No, this article has got no guitars, nor does it have amplifiers, or pedalss. hell most of the things i mention here you wont know exist in a musical form cause everyone keeps going "JOO BAI GUITAR THIS N JOO AMP TAT". this thread is for the humble musician, for someone that is most interested in getting the most of their buck. they can be anything, but very commonly overlooked.

1. Your Phone.

If you have a smart phone, great, most people do, but do you see your smart phone as a part of your musical journey? no, most people dont. the advancements of technology practically made a few musically important things cheap and more importantly travel easy. for this case, the creation of apps and specifically free "metronome", "tuner", "chord/scale" apps.

what this means generally you can practice and tune ANYWHERE! traditionally you had to buy a separate RM50ish clip thingy that sits on top of your guitar, now its all in your phone and its FREE.

But what about practices? having a metronome in your phone means you can have timing exercises while doing stupid things like waiting for the LRT, your GF, the que in a government office. imagine a 15 mins trip to work and you just let that thing buzz in your pocket while you count the timing in your head! No one is going to judge you anymore!

note: this doesnt mean you have an excuse to buy a smart phone, if you dont have one, the RM50 clip is a better alternative.

2. Audicity

Recording is a mirror, to some its a horror show to others its a musical reflection. its by our construct that we think we play the best, but if you try recording you'll quickly realize why your neighbour hates your music soo much. in the land of great and expensive music software, audicity comes to a budget musician like a miracle from heavens.

Audicity is a free recording software. need i explain more?

3. Math (square) Exercise book

We all grew up doing math on it, and for most part probably never thought of it as a musical item before. sure it makes sounds when you hit your then crush with it, but a musical accessory?

let me convince you

try drawing a diagram of all the notes on the fretboard, on a blank piece of paper.
try doing the same on a line book.

now do that on a square exercise book.

the humble exercise book is probably the cheapest and most economical thing to write on if you want to learn theory or timing. want to see chord relations to the fretboard? draw it up, fill it in. its simple and effective.

Radio

everyone thinks radio, is radio, its a listeninig thing. if i told you it can be used to practice your timing, and maybe one of the most effective ways out there .

what you want to practice with a radio? knowing how to follow the beat and spotting the first beat or the "one" with the rest. so when you on the radio try and see if you can follow the beat. why is it soo amazing? you dont know which song comes next!! lol its totally random!

here are some difficulty levels

Easy : hits fm , coz most songs have an obvious digital bass line
Medium: Bfm, most songs are rock, you probably heard of some of them
Hard: My FM, yes its a chinese station and i dont understand what they sing. but chinese melodrama songs mostly have one thing in common =single instrument piece on piano.

why is it hard? you dont have the drum to keep time for you, you have a melody of which changes very often (chinese music loves their arpeggios) and chinese music doesnt like powerchords or strum based chords.

Rapid KL/credit card sized card

probably also one of the things you wont see as a musically linked item, it has a specific use, guitar checkup.

oen day you are playing your axe, and you bend a string, it buzzes, you bend another its ok. you notice that it buzzes at a specific end of the fretboard. -in comes the card.

what it does is generally check for uneven frets by evenly placing the card on 3 frets and tilting it front or back, a guitar with even frets should not be able to move. this generally tells you waht you need to do, and prevents you with increasing your action for no reason.





I'll leaave you with these for now, enjoy

Niceee especially the credit card part. Appreciate your vast contributions to the forum and new joiners in guitars etc.

I think I've heard about the radio part before

for number one.. is itr that effective? you just count the beat right? do you play air guitar shredding ur favourite solo while counting? ;lol

peng leng zheng

yes, it does few things for you

-it increases you timing sense
-familiarize yourself with different tempos

there are huge huge tombs of metronome exercises that go on counting the beat alone. trust me, it sounds easy but it can get very very complicated as you progress further.

then again think about this for a moment, you are in an lrt, you can either play "plants vs zombies' or practice your timing. even if the improvement is 5% if you do it everyday on commute to work, the effects are often substantial

Yes it's true. But I started with drum parts of a song - so instead of air guitaring I play 'em double pedals ! Or just dancing them fingers

Thanks TS for the useful info. Will try the card trick soon. haha

my only 'underrated' item is guitar pro

Absolutely true for me on No.1. Always use my phone to record some quick melody that comes up.

Great topic TS!

+1 for the smartphone..use recording apps to record and listen to your playing..(and instantaneously amberessed or impressed..lol) and currently i use my phone to compare any sonic differences while modding pedals..a very useful tool(s)

This post has been edited by 80kipan: Apr 26 2013, 05:27 AM

yo ts, for #2, isn't the 'Audacity' the correct spelling?

#1 is quite common these days, and i'm a proud metronome/tuner user in my smartphone. they're really useful and very handy.

for #2, i initially used audacity in my first set of recordings in my solo trip. it's very easy to use, and gives results that are good enough for showing. and most importantly - it's free! i think most of the recording musicians i know started from audacity.

i want to add one thing to the list:

a set of good quality rubber bands + pencil/pen - substitute for a capo