Ask the Expert – Singing Whilst Playing

By Tim Martin | March 6, 2009

Lindsay Hiratzka sent us this question: I am the bassist and I play mostly by ear.  As a result, my approach to playing bass is similar to my approach to singing, hearing in my mind what I want to play, then playing it.  I also love to sing, but I can’t seem to marry the […]

Ask the Expert – Copyright and Licensing Songs

By Andy@Musicademy | March 3, 2009

Sharon Tedford, a Musicademy student, asked for some advice on copyright and licensing. She says: “I’ve written some songs and have been reading up on the CCLI website about copyright and they say: CCLI does not ‘copyright’ songs as such, nor do we provide any form of copyright ‘protection’. It is our understanding that copyright […]

Do you Tweet?

By Marie@Musicademy | February 15, 2009

I’ve started connecting on Twitter – I’m a bit new to it and still learning the ropes but if you like to tweet and want to add to the conversation click through to follow. http://twitter.com/mariemusicademy

Moving images behind the words on worship songs – a help or a hindrance?

By Marie@Musicademy | February 13, 2009

We had this fascinating question from John Spencer which we thought we’d throw open for comments. “My wife and I have been attending a local Pentecostal church and they use Powerpoint projection of the words of the worship songs.  But they also project moving images behind the words – such things as crosses silhouetted against […]

Vocal warm-up exercises explained

By Cat Mayne | February 12, 2009

Think if you will of a game of tennis. If you don’t warm up before the game, initially you might not notice anything wrong. However as you start to stretch for shots, move faster, volley harder, you begin to realise that there are muscles working beyond their comfort zone. By this time, it’s too late. […]

Ask the Expert – recommended guitar strings

By Andy@Musicademy | February 5, 2009

Tony Sackville asked what strings I use on my McPherson. It came with light gauge Elixirs (point 12 to point 53) which I really liked. Elixirs are coated with some kind of magic coating to make them last longer. According to their sales blurb: “They feature polyweb coating, a unique high technology polymer that provides increased […]

Buyers Guide – small, classy acoustic guitars

By Andy@Musicademy | February 2, 2009

This is the third post in my revisited series on buying acoustic guitars. It was written in response to a lady 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 […]

Buyers Guide – good acoustic guitars

By Andy@Musicademy |

In response to a question by Paula, I thought it would be helpful to re-work a couple of posts I wrote a while back. This one was written in reponse to someone who wanted to buy a decent acoustic guitar. These days with Far East production methods getting better and better, you can buy a quality instrument far more […]