Tag: guitar

tempered growth

A little artistic progress, and reminder that going slow is okay…

I’m dipping my toe in the pool of promoting a product I’ve been developing all year. It’s pretty exciting. I mean… I’ve only done so by way of FB and Instagram ‘stories.’

  • The website I’ve been developing for the past few months in my spare time (ha!) has not been launched.
  • The webstore has not been launched.
  • I have not posted demo videos (or… made them).
  • I have not yet initiated posting on the instagram page I registered for this.
  • I have not started a Facebook page.

That’s all coming soon enough.

What I DO have is TWO products, a possible 3rd that I’m considering, and a few others in the wings that are at the tinkering phase, and won’t see the light of day for a while regardless.

These are guitar pedals, by the way.

I’ve managed to find a project that combines my knowledge of many of my interests, including but not exclusive to rock & roll music, vintage aesthetics, hot-rodding (by way of style and decor, modification, and customization), sound design (by way of my discerning ear)… There’s a thrill in the pursuit just as much as there is in completing a project.

… and I’ve managed to weaponize my AuDHD hyperfocus.

Primarily, I’m doing what I always do when it comes to artistic endeavors (and there are very few parts of this that are NOT artistic,in my opinion) and that is, I’m making things I want to have. As much as I’d love to collaborate with someone else, The bar for quality at this point is:
Would I use this? Does is have a place in my pedal board?

Recently I got ahold of a program to design some enclosures of my own… and as fun as that was, it was a bit of a let down. I got to a point where I was really excited about a design and when I submitted it for quotes, it was UNREASONABLY expensive… like more than I want to charge for a finished product… for a single part.

It was simultaneously encouraging and discouraging. Discouraging because I wasn’t able to do what I wanted, and it felt like I’d spent all this time developing an idea for nothing… but it was also encouraging, because if I found myself in a place where I had to scale-up to meet demand, I have a pretty good idea of how I would do that.

Not to bolster my own ego or anything… but these are marketable and useful tools of the trade, and with how many people come and ask me about what guitar pedals I use and take photos of my pedalboard after I perform, it’s not a far stretch to say that I am getting a desirable tone from my equipment, and that people will take guidance in that regard from people they’ve garnered respect for.

So I guess I’ll have to stay respectable for as long as possible.

This isn’t my first foray into business. I was part owner of a short-lived record & art store on Whyte Avenue in the early 2000’s called ‘rUckUs’ and have been an entrepreneurial live music artist and bandleader for most of my life… but this is different.

This isn’t an event entertainment service, nor is it a brick & mortar shop with finite hours and a fixed location. It’s a self-developed product, or line of products that is for a niche market of performers and collectors. I’m not limited by performance budgets or music repertoire, nor am I hampered by lease agreements or overhead utility costs.

I am only limited by my own imagination and the current scale by which I can operate… but tempered growth is possible.

What I really want to do is to enjoy the process – and I do – but neurodivergence, excitement, and impatience make we want to bolt for the finish line… so here I am, reminding myself that there is no finish line.

outlets

I’ve recently taken on a new project, and a direction of learning I’ve never spent any time with before. It’s a wild trip, if I’m being honest. I purchased an online course during boxing week and it’s likely the closest thing to a New Year’s Resolution I’ve ever done… though the timing is somewhat coincidental.

I’ve decided to dig in on Brian Wampler’s guitar pedal building course, which is a very thorough and fairly in-depth way of learning all the ins & outs (HA!) of guitar pedal building.

I’ve long been frustrated with the availability of things I need in order to accomplish what I want to accomplish as a performer. I have a number of great pieces of equipment I’ve acquired over the years but there is a piece of the guitar effects market that; I feel, anyway, is largely ignored. I can’t be certain that there’s a market for what I’m hoping to accomplish once I attain the knowledge I’m setting out to find, but it’s quite possible that there is. I’m hesitant to get into what that is in the event that this does turn into some measure of side-hustle but there are some things I know about myself that are definitely helpful here:

  • I am really good at playing guitar
  • I am really good at getting sounds I am happy with
  • I have an intense level of focus
  • I have an artistic vision

But… if all I end up doing is building things for myself then I honestly think I’ll be happy with that… but you never know how things will go until they go. Anyway, it’s very exciting and extremely nerdy and I’m happy to have this new direction of learning.

If you tuned in to this blog from some spiritually-driven snack, and feel like you’ve been denied that, don’t worry… I’m not done yet.

It might sound a little bonkers, but this is truly something that aligns with me spiritually and is truly helping me navigate the prairie winter months. When I am immersed in this, it can only happen in real time… it’s an incredible experience where I am not thinking about food, or work, or anything except for what’s in front of me. It’s an incredibly meditative (active meditation, obviously) and grounding (HA!) experience that seems to tie me to the present moment in a special way.

Sure, I have other things in my life that offer that level of detachment from the world around me, but the way my brain seems to thrive is to have a few options to alternate through – songwriting and composition, recording, performing, my vintage automotive pursuits, and now this new exercise – all provide me with a break from my distractions and put me into a moment where I can completely lose track of time and just create.

It’s thrilling.