Guitar Nine Columns

Creative Self-Indulgence And Adventurous Guitar Playing

In the last few years I`ve made a record for a major label that didn`t get released. Then I signed with a indie label. I thought the majors were the bad guys, and this label would give me more attention. WRONG! To make a long story longer, the small label had bad distribution and never paid a bill, let alone the tour support and promo budget.

I knew what I wanted to do but there were no labels dedicated to the guitarist as the artist, but only to the guitarist as a shred meister. I read an interview with guitarist Glenn Phillips, who has released ten albums independently. I realized from his comments (about the music industry) that the only way to reach my goal was to follow his example.

CD recorders (or burners) are great in any studio. Should you consider releasing your next CD on CD-R.

Progressively Minded Guitarist Blends Metal, Funk & Rock

Original Jazz/Rock Arrangements Fuel New Release

Rock Meets Latin Shred For Instrumentalist

New Age Electric Guitarist Crosses Stylistic Boundaries

The beautiful part about the tempered music scale lies in it`s flexibility. One of Ken`s favorite tricks is to take one shape, and use it to move up or down the fretboard in a linear way. The similarities in chord shapes will allow you to do the same.

Guitarist Paul Kuntz is back with some thoughts on how to avoid that feeling of being `lost without a map`.

Kick-start your musical development with these essential tips from Curtis.

Learn the essentials of the swept arpeggio from one of the masters of the technique.

Gerry Magee begins his multi-part series on expanding your mind, as well as your fretboard, with the benefits of thinking like a composer.

Don't make the mistake of thinking this is someone else's job. As an independent artist, the ball is in your court.

For Europe my music is not aggressive enough and in the US I didn`t have anybody to present it to. So rather than making so-called industry contacts and "wait until it happens" I decided to do it myself, which turned out to be much faster and got me and my music much more respect. I highly recommend a musical statement such as this to all musicians who intend to be a part of this complex industry.

I hope my music, although there are no words, communicates and reaches people on an emotional, spiritual and entertaining level. I try to incorporate various instrumentation, and contemporary compositional influences.

We have tried to record as much of our playing as we possibly can, both in practice and "jamming" sessions, and when we perform live, to give ourselves some feedback. When playing it`s very difficult to listen to yourself because you`re too busy thinking about what`s going to happen next, while in critical listening you concentrate on the blend of what has just happened. By listening to recordings of ourselves we can pick out the improvisational parts that work well, sound great, or have promise, then try to concentrate on developing them.

Acoustic Progressive Jazz Meets New Age Fusion

Guitarist Blends Progressive & Neo-Classical Influences

Guitarist Makes Mark In Music Mecca

Instrumental Rock For The Hungry Heart

Part two of our e-mailbag dump, answering some of the most commonly asked questions about releasing and promoting records.

Paul Abbott discusses the phenomenon of sound.

Highlighting the ways that other instruments and their players can profoundly effect us.

Putting yourself in the shoes and sticks of the drummer.

As far as instrumental goes, when you can`t sing yourself, you tend to write without a vocal part in mind. If you could add vocals to it, that would be one thing, but I decided that I would like the guitar to shine through on what I was doing. So I decided to make the project instrumental.

Progressive Instrumental Guitarist Releases EP-CD

Delivering Impressive Guitar & Heartfelt Music

Two-Handed, Melodic Mood Music

Guitar Company Releases Instrumental Artist Collection

Heavy Metal Guitar Instrumentals

Duo Creates Stylistic Melting Pot

Hard Rock Group Looks To Enter The Popular Mainstream

Dedicated Guitarist Plans Solo Instrumental Project

Four-Piece Instrumental Group Releases First CD

The odds of doing anything significant in the music business are long from the start, but artists who can't think beyond the short term have it thousands of times harder.

A few words of practical advice from Tonya`s new book "Hidden Secrets To Making And Promoting Your Music Revealed".

Gerry Magee continues his multi-part series on expanding your mind, as well as your fretboard, with an article on focusing your mental energy.

Peter Neri on how to get those fingers (and thumbs) flying.

Don Lappin discusses the endless possibilities of the 5-tone tapping technique.

The talented artists associated with Guitar Nine relate stories of their best, worst or most memorable live dates.

Surf Meets Jazz -- South Of The Border