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.

Whether it is in your house, a car, traveling or at gig. There are not really too many completely safe place for instruments and equipment. Thankfully there is something out there can help. Insurance.

Home insurance

You may say, I don’t play gigs and I am not a professional musican, my gear is pretty much always within my house. My homeowners insurance should cover my instruments. While many times this is true, homeowner insurance many times covers musical instruments, it is certainly not always the case.

Even if your homeowner’s insurance covers musical instruments, it is good know what the maximum is. Many policies will only cover up to $1000 for you instruments. For many of us it stops there. A $1000 should cover our instruments, but for other of us a $1000 doesn’t go very far.

Instrument Insurance

If this is your situation, it might be good to check into instrument insurance. I now what your thinking, sounds expensive, but depending on the price of your instruments and what you want to do, insurance can cost as a hundred dollars per year. Making it a viable option even for those who have less than $1000 worth of equipment.

There are many good companies that specialize in instrument insurance, which can customize a plan for your particular circumstances.

Things To Pay Attention To

Now, some things you need to pay attention to when looking for insurance for your equipment are:

1. Am I a musician by profession? If so will the insurance cover the cost of my rental while my instrument is being repaired or replaced?
2. If I am a musician by profession, is my recording equipment and computer insured?
3. Is my instrument covered under all circumstances? (Home, Car, Plane, Worldwide)
4. Has my instrument been appraised? Especially if it is unique or expensive is have the instrument appraised is essential.
5. Is my instrument insured for what it will cost to replace it? (Instruments are constantly increasing in price, you want it insured for what it will cost to replace it, not what it cost 5 years ago.)
6. Am I insured for liability if some trips over my equipment at a gig? (Yah, you need to worry about that.)

Not all of these apply to all of us, but if they do apply, we may not want to be caught with out this type of coverage. There are many companies that specialize in instrument insurance and the majority of them can be found on the Internet. If you are interested Google musical instrument insurance and you will find many options to choose from.

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.

Misa Digital Guitar

First we have the Misa Digital Guitar. While it has some completely new elements of its own and definetly strays from the original design of the guitar, I would venture to say this creation still classifies as an intrument. It is not quite guitar, but it definetly isn’t a Guitar Hero controller either.

This design has completely removed such elements as the strings, pickups and tuning pegs. It uses a touch pad for you picking hand to control the sound. It can be played using finger taps, drags and slides.

Every note on the fretboard is sensed, so as you guessed an actual knowledge of the fretboard, scales and chords is needed. This is a pretty cool little guitar like critter. I don’t think any of us would actually trade our real guitar for the Misa Digital Guitar, but I also don’t think any of us would say no to getting one. You can watch the video below to see it in action.

Gibson Robot Guitar

Our second digital guitar is the Gibson Robot Guitar. This guitar is a guitar through and through. Strings, pickups, the whole sha-bang. I guess the best way I can decribe this guitar is to call it the lazy man’s guitar.

We’ve all played with are guitar just little out of tune because we are too lazy to tune it, or played our guitar with five string because we are too lazy to change the strings, well at least I have.

Gibson has come up with a solution to this, the Robot Guitar. Yep it tunes itself. You simple switch it to the tuning you want (about 10 tunings including standard are programmed in), strum the guitar and it tunes itself. The Tuning machines quite literally turn themselves until the tone is correct.

Need to add new strings? No problem, simply put the string through the tuning machine, tighten the holding screw, cut the string and the guitar will bring the string to tension. It’s not everyone’s cup of tea, personally I prefer to tune it myself, but it is pretty cool.

Gibson Digital Guitar

The last and my personal favorite of the 3 is the Gibson Digital Guitar. This one is really quite amazing. It literally gives out an HD digital output. That means it send a signal completely free from interference.

The Hex humbucking pickups can pickup the signals of each of the 6 strings individually and send a separate signal. That means you can record six separate lines at the same time. Change distortion, volume and tone for each individual string. This is a pretty sweet guitar and there are probably not too many of use that would trade our guitar in a heartbeat for this one. To see more you can watch the video to the side below.

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.

Cruise Line Entertainer

What are we talking about? A cruise line entertainer. Probably a new idea for you, but this is definitely a pretty sweet job. You will be playing an average of 3-4 hours a day, so you will be getting lots of practice time to get better. And what do you do with the other 20 hours of your day? What ever you want, you are on a cruise line. If you have never been on a cruise liner, these are some things you can expect.

What You Can Expect

Buffets that never close for the night. Full Las Vegas style buffets that have everything you can think of. Not just any run of the mill cooks either. Cruise ships hire the best of the best. Some of the chefs in the world work on cruise ships. It is not uncommon to see whole art galleries made up entirely of fully editable chocolate sculptures.

Many of the cruises make stops in different countries. If you’re not working (I mean playing your guitar) guess what, you can go check out the island. We are talking about Caribbean paradises, the places you see on the post cards.

As we all know cruise ships are for vacations, so as you can guess the general atmosphere is a constant party. This is a lot of people’s only vacation for a while, so they are looking to have fun. So whatever you can think of that a person would want on a vacation, there is probably something of the sort of the ship. And the best part of it is, most people pay a decent sum of money to be there, while you are getting PAID a decent sum of money to be there.

What You Need To Be

Sound’s pretty good right? Do I have you convinced? If I do, good, it is a pretty plush job, but once again nothing comes easy. They do not want just any guy that played in a garage band for 6 years. You have to be GOOD. You need to be very versatile, you need to be able to play many types of music.

And once again the type of music you are going to play is going to stray away a little bit from the typical heavy metal. For the most part that is not something you are going to play a typical cruise ship.

To give you an idea of what they are looking for, it is good to know that the majority of the music in cruises is either easy listening music or dancing music. Caribbean style bands are also seen a quite a bit.

Another area that might be of a little more interest to a lot of you is solo guitarist/vocalist. These typically play in a bar type atmosphere. Often times they are required to play rock, country or popular music.

In all cases on a cruise ship, you need to be a versatile, highly skilled musician. Also formal training is almost a necessity. Even the guys that play as a solo guitarist/vocalist in many cases are required to play with an orchestral at times. Which usually means being able to site read music; I know what you are thinking.

I’m not going to collage to play music. You don’t learn rules to rock out, you just feel it. While this is true many of the tips that are talked about on this site come straight out of music theory, the stuff you learn when you go to collage. They can really help you to be a better musician no matter what genre of music you are playing.

Even if playing this type of music the rest of life isn’t your goal and your dream is to be great rock star, getting paid to perform 3 hours a day while getting endless drinks and food isn’t a bad way of working up to your goal. For more information on being a cruise line musician you can visit Ocean Bound.com. Here is also a list of Cruise Ships that hire these types of entertainers.
Carnival Cruise Lines
Princess Cruises
Norwegian Cruise
Disney Cruise

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.

One of the ways you can do this playing for weddings. I know, probably not what you wanted to here. Wedding music may not quite be your alley, but a good musician is a good musician. A good musician is versatile and can play many different types of music. Including the softer more romantic music.

Doesn’t mean you have to completely ditch your acid rock or heavy metal. Just means you need to add some new songs to your collection. Remember this is to help you make a living as a musician, or at least get by until you make the big time.

Yes, if you are playing weddings you do have to be selective about what you play. Not just any selection of music will do the trick. If you have ever seen the Wedding Singer before with Adam Sandler, you know this is true. Love Stinks is not what the people are going to want to hear on their wedding day. For that matter neither is Eruption. Just like Adam Sandler if you are playing that type of music you are libel to get decked by the bride’s father.

Ok, maybe you just cannot get used to the idea of playing the romantic wedding type music. Maybe, just maybe you can make a compromise and be a DJ at a wedding. You can also make some decent money as a DJ.

Now you probably thinking Ok, I think I can do this. It is not exactly what I want to do, but I can make a few bucks while I am waiting to get where I want to be.

It still isn’t going to real easy it is still going to take some work on your part. You need to get know as the type of musician or DJ people want at there wedding. They don’t want just anyone; they want someone that is experienced, someone that can really make their wedding day special. How do you go about getting this type of recognition?

Diana (a professional Wedding Planner) tells exactly how to do this, She says “Having someone who’s knows the local DJs of band will help
make sure that you get the right person for you wedding, especially if you
are planning a destination wedding a distance from where you live.”

That’s right you need to get in with the wedding planners. They are the ones that people come to when they are planning their wedding and they are ones that are going to get you the business.

Just a little food for thought, Being a wedding singer or DJ may not be where you want go, but it just may help you get there.

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.

Also many times you will Hawaiian influenced music in Hollywood soundtracks. Just about any time you see a movie that is based around an island you will hear Hawaiian songs.

Hawaiian styles have not just made it Hollywood, many have become style that are known worldwide, such as slack-key guitar.

Slack-key Guitar

Slack-key Guitar is a fingerstyle technique of playing the guitar that refers to the loosing of the tuning key. The strings are loosened to create an open key tuning or a chord while played open. For those of you that don’t play the guitar, that means you can strum the guitar without put your hand anywhere on the fret board and it will sound good. If you are wanting try, some of the common Slack Key Tunings are G Major (D G D G B D), Open D (D A D F# A D) and Mauna Loa (C G D G B D)

Other styles of playing such as the Steel Guitar technique that has been widely used in modern country music.

Steel Guitar

The Steel Guitar refers to the style of playing not the materials that the guitar is made of. It is commonly played with a resonator guitar. It is played flat on the lap. For your fret board hand you use a round metal cylinder that goes around a finger and slide it up and down the neck to control the sound. It is commonly finger picked with the other hand.

Ukulele

What comes to mind when many people think of Hawaiian music is Hula dancers and the cute little guitar. What many people don’t know is that cute little guitar has a real name. The Ukulele. The Ukulele is a small four stringed instrument. Its standard tuning is G C E A. Which is not all that different from a guitar (It would be like putting a capo on the 5th fret of your guitar and playing the 4 high strings, E B G D).

It does come with one major difference. The G or the 4th string is tuned an octave higher. Which makes have its unique sound. The Ukulele fits Hawaiian music like the electric guitar fit hard rock, it was just meant to be. You will hard pressed when playing a Ukulele to make it play a sad sound because of its tuning (It has a distinct major tonality), which fits the music perfectly, seeing that the vast majority of Hawaiian music has an overall happy feel to it.

With the overall happy feel that the music gives also comes the general attitude of the Hawaiian Islands. When Listening to Hawaiian music you can’t help but just want to slow down a little and enjoy life a little more.

Granted Hawaiian music is not for everyone. You are not going to find too many blazing fast guitar solos, but if you are looking to widen your musical repertoire, Hawaiian Music is a good place to look to.

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

Hope You enjoy the video, tell me what you think.

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.

The Description

The first thing to look at is the description and the pictures. They should tell you if it has any problems or scratches. It is important to read the description carefully. If the seller is going to trick you it is going to be in the description.

Here are some tips that can help you to determine whether or not you are being tricked by the description page on Ebay.

Is it Too Good to Be True?

If it seems like it is too good to be true it probably is. If you see a thousand dollar guitar for sale for fifty bucks, it is probably too good to be true.

One time I was on Ebay and I saw an ad that said they were selling 80 gig ipods for $15. I read over the description about 10 times before I finally realized he was trying to con me into buying a raffle ticket that could possibly win an 80 gig ipod.

My point is make sure you are paying $400 for a stratocaster, not a $400 stratocaster case.

Seller Feedback

Another very important thing to look at is the feedback and score of the seller. The feedback is the number with a percentage and basically it is a happiness meter. It represents the average feedback of each person that he has either bought or sold from. If the seller is tricking people in the description, people will give him a negative feedback, which will affect his overall percentage.

The feedback is located on the right hand side under the subheading Meet the Seller (Pictured below) this is the number with a percentage right next to the word feedback. It will say something like 99.7% positive.

Bad Service or a False Description Gets Bad Feedback

Different offences will rate accordingly. If the item comes a day or two late he might get bumped down to a 99% or a 98%. If the item has a false description it may get a 50% or lower and that will dramatically affect their overall feedback.

Number of Sales

Another thing to look at is how many times have they sold or bought on ebay. This is located next to the user name. In the case of picture above the username is Shoguitars and he has sold 1889 items. The larger number of sales and buys a user has the better. This adds power to the feedback percentage the seller got. Shoguitars has an average percentage of 99.7% from 1889 people. You can feel pretty confident he is not going to rip you off.

If you want to look more into the seller’s feedback and see individual feedback ratings you can click on See Detailed Feedback under Meet the Seller. This will show you the sellers record of comments and individual feedback percentages. You can see how many positive and negative ratings the seller got and you can also read why someone gave the seller a good or bad rating.

Hopefully these suggestions will help you in buying items off of ebay and help you to feel more comfortable with buying instruments off of the internet.

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 “wah� sound faster, longer, louder and more distorted.

Many effects boxes also contain wah as one of their many effects. Some of these work like the distortion box and automatically create the “wah.�Other effects boxes and wah-wah pedals use a pedal or pressure sensitive button to manually control the sound instead of preset settings. This is the way I prefer to use the wah effect, because it gives you full control of “wah.�

There are many wah effects to chose from. You can buy wah-wah pedals that range from heavy metal distorted to so clean you can strum full chords with it.

Most rock bands use wah in at least one song. If you listen to classic rock stations you will probably hear a song with wah in it at least every 20 minutes. Artists such as Aerosmith, Audioslave, Jimi Hendrix and Stevie Ray Vaughn have used wah effects.

There are many ways to use the wah effect and it is one of my person favorite effects. I told you some of the reasons the wah effect is one of my favorite, but I would like to hear YOUR opinion. What is your favorite effect and how do you use it? Do you use a distortion box, effects pedal, effects box or something else? Fill free to comment below.