I saw this on YouTube and it resonated with me.
Maybe you’re not a music teacher like this guy, but I bet music technology has changed the way you listen to and learn music to.
Some thoughts on music in the digital age…
Tag: Guitars
How to Clean Your Guitar
Learn how to clean your guitar, and you’ll be able to keep it shiny and looking like new. These tips will help you get rid of the dirt, streaks, and …
How to Clean Your Guitar
Quarterly Digest – Q3 2022
INTRODUCTION
It’s been a surprisingly busy three months at Plan M Music Blog. I’ve totally revamped the site with new slicker navigation and improved categories. Hopefully you’ve found it easier to find the posts that suit your musical skill level and personal interests.
I’ve also spent time setting social media sites like Pinterest, Twitter, & Tumbler to help drive traffic to the site. I haven’t seen much effect on my site stats yet from it, but perhaps that will come with time.
HOBBY POSTS
My primary mission is still to help adults connect with musical hobbies that suite their needs and busy life style. I’ve posted 12 new posts in this area.
Hobby #1: Don’t Start a Band – Part 1
Hobby #3: Reinvent the Concept of a Band – Hobbies You Should Try Instead of Starting a Band
Hobby #5: Listen for a Cause: Support Ukraine – #Music4Ukraine
Hobby #7: New Goblin Ears Images Created by Artificial Intelligence
Hobby #16: Kill Your Radio Club
Hobby #27: Write Song Parodies
Epic Protest Songs – A Playlist
HASTY MUSIC REVIEW SERIES
I’ve also launched a new series that I call Hasty Music Reviews. I examine and describe songs I’ve never heard before and recommend them to fans of other similar bands. This series is my humble attempt to help drive listeners toward Ukrainian musicians. Hopefully this will help them to earn a living from streams and online sales while Russia’s invasion continues.
Thus far there have been, 7 new posts in this area.
“Pisces” by Jinjer – A Hasty Music Review to Support the People of Ukraine #Music4Ukraine
“Hydronaut” by Shiva the Destructor
“Picnic in Tchernobyl” – By Yom: A Hasty Music Review for Folks Trying to Support #Music4Ukraine
“Kurs Valüt” by Kurs Valüt: Another Hasty Music Review for People Supporting #Music4Ukraine
I’ve also published a playlist to help you find your own favorite Ukrainian artists. I hope you’ll join the cause and post similar content. If you do, please be sure to Pingback to me and I’ll share your work with my audience.
TRAVEL SERIES- MUSIC AROUND THE WORLD
I was fortunate enough to travel a bit this quarter. Like most people, I’ve collected plenty of great content from my travels. Much of it is music-related, and is great for this blog. Some of it has nothing to do with music, but I just want to share it anyway. It’s my site, so I’ll do what I want. I hope you’ll forgive my divergence from my mission and enjoy the content in my Travel Series anyway.
PPAC CHALLENGE
Marsha Ingrao at Always Write encourages bloggers to post artwork that they’ve enjoyed in free, public settings. This is known as the PPAC Challenge. I’ve found this endeavor to be quite worthwhile because I’ve casually been collecting photos of artwork that I enjoy and I’ve always just horded them to myself. Her series has provided a fun outlet. Thanks Marsha!
Sculpture Outside Kilkenny Castle
Pink Predator Sculpture #DublinInk
“Art” at Guinness Open Gate Brewery
“Full of Beans” Moxy Hotel, Dublin
Cleere’s Bar and Theater, Kilkenny, Ireland
REPOSTS FROM OTHER BLOGGERS
I’ve made it a focus to share the work of other authors on my site, particularly those that align with my mission to inspire adults to make more of their musical hobbies.
I hate knowing that I might be driving you away from my content, but I’m hopeful that you’ll return. Either way, if another author’s content helps you find more joy from music, then I’m proud to help you connect with them.
CONCLUSIONS
WordPress provides lots of useful statistics to help quantify success. I wont bore you with many, but this is my 31st consecutive day posting (my longest run). It is also my 100th post.
When I started this blog I didn’t know if I would stick with it. Im happy to say this has been a more enjoyable endeavor than I expected and that’s largely due to the interactions I’m having with other bloggers. Thanks for making blogging a new fun hobby for me!
Homemade DeWalt Guitar
As many of you know, I love trying new things. This week my urges went into seeing if I could make a guitar out of a DeWalt drill case. I cut out the…
Homemade DeWalt Guitar
A Missed Opportunity
Why in the world is this thing called the guitar GRATER. It is obviously meant to be the guitar SHEDDER.
A Guitar From Scratch
You can pursue your dreams of rock superstardom with any guitar, be it from an expensive luthier, a pawn shop, or a mail order catalog. But to join …
A Guitar From Scratch
Ukrainian Music Gear Auction- #Musicians4Ukraine
Thoughts About Having Fun
A good reminder…
A Lil’ Freaky Fun For The Songwriters…
If you’ve ever written a stinker of a song before you’ll get this. Enjoy!
Rig Rundown – March 2022
March 13, 2022
So there are a few basic pieces of equipment I should describe from the start. This won’t be a comprehensive list, but it will include the gear I will use in just about every session including my computer, DAW, interfaces, and speakers. I’ll additional posts when I get into specific tunes if people are interested. (By the way, I am not sponsored by anyone so my opinions are my own.)
I suspect if you’re reading this, you’re probably just getting started with your studio. This gear is used in my basement project studio and it’s not used commercially. It’s all decent quality, and much of it is affordable but it may be more than most new recording engineers want to spend. Just be aware, you can put together a much simpler rig than the one I’m describing for a lot less money. For instance, you don’t need two interfaces and you don’t need an outboard mic pre like the DBX 286s I describe below.
Computer
I’m using an off-the-shelf Mac Mini running Monterery purchased in 2020. It’s got the Apple M1 chip with stock 8GB memory and 256 storage. I’m using a pair of old mismatched monitors, a gaming keyboard (because it lights up), and a standard mouse. I had been using Garage Band, but I started a trial of Logic Pro and I love it. I think it’s the most intuitive DAW I’ve worked with. It was easy for me to make the switch as a former ProTools user. I love the Drummer feature, especially for early demos. The biggest downside is that it only works on Apple computers.
I also have a Microsoft Surface Laptop running Cubase. I don’t do much recording with it because I find Cubase really stifles my workflow. The Surface only has one USB jack, so it’s not really convenient for recording, but it’s nice to keep around if I want to move to a comfy chair and write lyrics or if I want to listen to demos outside of my little home project studio.
Speakers
I’ve got some old KRK Rockit 8s. They’re about 10 years old and still get the job done.
Interfaces
Right now I’m using two. The first is a Focusrite 18i8. I use it when I need to mic up anything like my amps, acoustics, or vocals. Sometimes I use a DBX 286s through a line input. This gives me the option of compressing sounds in the analog world before I route the signal to the A/D converters.
The second interface is my HX Stomp. I just got this and it’s quickly become my default guitar tracking tool. There are a ton of programable sounds for when I want to do custom recording, but often I just call up a preset to do some quick demo work. It’s really nice to get right down to work without having to set up a lot of gear. I can also use it as a DI for re-amping later. This is super convenient for when I want to work early in the morning and don’t want to wake up the neighborhood.
Guitars and Amps
I’ve got a bunch that I own, but right now the two I use the most are my Fender EOB Strat and my Fender Noventa Jazzmaster. I love the Strat for anything single-coil, and with the humbucker in the bridge position, I can quickly switch gears if I need to. I also love the Sustainer. The Jazzmaster is a cool change of pace, and the P90s make for unique tones.
My main amp is a 15 watt Fender Bassbreaker on the clean channel. It works great as a pedal platform and it has plenty of gain if I want to get heavy.
Plan M: Finding Joy in Music Blog 