SHOULD YOU BUY A USA, MEXICAN OR CHINESE FENDER ?

Ok drummers, bass players, singers (& all you other fine muso folk) I wont be making this blog site all about guitarists.

However,

You guitarists out there thinking about buying a good old Fender, maybe you'd like to take a look at this article showing some good and some not so good points of Fender guitars, made locally (USA) and imported.

This article came from Go Articles

When Buying A Fender Guitar Should I Buy USA, Mexican, or Chinese Model?

Author: August Anderson

Fender Stratocaster's are probably one of the most well known
guitars around. When legends like Stevie Ray Vaughn, Jimi
Hendrix, and Eric Clapton are playing them it's gotta tell you
something.

However, not all Fender Stratocaster's are the same. Like
anything, you get what you pay for. If you are in the market to
buy a Fender, I suggest you listen to a bit of my advice before
you decide to make a impulse purchase.

Why should you listen to me?

Well, first of all I used to be a guitar salesman at a guitar
shop in San Diego California. Also, I have owned a variety of
Fender's and have direct experience with multiple strats.

There are basically 3 levels of Fender Strats. I'll break em
down by starting with the best first.

1. The Good Old American Made Stratocaster

You can't beat the American made Stratocaster. The quality is
superb, and can't be matched. However quality comes with a
price. You can plan on paying about $450 and up for a "used"
American Stratocaster. Newer one's are closer to a grand and on
up. There is a huge difference between playing the US guitar and
all the others. Simply put, the US made Fender's are King.

The weight on the US Strat is significantly heavier then the
imports. The reason for this is becuase the body is typically
made from Alder wood instead of some cheaper woods.

2. The Mexican Stratocaster

If you don't have the cash to kick down for a US Strat, then
your next best option is to get a Mexican Stratocaster. Hey,
these babies rock!!! I've had multiple Mexican Strats and they
are great.

You can pick up a used Mexican Strat for about $250-$375. While
it's not quite as good as the US version, it is a phenomenal
guitar.

3. The Chinese Ax

Last and least is the Chinese Stratocaster. You can pick these
up for about $125, give or take a few bucks. When buying a
Chinese guitar, remember that you get what you pay for. Now I'm
not saying the guitar won't work, or even that it sucks.
However, I am saying that the Chinese model is nowhere close to
the quality of the Mexican Strat or the USA model.

Unless you really want the bottom of the line Fender, or are
strapped on cash, I strongly encourage you to search for at
least the Mexican model when purchasing a Fender. Of course the
US Stratocaster is the ultimate, but sometimes that is not a
reality for everyone.

My advice, go with the Mexican Strat, it rocks!!!!!! ....and
affordable too.

About the author:
August Anderson (AKA Augmented Auggie) has been helping kids to
play guitar for many years. Auggie feels music is a passion that
should be shared with the world.

Please visit Auggie's blog and show your support for this
starving artists...Peace

http://heavenlyguitars.blogspot.com Auggie's Heavenly Guitars

technorati tags:indie, independent, musician, fender, guitar

GOING SOLO - BE REAL

Taking your songs to the stage without a band can really expose any weaknesses in your songs and or performance.

Here's excellent 10 tips I found on an article written by English singer, songwriter, campaigner and broadcaster Tom Robinson

1) Playing solo, you can't rely on killer beats or sheer gut-thumping volume to convince the unconverted. Alone and exposed on an emotional tightrope (with no safety net) you have to win people over with guile, great tunes and sheer force of personality. We need all the help we can get. Watch other performers - steal their techniques or learn from their mistakes. And visuals, presentation, lighting - even the seating plan - all drastically affect the way your performance is perceived by an audience: much more so than with bands. Put in enough thought, preparation and commitment, and you'll wipe the floor with the opposition every time.

2) Create your space. Choose an area on the stage where you can see - and be seen by - the whole room. If there's no stage, mark out your performing area on the floor with a line of black gaffa tape. And always carry your own black gaffa tape. Move all unneccessary guitar cases, beer crates, mike stands etc. out of the way to give you a clear working area of floor space. Also, move any chairs and tables in the venue closer together and nearer to the stage. You always get the best audience response when people are a) comfortable b) close to you and c) close to each other.

3) Getting the setting. Buy ten metres of thin lightweight black fabric for at your local department store - it'll cost about 30 quid. Cut it into four and hang it along the back wall of your stage, covering all the usual scuzzy, gaffa-flecked wallpaper. A black backdrop absorbs stray light and looks instantly professional: watching the stage, an audience sees you and nothing else.

4) It may sound obvious, but point the stage lights at where you're standing. Remove all the dusty mauve and crinkly green filters, and either use white light or (better still) carry crisp new filters of your own. Lighting gel is absurdly cheap and makes a huge difference to the way your show looks. Try Lee 103 (straw) for warm front lighting, or Lee 181 (congo blue) with 1kw lamps for deep atmosphere. For a stockist, call Lee Filters on 01-264-366-245.

5) Carry your own Shure Beta 58 mike and use it always. I can't recommend these highly enough - clear, crisp and loud with unbeatable feedback rejection. However crap the PA is, a decent mike gives you a fighting chance. You'd spend half a grand on a decent guitar or keyboard, why not a couple of hundred on your voice ? And no, I don't have an endorsement deal with Shure.

6) Even small PAs can be drastically improved by "tuning" them to the room. Most systems feed the front-of-house desk output through a 31 band graphic equaliser for this purpose. If possible, get to the gig early, take your mike out into the middle of the room and send it through through a flat (no EQ) channel on the desk. If the PA sounds reasonably hi-fi, you're home and dry. But if (more likely) it sounds muffled and boomy, you'll need all your tact and diplomacy to get your hands on the house graphics. Boost each frequency in turn - talking down the mike - until you find all those nasty ringing overtones (160 hz is a common culprit). Work by subtly subtracting ugly frequencies, rather than boosting the sweet ones. A well tuned PA is more important than any amount of flashy reverb, delays or compression.

7) Shoot the monitor engineer. Seriously, there are far more foldback systems in the world than good engineers (and most of those end up behind front of house desks). Result: with cheap PAs at small gigs, your monitors are almost guaranteed to sound like shite. If they're unbearable at soundcheck, they won't improve by showtime. Don't be afraid to turn them off, move the PA speakers back and inwards - and listen to the front of house sound instead. The monitor dickhead will tell you this "causes feedback". It won't.

8) Mixing it. If you're serious about your front of house sound but can't afford your own engineer, consider doing it yourself. What's there to mix - your voice, your instrument & maybe a bit of reverb ? Carry a little Mackie or Spirit Folio and do it all yourself from on stage. If it sounds good to you, chances are it'll sound good to the audience. Ultimately, though, there's no substitute for a great sound engineer of your own. When you finally find one you like and get on with, hang on to her (or him) for dear life.

9) Even if the venue's half empty or stuffed with drunks at showtime, don't write off your audience in advance. Perform with style and dignity for anybody out there who's interested and listening, even if you can't see them. Acknowledge it when someone claps, joins in, or laughs at one of your jokes - a little flicker of applause needs nurturing, fanning, feeding. Look over to where it came from and grin, wink, bow ironically. In years to come, people will come up and say they first saw you at the Turd & Bogbrush in 1999. Even gigs that feel like a complete disaster can win you lifelong fans.

10) Anything you do, do big. Don't be feeble or apologetic. Take possession of your performing area, own it, fill the space. Who the hell wants to watch something half-hearted ? The world is not waiting for another sensitive songwriter to perch on a stool, pick lifelessly at an acoustic guitar and warble inaudible platitudes about man's inhumanity to man. The essence of great performance is energy, passion and total commitment, whether you're Suzanne Vega or Henry Rollins. You don't have to be note perfect, or even massively talented, to pull it off. But whatever you do, it does need to be very, very real.

[Resource http://www.tomrobinson.com/writing/gigtips.htm]

technorati tags:indie, independent, solo, musician

FREE INDIE MUSICIAN RESOURCE

You can now get your FREE indie music directory.

Just launched, it's an online directory put out by J.H. Mattern Communications on the Indie Guru website.

This niche Web directory allows indie bands and musicians, record labels, promoters, music media and websites, and anyone in the business of independent music to add their link for free, with no reciprocal links required.

To read the full press release click here

[Resource http://www.pr.com/press-release/14182]

technorati tags:indie, independent, musician

SHOULD MUSIC BE FREE?

Thought I'd put this article up, given the last article was all about digital downloads.  It's an abbreviated version, so if you want to read the whole thing click here.

The big question...Should Down loadable Music be Free?

Should Music Downloads Be Free?  By Mark Savage Entertainment reporter, BBC News

A group representing the U K's independent music labels says it wants to change the way we pay for music online.

They say music could, in effect, be free to customers - with payment collected as part of their Internet subscription.

The system would work like a pay TV channel, where all of the programmes and movies are free once a monthly fee has been paid.

It involved other music industry bodies, such as the musician's Union and the Performing Rights Society (PRS), which collects royalties for songwriters and performers.

They say that, in the future, the industry would make money from file-sharing music by charging Internet Service Providers(ISPs) for distribution.

However, customers would still have to pay for a permanent copy of a piece of music on CD, or as a download bought from digital retailers.

Lessons learned

Blur's last album, Think Tank, was leaked on the Internet

At a press conference outlining their ideas, the panel of music industry experts also said that record companies were wrong to sue people who illegally download music.

"Prohibition always ends in disaster," said Dave Rowntree, drummer for the rock band Blur. "As an industry we've learnt our lessons."

Wenham says she envisions a two-tier system for music fans.

Customers would have access to any music track they wanted, delivered in real-time over the internet, as part of their broadband connection.

However, they would have to make separate payments for "premium content", such as exclusive performances, or to keep permanent copies of songs offline.

Law change

However, the music industry collective says copyright laws will need to change in order for this to happen.

Most importantly, they want Internet Service Providers (ISPs) to pay for music distributed over their services.

However, the music industry group has yet to convince ISPs that the system has merit.

Illegal downloads

The assertion that internet providers should be heldresponsible for illegal downloading by their users will not help to build bridges.

The music industry group says it wants to make intermediaries - including ISPs - "the target of copyright enforcement action".

The Internet Service Providers Association (Ispa) issued a robust response to the suggestion.

"ISPs bear no liability for illegal file sharing as the content is not hosted on their servers," it said.

Such disagreements are currently being thrashed out aspart of an independent review of the U K's copyright laws commissioned by the government.

[Resource http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/5174292.stm]

technorati tags:digital, music, downlads

THE FUTURE OF THE SINGLE

This may be good news for independent musicians in the distribution of their music.

In this news snippet I just came across, Alan McGee who is the founder of the English record label, 'Creation Records' says:

"Downloads will be king within the next couple of years.....The majors have lost the football."

McGee believes the decline in singles' popularity to be inevitable and indicative of a change in power in favor of musicians and smaller labels.

The British Phonographic Industry rejects that view, saying:

"It depends how you define the single....In terms of the volume of single tracks that have been sold, the market has doubled in just over a year. What has happened is that the singles market has accommodated a new format, the download."

Creation Records is home to some great bands the most famous (at least from a commercial point of view) would probably have to be Oasis.

Given Alan's history and success with Creation Records and having helped launch many successful 'alternative' type artists, he probably knows a thing or two about the trends of the music buying public.

No-one can deny the popularity of music downloads and the good news is that this puts all creaters of music on a level playing field.  Savvy independent musicians need to learn effective ways of marketing their music and getting their song noticed and heard in the digital world.

[Resource http://www.upi.com/NewsTrack/view.php?StoryID=20060718-080255-2274r]

technorati tags:indie, independent, musician

SONGWRITING IN BERMUDA - OCTOBER 5th to 8th, 2006

Are you a professional musician? Can you claim 'professional' expenses as a tax deduction?

Here's an artist and songwriting retreat which is to be held October 5 - 8, 2006 in beautiful Bermuda.

(Above) The 9 Beaches Resort - Bermuda, where the Songwriting & Artist Retreat will be held
Photo from http://www.songs-and-music.com/

The songwriting retreat will have three industry workshop hosts one of whom has written songs for Brittany Spears, and Back Street Boys.

Apart from looking at lyric and song writing, other workshops will focus on performance and stage presence and there will also be a workshop especially for artist development and what it means to be an independent artist.

This is definitely not just a retreat/workshop for major label artists.

The organizer of this event, Richard Bassett said "there are opportunities to promote yourself independently as a recording artist that can sustain you and help you to achieve." The workshop will also offer tips on independent promotional and marketing strategies.

For those wondering if they can afford to attend, the cost is (US) $225 for the four days, not including accommodation.

Click here to learn more about this four day event.

To read the full article click here

[Resource http://www.theroyalgazette.com]

technorati tags:indie, independent, musician, songwriting