Thursday Links and "It's Odds and Ends" And Something Completely Different!
Same ol' Plea For A Little Help In The Odds And Ends Section
Bunches of links today, along with a must-read Substack post by another author, and a (reader suggested) obscure/underrated performer.
(Ed. Also for new subscribers: Mika The Cat welcomes and thanks you all in tomorrow’s post!)
Disclaimer: This Substack is free, always will be, and I receive no compensation or other benefit (except the unsolicited, occasional, and much appreciated shoutout from readers and other Substackers!) from any of the people or companies I link to or write about. Note some images and other material may be copyrighted by the original author or composer and appear here under the “Fair Use” doctrine. Link: Fair Use. Note: I do not use any form of “Artificial Intelligence” in writing Michael Acoustic. It is possible that some external sources that I link to or quote, do use or contain AI generated material.
Michael Acoustic
(Ed. - I don’t use any form of “Artificial Intelligence” in writing this, though I suppose some may question if there is any Natural Intelligence either…..)
Today’s John Prine quote:
“Writing is about a blank piece of paper and leaving out what’s not supposed to be there.”
Some Links for today:
From Acoustic Guitar Magazine:
One of the greats, and a personal icon for me regarding acoustic guitar and blues roots:
From Songtown:
“Sync Licensing” is a “license” to use your music that is different from live performances or recorded streaming services. It applies to the use of music in television, video, and film productions:
A couple from Mr. Griff Hamlin at Blues Guitar Unleashed:
OK, this is a bit down in the weeds especially for acoustic players, but if you’re not familiar with the pentatonic scale “boxes”, Major and minor, it’s a hint at what can be unlocked by learning and playing them, especially if you want to break out of strictly playing harmonic chords with some extensions for color and actually soloing on your guitar. Not for everyone, and this is fairly advanced (and clearly aimed at electric guitar players, but everything here translates to the acoustic well). A good topic to discuss with your local guitar instructor if this is unfamiliar.
First a definition that will be helpful (Ed. “double stops” don’t mean you actually stop twice….):
“What is a guitar double stop?
A guitar double stop, also known as a dyad, is when two notes are played at the same time. It’s similar to a chord, but contains only two notes instead of three.
…
You frequently see double stops used in rhythm playing to add texture to chord progressions or as transitions between chords. But they’re also used in lead playing and guitar solos as well.” Credit: appliedguitartheory.com What Is A Double Stop?
Chuck Berry Style and "Double Stops"
Next, definitely for acoustic players, a less advanced instructional video about a couple of chords you can include for their familiar 12 bar blues sound:
From Carvin Audio:
Maximizing studio time (Ed. hint: be cool, come prepared, have your shit together so you can answer the engineer’s questions, follow instructions, don’t annoy the audio engineer, don’t argue about money…just sayin’)
From Disc Makers:
What is the difference between an “EP” and an “Album”?
Ed. This is a great “how-to”:
Some memes and stuff:
You can open each image in the gallery separately in a new window by shift-clicking on it, though it may work differently on different devices - they may appear as a gallery or top to bottom.
(Ed. That “Pan Left, Pan Right” pic is apparently a top down view of a Star Trek Captain listening to music. Yeah, you know which one…)
Shameless Self Promotion Section:
My song “Long Road Back” (click on link for streaming options) is out!
Looking Ahead: We’re done with the writing, recording posts about the song, and back to more of the usual stuff on here, but tomorrow’s post will have an interesting look at a service that I utilized and how it may be useful to you as well.
It’s Odds And Ends (with a bit of a plea)!
Today’s entry is a reader suggestion, please help me out with other suggestions, otherwise this section ends up being my own rando choices!
(Ed. I keep a list of performers, bands artists, singer/songwriters (especially!) who are maybe a little out of the mainstream, underrated, obscure, maybe didn’t get a break they needed. I usually stay a bit ahead of the list, often finding some interesting bands/artists on other social media. At the moment I’m really busy recording and otherwise preparing for the release of my second single and I’ll admit to not being able to listen/read as widely as I normally do lately. There are several “underrated” playlists on Spotify that I could draw from, but I’d much rather hear my readers’ suggestions for underrated or obscure artists who deserve attention. Please don’t be shy about leaving a note in the comments, or on Substack Notes!! Thanks!)
Today’s underrated or obscure artist:
Emma Peters
“Emma Peters, born November 25, 1996 in Lille in the Hauts de France, is a French singer-songwriter and musician.
Emma Peters made a name for herself with covers that she posted on Youtube, from her bedroom, mainly hip-hop titles that she revisited in guitar-voice (Lomepal, Luidji, etc.). Her covers have accumulated millions of streams, among the best known: Gisèle, Clandestina, Femme Like U, Magnolias for Ever…
Emma Peters writes and composes; her first album entitled Dimanche was released on March 25, 2022. It consists of 14 tracks.” Credit: Last FM Link: Emma Peters
Thanks, Adam!!
Cheers, and keep playing!
Michael Acoustic
“It’s never really final - you just run out of things you can bear to change…”