More and more people are picking up and learning to make music with a guitar. This is true not just in India, but also in countries like the U.S. and China, which has led to a burgeoning global market for guitar sales across the world. If you’re interested in not only learning to play the guitar, but also in making your own music, here’s what you need to start.
Familiarize Yourself With Standard Tuning
There are many ways to tune your guitar to achieve different effects and better suit different genres. But as Gear Gods explains in its basic guide to guitar tuning, it’s best for beginners to start with standard tuning. On a basic six-string guitar, the strings are tuned in this order: E-A-D-G-B-E – from top to bottom. If you can’t yet tune your strings solely by ear, try any of the many guitar-tuning apps that can help you get it right. Having a properly tuned guitar (or any instrument) is the first step to making your own music because even the slightest off-key note will make a huge difference to the finished piece once you play it back.
Learn the Basic Elements of Guitar Songwriting
If you are going to make good music you are going to need to push yourself to become a better musician. Studying and performing your favourite songs will not only make you a better player of written pieces, but it will also enhance your own compositions. Nowadays, there’s no shortage of online resources to help you practice playing the guitar. Check out our article on ‘10 Songs Every Beginner Guitarist Must Learn’. These songs can give you the foundation you need to become a competent guitarist, such as basic chords, strumming, picking, and song structure. Once you start gaining even a little competence in playing, even if it’s just doing covers, you’ll be on your way to writing and playing your own original stuff. No matter your level, the desire to keep pushing yourself is the foundation of any sort of making music.
Start Recording From Home
DIY recording is much harder that it looks. The good news though is that you don’t need to buy or hire expensive equipment as you can start recording with just your smartphone or a laptop with an audio interface. In fact many good apps are free and you can always pay to get the full features if it works for your style of DIY music making. You will likely be recording all by yourself, so you should make sure the software you choose is easy to use.
However, if you do have the money to invest in serious audio recording equipment, you should pick the stuff that will be equally useful to you as an amateur and later on as an experienced guitarist and songwriter. For instance, a good microphone is a must if you’re serious about making and recording music. The Neumann KMS-184 pencil condenser microphone can easily handle up to 138 dB of sound, delivering crisp and colourless audio recording capability not just for acoustic instruments but for vocal work as well. Meanwhile, AiAiAi’s new TMA-2 DJ headphones offer studio quality sound with different speaker units, headband options, cables, and ear cups.
Although high quality audio equipment, like the above two, tend to be expensive, think of them as investments for your music career. And by picking versatile equipment, you can better experiment with different methods and genres to suit your developing tastes and skills as you progress.
In essence all music making is DIY, but there is no arguing that today’s young musicians need to rely on themselves more. The above tips should give you the boost you need to start turning your passion into a career.
Post solely for the use of furtadosschoolofmusic.com
By J. Brey