Amazing Arrays of Sound

We have some absolute works of art appearing on our YouTube channel lately, so we thought we'd better check back in with you guys: have you subscribed to our YouTube channel??

You can click on the YouTube icon on our website, or go directly to youtube.com/c/TheMusicSpotInstrumentRetailerBrownsPlains - make sure you subscribe so you never miss one of our creations! We post every week with industry news, product demos and reviews, interesting tidbits and hilarious instore videos. Fun for the whole family ;) And remember you can always catch us on Instagram and Facebook as well!

________________________________

Since we're celebrating all things Keyboard this month, let's have a look at the different types of keyboard instruments out there.

On the top left of the above picture, we have a Digital Piano - we had a closer look at these last week. If you missed our email, you can find it on our Blog. These are electronic instruments based on the design of the traditional Piano, but without the weight and need for constant tuning. They usually come with a range of piano tones and can look and feel just like the real thing.

Next to that you can see a Midi Controller. These are instruments that work as interfaces to computer recording equipment.

In the top right corner is an Electronic Organ - hugely popular in the 1970s, but a bit harder to find these days. Like the Digital Piano, these are electronic versions of the traditional Organ, but smaller and easier to have in the home. They have a volume pedal and bass pedals and can have up to three keyboards.

In the middle of the picture, you can see an Electronic Keyboard. These are what people usually mean when they say "Keyboard" these days, and can be extremely affordable and versatile, while holding a surprising array of different sounds and tones, and also rhythms and backing tracks.

On the bottom left corner is a traditional Grand Piano. These are beautiful, and very large instruments, that make music by using keys to strike strings with hammers. The harder the strike the louder the sound.

On the bottom in the middle is a traditional Pipe Organ. These instruments date back hundreds of years and can be found today in old church buildings and opera houses. Pedals pump air through a complicated system of pipes of varying lengths, and the notes are selected through a console of several keyboards.

Next to that on the right is a Piano Accordion. Very popular in European countries, these beautiful instruments are portable and also use air to create sound, with keys being the method of selecting notes.

And on the bottom right is a Synthesiser. This is a keyboard instrument that produces a wide variety of sounds by generating and combining signals of different frequencies. it is used in many different types of music.

________________________________

This week, let's have a look at our range of Electronic Keyboards.

If you are after a handy, affordable keyboard with everything you need and nothing you don't, give the Casio CTX700 a try. It comes with the AiX Sound Source, giving you a wide range of tones.

A great 76 note keyboard is the Yamaha PSREW410, which is perfect for any style of music. It has high-res piano samples, powerful onboard speakers and easy to use professional features.

We also have the Yamaha PSRS670 keyboard, a step up in professional keyboard sound with two assignable live controllers, a modulation wheel and two assignable footswitch inputs. It puts you in total control of your sound and style during live performances.

And then there's the Yamaha PSRS975 Arranger Workstation keyboard, the ultimate of the PSR series, with more content and larger memory for expansion packs. It combines all the functionality of the other models together with powerful performance features, including versatile effects, external display and programmable vocal harmony.

When it comes to electronic keyboards, no matter what your needs or budget, we have you covered!

________________________________

And for our Friday Not-So-Funny:

Urgh that was terrible :P Have a great weekend guys and I will be back next week with some better jokes!

Keys Through The Ages

Welcome to October! It's a new month, the air is warmer, the sun is brighter, and thoughts are turning towards things like Summer, Christmas, even the new school year. But let's not get ahead of ourselves - there's lots to celebrate about October!

Like the fact that, for us, it's Keyboard Month. So each week we will be bringing you new and exciting news about our Keyboard Department. As usual, we don't leave things the way they are for very long! So if it's been a while since you've visited our shop, why not get some sunshine and fresh air and come on down to Browns Plains.

________________________________

Being Keyboard Month, let's have a look at the history of the instruments we loosely group together today as "keyboards".

The first keyboard instrument was the Ancient Greek Hydraulis, which was the great great grandfather of the pipe organ. It was invented around 300BC, and remained the only style of keyboard instrument until the 1400s.

That was when the Clavichord and Harpsichord appeared on the scene, which look at lot more like today's keyboards. The Clavichord resembled today's keyboards in that it was relatively small and box like, and able to be carried around. The Harpsichord was shaped in a similar fashion to today's piano, with legs standing on the ground, and was considered a central furniture piece in many music rooms of grand houses.

The Piano-Forte, whose name literally means loud-soft in Italian, appeared in the late 19th century, and was groundbreaking in its ability to adjust the volume of the note being played by the pressure applied to the keys. It produces sound by using a hammer action to strike at strings.

Today's electronic keyboards developed in the 20th century, with the emphasis being on giving the player a variety of sounds to play with, in a portable, versatile package. While a concert grand piano and the massive church pipe organs lend an authenticity to their tones that can rarely be replicated, electronic keyboards and digital pianos have evolved to deliver the entire orchestra to your fingertips with incredible clarity. As with all instruments, the cheaper models will give you a basic experience while the more expensive models will deliver a better range, with every price point and option being covered in between. There really is something for everyone these days, and learning the art of creating beautiful music has never been easier.

________________________________

We thought we'd dedicate the first week of Keyboard Month to our elegant range of Digital Pianos.

Let's begin with the Yamaha DGX660, a portable digital grand piano. It has a variety of interactive features for learning, playing and sharing music, and comes with the LP7A Pedal unit. It would look as good as it sounds in any living room.

The Privia PX160 Portable Digital Piano has a beautiful gold sheen, and is lightweight and also includes a Pedal unit. It features innovative sounds and a superior speaker system. Textured keys provide an authentic experience, and a variety of orchestral string and piano tones ensure a sound that will entertain in any setting.

Yamaha's NP32 Digital Piano is a slim and compact model with an exquisite tone. Designed around the essential elements of piano playing, this model provides everything you need and nothing you don't, ensuring you can get a piano experience without the inconvenience of a heavy, large acoustic instrument.

As you can see, if you have the yearning for a piano in the corner of your home but don't want to fork out for movers and tuners every time you want to rearrange the furniture, Digital Pianos are the perfect solution for you!

________________________________

Friday Funny time! Now how can we top last week? Here's another snippet from the everybody-can-relate-to-that pile:

I loled! Can't imagine why ;)  Have a great weekend gang and we will catch you next time!

Lazy Days & Loud Screams

At last, a long weekend! We haven't had one in, like, weeks!

The shop will be closed on Monday 1st October while we all go dress up our cats to celebrate HRH Queen Elizabeth II's birthday. What, you don't dress up your cats? Am I the only one that does that...?

________________________________

This week, while we're celebrating Effects Pedals and history, we thought we'd have a look at the evolution of the Ibanez Tube Screamer.

It's been called the most beloved overdrive pedal ever, and touted as having the greatest impact on music expression and the development of guitar effects.

The Tube Screamer began life in the late 1970s, with the famed TS808 model. Manufactured by Nisshin in Japan for Ibanez, it was set to compete against the Boss OD-1 Overdrive. It debuted in 1979 and was made popular by Stevie Ray Vaughan, among others. Over the years several versions were developed, including the TS9 in the 1980s.

Today we always keep two very popular versions in stock: the TS808 and the Mini, so you will always be able to create the sound you want.

________________________________

Speaking of minis, how perfect does this pedalboard look? Like a box of chocolates waiting to be devoured..

On the left is the Super Metal Mini, for warm and full-sounding distortion. Next is the CS Mini Chorus, the reissue of the popular CS9. In the middle there is the Mini Analogue Delay, encompassing the familiar sound of the AD9 in a bite sized package. The bright orange on the right is the 850 Fuzz, based on the original OD850 circuit; and the green pedal on the far right is our beloved Tube Screamer Mini. We love all our Ibanez pedals, and have lots more instore, so come down and have a play.

________________________________

And now, back by popular demand, our Friday Funny:

Now that is something we can all relate to. Have a great weekend and stay away from those pearly gates!

Babies & Cry Babies

It's Birthday Time again! Can you guess who this adorable little package grew up to be?

If you can, feel free to come down and tease him about getting old. He loves it! :P

________________________________

We've been in a history kind of mood for the past few weeks, so let's have a look at the evolution of one of our favourite effects pedals: the Crybaby, or Wah Wah.

Last year, Dunlop celebrated the 50th anniversary of the Cry Baby Wah. The first wah pedal was released in 1967 by the Thomas Organ Company, and the machinery was acquired by Dunlop in 1982 to manufacture their own Cry Baby Wah, which they have been perfecting ever since.

1982 saw Dunlop's first version, the GCB95. It reflected the changes in the music scene since the sixties, and provided 80s musicians with a more up front and aggressive sound. It also heralded the standardisation of the Cry Baby Wah, as previously different models had different styles to suit differing tastes.

In 1994 Dunlop introduced the 535Q Multi Wah - the "Swiss army knife" of wah pedals. To reflect the 90s trend of personalising your sound, the 535Q offered players much more control. In 1999 the Bass world was given its own Wah pedal in the form of the Cry Baby 105Q; 2000 saw the release of the 95Q, which combines the aggressive tones and greater player control; 2003 brought us the reimagined classic, the GCB95F; 2014 honoured its roots with the CM95 Clyde McCoy ; and 2015 brought in a mini version, the CBM95 Cry Baby Mini Wah. As you can see, Dunlop has the market cornered, and isn't the whole guitaring world the better for it!

Today the Dunlop Cry Baby is one of our most popular pedals, and you can get your own right here.

________________________________

As well as Dunlop's CryBaby, we also love their MXR pedals, like these babies right here:

First up here we have the Double Double Overdrive, which serves up two classic overdrives in one casing. In the middle is the Custom Badass Modified Overdrive, which is a classic overdrive circuit with modern modifications for improved versatility. On the end, we have our MXR Micro Chorus, which delivers an amazing range of rich chorus textures through old school BBD technology.

________________________________

And our apologies, but it's that time again - our Friday Funny:

It kind of sounds like I don't hear a lot these days, doesn't it? Anyways, I'll keep my ear to the ground and you go have a great weekend. Catch you next week!

New Faces and Strange Sounds

Some more exciting news in the shop this week: we have a new team member!

Come down and say hello, and see if you can pick where we imported this one from, based on his interesting accent!

________________________________

Well it's Week 2 of our Guitar Effects month, and last week we looked at the history of Guitar Effects. So why don't we brush up on our knowledge of the Guitar itself? Here's 10 things you may not know about the humble Guitar:

1. The Guitar actually came from Egypt, not Spain - although what the Ancient Egyptians played looked a little different from what we call a Guitar today.
2. The Biggest Playable Guitar is located in Nerrandera, NSW - Australia loves it's big things, and this one you can actually play!
3. The most expensive Guitar ever sold was a Fender Strat, sold for $2.8 million to raise funds for the 2004 tsunami.
4. A man once loved his Fender Strat so much that he actually married it - musician Chris Black married "Brenda The Fenda" in a London church in 2001.
5. What's the serial number on your Strat? Iconic British guitarist David Gilmour owns one with the serial number #0001, although it's thought that this is probably a showpiece, rather than the actual first production model.
6. The first brand to mass produce 7 and 8 string Guitars was Ibanez - although the first 7 string model was intended to have a high A, instead of a low B.
7. The Electric Guitar that is so commonly associated with rock music today actually began in the 1930s Jazz scene, and Blues and Country artists were the first to embrace this new instrument.
8. The smallest guitar in the world is only 10 microns, or 1/100,000 of a metre long - about the size of a single cell - made by researchers at Cornell University and is capable of being played, with specialised equipment.
9. The longest Guitar sesh was recorded in 2011 by Irish guitarist Dave Browne, who played for 114 hours, 6 minutes and 30 seconds. Talk about callouses!
10. The sound of the Electric Guitar was sent into space in 1977, on both Voyager 1 and 2, as examples of what Earth culture sounded like. So if we do get contacted by aliens, don't be surprised if they have long hair and leather jackets!

________________________________

This week's focus products are our awesome Boss pedals.

We have a great range of Boss effects units. Here you can see the Metal Core ML2, which is a favourite among metal guitarists. It delivers massive distortion and gain with heavy lows, for playing any type of metal music. The bright yellow one is the Super Overdrive SD-1, which produces the warm, natural distortion of an overdriven tube amplifier while maintaining the subtle nuances of a player's picking technique. The blue model is the Super Chorus, which is an industry standard chorus pedal delivering a clean, classic sound with crystal-clear highs and a unique stereo effect. As usual, there are lots more in stock and new ones coming in all the time, so keep checking back!

________________________________

And now for the real reason you're here: Our Friday Funny:

Classic stitch up! Have a great weekend and we'll catch you next time!

Looking Forward, Looking Back

News news news! Guess who's taking some paternity leave to celebrate a new addition to his family!

We'll miss your face around the shop for a few weeks, but enjoy this time with your precious family!

________________________________

And speaking of new beginnings, it's a new month, and this month is all about Effects for us. So whhile we are looking forward, let's take a moment to look back at the history of Guitar Effects.

Mahatma Gandhi was murdered, cauliflower was 15c a head, and the bikini and Polaroid camera were making their first appearances (coincidence?). The year was 1948 and the very first commercially available effects pedal, the DeArmond Trem Trol 800, appeared on the scene. It was made popular by Bo Diddley, an early Rock N'Roll guitarist, and it produced a tremolo effect by passing an electrical signal through a water based electrolytic fluid. From that point on, guitar music would never be the same.

Throughout the 1950s, amplifiers were appearing with built in effects like tremolo, vibrato and reverb, though distortion was being achieved by musicians such as Willie Johnson and Chuck Berry deliberately increasing the gain. A distortion pedal first appeared in 1962 when The Ventures made their own for their song The 2000 Pound Bee. From then on it was an avalanche - the first transistorised pedal was the Maestro Fuzz Tone in 1962, 1967 saw the first wah-wah pedal (Warwick), 1968 brought the first phase shift and chorus pedal (Univox), and 1969 was punctuated by Pete Townsend and his Univox U-250 Uni-Fuzz. The 1970s saw several new solid state effects pedals on the market, the 1980s made digitised rackmount units popular, and the 1990s brought it all back to the garage due to the watershed moment that was Nirvana.

This century offers a plethora of options for the guitarist, with not only many new effects but also lots of vintage reissues of classic pedals. We have a great range in stock and get new ones in all the time, so if you like to experiment with refining your tone, our Effects section is one you will want to keep an eye on!

________________________________

With that in mind, let's have a closer look at some of our Guitar Effects. This week we will look at our range of TC Electronic pedals.

At the back you can see the bright yellow of the Afterglow vintage style chorus pedal. Its all-analog circuit uses a Bucket Brigade Device (BBD) to create a wide range of classic handed-down modulation tones. Just in front of that we have the Ditto Intuitive digital looping pedal, which packs a lot of punch into a tiny package. On the front corner we have the Mojo Mojo Overdrive pedal, which ramps up the voltage up to 4x other popular drive pedals. Or if you're after a true pitch vibrato pedal you can't go past the Tailspin, which delivers a wealth of stunning vintage vibrato tones all served in a very affordable package. As you can see we have lots more, and get new ones in all the time, so come down and check them out today!

________________________________

And as usual, we need to assault your eyes with our weekly Friday Funny:

But was he as bad as these jokes, I hear you ask?  Have a great week and we will catch you all next time!

It's The Little Things

So be honest, hands up how many of you have never been to our store? Or for those who have, have you been in recently? We keep changing things up around here so you can never stay away too long ;)

You can take a virtual tour of our shop here, but the best option is always to jump in the car and come down and see for yourself. It's easy to find us - smack bang in between Brisbane and the Gold Coast, close to the Logan Motorway and the Mount Lindsay Highway - and there's plenty of parking too. While you're here, you can also get your car serviced by B Select and grab a coffee and toastee at Zarraffas, while the kids explore Mr Toys Toyworld. Fun for the whole family!

________________________________

It's the last week of Bass Month! So is there anything we haven't covered? What are the five most important things that every Bass Player needs to know?

Let's start with 5: Get to know the whole song that you are playing. You need to know the rhythm and harmony and how every instrument interacts together, not just the bass line and leave it at that.
4. Practice, practice practice - but make sure you're practising the right thing. Practice makes permanent, not perfect - and if you're working your butt off doing the wrong thing, you're not going to get anywhere.
3. The most important part of you to ensure a good sound is your ear - music is played to be heard. If it's written one way but sounds better another, trust your ear.
2. Get in the groove - literally. The rhythm is the best friend of the bass player, you should feel it through your whole body, in order to make it shine out of you.
1. Of course - love. Love what you do. You are the bass player because that's the coolest, best position to be in, and you love your bass and your sound and you couldn't live without it. If you're on bass because there were already two guitarists, or you just wanted to be a musician and figured four strings were easier than six, then you don't deserve to be there.

________________________________

This week we thought it might be a good idea to have a look at all the little things we carry - all the accessories we stock for every instrument, like strings, straps, stands, parts, cleaning products etc etc.

We don't just do instruments - although we are pretty damn good at those ;) We also stock all the things that those instruments need, like strings, cables, bags & cases, books to teach you how to play, and pretty much everything else. And if you're new to the music game and are not sure what you need, that's where our friendly team come in - we can always point you in the right direction and help you find exactly what you need. Have a browse of our website, have a look through our shop, and hit us up if you need anything!

________________________________

And for our Friday Funny, it's the last week of the year we can make fun of Bass Players, so let's go hard:

Just kidding!! We love you all and will see you next week!