“The drums are too loud!” For better or for worse, drummers often find themselves having to make compromises to ensure they aren’t overpowering a band or playing at a volume that isn’t suited to a specific venue. This often occurs at churches, where a drummer might be welcomed, but is asked to play in a…
We’ve all thought about getting back at someone for what they did. Does that make us awful human beings? The reality is that revenge might make us feel better in the moment, but rarely if ever does it solve a problem. It can even leave you with a seared conscience. The best way to deal…
Looking for a plastic trombone? Then there’s a good chance you fall under one of these categories: You’re a beginner. You’re not sure whether you want to commit to trombone yet, but you want to give it a try. You’re on a tight budget. You’d like to buy a trombone but don’t have much money…
Having a music career in the 21st century is all about finding a balance between acquiring and maintaining your fan base, and consistently creating new content. Of course, these things go hand in hand – if you’re constantly creating, you’re gaining new fans and keeping your current fans engaged. The problem is, artists are not…
Who says you need expensive amps and microphones to record guitar? Who says you need costly multi-effects units or pedalboards to capture an awesome tone? These days, all you need is a killer VST plugin along with some impulses to achieve stellar results. In some cases, you don’t even need impulses. If that wasn’t awesome…
Today I’m going to give you some easy ukulele songs you can start learning right away. Learning the ukulele is a lot of fun. And, while method books can be a great source of information, playing through their beginner examples is often tedious and boring. Wouldn’t you rather be learning your favorite songs? Well, the…
As most brass instrumentalists will tell you, using the right mouthpiece can make a huge difference. It can enhance the tone of the instrument, give you more control and help you develop your embouchure technique. In this guide, we’ll be looking at various trumpet mouthpieces to suit a variety of applications and purposes – professionals,…
UK is home to many legendary record labels, some independent, some major and many somewhere in between. Many of these labels were born out of the DIY punk movement in the late 70s, and that DIY ethos continues to inform the attitudes of labels today. It can be hard to know where to look when…
With so many reports and stats coming at you, sometimes it’s hard to know which to trust. It can even be a challenge trying to decode and interpret them. Music industry executives might be happy about the influx of money they’re seeing right now, but for the average musician, not much has changed, which is…
So, you’re thinking about learning the keyboard. Whatever skills you learn on a keyboard tend to be highly transferable, since the same basic concepts apply to piano, organ, harpsicord, accordion and many other instruments. Of course, you would need to learn additional techniques, but the concepts of music theory and keyboard layout translate nicely to…
Having an acoustic piano in your home is a treat. Having to move it is not. Throughout my childhood, I practiced on my grandmother’s 70-year-old upright piano – it didn’t stay in tune and some of the keys had chips in them, which would make my hand bleed. I still loved playing it and whenever…
It’s time for a fun song list. In case you hadn’t noticed, there are many songs out there about food and drink. Oftentimes, the reference to food or drink is just a metaphor for something else, and the songs usually have deeper meanings, but we’ll be getting into that too. Further, you will find links…
With gigs being canceled left and right, coronavirus has been playing havoc on the income of gigging musicians. Music teachers are also feeling the sting, with students pulling out of lessons and many schools around the world closing down. But what can be done going forward? This is what we share.
TV channels like MTV used to have music videos on high rotation and even had entire niche programs based around the various genres of videos that were out there. While these programs are few and far between in mainstream media now, music videos still play an important part in bringing artists to market. Some would…
There are plenty of good reasons to fill your mic locker with mics that cost less than $500. One, your budget might be limited. In an ideal world, you’d spend more on something like a Neumann mic, but it’s just not realistic right now. Two, these days, mics in this price range are still reasonably…