D’Addarrio Cradle Capo

The D’Addario version of a cradle type capo, much like the Elliot’s, except a price that I could stomach($50/60). It was delivered and I used it on my next gig. Worked well and I feel that the intonation was better than my Kyser. But the tradeoff is that the cradle capo takes more time to get on the guitar and adjusted.

There was a problem….

After about a month of use, I started to see that the screw I used to tighten the cradle wasn’t rotating well. I could still use it but it didn’t feel right. After a few weeks, the screw was pretty much stuck in place. I figure that the threads were crossed and eventually seized after a while. I had a capo that was useless to me.

D’Addarrio Stands by Their Product

I got on D’Addarrio’s web sight and contacted support explaining my issue. Within a few days, they had a replacement sent to me and all I had to do was send the broken one back to them. I was pleasantly surprised because I haven’t had the best of luck with companies and their warranties. Their support person recommended that I register my D’Addarrio gear through the players circle. Reason being, is that it’s easier to get warranty claims resolved.

The new capo has been working great for me so far. I swear that it felt like there was a bit of resistance when tightening the cradle. I was afraid that I was going to go through the freeze up all over again. So I took a drop of WD-40 and put it on the threads and me concerns dissolved instantly.

Final Thoughts on the D’Addarrio Cradle Capo

This is a solid capo that works great and the price is easier to handle than some of the more expensive “boutique” capos. D’Addarrio’s standing by their product and getting me a replacement so fast gives the guitar player some added assurance that they won’t be stuck with broken piece of sh#@.

What capo is your goto?!

March, 2025 I posted my first YouTube short demonstrating my new Furch Little Jane guitar. I was testing the waters to see how to do this. I’ve made a few videos here and there but never really went all in. I posted a short here and there after the March post and started getting the hang of it. Late summer, I was on a mission and I posted one short every day for about 4 months. Sometimes it would be two or three videos. I was absolutely obsessed with getting content made. Funny thing was that it has never felt like work. I’ve enjoyed it immensely and still do.

Here are some of the insights that I have gained from developing my YouTube channel.

Playing Covers is Still King

The same rules apply to YouTube as they do when playing live. If you want people to listen to your original music, you need to get their attention with a solid cover song. My best performing videos are covers and the compromise is that I make it my own. How? Many of my covers are of 80’s/90’s rock/metal songs but I do them on the acoustic. One example is my arrangement of Stone Temple Pilots’ “Plush”.

Keep the shorts short

A mistake that I have made is thinking that the listener will want to watch 40 or 50 seconds of me playing the guitar. It might be good but the attention span of a YouTube swiper is not that long. I’ll be honest, if I see Paul Gilbert shredding up a storm, I’m good for maybe 50 seconds and then I move on. I limit myself to under 20 seconds and it’s even better if its between 12 and 15 seconds. A good example is a video amply named, “Quickest Quick Lick on My Larrivee” It was 8 seconds long, got 1.3K views and some subs.

• If a video is performing well from the start, you can always edit it to be a bit shorter within YouTube Studio. I have done this many times and saved my shorts from having fast death. Instead some ended up with 2k views!

EQ your videos

You might be a great musician but if you don’t clean up the audio, it won’t matter. I’ve went back and listened to some of my early videos and cringe. Sounds muddy and the mids are hiding and can’t be heard. I use VideoMaster for my EQ work. I like it because it lets me import the whole video instead of extracting the audio, EQ, and the sinc it back up with the video. It’s solid and its quick. Make sure to see how it sounds on different speakers. I made the mistake of only doing it on my iphone and my guitar sounded like it was stuck in mud. So just like mastering a CD, you need different speakers to reference.

Use Related Videos and Info Cards to Promote Your Long Form Videos

Shorts will get you subs but they will not get you to monetization unless you are able to go viral many times over. By viral, I mean millions of views. You need 3 million shorts views to qualify for the first tier and 10 million for the second. For a guitar channel, it’s just not realistic. Creating long form is a better investment because those videos will get watched more over time. This will get you to the 3k and 4k hours of viewing for you to monetize. You will get your thousand subs way before you get your views is what I’m seeing.

Good content is still the key

In the end you have to put out quality content. If people like what you are putting out, they will come. For me, I make sure my playing is top notch and I won’t settle for something that is half ass. I wasn’t so picky at first but I’ve learned to hone and polish my content. Almost 300 videos posted and I still have a lot to learn but it’s a lot of fun and can’t wait to post another tomorrow.

500 subs is not too shabby and I’m just getting started. On to the next 500 and start getting more views on the long form.

If you get the chance, please visit my YouTube Channel and subscribe. Every little bit helps!

Starting to get comfortable with Furch Little Jane 11-SR travel guitar. The form factor of the Little is tough for me to adjust to because it is so small compared to my OM. I started using the guitar strap but as said in many posts, I like convenience and getting my guitar strap on was tedious. The leather was stiff, not broken in and very frustrating to get it attached to the strap buttons.

Loving the results

As you can see from the pictures, it was a pretty simple and easy installation. The small body made it hard for me to find a comfortable position to play. This setup now sets me up with a consistent playing position for my guitar. Below are links to the gear I used to for my straplock system and a demonstration or how it looks and sounds.

_{Disclosure: The links below are affiliate links to amazon. I may receive a commission for qualified purchases}

• https://amzn.to/43XSxZP – Schaller 14010401 Security Straplocks. I had to widen the hole on the neck peg to accommodate the larger screw size but other that that, it was a pretty simple setup.
• https://amzn.to/423cYlM – MusicNomad Acousti-Lok Strap Lock Adapter. They have many types but for the Furch Little Jane, you’ll need

Find a place in your home with decent acoustics.  The most popular places are bathrooms but my favorite is a small hallway between my kitchen and dining room.  Once you find a good spot, just play.  It would be a good idea to have your guitar strapped on so you can walk around to find the “sweet spot.”   You will know when you hit that spot because the sound of the guitar suddenly surrounds you.  There, you have a place to provide real time feedback on your playing.  A wonderful practice tool, as well as an experience.  Try this from time to time, not only to critique your playing but to enjoy it as well. 

What I suggest isn’t anything new but can be forgotten, especially when we can plug in to an amp at almost anytime.  Give being truly unplugged a shot and here your instrument’s true sound.

Nail Polish and Strengthener for Guitarists

In a past post about guitarist nail care, I threatened that I might try Nail Envy to strengthen my nails, avoid chips and breakages.  I finally followed through with my Twitter threats and bought both Nail Envy original and matte.

How does it perform?

After the first application, I immediately noticed the difference in strength of my nails.  It not only protects my nails from cracking and breaking, I have noticed the tone in my playing has improved with a fuller sound similar to using an extra thick guitar pick.  I’m able to attack the strings with authority and without worry.  Nail Envy leaves a shiny finish, once applied so if that is something that concerns you, buy the matte.  That’s what I did because I got tired of all the “girly” nail jokes and seriously, my nails were reflecting light like mirror. The matte finish is just as effective as the original, in strength, but applying it requires more patience.  It takes a bit longer to dry and until then it has a rubbery like consistency for about an hour or so and was easy to scuff or damage during that time.   After it completely dries, no problems at all.

Are you a picker or a strummer?

I have used Nail Envy through tours and countless gigs and have come to these two reveleations:

• If you primarily fingerpick, then Nail Envy will stay on your nails for quite some time and is very durable with minimal need to reapply frequently.
• If you strum with your nails. By that I mean flamenco like where you use the the top of your nails, Nail Envy will only last through one gig and you’ll need to reapply; especially on the thumb

I’m both so I go through a lot of the stuff.

What’s the final word on Nail Envy?

Definitely give Nail Envy some consideration if you need to strengthen your nails.  Keep in mind the kind of player you are to assess the amount you will need. This product doesn’t replace the need for shaping, trimming, cuticles, keeping hydrated, etc. but is a wonderful addition to the tool kit.

Update:  After a few weeks of using this product I thought I would give a follow up.  There will be a build up on your nails and you will have to occasionally use fingernail polish remover to clean your nails and re-apply. Also, the matte finish tends to yellow over time so if keep that in mind as well.

Links:

Nail Envy Original Finish  *note.  I cannot find the original finish anymore.  Anyone have any luck finding this?
Nail Envy

First Impression?

While removing it from the box, I was surprised how compact it all was, about 15’’.   I don’t know what I was expecting but I still envision those huge consoles in the studios that you see in the magazines and TV.  I ended getting the black unit which, aesthetically, is more pleasing to my eyes.

Knobs and Buttons

The overall unit is pretty impressive with man buttons and knobs but not too much to make it intimidating.  Keeping consistent to the Fostex claim of keeping it simple to let you get inspiration down.  The sliders for the main volume and each track feels a bit cheap to me.  I’m not saying that they are cheap, it’s just that I’m more used to the “weighted” feel of other consoles that I’ve worked on.  The screen seems a bit small to me but is probably enough to do the job. I’m just the type of person that prefers more real estate.

Powered on

Powered it on and heard the 40 gig hard drive spin up.  At first I was afraid that the noise of the hard drive would interfere with the quality of the recording.  After the unit completing booted up, I could barely hear the hard drive, thus taking my worries about noise away.  The unit comes with a sample song called “ Fostex Fever.”  It’s your basic 80’s style keyboard, multi-vocal groove song to show you what the unit can do.  Pretty cheesy song but it gave me the capability to mess around with the levels, EQ and effects for each track;  a good tutorial to get me started.

Now it’s time for me to record something. More thoughts on the functionality of the unit in future posts so stay tuned.

Links:

Official MR-16D information from Fostex

Meet My Friend

I’d like to talk about my good friend, the big red button. By this, I mean the Record button. Now, I’m not talking about recording in the sense of producing CDs, videos or demos. That comes later. For now, I’m talking more along the lines of creating a progress report.

In the Beginning

When I was a young lad, one of my favorite things to do was plug my amp into a dual cassette recorder with a mic input, play anything, record it, then take the tape to school to generally irritate all of my friends. Later, I figured out if I took the tape and put it in the other deck, recorded its contents onto another blank tape with a drum machine plugged in and going, I could multi-track. After I repeated the process with multiple guitar tracks and a borrowed bass, the line noise had built up so much that you could barely hear the instruments. Plus, it was a one shot deal per recording so I learned to either live with the occasional mistake, or just don’t make mistakes. But I had a recording that not only captured a song idea for later use, but also a small snapshot in the development of my technique.

Monitor Your Progress

Now I’ll shift gears for a second. One thing that I find as I practice is that day to day, I never get better. It’s like a body builder who lifts, looks in the mirror, and sees no change. This can be very discouraging. But one thing that body builders are encouraged to do is have pictures taken of themselves periodically during their development. Over time, the changes are more noticeable. The same is true with playing and developing technique. This is why I highly recommend getting a big red button.

Resources are Everywhere

These days, with a computer in every home and a plethora of affordable recording hardware and software, there is no excuse not to push the big red button every now and then. That is, except for one; nerves. Very few things, save for live performance, can bring sweat to palms like knowing that the button has been pushed and it’s time to do your thing. Just remember this; it’s just you and the button. The button doesn’t judge, it just captures. You be the judge. But you have to put something down to judge.

Mistakes are OK

Also with most systems, along with a big red button comes a big Delete button. There’s no shame in using the big Delete button. You want to capture your best effort at that time, so don’t be afraid to try again and again and again until it’s as good as you can get it. If you can’t get it as good as you want it, step away from the button, work it out, come back, and push the button again.

It Gets Easier

The two things that I’m thankful for after years of using the big red button are, one, that I have something to listen to and say “Wow, I actually have progressed since then!”, or “That’s an area I’m still not happy with, I should focus on that”. The other is that I’ve become proficient and confident enough with the recording process that I can create real projects, make my own CDs inexpensively and on my terms, and help others with their projects.

So like The Chemical Brothers say “Don’t hold back, the time has come to galvanize, push the button”.

Links:

www.herculescastro.com  (Home page of our guest writer)

List of Cockburn Tabs: (updated Sept 2025)

Sunwheel Dance:  I’m not a fan of ASCII tab but it’s fairly accurate/close to the version I have in my “All the Diamonds” songbook.  This version has you tune to open E(EBEG#BE) but I believe it’s tuned to open D (DADF#AD).  Both with the capo on the second fret.  The song is surprisingly easy to learn but incredibly hard to master, especially at the correct tempo.

• Pacing the Cage:  I couldn’t not find a free tab that was worth mentioning but I did find two versions that you can pay for.  Both are very accurate and are in a tab/standard notation form.
  Version 1: $5.50 to download from musicnotes.com
  Version 2: $3.95 to download from freehandmusic.com
• Foxglove:  Tuned to open C, this is transcribed to power tab and is almost identical to my “All the Diamonds” songbook.
• Wondering Where The Lions Are:  ASCII tab again but gives you the main motive pretty accurately which is pretty much 90% of the song.
• Dear Dancing Round a Broken Mirror and Water Into Wine:  Very good transcriptions, one in Powertab.  You will have to subscribe to the Bruce Cockburn musicians group in Yahoo groups and the tab can be found in the files sections.  Many other good tabs and ideas that will set you in the right direction in learning other Bruce’s songs.
• Also found the All the Diamonds Songbook on Amazon.  Expensive but if you really really want it, it’s there. However, I would recommend the following site: Granata Music. Better priced and a small biz you can support. I ordered a replacement one for me and it came pretty quickly.
• Since the writing of this post, I have found that Songsterr has some great transcriptions of Bruce’s work. Really nice that it syncs to the original recording (with paid sub). I highly recommend either version, it has helped me a great deal.

Playlist of Cockburn covers on my YouTube Channel.

New Features Include:

• More time signatures for the metronome, including subdivision.
• Support for left handed players
• Support for 12 string guitar
• Support for Scales and there are a ton of them (Currently my favorite)
• Fretboard can be resized using the pinch feature
• The chords are now strummed (great for ear training)
• Improved slider bar for the metronome
• Much More!

Like I said before, I love it when developers listen to their customers and Guitar Tools for iPhone is now a must have for any guitar playing iPhone or iTouch owner.

I look forward to the next updates. 

Links:

http://guitartoolkit.com/

I will turn to the charts from time to time,  especially when I’m spinning my wheels and I find it useful.  I hope it helps you as well.

Links:

Guitar Suite Chord Progression Primer

Chord Progression Books

I would like to remind everyone of a resource that is free, full of information and is usually within minutes of your home.  I’m talking about your local public library, a wonderful resource that many in the Internet age forget.  I had the day off and found my way to our local branch that is only a few blocks away, with the goal of finding some books to help me with my playing and broaden my musical knowledge.  When I arrived at my branch, I was pleasantly surprised by how many were waiting to get in.  A scene that contradicts my earlier, “Internet age has forgotten libraries” statement.  Lots of moms and their kids and people like me looking for little inspiration.  

Our local branch is a bit small so the music section didn’t have too much but I did find a few books that peaked my interests.

• “Bernstein, A Biography” –  One of my favorite composers and not because of West Side Story, which is great, but because of his Mass.  I was privileged enough to be part of a performance of The Mass when I was in College and it was an incredible experience.
• “Written in my Soul” –  I’m always looking for insight in songwriting and this book contains stories from some of the great songwriters like Paul Simon, Sting, Elvis Costello, Bob Dylan and Joni Mitchell, to name a few
• “John Renbourn, Fingerstyle Guitar”  –  I was going to buy this book and still might, but I get to try it out for free first.

So if you got a couple hours spare time, give your local branch a try.  You might find something there that you might have never thought about otherwise.

I recently updated my iPhone to the new version 2.0 software and with that we got the new “App Store.”   Pandora has written a sweet app that will let you listen to you’re selections on your phone.  I know, I know!  I have an iPhone with a ton of music on it, why would I need to stream music now?  I like it because I hear new music that would otherwise be unknown.  Pandora gets me to listen outside the box.  Anyway, if you have the new 3G iPhone or upgraded the older one, give it a shot.  You would be disappointed.

Note:  I did this on the original iPhone so I didn’t need the high speeds of the 3G network to stream the music effectively.

Links: www.pandora.com

A couple of nights ago, I came across a site called GuitarCardio.com and I’m loving it.  It’s a scale exercise program where you choose a key (or all keys), select a difficulty level and a starting place for the scale.  A series of scales will then be given for you to work on.  It’s like a workout plan for you fingers, hence the name “cardio”  I’m thinking.  The dynamic nature of this system sings to me because I’m not getting bored with the same scales over and over again.

This program is still in it’s infancy so there are some drawbacks like the scales don’t cover the entire fingerboard, lack of customizability and no metronome, to name a few.  Brad Heintz, the creator of GuitarCardio.com addresses bugs and feature requests in his blog and  has great plans to extend the features and functionality of this program.  So maybe we’ll see scales over chord changes and modes in upcoming versions.

Check out the site and give it a whirl and let Brad know what you like and would like to see at GuitarCardio.   Brad is open to suggestions and critiques which should make this program the best it can be.

Keep Practicing!

The little light came on above my head and I had an idea when watching Muriel Anderson on YouTube.  I noticed that she was using the classical position using a foot rest or crossing her legs.  Trying to emulate Tommy Emmanuel’s style of both feet on the ground stomping away,  I strayed away from using the classical position.  My foot stool collected dust while my aches and pains began to grow.  The guitar wasn’t supported well enough and I had a tendency to slip on my lap.  I would then contort my body to keep it steady which put a lot of pressure on my arms and back.  After a few songs, I noticed that I began to ache and needed a break.  The frustration as began to grow as well.

After my moment of enlightenment I dusted off the old foot stool and began to play the classical way.  I immediately noticed the difference and was able to play a lot longer and was able to relax.  I have to keep in mind that I always play a bit better when I make a change so we’ll see how this holds up in a week or two.  I’m pretty hopeful that my aches and pains will subside.  Will keep you posted.

First Thoughts:

After I started reading this book, I began to think that I might have went a bit over my head.  With some chapters like “Disassembly and Reassembly of Guitar bodies,” “Pearl Inlay Technique” and “Finishing and Refinishing”, I was wondering whether I would be able to use any of this information.  This book was definitely meant for someone with some experience in woodworking.

What I Found Useful:

After getting over the initial intimidation, I did find some chapters that I could use for myself.  I was able to utilize “String Action and Tension Rod Adjustment” and “Intonation and Bridging” to tune up and lower the action on my Seagul S6.

Final Thoughts:

This book is obviously meant for a more experienced repairperson with more than a basic knowledge of guitar repair.  If you are curious about some of the techniques and tools used for some of the more extensive repairs, you might find this a good reference.  It has certainly increased my knowledge/appreciation of my instrument and the Luthiers who repair them.

Links:

http://www.repairmyguitar.com/