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!

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!