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Newsletter 2020 September |
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Click here to join our mailing list.
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Artist: Dale Stephens
Dale has been playing guitar since the age of 4 when he would sneak into his Uncle's room and play his Strat. His love of music began when he would sing and play and his whole family would join in.
Says Dale about music, "it has nothing to do with physical attributes other than the actual listening. Much like how a book may be better than a movie... it is your mental forces creating the scenescape that makes music so wonderful."
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Dale is a co-founder of Rock Against Poverty, a fundraising charity initiative for financing natural disaster mitigation, climate mitigation and poverty alleviation project development globally.
Click here to read our exclusive interview with Dale. |
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Product : Rockready Straps
The Rockready strap collection features high quality materials, good value, and unique design features. We have a strap to fit your budget and need. From our top of the line Ultra Strap featuring NEO padding that helps relieve shoulder stress, our SNAP! strap that securely fastens your guitar, to our style conscious leather and nylon straps, Rockready has the strap for you. |
Rockready SNAP! strap
Safeguard your guitar in minutes with Rockready's quick release connection system. The SNAP! strap mounts to most guitars and basses in minutes. Our mounting system includes 2 sets of mounting screws that fit most guitars and basses. The SNAP! strap is 2 inches wide, adjusts from 42 to 62 inches.
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Rockready Nylon strap
Classic styling and enhanced functionality with our Delrin plastic slider and loops to protect your guitar from dings and scratches. The material slides easily over clothes so you'll look great on stage. 2 inch wide black nylon guitar strap with black top grain leather end tabs. Plastic slider and loop adjusts from 42 to 63 inches.
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Rockready Ultra strap
The Ultrastrap guitar strap combines leather, elastic and neoprene elements to provide the most comfortable, adjustable and rocking strap available. The Ultrastrap is ideal to reduce shoulder stress and pain from heavy instruments or long gigs. Available in 2.5" and 3.5" widths and adjusts from 47" to 57".
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Rockready Leather strap
The Rockready 2.5" leather strap tapers to a slim 1.25" in the front so the strap isn't bulky and won't get in your way while playing. The embossed Rockready logo is visible only from up close. 2.5 inch wide black leather guitar strap with adjustable tailpiece. Adjusts from 40 to 51 inches.
Click here to learn more about the 2020 Rockready Strap Collection!
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Story: Click Don't Lie
“Ball don’t lie!”
–Rasheed Wallace, professional basketball player
Any hoops fans familiar with the Detroit Piston teams of the mid 2000’s will remember Rasheed yelling from the sideline, “ball don’t lie,” whenever an opposing player missed a free throw after a questionable call by the refs. Perhaps it's Rasheed’s way of expressing the karmic preference of the universe?
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For musicians, our equivalent is “click don’t lie.” The steady click of a metronome is constant and always on beat. We, however, are less precise and require practice to develop our sense of rhythm and time and our relationship with the click. The metronome is a tool. It can be used in many ways to hone and develop your internal sense of time.
The most common way to use a metronome is to have it click out quarter notes and work on playing subdivisions of eight notes, eight note triplets, and sixteenth notes. As your sense of time develops you can increase the tempo and work on other subdivisions. Note that our brains learn and create deeper pathways when we begin to do something at a slower speed. Don’t rush. Remember to be kind to yourself. I find it helpful to imagine the click as the drummer’s high hat. After all, when playing with a band we’ll most likely be playing along with a drummer.
As your sense of internal time strengthens, you can use the metronome to improve your groove by setting the click to two beats per measure. Halve the tempo and feel the clicks on beats 2 and 4. Here I visualize the clicks as the snare or backbeat of the groove. As you progress in your proficiency, you can further reduce the click to one beat per bar.
The final “test” is to record yourself playing along with the metronome. Turn on the metronome and record yourself. Listen back. What do you think? While playing along you may feel like you are "locked in," but playback may reveal nuances that you like or don’t like in your groove. This is good. Now you know what to work on to continue improving.
Bottom Line: Click don’t lie. Everyone in the band is responsible for keeping time. |
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