Practically this means:

• No Facebook posting/commenting
• No email, except customer support
• Commenting is temporarily disabled on this site until I get back.

This has to be a real vacation which means I want the freedom to think about StevieSnacks as little as possible for a brief time. I've been thinking about it every day for 4 years, and I need a break.

Here's why.

This past year was the busiest, most productive year yet. Here's a recap:

• 6 premium DVDs, (Albert, B.B., and Freddie)
• 38 Free Lessons (previous high was 23)
• Organized gear clinic and taught seminars at Tall City Blues Fest in Midland, TX
• Rented a new office and moved all my gear

In the 4 years since StevieSnacks began, I have never taken an extended break when I didn't have to. Sure, I've had PLENTY of late mornings, mid-day naps, and a fair amount of days where I didn't work because I didn't feel like it. But mostly.......I've worked...a lot. More importantly, I've thought about StevieSnacks, and often HAD to think about StevieSnacks every single day.

Why? Because I love this.

StevieSnacks isn't successful because I'm a master planner, or great businessman. StevieSnacks is successful because I'm obsessed with the idea of teaching you what I've learned. If nobody bought anything, then I'd have no business. But if there were no lessons, there'd be nothing to buy.

I wake up almost every day with a driving passion to create the best lessons I can possibly make. To put what I've learned into a form other people can learn from.

But that passion burns like a hot flame, and given the opportunity, it will burn itself out after consuming all my energy. Once that happens, it's really, really hard to come back. I've experience burnout in other areas of my life, and I won't let that happen here.

After returning from Texas in early August, I sprinted though the end of December, finishing B.B.'s Influence and Freddie's Influence. I didn't even take the time to properly finish my new office.

As the end of the year approached, I could tell it was time for a break. Certain things were getting under my skin. Negative comments were starting to make me angry, and the polarized reaction to a few of my most recent free lessons made me even angrier.

I've seen my son Austin grow from a baby into a 3 year old boy. When he gets tired, he gets cranky and irrational. This doesn't change as you get older, at least it hasn't for me.
2011 was a joyride, but it exhausted me. So I'm stopping to catch my breath while I still have the energy to do so on my own terms.

I still have the passion, I still have plans. That's why I'm taking a break now instead of waiting until they're all burned up :-)

The simple answer is that I don’t take requests, it's not possible. Suggestions are different.

Numbers

About 4,000 individual people watch my videos on YouTube every day. About 500 people visit StevieSnacks every day. In total, about 250,000 people watch one of my videos every month.

Only a fraction email me, and of that fraction, only a fraction ask for anything. However, a fraction of a fraction of a quarter of a million adds up.

If every request turned into a promise, I'd have a list of obligations too long to ever fulfill. I would burn out quickly.

What Free Lessons Mean To Me

My business is creating and selling premium lessons. That’s what I do. Most people who watch everything, don’t buy anything. Thankfully, enough people do, and I happily continue making lessons.

Making premium lessons is hard, mentally taxing, complicated work. Free Lesson Friday is like a vacation every week.

If I'm not traveling or wrapped up in other work, Free Lesson Friday allows me to get an idea, shoot a video, edit, publish, and promote a lesson, all in just a few hours. It's a refreshing break from the tedious work of making premium lessons.

A backlog of requests would make this 'refreshing break' into a 'crushing weight'. Each week I'd be paying off a debt of promised lessons instead of teaching whatever idea I get on that day.

This list of 'promises' would weigh on my mind, every day, leading to certain burn-out.

Suggestions Only

So....I appreciate all of you, I hope that's obvious. But asking me for a specific lesson will become a suggestion only. It will not affect my plans any more than the other suggestions I get.

I may remember your suggestion on some Friday morning in the future, but I'll probably forget about it. That's not because I don't care, it's because I'm just one person who wishes to remain free from the crushing weight of obligation.

When you ask for a lesson, please remember I am not a vending machine, but a person with a family and a life. Making free lessons isn't free. It costs me time, and energy. If that became an exercise of obligation I'd have to stop doing it.

My approach to guitar has always been to play exactly what I wanted. My approach to lessons is the same way.  If I can keep that approach, I’ll be teaching lessons for a long time :-)

blog comments powered by Disqus

This post is a tribute to you, the viewers and customers who come here to learn. This site exists only because you keep coming back, talking about it to friends, and supporting me with your purchases.

The point I hope to make is that the success of StevieSnacks is a remarkable thing, because it happened without the help and support of any large companies, celebrities, or publications. It happened entirely because of your loyalty.

Perspective

While you read the next section, keep this one fact in the forefront of your mind:

StevieSnacks is a huge success, enough so, that it allowed me to quit my job 2 years ago.

Remember that as you read on.

Who's Responsible For This?

Magazines

Magazines maintain a fairly high “radar” threshold. They will highlight up and coming pedal and amp makers, but they largely ignore small indie websites like this. That's understandable. If you have an audience, you must always weigh the pro's and con's of what you highlight for your audience. I face this occasionally too.

A few years ago, a freelance writer for Vintage Guitar wanted to include me in a story. So we did an interview. When he found out that I wasn’t in a band, and didn’t have an illustrated career behind me, the story got harder to write, and eventually never happened. I wasn’t surprised.

Guitar magazines don't know what to do with an independent success, not affiliated with any big names, especially one like this where the lessons feature a very low amount of music theory. They stick to people who have pedigree, music degrees, long histories in the industry, etc.. Needless to say, that is not me.

StevieSnacks has succeeded without any help from Guitar Magazines.

Gear Makers

While I’m not sure exactly how many Fender Blues Juniors my early demos helped sell, I think it’s probably a lot. People assume that Fender knows about me, or has contacted me, or even offered me an endorsement deal.

Nope. I have no contacts at Fender. Never been contacted, never been approached. I walked around their NAMM booth last year, and no one knew me from Moses.

I’ve used GraphTech saddles for over 10 years. They’re on all my Strats. I contacted GraphTech a while back to ask about artist endorsement. No reply.

StevieSnacks has succeeded without any help from top tier gear companies.

Famous Artists

I don’t know, or have connections with, any famous musicians. 

Tonight, I’ll be going to a Kenny Wayne Shepherd show. Because many of you love his music, I contacted his press agent to request an interview, hoping to publish it tomorrow, after the show. No reply. I can't say I'm surprised. Like magazines, artists have an audience, and must weigh the value of every interview. Maybe they never got it, who knows. It doesn't really matter.

StevieSnacks has succeeded without any help from big name artists.

The Estate

Last year, I contacted Bug Music, the manager of Stevie Ray Vaughan’s publishing rights. A very helpful person guided me through the application process for requesting a sync license for Pride And Joy. I created a sample of how I’d teach the song. The application was submitted to the Stevie Ray Vaughan estate for review. I never got a decision back, which means it was either ignored, or they didn't even consider it worth responding too. 

StevieSnacks has succeeded without any help from full song lessons.

So What?

So what’s the point of writing all of that? Simple. 

StevieSnacks is a shining independent success, without help from traditional publishers, artists, endorsements, etc... I work full time at this, selling lessons to people all over the world, and have been for 4 years.

It is a success because you made it a success.

You built this. You didn’t come here because you heard about it in a magazine. You didn’t come here because you saw my picture on a big website, or because I played on stage with someone famous.

The only reason you come here is because you like the lessons. And because you keep coming back, recommending the site to friends, and buying the premium lessons, I get to keep doing this, day after day, week after week, month after month, and year after year.

StevieSnacks exists because you decided that your lessons didn’t need to come from someone with a name you knew. Some of you were doubtful when you initially found the site. But you stuck around, and you’re still here. And for that I thank you.

Friends To StevieSnacks

There have been people who, over these 4 years, have treated this me with respect. They didn't look at StevieSnacks as a minor thing. In their eyes, it was worth highlighting. These are all good people, and they all have my sincere thanks.

Bill Machrone (Bill M.)

Bill was one of the first people with a reputation to call out my site, and recommend people to it. He didn’t have to do that. He still has a link on his site to StevieSnacks, and I don’t know why, but I am thankful.

Creation Audio Labs

I met Sarge of CAL at a guitar show in 2008. StevieSnacks was barely off the ground, yet they have always treated me with respect, talking up my site, and allowing me to review their pedals.

Samamp

I’ve been using a Samamp VAC 23 since 2009, and will soon be reviewing another one of Sam’s amps. When visiting the Nashville Amp Expo this year, I spent most of my time talking to Sam.

Wampler Pedals

Before we even met, Brian graciously gave me the chance to evaluate one of his best pedals, the Ecstasy Overdrive. When I requested an Ecstasy to give away as a prize at my Texas Tone clinic this summer, he quickly obliged.

Visual Sound

After I published my review of the Angry Fuzz, I contacted Visual Sound, and heard back directly from Bob Weil, thanking me for the video. They also were quick to give me a pedal to giveaway as a prize at my Texas Tone Clinic.

Ron Reeger / Lisa Grissom

These two people from Promising Projects are the reason I had the great opportunity to go to the Tall City Blues Fest this summer to teach. StevieSnacks got very good visibility in the festival program, they didn’t hide it away in the back, but they could have. I appreciate that greatly.

Jim Dalrymple

Jim is a writer at loopinsight.com. He’s equally connected in the world of Apple, and the MIM community. Jim has shamelessly recommended my site on a number of occasions. He’s a good dude, and has quite a beard.

Josh Evitt

Josh is the blogger at GuitarLifetyle.com. I’ve had the chance to meet him in person several times, and he’s always been very supportive, especially with his review of Essential Fretboard.

Jon Bloomer

Jon is the blogger at GuitarNoize.com. When he was doing his blues solo contest, I did a little promo video for it, and he talked up this site on his blog. He didn’t have to, but he did, and I’m thankful.

Chuck W.

Chuck was one of my earliest DVD customers, and despite having some initial trouble with the DVDs, became a vocal StevieSnacks supporter on FenderForum.com. Chuck you know who you are, and I’m thankful for your support.

Ken Tangen

Ken runs the What’s It Like podcast site. He interviewed me for his podcast, along with some other, much more well-known people. I am thankful for that interview, it’s one of my favorites.

Dan Benjamin

Dan runs the hugely successful 5by5 podcast network. I emailed him out of the clear blue sky, asking to be a guest on one of his shows. He liked StevieSnacks so much that we ended up doing a 10-episode show together called “The Mixdown”. Dan interviews and co-hosts shows with some of the biggest names in the web design world. He certainly didn’t have to respond to my email, much less give me my own show, but he did, and I am thankful for that.

Chris Enns

Chris Enns runs a podcast network at SSKTN.com. He interviewed me, and also started a show called “The Google Juice” where I could rant about how much I don’t understand marketing.

Hiro (Avid)

I contacted Hiro, designer of the Avid Eleven Rack last year. Not only did he graciously reply, but offered me the chance to review the Eleven Rack. While I have yet to produce very much valuable feedback, I use it every day in my office studio. I am very thankful that Hiro took my request seriously, and did not ignore it.

Robert Renman

Robert is the guitarist behind Dolphinstreet.com. He has always been supportive of StevieSnacks, and has mentioned me several times on his site. Robert’s one of the nicest people you’ll meet ever.

Grosh Guitars

In the early years of StevieSnacks, when my Retro Classic was my main axe, the Grosh people put a link to StevieSnacks on their site.

Nick Sorenson

Nick runs Rocketfire Guitars. He was supportive of StevieSnacks from the beginning, even giving me a set of pickups for my Texas Tone Clinic.

----

I’m sure there are more, it’s late, and my mind is getting fuzzy. But you get the point.

When it comes to an oddity like StevieSnacks, people in the ‘industry’ have one of two reactions. They either ignore it because of what I lack, or they support it because of what I do.

You have a choice too, and today, after 4 years, I’m thankful you choose to support it. It’s changed my life.

blog comments powered by Disqus

StevieSnacks will soon turn 4 years old (10/21). To celebrate, B.B.'s Influence, a new lesson series teaching the style of B.B. King, will launch on that day. Ten people will win free copies.

However, this post is also a celebration. Here, I will finally put a few things to rest. Things that never quite found legs on StevieSnacks. Just like trees, websites need to be pruned. Without pruning, they become vast blobs of half-baked content.

My reasons for this are simple. My first, and highest goal for StevieSnacks is to make the best blues guitar lessons you've ever seen. Anything that dilutes that focus needs to have a very good reason for being here.

So here, for the final time, is a list of things that have, or will soon disappear from the site.

Things That Are Going Away For Good

Premium Singles

These were shorter (15-20 minute) premium lessons, individually made, not as part of a larger series. While the idea is not terrible, it turns out that what I really love to do is big multi-lesson series that require lots of planning. They can take weeks, or even months, to complete, but I love that process.

I only ever made two of them.  Now they're gone for good.

The StevieSnacks Community Podcast

People email me a lot of questions about guitar gear. So I figured recording my answers in an audio podcast would be a great idea. Except for the fact that after 4 episodes, I never found the time to do it again, and not very many people even knew I did it.

So, no more audio podcasts about gear. If I ever talk about gear, it will probably be in the form of.....you guessed it, a video lesson series. Until then, email will have to do. (Seriously, please read my contact page before emailing me about that amp you just bought :-)

The Practice Center

So this one time I did a video about some spider drills which all of you should totally do.  The problem is, instead of posting this in the free lessons section, I created a brand new section called "The Practice Center" and posted the video there. I intended to make more of them. I didn't. So now it lives in the free lessons section.

Things That Might Be Going Away

StevieSnacks started with a cheap camcorder, a bouncing knee, and really loud talking, something I don't really understand myself. After a few months, I got a better camera, started talking at a normal volume, and making premium lessons.

But truthfully, aside from "5 Essential Blues Boxes," many of my early lessons just don't sell that well. And the production quality is far below what I'm capable of doing now. In addition, some of my later lessons never really hit the mark, and despite being suitable quality, they just aren't as compelling as my best selling lessons.

So I am trying to figure out what to do with the following lessons:

• Slow Blues Solo 1
• Shuffle Blues Solo 1
• E-Flat Blues Stomp
• Covenant
• Original Ballad Series

I'd kind of like to dump them and make replacements, but that takes time. Some people have expressed concern that I'd get rid of them completely, so I may try to find another way to push them down to the bottom of the pile, without getting rid of them completely.

Don't get me wrong, they are all great lessons, and you should totally buy them, but truthfully, they're not nearly as popular as the other lessons.

Things I Don't Do Here

Review Gear

I still do gear reviews, but now I realize that gear reviews will always be much lower priority than lessons. Gear demos are fun, but not something that will be heavily emphasized here in the future. You probably already knew that, but it's important for me to say it.

Because I've struggled with ego for so much of my life, the success of StevieSnacks is a huge invitation to outgrow my britches. I used to think I wanted to become a famous gear reviewer, figuring that companies would line up to have me make a video about their stuff.

In fact, most of you come here for the lessons, period. The gear reviews are nice, but the lessons are what you love. Funny, that's how I feel too.

Live Events

Back in January, my head was full of ideas about doing live events, clinics, etc... For some reason, I felt that I needed to get out of my basement, get out and travel, do big things, make a name for myself.

As luck would have it, I got invited to teach at a blues festival in Texas. I taught some lessons, some workshops, and held a gear clinic called Texas Tone. For a first timer, the results were pretty good, and I had fun. But it was a LOT of work, and exhausting.

Planning that trip delayed B.B.'s Influence by at least a month. I now understand that I cannot be a traveling guitar teacher, AND continue to make premium lessons on a regular basis. There isn't enough time in the day, or days in the week for me to do both.

I will do live events as opportunities become available, but probably not more than two per year, depending on where they are. If more doors of this type open for me, I'll have to make a decision about how to spend my time. But for now, my time will be spent on making premium lessons and Free Lesson Friday.

------------

I make lessons.

That is my job, and that's what I intend to do. To you, the faithful StevieSnacks viewers, and customers, your teacher is back. I won't be making lessons forever, but for now, that is what I do.

blog comments powered by Disqus

There’s a great scene in the movie Office Space, where efficiency consultant Bob Slydell (John C. McGinley) leans across the desk, looks right at Peter (Ron Livingston) and says:

“What would you say…… you do here?”

That movie has nothing to do with StevieSnacks, but my own answer to that question is clearer to me now than ever before.

Clarity

My latest series, Albert’s Influence, began as an idea in late 2010. After several months of part-time planning, I was ready to begin shooting the videos sometime during the spring months of this year.

Except I couldn’t.

I had volunteered for a project at my church, also in late 2010, and that project’s only requirement was due the very same week I was supposed to begin work on Albert’s Influence.

The frustration I felt that week was cleansing. Trying to finish a project that was nearly over, burning with motivation to start the next.

During that week, I had a moment of great clarity.

I always get frustrated when other projects keep me from working on new lessons, but I never get frustrated when lessons keep me from working on other projects.

What I Do

I make lessons. That is what I do.

StevieSnacks is about lessons, and that is what I make.

Obvious? Probably. Especially looking back at 3 years of failed side projects that went nowhere.

There have been several months in the past 3 years that my premium lesson sales dipped uncomfortably low. Rare, but it happened. But during those dry weeks, my reaction was predictable. “What am I doing wrong”. Or worse “What else should I be doing?”.

To an immature businessman, that logic made perfect sense. If the lessons aren’t selling (this month), than logically, there was something else I should be doing. Of course, history has shown that during dry periods, the wisest investment of your time is in your products. Make them better. Make new products, create momentum.

But rather than run back to the premium lessons, I would start looking for other things ‘to do here’.

Halfway

The problem with most of these projects is that as soon as they’d get off the ground, sales would pick back up and I’d be excited about making new lessons again. Predictably, anything I had started in haste, would wither.

I hate that.

It bothers me to see things on this site that I’ve started, but never finished. It’s embarrassing to know that some of you have seen various things start, and go nowhere.

I don’t like doing things halfway, and the only thing I ever do 100% every single time, is make lessons.

Focus

Soon I’ll be writing a post on this blog detailing some things I’m officially dropping. Not to apologize, but to give them a proper ending.

It’s a celebration of focus. Like spring cleaning, only this time, in fall.

I make lessons, that is what I do. The frustration of being unable to do that, reminded me of how important it is to never forget 'what you do here'.

blog comments powered by Disqus

Wampler Pedals actually had a pretty cool high-gain distortion pedal they were demoing for the first time at the show. The SLOStortion is a surprisingly thick sounding distortion pedal. Not entirely my cup of tea for blues, but I was surprisingly intrigued by it's beefy tone.

I spent a good amount of time in the Wampler room trying out the pedals, mostly playing through their compressor pedal called the Ego.

I've never used a compressor pedal in my signal chain because it felt like cheating. Maybe cheating is the wrong word. I just felt that compression should come from the amp as the tubes are overdriven, so a compressor pedal SHOULD be un-necessary.

However, a clean amp played at relatively low volumes is an exceptional case. The tubes aren't adding any compression of their own, so it's not the "clean" that bothers me, just the lack of sustain. At loud volumes, a clean amp will cause the strings to sustain more, but a clean amp at low volumes is rather plinky.

A compressor pedal, I theorized, could help solve some of this by adding more sustain to the notes. But I didn't want to lose the snappy attack, especially for those plucked Albert King style bends. So I kind of wanted the best of both worlds.

At the Amp Expo, I tried out the Ego Compressor from Wampler, and was delighted to find that it has a "blend" control. This blend allows you to mix the compressed signal from the pedal with the uncompressed original signal. So you retain the snap of the initial picking attack, but your notes will sustain longer, to the degree that you've mixed in the compressed signal with the "Blend" control.

I am in no way a connoisseur of compressor pedals. So when I bought the Ego, I had not done a ton of research on competing pedals. But it did what I wanted it to do, and sounded very transparent. Good enough for me, and I like it quite a bit.

When I'm done with my next lesson series I'll be doing a full review, but the video from the show should reinforce some of what I've written here.

blog comments powered by Disqus

Samamp VAC 40 Series II

That amp combines two things I love: Fender style tone and low power. Sam invented a way to use appliance lightbulbs to limit voltage and current to the power tubes, reducing their power, and thus, volume. This feature is called the Variable Amplitude Clipping, or VAC. The VAC control allows you to pick the power level appropriate for your venue. The VAC 23 that I play has 3, 5, 11, 18, and 23 watt settings.

This year at the Nashville Amp Expo, Sam introduced me to his latest creation, the VAC 40 Series II. Short summary: awesome, better.

What's The Same, and What's Different?

From here on out, I'll be referring to the VAC 40 Series 2 as simply "VAC40" and my VAC 23 as simply "23". 

VAC

Both the 40 and the 23 have a VAC circuit, but the VAC40 has power levels up to 40 watts and the VAC23 only up to 23 watts. The extra wattage doesn't matter to me, I've never had the VAC23 above 18 watts for any gig I've played. However, depending on how much clean volume you want, the extra watts could be very important to you.

Clean Channel

The VAC40 has a clean channel which is very similar to the one single channel of the VAC23. The VAC23 does include a master volume, but since the VAC40 has a separate overdrive channel, this is not really a missing.

The VAC23 has several boosts, a tonestack bypass, mid boost and treble boost. The VAC40 has a 3 way treble shaping switch, and an upper midrange boost. It loses the tonestack bypass, which I never used anyway. 

The clean channel of the VAC40 is every bit as good as my entire VAC 23 amp. The both the 3-way treble shaping switch and the upper-midrange boost on the VAC40 sound better and are more useable than their counterparts on the VAC23.

Overdrive

Where the VAC23 has only the one channel, the VAC40 adds a foot-switchable overdrive channel. The overdrive channel has essentially the same controls, with the addition of a master volume. The master volume in this channel allows you to tailor how much preamp distortion you want, while also matching the volume of the clean channel.

There are some engineering details about the way the VAC40 overdrives the tubes which I won't bother trying to explain here. The resulting overdrive is very musical and cleans up very well with a lighter touch.

Sam has designed a foot-switchable volume roll-back. This gives the overdrive channel two modes: rolled back, and normal. These modes can be toggled with the second switch. The roll back circuit gently attenuates the lows and mids to give your tone a bit more definition. The normal mode sounds thick and meaty in comparison.

What does this mean?

My approach to tone is built on levels of sustain (using distortion). I start with a clean-ish tone, and add levels of sustain for different kinds of soloing.

The VAC23 gives me one level. I use pedals to get the rest.  The VAC40 would give me 3 levels. Clean, Overdrive (rolled-back), and Overdrive (normal). While I have no intention of giving up my pedals, the VAC40 would give me a lot more options because it can do things I previously had to rely on pedals to do. 

The Bottom Line

If you're shopping for an amp under $800, neither Samamp model is really within your budget. But as boutique amps go, the Samamp models are quite affordable. The VAC23 is a bit less expensive, but if you're shopping for a $1500 amp, chances are another $200 is not going to break your bank. The VAC40 practically containts the VAC23 in the clean channel alone, with the addition of more power, better boosts, and a completely separate overdrive channel with 2 modes. 

If you're considering a Samamp, this is the one to look at first.

blog comments powered by Disqus

New Amp From Sam at Samamp

Try saying that 5 times fast :-)

2 years ago, at the very first NAE, the first room I visited was the Samamp room. That's where I found the VAC 23 combo that I've been using ever since. Sam Timberlake, the owner and builder of Samamp amps sent me one right after the show, and I knew within about 5 minutes that I was going to buy it.

This year Sam had a brand new amp. The amp is a 2 channel amp, with a very unique overdrive channel that sounds much better than most preamp overdrive channels I've played through. It sounds fantastic.

The clean channel is very much like my VAC 23, but the overdrive channel adds so much flexibility. There's too many details to write here, but I'll be doing a demo of this amp in the future. If you're thinking about getting a Samamp, this is one to look at first.

VAC 40 Series 2 at Samamp.com

Wampler

Late last night after the crowd had thinned out, I got a chance to try the Wampler Ego Compressor pedal. For whatever reason, there has never been a compressor pedal in my gear collection, but that may change. Part of the challenge of playing through squeaky clean amps is the lack of sustain at low volumes, especially with heavy strings and a strong picking attack.

When an amp is not distorting, those initial pick attacks are very prominent, they stand out much more than the sustained note as you hold it. So unless you're playing at really high volumes, this drop off in volume makes your tone feel underwhelming and a bit plinky. This is where a compressor can help. Compressors basically squash the initial attack and keep the volume more consistent so your sound feels fuller.

But I don't want a pedal that completely squashes that initial attack, I just want something that helps the rest of the note to sustain longer.

The Wampler Ego Compressor has a blend control which allows you to blend the original uncompressed signal and the compressed, more sustained signal from the compression circuit. So you get the best of both worlds, crisp attack, and longer sustain.

Wampler Ego Compressor

Warehouse Guitar Speakers

I met David from WGS at the NY Amp Show a few months back, but didn't have a chance to try out either their 15" speakers until yesterday.  Comparing speakers is one of the hardest things to do unless you can switch between them quickly. That's why these shows are probably one of the best ways to compare speakers, no volume restrictions and very quick switching between different models.

David told me the story about how WGS transformed from a behind-the-scenes OEM speaker manufacturer, to a branded speaker manufacturer, and it's a fantastic story. Long story short, a huge OEM order fell through, and rather than throw away thousands of speakers, David started selling them on eBay for cheap, they got fantastic user reviews and the rest is history.

Warehouseguitarspeakers.com

Longhorn Amps

Longhorn Amps is a fairly new name in the boutique amp market, but they got some terrific reviews from players at past events. While attending NAMM in January, Harold Henkel told me it was the best sounding amp at the LA Amp Show.

Terry, the builder, designed the amp to try and capture Stevie's tone, so of course, I was very interested in seeing what it could do.

And, it's great. It's also quite expensive. Terry told me that he considers this amp his signature amp, with all the bells and whistles he could put in it. And trust me, there's a lot. Some of it is too technical to explain here, but the bottom line is this.

If you're a player in search of that SRV Dumble-esque  tone, and price is not a concern, you should find a way to try out this amp.

Longhorn Amps

FluxTone

There are many ways to get good tone at low volumes. But until now, almost none of them had anything to do with the speaker.

Enter FluxTone. Using the magic of electromagnetics, a FluxTone speaker has an attenuation control that weakens the magnet of the speaker with electrical signal. This makes the speaker less efficient, making it quieter.

I was skeptical. But as another show attendee played, I put my ear right in front the speaker, listening carefully for any changes in tone as the speaker control was adjusted from loud to quiet.

It was like magic. Any changes in tone were subtle, and it's important to realize that our ears 'hear' differently at quiet and high volume levels.

Here's the catch. These things are not mass-produced (yet), and as a result, are very expensive. It's a chicken-and-the-egg thing. They can't come down in price until they're mass produced, they won't be mass-produced until there's a ton of people buying them, but most people won't buy them until they're cheaper.

Assuming that prices will drop eventually, it's hard for me to imagine a future where you won't see these, or something like them, everywhere you look.

FluxTone Speakers

GuitarLifetyle.com

Part of my trips to Nashville include chatting with Josh from GuitarLifestyle.com. I'm not an avid blog reader, but I do check Josh's blog because he finds stuff, like these rare SRV soundcheck videos, that I would never find on my own.

I always enjoy talking with him because, all guitar talk aside, he's a huge computer nerd like me.

GuitarLifestyle.com

OK it's past noon, and the show is starting again, so I've got to wrap this up. More stuff to look at today :-)

blog comments powered by Disqus

Midland

The festival was in Midland, and the first thing you see when you fly into Midland is oil fields. Everything is extremely flat, dry, and very, very hot. I was told before I left the airport that is has not rained in over 300 days.

Midland is unlike any city I've been in before. For one thing, everything is spread out. The map makes it look like fairly small, but you can spent 15 minutes getting from one side of Midland to the other through traffic.

There are several city blocks in each direction that are entirely commercial, no houses or apartments. After the work day, the city seems vacant. On the first night I walked down to a VIP event, and after 6 city blocks, I saw just one other person walking on the streets, at 7pm. It was a very weird feeling. Like walking in a ghost town.

That night I saw the incredibly talented Rueben V Band play for the festival VIP ticket holders. A great power trio performance.

Texas Tone

We had 10 people registered for Texas Tone, but that number got whittled down to 6 because of last minute sickness, work changes, and family emergencies. So we had a small group of 6 people. They came from as close as Midland, and as far away as New Mexico, Levelland, and Wichita Falls.

For about 90 minutes I went through a LOT of topics, introducing them to my approach to getting tone I like, and then explained how I'd do that using the variety of amps everyone had brought.

We had a great lineup of amps to work with. Some of my favorites were the Deluxe Reverb, Vibroverb, and a very old Fender Harvard amp, which I had never heard of before this clinic.

After the instructional portion, we had some time to jam and let everyone try out the different amps.

Lastly, I gave away the prizes that had been donated, a set of pickups from Rocketfire Guitars, an Angry Fuzz from Visual Sound, and an Ecstasy Overdrive from Wampler Pedals by drawing names from a hat.

Workshops

The workshops I taught on Saturday were awesome. In each workshop, there were at least 10 people, and most people brought guitars. It was a lot of fun explaining the 12 bar structure to the first group, and dissecting some SRV licks with the second group.

Both of those workshops are something I could definitely enjoy doing in other places.

Presentations

The presentations were a bit out of place. I didn't realize that some of the other presenters were going to be doing music, so my viewer-submitted stories didn't seem quite as entertaining. Nonetheless, people had shared some great stories about where the live, and their love of blues music, so I did the presentations the same way for 6 people as I would have done it for 600 :-)

Music

I actually didn't get much chance to see a lot of the bands while I was there. A lot of time was spent preparing for my events, teaching lessons, and trying to get enough rest. But I did manage to see two acts that I really enjoyed.

Right after Texas Tone, I got in the elevator, and struck up a conversation with an older gentleman who told me he was about to go on stage with Smokin' Joe Kubek. Now, I don't get out much, and had not reviewed any of the pictures in the program, so while I should have recognized who it was, I did not. So I asked if he was a drummer or bass player. He said, "No, I play guitar and sing". Slowly I began to put two and two together, but before I could say anything else to further embarrass myself, he introduced himself as Bnois King.

I felt like an idiot, but he was quite friendly, and we chatted a bit as we walked outside, him right to the stage, and me right to the crowd to watch. They put on a good show and I got to see about 45 minutes of their set before I went back upstairs to finish planning my workshops.

On Saturday night, I ventured outside at about 11:30 to check out this guy named Eddie Turner from Colorado. It took me a full 10 minutes to figure out if I was even going to like his music, but it became evident that the crowd of dancing people in front of the stage was no accident. Eddie worked the crowd like a master, at one point, walking off stage with his bass player, through the crowd, with a drunken middle age man in a Hawaiian shirt dancing behind them. He was soloing the entire time without missing a beat.

Eddie's sound is probably unlike anyone you've ever heard before, and it might not be your personal favorite, but I found it quite gripping, and very entertaining.

Thanks

I'd like to thank first and foremost the people at Promising Projects in Midland for giving me the opportunity to do my first live appearance and for being so accommodating. Ron Reeger and Lisa Grissom know how to plan a top-shelf event, and dealing with them was a pleasure.

I'd also like to thank Peter Bawa who was assisting the festival planners during the event, and who helped get the amps I needed.

Thanks to the Hilton staff for such great service in the restaurant, and to the server who gave me more than a couple free cups of coffee during my stay.

Thanks to everyone who submitted stories for my presentations, you'll be hearing from me via email soon.

Thanks to Billy Pon for letting me borrow his SRV Strat while I was in Midland, it truly was just like having my guitar with me.

And lastly, special thanks to all the people who came to Texas Tone, took the workshops, and gave me the chance to teach private lessons. It wouldn't have been a very interesting trip without your support.

blog comments powered by Disqus

Watching these made me feel a few things.  First, it's kind of spooky to see him in such an informal context. In most performance videos he's pretty animated, with all cylinders firing. In these videos, it looks like maybe he's wishing he could go back to sleep, but plays flawlessly anyway.

Secondy, these videos were shot on January 24th, 1986. Stevie's drug addiction breakdown happened on September 28th of that same year, in Ludwigshafen Germany. Watching these videos now, it's sad to think that he was 9 months away from hitting absolute rock bottom.

blog comments powered by Disqus

It was part business, part childhood, and even part Amish. You'll know what I mean after you listen :-)

"What's It Like To Teach Guitar Online?" - at What'sItLike.info

Or, visit the WhatsItLike podcast on iTunes

Or Listen Here

Or Listen to it on a YouTube Video:

blog comments powered by Disqus

Tall City Blues Festival

The festival is a weekend event, July 29th - 31st. There are bands performing on Friday afternoon/evening, all day Saturday, and a jam session on Sunday. The bands range from local to regional, and even some national acts performing, such as Smokin' Joe Kubeck and James Boogaloo Bolden (whos name you may recognize if you're a B.B. King fan).

The process of planning this trip has given me a greater respect for how difficult it is to make an event of this size happen. People work for months to put something like this together, coordinating schedules, negotiating fees, finding gear, making lots of phone calls, and probably working a lot of late nights as well. 

What I'm Doing There

On Friday, July 29th, I'm hosting Texas Tone, a special tone clinic. It's from 6pm to 9pm at the Hilton in Midland. Registration is $45, but early registration for $35 is available until July 4th. That registration fee includes one free pass to the festival (normally $40 by itself).

We'll talk about amps and pedals and I'll present a very logical approach to getting great tone. There are than $700 in door prizes form Wampler Pedals, Visual Sound, and Rocketfire Guitars as well.  More details here.....

Saturday - Workshops & Presentations

Saturday is when I'll be doing my work for the festival. First there are two presentations where I'll be sharing stories from StevieSnacks viewers.

• "Blues In Strange Places"
• "Why Do You Play The Blues" 

And after that I'll be teaching two guitar workshops called:

• "Blues Guitar 101: I, IV, V"
•  "Blues Guitar 202: Deconstructing SRV Licks".

The presentations are open to anyone with a festival pass, but the workshops are paid, and you must register for them through the local music college.

Details about the Workshops and Presentations is here...

Sunday - Private Lessons

I'm also giving a limited number of private lessons while I'm there, details are on this page....

Why Midland?

Some people have asked if I'm coming to other parts of Texas as part of this trip, and the answer is no. I am giving my full attention and effort towards the festival because they were generous enough to bring me down to be a part of their event. 

If an organization or company in another city wants to do the same thing, I'd be glad to come there too :-)

I'm really excited about this trip, it's my first time trying to plan anything this big, I hope if you're within driving distance, you'll come out and help make it a big success.

blog comments powered by Disqus

So.........I'm kind of a one man show here. And as is common with one man shows, sometimes things go wrong.

Here's the deal.

The Albert's Influence 2 DVD sets are finished. They'll be released on Monday. And they'll be sold for $10 less ($55) than what I intended to sell them for ($65).

Why?

Because, somehow, somewhere, someway, I did not put any chapter markers in the last 4 (of 9) solo lesson videos.

What does this mean?

When the chapter markers are correctly added to the DVD, you can navigate from one lick to the next using the "Next" and "Previous" buttons on your remote.

However, when I'm an idiot, the chapter markers are not in there, and you're stuck with fast-forward and rewind for finding the lick you're looking for.

Only the 4 lesson videos on the second DVD are affected.

If you don't use the chapter markers, it won't make any difference. If you do use the chapter markers, it will be mildly annoying.

This is the kind of thing that drives me crazy, but it's part of running a business. Chapters or not, the lessons are the best I've ever done, and if you love Albert's playing as much as I do, you'll love these lessons :-)

Visit the Albert's Influence Lesson Series Page

blog comments powered by Disqus

That got me thinking, that's probably something other people have wondered about, particularly as it relates to using "The Grip", which anyone who's serious about playing this style should buy.

So here it is, a PDF with a actual size picture of my hand. If you print it out on a standard piece of paper, the arrow should be 7.75 inches in length, which is the disance from my second wrist skin fold to the tip of my middle finger.

If you're so inclined, post your fretting hand measurements in the comments. Measure from a similar place on your wrist to the tip of your middle finger.

Download PDF

blog comments powered by Disqus

But that's the problem with random giveaways, there are no qualifications. Still, I was hoping that the random number generator would be kind to the StevieSnacks audience. When I pressed "Generate" and the number 145 came up, a huge sense of relief came over me. Since over 500 people signed up the first day, I knew that number 145 had to be someone who visited the site regularly.

Number 145 turned out to be Mitchel Guth, from Georgia. He was very excited to have won the guitar, and I wanted to post his picture, and a brief bio here for you all to see.

Congratulations again Mitchel :-)

I’ve been playing guitar for about 4 years now and I can honestly say it’s my passion. I ,of course, play blues but also jazz and funk on top of that. My favorite artists and influences are Stevie Ray, of course, and B.B King, Albert King, Chris Cain, Jimi Hendrix, and Clapton. Music has become a main part in my life and to have an instrument that lets me go all out and doesn’t hold me back is amazing.  I’m overly happy and surprised that I won the KWS Strat. It’s a relief that I have such an awesome guitar for free, because for me to be able to buy a guitar like this on my own would take me  over a year of saving every penny that I would of obtained. I just want to say thank you so much to Mr. Stauffer at Stevie Snacks for putting as much as he has into his website and lessons. I hope Stevie Snacks continues to grow and become even more popular.

blog comments powered by Disqus

To be honest, I was completely unprepared for this when the requests started rolling in, and the way that I handled some of them was probably not very professional.

Online businesses often do things to help each other out. Site "A" trades links with Site "B", or Joe Q. Websiteowner helps promote the products of some website, in exchange for a commission.

Many of those tactics, I find distasteful, and will not participate. That's not to say they don't work for other sites, but that's them, not me.

Lots of people who run websites are making a lot more money than I am, precisely because they do these kinds of things well, and that's fine with me. At the end of the day, I still need to be able to sleep at night, knowing that I ran my business the way I believed to be right.

I decided to write a page specifically for those who are interested in these types of business deals, hoping to clarify why I am mostly not interested.

Read "Links, Affiliates, JVs and Ads"

blog comments powered by Disqus

G.A.S. - Gear acquisition syndrome, a fake disorder affecting guitarists everywhere, often used as an excuse to buy gear that sounds just as bad when we play it as the gear we have now.

A hard-working man, with middle-class income, saves for an entire year to buy a $500 used guitar while a teenager with upper-class pedigree goes shopping for a USA Fender Stratocaster because his dad "wants him to have something decent".

Seems  a bit unfair. But here we are.

We guitarists are a financially diverse group of people, drawn together by a few common threads. Love of tone, love of music, and the desire to express ourselves.

Those common threads distract us from our differences, but we are, in fact, very different. Especially when it comes to money.

For Those Without

My heart goes out to the guitar player who is struggling, playing the same entry level gear year after year, watching video after video about gear he'll never be able to afford, dreaming of the day he can buy a $100 overdrive pedal.

You see, I still remember the nervous anxiety I felt  when I handed over $549 of my hard-earned cash for my first "real" guitar. It may be the cheapest guitar I own today, but that feeling, fear mixed with excitement, is still in the back of my mind.  I have gone through many different levels of what is "normal", and my "normal" today is nothing like my "normal" of 15 years ago.

But I still remember, and will never forget, what it felt like to take that Mexican Stratocaster off the wall, play it for the first time, not entirely sure that I could afford it.

We Are Not The Same

In the real world, people who shop for next year's Mercedes Benz, don't often discuss cars with people who shop Craigslist for a used 1992 VW Golf. We stick to our own kind, rich with rich, poor with poor.

But everyday, in internet forums, bookstores, and guitar stores everywhere, rich, middle-class, and poor meet to discuss, read about, and play the same gear.

However, let us never forget, when we close our browsers, leave the guitar store, and put down the magazine, we go back to very, very different worlds. There is no "normal" that fits us all. Don't ever, for even a second, let yourself start feeling as if you can't be "normal" because you don't have enough pedals, or a nice enough guitar.

This uncomfortable reality isn't written about in magazines. Instead, we focus on the things we share, like the desire to express ourselves. While this makes it more comfortable for everyone, it also creates a false sense of what is "normal" for guitar players everywhere.

What Is Normal?

The ability to buy new gear, sell it, and buy more new gear is not normal. Because there is no normal. Trying to keep up with what you perceive as "normal" is  futile. Someone else's "normal" will always be your "impossible" or maybe even "ridiculous".

No, there is no "normal", there is only reality.

In reality, some player have huge amounts of disposable income to buy new pedals, guitars and amps. They are the reason boutique gear makers stay in business. Plain and simple. Their money allows other people to do what they love.

In reality, some players have modest gear collections. They might not spend a ton of money on new gear, but there's an awful lot of them out there, and when combined, their purchases help keep a lot of business open.

In reality some players are broke. They take trip after trip to the guitar store, playing the same guitars, looking at the same pedals, and never, never leaving with any of it. The guitar store is their Disneyland, because it's a fantasy world filled with things that will never be real. Not for them.

Some of them are unemployed, some of them are disabled veterans, and some of them are just people who've had a combination of bad luck amplified by bad decisions. One person is broke after a terrible divorce left him with nothing, another is broke because cancer didn't wait until he had healthcare.

This is reality. And it's uncomfortable to think about. But here we are.

No Fix For Reality

We cannot flip a switch and make everything equal. Each of us has a different path to walk in this life. Trying to make everything fair and equal isn't possible. But ignoring these differences, pretending they don't exist, that is an injustice that we can do something about.

How?

Whether you're buying a new pedal, guitar, or amp, don't ever forget that someone who loves music just as much as you might never afford that same gear. Never apologize for what you're able to buy, but don't take it for granted either. Be thankful for it, enjoy it as often as you can,  and most of all, use it to make the best music you can.

Someone else would do the same, if they could.

blog comments powered by Disqus

Why Are You Giving This Guitar Away?

The first answer is that I have too many guitars. I'm not a collector. The SRV Strat that I bought a few months ago is fantastic. It's a better playing and sounding guitar than the KWS Strat. This is no surprise, because it costs about twice as much.

Personally I don't like having too many guitars sitting around, and if it ever comes down to choosing between the SRV and the KWS Strat, I'll always play the SRV. That's not to say the KWS Strat doesn't sound good, because it does. But the SRV Strat sounds better. End of story.

My Don Grosh Retro Classic, and my Stauffer Guitars Legend guitar both have distinctly different sounds than the SRV Strat. And my off-white Mexican Strat has sentimental value because it was my first 'real' guitar over 15 years ago. That's why I'm not letting go of any of them.

So why not just sell it?

I've been considering some magazine advertising opportunities, and it's pretty doggone expensive. To get a nice sized ad in a major magazine starts at about $700 per month. If I sold the guitar, it would probably sell for about that much, maybe a bit more because of the upgraded pickups.

But a magazine ad is only worth the money if it reaches people who have never heard of StevieSnacks. It does nothing for the people who already visit and support the site.

So I figured, a huge giveaway, for a guitar worth about $700 would accomplish both. It's a gesture of appreciation to everyone who participates here, and it's also huge enough to attract a large amount of people who might not normally find this site.

Why only the US and Canada?

This is a tough one. It's something that I thought about a lot.

Why not just have the winner pay for shipping?

Sure, shipping a guitar around the world can cost as much as $150 to $200, even more to some countries. Would someone be happy to pay that amount for an otherwise free guitar? 'm sure they would.

But it's not really about price for me. It's about complication. I once had DVDs sent to South Africa that never arrived. They just....disappeared. I also had DVDs sent to Ireland get sent back because the address was missing some information. The farther the destination, the more opportunities there are for something to go wrong.

Also, I don't have a hardshell case for the guitar, I'll be shipping it in a gig bag with lots and lots of protection. I'm sure this won't be an issue, but I've witnessed some creative shipping disasters, and shipping a guitar in a gig bag across the ocean is not something I'm excited about.

For me it comes down to this. This is my first giveaway, it's a quite valuable prize, and the farther I need to ship it, the greater chance of something going wrong.

For those who were disappointed by this decision, I feel your pain, and I am sorry. Take heart, there will be more giveaways in the future open to absolutely everyone.

blog comments powered by Disqus

Chris is a good interviewer, and asked the exact kind of questions I love to answer. We talked about how StevieSnacks turned from a hobby into a business, why I refuse to setup forums here, how much of a coward I was about quitting my job, and my philosophy on running a very niche business.

Take a listen if this kind of stuff interests you: Anthony Stauffer on 'Welcome To The Internet' @ www.ssktn.com

blog comments powered by Disqus

------------------------

Taylor Guitars

Taylor Electric Solid-bodySaturday morning started with a trip up to the Taylor Guitars room on the second floor. My local store stocks Taylor guitars, but they don't yet have any of the Taylor electrics, so I was looking forward to trying them out. Given the quality of Taylor acoustic guitars, it was not a big surprise that the solid-body electric model played really nicely and sounded great.

In terms of feel, they don't really feel exactly like a Strat, and they definitely don't feel like a Gibson, but it felt good. The finish work was fantastic. I also have no idea how much they cost :-)

Jet City Amplification

Next up was a special visit to the Jet City booth to see a StevieSnacks viewer named Andrew. He's endorsed by Jet City, and wanted to show me their amps, as well as do some jamming. That turned out to be more difficult than we thought, because their booth had lots of attention. I did not get a very good feel for the amps because of the bustle of people around the booth, but from what I heard as Andrew wailed away, they're worth checking out if you get the chance.

Andrew claims he's learned a lot from my videos, but from what I heard him playing, there's no way I taught him all of that, he's much too good :-)

Demeter Amplification

Demeter Isolation CabinetWhen I stopped at the Demeter booth, it was not for the amps or pedals, but rather, the isolation cabinets they make. When I was trying out one of the Fano brand guitars at the Premier Builders Guild booth on the first day, they had the amplifier running into an isolation speaker cabinet with a microphone inside. Then the microphone was run through a mixer and PA amp, into a high quality monitor speaker. This allowed them to crank the amp way up, and totally control the volume.

The cabinet they were using was made by Demeter, so when I saw their booth, I stopped in and asked about it. The cabinets look really well built, and they are pricey, but something like that would be perfect for my studio, keeping the guitar sound out of my vocal mic. This is also a good idea for anyone doing recording where they need to have the amp cranked, but cannot have a lot of volume.

Lunch

For lunch I had the opportunity to chat with another StevieSnacks viewer and customer named David, who drove to the Convention center to meet with me. We had a great conversation about music, guitar, and I even attempted to do a little teaching, which is not easy with air guitar ;-)

My conversation with David reminded me that there is a huge amount of diversity in even this small, focused community at StevieSnacks, not just in terms of location, but diversity in musical background, specifically, the role that music has played, or not played in our lives as children.

VHT Amplification

VHT Special 6After lunch I headed to the VHT Amplification booth. Somewhere I had gotten the idea in my head that VHT made high-gain amps for hard rock and metal, and that's not the case any more. That part of the business was branched off or sold a while back, and now they make more affordable amps starting around $200.

I tried out the Special 6 and the Special 6 Ultra. These amps are great. They are packed with features and both under $300. I can't say that they're specifically good for blues, but for less than $300 you get a tube amp with plenty of options.

The Special 6 is 6 watts with low and high gain inputs, as well as a low power switch. It has tone and a volume knobs, and a boost function that can be activated by lifting the volume knob.

VHT Special 6 UltraHowever, the Special 6 Ultra is the one that really stood out to me because for only a bit more money, you get a bunch of additional features. A 12" speaker instead of a 10", more tone controls, a separate volume for the high-gain input, and, most importantly, a variable power knob, which can adjust the wattage from .5 watts all the way up to 6 watts.

Think about that. A 12" tube combo, variable power, and a bunch of other features for under $300. 6 watts isn't really enough power for a show, but this thing should make a killer practice amp that pretty much everyone can afford.

Wrapping Up

I ended the day with a few business related discussions, and then headed back to the hotel. 12 hours of travel the next day and I was back home.

The NAMM trip was a great opportunity for me. Aside from all the cool gear, I met some cool people and possibly opened up some new business opportunities. The people I dealt with were friendly, and the weather was awesome.

What more could you ask for? :-)

blog comments powered by Disqus

------------------------------

Watch The VideoMy first order of business was attempting to capture the hugeness of NAMM by shooting a video while walking from one end to the other. The result, even with stabilization applied, is pretty shaky, but you should get some idea of how huge the show is. And that's not even the whole thing. There are two more floors, both significantly smaller than the main show floor.

Voodoo Lab

Sparkle Drive Mod and Giggity PedalsThe previous day had ended before I got a chance to check out the Voodoo Lab booth, so I headed straight there and got a look at two new pedals that are not yet available, the Sparkle Drive Mod and the Giggity.

The Sparkle Drive Mod looks like a super cool pedal, improving on the shortcomings of the first model. Much more available gain from what I could tell, several "mod" settings that adjust the mid and bass response, as well as the signature "clean mix" knob that works on any of the "mod" settings. All in all it looks to be a much more flexible pedal, usable by many more guitarists

The Giggity is an interesting pedal that is kind of like a highly optimized EQ pedal for guitar. The designers have identified the frequencies most usable for guitar and built a set of controls around those bands. The controls allow you to fatten up your tone, shape the treble response, and add some boost.

One practical use of this pedal would be to compensate for massive differences in tone balance between two guitars, like a Strat and a Les Paul. You could, for example, set the amp up to sound good with the Les Paul, but use the Giggity to bring the Strat up to the same output level, and iron out any frequency adjustments needed to make it sound good with the Les Paul optimized amp settings.

Robert Renman - DolphinStreet.com

Robert Renman and I

(Be sure to click the above link to see all the amazing pictures Robert took at NAMM)

Pretty soon it was time for lunch and I had plans to meet up with Robert Renman, creator of fine guitar lessons and gear demos at Dolphinstreet.com. This was a real thrill because we've been in email communication for over a year helping each other out. Getting to meet in person was great.

Robert has some great ideas for future lessons, and I sincerely hope he's able to realize all of them. While our audiences have some overlap, I think he can reach guitar players of other styles too, that I never will, and I wish him the best.

Agile Partners

I met up with Jack Ivers from Agile Partners, the company responsible for the Guitar World Lick of The Day iPad/iPhone App, and more recently, the AmpKit application they developed in collaboration with Peavey.

I got a great demo and a chance to try it out myself. I learned two things. The occasional problem with feedback at high gain levels is due to crosstalk on the two way cable that plugs into the headphone jack. This is a problem that also occurs with the iRig sold by IK Multimedia, which I own already. Secondly, Amp Kit sounds way more impressive through proper speakers than it does through the cheap iPhone headphones I've been using.

The guys from Agile Partners are super cool, and really talented at what they do.

Avid - Eleven Rack

Photo of Avid Booth on Flickr.comNext up was Avid. I met with Hiro Shimozato, the principle designer of the Eleven Rack. If you haven't yet heard of the Eleven Rack, you will. One of my customers, with good taste in tone, raves about his Eleven Rack. From the little time I had with it, even through headphones, at NAMM, it sounded good. Really good. I cannot wait to get this thing in my studio and see what it can really do.

Don't worry, I'm not abandoning my love for tube amps. But can you imagine what kinds of things would be possible if a digital rack mount unit like this were actually able to create some convincing SRV tones? Keep in mind that I am a computer geek, not just a guitar player, and frankly, I love the idea of being able to dial in the exact tone I want, every time. We shall see :-)

Graph Tech Guitar Labs

Graph Tech String Saver Saddles have been a must-have on my guitars, ever since I read about Kenny Wayne Shepherd using them over 10 years ago. Before I started using them, I broke strings on a weekly basis, and the fear of breaking strings during a show was terrifying.

I stopped by the Graph Tech booth just to tell them how much I appreciated the String Savers. Before leaving, they taught me about the Tusq material they use to make guitar replacement nuts. Its main advantages are more consistency in the material and tone from string to string, and lubrication, which helps tuning. I will certainly try this out on at least one of my guitars in the future.

Jack DeVille Electronics

ModZero by Jack Deville ElectronicsBefore NAMM, I had never heard of Jack Deville's pedals, but Robert from DolphinStreet.com told me about a cool chorus/vibe/flanger pedal they had, so I headed down to their booth. Jack gave me a good demo of the Mod Zero pedal, which seems to do a bit of everything and sounding great at the same time. Unfortunately, it was quite loud while I was there, so I couldn't hear very clearly and I left hoping that I'll get a chance to try the pedal myself some day.

Jaguar Amplification - Jaguar 7

Jaguar 7 AmplifierMy last stop of the day was the Jaguar Amplification booth. I tried out the Jaguar 7, a small 7 watt combo amp that is switchable to 3.5 watts. Nice and simple, and sounds great too. I believe it sells for under $1k, but don't quote me on that.

That wrapped up my second day at NAMM 2011, I'll write about Day 3 tomorrow :-)

blog comments powered by Disqus

Where to start?

NAMM is huge. Mind numbingly huge. I was lost within a minute of getting into the exhibit halls.

For a first timer at NAMM, my first day was fantastic. Lots of nice people excited to talk about their products. I was able to get some ideas for Rainbow Music, my local guitar store, and even saw a few StevieSnacks fans as well.

Premier Builders Guild - Two Rock Amplification

My first stop was the Premier Builders Guild booth, where I played (for the very first time) a Two Rock amp. These amps are used by John Mayer, so their sound is familiar to me from his recordings. Unsurprisingly, the amp sounded very clean, and very much like what I've heard hear on Mayer's recordings. The guys at the booth were very nice.

Premier Builders Guild - Fano Guitars

On the other side of the booth, I got my first look at Fano guitars, built by Dennis Fano. These guitars look like what you'd get if you combined several different guitar brands. The relic details are all hand-done and look fantastic. The fretwork on the guitar I tried was smooth as butter. There were several details about the guitar, (logo carved out of the neck plate, and engraved on the tuners) that gave the guitar a very cohesive look, despite the intentional mis-matched parts it used.

Eminence

Next stop was the Eminence booth, where a huge wall of speakers allowed direct comparison of over 20 different speakers of various sizes. There is no substitute for hearing speakers side by side. That's all I'll say about that for now :-)

Pedaltrain

Next I stopped by the Pedaltrain booth. I recently purchased two different Pedaltrain boards, which I'll be reviewing later. The big find for me was a little riser they sell that levels out the pedals on the upper row of your pedal board, making it easier to access the on/off switches.

Lehle

A bit later, I got a good look at the guts of a Lehle switcher pedal. I have a Lehle A/B switcher, and it's fabulous, but what I saw today is in a whole different ballpark. The owner showed me a double loop pedal, which controls two separate in/out loops, either independently, or, by reprogramming the pedal, toggling between the two. The secret? A digitally controlled set of analog relays. If you ever wonder why Lehle pedals are more expensive than a basic switching pedal, that's why. They've even got transistors that mute the outputs while the switching occurs, to make it silent.  I love this kind of stuff :-)

The Loop

Pretty soon it was time for lunch, and I sat down with Jim Dalrymple (@jdalrymple), owner of The Loop (www.loopinsight.com), a fantastic Mac-focused technology site, and one of the more accurate sources for Mac rumors. I've known Jim since this summer, when I found out he watches my lessons. Go figure.

Anyway, we had a quick lunch and discussed solutions to various world problems.  I will hopefully be contributing content to a music focused section of The Loop in the future.

Avid - Eleven Rack

After lunch, I headed to the Avid booth to check out the Eleven Rack to see if it sounded as good as people have claimed. I'll reserve final judgement until I get a chance to record with it myself, but just from today's quick demo, it sounds better than any amp plugin I've ever heard.

Rivera - Rock Crusher

Then I stopped by the Rivera booth to try out the Rock Crusher attenuator. I take back every negative thing I've said about attenuators in the past. It is possible to make one that doesn't mash your tone to bits as you turn it down further, and further. But it's expensive. The Rock Crusher is close to $500. Is it worth it? It just might be if you love your amp, but hate how loud it is. Apparently the technology in the Rock Crusher is quite a bit different from what's typically used in attenuators, giving it a much more consistent sound regardless of attenuation level.

Crystal Frets

Next stop was Crystal Frets which is exactly what it sounds like. Your inferior metal frets are removed, the fret slots scraped out, and quartz frets installed in their place. They are permanent, do not wear down, and the hardness of the material brings out certain qualities in the notes you don't get with metal frets. However, this is a radical process, it's very time consuming, and therefore, very expensive to do. Hopefully, it will find adoption somewhere that will allow mass production of the frets, rather than the one-at-a-time process that must be used now.

Fender

I ascended the Stairway To Heaven, up to Level 3 of the convention center, occupied by Fender and Gibson, and not much else. The Fender wing was divided into several sections for their different brands/focuses. The Custom Shop stuff was nice to look at, but that's about it, obviously people aren't allowed to play that stuff.

They had a regular guitar section where I got to try out a John Mayer olympic white strat, and it sounds, and feels great.

In the amp section, they had a Fender employee demoing the Mustang amps, and while I'm generally skeptical of modeling amps, I have to say, in the hands of that player, they sounded pretty darn good.

WattGrinder

After that I stopped by the WattGrinder booth, where I skeptically look at a tiny tube-shaped device that can replace a 12AX7 preamp tube. It's not a tube....actually I don't know what it was, they wouldn't tell me, but I can tell you that when doing a straight comparison between a 12AX7 tube and the Wattgrinder, the Wattgrinder sounded fatter, with possibly more sustain. The inventor claims that the WattGrinder reacts to pedals the same way a tube does, and it increases the dynamic range of your sound. It was too noisy for me to do a proper evaluation, but I hope to review these at some point.

Visual Sound

My last stop of the say, and my favorite, was the Visual Sound booth.

Over 10 years ago, while attending Penn State University, I spent countless hours on a site called the Ampage. It was one of the original gear forums, and the guys on that forum, along with a few priceless websites, taught me nearly everything I know about modifying tube amps and pedals.

One of those guys was named R.G. Keen. He had a site called Geofex.com. It was legendary. I spent a ton of time reading his stuff, poring over his schematics, planning, but never actually building, the pedal circuits he had designed.

Fast forward about 10 years, when I find out about Visual Sound pedals. It turns out that R.G. Keen is their chief engineer. So when I saw their booth today, it was like meeting one of my college heros. I spoke with R. G. for about 20 minutes and we talked about everything from their pedals, to the role of music in our lives. 

So that was my first day at NAMM. Packed full of great conversations with nice people who make great gear. What more could you ask for? (sleep....)

blog comments powered by Disqus

blog comments powered by Disqus

I'm no different.

A while back, I watched an interview with Steve Vai, where he talked about his early days as a guitar player. In this interview he talked about how hard on himself he was as he was learning to play.

Unsurprisingly (to me), Steve was his own taskmaster. "If you even think you're going to get up before you play this right"..... That was the kind of thing he'd say to himself when he felt like putting down the guitar.

That interview (in my mind) confirmed everything I'd suspected about what kind of person he was. If you had asked me then, I'd have told you that he's a picky, snobby music theory genius, who looks down on anyone who doesn't study music the "right" way.

Boy, was I wrong.

Some of you know of Justin Sandercoe, the wonderful UK based online guitar teacher from JustinGuitar.com.  Justin's interviewed Steve Vai earlier this year. The video from that interview is posted at the end of this article, but I want to focus on something Steve said at 6:00 into the interview:

"But, having said that, that was my way, you know?  And I enjoyed being very methodical, and breaking things down. That's not necessarily the way for everybody, the way for you is what you feel. The reason I did 10 hour workouts, is because that's what excited me.

If you're going to take any advice from me, I would tell you to find the thing that excites you the most, and go after that. Whether it's just playing, you know, a Led Zeppelin song, not practicing scales.... you don't have to know music.  Just tell Jeff Beck to play an F# on the G String, he might not know where it is."

What else is there to say?  Just goes to show you, you can't judge a book by it's cover. By all visible metrics, Steve Vai looks like he'd be you're typical music theory snob. But in reality, he knows what he loves is not what everyone loves.

"The important thing is to find what excites you"

What excites you? Writing original music? Memorizing scales? Transcribing solos? Maybe it's dressing up in a hat, and trying to look and play like Jimi Hendrix.  Or sitting on stage with Albert King trying to imitate his licks.

There are "right" ways to accomplish specific guitar skills/styles. But there is no universal "right" way to approach the art of guitar playing. Anyone who tells you otherwise is confusing what they love for universal truth. And they are probably miserable. You'll be happier if you listen to Steve Vai's advice.

You never can tell.

blog comments powered by Disqus

blog comments powered by Disqus

 Episode #3: Download MP3

Questions Answered

Anthony: Can you discuss your choice of the GE-7? I've recently realized what an EQ pedal can do for my sound. Besides the GE-7 there are also the MXR M-108 and the Boss EQ-20. Are there more I am unaware of? Seven band vs. ten? Although the EQ-20 is out of production, it's still available and sound interesting as it has built in and programmable pre-sets. Not to mention other features. What are your thoughts? - Pat

-----------------

What size of strings do you mostly use and prefer? -James

---------------

I've got a mid 90s US Standard Strat. I play a lot of blues and I'm looking for a harder tone out of it: think less top end, more bass and a bit more drive but still retaining that single coil twang. Would Texas Special pickups do the trick?  - Lawrence

---------------------------

Did you learn buy playing songs and then came up with the lessons and techniques from your personal experience? - Craig

--------------------------

Hi Anthony,  I love your site and have learned boatloads of great licks and techniques from it.  I bought an American Std. Strat last year and am still struggling to get the right tone for the solos in SRV songs that I play.  I use a Line 6 SpiderIII amp and also have an old Marshall 4203 Artist combo(tube).  I can get a near perfect clean tone with either amp but just can't get the overdrive necessary with out the Strat sounding "flubby". 

-----------------------

I have the Peavey 410 stacked on top of the Peavey ext. with the 15".   I split my guitar output between my Peavey set-up and a SS65 watt Kustom bass amp. Can I get this set-up effect out of just the Peavey by somehow bass capping the line between the 410 and the 15" extension cab. or do I need the bass amp circuitry?

blog comments powered by Disqus

I'm glad he suggested it, because I would have never thought about it. Some people want these lessons as gifts, and a gift certificate system allows their spouse, parent, or significant other, to purchase lessons, while still allowing the recipient to pick the specific lessons later.

As it turns out, this functionality was already built into my store software, I had never set it up. So after a few days of work and some testing, it's all ready to go.

Things To Know

• Gift Certificates are available for specific amounts, $25, $50, $75, etc... up to $400
• Purchasing a gift certificate generates a unique coupon code, which will be emailed to the recipient.
• The recipient can enter this code the next time they go shopping in the StevieSnacks store, and the value of the gift certificate will be deducted to the total.
• Any remaining balance can be used on later purchases.
• The receipt email will contain a link which the gift purchaser, can print out, and give to the recipient (who will also get an email with the same information)

Tutorial

I also created a video showing how to purchase Gift Certificates, to aid the people doing the shopping. I'll embed it below, but you can also find it at the store, there's a link on the Gift Certificates page.

blog comments powered by Disqus

If you've got a question you want answered, be sure to post it in the comments below.

Epidsode #2: Download MP3

Questions Answered

Does wattage really matter when you change from a 10" internal speaker to a 2x12 extension cabinet?  I'm trying to figure out if I should continue using my 15W tube amp and add an extension cabinet or buy a "bigger" amp.  I've noticed the volume seems much higher despite it "only" being 15 watts.

 ------------------

What gear do you recommend to start recording yourself for youtube and myspace. I am considering getting a Shure SM57, and an iMac. But what interface should I use to get the audio into the Mac. I was thinking of just buying a mixer with firewire. 

-----------------------

I've been trying to get that thick deep tone found on tin pan alley, John Mayer does that tone too sometimes.  I love it but can't replicate it.  I want that deep clean pure sound but still has some drive to it.

------------------------

I have just purchased a Fuzz face pedal that is has silicon transitors and is hand made(jimi hendrix signature) and i was runing it with my amp already distorted and i was wondering is there a better way to get that vodoo child tone out of this pedal? also i was wondering how did stevie use his ts-808's when he was playing with them?

---------------------

I wondered what you thought about the Plimsoul as compared to the Tube Screamer? I bought a modified Tube Screamer on E-bay quite a long time ago which supposedly has the old chipset. I simply have never heard this thing do the gut grinding sounds that I expected it too or anything close compared to your vid on the Plimsoul.

--------------------------

As I was winding the low E (56) string, I heard something snap and saw something fly, I scrutinized my guitar for any missing pieces, and what do you know, a small section of the nut snapped off, part of the nut to the left of the E string.....Anyway, I was wondering if you knew where to get a nut that would hold a .56, since I really like the tone of those. 

----------------------

blog comments powered by Disqus

blog comments powered by Disqus

Post your questions for the next episode in the comments section.

Download

Show Notes:

Links

• SRV/Albert King - In Session  available on DVD Nov 9th. - Amazon
• Bill M. Blues Junior Replacement Speaker Reviews

Questions Adressed In This Episode

I wonder if you could give me some advice on my intended blues junior setup. Ive got a standard mexican black tolex BJ i want to either- 

• get a custom macthing 2x10 cab
• upgrade the internal speaker jenson P12Q
• or purchase another blues junior to run in stereo.

Could you please explain the order were your effects pedals in when you recorded the Texas Flood Demo?  

I was just wondering if you are still using the Nobels ODR-S for Overdrive and the Boss Parametric Bass Equalizer (PQ-4 I believe).  - John

Can you talk about why you switched to the graphic eq GE-7?  Why not use the graphic and then round the sound it with the pq-4 parametric? - Joel

blog comments powered by Disqus