Category Archives for "Video"

Shimon The 4-Armed Robot Shows It Can Improvise

Shimon the 4-armed robot

I don’t know why I have such a fascination with robots playing music. I’ve covered many instances on this blog over the years (like the guitarist with 78 fingers and the robot band that plays Motorhead), and each time they get better at what they do. I’d like to think that they’re never going to […]

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New Music Gear Monday: Pickatto Bluetooth Guitar Pick

Pickatto Bluetooth guitar pick

Just about everything has a Bluetooth connection on it these days, but a guitar pick? If you’re curious what you might want with a connected pick, then it’s time to meet Pickatto, the brainchild of guitarist Michael Murawski. Murawski found that while most guitar players have a pretty well-developed fret hand, their picking hand lagged behind. Pickatto […]

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Motown’s Funk Brothers Instrumental Track – “Going To A Go Go”

Going To A Go Go

There’s so much to learn from the old Motown records in terms of arrangements and groove. You can hear more when you strip off the lead vocal and just listen to the instrumental track laid down by The Funk Brothers (the Motown house band), which is what we’ll do today with Smokey Robinson and the Miracles […]

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New Music Gear Monday: Yamaha TransAcoustic Guitar

Yamaha TransAcoustic guitar

OK, this is pretty wild. What if you want to add some extra ambience to your acoustic guitar, but hate the idea of plugging into an amp or adding effects pedals. If that’s the case, then the Yamaha TransAcoustic guitar might be the thing for you. The Yamaha TransAcoustic guitar lets you add reverb and chorus […]

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Blue Oyster Cult – “(Don’t Fear) The Reaper” Isolated Backing Tracks

There’s been a lot of hits from the past that you continue to hear on the radio, but a perennial favorite is “(Don’t Fear) The Reaper” from Blue Oyster Cult. The song comes from the band’s 1976 album Agents of Fortune album, where it hit #12 on the Billboard charts and has been around ever […]

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Louis Armstrong In The Studio In 1959

Louis Armstrong studio 1959

Here’s a great piece of archival footage that shows the only film ever taken of the legendary Louis Armstrong in the studio. This was during the 1959 recording of the album Satchmo Plays King Oliver and it shows Armstrong and his All Stars recording the master take of “I Ain’t Got Nobody,” as well as silent footage […]

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New Music Gear Monday: Softube Modular Eurorack Emulation Plugin

Softube Modular

Those tiny Eurorack synth modules have been growing in popularity, going from a simple 10×20 foot booth down in the no-mans-land basement at NAMM to a huge pavilion on the main floor. While everyone loves hardware, for many of us its just impractical in our musical creation so the new Softube Modular Eurorack emulation plugin addresses […]

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