Musician

Effects are a great way to make the most of an electric guitar, which is why a lot of guitarists kit themselves out with a pedalboard and furnish it with can’t-go-wrong effects like overdrive/distortion, modulation and reverb/delay. However, there’s a host of stompboxes that you won’t find on most pedalboards that are no less inspiring than the aforementioned fan-favourites. Pitch-shifters and harmonizers are a great example and will be the focus of this first article in a series on special guitar effects. Also, if you don’t have a pedalboard yet and you’re not sure where to start, it’s probably a good idea to look at our Pedalboard Buyer’s Guide first!

When building their first pedalboard, most fresh-faced guitarists will go for the same type of pedals: an overdrive pedal for souped-up rock sounds, a reverb or delay pedal for fuller tone, and possibly a modulation pedal for warping the sound to taste. In reality, there are many more flavours to choose from, including effects that you don’t come across all the time but are actually a lot of fun to play with and can easily get your creative juices flowing. Last time, we looked at pitch shifters and harmonizers. Today, we’re checking out organ simulators!

Playing percussion is an art, just like playing any other musical instrument and, if you’re the percussionist in a band, then you also need to learn how to work seamlessly with the drummer and other musicians. In this blog, you’ll find out what’s involved in being a percussionist, including the kind of attitude you need to have, and who the masters of the percussion craft are. Right here, the ultra-experienced, all-round percussionist Martin Verdonk tells all!

Maybe you’ve just joined a new band, spent a lot of hard hours learning the setlist and finally, it’s time for the first rehearsal… or maybe even the first gig. However, on arrival, you quickly realise that the drum kit provided is not just less than optimal, but sounds like pounding on a pile of protesting margarine tubs. Everything has been set up badly and there’s a list of other small, potentially frustrating issues that’ll need fixing before anything will sound good. Luckily, you’ve come prepared, because you remembered to stash just seven magic tools and accessories away in your drumstick bag!

A lot of drummers suffer from back and wrist injuries, and often unnecessarily since a lot of afflictions can be quite easily prevented. There are just a handful of things you have to pay attention to in order to get through long practice sessions and physically demanding gigs without trouble. Read on to learn five simple tips.

One of the oldest instruments in the world, the frame drum comes in various shapes and sizes these days. Just about every region of every country seems to be home to its own unique frame drum. Some are equipped with loads of jingles, while other types only have a few jingles or none at all. One thing that all frames have in common however, is a drumhead. Let’s take a quick trip around the world and look at a number of well-known frame drums.

The clarinet is one of those instruments that everyone will be familiar with but actually know very little about. The clarinet has a long history and, today, forms part of an endless list of different musical styles and genres. High time to learn more about this versatile woodwind instrument!

Practising any instrument can be a tedious process, especially when trying to find the extra time to do so. Many people believe that practice has to be hours a day to achieve any tangible results. That couldn’t be further from the truth! Guest blogger Evan Chapman shows how we can utilise 20 minutes a day to effectively practise drums.

If you’ve got a valve guitar amp, you’re no doubt well aware that the specific valves inside it largely determine your sound. You might also know that there are roughly 25 different valves used for guitar amplifiers, four of which you’ll bump into all the time. What you might not know, however, is that there’s a very specific valve that kick-started what we now call ‘vintage’ sound way back when: the rectifier valve. And guess what? It’s regaining popularity again!

Made it through our previous article on the CAGED system and want to learn more? Great! By the end of this one, you’ll have five major and five minor chord shapes at your disposal that you can move up and down the fretboard of your guitar.

Sometimes, you come across instruments that have a pretty special origin-story, a unique design or even a weird sound. Companies that develop and produce percussion instruments often bring out some weird and wonderful sound-making tools designed to create a specific sound effect. In this blog, we take a closer look at some of the more remarkable percussive instruments out there and see how they can be deployed to mimic the sounds of nature, so you can build your own organic soundscapes.

With the release of the Yamaha Reface synthesizers, the Japan-based music-gear-makers bring back a stone-cold slice of music history. Here, we chart the origin-stories of these superheroes among synths.