Author: Mark Hanson

Getting A Great Amplified Acoustic Guitar Sound

Posted on Mark HansonLeave a commentPosted in Announcements, Stories, Tips from Mark

Getting A Great Amplified Acoustic Guitar Sound I have always created the tone and balance of my acoustic guitar with my hands, rather than with equipment. For instance, I always record through good microphones. But these days when I play smaller gigs and can’t use microphones, I have come up with the best, most natural sound I’ve ever gotten out of pickups and an acoustic amp. It’s a stereo setup, using two pickups. My setup is: • Fishman Loudbox Artist two-channel amp • K&K Pure-Mini pickup • Sunrise magnetic pickup • stereo endpin jack • stereo guitar cable (stereo jack […]

Need Help Keeping a Steady Tempo? (Part 1)

Posted on Mark HansonLeave a commentPosted in Tips from Mark

Above: Four guys with a steady sense of time (L-R) – Doug Smith, Mason Williams, Mark Hanson, and the late Nokie Edwards of the Ventures. At the 2005 Grammy Awards in L.A. — Many students – and some professionals! – have trouble keeping a steady tempo. (“That darn metronome – something’s wrong with it!”) Speeding up is usually the problem, although dropping or adding beats happens, too. For some developing musicians, counting out loud as they play can help, but, in my experience, students often can’t count out loud while playing, or the counting simply speeds up along with the guitar playing. Here’s a […]

NAMM Wrap-Up 2016

Posted on Mark HansonLeave a commentPosted in Stories

February, 2016 Greta and I attended the NAMM (National Association of Music Merchants) trade show at the Anaheim Convention Center in mid-January, 2016. It was the usual cacophonous, end-all, music merchandise extravaganza, attended by 90,000 people per day over four days, right across the street from Disneyland. It’s quite a scene. All of the major music manufacturers have booths, displaying instruments of every persuasion (acoustic, electric, digital), publications, accessories, recording gear, electronic and computer gizmos, and much more. Attendees are music industry professionals: company reps and designers, demo artists, and a ton of retail store owners and employees scouring the […]

Reducing String Squeaking Noises

Posted on Mark Hanson4 CommentsPosted in Tips from Mark

The Problem: Moving fretting fingers laterally along strings when shifting positions is an inherent part of playing a guitar. But, as most of us know, it can cause bothersome non-musical screeching sounds on round-wound strings. A player can reduce this noise through choice of strings (coated or flatwound strings), but let’s disuss what you might do with your hands. A Solution: As explained in an earlier Tip from Mark, RELAXING your fretting hand is a key to reducing string screeching. Before you leave a chord position, relax your fretting hand as you prepare to move. This simple relaxation technique likely will considerably reduce the […]

Meeting John Denver

Posted on Mark HansonLeave a commentPosted in Stories

How John Denver Dealt with Traveling on a Commercial Flight with His Guitar (at least once!) by Mark Hanson The only time I met John Denver was in the Minneapolis/St. Paul airport at Christmastime, 1971. I was at the gate (at that time, of course, we could meet travelers as they departed the plane) to greet my brother Eric, who was returning from New York. When he came off the plane, he suggested we wait a few minutes and we might be able to talk with the increasingly famous John Denver as he deplaned. When John emerged from the jetway, […]