The guitar seems to have always got quite a bad rap as far as musical instruments go. While it’s been integral to many of the musical movements of the past century, it seems there’s always something disparaging to say about the six-string.

There’s one infamous example of Dick Rowe, a senior A&R representative at Decca Records, who told The Beatles’ manager Brian Epstein that “guitar groups are on their way out” in 1962 before rejecting the now moderately well-known band. Naturally, within one year he would likely have realised how much that statement made him live up to his first name.

Times haven’t really changed that much. Earlier this month (February 2018), Muse frontman and well-respected guitar wielder Matt Bellamy claimed in an interview with the BBC that “the guitar has become a textural instrument rather than a lead instrument… As a rock band you’re slightly one foot in the past, playing instruments like guitar, bass and drums.”

Modern music and the creative urge

But how right is Bellamy? Well, look at most of the charts for the past few years and you’ll likely agree with him. Of the handful of indie, alternative and rock acts that have broke the charts, few if any have really been driven by the guitar. Even in terms of the acts dropping non-charting but well-received singles and albums, few have put the guitar front-and-centre. Just look at The 1975 and Imagine Dragons, who have both featured guitars less and less with each new release.

There are of course a handful of exceptions; Liam Gallagher’s debut solo album in 2017 made guitars quite a prominent feature. But with many of these acts, the target demographic is not an emerging audience but rather ageing listeners that have remained loyal since the age of guitar domination.

So surely that’s enough proof, right? Surely Bellamy is right and the guitar has little relevance beyond adding texture in 2018. Well, not exactly.

As the quality of electronic instruments – both digital recreations of traditional instruments and instruments such as synthesisers and samplers – has increased, many artists are investing more time into discovering their capabilities. This desire for experimentalism, which should be innate to any creative, is what is driving many musicians to focus less on the tried-and-tested lead instruments of old. But that doesn’t mean guitar music has had its day.

Re-defining the guitar

While technology develops away from guitars, guitar effect technology is also advancing. Traditional effects like reverb, wah and distortion are only a handful of the sound manipulation that modern guitarists can experiment and create with. For example, guitar pedal manufacturer Electro-Harmonix has been pushing the boundaries of traditional guitar effects in recent years.

One of the company’s pedals, the Ravish Sitar pedal, effectively turns a standard electric guitar into a Sitar, the Indian instrument that was a staple of 60s psychedelia. Another, the Electro-Harmonix Superego, emulates the sound of a church organ with adjustable parameters. That’s without even touching on the company’s range of pedals that recreate synthesisers on a guitar.

This presents artists in 2018 with an interesting opportunity and challenge, in the form of redefining what guitar music actually is in the modern age. You can certainly craft songs on a guitar that, with effects, sound nothing like a guitar. But, in principle, this would still be guitar music.

Likewise, there’s always the possibility of a creative change in how bands feature guitar as a lead instrument. For an example of this, we don’t need to look much further than Arctic Monkeys’ 2013 hit AM. On the album, the band completely overhauled the way it put guitars front and centre by swapping out the indie-thrash ferocity of what came before for a cool, calculated focus on guitar grooves that won the hearts of many listeners. And with a new album in the works, it’s likely we’ll see the band do something similar to reimagine guitar’s role in the indie soundscape once more.

Effectively, guitar music is not dead, it’s simply the old ideas of what a guitar is used for and capable of that have died. In the modern age, there’s two clear ways bands can continue to make the guitar relevant: by changing the sound of the instrument to make it more versatile as a lead instrument, or by changing the way songs are structured to complement the new way guitar is used.

It’s only the lazy, uncreative, pig-headed or unaware that will have “one foot in the past” by using guitars – it’s unclear into which camp Matt Bellamy falls.

Hooks. Arguably the most important weapon in any songwriter’s arsenal. Sometimes, from a layman’s point of view, hooks can be dismissed as a catchy bit of the tune, or a bit that people like to sing along to. But I’d like to take some time to explore the concept in a bit more depth.

Hooks can be defined as a thing to catch people’s attention. Now, that can go much deeper than just a catchy bit of tune. Let’s look at a few different types of hooks, starting with songwriting.

1. The melodic hook. Let’s get the obvious out of the way. A good, catchy tune. What was the last song that you sang to yourself, or had in your head? That’s your example.
2. The rhythmic hook. Something that gets you tapping your foot, or using your desk as a makeshift drum kit. What makes you want to tap along? An example I’d point to is the stops in the chorus of The Middle by Jimmy Eat World. It’d still be a good chorus without them, but they certainly take it to another level.
3. The sound effect hook. Perhaps less obvious than the two above, but hey, if something sounds nice, then people are going to want to hear it, and isn’t that what a hook is all about? A lot of these come down to production ideas.

   For an example, listen to the first few bars of Nelly Furtado’s Turn Off The Light. The ambient sounds and stuttering beeps aren’t really defined solely as melodic or rhythmic, but they certainly sound great!

In a previous article, preparing for the studio, we looked at being well rehearsed, and indeed recording guides before going into the studio. When you’re doing this, it might be worth reviewing if you’ve made the most of all your hooks.

Could you emphasise a melodic hook with a crash of a cymbal, or by flipping the rhythm, or indeed having the drums follow the rhythm of the vocals at a key phrase? All of these things and more are options you have to lift your track.  
 
Now that we’ve looked at hooks in songwriting, it’s important that we also consider the use of other kinds of hooks in other activities. It’s perhaps less obvious, but it could be beneficial to think like a songwriter whilst you’re doing other things.

For example, say that you’re building a website. What’s the hook? What’s going to make people stick around or sign up to your mailing list? Do you have free songs on offer, or maybe a great design on the page? What makes it a pleasant experience for your visitors, and makes them want to stay a little longer, and eventually come back? 
 
Similarly when you’re putting out social media posts; when you’re composing a tweet or a status update, what’s going to make people respond, like, share, or otherwise react to what you’re doing? 
 
This mindset shouldn’t be limited to fan-facing activities either. When you’re contacting someone who you want to do business with, but feel like perhaps you’re reaching (e.g. approaching a booking agent about a great tour support slot that there’s going to be stiff competition for), explore what you can do to make yourself an attractive option for them to go for. As explored in a previous post, these people are running businesses, so they’re unlikely to just take a chance if you don’t show them how it could be profitable to them. 
 
Ultimately, the way you carry out all of the above will be informed by knowing your audience, and what they’re looking for, so it’s important that you consider all of the different variables before you put your figurative pen to paper. Considering all of this will yield greater results than simply posting without thinking.

Getting signed in the modern music business is a terrible pain, mostly because of the number of artists and bands competing with one another for a coveted contract. So, how can musicians stand the best chance of being seen, heard and signed by a record label?

Eric Champlin has three tips that can help. In addition to being a long-time music youtuber, he has also worked in various parts of the industry, including musician management and A&R departments. He’s understandably pretty clued up on what works and what doesn’t.

Are his thoughts worth listening to? Almost definitely. In any case, there’s far worse ways to spend eight minutes.

What do you think of when you consider the ‘marketing’ that you do for your band/act? All too often, people respond by listing things like posting about shows, posting about their merch, or the various methods they use to tell people about their music. There’s a common thread in all of those — they’re a one-way conversation.

The Chartered Institute of Marketing defines marketing as “the management process for identifying, anticipating and satisfying customer requirements profitably”, while Kotler, Armstrong, Saunders & Wong (2001) define it as “a social and managerial process by which individuals and groups obtain what they need and want through creating and exchanging products and value with others”.

Notice the difference here. Marketing is much more about ascertaining what your audience wants and positioning yourself to be able to profitably fill that want, rather than just blindly trying to convince them that you’re what they’re looking for. Unless Derren Brown is your bassist, that can sometimes be a fruitless exercise.

Now, I’m aware that the above paragraph may ring alarm bells with some, particularly those responding with the usual “I make music for me, screw everyone else’s expectations”, and that’s fine. You should make music for you. I’m not suggesting that the above is a reason that you should limit your songs to three and a half minutes, follow a set structure, stick to 120bpm (which the majority of hits are around, apparently), and be about love gone wrong, but there are other activities that you can apply these concepts to.

I’m not going to give an exhaustive list, as that’s for you to figure out for yourself. But let’s look at a couple of examples. Firstly, merchandising. Take a step back and consider it this way. Which is more likely to be profitable for you?

1. Buying 50 t-shirts, 50 hoodies, 50 snapbacks, 50 vests and 50 tote bags, then selling them on your site and at your shows, or
2. Exploring which items tend to sell most as band merch, via asking some other bands or maybe asking your audience what they’d be most likely to buy via a twitter poll, then buying stock levels appropriately and selling those

You’re more likely to have a decent return on investment (ROI) if you’re not buying stock that is less likely to sell out.

Another example can follow on from a previous post – using Google Analytics on your website to ascertain certain details about your audience. This can range from knowing when is best to post an update, to finding out the age demographics and locations, which can, in turn, inform your decisions about where to book shows or tours. If you’re really getting into positioning, you can think about where certain age groups are most likely to find out about new music and ensure you get your music in those places.

The two-way process of marketing doesn’t necessarily mean selling out your sound to make a quick buck. Your artistic integrity should always remain intact, but it can be very beneficial to consider methods that can get your point across in ways people want to hear. Have fun!

There are many things that can easily cost a lot of money in the music industry and not least of all is studio time. If you seriously want to make money, then the first step is limiting your outgoings. There are numerous tactics musicians can employ to cut down on the amount of time spent recording and  to maximise efficiency while there. Time is money, after all.

I’ll start with the painstakingly obvious: it is essential that all parties are well rehearsed before you get to the studio. You are committing your songs to a permanent record, so you’d better be damned sure that you’re ready for that. The time for winging it is over. Likewise, you must ensure that your instrument sounds its best, whether that means new strings, new skins, an intonation check, etc.

Now, into the fun stuff. Hopefully, at least one member of your band has some rudimentary recording equipment and software (personally, I’m a Logic Pro man, but to each their own!). Decide on a tempo for each track that you’re recording beforehand and record drumless guides for your drummer to play along to in the studio. This will pay dividends, as the extra time you’ll spend setting up your instruments to play along to a live guide track and getting the hang of all playing along to a click can be easily avoided.

This also gives you the opportunity to create markers so that the studio engineer/producer can easily differentiate each part of each song. “The bit after the shouty bit” doesn’t always make it as easy to understand as “bar 12, just after the bridge”. Remember that those who are recording you won’t know your music as well as you do, especially when they are building a recording from the ground up.

The studio can be an exciting place, but I’d strongly recommend not bringing along family/friends who are not directly involved in what you’re doing – it’s a distraction that you can do without. Similarly, preparing food beforehand is worth considering. The lunchtime forage can easily eat into time that you don’t want to be eating into!

Ultimately, the more planning and preparation that you do before going into the studio, the more efficient you’ll be when you’re there and this will translate into cost-effectiveness. The recording is the most important part of how an artist or band is perceived by potential fans, so all musicians must give that the respect it deserves.

The lion’s share of the struggle that independent musicians face can often be summed up by one question: how do you reach more people? We’ve struggled for years with this seemingly simple problem, and expend a lot of energy plotting ways to solve it. Indeed, a lot of our activities are a direct attempt at reaching more people, from social media engagement all the way through to booking tours.

We can be so single-minded in this pursuit that we elevate certain individuals to almost godlike status; the radio show producers, the booking agents, the journalists. They are the perceived ‘Gatekeepers’ in our fantasy and alone hold the key to the masses of fans for whom we’ve been searching for so long! Things would be a lot simpler if this was the case. I read an article a good while ago that highlighted the fallacy that this view is. You should too. It’s a great read on why radio doesn’t automatically mean musical success.

So… radio show producers are looking for us to bring the people to them?! Shit. Surely that’s what THEY are there for? It sort of turns it on its head, doesn’t it? But it makes sense – everyone in the music industry needs to make money, and the only way we can get money is with the interest of people. It could be argued that the only true currency in the music industry is the interest of people.

Does it help a great deal to know this? It might not seem to, but it’s important that you take a step back from the daily slog of your usual game plan and reinvest your time and attention into more useful tactics. Can you prove how many people are interested in your music? Do you keep tallies of how many tickets you sell to your shows? Do you know how many people are on your mailing list, and where they are? What kind of reach do your social media posts have? These are hard statistics, and they’re things that, at some point, can be the tipping point between whether someone will take a chance on you or not. If you don’t keep records like this, I’d strongly suggest you start – there’s no time like the present, and you’ll thank yourself in the future.

“Would you tell me, please, which way I ought to go from here?’
‘That depends a good deal on where you want to get to,’ said the Cat.
‘I don’t much care where -‘ said Alice.
‘Then it doesn’t matter which way you go,’ said the Cat.
― Lewis Carroll, Alice in Wonderland

In your quest towards success in the music industry, it’s very easy to feel like you’re doing all the right things but are still getting nowhere. We’ve all been there, and it’s an incredibly frustrating feeling. It’s at times like these that it’s important to take a step back and really assess where you are,  where you want to be and – most importantly – how you can control your progression from the former to the latter.

This is where the crux of the matter lies. We can all recognise where we are and say “I want to be more successful”, but I’d argue that that’s more of a desire than a goal and it certainly doesn’t give any indication of methodology.

Let’s take an example and work it through. You could argue that an indicator of success (or, rather, progression towards success) could be that you have a greater online presence. That’s your first goal. Next, make a list of all the things that would signify that you are reaching that goal, such as a greater number of followers across social platforms, a website acting as a central hub for your activities, and so on. At this point, take stock of your current situation – hey, you can’t assess your progress if you don’t know what you’re improving upon!

The ideas you come up with to build your online presence will be your ‘strategies’. Now, to break it down even further, your strategies will require workable tactics to be realistically achieved,and to give yourself a ‘task list’ of sorts that you can refer to in order to work towards your goals.

Here’s an idea of how this could end up looking:

Goal: Grow and improve the profile of the band across all networks.  

Strategies: 

• Acquire 500 new mailing list subscribers 
• Hit 3,000 Facebook fans this year 
• Hit 1,000 Twitter followers this year 
• Hit 5,000 Instagram followers this year 
• Hit 200 YouTube subscribers this year 
• Develop a new website to act as a central hub for all communications 

Current Status: 

• Mailing list of 550 
• Facebook fans – 2,072
• Twitter followers – 708 
• Instagram followers – 4,177 
• YouTube subscribers – 122 

Tactics for Achieving Each Strategy: 

1) Acquire 500 new mailing list subscribers 

• Capture form on new website 
• Physically approaching people at performances with sign-up sheet
• B-Sides/Demo promotion via social media campaign 
• Regular social media pushes 

…etc.

The idea above is that you break down what seems like an abstract idea of what you want into workable elements that you can work on every day to move closer towards your goal. It’s important to note that this is a working document – as you work on your tactics and strategies, you’ll inevitably find that some of them don’t work and you’ll think of new ones along the way. With a regular review of your progress, you’ll develop a plan that works best for you and your individual set of variables.

Good luck, and get to work!

“Like us on Facebook!”

This phrase is ubiquitous amongst musicians. We plough all the effort we can muster to drive our potential fans to networks that, ultimately, we have very little control over. I’d like to present a different viewpoint to you – it’s absolutely imperative that you control your own network.

We run the risk of falling into the same trap as we did with MySpace. How many of us remember spending hour upon hour building our networks there, only to watch helplessly as it slipped further and further into obscurity? Yet here we are, our best advice being to like us on Facebook.

Much like MySpace, Facebook won’t necessarily be around forever, and even now it isn’t what it used to be for bands. I remember when the first big page algorithm changes came around, and the uproar when page owners realised this meant that the reach of their posts was severely diminished. We each waved an impotent fist at the audacity of it. How dare they! But, of course, our outrage was ultimately futile; as much as businesses like Facebook like to present themselves as altruistic, we must remember that they are essentially just that – businesses. The same can be said of Twitter, Instagram, and whatever social network you care to mention.

Beyond social media

That said, it isn’t all doom and gloom, and there are certainly some more weapons you can add to your arsenal. Mailing lists are a prime example of that. Particularly with the rise of smartphones, it could be argued that these are more relevant than ever before – why waste your time fretting about algorithms, when you can send out an email and you know it’s going to ping up on a person’s smartphone, wherever they are? A mailing list is only a single piece of the puzzle, however. Another can be building your own website.

There are many benefits to owning your own website, not least of all the perceived legitimacy of your outfit. It’s a lot easier to be taken seriously with an email address like [email protected], rather than [email protected]. On top of this, through the use of Google Analytics, you can find out how many people are visiting your site, where your visitors are, and even information about their demographics. Importantly, when you know the amount of traffic your site is getting you can also use those figures to barter for advertisement revenue and, in this industry, you’re going to need all the money you can get!

I’m certainly not saying that it’s not important to have a presence on social media, it is. Embedding ‘widgets’ of your social media profiles to your website can allow people see your posts from there, and even like or follow you without leaving your own page. Think of it this way; why send your fans to YouTube for your new video when you can embed it directly into your website? You’ll still get the views stacking up on YouTube, because it’s the same video from the same source, but you’ll also get the traffic coming to you. The same can be applied to Soundcloud. Whenever you tell people about your music, make sure you send them to yourbandname.com/music, rather than soundcloud.com/yourbandname.

Ultimately, this is a tough industry to catch a break in, but you needn’t feel like you’re fumbling around in the dark, searching for the light switch. Take some time to consider and research your options. It’ll be worth it down the line, trust me.

By Matthew Tuck

There is no doubt that Ed Sheeran is one of the fastest rising stars in modern music. Since really hitting his stride in 2012, the intervening years have seen Sheeran become one of the most widely known and recognised musicians in the Western world. So, in the run up to his third studio album, ÷, we look at the three lessons that new musicians can take from the three tracks Sheeran has dropped this year.

Variety is the spice of life

It’s fitting that a ginger singer is the one to best demonstrate that a bit of variety can spice up most musical offerings. In the run up to ÷, Sheeran dropped a total of three singles — Shape of You, Castle on the Hill and How Would You Feel (Paean).

Often, artists will stick to a consistent feel across at least two out of the three tracks that precede an album. The aim with that, of course, being that it gives listeners an accurate taster of the album’s flavour. However, this assumption is based upon the historical significance of the album as an important way of gaining a following. Since digital downloads and music streaming became the norm, there has been a subtle shift in consumption that means the standardised sound approach simply isn’t effective anymore.

Most people won’t listen to an album in its entirety anymore. While carving a consistent sound across all hype-building singles is good when it comes to the live sets, it simply serves to pigeonhole artists from a recording perspective. Sheeran tackles this with his three recent singles by offering three different and distinct sounds: acoustic balladry with How Would You Feel, indie-pop anthemia in Castle on the Hill and radio-friendly club pop with Shape of You. These share one coherent quality, but speak to three generally different audiences.

To truly maximise appeal and test the boundaries of personal creativity, artists should try to avoid any sense of status quo. By experimenting with how different they can make a new track from what they’ve done in the past, musicians can ensure they don’t get stale and reach the widest possible audience.

Get personal

“When I was six years old, I broke my leg. I was running from my brother and his friends.”

With that opening sentence, Sheeran sets the tone for the entirety of Castle on the Hill. It’s a song of personal reflection, nostalgia, homesickness and memories that almost everyone will have something similar to. It is that personal touch that makes Sheeran an artist who speaks to both the head and heart of thousands. It is easy for new artists to fall into the trap of tackling wide-reaching topics in a generalised way that, hypothetically, speaks to many and will therefore make those listeners become immediate fans. Yet while being able to stir an emotional reaction from listeners is a positive, there is more that artists can easily do to create a meaningful emotional connection with hundreds of people they’ve never met.

Human nature is to bond with others. It’s why love is a recurring theme in most displays of art, and why many people secretly love having heart-to-heart conversations with others. This is the very thing that Ed Sheeran’s experience-inspired art of songwriting is so effective — he shares his own story with his fans, who subsequently feel like they are forming a meaningful relationship with him. Artists who can tap into this “universally personal” style will find that people respond much more positively to their music.

Unplug the club

One of the big selling points of Ed Sheeran is that he effectively brings the club to the acoustic guitar. Take Shape of You, for example. That song is essentially your typical late night club song, redesigned for an acoustic set up. This unique way of taking on a genre of music is a key lesson for all musicians. Instead of simply following the formulaic and — often overdone to death — style that many other artists have done, it exhibits much more creativity to successfully splice two distinct styles together.

It doesn’t have to be especially difficult, either. Try being inspired by metal music and recreating it with synths, or vice versa. This cross-pollination of ideas is how creative genius is born.

Modern musicians are both incredibly lucky and unfortunate at the same time. On one hand, technology has reached a point where any hopeful can produce high quality recordings from the comfort of their bedrooms. On the other, the economy is in a constant state of shit and so everybody is trying to spend as little as possible and accomplish phenomenal things on a threadbare shoestring budget.

Fortunately, good home recordings aren’t exclusive to those with a lot of disposable income. In fact, the barebones essentials needn’t be too expensive at all – but once you have them, then what?

Here are five tips to help musicians get the most of their kit, regardless of the pricetag.

Mics and miking (and general audio interfacing)

The first step to making the most of your equipment is setting it up properly and ensuring that what you’ve got is the right tool for the job. There are a million different models of microphone, for example, and there are a lot of ways of categorising them – condenser, dynamic, crystal, etc. When starting out, it makes most practical (and financial) sense to invest in a large diaphragm condenser microphone. The main reason is that it is a versatile piece of kit, capable of working just as effectively on string instruments as it does on vocals. Alternatively, buy a different mic for each instrument – chances are, that would work out more expensive.

Next, naturally, is setting it up. Positioning of microphones is an important factor in the end quality of a recording, so it’s important to spend a lot of time researching the best approach for vocals and for each instrument that will be used. It’s far too meaty a topic to fully put here, but a quick google for each particular set up is vital prior to recording.

However, miking alone is not going to get that killer sound. If possible, look to directly connect instruments to the recording device (which, for the sake of argument, we shall assume is a DAW). Midi keyboards, for example, are a far easier way to record keyboard sections rather than miking it. Guitars prove slightly more challenging, as there is typically nothing akin to a ‘midi guitar’.

One of the most effective ways to overcome this problem comes, surprisingly, from a video game. Using a Rocksmith real tone cable, it is possible to connect guitars directly to PCs without much latency or system noise (both of which are problems prone to occur if too many wires are involved in a connection). Also consider potentially using a preamp to beef up the guitar tone, making it easier to work with later on.

DAWs and mastering software

DAWs (Digital Audio Workstations) are the best and most common way to record, edit and produce music in the home recording studio. If you have a macbook, you’ll be one step ahead – they handily come with the free availability of Garageband, which is an admirable DAW in its own right. However, other DAWs such as Avid Pro Tools or, slightly cheaper, Ableton Live are more expensive but a very worthwhile investment.

Play around with your DAW a little bit ahead of recording. While trial and error during recording is certainly the best way to pick up habits and knacks, going into a session blind to the possibilities that the software offers is a recipe for disaster. Put together a plan of what you can achieve within the confines of the DAW and then set out to build on that – but never forget to prepare.

Audio playback – part one

One of the biggest blunders new bands often make is not checking the quality of their sound effectively. The first step to doing this is to ensure that you have some decent – not phenomenal, but decent – monitors to playback the recording and each mix. A decent monitor doesn’t have to be a bank-crushing purchase, but it is essential in discovering how your song really sounds.

Similarly, don’t rely on monitors alone. Good headphones are important for whoever will be mixing the recording together and making adjustments, ideally ones that are noise cancelling so that they can listen to the input during recording itself without mics detecting sound leakage. With all that in place, play back the track on monitors, headphones and standard laptop speakers – just to make sure the balance is right.

Audio playback – part two

So it sounds all good to you, but do you know what the real sign of a killer track is? If other people think it’s fantastic.

Don’t be afraid to have a trusted third-party listen to each ‘finalised’ version of a track and give their honest verdict. While the home recording studio is a wonderful environment for outpourings of musical talent and inspiration, it’s not necessarily always the best it could be and bands rarely learn this until after it’s been shared (endlessly) online. Find somebody unafraid to give their opinion for the sake of your feelings, let them listen and see what they suggest.

Be patient!

Nothing good comes to those who are not willing to wait for it. Room acoustics can be unpredictable and, unless you fancy paying extra to soundproof your room, this is just something that must be dealt with. Likewise, mishaps happen and sometimes band members don’t always nail that verse rhythm. Chill, it’s fine.

As great as home recordings are, there is often a self-imposed pressure by artists to get everything done quickly and have it be phenomenal. Pick one. Be patient with the process, take your time to get everything perfect in both recording and editing, and then – with all that in place – you’ll find your ears blessed with the sound of a killer home recording.