Fazio's e-Newsletter Full Articles & Expert Advice: August 2010
Is Strapless in Vogue?
I bet you thought I was talking evening gowns didn’t you, but I’m talking about all you players out there who always sit when you play. I’m not talking to the classical players of course since their style of playing requires them to sit, but rather to all you steel string players. Did you realize that sitting in a chair or on a stool whether it be while playing live or just sitting in your room at home, can be causing you more fatigue and pain?
Some people think that guitar straps are only really only a way to keep your guitar from falling off your lap or they are only used by players in bands, but what if I told you that by using a strap when you play guitar can actually reduce fatigue and cause you less pain.
Using a strap accomplishes a few different things. For starters, and maybe the most important thing is that when you are playing without a strap, your left arm and hand (unless of course you’re playing left-handed) are not just making chords and notes but you are also supporting the neck too. This can cause fatigue, shoulder and wrist pain and can also cut your playing and practicing time in half. By using a strap (especially one that has a rougher texture on the back side so it doesn’t slip on your shirt)
you can support the guitar neck and allow your hand to move more freely allowing you to play faster, cleaner, and with less pain. The other thing this does is allow you to move the guitar around slightly which can put your hand in a better position to make some harder chords resulting in all the same things as mentioned above.
There is also the cool factor in wearing a strap. I will never forget the first time I saw Johnny Cash walk on stage with his guitar slung over his back…try that without a strap. These days we are so lucky when it comes to the selection of straps available to us. I remember my choices in the old days. It was either a leather strap that was so stiff you could stand it up in the corner by itself or, at least in my generation, it was the flowered cloth strap that the cheap ends stretched out so fast you had to constantly be wary of it coming off and your guitar reaching the floor before you could catch it.
Now you can find quality straps that are not only very inexpensive but also very attractive. And in case you were longing for the good old days, those old flower straps from the 60’s and 70’s are back in style but with much better construction. And yes, I still have my purple and gold flower strap in a drawer at home. Some things you just can’t throw away…or wear out in public. So remember the next time you decide whether or not to go strapless, maybe you’ll think of this and save yourself some undo stress on your body. Or maybe you’ll just think of my flower strap and have a nice laugh.
Amps and Tone
The buzz for a while has been single pedal effect boxes. While these are fun and tend to be easy to use sometimes they are not the right device for every musician. Getting into effects for the first time can be a very confusing situation.
What is the right tone? What effects will I use? Do I have the cash to invest in pedals and
a pedal board? The best way to answer these questions is to experience the effects for yourself. Processors such as the Digitech Rp500 and the Boss Me70 give a number of effects at a very economical price, giving the player the ease of switching on and off effects as they see fit.
Individual switches allow the player to use these devices in a gigging situation like individual stomp boxes. The difference is instead of having to settle with just the tone of the box you purchased you can listen to a library of tones and effects. The all in one approach also helps with hook up and creates an effect environment with a great price. These units hold up quite well, I personally have used such units for professional use for over 15 years and have found even with the paint coming off and numerous beers
spilled on them, they continue to give great performance. Here at Fazio's we can introduce you to the world of multi effect units
and be a helping hand in learning to program these units for your personal needs.
Rock Academy Summer Camp! A Recap
Fazio's Rock Academy Summer Camp 2010 is now in the books. I'm happy to report that the summer program was a great success on all fronts. The FRA Summer Camp consists of two one-week sessions beginning on Monday and ending on Friday evening with the students performing in a rock & roll concert. In this article, I'd like to recap some of the highlights of this year's camp.
Week one (July 12-16, 2010) gave us LOTS of guitar players and enough rhythm section players to form six student bands. It was also obvious that we were seeing an increase in vocalists. This gave us a good opportunity to employ the newest facet of our program, the vocal coaching component. This proved to be a big help to the student performances as the vocals were clearly improved over previous sessions of the Rock Academy. As the bands were choosing and rehearsing their repertoire and writing original material, it became clear that we were going to have a varied and dynamic rock show at the end of the week including material by the Beatles, Kiss, Train, and The Police. The six bands that performed in the week one concert were: The Mesh, In the Corner, Undecided, That One Band, Swords & Tulips, and Guitarmy.
Week two (July 19-23, 2010) also featured six student bands. This session gave us a greater range of ages and
experience than the previous week. We had some young students who were new to the idea of playing in a rock band and some with a good deal of experience. I was surprised by how enthusiastic the students in this sesison were about playing a lot of classic rock material and very little from their own generation. We heard material by Bon Jovi, Van Halen (Roth era), Led Zeppelin, Cheap Trick, and several other classic rock bands. It made for a great rock show on Friday, July 23. The six bands that performed in the week one concert were: The Craze, Sidewalk Driver, Democracy, Juice, The Gods of Rock, and Living Fiction.
Fazio's Rock Academy will be conducting a ten-week after-school sesison beginning September 13, 2010. Full details can be seen here
Look Into the Mirror
One of the best ways to improve as a musician is to record yourself and listen back with an unbiased ear. What you need to listen for is pitch, tone, correct note choice, time, feel, and groove. In a perfect world, you should always record yourself, whether practicing at home, during a lesson with your teacher, rehearsing with a band, or out on a gig. In reality it is unpractical to lug around a recorder and remember to hit the record button every time you play or sing a note, but the more you do it, the better you'll fine the weak areas in your playing. Identifying, isolating, and improving on your weaknesses is best achieved by listening to what you are really playing. THE TAPE DON'T LIE!
If you're anything like me, you don't like to think real hard; you just want to play music and have fun. But with just a little discipline, you can really refine your playing. Record yourself the next time you play or sing, you'll be in for a shock. It took me years to even be able to listen to my bass playing on recordings. It's still hard for me to listen to my voice on recordings; but it's getting easier! The first time I did a recording session and listened back to myself I cringed. I thought, "Is this what I really sound like?" It freaked me out.
Recording your performance completely exposes you for the player you are; not the player you think you are. I liken it to standing in front of the mirror and seeing what you really look like. It can be most humbling, even a little embarrassing. By practicing to improve the flaws in your playing, instead of glossing over them, you'll improve as a musician.
When I first started recording myself I had no choice but to use a really cheap cassette tape recorder. The recording quality was horrible and the cassette tapes often broke. Musicians today have a much greater advantage due to the exploding digital age we are living in. With so many different types of recording devices on the market, from reasonably priced to very expensive, there is really no excuse to not record yourself from time to time and really listen to what you are sounding like. Think of it like going to the music doctor for a check-up. The more you record yourself, listen back, and make constructive adjustments, the faster you will improve as a player or singer. But remember, you must listen back with an unbiased ear. I've said it before and I'll say it again, THE TAPE DON'T LIE!
TASCAM DP-004 Portastudio
TASCAM DP-008 Portastudio
TASCAM DR-08 Personal Stereo Recorder
Big Fingers and the Little Uke
People always ask me if it is harder to play ukulele due to the small size. “How do you get your fingers to all fit in there?” Well, just like you do on guitar or mandolin, you make them fit.
I think the trick to more complex fingerings on the ukulele is to not worry about the size limitations, but to think of what you can modify/tweak to make things fit. Might as well look at the more positive aspect; to me it seems like a finger game occasionally.
Start with your fingers in their proper places. Play each string/note of the chord, see which ones are not ringing and address those fingered notes.
Look and see what the issue is. Is the finger not pressing down hard enough? Is it having space issues? Is another finger touching the problem string and not letting it vibrate? Figure out the issue, then try to solve it. Can you move the note finger forward or back to ensure firm placement, or move the offending finger slightly to free up the string path? The biggest thing I tell all of my students is to put your fingers on their tippy-toes. I am aware that fingers do not have toes, but this expression helps remind us to play on the tips of our fingers, not on the pads. This is the single, most helpful tip I can offer. Play on the tips of your fingers, especially when you have chords that require 3 or 4 fingers. This will solve most of the fretting problems people complain about.
Remember, analyze the problem one string at a time, then figure out what it will take to fix it. In most cases putting your fingers on their tippy-toes will be your solution
Vintage Vibe Pickups Go Fazio's!
We are pleased to announce that we have been working with Pete Biltoft of Vintage Vibe Pickups to make a line of electric guitar pickups available only at Fazio's. All our salesmen (with their untold combined years of guitar playing experience) had some input into how they would like their ultimate pickups to sound. Pete Biltoft has the engineering chops to make these Fazio's pickups a reality.
We are now stocking sets for Strats, Teles, and humbucker guitars. We specified fairly low output designs which are consistent with vintage pickups. If you are looking for a sweet, fat, clear sound with good detail and a vocal quality, then low output pickups are the way to go. These are not meant as a replacement for active pickups, which fill their own niche in the heavier styles of guitar music. Passive pickups have crept up in output over the years due to the fact that many players hear the higher output pickup as “better” when comparing it to another pickup with lesser volume at a given amp level. Fact is, a low output pickup can drive any amp to whatever level it is capable of, and sound more organic to boot.
We have these pickups installed in a Strat-style guitar for you to audition. I think you will be impressed with how great these Fazio's Vintage Vibe pickups sound. We can also special order from Pete nearly any style of pickup you can dream up, from single coils in a humbucker size to P-90s that fit a standard Strat pickguard. Pete's level of craftsmanship and custom fabrication ability are a rare find when the manufacture of more and more electronic gear is moving off shore these days and becoming more and more generic in the process!
Warts Aren't Always Bad
Having the right kind of warts can be beneficial! Wall warts or adapters come in different varieties, AC or DC. Having the right variety can help with operation and costly repair or replacement expense. The value of voltage needs to be correct on the output to correctly power your device. The current handling also needs to be at or above what the device requires.
Hum from the device can come from either the voltage or the amperage not being correct from what the device requires. It also can cause the device not to operate. If wall warts are becoming a problem or taking up too much room, we also have a cure to this problem with Dr. Ferd's wall wart remover.
All New Breedlove American Series
Every once in a while a company will come a long and just amazes us with a product. I’ll try to avoid talking about the latter as much as possible. This year we’ve had a new line of guitars that have just flat out shocked us.
I’m talking about Breedlove’s new American Series. It’s not hard to imagine a company like Breedlove who has been known by it’s incredibly high quality hand-crafted Custom Shop American line and also by it’s value-minded import line coming up with something totally unlike anyone else. They are innovators not copy-cats, but now they have found an incredible way of intertwining the quality of their American made guitars but at a much lower price point.
The New American Series Breedlove are 100% American, hand-crafted guitars that feature all premium grade solid tone woods, Ebony fingerboards and bridges, hardshell cases, lifetime warranties, and best of all they all have that wonderful Breedlove American tone and craftsmanship we’ve come to know and love. The awesome part about these guitars aside from the great look, feel, and tone, is the price point. With these models starting at just under $1000 they are sure to not only please the most discriminating guitarist but also to please the pocketbook too and let’s face it, these days that is pretty darn important.
The line is pretty deep too with plenty of models including an OM, OOO 12 Fret, Dreadnaughts, Grand Concerts, a Tenor, and who knows, maybe eventually even an acoustic lap steel….we can dream can’t we. The other great thing about these amazing guitars is that you can also custom order with tons of great options to choose from and at a price you just won’t believe. We just ordered a custom 12 string Grand Concert to a customer and everything she dreamed of was available as an option but at a price that even we couldn’t believe.
So the next time your in the area stop by and let us introduce you the new Breedlove American Series and we’ll show you just how impressive they are. The only down side is that right now they are in very limited supply but that should change soon and in the coming months we should have plenty in stock to choose from.
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