Dear [[{First name}]],

Welcome to the December Musicademy Newsletter.

In this edition:

Ask the Expert
Buying a small but classy accoustic guitar

We received the following question from Jan. She’s based in the UK so the recommendations for shops are UK based but in the US you can obviously try Guitar Centre as well as lots of boutique shops:

“I have very small hands and note that Andy often refers to his small hands in the DVDs. Can he recommend a suitable acoustic guitar for small handed people who find it difficult to stretch. I have up to £2000 to spend as I want a good one!!”

Andy replies:

With £2000 (that’s about $4,000) to spend you could pretty much get any brand you like. Even possibly an English custom hand made model where you could choose all the sizes you want. Generally there are two things to bear in mind - body size and neck size. Three body sizes to consider are the 000 size (smallish) the dreadnought size, (standard looking acoustic) and jumbo (big). Broadly speaking the larger the body the deeper (or bigger the sound) although choice of woods for the top (where the soundhole is) and the back and sides also is a big variable here. The choice is down to what sounds good to you but if you finger pick try a cedar (reddish colour) top which will give a slightly softer sound with more mid. Many strumming choose a spruce (light coloured) top which can give a punchier, harder sound. The wood for the back and sides has a bearing too. Many exotic woods can be used but the classic options are rosewood, mahogany and ebony. The other thing is fingerboard width and neck size. Neck size is personal preference. Although I have smaller hands I prefer a fatter neck but if you have small hands and fingers you might prefer a narrower fingerboard width. Just check that it’s not too small to comfortably play chords with.

Take your time choosing and play as many models as you can before making a decision. I don’t know where you’re based but I’d go to a place like Denmark Street in London where they have loads of guitars shops to try instruments in. Take your time and don’t make a snap decision. As far as brands are concerned these are my thoughts.

Taylor – all models very easy to play. Try their T5 too which is a hybrid acoustic electric which is especially easy to play particularly if your mainly going to be playing through a PA system.

A friend of mine went to Brook guitars in Devon and was very satisfied. They or any decent custom maker should talk you through body and wood options vs. sound differences. It will take a while to build but if you choose right will last a lifetime.  

Another alternative is Avalon guitars in Newtonards near Belfast. These guys are all worship leaders so should understand your needs. Give them a call as although they do lots of off the peg models at dealers they may make something for you (or at least advise you on the phone) for that kind of money. They also used to sell seconds directly from the factory at pretty large discounts so that worth checking because I couldn’t tell the difference between a first and a second.

Martin 000 series. This is the standard ‘small’ guitar so worth looking at as a bench mark.

Mcpherson guitars – based in Nashville. Paul Baloche, Graham Kendrick and Delirious play these instruments. I’ve just got one (see the photo on the right) and they are very, very nice. The soundhole is offset which helps tone and projection and as there are only a handful in the UK at present so this would be a really unique instrument for you. Mcpherson are a boutique maker so they can talk you through options, woods etc. It’s a bit like having a tailor made suit and as you order directly from the US the current pound dollar situation gives you a very good guitar for the money. Much better in fact than buying from a retail shop here. For instance, a $4500 (circa £2250) guitar over there would cost you over £4000 pounds here if you ordered through a dealer.

If you take a look at our Blog page you can also read a previous article on choosing acoustic guitars in the June edition of our newsletter.

Ask the Expert
Recommendations for vocal mics

Dwight Parker from Virginia asks:

“There are many vocal mics out there but is there one that balances excellent sound with both durability and economy?”

For live use many people consider Shure’s SM58s as the industry standard. They are cheaper than they have ever been and are a great price for a professional mic, although there are higher spec mics available if you have more to spend. You do need to position a mic like this right in front of the mouth so they won’t work out well for mic-shy vocalists or anyone that tends to stray far from their mic stand. In terms of durability we’ve heard of an SM58 being run over by a large car, stuck in mud and still continuing to work for years afterwards.

For a similar priced alternative we’ve also heard good reports of the Sennheiser E840. For Studio applications you will need a much more sensitive microphone. These pick up very fine detail but are very delicate so not necessarily as suitable for live use.  

Ask the Expert
Problems with electronic drums

John Hegner from California emailed:

“I’m a drummer in a medium-sized church and we just went to electronic drums (a difficult transition for me and the sound guys). My question is about the pads. I have the Simmons SD5 set and the snare pad developed a dead spot within a few months and the kick pad has developed a depression where the hammer hits it. Is this normal? Also, I have seen a web page that shows how to make electronic triggers for acoustic drums. Do you know anything about these triggers and do you think they would work well for a drummer who is much more comfortable with acoustic drums?”

This really does go back to good old scales and arpeggios. Not only will they help you warm up but they are such essential building blocks for contemporary playing styles. I would also suggest that you start in a key, say C, and from the bottom of the keyboard play every chord voicing for each note in the scale – CEG, EGC, GCE and so on right up the keyboard. Now use the next chord in the scale which is Dm. Again go up and down the keyboard. If you can do it without looking at your hands you are again learning useful skills whilst warming up. You could also try simple chord sequences within a key. If you don’t know how to work out which chords are in a particularly key there’s an article in our members section on theory which covers this nicely.

“I have often heard these really nice "scales" that musicians do after the voice stops singing, during the "solo", in a verse or in a chorus. They sound very nice, and I wonder, what are the most common scales I could use in a specific tone.”

Musicademy drum tutor Colin Brookes (who presents our soon-to-be-released worship drum DVDs) writes: Just a guess, but I imagine that the dead spot and depression are due to someone hitting them too hard! However, if I was you I'd take the snare back as it may be a manufacturing fault. It could be that the drum pads are a bit too flimsy.

Haven't a clue about triggers. My advice for someone who wants to play acoustic drums (rather than electronic ones) would be for them to learn to play them quietly! This would involve working on stick control - good grip and ability to play using only 'tap strokes' as featured on the Accents section of a up and coming drum teaching DVD I know of!

Ask the Expert
DI boxes

Louise Staak from the Middle East sent in this question

“Can you advise on effects/DI boxes to improve the tone on a plugged-in acoustic guitar?”

Andy replies - It really is important to think about this stage in your sound chain. Many people spend thousands on a beautiful guitar and acoustic pick up system and not think about how that sound actually gets into the PA. There are loads out there so worth doing some research. Here are a few options with really wide price ranges, all will be better than a cheap generic DI box.

LR Baggs – Their Para Acoustic DI is used by numerous musicians all over the world. It has a 5 band EQ so you can adjust the frequencies that optimize the sound of your instrument and the rugged metal casing should make it last a lifetime.

Sansamp acoustic DI – This useful little box has lots of tone shaping options for acoustic guitar and bass so you can dial the appropriate sound for the different playing styles, e.g. jazz, finger style, strumming etc.

Yamaha Magicstomp – Although not technically a DI box, this pedal uses microphone modeling to improve your sound – i.e. artificially recreating the sound of using an expensive microphone in front of your guitar. By plugging into the Magicstomp pedal you can add some zest to the sound of a cheap guitar and or PA system. A number of companies are starting to produce some inexpensive modeling pedals so also check out the Fishman Aura range.

Avalon U5 – expensive but a truly great sound. This DI unit is used by many top professional musicians and will optimize the sound of both guitar and bass as well as many other acoustic instruments.  I was talking to Jesse Reeves from Chris Tomlin’s band recently who says the investment is worth every penny as it gives him a really consistent sound regardless of the quality PA system he’s playing through and maximizes the original tone of his vintage basses.

Another is option is to buy an acoustic guitar amp which is effectively a combination of tone shaping preamp, DI box and monitor. Lots of manufacturers - Carvin, Ashdown, Fender, Marshall, AER, LR Baggs and many others produce these at all price points so try out as many different models as you can before you buy. Again you do get for what you pay for so there will be a quality and tonal difference between a £200 and £1200 amp but it is a compact and multi usable way of being able to shape your guitar tone and volume on stage if you have a limited or budget monitoring system. 

Musicademy gift vouchers for Christmas

We’ve set up gift vouchers on our online store which you can purchase and send onto friends and family. They can be purchased in lots of different amounts as well as US dollars and UK pounds sterling. You give the voucher to a friend and they then get a Musicademy store account from which they can spend their vouchers either in one go or in lots of smaller transactions.

We’ve had a lot of people telling us that they wanted to buy our forthcoming worship bass or drums DVDs for Christmas presents. Bass will be out in early 2008 and drums soon after that so feel free to buy the voucher so that your friend can get the new DVD as soon as they are released.

Money off voucher!

As most of you may be thinking of Christmas present buying we thought we would help you on your way by offering a money off voucher for purchases on our webstore. Enter the coupon code FREE SHIPPING DEC07 at the checkout before the end of the year to receive free shipping. For international orders this can be worth $10 or more. Remember that if you are based in the US or Canada you can pay in US Dollars – just select USD in the currency box to the left of the page. Most orders are received within a week of placing the order online.

Beginners guitar workbooks

We have now completed student workbooks for each volume of the Beginners Worship Guitar DVDs. We’ve had so many requests from churches wanting to use the DVDs for teaching in groups that we felt it was appropriate to invest some time in creating a really high quality workbook. The workbook is ideal for students learning by themselves at home or for tutors who are using the DVDs to help teach a small group.

The detailed workbooks helps you get the most out of the DVDs and leads you through each instructional section, quick tip and worship leader interviews with plenty of practical exercises, learning ideas and extra study tips to help develop your playing in a step-by-step manner. We’ve divided the DVD content into 10 sessions and added in lots of extras including additional songs.

The workbook is designed to be accessible by younger students as well as adults and includes lots of graphics for visual learners. There are also questions and discussion points for students using the handbook in a group.

We’ve also incorporated several features exclusive to the handbook that are not featured on the DVDs:

  1. More strumming patterns that develop your rhythm skills
  2. Exercises for developing the speed of your chord changes
  3. Exercises to make best use of the backing tracks and drum grooves
  4. Chord charts and diagrams with lyric cues for each song (a request lots of students have made)
  5. Links to online video lessons of rock and pop songs using similar chords that you can learn at the same time
  6. Learn how to play several new worship songs not shown on the DVDs

To buy the workbooks just click onto our store to purchase and download.

Keeping rehearsals quiet even with a drum kit!

We were recently rehearsing the Musicademy band in someone’s home and wanted to keep it really quiet so as not to disturb the neighbours. Guitar amps were turned down, the vocals were nice and quiet – just the drum kit to muffle – not the easiest thing.

We were just using a very basic drum kit with snare, hi-hat and kick pedal. We put a tea towel on the snare to dampen it off, played with hot rods and rather than use the kick drum rigged up the kick pedal next to an upturned soft footstool (known as a poofe in the UK!). Bricks kept the stool in place and what we heard was a nice muffled sound and crucially the kick pedal meant that the drummer got the feel for the beat as usual.

Musicademy DVD progress

We’ve had so many emails asking for an update on our bass and drum DVDs so thought we would let you know the latest. All the teaching material has been filmed and is looking really great. The bass sets are edited, we are just doing the final checks and also integrating some fantastic new interviews with professional worship leaders and session musicians.

The beginners bass DVDs should be ready by late December/early January. Intermediate bass will follow a few weeks later and the “Song Learners” which mostly sit between the beginners and intermediate levels a few weeks after that. Drums should be available from Easter onwards. If you are wanting to buy any of this material as a Christmas present we would suggest that you buy a Musicademy gift voucher which can then be redeemed once the DVDs are available.

These are really huge projects to pull together so we apologise that so many of you have been waiting for so long. We promise that they will be worth the wait and as a subscriber to our newsletter you will be the first to be told when the DVDs are ready.

Access previous editions of the newsletter

If you want to look back on previous editions of the Musicademy newsletter just go to our Blog page. As well as the newsletters there are links to recommended websites and other useful bits and pieces.

Competition result

Louise Staak won last month's competition. Here was what she wrote:

"I always appreciate the newsletter that you send out. I live in the Middle East where we can be quite isolated from the rest of the world especially on the 'Christian Music' side. Your products are a very valuable tool. Thank you very much."

Lousie also sent us the question on DI boxes for Ask teh Expert. She had some other great questions which we'll cover in future editions.

Win Five Free Song Learner Downloads

We really like to know what you think of our newsletter and the Musicademy products so please take a couple of minutes to answer these questions and e-mail them to us. One respondent will win five free song learner downloads and we’ll let you know what they think of them in the next issue.

  1. What did you think of this newsletter?
  2. Which articles did you particularly enjoy?
  3. Any questions for our “Ask the Expert” feature?
  4. Any suggestions for content that you would like to read in the future?
  5. Any suggestions for websites we could recommend people?
  6. Have you bought a Musicademy product or downloaded a lesson and what did you think of it?

Please e-mail your responses to enter the draw!

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