Instruments
Choosing What Instrument to Learn #4: Mandolin
Friday, August 31st, 2007I have to confess a bias: we are talking about my favourite instrument here!
I’m serious. I played guitar badly for decades and thought I was having fun. Then I took up bass guitar, which I played badly for some years, and thought I was having fun. More recently, I took up tenor banjo, which I […]
Choosing What Instrument to Learn #3: Drums
Thursday, August 30th, 2007There are probably two instruments most kids aspire to play in a band: guitar and drums. For some reason, the glamour seems, in many minds, to be embodied in these two roles. It is relatively rare to hear someone say, “I want to be a keyboard player” or “I want to be a bass player”.
One […]
First Serious Electric Guitar: Recommendations
Monday, August 27th, 2007When we start out on an instrument, most of us just don’t have a clue. We know next to nothing about the instrument, and even less about how to play it. To make an important purchase like one’s first real instrument from such a position of ingnorance is madness. Take it from someone whose fingers […]
Choosing What Instrument to Learn #2: Bass Guitar
Friday, August 24th, 2007The job of a bass guitar is to add some deep, boomy bass notes to the music. Without bass most bands would sound tinny and thin. Along with drums, the bass forms part of the rhythm section. It is often seen as a poor relation to the guitar - a kind of second best or […]
Choosing What Instrument to Learn #1: Guitar
Thursday, August 23rd, 2007Well, c’mon. Everyone starts somewhere. Some of our readers know they would like to be in a band, but haven’t really started to learn an instrument seriously. It’s a bit like those scenes in the Bill & Ted movies (showing my age here) where the lads have formed their band, Wyld Stallyns, despite not yet […]
Choosing Instruments on a Tight Budget
Monday, July 23rd, 2007Once again we revisit the real world: the one where most musicians are struggling to make ends meet. Oh yeah, a big name on your guitar headstock is great for your ego, but what does it do to help you play or to get you gigs?
Let’s assume that you are one of the wise minority […]
Gig Check List
Thursday, July 19th, 2007This time we present an exercise in stating the obvious. The following advice is so basic that no one should need it pointed out to them. On the other hand, the problems we are trying to eliminate do happen, so clearly this stuff isn’t obvious to everyone.
Even bands who have been gigging for years sometimes […]