Are Rotosound strings fret wreckers?
I bought a set of Rotosound Roto Pinks a.k.a. R9 strings recently because my local guitar store ran out of my mainstay Dunlop DEN0942 that I like. I had heard for a long while that Rotosound strings...
View ArticleI still use GPS after 9 years, even to get to the guitar store
Without the thing above, it wouldn't be easy getting to the guitar store. Recently, I just updated my Garmin nuvi 40LM to the 2015.10 map data set. I bought this sat nav (satellite navigation)...
View ArticleAre the neon color guitars coming back in style?
There was a time in the 80s when neon-colored guitars sold fairly well. Has that time come again? Before I get into that, I'll describe the above guitar first. Above is a Jackson Soloist SLX in a color...
View ArticleNew Song: Face
Face by Rich Menga If the above player doesn't work for you, go here. I used the Jazzmaster on this one, and specifically concentrated on a raw Plexi-like sound. The delay I used was actually a...
View ArticleMy "smash compression" post-production audio mastering technique
The way that I master audio files today for my songs is by using what I call a "smash compression" technique. Audio pros would probably consider this a really bad way to master an audio file, but I...
View ArticleRequest to Dunlop: Change your string packaging
 On the surface, the above two packages of guitar strings look exactly the same. They're not. In fact, they're drastically different. My favorite brand of string is Dunlop. I have to order these...
View ArticleWeird Al "Tacky" review
I've been a Weird Al listener for a long time, and something a lot of people don't take into consideration is just how damned good of a musician he is. Above is Tacky from Al's latest album "Mandatory...
View ArticleHow to make plain photos into awesome banner images for Facebook, Twitter or...
You may have seen my Twitter profile and wonder how I get visual effects like that for a banner image. I use nothing but free tools on the web. Yeah, I have image editors, but I find the online way of...
View ArticleTales from a dude who likes photography but doesn't use a smartphone
Technically, the phone I use is a smartphone, but just barely. It's an older model that doesn't have a touchscreen and is a slider with the thumbpad keyboard thing. I can browse the web and use email...
View ArticleExtended range guitars are stupid
When the 2010s decade started, some really good things happened with guitars. One of those good things is that bunch of guitar companies starting bringing back their older, classic designs that hadn't...
View ArticleAre cheap microphones any good?
I just recently bought a microphone because the one I have is old (probably at least 15 years old) and never really sounded that good. So I decided to buy a SM58 clone of sorts, the Pyle PDMIC58. The...
View ArticleHow much does music gear instrument insurance actually cost?
Insuring your music gear, whether it's a guitar, amplifier, violin, cello or something else isn't something most musicians think about - until they actually need it. Do you need it? If you answer any...
View ArticleWhy you will never be a rock star, and why that's okay
Trying to become a rock star in this day and age is a total waste of time because nobody wants you to be. The Last Great Rock Stars existed in the 1990s. After that, they pretty much vanished. There...
View ArticleOld camera on the way
Above is a camera very similar to one I just bought, a Samsung S860 in what's best described as a candy blue color casing. You can find that camera on eBay or on Amazon. It comes in the colors of...
View ArticleChiptune music sucks
If you ever wanted to know what kind of musician puts forth the most effort and gets the least results, the chiptune musician is it. A chiptune is when some idiot purposely creates synthesized music on...
View ArticleE-smoking update, where to get replacement parts, and how to clean it right
I'm still doing the e-smoking thing or electronic cigarette or whatever you want to call it. Recently I bought some replacement parts. For those out there that are interested in how much this stuff...
View ArticleHow I deal with unwanted calls on my cell phone
Whenever I sign up for anything that requires a phone number, I absolutely do not give out my cell number because that's a one-way ticket to getting your phone flooded with crap calls from...
View ArticleHow to make an animated GIF from a movie clip the free and easy way
Note up front: Yes, I made the above image. It's the "I'm as mad as hell" scene from Network. I wrote up this article because there didn't seem to be anywhere else on the internet that said in plain...
View ArticleKodak C195 on the way
To my regular readers, I know your first question is, "Didn't you just recently say you bought a used Samsung S860?" Yeah, well, that didn't work out. I did not receive the S860 due to a shipping...
View ArticleEvery documentary on heavy metal sucks
Above is a two-and-a-half hour documentary called Heavy: The Story of Metal, which originally aired in 2006 on a cable channel here in America called VH-1. I don't know how long it's going to stay...
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