January 20 marks Day 100 of my self-imposed, modified #365tomakeit challenge. At Day 50 I hoped to make a song a week, but my focus has instead shifted to creating a piece of content each day. I've decided on my method of choice after much experimenting, and I think that new constraints will lead to … Continue reading #365tomakeit – Day 100 – New Year, New Direction

Merry Christmas! Or for the secular folks, Happy Wednesday! Exactly 2 weeks ago, I finally changed the tuners on my Squier MB-4. I originally purchased this bass around 2002, meaning I've had it for around 17 years! I actually broke the fourth string tuner about 5 years later (approx. 12 years ago), and my friend … Continue reading Overdue Bass Mod

A song is a unit of music that is only required to have a start and an end. There are no other rules for songs. Seriously. People also refer to songs as "tunes," and sometimes "tracks." Track means something else when recording, so avoid using track to mean "song" around sound engineers or in the … Continue reading Appetizer: Song Terminology

This post is filled with advice for people getting started in bands. There's a lot to cover, but I like to start these longer posts with a high-level summary: DO NOT Try to get famous with a viral song Quit your day job Start a rivalry with other bands or individuals DO Discuss goals and … Continue reading Being in a Band – Politics & Teamwork

So in comes the hybrid job: songwriter/producer. Doing both enables the songwriter to get into sound design, which otherwise would be left to the producers and the recording engineers. Sound design applies the science of the engineering on the producer's part of the recording process--putting together the song by whatever means necessary. People can use … Continue reading Musical Careers – A Different Path – Part 3

After acknowledging that the qualifications for a studio musician are basically all of my weaknesses, I first tried to see if I could address these issues. My weaknesses are essentially technical aspects of playing. Regular or frequent practice would help with learning songs, reading sheet music, playing different styles, and singing while playing. So why … Continue reading Musical Careers – A Different Path – Part 2