Natural finish Strat make over project

I thought I would start a project diary for a make-over project I am about to start on my very first guitar. A guitar that I have had now for over 30 years! The Strat in question was the first guitar I was brought as a young willing guitar slinger, and whilst perhaps not the greatest guitar in the world but it was a very decent Strat copy. The guitar itself has already had one transformation in it’s life, where as a project with my grandfather, I stripped the guitar back to it’s natural finish and stained it. I am currently trying to track down a original picture of the guitar which was an all white finish. I will endeavour to do this.I have always loved natural finished guitars, it is no doubt a slight psychoacoustic issue, but I feel that the body resonates better and those additional vibrations from a body which have been trapped (or should that be dampened) but the tight layers of paint and finish. The guitar has been in storage for a number of years and as a result became some what unplayable. The neck was never the greatest, and need some serious attention (or even replaced entirely). But, the reason for me undertaking this project, is that the body is a really lovely piece of wood, it is one piece too, not glued together as you might expect from a cheaper instrument. Guitars should be played and loved and not in storage, so my goal is to make this in to the best instrument it can be, as well as make something to my own personal specs, something which is hard with off the shelf guitars.Here are some pictures of the guitar in it’s current state.

My plans are as follows :-- Re-stain and sand the body, or potentially wax/oil the existing finish- Refret, strip and repair the neck and fingerboard, and add a new nut…if it is doable, otherwise replace the neck entirely. At this point in time it would be with a Maple fingerboard as I love maple, but then again I already have a maple Strat, already so I might actually go with rosewood.- Replace all the electronics. I am currently exploring pickup options, do you guys have any thoughts?- Replace all the hardware, with black finish. So that would be tuners (will be replaced with locking tuners), jack socket , bridge and tremolo unit.- Add a custom decal to the neck.I will be updating the progress on this project on my blog, with the successes and failures as I go along. So watch this space! I hope you enjoy!PeaceNeil

Digital Performer 9 Review

Well it doesn't seem a lifetime ago since DP8 was released and low and behold Motu have just announced Digital Performer 9 review. As you may have read on some of my previous posts I have been a Digital Performer user from version 3.1 onwards, but more and more tend to use Logic these days all the time. That is not a slight at DP, it is just that for some things (and mainly the way I work and my knowledge of Logic means that it is quicker and more efficient to work in Logic) and those things are mainly composing. Why, because call me lazy but I do like region based editing and manipulation, something which is still lacking in DP, I know you can loop sections, but it just seems clunky to me. Having said that when it comes to sound design or film projects, DP really does pip Logic in terms of functionality, so as such I am a bit of a DAW switcher. Anyway, back to DP 9, what does it offer?Well according to the press release, the following

• MX4™ MultiSynth — Now included with DP, MX4 is a powerful 64-bit virtual instrument plug-in featuring a hybrid synthesis engine that combines several forms of synthesis, including subtractive, wavetable, frequency modulation (FM), amplitude modulation (AM) and analog emulation. Included is a new EDM-inspired soundbank with 120 new presets.
• Five new plug-ins — Meticulously crafted plug-ins include DP's new MasterWorks™ FET-76™ emulation of the classic 1176LN limiting amplifier (Revision D/E), MultiFuzz™ model of Craig Anderton's seminal QuadraFuzz™ distortion kit from the 70's, MicroG™ and MicroB™ polyphonic octave generators for guitar and bass, and the mind-blowing MegaSynth™ subtractive synth processor.
• Automation lanes in the Sequence Editor — Display audio and MIDI automation data (volume, pan, plug-in settings, etc.) in separate lanes below each track for easier viewing and editing. Show and hide as many lanes as you wish.
• Spectrogram display in the Sequence Editor — View the spectral content of each audio track, side by side with their waveforms, directly in the Sequence Editor timeline with a colorful, informative visual representation of the frequency content of your audio material.
• Retina display support — View DP's carefully crafted UI themes like Carbon Fiber, Producer and all-new DP9 theme in stunning detail on the exceptionally high image resolution of your Mac's Retina display.
• MusicXML export — Export your DP QuickScribe notation scores as a MusicXML file, which can then be imported into popular music notation applications like Finale™ and Sibelius™. QuickScribe's renowned notation transcription, along with dynamics and many other musical symbols, are preserved during the file transfer.
• Create Tracks command — Add many tracks to your project in one step — even different types of tracks (MIDI, audio, aux, master faders, etc.) all at once.
• Floating plug-in windows — Keep plug-in windows in front of all other DP windows. Set the floating preference globally or choose to float on a per-window basis.
• MIDI Learn for audio plug-ins — Map knobs, faders and switches on your MIDI controller to audio plug-in parameters. Use Digital Performer’s powerful Custom Consoles feature to access advanced programming for the connection.
• Mute MIDI Notes — Use the Mute Tool to temporarily silence both audio regions and MIDI notes, including multiple selected notes.
• Project Notes — Save text notes in your DP project, rather than a separate text document. Log production info, keep a To Do list, build up liner notes.
• More searching — Find Markers, Chunks and plug-in preferences faster with newly added search fields.

Hmm is that really a whole point version upgrade, I am not completely sure, feels more like a point version upgrade. It is SO great that they are adding more synths and plugins to DP, I guess to keep it competitive against the others out there in particularly Logic, but to be honest in 2015 don't most of us have our own favourite external plug-ins and instruments already (many just me). I really like the floating plug-in windows, that has always been a bit of a PITA to the way I work. Finally there is the mute midi notes, but that should have been there from the start perhaps. Automation lanes is great feature finally and so is the spectrogram display, especially for me as I am so used to working with spectrograms. And that kind of is it. We shall have to see what the first reports suggest when they start coming in.Will I upgrade, not sure at the momentEnjoyPeaceNeil

Iris - Goo Goo Dolls - Cover - North and South at the Chorlton Arts Festival May 2015

Yes here is North and South's cover of the Goo Goo Dolls brilliant Iris, taken from our first performance on Festival Saturday at the Chorton Arts Festival May 2015. Performing outside in the sunshine!For more informationhttp://www.northandsouthduo.comEnjoyPeaceNeil#acoustic #cover Iris by North and South at @chorltonarts festival. #livemusic #manchester

Guitar Creativity - The Double Tapped Note

This video guitar lesson is an based on an silly idea I had to convince people you are playing insanely fast. Now, we would all like to do that wouldn't we, especially if in reality we aren't actually playing that fast at all.

The Double Tapped Note

So I should start by saying that this lesson may or may not work for you! Don't worry,  I can already feel the YouTube hate, but when I came up with this idea, the whole concept is to try and expand on a concept (tapping in this case), which already has many rules and ways of doing it, and break out of the box and create something brand new. I think this concept is pretty new (well it is to me, I don't think I have ever seen Eddie Van Halen doing it!) and it may or may not be of use, but it is exercising a different muscle, the creativity muscle.

The Creativity Muscle

This is something I am always talking about in my workshops, and forms a part of my guitar creativity book, by trying unusual concepts something new will develop. Now in this case it might not be the tapped double note, but it might spark something which leads to you develop another technique and who knows you might develop something out of it yourself, it is all about giving you ideas to develop your own voice. This is what most of our guitar heroes did, and that is why we recognise them as being the gods that they are, they were unique, they push boundaries and the found their own ways of expressing themselves. Go forward and create.It's great fun and some interesting things can come out of this technique. I am calling it The Double Tapped Note– Guitar Creativity

Improve your playing NOW

For more in-depth information on maximising your practice time and finding your own voice on the instrument, check out my book Guitar Creativity – A new way of thinking Follow me onTwitterFacebookInstragramLinkedInEnjoy!PeaceNeil

A Father's Love - Amanda-Rose Hill's new Single

Here is a little teaser of UK Country artist Amanda-Rose Hill's new Single A father's love, which I co-wrote and recorded vocals for here in the UK, before it was sent off to be recorded in Nashville. Check it out, more info to follow!EnjoyPeaceNeil

Tapping Scales ala Greg Howe – Guitar Creativity

This lesson is an based on an idea I took from Greg Howe (I think!) and follows the idea of playing scales by tapping, and also breaking away from playing things in tuples but moving to 16th notes. It's great fun and some interesting things can come out of this technique. I am calling it Tapping Scales ala Greg Howe – Guitar CreativityFor more in-depth information on maximising your practice time and finding your own voice on the instrument, check out my book Guitar Creativity – A new way of thinking https://gumroad.com/l/zCAXyFollow me onTwitter http://twitter.com/lightb4soundFacebook https://www.facebook.com/SpencerBruceMusicInstragram https://instagram.com/lightb4sound/LinkedIn http://uk.linkedin.com/in/neilbruceEnjoy!PeaceNeil

Tapping Bends ala Steve Vai - Guitar Creativity

This lesson is an based on an idea I took from Steve Vai's attitude song, and follows the notion of bending a tapped note and seeing what you end up with, great fun and some interesting things can come out of this technique. I am calling it Tapping Bends ala Steve Vai - Guitar CreativityFor more in-depth information on maximising your practice time and finding your own voice on the instrument, check out my book Guitar Creativity - A new way of thinking https://gumroad.com/l/zCAXyFollow me onTwitter http://twitter.com/lightb4soundFacebook https://www.facebook.com/SpencerBruceMusicInstragram https://instagram.com/lightb4sound/LinkedIn http://uk.linkedin.com/in/neilbruceEnjoy!PeaceNeil

Guitar Creativity - Chordal Scales and composing - Improve your guitar playing fast

This lesson is about using scales to develop chord shapes to help your composing and song writing using simple self limiting ideas to focus in on harmonic progressions.For more in-depth information on maximising your practice time and finding your own voice on the instrument, check out my book Guitar Creativity - A new way of thinking https://gumroad.com/l/zCAXyFollow me onTwitter http://twitter.com/lightb4soundFacebook https://www.facebook.com/SpencerBruceMusicInstragram https://instagram.com/lightb4sound/LinkedIn http://uk.linkedin.com/in/neilbruceEnjoy!PeaceNeil

Quick Lick #16 Steve Vai sliding 5th's lick

Back to Mr Vai again today, one of his trademark licks, the sliding 5th. Works well all over the neck and in various contexts. Give it a try.I will post the tab at http://www.spencerbruce.com when the video gets 30 likes. :)For those of you who lead busy lives and struggle to get guitar practice into your daily schedule, quick licks offers a way of improving your vocabulary and ear in just 10 minutes a day.

Improve your playing NOW

For more in-depth information on maximising your practice time and finding your own voice on the instrument, check out my book Guitar Creativity – A new way of thinking Follow me onTwitterFacebookInstragramLinkedInEnjoy!Peace

Neil