I’m a musician, writer, and comic artist. Welcome to my website.
The topic of guitar effects is a huge one. There are many types of guitar effects available for guitar players, and players always seem to be searching for a better model. In this two-part blog I will give an overview of what effects are and then explain what each type of effect does and how they are typically used. I will also include some audio samples.
It is amazing how many guitar players show up for lessons, practice, or even gigs without basic items needed to be ready to play. I am going to list the six items I find most useful in any setting. You should keep these in your guitar case. This list isn't intended to be comprehensive. Some players will have other essential items such as a capo or slide, but these are fairly universal items.
I have owned a few wah-wah pedals over the years. My first was a Morley Wah/Volume. It was huge monster that actually had a built-in power supply with a heavy duty power chord coming out of the unit. It also had a “feature” (at least that’s what Morley called it) that allowed it to be used with keyboards. So when you rocked it back all the way, it was out of the tonal range of the guitar and the volume dropped off. Some feature! Next up was a DOD FX-17 wah/volume pedal. It served me well for a number of years until the switch that turned the wah on and off went bad. Every time I rocked the pedal it would switch from wah to volume. It was time for a new pedal. I did a lot of research and decided on the Dunlop Crybaby 95Q.
The Wah-Wah pedal has been around for about fifty years and it continues to be a popular effect for many guitarists. Essentially a frequency resonance filter that sweeps from bass to treble and back creating a vocal-like “wah” sound, this simple device can be heard on thousands of hit records.
I did a job search on LinkedIn for Space Cowboy. Not many openings. But now Steve Miller wants to connect with me.
You finally got that electric guitar you’ve been wanting for so long. It looks great and plays like a dream. But how does it sound? Much of a guitar’s tone comes from its construction and hardware, but it eventually has to go through an amplifier if you want to be heard. Choosing an amp is tough, there are lots of choices. A good amp can make an average guitar sound better, but a bad amp can make even a great guitar sound lousy. Let’s take a look at the different types of amplifiers available and then I’ll give you some tips on shopping for an amp.
For me nothing beats using a real amp when playing live. But for recording, software amp simulators are great. You can’t beat the convenience and affordability of having numerous amps available in software. I have been using software amp simulators for many years for recording. I have IK Multimedia’s AmpliTube 3, AmpliTube Jimi Hendrix, AmpliTube Fender, and AmpliTube Orange. I also have Native Instruments Guitar Rig, Garage Band, MOTU Digital Performer. So when I got an iPad Mini I was eager to test out AmpliTube for iPad.
Ask guitar players my age (even younger ones) who their guitar heroes are and you will likely hear the same five names in many replies: Jimi Hendrix, Jimmy Page, Eric Clapton, Jeff Beck, and Eddie Van Halen. Which is understandable since they each are amazing, creative players who heavily influenced the way everyone who came after them plays guitar.
I certainly am a fan of them also, but I learned to appreciate them more as I entered my twenties. They didn’t resonate with me as a teen in the 1970s like other players did. I seemed to have had a more unusual set of guitar heroes. Stylistically, none of then are very similar. Some of them you probably wouldn’t have thought of and some you may not even know of.
Mobile devices have become part of everyday life for most people, just as computers did for previous generations. And since smart phones and tablets are really just small computers it is only natural that musicians, who have long utilized computers for making music, would also want to use mobile devices for the same purpose.
I have just posted my latest Jam Tracks on the Media Page And YouTube. Jam Tracks are backing tracks that you can use to practice soloing over. This one is in the style of hard rock that you would have heard in the early 1970s. Here is a video version of the track.
I have finished recording and begun mixing the third song for my album My Kind Of Jazz. The song is titled Nice Evening. I originally titled the song December because I wrote it one December. But the name didn’t really fit the song so I renamed it. It seems to me more like a “relaxing” song that you might play at the end of a nice evening than a song about a cold winter month.
Drive pedals are generally divided into three basic categories: fuzz, overdrive, and distortion. Each category has numerous flavors, and their uses are many, which is why many players have more than one on their pedalboard. Empress has taken the three most popular drive categories and combined them all in one compact pedal with the three effects wired parallel.
I have just returned to my long neglected attempts at arranging jazz chord melodies for guitar. This time I chose the standard “A Day In The Life Of A Fool.” I wasn’t sure I would be able to come up with anything interesting for this song but it seems to be going pretty well. Amazing guitarists like George Benson, Johnny Smith, and Ted Greene could crank these things out in a heartbeat and throw in mind-blowing technique and runs, but for me they are a lot of work. I love doing them, but it doesn’t come easy. Which is why I tend to keep my arrangements fairly simple.
Many guitar players have been baffled by James Taylor's unique fingerstyle playing. Now you can watch James Taylor himself explain and then demonstrate some of his most popular songs. Videos show both his fingering hand and his plucking hand (from inside the sound hole, no less!) at normal and slow speeds. You'll never find more accurate videos than these. And they are free.
I heard you were looking for wedding songs. And knowing how women usually ask guys to do hard stuff like think, or make suggestions, I thought I would help a brother out. So I submit two often requested wedding songs that you simply can’t go wrong suggesting:
As its name implies, the Martin Backpacker guitar was designed as a travel guitar small enough to take with you on a backpacking trip or to fit in an airline overhead compartment. It succeeds at both these tasks, being both small and lightweight.
I have posted the first two songs from my upcoming album My Kind Of Jazz. They are titled Arrival and Boom Bip Bip. You can find them on the Media page.
Welcome to Mark Starlin Creative Depot. It is official launch day. I am excited to be starting a brand new online adventure. I previously created and published the Better Guitar website, which had a long 15 year life span on the web.
For several years I played guitar in a band called Upstairs Jazz. It was occasional. We did cafe gigs, weddings, Christmas programs, and anniversary parties. It was great fun. The best part was I got to write original jazz music and then hear it played by great musicians.
Can rockers age gracefully? Bluesmen do it. Why not rockers? To help rockers age with style I have compiled some helpful tips and advice to ease the inevitable.
