Joe Satriani is streaming "On Peregrine Wings," taken from forthcoming album "Shockwave Supernova," the follow-up to 2013's "Unstoppable Momentum."
"While working on a project for an animated TV show called 'Crystal Planet,' I thought this music would be perfect for a flying character and what would it feel like to jump off a cliff and start flying," says Joe (via Classic Rock). There would be fear and exhilaration to be thousands of feet in the air. The movie in my head informed me on how the song developed using unusual scales and the intense velocity of the drumbeat and the crazy solo." "Shockwave Supernova" is to be released on July 24, and can be pre-ordered from Satriani's website, and via iTunes and Amazon.
One of the most important steps to getting people to your shows is a well-designed event poster. It's important to understand that most people won't spend more than a few seconds looking at your poster, so you need to be able to deliver all of the necessary information to them in a short amount of time.
An impressive show poster can be the difference between someone coming to your show and not coming, or even knowing about your show at all.
An effective poster should always cover the following bases:
The poster should have a professional look
Important information should be legible from a distance
Dates should be accurate and everything should be spelled correctly
Here are some useful tips on how to design an eye-catching poster that will stand out among the sea of flyers at your local coffee shop: 1. Simple is typically better Your most important information (band names, date, and venue) should be legible from a distance, and your design should be intriguing enough to draw the passerby in to take a moment to read the smaller text. Try to avoid using any text that doesn't need to be there, but be sure to include anything that will entice people to come to your show. For example, avoid putting things like, "It's going to be a great show!" but definitely add "free show!" if applicable.
2. Use a contrasting text color, and make sure you're using legible fonts
It's very important to make sure there's a lot of contrast between the important elements of your event poster and everything else (i.e., if your poster is dark, use a white font, and vice-versa). Many bars/venues are very dimly lit, and while using colored fonts might look good on the computer, it probably won't stand out when your poster is hanging on the wall.
Try to limit yourself to no more than two fonts. A clean, easy-to-read font family that I commonly use is Myriad Pro. With about 20 different weights, you can get a lot of variation for different elements of the poster. I typically use a bold, narrow weight for the band names, date, and venue, and then a light, narrow weight for the ticket price, age restrictions, etc. Also, remember to pay attention to alignment, and be sure not to overcrowd your text.
3. Spell check! Date check! Double-check everything! This should go without saying, but I can't tell you how many times I've seen typos on posters. Before you export your final file, make sure your month and date are correct. (Did you write "Friday" when your show is actually on Saturday night? July instead of June?)
Also, double-check that you spelled the band and venue names correctly, and that everything else is accurate with no important information left out! It'll help your band look more professional, get your fans out on the right night of the week, and keep other bands from hating you for spelling their name incorrectly.
4. If you're having trouble designing the poster yourself, then hire somebody
In order to create a professional-looking poster, it'll have to be made in a program like Adobe Illustrator, Photoshop, or something similar. By all means, avoid creating posters in Microsoft Paint.
The file will have to be created in CMYK format at 300 dpi in order to not look pixelated/blurry and accurate color-wise. If you don't have access to the proper programs to take care of this, hire somebody. You should be able to find a designer who can put a poster together for under $50, and the professional look of your new flyer could pay for itself by bringing more people out to your show! If you're having trouble finding a designer, you can always contact me.
A few quick bonus tips:
Shop around your town for the cheapest print prices you can find. Also, keep in mind that color is great, but if you can come up with a solid design in black and white, you'll save yourself a lot of money!
A QR code that links to a band video or Facebook event can help familiarize new fans with your band. If you're playing in a new market or there are bands on the bill that you don't think many people have heard of, it's always a good idea to put a two-to-three genre explanation of the music in small text under the band name (i.e., rock/blues/soul). Do your homework. Go where you might find event posters, stand about six feet back, and see which ones catch your attention and keep you reading. This will train your eye, and you'll have plenty of takeaways when it comes to creating your own event poster.
Welcome to... "Micro-Lesson 130" This Micro Lesson has a look at a Rock Guitar Riff in "A Minor."
This riff applies several chord changes within the key of "A Minor." Starting in measure one, the open "A" 5th string is used as a bass-tone with a series of power-chord ideas played under the open "A." Chords of "A5," "D5," "C5," as well as major chords of "G," and "F," are used to pull out the sound of "A Minor."
Prior to the arrival of the third measure, a very quick 16th-note lick is used to bring in a riff that's similar to the riff used in measure one.
The final measure's turnaround phrase is an arpeggiated line across both an "F" chord as well as, "G Major." Take your time working out the fingerings and be sure to apply good muting technique when you dial-up the overdrive. Enjoy!
Welcome to... "Micro-Lesson 129" This Micro Lesson covers a country guitar riff in the key of "G" Major.
The riff applies plenty of open strings combined with the techniques of slides, and hammer-ons.
The initial opening idea in measure one applies an open 4th-string hammer-on creating the harmony of a "G Major" chord. It quickly shifts into the "D Major" chord harmony and uses a selection of open-strings to bring in the second measure.
The "B Minor" chord begins the second half of the riff with another open 4th-string hammer-on. The chords of "C Major" and "G Major" wrap-up the riff pulling things back around the to the top for the repetition of the riff.
Take your time developing all of the fingering and the articulations. It's not a fast riff, but learning how to get the parts to flow smoothly will likely take some time. Enjoy!
Teaching music lessons is one of the best ways to generate a realistic, livable income through music. For some, teaching is their passion, and teaching lessons is the perfect job for them.
For others, teaching lessons is simply another way to generate stable revenue in the very unstable world of a freelance musician. Regardless of what your scenario is like, even some of the greatest living players still teach to make a living and pass on their skills.
When you decide to start teaching, the first question you want to ask yourself is whether you want to work for a company or as an independent freelancer. There are big differences in the way to go about each, and often times, the lines can be blurred. Some studios will allow you to teach independently on the side, allowing you to experience both sides of the equation.
It can be a tough call to make. I've had a lot of experience both as an independent music instructor and as an instructor through studio programs, and I can tell you that there are a lot of positives and negatives to each. In order to help you make a decision, I've listed out what I consider to be the biggest pros and cons for each method.
Teaching independently When you make the decision to start teaching lessons independently, you're essentially starting a small business, all aspects of which are controlled by you. This can be a lot of work with a lot of risk. However, with great risk comes great reward if you're willing to really hustle to be successful.
Pros: You set your own rate
Perhaps the number-one benefit of teaching lessons independently is that you have full freedom to set your own rate scale and payment policies. You can charge exactly what you think you're worth, and you'll have the freedom to raise it if you're successful or lower it should your prices not work for students in your area.
You decide who to teach
Do you work really well with adults but not with children? Then you only have to take adult students. What if you only want to work with advanced students? Or beginners? You have full control over who you teach when you work independently, and if you have a student who isn't meeting your standards or is becoming a behavioral problem, you have the power to discontinue lessons at your own discretion. You can also decide mutually with new students whether or not your teaching style and personality is a good fit, and if not, you don't have to continue with lessons.
You decide what to teach
When teaching independently, you teach your own curriculum and use only the resources that you enjoy teaching with. Each lesson you give will be totally "you," and you won't have to base your curriculum around a set of someone else's specifications.
You pick the location
Do you have a clean, welcoming, and well-equipped home studio/music space? Then you can teach directly from your home, negating the need to commute to work. You can even teach from your home over video chat, which is becoming very popular as the technology improves. Another option is to rent a studio space/office and teach from there.
Some instructors may opt to commute to the homes of their students and teach from there. Even so, you can set the limit on how far you want to travel so that you aren't burning yourself out with long commutes or spending half your paycheck on transportation. Regardless of what you decide as far as location, you're setting your own hours along the way.
Cons: Acquiring new students
Unless you have a big, well-known name, acquiring new students can be a long, slow-moving process. You will need to be on the ball as far as searching and reaching out to potential leads, getting your name out into the community, and dealing with advertising and budgets. You have to work hard to build your reputation and self-promote, which you'll need to budget for with money and time.
Travel
If you live in a rural area or in a town that has little interest in music or the arts, you'll likely have to teach from student homes and extend the range of your commute. Depending on how your schedule and the schedule of your students work out, this may involve you running back and forth across your county/region to get from student to student.
Bookkeeping
Be ready to spend some time (possibly a lot of time) on paperwork and organization. You’ll be in charge of organizing your students' information, keeping track of lessons and cancellations, income and expenses, and your own lesson materials (paper, books, flashcards, music, etc). You'll also have to be ready to do all of the tax work yourself.
Working for a studio
When you teach through a studio, you're an employee of a business. This business likely takes care of its own bookkeeping and marketing (you don't need to promote your fast food chain if you're simply a line cook, right?), but may have its own goals, quotas, and ideals that you will have to conform to.
Pros:
Students are brought to you
When working through a teaching studio, the staff are the ones trying to bring in new students for their business. This means that you don't have to worry about hustling for students – they simply assign you new ones when you have the availability. If you need to take more students or if you have too much work, you can usually just talk to the manager and have him or her adjust things for you.
Business aspects are taken care of
Since you aren't running the business, you don't have to worry about things like advertising, paperwork, student organization, or taxes. There will usually be an office employee who's in charge of handling things like that. The studio may even provide you with lesson materials such as paper, pens, books,and music. You simply have to sit back and teach great lessons.
Lesson coverage if you're away
If you have to take time off for a gig, tour, or studio session, many studios are accepting of this and will assign somebody to substitute and cover your lessons while you're away. This keeps your students busy while you're gone and can really help with retention, so you don't return home with only half of the students you had before you left. This goes both ways: when other people at the studio have to take time off, you can pick up their shifts and take more hours when you need the money.
One central location
Unless you work for a studio that specializes in sending teachers to students' homes or teaching them over the web, the studio will have a central location that you'll teach from. While you may have to commute to work, you can stay in the same "office," where the students come to you for the entire day.
Cons:
Competitive rates
When you work for a studio, you have to take its pay scale. Keep in mind that because there's a middleman (the studio has to cover business expenses and pay office staff, after all), you won't be receiving the full amount that each student pays. Also, keep in mind that as a business, your studio will likely be competing with other studios in the area, and thus charging competitive lesson rates. All of this boils down to the fact that you'll likely be making less money per lesson than you could make on your own. Sometimes, this number can be significantly less, especially if the studio's policies on cancellations don't fall in favor of the teacher. Curriculum restrictions
Some studios have specific goals that they want the students to achieve, teach using a specific book/method, or have quotas that need to be met. Thus, you may have to conform to their teaching policies and put your own personal curriculum on the back burner. This can be great if you're new to teaching lessons and need to try different teaching methods to see what you like and what you don't like, but if you've been teaching for a long time, you may end up being forced to adopt teaching methods that you dislike or disagree with.
Less control and less freedom
Having somebody else do all of the advertising, policy writing, and paperwork for you is great, but only if he or she actually does it well. If the studio you work for doesn't have a known name in the community and doesn't know how to advertise well, (or if the studio has too small or no advertising budget) it may have trouble getting students to the class rooms. Thus, fewer students for you, with absolutely nothing you can do about it.
Since many studios restrict or outright prevent you from teaching independently, you may be in serious financial trouble if the studio can't get you enough students.
You may also run the risk of unfair policies towards the students. If the students are subject to shady policies or bad management/organization, their experiences will be reflected as negative regardless of how well you teach. Thus, your student retention and personal reputation could be at risk, purely by association.
This pro/con comparison won't represent every individual's experience, but it's is a good place to start when deciding how you want to organize your teaching plans. If you have some teaching experience, business and marketing skills, and the time and place to do it, then you may be much better off teaching independently. If you choose to teach through a studio, the best advice I could give would be to find one that has a good name in the community and treats their teachers well (both personally and through policy).
Welcome to... "Micro-Lesson 128" This Micro Lesson applies a funky 16th-note groove around a root Minor chord and a dominant 7th IV chord in "A" Dorian mode.
The riff begins with an "Am7" chord played off of the 4th string 7th position. The groove connects into the second measure with a short "A Minor Pentatonic" lick.
The next chord is a second inversion of the "D7" chord, built with it's (fifth) "A" tone off of the 4th string, (again in the 7th position). A double-stop slide riff pulls in the third measure "Am" triad.
Again we apply a short Minor Pentatonic lick to bring in the final (fourth) measure's "D7" chord. This fourth measure is interesting since the "D7" jumps from the 3rd position up to 10th. It's a rather big leap, so practice the jump many times prior to actually moving it into the structure of riff at the "up to speed" tempo.
Keep a light bouncy /funky feel and maintain good timing on the 16th note meter found at the front part (beat one) of three out of the four measures. Enjoy!
For the player that wants to be different, this beautifully crafted Avalon, made in Newtownards, Northern Ireland, is a timely reminder that, while definitely niche, the acoustic baritone is edging towards the mainstream.
"We've only done around half a dozen baritones so far," says Avalon's founder, Steve McIlwrath, "but there does seem to be a trend for different guitars, like the bigger baritone on one side and the smaller Terz on the other.
"The demand for our baritones has actually come from a dealer in Holland who manages to sell them very quickly. He specialises in baritones and really likes the sound of ours." Reflecting another trend, this Avalon - from the Arc series - proudly displays back and sides made from Irish spalted maple. "That was a complete shock and surprise to us," continues Steve. "This tree was given to us from a church in County Antrim; they were taking it down because it had been storm damaged. We planned to use it for binding material, we use sycamore, but the log had laid in the ground for a year or so and by the time we got it, it had become spalted and we really thought it would be good for nothing, except firewood.
"When we opened it up and saw the nice patterns, the spalting and the overall figuring, we thought, let's try it. We built a standard dreadnought and were amazed by its tone. "You don't expect maple to sound like this - it can be bright and brassy but this sounds incredibly rich. We had about enough for 20 sets from that log - it's all gone, I think."
If you've never experienced an acoustic baritone add it to your list of potentially life-changing experiences.
It arrived tuned to A to A, which is probably as low as you'd want to go though if felt happier in B to B with an immensely strong fundamental, piano-like voice that's somehow earthy and clear in equal measure. In moments we were experimenting with open, folksy tunings that evoke haunting Gaelic tunes.
It's not over big in the bass either so fingerpicked you have to work at it a little; with pick and fingers it's like you've lent into the top of grand piano and are plucking the single strings.
The bridge is ‘two-tone’ Brazilian rosewood which matches the unusual figuring of the back and sides wood.
The two bone saddles, with a 56mm string spread, ensure accurate intonation on this long-scale, 705mm (27.75-inch) baritone.
The Irish spalted maple back and sides has a unique appearance: beautifully understated, like an impressionist watercolour painting.
The neck is quarter-sawn maple and the finish is a hand-rubbed satin nitrocellulose.
Like the bridge, the bindings and bevel plate are also Brazilian rosewood.
There’s an abalone inner purfling around the Sitka spruce top’s edge; it’s used for the soundhole decoration too.
