Belfield Music

This might sound like an admission of guilt, but when I started out gigging with my first live band, I didn’t really know what I was doing. 

Sometimes that meant knowing when to tune up, when to set up, when to stand quietly, but sometimes it meant I was doing big silly things like trying to step on five different FX pedals at once - I can remember a whole bunch of times I used to stand up on my wah pedal, so I could quickly press another three pedals without breaking my stride.

Broke that thing pretty quickly.

I had no idea that things like the BOSS MS-3 and ES-8 or ES-5 even existed - these clever things are designed to let you do exactly that, switch from one set of effects to another - turn on these three, turn off those two, have a slew of complex different pre-sets and move between them easily, without needing more legs and feet than the average.

Now and then I tell my students they really should get a Metronome. (Occasionally my band-mates, too.)

The bottom line is it doesn’t matter how fast you can play, if you can’t play in time with the rest of your band - what’s the point in that?

Now, students will often tell me they can get a free metronome app on their phone. And that’s great, I suppose, but phones are quiet, they chew through batteries, and if you want to practise with your amp turned on, or in a noisy environment, you might as well give up

Korg, though, has got you covered. They’ve got your back - the IE-1M, or ‘In-Ear Metronome’ is a tiny, light, earpiece metronome with variety of built in rhythms, beats, and super easy jog-wheel metronome function.

The new DigiTech DOD Mini-Volume and Mini-Expression have landed, and after seeing them in person, my first thought was “why didn’t they do this years ago?” 

A Volume and Expression pedals are two of the most commonly used pedals, but also they’re two of the largest, clunkiest, heaviest pedals that take up space on your pedal-board, and I think every gigging musician will agree that nothing is more valuable in a show than space and weight. Big, heavy amp stacks are as impractical as they are out of fashion, and smaller profile for amplifiers, for pedals, for speakers mean it’s easier to carry, easier to fit in your car, on your stage, in your lineup, and has a great affordable price without sacrificing tone quality OR build quality.

Dramatic? maybe not. But life-changing? absolutely.

Purchase the DOD-MINI Volume here and the DOD-MINI Expression here

We’ve just cracked the ancient seal on a pristine shipment of Fenders, and have a few gorgeous Mexican-made Stratocasters lighting up our walls at this very moment!

The white stratocaster with maple neck is a look that’s become part of rock heritage, and if you close your eyes, you can see Hendrix playing it at woodstock. You can see Jeff Beck, Eric Clapton, George Harrison, Yngwie Malmsteen, Ritchie Blackmore .. it’s not just an iconic symbol of music culture, it’s a piece of history.