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 …
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If you follow me on twitter, you know that I recently purchased a Fostex MR16HD multitrack recorder. I was inspired by the “Big Red Button” post by Hercules Castro, so I finally bit the bullet and ordered one. Anyway, UPS delivered it the other day and thought I would share my first impressions during the unboxing. 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 …
I’ve witnessed and participated in many “Tab Vs. Standard Notation” debates. I’ve heard the “purists” call tab a “crutch” where you will never learn the piece completely without standard notation. While the the other side will argue that tab opens a door to a ton of music to those who did not get formal training. The arguments go on and on and there will never be a right or wrong answer. All I can give you is my testimonial of sorts. I’ve been working on a piece that I’ve toyed around with for years but was never really comfortable with it. I learned the it using tab and a recording that came with the songbook. At first glance, the piece appears to be easy learn but it has to be played at a fairly high tempo (200bpm) so frustration began to kick in. No matter how much I practiced it never sounded or felt right. So what did I do? I decided to look at the standard notation part of the transcription and noticed something that the tab doesn’t show. I was not separating the melody with the bass line completely. In short, my index and middle were playing notes …
Today, in our household, is pumpkin day because it just isn’t Halloween unless you carve up a few pumpkins. There are so many stencils out there, you can create almost any kind of likeness you want on your pumpkin. Maybe not…. This year I wanted to do a guitar themed carving but for the life of me, I couldn’t find any stencils at all, except one. It’s a Les Paul type of stencil and not as hard to do as I thought. Now that I have carved my first guitar, I think I might be able to work out an acoustic version next time. If anyone has found any good guitar stencils for pumpkin carving, please leave a comment and share where we can get them. Happy Halloween! Links: 9.29.2025 – Here are some more pumpkin guitar templates that I have found: YouTube Channel: If you’d like to support me and guitarmusings, please check out my YouTube Channel. There you will find original performances and fingerstyle takes on popular songs. Thanks!! https://www.youtube.com/@realmac5150 10.18.2011 – Update: the old stencils I used for this post is no longer valid. Below is a link to a stencil for not only the guitar but …
I would like to introduce Hercules Castro as a new guest writer for Guitar Musings. Hercules and I grew up and learned the guitar together. I know you will enjoy his insights on the guitar and making music. 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, …
