Donovan Banks

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


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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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