This week we have the monitor system position and the listening position set up according to the design provided by “Ready Acoustics”.

The new monitor stands are complete and are looking great (if I may say so myself) and the monitors are sitting on “Primacoustic Recoil Stabilizers” to prevent resonant coupling between the monitor and the stand.

The stands were constructed using 3″ PVC pipe sandwiched between two pieces of oak for the base and top. These were filled with sand as an added measure to prevent the PVC from resonating and to also add some weight to the stands for stability.

The monitors are sitting on “Primeacoustic Recoil Stabilizers” to prevent resonant coupling between the monitor and the stand.

It’s important that the monitor system be placed correctly in order to have correct stereo imaging so your mixes sound great.

The monitor system position and the listening position were layed out and set up according to the design provided by “Ready Acoustics”.

So far the results have been very, very noticeable!

I still need to install the early reflection panels on each side and above the listening position. I can’t wait to hear how this sounds with everything in place!

In the next update I’ll show you the early reflection panels installed and give you an overview of the studio as it nears its completion.

See you again soon!

Jeff

Quite a delay between week #3 & 4 I know. Sorry for that but things have been very busy. Before we finalize the acoustic treatment early reflection panel locations and installation, we need to work on tweaking our listening position.

I didn’t want to get too far into this without my new monitor system but now that I have received my new monitor system we can get back to work!

Having a good monitor system that gives you an accurate representation of what you are hearing and mixing is critical to having good mixes that “travel”. You could spend thousands and thousands of dollars on equipment and still end up with terrible mixes. The most important pieces of the puzzle also happen to be the least exciting as far as being a musician goes.

“Acoustic Treatment” & “Monitor Systems”.

Unfortunately, these are unavoidable if you want to get good mixes that sound good not only in the studio but even more important, where you (the listener) listen to the songs. This is what we mean by having a mix that “travels”. It’s got to sound good in your car, on your iPod, at your house…. wherever YOU listen to the music.

This week I’m setting up my new “Blue Sky – Pro Desk” monitor system. This system came highly recommended to me by Mike Senior. Mike is an award-winning engineer and “Sound On Sound” magazine author who also runs Cambridge Music Technology. I contacted Mike while reading his book, “Mixing Secrets For The Small Studio” and he was so kind as to respond to my questions on getting the best results from my studio.

I have the utmost confidence in Mike’s advice. Now it’s up to me to put his advice and what I am learning from his book into action!

I’ll be building monitor stands to get the monitors of my desk and I hope to have them completed this upcoming weekend.

I can’t wait to get this completed so I can begin working on some projects that were planned start in March. I am certain it will have been worth the wait to be able to hear what I am doing with accuracy.

Not much but that’s it for week 4. Next week I’ll show you how we’re building monitor stands!

See you again soon!

Jeff

Sorry that I am a little late with my week #3 studio update but for good reason. We have made massive progress and have all of the “Bass Traps” built and installed and all of the High Frequency Absorber Panels” built with all but 5 installed!

We still need to build five 2′x2′x2″ HF Panels for the ceiling and install the remaining 5 HF panels. I need to fine tune my listening position before attaching these to the walls and ceiling.

Before doing that I am going to build my monitor stands. Thats what my focus will be on this weekend.

I’ve got some pictures of the installed panels as well as some more pictures of the panels going through the construction process.

I can say that I notice a major improvement in the studio’s sound. The bass is much tighter and controlled and the reflections (or echo I guess) is much more controlled.

I can’t wait to get this completed so I can begin working on some projects that are planned starting in March!

That’s it for week 3. Next week I’ll show you how we’re building monitor stands!

See you again soon!

We are building the acoustic panels and are focsing on the “Bass Traps”. These thick panels use 3 – 2″ rigid fiberglass panels that are glued together, put on a frame and wrapped in fabric.

We have learned the rigid fiberglass panels are shifting on the frames. We have a possible solution that we are testing and hope for a good outcome. The panels are looking great though!

That’s it for week 2. Next week I’ll show you some of the 2″ thick High Frequency Panels and some more Bass Traps installed.

See you again soon!

The floor is in and looking good. This is actually a vinyl laminate floor that looks like wood. It even has deep graining. I’m happy with how it turned out. Take a look at some pictures!

Acoustic Treatments

Ready Acoustics provided me with an acoustics treatment plan to get the best mixes in this room.

I’ve got my rigid fiberglass panels to begin building my acoustic treatments (only a portion is shown) as well as the fabric I’m going to use to cover them (not shown). For those of you that don’t know what acoustic treatments are, they get the low – high frequencies (Bass – Treble) in the room by absorbing them. Without them, you are not hearing your recordings correctly and might add too much bass, treble, etc.

See you again soon!

Things are coming along well. The new painting scheme is complete and the new floor will be going in the last week in December. Then it’s on to acoustic treatments and lighting.

It’s taken longer than planned but fortunately, I’ve had some big help from a good friend and my family. Some things just aren’t practical doing yourself and those tasks have been contracted out.

It’s been tough having to move equipment around and keep the studio functional. A big THANK YOU to my students for your patience!!

Looking forward to showing some more pics soon as well as some video but for now I’ve got a few pics for you below.

See you again soon!

Many people, especially beginners, have issues with getting some chords to sound good. For example, you may find that you’re having an issue with unintentionally muting strings with your finger.

Well, don’t beat yourself up over this because it is very common and can be addressed fairly easy.

A very common cause of this issue is that one, or more, of your fingers on your fretting hand are lying on a string that it is not supposed to be touching. It only takes a little bit of contact for the finger to mute the string. In fact, it may even be difficult to see where the finger is actually touching the string.
Most of the time this can be resolved by using a very simple technique.

Placing your thumb on the back of the neck.

By placing your thumb on the back of the neck, you force the hand to open up and cause the fingers to curl around and come straight down onto the string. This allows the finger tip to contact the string you want without having the rest of the finger touching and muting the other strings.

There can be other issues causing this problem but the one I have outlined here is very typical.

If you’re having problems with muted strings when playing chords, give this a try!

If you have any questions on this, send me an email and I’ll offer you some personal advice based on your specific situation.

If you’re not a student with me yet and are consider starting lessons, contact me right away so I can help you resolve all of the headaches you’re experiencing with trying to learn or improve on your guitar.

Until next time, take care and don’t let anything keep your from your dreams!

Have fun!

If you live in Michigan and would like to learn more about lessons and Vivrette Guitar Academy just click here to contact me!

I’ve recently found myself talking to my students more and more about using “visualization” techniques to help improve their guitar playing. This extremely powerful tool has been used by many of the greatest guitar players in the world to help them reach the level of guitar playing that most people only dream about. You too can use this powerful tool to help you play anything you want on your guitar. But what exactly is “visualization” and how does it relate to learning to play guitar?

Learning to play guitar, or improving your current guitar playing skills, is not only a physical action but also a mental action. In fact, most of what you do when playing guitar is more mental than physical. I know the following statement may seem obvious but it is important that you truly understand what I am about to say:
 
You cannot play anything (with the exception of jumbled garbage) without first thinking about what you are going to play.

Even if you let yourself go on auto pilot, playing lick after lick, you are still thinking about what you are doing, if only on a sub-conscious level. But just thinking about what you are playing is not enough to get you to where you want to be as a guitar player. Even if your attention is very focused.

What you are really going to need to do is visualize what you want to play. As a beginner you may be wondering how in the heck are you going to visualize yourself playing something you have no idea of how to play? Well, it’s easy; you just imagine yourself playing it! Even if you have no clue what notes you are supposed be playing, you just start by visualizing yourself with your guitar playing your favorite song, guitar solo or whatever it is you want to play.

I know this may sound like some kind of hocus pocus – stomp your foot and spin around three times and you become a guitar player but it’s not. It really works!

Visualization techniques are used by people to accomplish many goals, and not just in music. Athletes visualize themselves performing the physical task of whatever their goal is before they ever do it. A wide receiver will visualize the play he is going to run to outwit his opponent, catch the ball and score a touchdown even before the quarter back yells “hike”! An Olympic figure skater will visualize their entire routine before ever getting out on the ice. Why? Because it must happen in the mind before it happens in the physical.

You must see yourself doing it before you do it, if you want to reach a higher level than where you are.

Regardless of your skill level, you can also use visualization techniques to greatly improve your guitar playing

Have fun!

If you live in Michigan and would like to learn more about lessons and Vivrette Guitar Academy just click here to contact me!

Most, if not all, chord books and beginner guitar method books I’ve seen teach beginners to play the “G major” open chord using fingers 1-2-3. There are some very good reasons why this may not be the best way to play this chord I would like to show you why this is so and how you may want to consider playing this chord.

I’ve seen many people teach people to play the “G Major” open chord using fingers 1-2-3. While being a perfectly legitimate and fine way to play this chord, it imposes certain restrictions on the player that I find uncomfortable and limiting. To begin with, by using finger #1 to play the root note “G” on the third fret of the sixth string, you limit your fretting hands ability to quickly play any other note. You essentially lock yourself into a corner.

Instead, I prefer to use fingers 2-3-4, fretting the root note “G” with my second finger. This leaves finger #1 open and available to play any note I may need it to play on all six strings, any place on frets 1 &2. I find myself using this a great deal.

One very practical example would be going from the G major chord to the C major chord. If I play the “G major” chord using fingers 1-2-3 as most people (and books) teach, I have no choice but to take my first finger off the root note G to go to the second string, first fret to play the C major chord. Aside from this, my third finger has to move quite a bit to get to the root note C on the fifth string to play the C major chord.

In my opinion, a much better way to make this transition is to play the “G major” chord using fingers 2-3-4, as I teach to my students, and leave finger 1 open to travel to the second string to prepare to play the C major chord. Fingers 2 & 3 are already very close to where they will need to be to play the remaining notes of the C major chord and this makes the transition from G major to C major very easy and smooth.

This example can also be used for transitioning from the G major chord to the D major or minor chords, as well as others. It just makes good sense!

I also prefer to play the G major chord using fingers 2-3-4 because it just feels more balanced. My hand is positioned on the neck and fretboard in a very natural way and doesn’t require my wrist to be twisted.

It’s the little things (and sometimes not so little) like this that make choosing the right teacher so important. Likewise, it’s equally important to have the right teacher to guide you through your journey of learning tom play guitar instead of trying to do it on your own. Saves a lot of time, frustration, money and grief!

If you live in Michigan and would like to learn more about lessons and Vivrette Guitar Academy just click here to contact me!

The journey of getting to where we want to be as a guitar player and musician is a never ending journey. It is a journey that takes us through an ever changing landscape. It is a journey that allows us to experience every emotion we are capable of experiencing as human beings. It is a journey that permits us to experience things that others can not even imagine and that would never have known about had we not decided to follow our hearts desire to be a musician; a guitar player.

As we travel through our journey we find ourselves picking up speed and gaining momentum. As we improve our ability we enjoy the journey even more and as a result, we find ourselves reaching out more and traveling farther to see what is around the next corner or over the next mountain. The better we get, the better we want to get. And the more we want to get better, the more we invest into our journey.

Some of us become consumed by the idea of becoming the guitar player and musician we desire to become.

Some of us become consumed becoming the guitar player and musician we desire to become.

Which category do you fall into?

Quite honestly, I have students that I could place into either category. For some of my students, it’s very obvious to me they really aren’t spending much time practicing their guitar. I know they would love to be able to pick up their guitar and do all of the things they would like to do on their guitar. Otherwise, they would not be taking lessons with me. However, they have note yet moved from “the idea of becoming the guitar player and musician they desire to become” to actually “becoming the guitar player and musician we desire to become”.

Sometimes all it takes is that “Ah-ha moment”, as I like to call it, when they truly see, feel and hear themselves “getting it”. Experiencing that moment in their journey where they can actually see their guitar playing dreams could actually become a reality. They know they still have a ways to go, but they see that it is possible.

Once you experience that “Ah-ha moment”, there is no looking back!

This is where everything changes. You start to look for more time to practice your guitar. You find yourself thinking about music and guitar more and in ways you never thought of before. You begin to see yourself in the future doing the things on your guitar that you want to do. All of this fuels your passion even more and drives you to work even harder.

It is this passion that will propel you towards achieving your dreams and making them become your reality.

I also have student’s that are obviously practicing their guitars quite a bit. They have undoubtedly experienced their own “Ah-ha moment” to some extent.

What makes some experience these life changing moments while other’s do not?
The answer really is simple: Assuming the person really does, in fact, want to learn to play guitar, the answer is….. Practice.

Yep, it’s that simple. Practice.

If you find yourself frustrated because you can’t play guitar the way you want, practice.

If you feel like giving up because you can’t play guitar the way you want, practice.

If you are sick and tired of not being able to write the songs you hear in your head, practice.

If you find that you don’t have time to practice, practice.

Practice is the vehicle that will take you from being frustrated with your guitar to having a blast with your guitar. It will get you past any obstacle you encounter and will empower you to achieve the goals you set for yourself.

Each time you practice you are getting a little better. Sometimes it’s small steps and sometimes it’s big steps. But is always a step forward.

The better you get, the better you get.

As you get better with your guitar, it actually becomes easier to get better faster. Your technique improves, allowing you to perform things with ease that you couldn’t even imagine doing before. The entire cycle repeats and your momentum picks up. Before you realize it, you become unstoppable and feel empowered to overcome ANY obstacle in your path.

So what do you think I do when I find myself wondering how I can get to the next level of where I want to go with my guitar playing or composition skills?

You got it….. Practice.

So now what are YOU going to do TODAY to get your guitar playing to the next level?

Don’t put it off another minute. Just get your guitar and practice! If you don’t have the time, make the time! There really are no reasons why you can’t, only excuses.

If you need more time, get up 20-30-60 minutes earlier a few days a week and practice your guitar. Turn the TV or Xbox off and practice your guitar. Spend less time texting or on facebook and practice your guitar!

The better you get, the better you’re going get and the more you’re going to want to get better.

If you would like to learn how I can help you take your guitar playing a musicianship to the next level please