The 3 Secret Problems Of Jazz (And Jazz Is Not Alone)
The 5th person sending me the NPR / Kurt Ellenberger post about the difficulties of being a jazz musician, was the tipping point for me writing a post I’d held off on for a while. I don’t play Jazz but I’m an improvising musician who went through a rigorous Jazz pedagogy, so take please take … Read more
The Music Industry Tailspin, Shark Tank And A Blackie Lawless Quote Showing Why It Doesn’t Matter
I saw a great article last week on Business Insider.com where Michael Degusta tore apart the Bain analysis of the global music industry turnover and replaced it with a revised analysis focusing on the recorded music industry revenue in the US with values adjusted for inflation. Here’s what he came up with (based on the … Read more
New Interview With Miroslav Tadic, Technical Difficulties And What’s Next..
Hey everyone, As I write this I’m brushing my teeth and getting ready fro a trek to Midtown to find out how bad the Logic Board blow out on my Macbook is. Since this book holds my recording and notation software and a number of other things needed on a daily basis by me – … Read more
New Guitar-Muse Post On Video Game Session Playing Is Up Online
Hi Everyone, Just a quick update. I recently contributed an article to Guitar-Muse about my experiences playing on some video game sessions for composer Mike Reagan. You can read all about it (and some tips for breaking into and getting through that session work) here. I’m also working with Miroslav Tadic to finish up some … Read more
Update – New Guitar-Muse Soloing Article, New Tracks Et More!
Hi Everyone! I just wrote an “instructional” post for Guitar-Muse about soloing that’s coming more from a self-pedagogical/ philosophical/ motivational standpoint but talks about the factors determining when a song needs a solo and how to develop your own voice when soloing. It works off of some of the ideas I’ve written about here … Read more
“It only takes one apple” or why customer service matters
Hello everyone! I’ve written before about my recent relocation, but I had something come up in the move that highlights the importance of every contact we have with other people. The Digitech Space Station The XP-300 is one of my favorite effect pedals of all time. The A/D/A wasn’t great, and it was the exact … Read more
Moving With Musical Instruments By Mail
As I’ve posted before, I just recently moved from South Pasadena, CA to Brooklyn, NY. I did a similar move back in 2006 when I moved from Boston to go to CalArts in Valencia, CA and in both cases people were shocked when I said that I mailed everything. Had I already owned a car, … Read more
New Interview With Ola Strandberg Of .strandberg* Guitarworks Is Now Up On Guitar-Muse
Hey everyone! Just a quick update. As one of my side gigs writing columns for Guitar-Muse.com, I recently interviewed Ola Strandberg of .strandberg* Guitarworks. Ola makes really cool custom models for players with ergonomic features and self designed parts (like bridges) that he uses in his builds. In the interview, he talks about a number of cool … Read more
