.

A major lesson from Music

2009-10-13T11:22:00.004+02:00

There is one great lesson that playing music has taught me. When learning to play an instrument there are a lot of barriers that prevent you from being a maestro straight away.

Playing guitar you battle to get your fingers to be so precise. Then you have to battle to understand music itself, rhythms and timing. Then you try get even better and play faster, with different techniques, bending notes, vibrato, hammer ons and pull offs. You see masters playing amazing pieces of music and you want to do it so you try and try and you practice for hours until you can do it to.
we focus so much on the final result that all the work in between is nothing to us, it is a few steps we take to achieve our goal.

Why, then, do we look at other areas of life and not try as hard at it. School, University, Maths (I had to throw that in there), Sports, work, relationships, ourselves? We have proven that it is easy, there are only a few steps.

Identify what you want
find out what steps you need to take to get there
Do it

Isn't it simple. Sure, maybe the steps may seem difficult, but if there are millions of musicians in the word, millions of athletes millions of successful people, why do we still think we can't do something, when in fact, we can do anything!!!

I Love being in Studio

2009-10-12T14:58:00.003+02:00

Zerothirtyone recently went into Andiamo studio to record ourselves a demo.

We asked Neil Snyman to do it for us as most of us had worked with him before and he is one of the best around. (Plus he's a mate and a genius)

Our aim was to spend as little time and money as possible but to get the best quality recording for our bucks. We chose to do it live, seeing as we had 5 songs to do it should have been quick, and it was. Some of the songs we did in one take, with vocals being done over afterwards.

I wasn't entirely happy with my guitar parts but they will do for a demo. I'm sure with an endless budget we could spend weeks in there doing take after take in small patches. Kudos to the band, what a tight bunch to have done so much in such a short time, especially with Gareth having to use an electric kit. It must be a drastic change moving from an acoustic kit to an electric kit in such a short time with no practice on it.

I'm looking forward to hearing the final mixed product and then we'll take over the world from there...

Brendan and William

Steff doing his ting

Me in my Corner

Annien "Onion"

Gareth Rocking it up

What an absolute jol. I could do that all day every day....

The "V" Part 2

2009-10-07T10:20:00.003+02:00

I pulled the tread plate off the V. It was stuck on with double sided tape. The Goth Epiphones have a matte finish so any damage can't just be polished away.

It was quite difficult getting the plate off and in places the paint was slightly damaged but I got most of it off without much trouble. The main problem was getting the glue off the paint that was left behind by the tape.

I used Industrial methylated spirits and a lot of slow rubbing with a cloth. I did eventually get it all of.

I was also glad to see no electrical damage so the main problem was appearance. I then changed the nut and set the intonation and action. Next step is to redo the paint but I have too many guitars to think about that now.

2010 Guitars

2009-10-05T09:16:00.004+02:00

This weekend we tried to break the world record for the most guitarists playing together. The record is held by a group in Germany with 1802 guitarists playing at once. I think in Durban we had over 1600 registered but only just over 1000 pitched.

It is stipulated to play Smoke on the Water which I guess most people weren't happy with but it was loads of fun.
There were some of Durban's best muso's out and about including Tree63's John Ellis, Steve Fataar and local guitar hero Barry Thompson. One of my Swell Bad Mates John Skuy was playing bass in the stage band and the guys from Zero thirty one were there as well.

It was good fun, if it happens in your area I suggest doing it. Even just to see some of the interesting guitars that pop up. I was astounded by the variety of people playing there.

enjoy the pics..

Zaine Higgins (right) and I

Richard Davies and his prize JEM guitar

Part of the crowd

More of the crowd

John Skuy on stage

The Helicopter that took our picture to count everyone

A group of youngsters at the "gig" I wanted this photo because it shows how diverse the crowd was.

busy busy busy....

2009-10-01T13:50:00.002+02:00

Well it has been incredibly busy lately, not on the blog but in general.
I have now moved home, had to get my new Internet connection up and running, thanks to cybersmart.
I also have some new gear, I bought a mexican power strat, a Vox VT50 and a Boss BR600. I need to play with all of them a little more so soon you will hear sound clips etc.

I have to get playing soon so I'll get into this soon again, if anyone out there cares?

The wind, The woes and the Rocking numbers

2009-09-10T10:06:00.004+02:00

I currently play in 2 bands, Swell band, and Zero thirty one.

Friday night (4th September) ZeroThirtyOne did our maiden gig at the Winston Pub. It was rocking!!! I got the flying V into a playable shape and used it on the night. Aside from being an odd shape that guitar plays amazingly well and I am proud to say I rocked out that night....

But it was short lived by an outside gig I did the next day. I plugged in my GT8 and found it was broken. The volume control had been pushed into the chassis and broke off the circuit board rendering it unusable. It is fixable but I will advise you all (anybody out there?) what happens
The wind was howling that day and I found it messed with the resonance of my guitar. Strangely enough it stopped my strings from vibrating as much as they normally do and I sounded terrible. I will have to experiment with this phenomenon and conquer it. Until then I'm afraid outside gigs are a bit much for me.

The Guitar is the greatest instrument ever conceived and Tuck Andress is the greatest player who ever lived!

2009-08-25T07:35:00.004+02:00

I know that's a bold statement but I truly believe it.

If you look at what can be done on a guitar, try and find another instrument that you can do so much on. It has a greater range than most, except a piano, You can play slow, fast, single notes, chords, pick chords, strum chords. Buy playing with a pick it sounds different, if you use your fingers and have nails it sounds different, you can get percussion going, you can have harmonics in almost any position and you can pretty much cover for a whole band on that one instrument.

With most instruments you have variations in design, but they still sound the same. a guitar can sound so very different with steel strings, nylon strings, a deep body, a shallow body, fibreglass bodies, wood bodies, painted, treated, eaten by worms the variations are amazing.

That said I have to elaborate on Tuck Andress. He is one of the few guitarists I watch and I still want to play guitar. I find him interesting, inspiring and downright incredible. I'll let his playing do the rest.

Your Honour, the defence rests

The "V"

2009-08-18T09:02:00.003+02:00

I am getting myself an Epiphone Flying V. It is the Goth Series and made in 2002.

I like second hand guitars. They tell a story. I also particularly like guitars that I have to restore a little. It makes me feel like I have rescued an orphan that was being abused.

Now the next thing to do is take off that metal plate stuck on the front and restore it to the original goth beauty. I love the roman numeral inlay on the 12th fret.

How to recover from a horrible gig

2009-07-29T12:10:00.003+02:00

Last night I played at the Blues Train with Swell Band at Zack's on Wilson's Wharf in Durban. I've been going on and off to watch some of the finest older musicians around play for a while. They are very good and it's a little intimidating to play in their company and I felt a little like I didn't belong there. That turned out to be one of my downfalls.

We were unprepared as a band and had no idea what to play or how we were going to. So we just hacked through some numbers we thought were bluesy enough.

I used someone else's amp which is never good for me. I found my tone wasn't the way I wanted and the GT8 responded differently to this amp. Although that was the least of my worries, I forgot all the chords. I had a shocker of an evening. Thankfully it was short.

My learning points were;
a) don't be intimidated by your surroundings. You deserve to be there.
b) Practice at least once, if not have some sort of discussion before or a plan in place.
c) Check the gear. I tell myself this all the time and I don't practice it. I like my amp and I know my amp so I should use my amp.

All in all, I had a rough one. I got a few compliments which means it was worse by my standards than others. But we are booked there again in September so I can implement my learning's.

The one thing I know above all is that Swell Band is good. We had an off night, so what. We all had our moments and I had a good, blazing solo in "Holding Back the Years." Most importantly, we live and we learn. Rock on!

When it goes wrong live on stage...

2009-07-20T11:03:00.004+02:00

This weekend I played at the Awakening as part of Nelisa Kala's band. We've been working for a few weeks to put together this show (hence the quiet blog).

We have a good band with very talented musicians, Keith Naidoo on guitar, Lazarus Pillay on Keys and Ross Viljoen on Drums.

We had some issues that we could learn from this weekend.

Friday: We arrived to do a sound check to discover they had a 6 channel sound desk with 2 monitor sends, they had no monitors and their equipment was shocking. One would normally expect a theatre to have top level sound systems and be well equipped for anything. We took it for granted that the venue provided what they said they would. As a result we had to fix it by borrowing equipment and using a separate feed as monitors and to try boost the quality of the house sound.

Saturday: The gig went very well. Keith played outstanding solo's and people loved it. Nelisa did something amazing in that she forgot the words to one of her poems but she covered it so well and nobody was the wiser. Being a professional is not about never making mistakes, it's about being able to handle them. The crowd LOVED the way she did so that night. She was brilliant and it showed in the audience reaction.

Sunday: we had a substantially smaller crowd. We were comfortable with the venue and sound by now so we were set to have a smooth gig. Keith had issues with his pedal which was buzzing badly every time he tried to change effects. This, of course, happened mid song. There are a few learning points here that we can look at.

check your gear before you play. If there are any problems that can't be fixed, and if there is a chance it would happen in the set, remove it and make do. A clean guitar solo can be just as effective as an over driven one. It is also impressive at times to see just raw guitaring. While effects can add to the ambiance, as long as your guitar works you are able to play.
Nelisa had walked over to the opposite side of the stage to give Keith focus at his solo time. That's when his gear failed so he could do nothing. She could have turned her focus to either the keys or even the bass to fill in the solo gap. Take the focus off the problem and get the audience looking somewhere else so the problem can be sorted out on the side.
When a lead guitarists gear fails on him, there is obviously a big gap. Other guitarists in the band should be able to cover the empty space. Again, get the focus off the problem so it can be handled quickly. If not another guitarist, the keys, bass or even drums can sort it out. You should generate a good enough feel for each other so you know who will step in if something goes wrong.

These are all things you learn from experience. I hope you can learn from my experience so you avoid embarrassing situations in front of your fans or potential clients.

Keep an eye out for Nelisa Kala and the Awakening. We'll be doing the rounds soon enough and it is something definitely worth watching.

Humming and hummers

2009-07-17T11:55:00.003+02:00

I was playing bass on a Fender Bassman 100 recently. It had a constant annoying hum, but when the lead was unplugged or muted it went away. I asked the owner if he knew what the problem was and he said it had been like that since he got it.

It was being used in a church. On the stage each instrument is connected straight into a DI box, the signal is then split. One to the desk, and one to the amp for monitoring.

what happens with some DI boxes is that the desk supplies phantom power. It sends 48V up the cable to the DI box. In this case the phantom power was passing through the DI box and being fed into the amp, thereby creating the hum.
when I flicked the ground switch, the power was no longer passing through the DI but was being used up instead so the humming went.

I had a Fender Bassman 50 previously and it too had an annoying hum. although I never used a DI box the ground switch on that amp too was in the wrong position. If you have a hum, check that first before you start replacing costly parts. It could save you some good time and money in the long run.

The Importance of reading music

2009-06-08T11:39:00.005+02:00

When I learned to play guitar I never bothered learning to read staff notation. As a result every time I wanted to learn a new song I had to hear it, memorise it and then try play along with whatever guidance was given to me, which was usually either "fake books" or Tabs. Recently I have been reading and the best way to explain it is like this:

If you speak mainly English and try speak another language, like German, there are subtle nuances and pronunciations you will miss out. I went to Germany and was given a basic run down of phrases, like how to order a beer, "Ein Bitter." I was even taught to count and got given a dictionary with a few phrases.

I got lost one day looking for Mülheim. I asked a lot of people how I could get there and nobody had heard of it. After asking everyone one guy looked eager to help so I showed him the map, "OOooh,"he exclaimed,"M(ule) heim. That's round the corner."

I was utterly disappointed that all those people couldn't help me, but I was saying, "Mullheim," when it was supposed to be pronounced, "Muleheim"

I had completely failed to communicate. While I had learned a few phrases, I certainly wasn't well versed at communicating, like I though I was.

Music is another language altogether. We can speak it, play it, write it and read it. By writing a letter in English, we have the ability to communicate well with other English speaking people. When we write down a piece of music, a musician (who can read!) will pick it up and play it exactly as you wrote it.

If you learn the language of music fluently, you will be able to create, understand and communicate in a language of Gods. Once you know the language you can make people feel how you want them to, think what you want them to. You can make people fall in love, be excited or you can make them scared, sad or angry.

Yet so many of us try to learn a few phrases, then we try communicate anything and everything we feel. Sometimes we get lucky but one has to look at great composers and wonder why they never had a song consisting of only 3 chords.

At least we'll always know where the bus station is.

A New addition to the Family

2009-06-03T10:02:00.000+02:00

One of the outstanding tasks for the Ibanez RG was to get the Trem arm which was proving rather difficult. In the end I popped into Coastal Music to see what they had. Oddly I was told there was nothing but Dieter dragged me into the back room where they had all sorts of parts and we found what looked like a trem arm for a strat but it fit my guitar. He gave it to me for nothing.

Seeing as I was so stoked I decided to look at their Classical guitars.

Now I've been in the market for a good Nylon string for a while now. Since I sold the Bassman I also had the cash on hand for it. Now a really good Nylon String could set you back a few thousand rand, I had a limit of R2000, less because I wanted a bag with it and some spare available for strings. That didn't leave me with much of an option.

I believe every guitarist needs a good Acoustic-Electric. It gives you another dimension in your music, not everything must be loud and thrashing, there are times when people want to see you play without major 'electronic assistance.' I wanted a Nylon string because I love the mellow sound, and I also love playing with my fingers. It is not the guitar for everyone but I enjoy it immensely and I feel it gives me a competitive edge over other working guitarists in the area who all run the risk of sounding the same. Think "Rodrigo y Gabriella" vs any rock band you hear doing unplugged, aside from Incubus' "A certain shade of Green" that was phenomenal.

I played a Crafter at Turnkey Music which was OK, but on further jamming the action was a bit high and the price was over my budget. I also tried the Ashland guitars which were within the price range but not good enough so I left it.

My previous classical was an Aria which I liked the action and feel, but at the time I had just acquired an Ibanez which had much better electronics and sound, although the action, once again, was a bit high.

Back to Coastal Music, I was shown a few, there were some nice Ibanez guitars and they are reasonably priced for the quality. I had put Coastal Music in the category of stocking only expensive to very expensive guitars but to find a fair range from R1500 to R2500 was impressive.

I was shown a second hand classical which was OK, I would have taken it at R1495 and played it for a short while in the shop.

Then I was handed the G5ECEAM. It is a budget Ibanez Nylon String with a piezo pickup and AEQ200T Preamp with a built in Tuner. Now, that's all a bunch of useless numbers, but this guitar had a great sound, great feel and was priced at R1700.

I'm not too sure about how the business side of music shops work, and maybe they picked up my reluctance to pay that much for this guitar, but I was offered a good discount and bought the guitar and a cheap carry bag for R1550.

What a deal!

Now there isn't much that stands out from this guitar, in fact it feels very much like the guitar I first learned on. Maybe that's what I love so much about it. It feels like home, but it has a few features that my first guitar didn't have.

As a kid I was fascinated by the decoration around the sound hole, I believe it's called a Rosette. I haven't paid much attention to them but in the process of scrutinising the guitar for this blog, I noticed that while this one isn't striking, it reminds me of the quality finish old guitars have and it gives me that little bit of useless nostalgia and reminds me of watching my father play.

My early guitars never had a cutaway, which never mattered as I never ventured into that region of the fretboard as much as I do now.

The preamp is fairly decent, with a 2 band equaliser (bass and treble) which I still need to figure out the right settings for when I do use it. I generally play into a PA system. The general rule is that you need a balanced input into a PA which I never needed for my previous Ibanez which had a balanced output. This guitar doesn't have that, I wouldn't expect it to for the price although I have noticed that I could previously get away without a DI box but with this guitar it is necessary. There is a hum present that goes away when the signal is balanced.

What I found amusing is that inside the guitar is written "Salvador Ibanez" then something that looks like Spanish. Not far beneath that it says "Made in China." Mind you, as Chinese products go I think it will be a while before they get some respect (much like blonde's and the Irish) but this is a very good quality item so far. They have done well to keep the look, sound and feel like a hand made Spanish guitar.

Overall I feel this guitar is exactly what I was looking for. It is a quality instrument, well built and sounds great. It feels easy to play and makes me want to play more, exactly what I expect from a guitar. Ibanez have done very well to provide a low price instrument and they will ensure that everybody can play a great guitar, unlike other manufacturers who are extremely overpriced and lacking in the quality you expect.

My Gear

2009-05-28T12:09:00.001+02:00

In case you're wondering I thought I'd tell you about my gear.

1990 Squier Stratocaster
I bought this guitar off a friend of mine in 1999. He had a similar design in stuck on Vinyl, i just painted it on rather badly. It needs a bit of a clean up and now that I have more guitars I can afford to "decommission" them one by one and get them up to scratch. The N Series Squiers were remarkable and the neck on this guitar is pristine. It still has the original pickups and I reckon its about time for new ones. I am thinking of the Jeff Beck Noiseless pups. I love the tone and feel of this guitar and it was my first that I bought myself.

2006 Epiphone Les Paul 100
I found this guitar online for very cheap. I had a Les Paul Special before which was absolute rubbish. The difference between the LP100 and other Les Pauls (excluding the studio) is that the body of this guitar is very thin and excludes binding. This makes it a lot lighter than a standard Les paul but with similar electronics and neck. One major flaw in these is that they are made very cheap. I am changing the selector switch as it doens't work 100% and the D and G strings go out of tune after a song or two of heavy bending. New Machine heads are on the cards but I am going for grover Rotamatics when I have the budget available. I love the tone but I don't give full credit to the pups on this baby. They are standard but sound very sweet. I may keep them on. I also like the finish on this as it looks great

You have seen my Ibanez.

The amplifier pictured with the Strat is a Fender Bassman 50, made sometime in the 70's. It was black I recovered it with white vinyl and it looks sweeeeeeeet!!! I recently sold it as it was too big for me to use in gigs and I have a small car and an even smaller apartment.

I currently use a Laney TF200 amp. I'll get a picture sometime soon. Its a standard 120W combo amp with two lead channels (that I dont really use) and a Spring reverb unit which is quite nice.

For effects I have the Boss GT-8 effects processor. I am still learning to use it but the more I play with it, the more I learn. It is a superb item and is definitely cheaper than buying even 10% of the effects it holds.

I am in the process of getting a Boss Micro BR recorder. I say in the process as it belongs to a friend who wants to sell it and I am playing with it at the moment. It is a fantastic item and I will write more about it soon.

Feel free to tell me about your gear, I love guitar stuff in all shapes and sizes.

What I'm listening to now...

2009-05-27T15:16:00.001+02:00

Well in the interim there are some people that impress me greatly, mostly for different reasons but I think they rock.

Andy Mckee
I found this video on Youtube and was amazed. He totally defies traditional guitar playing. There are videos where he plays normally but the creativity here is amazing.

Tony Melendez
For a guy with no arms he plays with Spirit. He has a beautiful voice too.

Orianthi
Man this girl can play! There aren't many spirited musicians around like this these days.

Tal Wilkenfeld
Anyone who gets to play with Jeff Beck must be good, but I reckon Jeff Beck is more stoked to be playing on stage with her than the other way around.

Then there's this....

I love it.

The Fixer Upper

2009-05-26T12:22:00.000+02:00

I bought an Ibanez (I don't care how you pronounce it, I say `eye`bun`ez and people correct me saying `e`bunez. It wasn't made by apple or the Zulu's) RG470 made in the mid 90's.

It was fairly abused so I took it for under R2000. If I consider that Glenwood Village music were willing to give me the new RG, not sure which one i assume it was the bottom range for R2500 i think mine wasn't at a bad price with a hard case.

When I saw it there was one of the three locking nuts and the tremolo arm missing. The pickups had fallen in through the mountings and when I tested it the switch didn't work so well. Yet I took it anyway. I was feeling generous as it was a student selling it and money tends to burn a hole in my pocket.

I also love the colour blue although I might just end up getting it resprayed a more metallic colour... yum!

I'm not sure how many people do this, but I always have big regrets after buying anything, especially if I can't start the repair process immediately.

On further examination I found the pickup mountings were wrong, taken from a Les Paul and the pups were screwed into the body with big self tapping screws. I took those off and discovered the two humbuckers are DiMarzio's. Not sure which ones but that's a definite upgrade from the Ibanez pups. If I can get this guitar playing and sounding even close to the Ibanez Steve Vai signature series, the JEM's I will be stoked. The neck is similar so I'm nearly there...

When I started pricing parts, the guys at Glenwood village music have been helpful, particularly Grant Lazenby who they say is their expert at Floyd Rose Trem guitars. He gave me some good tips and I found I don't need the genuine Ibanez part that the Mighty Mite ones could fit and are way cheaper. So far I have a new set of locking nuts and the pickup mountings. I am still looking for the appropriate Trem arm.

Mounting the pups proved to be a bigger mission that I thought it would. The holes in the bracket were damaged so I had to fill them in and re-tap it so I could adjust the height. So far so good.

I put new strings on as well. I used 10-46's as it was set up for them anyway but I see now 9-42's would be much better. I like the light touch that would accompany this neck. This guitar has the Wizard II neck which is a 3piece maple construction and a rosewood fretboard. I favour rosewood as I find it softer on the fingers and the eyes. The neck is out a bit so I am going to need to adjust the Truss rod.

There is one piece of hardware that I do not like touching, and that is the truss rod. We are generally hard on things like nuts and bolts and do our best to make them as tight is possible. with the truss rod it is best to be very gentle and very patient. Going in quarter turns is best and remember loosening allows the neck to move upward from the string tension and tightening pulls it back.

So after I replace the selector switch, volume pot, and after the neck adjustment, Pickup mountings, lock nuts and trem bar replacement I'll have a near new guitar and I will definitely have a special attachment to it.

Remember that whatever maintenance you do on a guitar, find a manual and follow the specifications given. Unless you are a luthier you will need some sort of guidelines. Trying to wing it is not a good idea and can be expensive if you botch it up.

Highfield House

2009-05-25T08:29:00.001+02:00

Hey,
I play in a cover band called Swell. In fact its more of a corporate band as we are not specific to any genre. I will get into the band more as this blog develops but for now you only need to know that we are developing as a band and we regard ourselves as professionals and hold our trade in high esteem.

We played at HighField House in Hillary, Durban on Friday night (22 May 2009) it was a quiet evening and we were ready to do our usual 3 sets. Bearing in mind this isn't exactly a music venue we had to improvise on our placement (read squeeze into a corner) but our sound was once again very good thanks to Niel Snyman.
Highfield house is a small conference/wedding centre with a lovely garden and a great atmosphere. They set up braais for everyone to cook on and it felt like a family gathering. There were children and dogs running around, it just felt like home. ( I also had what I rate as the BEST roasted potatoes ever!)

I had a few problems at this gig I want to mention so others can learn from it;

Steve Fataar was there. He's a very nice guy but as far as my playing goes I've always felt like a hack. In other words I can cut it when there are no muso's around but as soon as someone I consider to be a real guitarist is around I get more nervous and worry that I will be uncovered and pointed out as a novice. I'm not sure why this worries me, I think it is my lack of formal training but I must learn to get over it. He was very nice though and he gave me a piece of advice which I think is very valuable to any and every guitarist.
A sound engineer will mix your levels to how HE sees fit. So if you are playing with your guitar (especially an acoustic guitar) at max volume on your preamp that is as loud as it will go. So do a sound check with your volume slightly lower, that way when you play and you need to break into a solo, you can crank it up slightly so you can be heard.

Not all sound engineers will mix the same as well, if your engineer is a drummer for example, he will favour the drums in the mix, as a pianist will favour piano, a singer vocals and a guitarist the guitars. You need to know who you are working with. Thankfully Niel is very good and his mix comes out beautifully, but he isn't at the desk to turn me up when I need to solo so I need to make provisions for that in the future.

I had a technical problem which you also need to be aware of. I was playing a nylon string semi acoustic guitar. The pre-amp runs on a battery like most of these instruments. I did two things wrong here, I bought a cheap battery and never carried a spare. what happened was that the battery died mid song. The result was that I started out hearing myself clearly then halfway through the song I couldn't hear myself at all. Batteries are funny objects, when a battery is running low, the chemicals inside are still reacting and once it has generated enough voltage again it send out the current, once again draining all energy from it. This resulted in me having surges of volume in the song. The guitar would be soft one second and loud the next. It's not an easy thing to control.

The last issue I had is a bit of a gripe... I have a pick holder that is on the mic stand and I have a few picks stuck in there in case I drop one. During one of our breaks someone pinched 2 of my picks. Now I'm not sure what to think, did someone think I was that good and wanted a memento? Or is someone that cheap that they have to steal a pick from a mic stand when nobody is looking. I'll take the first option though, so thanks to whoever took them, I feel like a rock star...

Until next time, rock on and if you're in the Durban area pull in to Highfield House for next time we play.

Intro to verse...

2009-05-25T08:18:00.001+02:00

Welcome to my ramblings and scribblings. If you are interested in music, guitar, recording and performing live then I hope to make this interesting for you.

I am an average guy living an average life but with above average ambitions. I started playing guitar when I was about 12 but never went for any lessons. I do regret that decision but as a youngster you sometimes don't know your real ambition until much later. I played at church since then in a small folk group which isn't very challenging as a guitarist, but certainly tough on your patience and discipline. It is hard to play C-Am-F -G over and over again...

You will get to read about some of the bands I have played in and what I have learnt from them. I have always learnt something and I encourage everyone to do the same. Always try and learn something from everyone.

I live in Durban, South Africa and most of my blog will be in and around here, if we do meet then be prepared to read your name here, and never feel bad, if I mention your name in this blog you must have done something right, be it a moment of musical genius or just teaching me one thing you will probably get a mention here.

Feel free to subscribe, read more, contact me or comment. I'd much rather feel like there is some conversing through this medium as opposed to my writings disappearing into the abyss...

rock on!!