Alright you have worked hard, saved a bunch of money. Now you are ready to buy your dream instrument, that $6,000 custom Les Paul guitar. Or maybe it is your new amp set up. You crank it up and you can over power all the stereos within a 10 block radius.

Or maybe, you like collecting instruments. In that collection could pianos, horns, stringed instruments, you name it. Whoever you are whether you make a money playing gigs, you’re a classical nut or you just like collecting. They all share a common denominator. It can all be gone in less than a half hour.
What!?!?! You might say, but think about it is not all that out of the question. How many people lost all of their belongings in New Orleans when Katrina hit, including their instruments? What about fires? Or thieves? And let’s not for get accidents. (more…)

It is really is amazing how the guitar has been mixed with technology in recent years to the point of creating a truly digital guitar. Some might say that the music industry reached that point as soon as the electric guitar came out which uses primarily magnetic vibrations for tone and sound instead of the natural sound an acoustic guitar produces.

Now technology has taken it a step farther. To the point that technology is just as essential as picks, strings and tuning pegs, sometimes even fazing out these natural elements of a guitar. No I am not talking about Guitar Hero. While how the game was produced is pretty amazing and it is definitely a lot of fun, we all know Guitar Hero has yet create a real musician. No we are talking about something much more real. (more…)

Imagine you living the good life. You’re playing two gigs every day. And in-between the gigs getting served at your beck and call whatever is your heart’s desire. With a shrimp cocktail in one hand and a fresh pina colada in the other hand. Lounging back taking in the Caribbean sun. Traveling the world.

Sounds pretty good, huh? Sounds like the life of a rock star, right? What is it, you may ask. Probably not what you are thinking, not too many people think of making this a part of their career as musician, but as you can see it definitely has a benefit or two.

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Let’s face it, it is not easy to make it as a musician. Sure it is every musician’s dream to make the big time. To go on world tours. To be a rock star. To sell a million copies of an album. Not trying to bust your dreams, but not that many make it.

It takes more than just being a very good musician. It also takes being at the right place at the right time. You could be an excellent guitarist and never quite make it because you were never at exactly the right place.

Hey, maybe some of you will make the big time, but it still could be 5, 10 years down the line. In the mean time are you happy living in you parents basement waiting for your big break until you’re 45 cause you don’t have a real job? Maybe you’re OK with that and your parents don’t mind having a 45 year old child living with them. If that is the case, more power to you.

But, if you’re not OK being jobless, living with your parents until you die, You might be happy to know there are ways of making money as a professional musician without making the big time. (more…)

Hawaii. A favorite vacation spot for many around the world and especially in the United States. You might ask what type of music you will find there? The music is classified as Polynesian and the music of Hawaii has had a large impact on the style of music in many other Polynesian Islands.

Whether you know it or not you have probably heard Hawaiian songs. When eating in Island themed restaurants you will more than likely hear Hawaiian music. While in Hawaiian restaurants you will probably hear music from artists such as Keola Beamer, Robi Kahakalau, and my personal favorite Israel Kamakawiwo’ole. If you are interested in some Hawaiian music I recommend listening to Israel Kamakawiwo’ole’s Somewhere Over The Rainbow. (more…)

Hang in there while we finish changing to our new servers. Our custom theme as well as all the instructional images, sound files and videos should be back working soon!!

About a year ago I found a video of a phenomenal Ukulele player. It was instantly one of my favorite videos on youtube.

It was of Jake Shimabukuro (she-ma-BOOkoo-row) playing his version of “While My Guitar Gently Weeps.”(The video is at the bottom of this post)

I was looking through the events for the next year at the Cascade Theatre (Redding, CA) and I saw that Jake was going to play there on April 1st of 2009. Tickets are $23-$32 dollars depending on the seat. If you want more information you can go to CascadeTheatre.org (more…)

Here is a pretty interesting video for all you classic rock lovers. It is an orchestrated version of smoke on the water enjoy and tell me what you thought of it. (more…)

Most of us know that the statement the Guitar makes the Guitarist is not true, but lets face it know one wants to play a guitar that you need an iron grip to keep it from buzzing.
And no one wants to play a guitar that sounds like you took it out back and beat it with a baseball bat a couple of times.

That is why no one dreams of playing a $100 Walmart special (no offence if you own a $100 Walmart Special). Not everyone can afford a six or seven hundred dollar guitar, that is where places like Ebay come in handy.

Did you shutter when you heard me talk about buying an instrument off the Internet? I know I would have a couple years back. You might be surprised hear that you can actually feel pretty safe about buying an instruments from Ebay.

The trick is to distinguish from those trying to rip you off and those that are honest. This lesson is all about how you can feel confident about the product you are buying and the person selling it to you on Ebay.

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There are many types of effects pedals, distortion boxes and effects boxes out there. Each has its own advantages and disadvantages. Each effects pedal, distortion box and effects box works very good under some circumstances and not so good at other times.

One of the most used effects in the history of distortion boxes, effects pedals and effects boxes is the wah effect.

There are many ways to use the wah effect. Many buy distortion boxes with the wah effect. On many of these, the distortion box automatically makes the wah effect for you and you can adjust the settings to make the “wahâ€? sound faster, longer, louder and more distorted. (more…)