Support your local music shop!

We’re all instinctively quite lazy! For our ancestors, hunter-gatherers, the balance between energy expended catching something to eat and the energy gained from the lunch they just caught was a matter of survival.

So whenever we (humans) want or need something, we have a tendency to get it in the least energy-costly way. The INTERNET is a great example of how we approach getting the stuff we want as cheaply as we can with regard to energy expenditure.

Retailers with bricks-and-mortar shops have had a hard time competing with internet retailers because they are at a disadvantage when it comes to the effort their customers need to make in order to get the thing that they want.

Of course, we all know the advantages of buying in a shop – we get to see the thing, try it out, compare it to other things and have somewhere to take it back to if there’s a problem - especially important if the thing is a guitar!. But we still get lazy and buy gadgets and accessories on-line a lot of the time. This doesn’t help keep high street stores open for those occasions when we really wish we could get some advice and have a look at something before we buy it. We just can’t get the service level we expect from an on-line retailer, in spite of the rights we have to return goods. 

So remember that if you can get the thing you need locally, then you should go to your high street and buy it there. Help keep your local shops open, because when they’re gone, they’re gone!

Smart Phones for Music

Smart phones are certainly getting smarter! You can now keep all your favourite music on your phone along with videos, games and other great apps.  But did you know that the iPhone and iPad can also handle music creation and recording? If you play music, the iPhone can be your tuner, sheet music, recording studio, effects pedal and synthesiser. Some of the apps can do things that no other gadget could do before - even in the top recording studios! Garage Band for the iPad is an eight-track recorder with built-in instruments and the ability to connect a microphone so you can add vocals to your track. The Animoog synthesiser is a clever analogue synth which lets you layer sounds and morph between them in ways you wouldn't have dreamed possible before. And the  iRig interfacecan be used to plug in a microphone, guitar or keyboard to capture your performances or use as an effects processor with the Amplitube app. If you use your iPhone or iPad for live performance, you can get specially designed clips or mountings to allow you to clamp them on your mic stand (or anywhere, really). There’s even a motion-sensing gadget that lets you play instruments by waving your arms in the air. Now that’s progress! Watch out for the new iPhone 5 advert on the telly for a taste of what you can do.

Buying your first guitar

Walking into a music shop for the first time can be quite an intimidating experience! You think that you won’t know what to ask for, that the staff will not help you and that you don’t know the (inevitable) jargon that will be bandied around to make you feel inadequate!

It needn’t be like that. Shop around and if you don’t like the shop or the attitude of its staff, go somewhere else. You would do the same if you were buying a TV!

But you can go in ready to do business if you read up on few of the big questions.

Don't buy on-line! You'll almost certainly be disappointed by getting the wrong instrument...

What kind of guitar should I get for my style of music?

What do you like to listen to? Do you want to play in this style? Are particular makes or models associated with that style?

If you want to play folk music, for instance, you will need an Acoustic Guitar. Some of these instruments have a built in pickup so that you can plug it in to an amplifier and be heard by the whole street! These are referred to as ‘Electro-Acoustic Guitars’.

If you want to play classic rock, you will want an Electric Guitar. You will need an amplifier to plug in to or you won’t be heard. Electric guitars are usually made from a solid block of wood – solid body guitars – but some models are known as ‘Semi-Acoustic’ because they have hollow or partly hollow bodies. Don’t confuse these with the ‘Electro-Acoustic’ guitars mentioned above. One is an electric guitar with a hollow body, the other is an acoustic guitar with a built-in pickup. They sound completely different.

What brand should I look at?

There are a lot of brands out there. Most cheaper guitars are made in the far east, mostly in China (at the moment). The quality of these guitars varies greatly, but origin is not a clear indicator of quality. Anyone can make a good guitar, and anyone can make a bad one! Some brands are very well known and have very good reputations to preserve, even with their lower cost ranges. So if you buy a guitar from a top brand, even if it’s less than £100, you can be confident that it will be worth the money and see you through the early stages of learning the instrument. For starter guitars, look for Epiphone, Squier, Yamaha, Fender and Gibson.

How much should I spend?

Prices for a decent quality first guitar range from £80 to a few hundred. You shouldn’t need to spend more than £300 (though you can if you want to!) but you shouldn’t expect to spend less than £80 if you want something playable. If the guitar is for a child from six to ten years old, you will probably want to get a classical guitar with nylon strings, this could cost as little as £50 for a ¾ size guitar. Remember that you get what you pay for, so you should expect a £300 guitar to be much better than an £80 model.

What else should I consider?

The most important thing is to buy an instrument with which you feel comfortable. Even though you may never have played before, you can tell if you are going to get on with the guitar. Try to hold the strings down against the fingerboard with the fingertips of your left hand. Can you press the strings down easily, or is it very difficult? Is there a gap of more than one millimetre between the strings and the finger board? If there is, this might be why it feels difficult to play.

If it’s an acoustic guitar, sit down with it on your lap and put your right arm over the top so you can strum the strings. Does it feel comfortable? Or do you think it might get a bit tiring because of the size of the body? Acoustic guitars come in many shapes and sizes, so try a few and find the one that feels most comfortable.

Your aim should be to buy a guitar that helps you to learn, not one that makes it harder than it should be, leaving you thinking it must be your fault you can’t play it!

Finally, don’t be afraid to make your final choice based on the look and colour of the guitar. So long as it’s within your budget, has the right sound for your style of music and is comfortable to hold and play, you can choose the one you like the look of the most.

Talk to the staff and ask as many questions as you want. The staff should be ready to give you good advice without being patronising, so you can make the right choice. After all, if you get on well with the instrument and become a good player, you’ll be back for an upgrade soon!

Gibson Announces Self-tuning Piano!

Gibson Announces Self-tuning Piano!

Following the huge global success of the Min-ETune and G-Force electronic tuning systems, Gibson are to release a range of Baldwin self-tuning pianos with servo-driven tuning pegs for every string. A built-in computer scans the outputs of piezo sensors under each string and controls servo motors to adjust the string tension. "This is the future for the pianoforte", said Henry Jusgetonwiddit as he nudged a baby grand off the top of Nashville's tallest multi-storey carpark in front of an invited audience of reporters and musicians. "Now pianists can keep their instrument in perfect tune without the need to call in a costly piano tuner every time it goes out of tune. They can even switch to their favourite tuning within minutes at the push of a button!", he continued, " And the additional cost of these models will repay owners in savings within ten years." We asked Mike Hunt of the American Society of Piano Tuners for comment. "Ah fuck!", he said, "That's me out of a job." Sorry Mike, but that's progress - a sentiment affirmed by famous composer and pianist Claude Debussy. "C'est une bonne idée," he said, "il va rendre la vie beaucoup plus facile. C'est l'avenir!" Thanks Claude!