check this out!!!!

In this edition of "Check This Out" I am telling you about a big change for me. I am changing my teaching store from Big City Music to Rock Bottom Music. It is not a change happening for any ill wills or bad feelings, its just a change for the opportunity to reach more students. I have had an amazing three years at Big City. The staff has been great to work with and Adam Tolar is a stand up guy. Adam and I have had some great success there, our student concerts and Rock Band Camp has been very successful and it was an immense pleasure working and molding the students. Big City will always offer great customer service and Good teaching program. I am handing off my teaching reigns to Darrell Cliett. He is qualified and will be using my program for the students there. At Rock Bottom I will be continuing what I did at Big City. My students will continue performing student concerts and I also will continue with Rock Band Camp in one form or another. There is a great stage at Rock Bottom where the students can do in store performances. The same stage where great artists like Duff McKagen,of Guns and Roses, and many many other national and world wide performers have did in store performances. The same stage where world class musicians like Greg Koch , writer of the Hal Leonard books i teach from, and on September 9, 2010 Mark Shulman, drummer for world wide recording artist Pink, will be doing a drum clinic. Rock Bottom has other great teachers like Devron Roof. Devron is an amazing musician and teaches the bass like nobodies business. Henry Wynn is a fixture on the Augusta music scene who also teaches guitar, mandolin and banjo. The staff is amazing. Guys like Joel Hodges, the award winning Micheal Badamie. Micheal is a great guitar player who is very knowledgeable about music. Jason Morris, who is a former student ofmine, is also on staff and is very musically inclined himself. Joanthon Karow, the owner, was alocal musician just like us before he took Rock Bottom from an online store to the growing successful franchise it is today. He is an all around great drummer, bass player and singer. He is also a work-a-holic likemyself. Jeannie is always by his side, kickingbutt while working at Rock Bottom. I am leaving out alot of the staff but i will be doing a write up on all of them soon. For those who don't know, Rock Bottom is located in downtown Augusta on the corner of 8Th street and Broad Street. I am excited about starting there. So keep our local businesses flourishing. Stop down and see me at Rock Bottom and when you go to Big City tell Darrell, Adam and the rest of the staff hi for me.This change will not change the teaching on this blog either. It will help the site reach more people. See you all soon!

Rock Band Camp Ends

Rock Band Camp is nearing an end this week. It has been a blast and the kids have worked hard. They are ready for their performance this Sunday July 4Th in Downtown Augusta Georgia at The Commons. The kids go on at 4:00. Get down there early and show them some support! Its all ages and free!!! Come hang a little early before you watch the fireworks. Its been a great two weeks at Rock Band Camp. We had guest speakers like Pete Boyzuick, who talked art and music with the kids and Rob Boggs who talked sound and music with the kids. I would like to thank Mr. Nick Laws , from Sector 7 G, who let the kids have a "field trip" there and get a rehearsal on the stage there, complete with lights and a killer p.a.. Adam Tolar, Big City Music andmyself would like to thank all the kids and peoplewho helped us out this last two weeks. See everyone on Sunday!!! Be safe this holiday weekend.

here is a group pic and a piece of art one of the rock band camp students(alex cooke) drew!

Check This Out: Rock Band Camp

At Big City Music this summer we are doing a continuation of something we have been doing and turning it up a notch. The student concerts and lessons are being turned into "Rock Band Camp." It has been in the works for a while and you may have heard it on our commercial on 95 Rock. It is gonna start around mid June and will lat 2 weeks. Adam Tolar and myself will be instructing it. At the end we will have a concert. The classes are not only open to Big City Music students. It is open to students from other stores and people that have playing experience. The camp will include class instruction, seminars, practice time and all kinds of cool and informative education involving music. Its open to boys and girls, drummers and bas players, singers and guitar players, keyboard players and beyond. For more information call Big City at 1-706-364-3033 or just stop in. Big city in located at 3526 Wrightsboro Road Augusta Ga ( down by the mall,under the Bobby Jones underpass, on your left). Or contact me at john@questsoundpro.com, 706-627-1556 or here on the website. Classes will be 4 days a week.Come sign up and spread the word! Our Rock Band Camp will also be featured on NBC 26 news on the "Spotted With Jay Jefferies" segment in the next week.

"Product Review: VHT Classic 6"

Welcome to the latest installment of "Product Review." This one is gonna be on a guitar amp. The amp is the VHT Classic 6. Amps are important to guitar players. Tone freaks are always shopping to find the perfect amp with the perfect tone. Most of the times finding that amp will cost you a ton of money and almost always means your looking for a tube amp. The VHT Classic 6 is an all tube amp with 1 6v6 and 1 12ax7 in it. Its a one channel amp that is 6 watts(at 8 ohms). Don't let the 6 watts fool you. It is plenty powerful to play any club and powerful enough to keep up, even in metal music. Its just one channel with no eq, just a volume and tone knob. The volume and tone knob are all you really need with this amp.The combo comes with one 12 inch speaker and has a high input and a low input. The amp is very clean sounding.The tone knob dictates alot of your sound. With the tone knob all the way down and mid volume its got an old school jazz sound. Tone knob all the way up and mid volume gives you that country music chicken pickin sound, that tone setting and 3\4 volume gives you a creamy\ breaks up real bluesy sound that is awesome. the louder the volume the better it breaks up. Think "Red House" by Jimi Hendrix or early stones or zepplin.You run it clean and stick a good distortion pedal, like the Boss Hyper Metal, and it is very modern metal sounding. This amp is very versatile and sounds fantastic. I tested the amp with my "JOHN JOHN" model Berkshire and a Schector "Damien" guitar. I have played on the amp a good 4-5 hours to test it. I am going to end up getting one. The cost? It retails for $500 and is on sale at Big City Music right now for $299. Get down to the store and check one out as soon as you can. They are selling quick and I am gonna end up buying one, so get there while we got them. The price of this amp is astounding for the sound you get. It packs the punch and has the great tone of the WAY higher end $1000 and up VHT amps. VHT amps are known for sounding great and to get one at this price is a no brainer.

Fall 2009 Student concert at Big City Music

http://www.facebook.com/#!/video/video.php?v=1363632723597&ref=mf

Here is some more video Karen Romer took of the fall 2009 student concert at Big City Music's Live on the Lawn.

student concert video footage

http://www.facebook.com/#!/video/video.php?v=1363663284361&ref=mf

here is a link from karen romer, mom of singer karrissa romer. she posted the concert up and its better footage than mine. this is from the spring 2010 concert at columbia county amphitheatre.

http://www.facebook.com/#!/video/video.php?v=1363663284361&ref=mf

Product Review: Intellitouch PT 10

This is the first "product review" I have done for this blog. Being the 1st I figured it needed to be something kinda cool. So here is the product- The Intellitouch PT10. I have always hated hand held tuners and especially clip on tuners, I have always been a rack tuner guy. That has held true to me until Aaronn Bradshaw , from Big City Music, convinced me to try the intellitouch. It is a clip on tuner that reads vibration and not sound. That is something I liked because there is nothing worse than picking up outside noises while trying to tune.He sold me on it when he told me the accuracy of it.The accuracy is comparable to my Korg rack tuner. This tuner also works well clipping on and tuning anything from a violin to guitar to banjo to anything you want. That was a plus for me. It made tuning up for all the different instruments I teach a breeze.I have even just clipped it to my amp and it read the vibration on it and I tuned that way. The intellitouch is a chromatic tuner ( it tunes sharps and flats) that lights up green when in tune. It has a huge lcd screen to see this with. It swivels and turns all kinds of directions to get you the best possible view too. It runs on a simple watch battery that lasts forever. It is , in my opinion, the best of all clip on or hand held tuners i have used.It has replaced my rack tuner when i play live and is even easier than a Boss floor tuner. It is on sale at Big City Music right now for $29.99,of course students get their discount. They go out of stock as soon as we get them in. So if your looking to get a new tuner get down to Big City before they sell out(they always do, very quickly).

student concert pics

http://www.flickr.com/photos/48717650@N06/

Here are some photos from the student concert last weekend. The concert was a success and the students rocked the place!!! Adam tolar and I would like to congratulate them on a job well done! Video from the concert will be coming soon.

for the picks go to .

other things i am doing with this blog

Some other neat things i am going to be doing here is: 1. Gonna do a once a month column called " Passing The Torch" ....... It is gonna feature a previous student and tell what they are up to now. I have had alot of students over the years and they are doing some great things. I expect nothing less of my students:)It is also a way to let everyone know about some killer players come awards time. Its time to see some new faces in certain categories(like me and micheal badamie always winning for guitar....its time for someone new!!!). 2. Product reviews of merchandise at Big City Music. 3. Gonna post special deals at Big City Music that will be available only through mentioning the blog. And many more things that come to mind. I have my 1st student selected for the "Student Spotlight", the 1st former student for "Passing The Torch" and my 1st product review. They will be coming in the following week. Remember to check in and see whats going on and hope to see everyone Saturday for the student concert at Columbia County Amphitheatre.

Student Concert on March 20

The students from Big City Music have another student concert coming up. Its on saturday March 20,2010 from 12:00-1:00 p.m.. They are playing originals and cover songs and will be performing acoustic and as a band. The Columbia County Am,phitheatre is located in Evans Ga off Washington Road. Turn onto Ronald Reagan Drive. The amphitheatre is behind the library. It is a family friendly event called "Books Alive." Its up near the Evans Wall Mart. The sound willbe provided by Quest Sound Productions. Check them out at http://www.questsoundpro.com/

student spotlight

I am going to be starting a little thing i am calling"student spotlight." What it is going to be is i will select one student every 2-3 weeks that has been really improving, playing great, excelling or just about anything that would make them stand out musically. It can be a student of any instrument at Big City Music. Expect the first one in the next 2 weeks.

new blog\site

I opened this up to let people know whats going on musically with me and my students of past and present. This blog will mainly focus on students of mine and of Big City Music in general. You will know when student concerts are, learn about current students, see whats up with past students and anything else you could think of to do with music students.