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Got any headphones plugged in somewhere in the chain? Overlooked but still quietly mumbling away to themselves. That can happen...

+1 Easier said than done, but definitely right on the money. :) If you can find a compatible playing buddy it can be a huge asset. When I only knew a handful of basic chords, and wasn't even much good at changing between them, a friend invited me to play with a small group of others in his...

The good news is there is plenty of GarageBand of information around on the net for free - tutorials, youtube videos, mac forums, this forum, etc. It's a pretty straightforward program and you can get very good results on it. Like many others, I found that it was a good program to learn on...

Hi, I actually don't have much useful advice to offer - I'm really just replying for the pleasure of being addressed as "young man". But I didn't start getting into the whole computer based DAW thing until I was 60 and I've mostly found it absorbing, interesting, and enjoyable - and not...

Hi, You can choose from a variety of different roads but the bottom line is that there's still really only ONE way to learn to play guitar well and that's to put in the hundreds of hours that you need before you get decent control over your fingers (thousands is better). Anybody (via book...

Hi, You can start playing around right now - just with the MacBook and GarageBand. The MacBook should have a built in mic, which obviously isn't brilliant but can still do the job of recording your voice. Just drag and drop the recorded instrumental into GB and, unless it's in an incompatible...

Comparing music with English works well. They're both languages in the sense of being sounds arranged in a way that communicate something. Now, I don't need to be able to read and write English to talk it. I could be a social success, an excellent story-teller and a fine orator or singer...

You've hit the nail squarely on the head there. Few people really think that having more knowledge is any kind of disadvantage - it's how much of a pain it is to get it that can be off-putting. Some "theory" books can be really dry, but a good teacher or mentor should be able to bring it to...

Hi, I'm not familiar with your gear but I'd suggest trying the simplest possible setup first. Just a guitar (or mic) and the mixer and USB interface. You'll need to make sure that the computer can recognise it and that the settings in Garageband are right too. I don't know what all the...

+ 1 If it's thin then that's an issue that can be addressed in other ways first. "Doubling" seems to be understood as different things depending on who is using the term. As Rami says, exact copying and pasting won't really make any useful difference. What you really need is two or more...

Of course they can. The problem with the question is that it's almost completely pointless. Recording isn't a school exam, it's a tool used by the entertainment industry to create something that people might like the sound of. You might as well ask whether it's "cheating" to use a PA at a...

Hi all, I've found that "Theory" isn't just some complicated geeky stuff that enables professors to talk to each other, it's more like a very useful set of guidelines that can actually speed up the process of experimentation and learning. I'm a big fan of learning by ear, improvising, and not...

Unfortunately, this is pretty much the bottom line with anything to do with music. In the early stages it can be somewhat mystifying, and a bit frustrating, to see an experienced player putting their fingers in what looks like just the same places as you do - yet getting a completely different...

Very useful post!. Good one Bobbsy. :) The only thing that I'd suggest adding is just a bit more clarification (or emphasis) about the difference between a CONTROL SURFACE and a MIXER as it seems to be common for newcomers not to understand the difference. From reading posts here I think...

Hi, I use Macs and Windows machines. Both systems will do the job just fine, but neither is perfect. Often it boils down to personal preference, or whatever you happen to have bought for other reasons such as price or what other software you want to run as well. If you’re a gamer then...

+1. As Jimmy suggests, it's not about how much you "need" to spend, because there's no real lower or upper limit it's really just about how much you can afford, how much value you put on increased quality, and how 'into' it all you get. To start out, you can have a heck of a lot of fun using...

Hi Cooper, It can be pretty confusing at first, that's for sure. If you want to mix in the DAW then you don't need an external mixer at all. You can do the job perfectly well by operating the controls in the DAW with a mouse and keyboard. Or you could look into using some kind of 'control...

That's the clincher for me. I have both Logic ( 8) and Pro Tools (10) and like them both. Pro Tools seem to have lifted their game with midi, and I haven't struck any troubles with it. What keeps me currently using Pro Tools more is that I can take my projects over to a friend's studio...

My version of events is that it’s not necessary for my songs to have a drum track, but a sense of the the timing, pulse, rhythmic structure (or whatever you've like to call it) is essential for a song-writer. Drums are a useful tool for sketching that out (and learning more about it) even if...

Doing it in stages, as you can afford it, is a great idea. I'd rather have at least one or two reasonable items that I can use for a fair length of time than a whole host of cheap stuff which quickly proves why it was cheap. One thing that I lashed out on a bit further down the track was a...