So Fox & the Red Hares has our annual St Patrick’s Day show coming up, and we’ve never actually had banjo in there. Banjo is a big part of traditional Irish music, but I already play too many different instruments in that set to add banjo in there.

But everybody else plays guitar… And I saw this 6 string banjo at work the other day. It’s tuned just like a guitar, so if you play guitar, you can play this thing.

I made this video so the other guys could hear it and check it out, but I might as well share it with everybody!

What do you think? Does Fox & the Red Hares need to add some banjo to the mix?

The middle pickup on my Hollywood custom Ibanez randomly stopped working a while back. I opened it up and it appeared that the leads had simply come undone from the coil. I tried to fix it, but frankly, I don’t know what the hell I’m doing when it comes to pickup repairs. But Tom Brantley does! There was a small bit of oxidation at the first wrap of the coil that completely killed it. I just got it back, slammed it in my guitar and it sounds good as new!

I can’t recommend Tom’s work highly enough. Thanks a bunch!

Hey everybody, I’m on the road right now, currently hanging out at Minton’s in Harlem, which means I’m not in the studio this week.

I’ll try to make it up with another full song tutorial next weekend.

Finally! There are lots of apps out there that can slow down or change the pitch of an audio file, but I’ve had a hell of a time finding one that can actually save the altered file. This Android app does it! As a teacher, I often provide my students with slower or pitch-shifted versions of tunes to practice. Previously, I had to give them a web address, then tell them to check it the next day after I’d gone home and edited whatever song they were working on. Now I can alter the song during the lesson and upload it before they even leave!

Very happy with this app. https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.teapps.musicspeedchanger

I just got off the phone a few minutes ago, and I’m very excited to announce that I’ve joined the Shubb Capo Company artist family!

Anyone who has played with me has probably seen me using their capos. I’ve probably also given you my spiel about why I find them so superior to others on the market, but it’s all true. I’ve never bought any other capo. I’ve tried nearly every brand out there, but Shubb has remained the best in my mind ever since my guitar teacher first showed them to me nearly 15 years ago. I bought two of them back then (one for classical and one for electric) and have never needed another since.

They’ve made a few improvements to the design since then. I’ve been using the capo noir model on a daily basis for a couple weeks now, and it’s awesome. I’m anxious to try out the other models and products that are on their way. Check back here for my thoughts.

This is pretty sweet!

This guy wrote a music engraving tool in javascript. The tablature below was rendered entirely in your browser!

Creating images for little snippets of tablature or notation is a pain. It can also result in a less-than-uniform look. I used to use the ScoreRender plugin for WordPress, but it’s no longer supported. I’ve finally found an alternative!

I’ve spent some time updating the site recently.

New additions include:

• links to my YouTube and Facebook pages (to the left)
• an interactive slideshow (click “Gallery” up top)
• updated résumé and contact info (also up top)
• that kick ass banner
• …and a bunch of other little things

I’ll be making some more updates soon. I’ve got some plans for some great content (primarily video), but I need to set up a good space to shoot.

Just a couple performance vids…