How can I make money playing my guitar?

February 8, 2012 — Leave a Comment

Becoming a professional musician is a long, hard road. However this is not to say it is impossible. Anyone with a desire to become successful at something can do it. This applies to music and any other field that you could want to apply yourself to. When I first decided that I wanted to dedicate my life to music many people questioned my decision. However in my mind I knew that I had a passion to become a successful artist and that nothing was going to stop me. This is the most important part of becoming a professional. The simple fact is the entertainment industry is the most fickle industry out there, it’s hard and there are ton of people trying to ‘make it’.

I was born in a small town and grew up playing the bars and clubs there, making a small amount each week, but I wanted more. I initially thought that the only way that I would make a ‘decent’ living would be to become a famous musician and to be able to tour the world in my private jet (well I never quite got a private jet but I did manage to tour extensively overseas).

Most people, like myself initially, think the only money in the industry is with being a famous musician and many people overlook the other options that are out there to make money from your guitar. Here are a few ideas:

- Teaching guitar (once you have mastered the skills share them with others for a fee)
- Making/designing guitars or amps (if you are handy with tools or electrical knowledge this could be an option)
- Playing covers in café’s/bars (there is a large market for playing songs that everyone knows and loves)

The most important thing, however, is to DECIDE you’re going to succeed and don’t let anything or anyone stop you. Like anything, just stick at it and you will succeed. Well, that’s about it for this newsletter. Next week I’ll talk about the Star Spangled Banner, and in our Tech Tips section I’ll answer a question about getting a “metal” sound on your guitar.

Good luck with your practice.

Posted by Ben Edwards.

Posted in Artists, learning, music | Tagged , , ,

Electro Harmonix Stereo Talking Machine

February 8, 2012 — Leave a Comment

Guitarists have been experimenting with sound possibilities for as long as they have been around. Many recognize the voice as the most expressive of instruments and many guitar FX pedals have tried to emulate that expressiveness through various talk-box like effects.

Electro Harmonix (EHX) have produced a very versatile pedal in the Stereo Talking Machine. It not only has great presets right out of the box, it’s also highly programmable giving you even greater control over the way the pedal alters your notes. With 9 selectable voice types, you too could be  AH-OOing and OW-EEing in no time at all.

Like the sounds created by a mouth harp, where the metal reed is plucked and the vibrations altered by changing the shape of the players mouth, a Talk-box takes the sounds/notes you put in to it and alters them according to the volume you’ve played them and the shape of the specific filter you have chosen.

Because the sweeping effect is driven by how hard or soft you play the strings there is a massive scope of what sonic sounds can be achieved using the EHX Stereo Talking Machine. And because each sound choice responds so differently, it’s worth spending time experimenting with each to get a good grasp on what is possible.

The unit is a rectangle box affair, with the 6 control knobs across the top: Blend, Voice, Attack, Decay, Sensivitiy, and Preset. The preset knobs gives access to auxiliary functions for each knob including Volume, Fuzz tone, Fuzz Gain, LFO Rate and LFO Shape. A Low frequency Oscillator or LFO is a filter that responds over time rather than to playing dynamics and creates a more regular filter sweep.

You won’t find any lose of your guitar tone, but instead applies the different tonal colors of the ‘voices’ available from the unit. From the dark and smooth/soft tone of the EE-ER voicing to the midrange-heavy and rather resonant sound of the I-A voicing.

For each voicing, you can reverse the voicing for example EE-ER to ER-EE or I-A to A-I which gives you further options with the flick of the Preset/Sweep knob. You can also control this function via the expression pedal option.

The Stereo Talking Machine is an extremely versatile pedal with a wide variety of voicings and multiple control options of those voicings. Add to that access to a distortion circuit and sensitivity control and the tonal possibilities really grow. If you’re not familiar with talk-box effects sitting down and having a chat with the Stereo Talking Machine may result in a new found friendship.

 

ab4e2097d32a3cfb2d407817c82c42dd Electro Harmonix Stereo Talking Machine

Posted by Dan Orr.

Posted in Electric Guitars, gear, guitar effects / pedals, music, Rock | Tagged , , ,

Paul Chase

February 6, 2012 — Leave a Comment

When it comes to hooking up your jam or practice room with inspiration art is a great way to go. We`ve already had a look at Michael Babyak and today its the turn of Paul Chase.

Paul Chase is an internationally known artist, author, innovator, visionary and guitarist. He is the founder and CEO of  Graphicguitars Inc., fine art guitar paintings, prints and posters. He received a Bachelors degree in Art and a Masters in Communications. He has taught art in high schools, vocational/technical school, and at the college level for over 30 years. Paul is a distant relative of the “other” famous American artist Georgia O’Keeffe (and they are both developed their art “roots” in hometown Sun Prairie, WI) and his large close up guitar images reflect her large close up flower series. Pauls art is available for purchase online here at Rock N Roll Vintage.

Check it out!

Cheers,

Jake Edwards

Posted in art, Artists, music | Tagged , , , , , , ,

Listening and guitar II

February 6, 2012 — Leave a Comment

After the last post on listening and guitar  it’s time to focus upon one of the world’s greatest listeners, Evelyn Glennie, the Scottish virtuoso percussionist who has been profoundly deaf since age 12.

This does not inhibit her ability to perform at the international level. She regularly plays barefoot for both live performances and studio recordings, to better “feel” the music. Glennie contends that deafness is largely misunderstood by the public. She claims to have taught herself to hear with parts of her body other than her ears.

In the photograph at top we can see Evelyn with English guitarist, composer and improviser Fred Frith who uses some highly unusual and  enlightening techniques. Here is Evelyn discussing how to listen with your whole body rather than simply using your ears.

Indeed, this is a highly valuable lecture for any musician and the reason I’ve included it here on the Jamorama guitar blog is because of the highly tactile nature of the guitar – especially the electric guitar – and how the guitar as an instrument makes such a tight connection possible between physical approach (strumming, fretting, vibrato etcetera), the intellectual (musicality) and the emotional. Remember there are no rules and no right or wrong – we all hear differently, we all play differently! Groove to the beat of your own drum.

Cheers,

Jake Edwards

Posted in Artists, guitar zen, learning, music | Tagged ,

Fender Kurt Cobain Jaguar Guitar

February 3, 2012 — Leave a Comment

Fender has struck again. This time at the hearts of early-90s, Nirvana loving guitarists with a penchant for hard rock…the way rock ought to be.

Carefully crafted to exacting precision, they’ve reproduced Kirk Cobain’s “battle-hardened left-handed Jaguar” including all the unusual details and the unique electronics that were on-board when Cobain first acquired the guitar in 1991.

Just some of the unique features included is the Stratocaster® Headstock, the Volume, Volume, Tone Control configuration, Adjusto-matic™ Bridge and Road worn aged finish. All this adds up to a very authentic copy of the axe used by Cobain, the left handed guitarist who “led a musically stunning and culturally subversive movement.”

newsletter28 gear kcjaguar Fender Kurt Cobain Jaguar Guitar

So why would you want a copy of something like this if you want to do more than merely emulate a bygone musical era? I think the reason is two fold. First, inspiration. We take our inspiration from people that have been successful in the past. Perhaps secretly, hoping that some of their magic will rub off on us. Inspiration is quite different to taking something old and making it new. It’s about taking the essence of something old and creating something new with it.

And second, tone. Every guitar ever made has a unique tone because of the natural qualities of wood. A tree, when cut down, continues to ‘live’ as it changes with age. And while each Kurt Cobain Jaguar will have its own unique tone, unable to be replicated by the next one, each one will have within it an aspect of the tone that Cobain made famous.

Yes, there are guitar effects that color a guitars sound, but switch them all off and what you have is something raw. Something stripped back and complete. Something…unique.

Check out the sound of this beauty with BrewersArcade video:

ab4e2097d32a3cfb2d407817c82c42dd Fender Kurt Cobain Jaguar Guitar

Posted by Dan Orr.

Posted in Artists, buying guitars, Electric Guitars, gear, Rock
« Older Entries