The Business of DJing

To become a professional club DJ, you need to know the in's and out's of the club industry. And now-a-days it's becoming more competitive.

Everyone wants to be a DJ. The club industry is a huge arena with its set of rules and guidelines that must be followed and if you understand them you just might be able to rise up to stardom.

There's a lot to learn, believe me. It's not enough to just know how to beat-match and transition your tracks, you need to know the business aspect of this industry. Once you know the business side of the club industry, then you can position yourself properly in the DJ market.

Keep in mind that it takes time to build your reputation and you have to be consistent with your efforts. This isn't an area for the lazy. You have to become proactive.

There are many techniques that you can apply to help boost yourself up in name recognition, but you have to understand that you're not going to become an overnight success.

If you're really serious about getting more involved in the industry as a club DJ, here are some factors that you should start looking into to learn more about the business side of the club industry to help you in your endeavor.

You need to know:

1. Business management

2. Marketing and self-promotion

3. Networking

4. How the clubs industry works

5. How to get booked as a club DJ

One of the most important activities that you should be involved in on a day-to-day basis is; marketing online and self-promotion. This is key to building public awareness and stimulating demand.

There are many techniques that you can apply in this endeavor to get your name out in the music scene and knowing what they are is crucial to your success as a DJ.

When it comes to landing DJ gigs you need to know what promoters and club managers are looking for in DJ's to spin at their clubs. Knowing these key secrets will catapult you into the club arena.

Remember, DJing is a musical skill. To become successful at DJing you have to know everything about music.

If you have been producing music, then this is to your advantage, but for those of you who are starting out, I would suggest that you start studying everything about music composition, theory, and history.

Learning the business of DJing is a skill in itself.

Want to learn more insider tips to help you improve your DJ skills? DJWorkshop101 is an e-zine with insider tips to help the fellow DJ succeed as a DJ.

How to Buy a Bass Guitar - Things to Think About For Your Next Purchase

How do you buy a bass guitar? Easy! You go to a music store and give them a bunch of money.

The real question of course is, how do you choose the bass that's right for you?

Recently, someone was asking me about choosing an inexpensive first bass. The questions were all about what kinds of wood the bass should have. Is Basswood good? Is Agathis better? I'm familiar with both woods but since I wanted to get my facts straight, I thought I'd better start doing some research.

But after a few minutes I realized how many basses I'd bought over the years and, good or bad choices, how often did the type of wood determine if I purchased it.

Mostly I think my decisions come down to:

- Does it sound good?
- Does it feel good?
- Does it look good?
- And, does it work well?

Really what else is there?

Well how much money you have really goes to the top of the list. Given enough money you could surely buy the best bass guitar in the world. Right? Well, maybe not.

Let's go through the list of things to consider. Not in the above order, but rather in the sequence that they occur. And, I'm going to assume that you are a player and not collector.

Not unlike when you are looking for a girlfriend or boyfriend, usually it's the visuals that get you first. Is that bass guitar shiny or does it have that certain look? It really is important. But just more than a shiny paint job, does it it fit in with the style and look of the kind of band or musicians you are playing with. A double neck Gibson SG isn't going to fit in well with that Celtic folk band, is it? But more importantly, does it stir up some emotion in you? If so, that probably a good thing. Isn't music all about emotion?

Once you grab that bass down off the wall, you start to get a feel for it. Is it heavy? Or, does it feel light and flimsy? You'll probably start off playing it sitting in a stool. Is it comfortable to hold? Is it head heavy? That is, if you let go of it does the head and neck drop toward the floor? If you sit with a bass a lot, it is comfortable in your lap? I have a bass where the lower horn sticks in to my leg. So I keep a folded towel in my lap while playing it. How does you hand fit around the neck? And, very importantly how is that action? That is, are the strings easy to press against the fretboard. Play some scales. Actually play chromatic scales up the entire neck. Do you hear buzzes? Is there a comfortable place for you right hand? There are so may types of right hand methods that may make a bass guitar work, or not work, for your particular style. Try playing with a strap and make sure you can get comfortable playing standing up with it. And, even though this seems silly, ask someone what the bass looks like on you. If you are tiny a huge bass can make you look like something from a circus show. Conversely, I'm quite tall and I once had someone tell me a bass was too small for me.

Okay, so this far, it looks good and it feels good. But, most important, does it sound good. After all when somebody listens to your record in twenty years are they going to say, "yeah but they played an ugly bass"? To be honest the above points can effect the sound. If you have a bass that is uncomfortable, it is going to affect how well you play it. But this is were the rubber hits the road. And cheap bass, expensive bass, basswood or solid granite, what you want is good sound. When Paul McCartney started playing bass in The Beatles he couldn't afford an expensive Fender bass. Instead he bought a cheaper bass. That bass helped to define the sound of the band for it's first few albums. Overall the sound is what matters most and every bass will have a different sound. And even buying a brand new American Fender Jazz Deluxe is not going to ensure you get a great bass. If you want a Fender Jazz bass, play several of them. You find they all have a different feel and sound. In one store I played an Epiphone bass costing $350.00 and the same Gibson bass cost about $1300.00. I quite honestly can say that the Epiphone had a sound that I thought was superior to the Gibson.

So now that you've decided that is the bass for you, let's get down to the logical side of the purchase. If the action isn't perfect, can it be adjusted? Most new instruments aren't that well setup and a good setup can fix a lot of stuff. But there are problems that setups don't always fix. And if you're buying a new instrument, shouldn't it already be setup? Kinda. They are setup in the factory. At least roughly. And most good music stores will perform some level of setup for you. Part of the setup, and your own evaluation beforehand, is the intonation. For modern basses this is mostly not a problem. The fret slots have been cut by a CNC machine and most bridges are fully adjustable. One notable exception is the Hofner 500/1 B-Bass. It comes with an old fashioned floating bridge. It can be adjusted, but you have to know how to do it. The other thing about most instrument purchases is that you never know who's been playing these things before you buy them. Even if you buy them direct, it's likely that somebody's been playing the bass and likely they didn't wash their hands. Not that I'm a germaphobe, but those dirty hands deaden the strings. So if that bass doesn't have that pristine sound, you want, a new set of strings can make a big difference. Often, if you ask, you can get a set thrown in.

The last point, which maybe should be the first, is of course money. Before you decide to buy, like anything, you need a budget. As of this writing, here's my price guidelines. (USD or CAD)

- less than $500.00 - budget
- $500.00 to $900.00 - intermediate
- $900.00 to $1400.00 - professional
- $1400.00 to $2000.00 - premium
- above $2000 - collector or boutique

It should be noted that these prices are just general guidelines, but it gives a good sampling of what instruments go for. There are certainly instruments in the budget range that are totally playable and more than adequate to learn on. But if you look around you'll find quite a few pros that play on those so called budget instruments. The Fender Mexican made (intermediate) basses as certainly decent instruments, but play a few to find a good one. That said, even the Fender American "professional" instruments vary dramatically in quality. So play a few. A great number of instrument these days are being made in China, Korea and Indonesia. The prices are amazing and the quality is surprisingly good. But made in America, Germany, or Japan is more desirable and more expensive.

Make sure when you buy a bass you get a case (a cass for your bass / a case for your base). Hardshell cases are optimal for protecting your instrument, but gig bags are way more practical. Unless you have a hollow body instrument, in this case always get a hardshell case. I like gig bags for, well, gigging. It's way easier to carry a gig bag over your shoulder and to get the instrument in and out of the bag in a cramped venue.

If you are buying more expensive instruments (or really any bass), try to negotiate a strap in to the deal. They all need to be set to different lengths so I try to have a strap for each bass that I keep in the gig bag for that bass.

Hopefully this has been helpful to those that are buying a new bass. It's the first step in one of the most rewarding aspects of your live.

How to Read Guitar Sheet Music Easy

Before you know how to read a guitar sheet music, you need to know how to read the name of the lines and the spaces of the staff.

If you look in a piece of sheet music, you are going to notice that each system of stance has 5 lines and 4 spaces, and there's always a strange symbol in the beginning.
Guitar music starts to be written from the bottom up in the "G Clef", yeah that strange symbol has a strange name too.

Why it is called G Clef?

Because it starts on the second line from the bottom, the G note.

Oh look! You just learned a new note! The G note. So what about the others? Of course there are other notes, and I am going to tell about them right now.

The notes in ascending orders are A, B, C, D, E, F, and the G.

In the beginning I mentioned about 5 lines and 4 spaces, remember?
Each line or space in the piece of sheet music coincides to a note, so if we read the notes on the line, from the bottom up...

Lines:

F
D
B
G
E

Spaces:

E
C
A
F

I think you might know the acronym to remember those notes right? Even if you already know, I am going to mention it, because it is very important and it helps a lot in the learning process:

E - Every G - Good B - Boy D - Does F - Fine

For the spaces notes, you don't need to remember any acronym, just remember the word:

FACE

Really simple uh?

This is just a learning method, later on, you will be a pro and you will not need to remember those acronyms, every time you will be playing a guitar; yeah I know they are funny acronyms, but you can't stick with them forever, it would be annoying to play a guitar while thinking "Every Good Boy Does Fine" and "Face" all the time.

That's it for this article, I gave you the basic about how you can read a guitar sheet music, but this isn't the end of the road, if you want to play a guitar there are still a lot of things you need to know, but with these basic concepts, you can start dreaming to be a Pro guitar player in a couple of months, or maybe sooner, it depends on your effort and time spent in the right place.

Learning Guitar Is Easier Than Ever

That guitar is still there in the closet and maybe it's been years since you last pulled it out and tried to play that E minor chord. Maybe you took a few lessons but nothing stuck. Then you tried to teach yourself and just got frustrated trying to make sense of it all. But you still would love to play guitar.

It's time to take another shot at it because there are a number of reasons it's easier than ever to learn.

More learning options. Guitar instruction is available in a number of different formats today including DVD lessons, interactive lessons, video lessons and hundreds of websites where you can learn your favorite song or find out how to play a killer guitar solo. And don't forget to check out the latest guitar books online or at your local music store. Chances are good you'll find one that really works for you.

Better qualified guitar teachers. Gone are the days when your guitar teacher would hand you book one of a certain guitar method, then book two and three. They would simply guide you, page by page, song by song and your lesson would consist of them correcting what you worked on during the week. Teachers are much more creative today partly due to the availability, via the internet, of an almost endless amount of songs and other learning material. Plus, guitar students are more demanding now and look for a teacher with considerable experience and credentials.

There are a number of guitar courses you can take online if you want to go it alone. They are not particularly expensive if you compare them to the cost of private lessons and many of them allow you to learn at your own pace. It's not exactly a one on one experience but you may find it works for you.

A better awareness of your learning style. Trying to learn the guitar the first time around probably gave you a good idea of your learning style. Do you get the best results by watching someone else play? Do you like reading text-based lessons so you can put things together in your mind before trying them? Maybe you're most comfortable sitting in front of your computer with software you can tailor to what you want to learn. Decide which is best for you and get started.

New guitar tuners are easier to use. A big challenge in the early stages of learning guitar is keeping it in tune. But that is much less of a problem. There are new electronic tuners that automatically detect which string you are playing along with whether it's sharp, flat or in tune. There are models you can clip on your guitar and leave there so you always know where your tuner is. Displays are easier to see and batteries last longer.

Guitar Hacks

No Pain no Gain

Chords are notorious for causing pain in fingers and it's a big factor in guitar abandonment. The pain of pressing down strings will go away with regular practice. Just start with E, A & D chords. Play these until you can switch back and forth smoothly. Eventually, you'll have calloused fingers and clamp onto chords with ease. If a steel string guitar is still too painful to play you may be better suited to a different guitar. The classical guitar has nylon strings which are much easier to push down. Electric guitar strings are even easier to play, but don't plug it in while practicing - an electric amp is too distracting for someone simply trying to learn the basics.

Tap your foot

If you can tap your foot in time, then you can absolutely strum the guitar in time too. The key here is to always be tapping your foot, but let it be your master clock. You can trust that foot, so go with it and never miss a beat. This can at first feel awkward, but it's no different than riding a bike. Once you get the hang of it, you'll always have the rhythm. The common problem of stopping and starting over in the middle of a song comes from overthinking. Follow the foot and if your chords are buzzing keep strumming anyway. Don't let a bad chord stop your flow - play right through even if you have to play bad chords. Just keep the tempo and keep strumming.

Get a Tuning Fork

Remember these? You smack it against the dresser and it responds with a perfect tone. Not only does it help tune the strings, but also your ears. There are a tons of digital tuners out there, but they have created a generation of lazy guitarists who tune by sight. These tuners get the job done, but when looking at the colored strobes, the ears can become disengaged. The tuning fork forces critical listening, and activates musicality. This simple tip alone can bring a rapid advancement in playing for everyone from students to professionals. Seriously, grab a set online or at the local guitar shop. Another option is to use an online guitar tuner as a virtual tuning fork.

Learn That Song

We all have one. That song that we know all too well and can be played inside your head, from start to finish. Commit to learning a song or two and playing it all the way through. Start by finding the chords online or in a tablature book at guitar center. After you can play the chords, it's time to play along with the actual song. Playing guitar is 90% listening and 10% doing. While the song plays, just strum along lightly while keeping focused on the song. The trick here is to improve your listening and then use it to self adjust. Music is a subtle art whether your thing is black metal or ragtime.

Turn on the TV

With the television turned on and muted, play the guitar while watching your favorite show. This will improve another subtle guitar skill called Intuition. Simply knowing those chord changes (without looking) will bring fluidity and comfort on the instrument. Getting your eyes off the instrument, while playing it, brings familiarity.

Final tips

Since those E, A & D chords may get boring, a subtle change to the fingering can make things very interesting. Take the middle note out of the E and A chords for a more bluesy sound. Learn all the variations of these chords and you'll soon be improvising and writing tunes. Grab a guitar tuner that suits your style.

After finding your way around standard tuning on the guitar, consider trying an open tuning for a while. The guitar will instantly sound deeper and heavier. All of the chords you've been practicing will sound completely different. Explore a bit in open tuning and you'll feel like a vast horizon opens up right in front of you. Make some music.