Guitarz Forever Blog

"The Guitarz Forever Blog keeps you up-to-date with all additions and changes to the guitarz-for-ever.com Web site. Check it out Below."

Jul 1, 2009, Music Reviews

Jul 1, 2009, Guitarz Forever Marketing and Promotions

Jun 30, 2009, GUITAR, everything and anything about GuitarZ

Free Guitar Lessons for beginning players. Free advise accessories and gear. Highly organized web-site for your musical information and retail. Guitars for ever!

May 23, 2009, Carl Verheyen CD Review

Apr 26, 2009, Souls of We

Apr 16, 2009, Souls of We featuring George Lynch

Apr 10, 2009, Ear Protection For The Guitarist

Apr 2, 2009, Fret Board Knowledge

Mar 30, 2009, EVH Van Halen Aint Talkin Bout Love Guitar Lesson

Mar 25, 2009, The Jimi Experiece

Mar 20, 2009, Controlling Your Guitar

Mar 19, 2009, HARD WORK - PERSERVERANCE - DEDICATION

Hey all you Guit-Box players out there... It's ol' Riff once again bringing you some GREAT NEWZ... I'm now working with the Legendary Guitarist George Lynch and his camp. I will be doing whatever is called for... but mostly PROMO WORK and getting his name out there along with his new band "Souls of We"... Please check 'em out on myspace.

I am so PUMPED... my energy level hasn't dropped in a week... LOL!!! So see, if you work hard at what you love... you too can live your dreamz...

Mar 16, 2009, AmpliTube Intros The Official Fender? Software Amplifier and Effects Suite

March 2009, Modena, Italy – IK Multimedia and Fender Musical Instruments Corporation are proud to announce that AmpliTube Fender is now shipping!

AmpliTube Fender is the only official Fender® amp and FX software suite, with a selection of 45 of the most sought-after classic and modern Fender® guitar and bass amps, cabinets, stompboxes and rack effects of all time (including must-have masterpieces like the ‘65 Twin Reverb®, ‘59 Bassman® LTD, ‘57 Deluxe™, ‘64 Vibroverb™ Custom, ‘65 Deluxe Reverb®, Vibratone, Super-Sonic™, Metalhead™, Fender® Blender™, Phaser, Fuzz-Wah and many others).

AmpliTube Fender is the result of two years of intense collaboration between the tone-gurus at Fender® and the software and audio experts at IK Multimedia. For the first time, the more ...

Mar 13, 2009, Promoting Smooth Jazz in the Changing Landscape of Terrestrial Radio and the Internet

Deborah Lewow Forum: Promoting Smooth Jazz in the Changing Landscape of Terrestrial Radio and the Internet

Deborah Lewow has more than thirty years’ experience in music promotion, mostly in the jazz genre. She is former Vice President of Jazz Promotion for Warner Brothers Records, and currently operates her own Atlanta, GA-based company, A/ rtist + R/ adio + T/ our + S/ ervices, where she represents artists working in smooth jazz.

One thing is for sure in this crazy business, the music and the fans aren’t going away. Find the people who care about your music, passive radio isn’t going to do it.... The artist must optimize everything and anything that is unique about him and his/her music. Find a brand or find a record company who has a brand of artists like Mascot Records, or Shrapnel Records, Boosweet Records, or like Alligator Records, etc. This creates a branding umbrella of other great artists. This also creates collaborations between artists on the same label to get compilation CDs too.

Spend your money on finding where your consumers are by where they are shopping and utilize the new internet technologies and tools to do just that. Such as; using community sites like MySpace, YouTube, Facebook, etc. to seek out your fans and drive them to your monetary sites.

In this Loyola University, New Orleans forum with Artists House Music President John Snyder, jazz promoter Deborah Lewow talks about the changing roles of terrestrial radio and the internet, and the unique challenges of reaching smooth jazz listeners in today’s marketplace. Related topics include marketing budgets, promotion strategies, and the popularity of MySpace.

Mar 5, 2009, Video Shoots and Studio Gigs

Mar 5, 2009, Marketing Mind Check - Part 2

Before launching into the market plan, and just in case the above list doesn’t fully resonate with where you are curently, here are some key questions to ask yourself at this important juncture:

___ Have you analyzed the total market for your product or service (that is, your primary, secondary and referral markets)? Do you know which features of your product or service will appeal to different market segments?

___ In forming your marketing message, have you fully described how your product or service will benefit your customers?

___ Have you prepared a pricing schedule? What kinds of discounts do you offer, and to whom do you offer them?

___ Do your marketing materials mention any optional accessories or added services that consumers might want to purchase?

___ Have you obtained all necessary paperwork and metadata (if applicable)you need?

___ Is your packaging likely to appeal to your target market? Have you created different packaging for different markets?

___ Can your product or service be digitized, and what kinds of new challenges does this present?

___ Have you prepared job descriptions and operaton plans for all of the employees, contractors and interns needed to carry out your marketingplans?

Once you’ve answered the above to your satisfaction, you can feel free to move on to writing your plan.

• Plans are provisional documents and not the final word – they are always in“draft” form. Plans are maps to help get you to your destination in the most costeffective way possible. Maps, however, are not the territory; therefore,

• Plans should be flexible so they can adapt to shifting circumstances – ongoing plan review is normal and crucial to undertake at least once every two weeks normally, and every day during a campaign.

Mar 2, 2009, Article: Music Success Formulas

It seems people want to know a magic formula to fame and fortune in the music industry. I could be flippant and just say hard work, talent, and dumb luck. While those three notions often do result in success, they do not tell the whole story. Promotion is the key to success in today's music industry. And the primary components to successful promotion are reputation, relationships, and knowledge. Developing and leveraging these three concepts will help you achieve the goals you've set for yourself. How do you build a reputation, cultivate meaningful relationships, and use knowledge to your best advantage? These three formulas can help........

Feb 23, 2009, Mapping Out Your Marketing Plan pt. 1

“It’s never too late – in fiction or in life – to revise.” – Nancy Thayer

This is your opportunity to braid together all the different strands ofmarketing. After reading through this topic, you are now in the enviableposition of understanding the key foundations of successfully marketing your musicproducts and services.

• figured out your compelling desires, your inner and outer resources, And the opportunities currently presenting themselves to you;

Dec 13, 2008, Pillars of Rock

Dec 10, 2008, Ace Guitarist Rob Metz

Dec 8, 2008, JP Cervoni EPK

Nov 13, 2008, Finding Distribution for your Music

Oct 21, 2008, LYNCH MOB Cutting New Tracks

Oct 17, 2008, Tribute To Stevie Wonder

Oct 16, 2008, The career of guitarist George Lynch

Oct 10, 2008, The Strat King Carl Verheyan

Oct 5, 2008, George Lynch Recording Adeline

Oct 4, 2008, George Lynch's Randall Module

Sep 24, 2008, The Guitars of Randy Rhoads

Please check out my good friend Gerry's article on the Guitars of Randy Rhoads... Gerry just so happens to be Legendary Guitarist George Lynch's Guitar Tech... Awesome Job on this very in-depth and intuative piece.

Sep 19, 2008, George Lynch Guitars

Aug 29, 2008, The artists are the brands, and entertainment is the main attraction.

A record label is not usually a brand in its own right. The few exceptions – ECM Records, Def Jam, Motown, Shrapnel Records, and perhaps Blue Note- prove the point. The artist and the record label are two entirely different things. It is the artist’s work that everybody is interested in, while the label’s identity, standing, and cache’ is a lesser concern for most fans – especially if the label is the label of a large corporation. Nobody buys Britney Spears CD because BMG (formerly Zomba Records) puts it out, and few people cherish Columbia Records (Sony Music) because it’s the home of Santana.

Prior to the 1920’s, nearly every artist distributed their music “with their feet,” (the ‘ol shoe-leather express), determining who could listen to them by where they chose to perform. Artist, from medieval traveling minstrels to early Vaudeville acts, knew their audiences personally, and interacted with them in many ways. They provided entertainment in the sitting rooms of manor houses, in churches, dances, plays, fairs, clubs, operas, street parties, birthdays, funerals, weddings, and other events. Music was not about packaging, distribution, or product sales, it was about live entertainment.

But despite the productization of music that the record industry created, most people still place the greatest value on their connection to an artist. We cherish particular artist because they are purveyors of feelings, special moments, experiences that we value. We create all manors of subliminal interactions with artist to whom we get attached. We track their whereabouts, we consider every work they put out, and we study the liner notes. We harbor deeply personal ties to them, often subconsciously, which is the prime reason for the strong economic pivot position of an artist.

Aug 28, 2008, Why Havent You Reached Your Music Career Goals

Aug 26, 2008, Panic Cell Interview

Panic Cell Interview, Luke Bell, heavy metal music, bands, tours, concerts, myspace, ESP guitars,

Aug 20, 2008, The record business is not the same as the music business

This is a very important distinction to make. Many of us have been accustomed to thinking of the whole industry based on a simple formula: volume in CD sales = value of the industry. That is, fewer CD sales results in lower value. That is the myth, because, in fact, the record industry is a mere slice of the overall music industry pie-and many of the other slices are not even known to the average music fan. Music and event merchandising, concerts and touring, and live entertainment in general account for some $25 billion globally, while music publishing is a $12 billion business, approximately. Further, according to sources in Pollstar, Billboard, and Music Week, record companies make nearly $2 billion every year in “special products,” such as give-away CD sets, corporate marketing items, and various business-to-business licensing activities.

What this means is that a musician does not have to be a recording artist or a performer to thrive in today’s music industry. It means that you may be, at different times, a songwriter, lyricist, performer, band member, entertainer, promoter, entrepreneur, fashion designer, producer, teacher, or small business manager. Being a “creative” in the music business often means wearing several hats, doing several things at the same time, and picking up new skills on the fly. The sum of the income streams from various activities make up the musician professional’s compensation-and, of course, to be a successful musician, one must be an entrepreneur by nature, and operate as a business.

So, yes, the record business is suffering, but the music industry as a whole is alive and well.

Aug 16, 2008, These top-10 truths will guide the future of music

These top-10 truths will guide the future of music, define the nature of the relationship between artist and fan, and likely prove to be of great significance of those in this business who wish to remain relevant. Our thinking is guided by our own experiences, and by hundreds of conversations we have had with all sorts of people working in the music business. Here, we examine the relationships and dynamics between the primary parties that make up the music industry: those who create the music, including artists, writers, and producers; those who market, deliver, and distribute it, such as the record companies and publishers; and the consumers and fans of music, who ultimately pay for it all.

By all accounts, more music has been consumed over the past five years than ever before. Again, music fans and “users” can thank the early digital music pioneers such as MP3.com and eMusic.com, as well as peer-to-peer ventures such as Napster, Kazaa, and Gnutella. They also owe a debt of gratitude to the hereto unprotected CD format, which enables people to rip and burn CDs using personal computers. Billions of unprotected CDs have failed the fine of digital song swapping.

Today’s music fans are completely awash in music, and most are bombarded by music all day long. Anybody who wants to do so can stream, download, watch, edit, and cut and paste his own music, 24/7/365. File-sharing, trans-coding (the art of turning an audio or video stream into a savable file), and online music have become the new “radio” for the digital generation. Music and the music industry are getting a lot of interest and attention, even though the record industry is on its way to the meat grinder. We are experiencing a phenomenal tidal wave of discovering and enjoying music, the money will inevitably follow. Why mourn the record business when we will have much bigger fish to fry in the music business?

Aug 10, 2008, Wild Card: The Universal Mobile Device - PART TWO

June 1st, 2015 - Music companies, book publishers, game companies, and filmmakers are eager to for us to check out their stuff, watch films, play their games, or try their software. The more of the content we use, the more they get paid, pro rata. We still pay the same flat fee, unless we select some premium content-which we do all too often, we have to admit. It may cost only a dollar to “sit-in” on the latest recording sessions with your favorite artist, then buy the show and project the images on a white flat surface to show off to your friends, in turn... THEY WANT A COPY RIGHT THERE AND RIGHT THEN AND ORDER ON THEIR (UMD). Or, order a copy of the TV Show the Twilight Zone that is not on the UMD Network, or watch a special package Web-cast of the Grammy Awards. Our UMDs make media and entertainment content so irresistible that our cash just keeps flowing out on the network-a “dream come true” for any content provider that can get our attention.

The UMD service and its built-in tracking software allows the content providers and their agents to find out how their content is doing on the network-how many people have tried it, how many people have shared it, how many people have rated it, and who is talkin’ about it. You’ll know instantly what part of the world is slammin’ to your tunes. Everything will be transparent and in real-time. If we want to, we can share some, a little, or all of our data and other feedback with the UMD service, our friends, or the content providers themselves. We can also provide detailed feedback on their content and earn free UMD “points” that we can use to get free stuff. This way, some of our friends even make more money on the UMD network then they spend on getting the content! And... Affiliates... any one can be an affiliate and get points and discount offers.... because your third party accounting is your built-in tracking software or from the content provider. Street Teams will be easy to create and monitor for max underground exposure. It’s endless!!! They review new bands, recommend new songs and movies to their peers, test new games, or become part of focus groups that evaluate new UMD services.

No longer are we tethered to our computer, the LAN connection, or the power plug. UMDs have become as common place as cell phones were a just a decade ago. Gone are the days of having to worry about where to get cool ring tones, how to turn a cell phone into a real gaming device, or to watch our favorite soccer game.

These offerings are instantly available, instantly archived, book-markable, searchable with content agents, and cross-referenced with our network buddies and friends.

Aug 9, 2008, Wild Card: The Universal Mobile Device - PART ONE

June 1, 2015. Our Universal Mobile Devices (UMD) are “always-on” at 8 MB/second, and we have anytime-anywhere access to music, film, games, books, news, streaming video, online banking, stock market transactions, a digital communication and data transfer device, a Global Positioning Device (GPS), a personal digital assistant, a gaming platform... and much more we haven’t even gotten around trying yet. Still, it is only a little bit larger than a cigarette pack, its processor is one hundred times as fast as the good old Intel Centrino Chip and with over 5 terabytes of data storage, and there is plenty of room for anything we want. Our UMD can project a fairly sharp image onto any white surface, it can set up instant secure wireless connections to other computers, beamers, monitors, screens and printers, and it can connect to other UMD’s to exchange data and files, instantly and securely.

The UMD “off-road” version is so durable that you can drive a truck over it, or leave it out in the rain for a few days. Ten days of battery power lets us forget about hunting for electric outlets everywhere we go. In short, Our UMDs are irresistible, and sometimes we even struggle with ourselves to put them away.

And how much do we pay to get this device and the wireless service? Less then what a year of dial-up Internet service used to cost only ten years ago. Speaking of those days, we are so relieved to have lost all the cables, the multiple billing procedures, the restrictions on usage, the endless calls to customer service to figure out how to make it work, non-compatibility, and all the other burdens. Now, pricing-and what you get for your money-is so compelling that everyone considers it a part of their basic expenses, like the phone bill, cable television, or car registration.

Today, the basic content service comes packaged with the monthly service fee, and a content levy is imposed on the device itself. It took ten years for the device makers, software providers, and entertainment companies to agree on a voluntary compulsory licensing scheme, but now the content providers make much more money then they did before UMDs were around. In addition, their marketing costs have shrunk to one tenth of what the used to be, their delivery costs keep falling, administration and accounting is handled by smart automated software agents, and their legal budgets have been reduced to a friction of what they used to be because there is nothing left to sue for.

Finding cool new stuff rules the day. Get our attention, and let us make a connection.