In the latest of our Turn On, Tune Up, Rock Out series, we meet up with one of our favourite new indie rock bands to lift the sticky lid on their sweet guitar and bass rigs.
The marriage of traditional guitar playing with cutting-edge digital music production software can seem like a daunting task. However, this synergy offers unprecedented creative freedom and control, pushing the boundaries of what is possible in the modern music landscape. Whether you are a seasoned guitarist or a beginner looking to dive into the realm of digital production, understanding how to bridge the gap between these two worlds is essential. This blog aims to guide you through this transition, covering the historical evolution, the benefits, and the practical aspects of combining guitar playing with digital music production software.
Meet Providence Guitars, a luthier building unique designs that bring together the best – and sometimes contrasting – parts of classic guitars.
What’s one of the best benefits of running a family-owned business for over 65 years? Reconnecting with contacts from over five decades ago.
Despite being released in 2000 the song “Good Fortune” by PJ Harvey has a bit of an 80’s guitar vibe, which is fitting considering that is when her career began! As a multi-instrumentalist, vocalist, and poet-like lyricist she would go onto bigger fame with the alternative music of the 90’s. Here is a quick song lesson on how to play PJ Harvey’s “Good Fortune” on guitar.
We sit down with the longest-serving member of the Rotosound team, Coral Lynn, who is retiring this month after more than four decades at the company. If you called up the Rotosound office any time after 1980 you would have most likely been greeted by the voice of Coral Lynn. After 44 years of running overseas orders and logistics, our Coral is retiring. We caught up to reminisce before she locks up the factory for the last time.
The second and popular single by The Beatles “Please Please Me” is a great practice tune if you are learning to play guitar as it has both easy and challenging parts. While this song was originally slower and more bluesy it was their producer George Martin that made changes so it would be more upbeat like “Love Me Do.” Here is a quick guitar lesson on how to play “Please Please Me” by The Beatles.
Across the UK, scores of luthiers rely on Rotosound strings for their projects and recommend our British made strings to their clients. We thought that it was high time that we visited some of them.
This week we get to grips with Rival Sons’ Pressure and Time guitar parts. Rival Sons is a blues hard rock band from Long Beach California that started around 2009. Their 2011 hit “Pressure and Time” is not just catchy and riff laden, but also a perfect song to play for someone learning how to play guitar. It has a mix of beginner, intermediate, and advanced techniques and it follows a common blues rock structure. Here is a quick song lesson on the Rival Sons song “Pressure and Time.”
Renown bass player Doug Wimbish visits the Rotosound factory where his favourite Swing Bass 66 strings are manufactured.
At Rotosound we know the positive change that music can make to everyone’s lives and we believe that no one should be left out when it comes to making music. To help with this mission we partnered with Scottish social enterprise 12 Guitars who are making guitar playing accessible to young people and adults of all backgrounds across Scotland free at the point use. By recycling and upcycling unwanted guitars, they have engaged hundreds of young people and given away or loaned over 250 instruments.
We caught up with the 12 Guitars team to shed some light on how this amazing organisation has been helping people pick up the guitar in Glasgow and across Scotland….
Despite the lead singer Morrissey being quite controversial and moody, The Smiths have endured popularity even though they broke up many years ago. In fact, the singing style of Morrissey and his demeanour is one reason the band has likely achieved such success. There are many great Smiths songs to play, especially if someone is just learning how to play guitar, but today we take a closer look with a song lesson on “There Is a Light That Never Goes Out.”
