​October 2023 Blog Post: Busy editing Better Than The Book's upcoming album, more guitar videos including my new ULTIMATE TECHINQUE: Guillotine Switching, Patreon Rewards + more!

Hello everyone and hope you've had a good September! Seems like this time of year is just flying by at the mo, but it's been as busy as it has been productive over here and there is a fair bit to share (some very exciting stuff IMO)! Let's get to it!

Onto the updates for this month, it's been a busy one getting all these fully recorded Better Than The Book tracks checked, edited, and ready for mixing and so far, just 1 out of 14 is ready for the mixing fun! That might not sound like a lot, but since last time, all 14 tracks have been finely combed to remove any unwanted noises (mainly background clicks or hum from electricity), and all the vocal/other instrumental performances/takes have been sorted and compiled for the best peformances too (apart from 2 derivitive tracks which share the same vocal parts and need checking once the others are finalised). It's pretty much just the final checks to go through now so I'm very much hoping to get those last 13 track done and ready for mixing by the end of October! We shall see how it goes (it's supposed to be a pretty busy month ahead again).

Next, I've been busy keeping up with my 2 guitar videos a week, and as usual here's the updated playlist for you:

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLWEmqIhrNPvQTBoOjZdKLgL4ecTvLz6sm

And it's been a SUPER exciting one this time! We have some more 2 hand tapping guitar ideas, some acoustic slide guitar, a playalong to one of the Better Than The Book guitar solos, some more ska/reggae organ, and (get ready for it), the unveiling of a brand new guitar technique I've not seen done before and I specifically developed for the doubleneck guitar: Guillotine Switching! To paste the desciption from the unveiling video:

"A while ago someone commented that they wanted to see how I'd play standing up since that's my name and I always seem to play sitting. I thought I'd save it for when I present my ULTIMATE TECHNIQUE and the time has finally come to stand! I've been working on this for a few years on and off now, but I've not seen anyone use this technique before which is specific to multi-neck electric instruments (please comment if you have). This demo is fairly basic, but I'm working on more complex applications and I think it'll open the door to actually mastering the doubleneck electric guitar as its own instrument, rather than just 2 guitars connected!

I call this technique "Guillotine Switching", an evolution of kill switching in the same manner Tom Morrello (for example) uses it. Instead of cutting the sound to silence, here I'm using the neck switch to rapidly cut between the necks of the doubleneck (hope you like the pun), cutting between different chords on each neck in the first half of the clip, then cutting between a drone note on the 6 string side, and hammer on notes on the 12-string side to create a distinct choppy riff!

The tricky part is the co-ordination and the reliability of the neck switch itself (I built this guitar over 16 years ago and need to clean mine...). I imagine the 2 necks/sets-of-strings like turntables and the neck switch acting as the cross fader. You've gotta keep both necks going and play the right ones in preparation before they're selected or while they're selected if you want it to be heard through the amp. It's still a work in progress (and I missed hitting the switch at one point) but I hope sharing this opens up the conversation to the limitless options this technique potentially has! The doubleneck guitar was never a novelty item. This will be the start of proving that."

I hope you enjoy it, and there's much more to come in October too! Here's a full list of the video additions since last time:

• Drop C Guitar 2 hand tapping (ish) work in progress idea
• Another Drop C Guitar 2 hand tapping (ish) work in progress idea
• Better Than The Book - Cathode Ray Days  - Guitar Solo
• Justin Johnson inspired Acoustic Hybrid Slide Fingerstyle Dark Blues Guitar practice in Open D Minor
• Ska Reggae Dub Organ Bubble Pattern Variation Organ tutorial on a Yamaha YC-25D
• NEW ULTIMATE TECHNIQUE?! Guillotine Switching Doubleneck Electric Guitar! A Kill Switch Evolution!
• Guillotine Switching on doubleneck electric guitar unplugged (useless bonus video)
• Numetal Guillotine Switching Riff on Homemade Doubleneck Guitar! MY NEW TECHNIQUE!

Finally, a nice little press feature as news of my wedding to Eva (amongst other things) made it onto The Tank Tribune over on Newgrounds! Thanks so much for sharing all the happy news peeps! Feel free to check out the full newspaper below:

https://thetanktribune.newgrounds.com/news/post/1384926

That about wraps things up for this month, unless you're a $10 Patreon supporter in which case I have a fully recorded (but not yet edited) WIP demo of the "Hold Me Tight" from the upcoming Better Than The Book album for you! Looks like Cyberdevil is back to his Inktober mischief this year so along with a tonne of Better Than The Book editing, hopefully I'll find a moment to throw a beat his way too! I'm sure there'll be a tonne of updates to share in November on top of a few more guitar videos. Until then, I hope you have a great October to come and thanks as always for supporting my music and project however you can! Take care!

$1 Rewards: https://www.patreon.com/posts/88602898
$10 Rewards: https://www.patreon.com/posts/88602899
Reward Archives: https://www.patreon.com/posts/50344842
Find out more: https://www.patreon.com/NickStanding