Author: Guest Writers

  • 4 Other Uses for Your Favorite Guitar Pedals

    4 Other Uses for Your Favorite Guitar Pedals

    By Casey van Wensem Every guitarist has that one effects pedal (or two, or three, or 12) they just can’t live without. Maybe it’s a boutique overdrive pedal that gives you just the right amount of gain and saturation for crunchy leads or a vintage analog delay pedal perfect for lush, dreamy soundscapes and gigantic swells.…

    Read more

  • Three Jazz Artists Harmoniously and Creatively Blending Arabic and Western Music

    Three Jazz Artists Harmoniously and Creatively Blending Arabic and Western Music

    By Lee Dynes The sound palette of Arabic, Persian, and various Middle Eastern regional cultures are generally not typically heard in the West outside of TV shows like Homeland and some films. Those droning tones, the anguished cries reminiscent of classical singers like Oum Kalthoum of Egypt or Yusuf Omar of Iraq, can evoke uneasy feelings…

    Read more

  • 7 Steps to Organizing Your Own DIY Music Festival

    7 Steps to Organizing Your Own DIY Music Festival

    By Jhoni Jackson Putting together a multi-day event in your city requires a little knowledge of booking and who’s who in your local music scene, but it’s not the impossible feat some might imagine. Organizing a festival is within the reach of nearly anyone who’s willing to commit time to planning, researching, and learning. It’s…

    Read more

  • 10 Easy Ways to Overcome Writer’s Block

    10 Easy Ways to Overcome Writer’s Block

    By Uche Ibe What if I told you that combating writer’s block is easy? That all you need to do is to follow the right steps and advice, and you’ll be able to come up with awesome lyrics in no time, even if you’re stuck at the beginning? Solutions never need to cost an arm and…

    Read more

  • 5 Essential Alternate Tunings for Acoustic Guitar

    5 Essential Alternate Tunings for Acoustic Guitar

    Go beyond your standard stable of chords and explore a whole new world of alternate tunings to make your songs stand out.

    Read more

  • The COMPASS: The San Francisco Bay Area, CA

    The COMPASS: The San Francisco Bay Area, CA

    By Rebecca Redman I moved to the Bay Area from a town where there were only two places to play shows — a garage and a supper club. Unless you could convince someone to let you plug in your amplifier in their living room, choices were slim. Moving up to the Bay Area came with a dramatic…

    Read more

  • Into the Wild: Making a Beat in Ableton Live With Found Sounds

    Into the Wild: Making a Beat in Ableton Live With Found Sounds

    + Master the tools and techniques of producing pro-level electronic music and audio in Ableton Live with Soundfly’s course, Intro to Music Production in Ableton Live. By Niall McCallum There’s never been a better time to get into beat making. Editing software and audio processing tools are better, cheaper, and more readily available than ever before. Not…

    Read more

  • When You’re a Piano in a Forte World

    When You’re a Piano in a Forte World

    By Liam Singer Live rock music and noisy bars go together like beer and… more beer! The sounds of a drum kit, electric guitar, and amplified vocals are all designed to cut through the noise of clinking glasses and drunken conversations. These are not “dinner party” instruments. Audiences in these spaces don’t always like hearing…

    Read more

  • High Notes Shouldn’t Hurt: Sing Powerfully Without Damaging Your Instrument

    High Notes Shouldn’t Hurt: Sing Powerfully Without Damaging Your Instrument

    + Improve your songwriting with Soundfly! Explore our range of courses on emotional chord progressions, basic songwriting technique, songwriting for producers, and many more. Subscribe for unlimited access here. By Hannah Sumner I had finally reached a point in my career where I was recording at least five sessions a week, teaching regularly, and performing several times a week. For…

    Read more

  • How to Use Twitter Lists to Supercharge Your Music Networking

    How to Use Twitter Lists to Supercharge Your Music Networking

    + Pursue your next music marketing goal with a Soundfly Mentor like Marta! Soundfly offers four-week mentorship sessions with a pro, customized to you. Get in touch to learn more. By Andrew Apanov Twitter is all about the details. Very simple by its nature, this micro-blogging platform can also become extremely noisy and confusing if you aren’t using…

    Read more

Ryan Lott: Designing Sample-Based Instruments