Benefits of learning another instrument

There are many benefits of learning another instrument, here are a few on why it can be a fun and worthwhile experience. 

Firstly, it will help you communicate with other musicians if you understand their instrument more. I used to play drums until I was about 20 (I’ll talk about why I stopped in another blog), this experience allows me to communicate effectively with drummers as I can explain exactly what I want, rather than saying ‘it doesn’t sound right’ I can say ‘the kick pattern is too sparse’ or ‘the 16th pattern you’re doing on the hi-hats is too busy.’ It helps get to the point quicker, I also had keyboard lessons as a child so I have a similar outlook with that instrument, though not as effectively as I did not reach as high of standard as I did on the drums.

Secondly, if you’re a guitarist and are looking to make a living from music, learning the bass guitar can be handy as it’s an instrument that you already know the notes on the bass, it’ll just be a cause of learning how to play the bass stylistically and developing the strength in your fingers to play the much thicker strings for a long time. Bass guitar is a very fun instrument to play, I thoroughly recommend that all guitarists learn how to play bass, even if it’s a fun distraction from your main instrument.

This brings me onto my third point, playing an instrument will bring you great fun and happiness, but I’d be lying if I said you will never become frustrated with it. It’s just the pleasure we get from playing that helps us get through the difficult passage that we can’t just crack. Sometimes a break can be a good thing, when I get frustrated with a difficult passage or a lack of motivation, I pick up my bass and practise that for a bit just to take my mind away for the situation for a few period of time just refresh my mind and get my motivation back or to come back to situation relaxed and with a fresh approach.

Finally, learning another instrument can be fun! Whether it’s something completely unrelated to the guitar, like a trumpet or if you learn the bass guitar, it can be nice just to have something different. Working as a guitarist, I sometimes like to play another instrument or keep my theory knowledge topped up a nice hobby to give me some brain space away from the guitar. 

Thanks for reading, keep an eye out for a blog coming soon on why learning a different instrument could be not such a great idea..

Why I use an amp modeller, not a real Amp!

About two and a half years ago I decided I had enough of carrying around heavy amps (I’ve always had a dodgy back), maintaining multiple amps as well as storing three or four amps around the house. I first tried a modeller when I was about 15, but the technology was nowhere near it was today. The amps used to sound very trebly and thin, and the interface’s complicated and cumbersome. The modellers of today are much higher quality machines and sound, in context of a full band, pretty much the same as a real amp.

I’ve never really subscribed to the ‘feel of a real amp,’ it’s just another type of speaker that you have to get used to. I also concluded that when you’re playing a gig and your amp is mic’d up, the audience isn’t really hearing the amp, they are the sound through a PA speaker that has been manipulated by the sound engineer so the ‘real amp tone and feel’ isn’t what everyone was going to be hearing live or on a gig. 

The other reason that I decided to stop using amps was because many gigs these days require either quiet or silent stages. As you can get the intensity of a loud band at quieter volumest to combat volume limiters that plague lots of venues/bands around the UK as well as giving the Sound Engineer a more isolated signal to work with so they can manipulate the sound more effectively and easier. A result of silent stages is the lack of monitor speakers on the stage to hear each other, so to counter this In-Ear Monitors (IEMs) are used, which are basically headphones with your own personal mix. I love using IEMs as I can exactly what I want as I haven’t got to share a stage monitor with someone else, at a comfortable volume so my ears don’t get damaged! 

I love using amp modellers, I can’t see myself going back to using an amp as the practically of turning up to a gig with one box that does everything is perfect. If you’re interested in learning more you should check out this article on my site, I give an overview of different amp options including modellers. 

I’ll probably write a blog later explaining what models I’ve used and what I think of them, or maybe a gear review post of each one? I haven’t decided yet! 

Thanks for reading!

As a Musician/Creative Creator, do you need a Mac?

Late last year my old MacBook Pro finally bit the dust, which led me to the annoying position where I had to buy a new computer. Another much thought I decided to build myself a Windows PC and move to the ‘other team’  for a combination of reasons. It was a more cost effective for me,I fancied the change after being a loyal Apple customer for about 14 years and I wasn’t keen on the price vs specs and inputs and outputs of the latest Mac computers/laptops.

On my old Mac, I used to use four main bits of software, discounting the usual word processor/emails clients etc. which I always used Google’s Suite for.

For writing out Music/Software for my students or compositions I used Avid Sibelius which had to pay a subscription for. I was never that keen on Sibelius, I found the interface a bit clunky and that it crashed a lot on me. Even though Sibelius has a Windows version, I decided I was going to change software when I built my new computer. I settled on Muse Score 3. This a free program (they do make a paid version for £60ish) but the free version is amazing. Whilst the interface isn’t as aesthetically pleasing as Sibelius the functionally is much easier to use and I haven’t had it crash on me since I downloaded it!

The main bit of software I used on my Mac was Logic Pro, I started on Logic Pro 7 and used it all the way up to version ‘X.’ Logic was my choice of DAW (Digital Audio Workstation), which I used for recording/mixing/editing audio, unfortunately Logic is an Apple made product so it is exclusive to their own operating system. After much investigation I settled on PreSonus Studio One, this was a great find as I nearly instantly preferred it to what I was used to and had a number of features that Logic didn’t have!

The third bit of software I used was Apple's Final Cut Pro X, again as an exclusive to Mac I had to replace the software. I had a bit more trouble with the video editing software for Windows. I initially started on Movie Studio Platinum, but found this quite limited feature wise so quickly upgraded to Vegas Pro 16. When I first started using it, I was keen on it but I ran into problems with it constantly crashing and problems when exporting files. This is when I decided to move to Adobe Premiere Pro, which is an incredible software package and has been faultless when using it. The only slight issue I have is that it is subscription based, I prefer to pay for things up front, but on the flipside it means that I don’t have to ever pay to upgrade as I will get the new version on my subscription.

The final bit of software I use is the free photo editor GIMP, luckily they make a Windows version as well as Mac, so I didn’t have to worry about that! 

It has been around 9 months since I moved, and I haven’t regretted it. I have even bought a Windows laptop, the only issue I have is that it doesn’t get as many hours of battery life as my old Macbook. 

This blog post isn’t meant to bash Macs or Apple, I was a loyal user for years. I just know there is a myth that you need to use a Mac for Music or Video production, but I have been working professionally on Windows without any issues!

Why you shouldn't buy a new guitar!

As fun as purchasing a new guitar can be, sometimes this isn’t the most sensible move! Here are four reasons why, and don’t worry I’ve made all of these mistakes! 

Distraction from practise

Sometimes you can become convinced that you need a new guitar to improve your playing, or to play a certain song. Whilst this can be true, such as you’re trying you play a song that features a heavy use of a tremolo and you don’t play a guitar with a tremolo, or you want to play a song in an alternate tuning but you own a guitar with a locking tremolo so you can’t change the tuning easily, but these scenarios are not common. Usually the current guitar or guitars we own are adequate for the job, but we convince ourselves they’re not because we want to distract ourselves from the real answer to the problem. Practise, practise and more practise!

Option paralysis 

Sometimes having lots of guitars is fun, but you can end up worrying about what guitar to play rather than worrying about what you’re playing or what to practise. I’ve been in this predicament a few times, quite often you need not do what we end up doing, play guitar. You can just spend half an hour picking different guitars and then not getting into a settled practise routine. 

Space

This one is simple, I’m quite lucky to have my own Home Studio space, but even then I have to be careful so I don’t fill up my room with guitars! When I used to live in house shares I had to get creative and keep guitars in wardrobes and under the bed, often these are guitars I didn’t need or play. They just sat there taking up space.

Because you have the money to spend and you want one

This one is cheating a little bit as it’s the same as the last reason of the previous blog, but it’s true in this situation as well. Sometimes we get a little bit of money and we want to spend it, and usually it’s on a guitar. The problem with this is that sometimes we end up buying something for the sake of it and it never gets played!

So there are four reasons why buying a new guitar can be a bad idea, I hope this has been of help. Make sure you check back next week to catch my next blog post!

Why you should buy a new guitar?

Buying a new guitar can be an exciting purchase, here are four reasons why a new instrument can be a fantastic idea.

It can open up new styles and sounds

Certain types of guitars can lend themselves to certain styles. Want to play Swing Jazz? Then you most likely need an Archtop hollowbody. Want to play classic Blues? A Stratocaster or Telecaster will be your most likely choice of instrument. The pickups, the body wood, the bridge design can all affect the sound of the instrument. 

Personally, I find the biggest influence on my playing style is the neck profile (what shape the neck is) and the action (string height). If I play a guitar with a chunky neck and a high action (string height)  I just end up playing Blues/Classic Rock naturally, but if I play guitar with a smaller neck and a lower action I play naturally in more of a Jazz/Shred style.

It can be an upgrade on your current instrument.

If you’ve just moved up from being a beginner to a more intermediate guitarist, it might be time to upgrade from your first instrument. You can purchase some fantastic value beginner instruments, but eventually you will outgrow it and want to upgrade. Guitars of this value usually feature better pickups, hardware and better finished frets, so you will be getting a better instrument!

Spare guitar for gigging

If you’ve started gigging, having a backup guitar can be handy incase you snap a string mid-set, or worse, It is invaluable to have a spare. It can also be handy if you have to play a song in an alternative tuning as it means you don’t have to change your only guitars tuning for swift song changes!

Because you have the money to spend and you want one!

Maybe this is the best (and worst) reason? You have the money and you fancy a new guitar, so buy one! 

So there are four reasons why you should buy a new guitar, there’ll be a blog coming soon on why buying a new guitar can be a bad idea! 

My Bands first single

During lockdown, my band, The Sandwich, released our first single. We have around two hours of original music so picking one tune to record was tough, we settled on ‘Dark Orange’ which is a relatively new tune of ours. We thought it was a good demonstration of what music we play, Jazz Fusion, but quite accessible or too out there. The tune has quite a Rock/Groove feel as well, so naturally a good choice? More on that later...

We recorded the audio at the end of last year ourselves, but sent it off to be mixed. After a couple of revisions, we were all ecstatic at the quality of the mix, everything sounded really crisp, clear and full of energy.

We uploaded the track to Spotify and received a decent amount of streams for the band's first release. For those who don’t know, the key to getting new streams is getting on other peoples playlists with a decent amount of followers. We submitted our track to many playlists. Most of them came back with something along the lines of ‘loved the track, but it was too Rock/Jazz for our playlist.’ It was a lesson that we didn’t pick the correct track, we should have picked something more affirmed into one genre to stand a better chance of getting on playlists.

We managed to get some radioplay and get on a few playlist so we had a bit off success, just a lesson learnt for next time. 

Please feel free to check out the track!

Online Lessons

I started online lessons at the beginning of Lockdown and was intrigued as to what the best approach would be.

Unfortunately, due to the unavoidable latency between the student and myself it meant I could no longer play along with my students, which I was very disappointed about as I am a strong believer in music being a collaboration and that it’s more fun when you’re playing with somebody. 

I had to adapt my teaching style to make the lessons as effective as they could be, I started by making backing tracks and typing out the music so I could screen share the document with the students. I use Zoom for my lessons and that has a built in virtual whiteboard, so I could draw out examples to explain further the lesson topic. The other big advantage is that it enabled me to work on some crucial music theory knowledge with the students, which they’ve all agreed has been very useful, even if it isn’t the funnest thing in the world…

The only downside I have had with online lessons is that it’s harder to be impulsive. Sometimes a student turns up to a lesson with a particular song or idea to work on, but due to the fact I have to plan and prepare everything in advance it’s hard to have that spontaneous but relevant tangent that has been led there by the students line of questioning or input.

Overall I would say online lessons have been a very positive experience, now that I’ve had a few months to perfect the approach and teaching style, the

Buying a Baritone Guitar

I recently purchased a Baritone guitar, I’ve fancied one for years but I didn’t feel like I could justify the expenditure, until Squier released their own one at an affordable price, (though it was hard to get my hands on one as they sold out near instantly).

For those who don’t know, a Baritone guitar sits in between a guitar and a bass guitar. It is traditional tuned to B standard, but I have decided to tune it down to A standard so I don’t have to worry about an open F# string! Because it is tuned the same intervallically as guitar, it means you can play it instantly, you just have to learn the names of the notes! Traditionally the Baritone was used for Surf music but recently has made its way into Heavy Metal (as it can be tuned so low). My interest came from watching Mark Lettieri’s instagram (brilliant Jazz/Rock/Funk/Everything else guitarist), who would release ‘Baritone Funk Tuesdays,’ which showed off the instruments potential. 

I haven’t had much of a change yet to play it, though I had a socially distanced jam with my good friend and bass player of The Sandwich, Andy, where we had fun swapping the traditional roles of the guitar and bass with me playing the bass line and Andy playing the melody/lead line.

The Baritone guitar also enables me to play in keys such as Eb which without detuning can be a bit thin sounding, the Baritone guitar means I can play this with a down the octave giving me a fatter sound. The guitar will also be useful when you’re double tracking the same guitar part or for accompanying a singer where you would normally use a capo around the 5th fret, as you can play the same chords with different voices to help beef up the sound.

I’m looking forward to exploring this instrument to see it’s full capabilities and having fun playing this unique guitar!