Current Student Information

Materials Every Student Should Have (these can make great gift ideas):

• A music stand (the little fold up ones are OK too), to encourage you to use your lesson book, and proper posture while playing
• A guitar stand, to keep your guitar out of its case and easily accessible for a free moment of practice
• A recording method
• A chromatic tuner (electronic)

As a retail dealer, Charles can also order you these products at great prices.  Just ask, or visit the Kaleidoscope merchandising page.

Things More People Should Know About:

Getting music from the library :

The library has 1000s of CDs of all styles. Ditch those MP3s and get the full quality version from the library. At the King County Library site you can place holds on CDs with a library card number and select the library where you want to pick it up. If you give the library your email address ahead of time (I think you may have to do that in person), they will email you when the hold is filled!

Recording:

A big part of the process of learning guitar is being able to record yourself playing, both to capture song ideas and simulate a band feel by playing melody or solos over top of your recorded rhythm part. In the old days (i.e. 1980, when I learned to play!) this was easy: everyone had a tape recorder.   Here is a range of recording options to consider:

1. The old fashioned way that still works:   tape recorder or recording boombox
2. 4 track recorder that uses tapes
3. Digital 4 or 8 track recorder
4. Portable handheld (digital) recorder (Line 6, Zoom and other companies make these – and there are ways to do it with your iphone too!)
5. Minidisc recorder: these are very cool, easy to use and sound great. I wish more people used the minidisc format. Basically they are akin to having a portable CD burner that records right over top of old material instantly
6. A computer based program like Sonar or Protools.   To use this you’ll need a decent sound card; most generic ones have the wrong kind of mike inputs and levels for serious recording. An external USB audio interface can substitute for a bad sound card.   Some interfaces combine guitar effects with an audio interface. Products available for interfacing to the computer are evolving every month. Check out new products like the Line 6 Guitar Port or the Boss MicroBR.

Power Tabs

If you are interested in getting TABs for songs off the internet, Power Tab is a better way to go. Power Tabs (*.ptb files) are generally more complete, readable, and accurate than the common TABs.   You’ll have to get the Power Tab Editor program off the internet first.   A more evolved version of Power Tab is Guitar Pro, a paid program (Charles can sell you Guitar Pro through his merchandise page)  that shows TAB in layers for different guitar parts or instruments and lets you jam along too.