Musical Instruments

Guitarists are always on the lookout for additional pieces of gear or accessories. The holidays are the perfect occasion to bring the joy and happiness!

Randall's RX15MBC is a versatile two channel amplifier that will interest not only beginners, but also experienced guitarists that want a portable practice amp.

Ever evolving technologies is putting unrivalled control and affordability in the hands of regular consumers and hobby music recording techs. IK Multimedia has been at the forefront of this in recent years and with their introduction of the iRig Acoustic and iRig Pro Duo devices, they are giving users the option to play and record their musical ideas without being tethered to a desktop computer (although they will work with those too).

The brass section is at the core of any great musical ensemble. Check out the great selection of brass instruments and accessories available at Best Buy.

Today was busy! Even the exhibitors on the floor thought it was busy. The weather was fantastic (although I only caught a glimpse of it on the walk to the Annaheim Convention Centre), there were some artists spotted and some cool new gear discovered by yours truly.    

Saturday is always the busiest day (and night) at NAMM – as you can see by the crowd waiting to get in. The weekend brings out a lot of local people who couldn’t make it the last two days and/or folks looking to spot artists roaming the floors. We didn’t have any specific appointments to hit today, so I took the opportunity to just walk around and see what I could find.

I received a few different Yamaha guitars from Best Buy including the FG800 and FG820. Read all about the FG820 in this article, and watch my video to see hear how it sounds.

When my children were younger, I remember my wife and I contemplating questions like: when is my child ready for music? and How can I make sure they’ll like it? Even though we’re both classically trained pianists and I write and produce music for a living, we STILL grappled with these questions! Well I’m going to try to give all parents some answers. In addition to my own perspective on this subject, I bounced a few ideas off Jennifer Gasoi (2014 Grammy Award Winner- Best Children’s Album). She obviously has some fantastic insights and tips. You’ll see her perspective liberally peppered throughout this post.

Yamaha’s got a lot to offer! In the last post, I talked about seeing the THR series of guitar amplifiers in action. I’ll cover off the rest of our stay at the Yamaha booth – digital pianos, analog mixers, studio monitors, bass guitars and electronic drums. Not too much to cover…

Akai terms their Advance line of controllers as “unprecedented” plug-in control. The 49-note version that I played with came pretty close to the mark.  I can see its potential as a studio and live situation controller that, once you adjust your workflow, will help you organize, recall and control all of your software synths and effects.