This time of year, it’s not so much the heat, but the humidity. In order to keep your wooden acoustic instrument playing and sounding great, it’s important to control the moisture in the wood.
Category: Instruments
Top Blues Albums, by Instrument
Every musician should have at least a basic understanding of the blues. Here’s a blues primer listing examples that best exemplify the blues for guitar, bass, drums, piano, vocals, and harmonica.
How to Use Modulation in a Song
Some of the most powerful moments in music occur when the song or piece shifts from one key to another, or modulates. A modulation usually takes the melody higher, and the trip to the new key can be as brief or extended as the composer chooses. It is a tricky technique that will take a lot of practice to master.
How Left-Handed Musicians Survive a Right-Handed Music World
Left-handed people negotiate a predominantly right-handed world on a daily basis: from scissors to the stick shift, the world has been designed and manufactured towards the righty. And musical instruments are no exception.
How to Develop A Better Sense of Pitch
This is probably why Autotune infuriates so many serious musicians: those variations in pitch aren’t mistakes in the performance; they are the performance. If you clean up those “errors” and quantize everything to the “correct” pitches, all you’re left with is dry, robotic music.
Hammond SK1: A Vintage Lover’s Dream Toy
The Hammond SK1 is a vintage lover’s dream machine. It’s a B3 first and foremost, but comes loaded with other built-in sounds, from Wurlitzer to Fender Rhodes and grand piano. You’ve got to hear this thing to believe it. Which is why we made this video! Video stars Todd Hobin; produced by Drew Roberts
Hughes Family Band
“My parents were very musical, so it was natural when we were kids to sing together all the time,” says second eldest son Jason, 42. The family performed at church functions and small events around their hometown of Taylorsville, Utah. “My mom always had a way of making whatever it was sound like the biggest […]
You Can’t Be Sad and Play Polka
“When the doctors told me the news, my world stopped,” says LynnMarie Rink, a Grammy-nominated artist and entertainer, who began a journey she did not wish to take. “I was frozen. I thought my life was over—and my career. I even wished it were over. But in that ‘frozen’ period, I slowly began to write, […]
Our August Issue: Banjo and Beyond
With Bela Fleck as the cover story, a History of the Banjo two-page spread, and a banjo contest we’re running until August 15, our August issue is sure to please any banjo lover. But don’t worry: we haven’t forgotten about the rest of you! Other stories include Antique Piano Restoration tips for anyone interested in […]
Intro to Lap Steel Guitar
The lap steel guitar has a unique sound, and is a lot of fun to play! Check out this video demo to hear it for yourself.