Back to Baroque?

Hey there,

Not so much a blog about guitars this time, but I guess more a ramble about 'art'.

I was just driving back from sunny Waterloo and on the radio the host and guests were discussing newspaper ownership and how Jeff Bezos, the CEO of Amazon, has just bought The Washington post.  ABC article here

The panel of journos and media experts spoke about how he might try and save the paper. They discussed how others have monetised their digital editions and if it is possible to do this whilst keeping up the standards of journalism that the paper is known for.  All this with the backdrop of a crumbling newspaper industry beset by declining sales and advertising revenues.

I think there are some parallels between music and the newspaper industries.  Falling revenues and heaps of free content (legal and illegal) make it hard for the 20th century models to succeed in the 21st century.

This really started me thinking about a few things.  The first was a conversation I had with one of my teenage guitar students about how he discovers and then collects new music.  He's a great guy, honest and has good values.  He told me without any reticence that he's never bought any music ever, but owns heaps.  The amazing thing is that he wasn't even vaguely bothered by it, it was just so matter of fact.  I then asked him if that's normal among his mates and he replied yes.

Is this approach to consuming digital content his generation's paradigm?  It's not a case of "why would I buy it because it's free?", rather the question of buying isn't even considered.

Maybe that's what encouraged Lily Allen into early retirement Lily Allen: 'I won't release another album.  Is this what she was thinking about?  Was it the realisation that unless you released music in the golden era of multi-million sellers and now can endlessly tour those 20, 30 or 40 year old tunes to baby boomers with deep pockets, that there's no money in it anymore?

Lorenzo de Medici - crowdfunder extraordinaire

Maybe the 20th century music industry was just a money making blip while technology caught up.  Maybe music will effectively return to a 16th century model, where a variety of patrons - think crowdfunding - provided the funds for a variety of independent artists to compose.  And then maybe play at their parties and teach their kids how to play the piano.

I don't know.  Maybe Pink and Nickelback will be doing the $350 ticket shows in 15 years time and nothing will have changed?  Or maybe the government will become the new Medicis National Office for Live Music...

Oh well.  Guitars turned up loud still sound great.  Thank goodness for that.

PS - I hear Lily has made a return to music?  Maybe she's not in it for the money?

Just how important is a guitar stand?

************************************WARNING************************************

To those of a delicate disposition the following might be a bit much to bear, but read on....just take it as a cautionary tale.  If you don't want to see the grizzly pics, just squint a little - you'll be fine.  

Names have been changed to protect the innocent.

************************************WARNING************************************

See this?  This may be the best $30 you ever spend on guitar gear.  Sure, the Wah is winner and yes, that tube screamer is really awesome.  Why, yes Sir, the Fender Twin is a fab amp and those natty little Snark tuners are neat.  Capos - sure, they are handy.  But all of the above aren't much use without a guitar.

Yes, this is a boring old guitar stand.  Built in Germany, solid, reliable, quality materials.  $30.

Now let me take you to a dinner party, at your place.  All your mates are there.  You've cracked some great wines and everyone's having a great time, the meal you made was fantastic and well, the crème brûlée was out of this world.  

"So how is the guitar going John*?" (*not real name)

"Pretty good, I'm enjoying it and the lessons are fun"  

"Pull the guitar out and give us a tune?"

"Sure."

A great rendition of 'Wish you Were Here' is now underway - everyone is singing along.  John* is feeling great - not only has he smashed it with the crème brûlée he is also a Guitar God!

Rendition finished, John gets up to go and get another bottle of wine and puts the guitar on the chair.  The base of the guitar on the seat and the neck leaning against the back of the chair.  Looks safe enough.

On the way back from the kitchen with a Halliday-rated Shiraz, there is a HUGE crash.

Yup, you guessed it..... 

I'll put the pics in order of ouch, if you need to look away, please do so now.

Just remember to go and buy a guitar stand.

Doesn't look so bad huh?

Houston, we have a problem...

I really should have bought that $30 guitar stand....

How do I restring my guitar?

Hey there,

If you are a regular reader of this blog, you'll know that the last post was all about how often you should change your guitar strings.  Well, there's a lot of different answers to that one. If you haven't seen my post, check it out by clicking here.

Similarly, how you restring your guitar is a subjective matter - let alone the type of strings you use...

I found this video on youtube and it is a great tutorial - Dave makes it look easy!  And I love the string winding power tools.

Tim and Dave from Martin

Happy to hear what you think of his technique... I think his way is the best way...

How often should I restring my guitar?

One of the most common questions I get asked is 'How often should I restring my guitar?"

Source: www.audiogeekzine.com

Well, without trying to over-complicate a pretty straightforward question there are a few qualifying questions that will help you make up your mind;

1. How do the strings sound?  
2. What do they look like?
3. How much do you play?
4. When was the last time you changed them?
5. What kind of strings are they?

However, before I start, if you have broken a string, don't just replace the broken one.  Take the opportunity to replace all of them.  A broken string is basically telling you that the strings are ready to go.

Also, if you're having trouble keeping your guitar in tune, it's more likely to be due to the tired, worn out strings than your guitar.  Save the trip to your local guitar tech until you've restrung the guitar.

Ok, so here we go...

How do the strings sound?
Play a nice big open E major chord and have a listen to the tone and sustain of the strings. How'd they sound? If the sharpness or bite of you low E string (the big, thick one) is gone and sounds dull and kind of flabby, then it's time for the strings to go.... This is especially evident in an acoustic guitar.  If there's no sparkle left in the E and B strings (the thinner strings), then it's time for the strings to go...New strings will sound brighter than strings that have been on your guitar for months (years?).

Source : Free Guitar Strings for life...

What do the strings look like?
If they still look a bit metallic and shiny, they are fine.  If they're dark with things growing on them, it's time for those bad boys to go.  Run a pick along the underside of the string and a combination of rusty string and dried sweaty, grimy, yuckiness comes off then it's time for the strings to go.  Some folks reckon taking the strings off, boiling them and then reusing is the way to go.  I'm not convinced this works, but at Project Resonate they like it, click the pic for more info....

How much do you play?
Well.  Play your acoustic guitar 8 hours a day for a month and you will certainly need to change your strings once a month. If you are an occasional player (1 hour a week), I'd say that depending on the type of strings and guitar, you'll only need to change them once or twice a year.

When was the last time you changed them?
If you can't remember, I'd say it's time to change them.  What is a good idea is to keep the empty string packet, write the date you put them on and keep the packet in your guitar case.

What kind of strings are they?
Today there is a massive range of guitar strings available.  The newest innovation is coated guitar strings.      Now, pretty much every string manufacturer puts out a range of both coated and traditional strings.  What's a coated string? Good question, it's a guitar string that has been treated with a polymer coating, often Teflon.

The coated string stops grime, sweat and oxygen from attacking the strings and so keeps the strings sounding brighter for longer.  I've found that an additional benefit of coated strings is reduced finger squeak.  Meanwhile, the manufacturers also claim reduced fret wear and better tuning capability.

This is a great thing for acoustic strings in particular as grime, sweat and oxygen can stop acoustic strings from sounding bright in a matter of days.

So in summary, restring your guitar if... the strings break, sound dull, look dirty/corroded, are from the previous calendar year or you can't get the guitar to stay in tune.

I always welcome any feedback!  Always interested to hear your point of view....
Cheers,
Simon
www.simonmorel.com

6 String Deals - A Great Guitar Blog...

Every so often I'll post some content from another site in the guitar blogosphere...

Today it is 6 String Deals.

A friend of mine put me on to it and they review weird and wonderful fringe guitars - no Fender, Gibson or Taylors here.  Better yet, the guitar reviews are review affordable, individual guitars from new and established guitar makers.

This review of the MusicVox Space Cadet is typical and it sounds great...  Let me know if you get one, I'd love to give it a try, doubt they'll be stocked at Billy Hydes any time soon....

Cheers,
Simon

Musicvox Space Cadet

September 20, 2012Leave a commentGo to comments

The Musicvox Space Cadet is a beast, and I mean that is the best way possible.

Looking like a Les Paul mated with a Telecaster and created a new species of 6 stringed goodness, the Space Cadet still manages to create an identity all its own.

Made by the wonderful boutique guitar company from New Jersey that gave us the Space Ranger ( Musicvox-see earlier review,) The Space Cadet is a bolt-on, solid body , two humbucker, 6 string slab o’goodness.

I unpacked the guitar, slapped on some new strings and took it to practice. I tuned it once.

Two and a half hours later, I unplugged it and placed it back in its gig bag- totally satisfied with the experience of playing. The bridge pickup through a minimal amount of gain produced a meaty sound while retaining enough brightness to cut through and give my guitar placement in the rather loud room mix.

It is not often that a guitar moves into main instrument status after one playing session, but I am satisfied and trusting enough of this beauty to play it this coming weekend at a rather large festival.

I cannot recommend this instrument enough. If it fits your budget- it will meet your needs.

If you buy one- tell ‘em we sent ya….

6stringdeals.com review:

For $829.00 you are getting a guitar that hangs with the best of the overpriced American Made guitars. Bonus fact: this one looks cooler.

4 Chords and the Truth

It never fails to amaze me that there are so many amazing (and not so amazing) songs written with just four chords. When you start really thinking about it, what's more astounding is that new, individual songs are written every day with the same four chords.

Yet they don't all sound the same. You can even play the same four chords, in the same order, at the same tempo, however, if you put a different melody on top, change the rhythm or move the accents and it'll sound completely different.

There's no better online example than this funny and very entertaining video by 'The Axis of Awesome', an Aussie musical comedy trio. Sure they've transposed some of the songs to make their point, but it pretty clearly demonstrates that there are a lot of possibilities with 4 simple chords (I, V, vi, IV - or more simply put in G major - G, D, Em, C).

Then there are some songs don't bother with even four chords. Off the top of my head, here are some famous tunes with three chords ...

- Abracadabra - Steve Miller Band (Am, Dm, E7),
- Rock Around the Clock - Bill Haley (A, D, E)
- All Along The Watchtower - Bob Dylan/Hendrix (C#m, A#, G#),
- Bad Moon Rising - Creedence Clearwater Revival (A, D, G),
- Chasing Cars - Snow Patrol (A, E, F#m7)
- La Bamba - Los Lobos/Richie Valens (C, F, G)
- Breakfast at Tiffany's - Deep Blue Something (A, D, G)
- Red Red Wine - Bob Marley, UB40 (C, D, G)
- Wild Thing - The Troggs (A, D, E)
- All Shook Up - Elvis Presley (A, D, E)

And then two!

- Eleanor Rigby - Beatles (Em, C)
- Jambalaya - Hank Williams (G, D7)

And then only one chord....

Get this party started - Pink (Bm)...

Now, go try them out!

How do you remember all the chords?

My wife Amanda is a extremely talented singer, musician and songwriter.  She writes a great blog all about music too... She wrote an absolute cracker today, and it applies just as much to learning songs on the guitar as to remembering lyrics, so I thought I'd share it with you.

Check out her blog at amandaeaston.blogspot.com.au and her website at www.amandaeaston.com.

How Do You Remember All the Words?

Hi there,

Remembering all the lyrics to a tune, in the right order and attached to all the right notes can be a challenge! Over the years I've developed a technique that works for me and now, depending on the complexity of the song, it can take as little as half an hour to get a song into my noggin. Although I do believe it takes two performances of the song to get it to really stick. You have to break its cherry before a real live audience and then bed it down, so to speak. 

Anyway, I recently read something to suggest some scientific justification for my technique so thought it was worth sharing. I am reading 'The Talent Code' by Daniel Coyle. 
Through his study of 'talent hot spots' around the word, he has come up with some of the secrets to effective learning. He comes to the conclusion that talent is more grown that born. 

We all know that repetition is important when we're learning something but that's not the sneaky little key. It's all about making mistakes. Hey I'm good at that! Your mind needs to be tested on what you're learning, making errors and fixing them. If you just sing along to the voice on the original track you're not ever truly being tested and it will take quite a long time to get the song words to stay put. 

Here is my technique:
1. Get a recording of the song you need to learn 
2. Get a backing track of the same song, in the same arrangement (itunes or www.karaoke-version.com are good)
3. Put the two tracks on a CD, playlist etc
4. Press play and repeat as necessary. You'll learn the song by listening to the original singer and the backing track will be testing you each time.
5. When you're comfortable, sing it for your flatmate (without looking at the lyrics of course)
6. Then sing it for the postman.

If you can do numbers 5 and 6 without any mistakes, then it's in baby!


The Talent Code also talks about a sweet spot. What you are striving for has to be only just out of reach - not miles away. It might be too big a task to do the whole song at one time. Break it into manageable bites - verses, choruses, 'la la' bits etc. 

Like that smart ancient guy once said 'The longest journey starts with a single step'.
Cheers,
Amanda"