For me the best original thought today can be found in blogs. I am constantly looking for that. It's odd really what things you can connect with. Original and honest thought. It's mostly missing from my offline world. Here's one such blog that I found thought provoking in particular. Since it was titled "how to steal like an artist" I figured I should just steal it and pass it on myself: http://www.austinkleon.com/2011/03/30/how-to-steal-like-an-artist-and-9-other-things-nobody-told-me/ You will have to copy and paste to get there tho: Enjoy

This is where I am. I have some recording gear. Some borrowed mostly. But I need a few items to improve my humble setup. Some call it Gear Acquisition Syndrome. I call it necessary expenditure to a hobby. I never was a gear collector. I understand the affliction, just never prioritized my life that way. I played bass guitar for years, in various bands, with one guitar and one amp. I tinkered with the lineup but never expanded it to a collection. Money issues mostly. That and the fact that I have other interests that needed funding as well. So my need now is for good monitors. Great monitors would do nicely. If money was no object that would cure all my concerns. Just buy the best and live with the knowledge that I did all I could to insure my success. But money is an issue and like someone recently acknowledged – money will always be an issue. So I will need to settle. Compromise. Find a set that meets my needs. Adequate in function and hopefully ones that don’t leave me with serious buyers regrets. I know the pitfalls of buying cheap. While it may look sexy, and seem to be a bargain, cheap will let you down. If not now, sometime soon. Buy cheap, buy twice. Yep. I get that. But somewhere up the food chain there is a point where spending any more is not going to be as noticeable in the experience. Where is that point and what are the choices in that range for a hobbist like myself. It seems like an easy enough question but one I can’t answer now. What is enough? I could use a little advice maybe. I could audition monitors, returning for the next best set until I’m ran out of the store or refused entry. I would like to narrow it down a little before I do this. How about asking those that use this gear and have experience? That would help huh? You would think. Advice from audio forums goes mostly like this: 1) “Buy these. They are awesome!” I’m wondering if you’ve ever heard others. Is this your first and only pair. Who knows and really… who cares. This is not information I can use. 2) “Save your money until the day you can afford to buy the best.” Well duh. Really? Again useless info to me. I knew that by age 16, but it doesn’t solve my dilemma now does it. That’s akin to quit your hobby until you win the lottery. There is no end to it. 3) “Brand A suck!!! Do not even think about it.” Oh really. Well that advice can be found uttered by someone in a forum about any item on the market today. If you adhere to that nonsense you will find that all options in your available price range are not to be considered. Ever. Back to #2. Which is back to nowhere really. Audio snobs. They exist to make your choices seem impossible. Endless threads of nonsense about the importance of tireless specs that I suspect they couldn’t detect in a blind test. Ever. Endless nonsense in a sea of endless impossible choices. Does a brick placed on the head of a listener actually improve the bass response. Lets opine. Please. Like it means something. Does a $500 power cord improve the sound of a $5000 amplifier. Does a set of $3000 monitors really mean the difference between good results and failure. If your answer is yes or maybe – please refrain from the urge to answer any of my (dumb to you) questions. Please. Just stop. I only need what can work well - for me. At my level. And hopefully a little beyond that. Equipment that will be honest and that I can grow with. Period. If you have a valid suggestion on that I’m still waiting. There. I said it. I was hoping to feel better but I don't. lol

Let's face it. I don't play well enough to need a better guitar. My old one was just fine. I just wanted it. A friend has a Taylor 514 and I played it and dreamed of having my own. A Taylor 514ce. Problem is it cost as much as a used car. So I just kept wanting one... This Christmas my wife asked me what I wanted and I just blurted it out. A Taylor 514ce guitar. She replied... 'so get it.' Not to let a green light turn red I rushed off to find one before she came to her senses. I knew the local guitar store had one for most of the year. I had stopped in to play it several times over the year but never had the nerve to take it home. I rushed over to get it only to discover that they had sold my guitar and to order a new one was $800 above the price of the one I had often played. Not good. I had kinda promised not to spend more than the old price. Definitely not $800 more. This only means one thing. Best price online. After a little research I found a 'guy' who sells Taylors online and was quoted a price that was slightly better than the 'old' price... for a new 514ce. Now we're talking!! A little more research to confirm that he is legit and I'm ready to place the order. After all there is a 10 day no hassle return if I'm not happy with it. About the time I come to place the order I post a question on a forum about this dealer - just looking for opinions you know - and my question doesn't draw interest - so I forget it and move on. After the order - it's always after the order for me(???) - my worst fears are realized. One after another the forum replies now come in with same clear message. Don't do it. He sells fake Taylors!!! @#$%! What have I done! So I wait. It arrives in quick fashion - which surprises me. Fake merchandise takes weeks to arrive I thought. And it came in a Taylor logo'd shipping box. This really floored me that they would go so far to concel the fraud. I wasn't really ready for the inspection but I managed to open it. Surprise #3. The fake Taylor case was surprisingly nice. I've never even inspected a real Taylor case but I think I might prefer this one. As cases go this one is great. This place really goes all out to copy guitars. When I get a real Taylor I may just keep this case for it. The guitar. Beautiful cedar top. Flawless mahogany back and sides - impossible to tell it's a fake. In the back of my mind I relieved. At least I'll be able to sell it and nobody will know my secret. The neck is where I stop. Flawlessly inlayed, thin and sculptured, and fitted like a.. well.. Taylor. That's it. These crooks are good. If imitation is flattery the folks at Taylor would be proud maybe. I'm guessing you want to know how it sounded. To be honest here's where I'm a little embarassed. Failing to spot flaws in the construction of this fake, I was sure to hear and feel the difference. It was beautiful. Clear. Sustained. Warm. Bottom. Mids. Highs. Just Beautiful Embarrased by my being duped into spending limited resources on Taylor copy I decided to not tell my wife what I had done. I have my pride. Besides she thinks it looks and sounds beautiful too. So I dunno how they do it. A perfect copy really. Even included registration card to Taylor. They even bothered to emboss "Taylor" on the ES circuit board (a perfect copy itself btw) I'm a little miffed that I can't spot the obvious, but who was I kidding. I wasn't ready for the real thing. So for now I'll just settle for the world's best fake guitar that good money can buy. So remember, if you hear it on the internet it's probably worth losing a few nights sleep over. Or not.... @#$%! I'm still not sure. lol

Making music with friends that know how to play their instruments well is as good as it gets. I played a 'little' bass guitar and sing in tune but thats about as much as I had to contribute. Yeah I played a little background guitar on our acoustic stuff, but I could always hide it behind someone who played better. How I got the urge to try it alone is now forgotten. I remember listening to a few artists I enjoy on soundclick ,who play solo guitar on their tracks, and wishing I had the nerve to try it myself. But I didn't. A year or so back I thought I would try. But I needed to practice just a tad. 12 easy lessons? Actually, it was more like 12 months, give or take, of 'nearly' everyday practice on a cheap Seagull I bought only to write songs with. I admit now I've never practiced anything that way, that much, in my life. It's amazing how much one gains when focusing that long on one thing. Who would have thought it? Maybe I started too late. Who knows? Fingerstyle guitar. I watched youtube videos of everyone showing how THEY do it. I read pages of web material on something called the Merle Travis method. Studying. Practicing. Real leassons would have been better, but I'm much too stuborn for that at my age. Lately, my playing has found me wanting to press the red button. I'm a little anxious though. I know full well the issues ahead. 5 minutes of mistake free, reasonably played guitar (with no one to hide behind) is no easy task for rank amatuers such as myself. But I'm ready to swim or sink trying. I hope to begin my first solo recording in the coming week. For sure, it will be simple, but if I can pull it off I think I may just quit/retire my solo efforts and go back to begging for real musicians. lol Nothing should be this consuming. Worth it? Maybe. Even if it sucks I tried.

Some things in life seem simple. Learning to produce quality recordings in a home studio is not one of them. When I decided to put together the equipment and software necessary, I spent 2 months looking at the possibilities that my budget would allow. I put together a modest setup and dove in. First obstacle was learning how to program effective drum tracks on an Alesis SR-16 that I got off of eBay. This alone could take me months to perfect. Next step was to get all the hardware and software to play pretty on my old laptop. After weeks of research, trial and error, and miss-steps I have it all behaving somewhat now. Now let’s record some guitar tracks for the song. Well, what I thought was acceptable playing did not hold up to scrutiny on recorded tracks. A few weeks of intense practice and I was ready to try again. Not perfect, but better. Now I need some vocals. Again, what I supposed was my strength, was falling short with scrutiny on playback. Again several tries later and I’m starting to understand the demands and requirements for a decent vocal track. The EASY part: Mike Shelton, a good friend and musician from a past band, graciously agreed to add his lead work to the project. He spent a week or so with my demo and came over last Saturday to record. A couple of tracks with each instrument and press SAVE. The lesson there is nothing replaces real talent! Thanks Mike!! Ok, now I can mix this song. My first mix thru headphones sounded mostly like bass and kick drum. A couple of trips later with test mixes to the car and I’m getting closer. I’ve learned two things: 1)The more you learn, the more you realize what you don’t know. 2) Nothing is harder to try and fix than a poor performance. The better the signal in – the better the signal out. So the first song is more or less complete. Still planning the possibility of adding tracks from a live drummer – but I’m gonna resist tweaking anymore until I learn more and my ears get better trained. “Take Me Back” is my first completed recording from Studio B(basement lol). Learned a lot. Not sure if it was all valid. Time will tell… MarkWilson(NC)